Chapter 83
Arriving inside the castle via teleport, Franz looked around.
“Is it all ice?”
What filled Franz’s vision was transparent yet bluish ice.
And it was not ice formed in nature, but ice created by magic.
Since a similar mana wave could be felt throughout the castle, this place was probably not the only one made of ice.
“Oh…”
Franz was genuinely impressed by the sight of even the fine details being sculpted - the craftsmanship was quite excellent, to say the least.
At this level, it could easily be called the pride of Duke Phrygia.
Its quality was such that it would be lauded across all realms, a true marvel of ice artistry.
And a mage capable of creating and maintaining something like this was certainly no ordinary practitioner.
At the very least, when it came to ice magic, he would be someone with profound knowledge to be called an expert.
‘Well, it doesn’t really matter.’
Since Franz could create a castle like this as easily as breathing if he set his mind to it, there was no particular reason to be tense.
But that didn’t mean he was going to let his guard down, so he maintained an appropriate level of tension as he moved forward.
After a short while.
Tap-, tap-.
Suddenly, the sound of footsteps rapidly began to draw closer.
Since the mana he felt definitely belonged to a cultist, Franz prepared to use magic, pointing the tip of his staff toward the source of the sound.
Before long, what appeared in front of Franz was a man with white hair and blue eyes.
Looking at his wrinkles and hair, he was undoubtedly an old man, but his robust physique seemed to defy the years.
The man facing Franz came to an abrupt halt.
“So it wasn’t the Demon God…”
He spoke as if disappointed and let out a long sigh.
“Was he waiting for the Demon God…?”
They say all Cultists follow the Demon God, but this was the first time he had seen someone so blatantly waiting for the Demon God.
Perhaps there was some deep connection between the man in front of him and the Demon God.
Furthermore, since he didn’t seem to be hostile toward Franz, Franz lowered the staff he had aimed at him.
“Have you met the Demon God before?”
“No, I have never met him. I only heard his voice and received his power.”
He answered Franz’s question readily.
As if it wasn’t anything to hide.
“This is an opportunity.”
Whether the man was just stupid enough to give him answers, or if he was uniquely normal for a cultist, he didn’t know.
But it was certain that he could obtain new information, so Franz decided to coax the man as much as possible.
“Isn’t receiving power from the Demon God enough? Why are you waiting for him?”
“The Demon God gave me power and ordered me to guard the spear sealed here. And that was a blessing and a curse at the same time. Hundreds of years have passed since I received the Demon God’s order, yet I cannot die, nor can I escape this place. So I plan to ask him a favor: to finally set me free.”
He began speaking as if recalling a faint past, but ended with a furrowed brow.
It seemed he was truly exhausted by this life.
“What in the world…?”
Apart from his answering so readily, Franz was feeling confused.
The reason he had felt less guilt about killing Cultists until now was that those individuals were literally close to being human scum.
The kind of atrocious individuals who, if left alone, would take two lives with one.
But the man in front of him right now actually wanted to quit being a cultist, making it quite awkward to kill him.
It was even more so because if he couldn’t escape from here, he wouldn’t be able to cause harm to other people anyway.
That aside.
“To the point that the Demon God personally told him to guard the spear…?”
Arian’s grandfather had indeed talked about the spear.
And a spearhead with a heterogeneous power had been discovered through mana detection.
Franz could only wonder what kind of power it possessed for the Demon God to be wary of it.
Did he read Franz’s thoughts?
The man beat him to the punch.
“If you’re thinking of laying a hand on the spear, I recommend you don’t. My body will try to guard the spear on its own, regardless of my will. Not long ago, an individual claiming to serve the Demon God came and tried to take the spear, so I had no choice but to get blood on my hands.”
“Then I will ask just one last thing.”
“Alright, ask away.”
“Why didn’t those who serve the Demon God cooperate with the Demon Lord?”
It was a question Franz had harbored for a long time.
The Demon Lord was of the Demon God’s kin, and the Cultists were those who followed the Demon God, so it wouldn’t be strange at all if the two cooperated.
Of course, thanks to their not cooperating, he was able to defeat the Demon Lord comfortably, but apart from that, he was purely curious.
“You ask the obvious. What the Demon Lord desires is for the demon race to conquer the world. Then, is that the chaos of the world that the Demon God desires? No, it merely establishes a new peace. That is why the two factions are similar yet cannot mix.”
“Thank you for the answer.”
Even as Franz gave his thanks, the situation of expressing gratitude to a cultist felt nothing but comical.
In that case, now that all his curiosities were resolved…
“Ah, by any chance, do you know where the other Seven Great Evils are?”
“I don’t know what the Seven Great Evils are, but I do know where another spear is sealed. I believe it is where a ray of light shines on a lake in the west of the continent. Hmm, that’s probably right.”
According to his words, it seemed there wasn’t just one spear.
There were at least two, perhaps even more.
Anyway, this was another damn riddle this time; a sigh just escaped him at the fact that his workload had increased.
“Well, then everything I need to do is finished…”
Franz had two choices left.
Kill the man in front of him and take the sealed spear, or leave the man trapped in this ice prison and return.
Whichever side he chose, he wouldn’t feel refreshed, and it seemed it would leave a bitter aftertaste.
Just as Franz was pondering.
“Since it seems your curiosities are all satisfied, may I ask a favor as well?”
“Let’s hear it first.”
“Please kill me. No matter how much I think about it, it doesn’t seem like the Demon God will come looking for me. I just want to stop here and be at peace.”
Even if he asked to be killed…
Franz couldn’t give a straightforward answer.
He had gone through all sorts of hardships and gotten used to seeing blood, but that didn’t mean he felt nothing about it.
Taking someone’s life always left him feeling uncomfortable.
Continuing to deliberate for a moment, Franz asked very quietly.
“Will you really be okay with that? Perhaps there might be a way to live. The Demon God might appear someday, too.”
…It would be better if the Demon God never appeared. But anyway.
“I have already lived for hundreds of years. Even if I live longer here, nothing but regret will remain. And I can ask this because it’s you. Lesser beings wouldn’t even be able to kill me.”
Haa-.
At his answer, Franz let out a sigh.
When he put it like that, it was difficult to refuse.
Soon, Franz made his decision.
“Yes, I will send you off peacefully.”
“Then I leave it to you. Be careful, as I might be a little strong.”
It might be strong.
Why on earth would he say something like that when he was about to die?
Such a question arose, but he was able to find the answer not long after.
Franz aimed his staff at him and used magic.
Highly compressed air took the form of a blade and headed toward him.
It was the moment the magic was about to reach him.
Crackle-.
Small ice crystals spewed from his body, covering his vision like pure white smoke.
And when that smoke cleared, a massive dragon sat in that spot instead of the man.
Its entire body was made of ice; it was truly an Ice Dragon.
The moment he saw that sight, Franz realized that his comment about being strong was definitely made with this situation in mind.
“A dragon…”
It was an enemy that had long gone extinct, one he had never faced before.
But he wasn’t particularly afraid.
Because he had already been through too many things to be scared of a mere dragon.
──!
The dragon let out a roar.
Its intimidating presence was truly immense.
To the point where, if an ordinary person were there, their legs would have given out immediately and they would have wet their pants.
But there was no way that would work on Franz.
He merely thought that the dragon he was seeing for the first time in his life was quite magnificent.
For what creature stirred the heart of a man more than a dragon?
“Well, a promise is a promise.”
No matter how magnificent the dragon was, he had to keep the promise he made with him, so a red magic circle began to form at the tip of Franz’s staff.
It was the fire-attribute 6th Circle Magic, inferno.
But its power could not be considered that of an ordinary 6th Circle Magic.
Franz had completely overhauled the core of the Magic formula to increase its power without considering mana efficiency, and on top of that, the World Tree Staff had been added.
Soon, the magic circle was completed, and a small orb that was so red it began to turn black was fired.
As the fired dark red orb touched the dragon’s body,
BOOOOM-!!
An explosion occurred with a tremendous roar.
It was fortunate that Franz used magic to block the shockwave directed outward in that instant; otherwise, the entire mountain would have been blown away along with the castle.
However,
He had definitely blocked only the shockwave going outward, yet the dragon in front of him was perfectly fine as well.
“Does it block magic?”
It was only visible for a moment, but a magic circle had appeared on the dragon’s body and then disappeared.
It seemed there was something unique to dragons that reacted only to magic.
Then let’s see just how much it can block, shall we?
Franz ended up feeling a sudden surge of competitive spirit.