Chapter 367

Ȓ​ｅаđ ȯո Ǩ​аṫ​Ｒėａԁіṅց​Ｃаϝė

A few dozen minutes prior.

Around the time Lucia sank into the depths of her consciousness to borrow Belial’s authority.

Frey was in a state of panic.

How did things end up like this? She was finding it hard to come to her senses as sudden events unfolded one after another. It was strange. It was peaceful until this morning, for sure.

Things started to go wrong the moment Lucia said she would tail Anastasia, and all sorts of anomalies occurred one after another like a chain reaction. Now, it’s even confusing to trace back where things went wrong.

An invisible wall blocked their path, Lucia went beyond that wall alone without hindrance, and after a while, she came back holding a girl, that girl was actually Eugene, she looked exactly like Alice, and in fact, that girl was Eugene’s… Ugh, seriously. Even a morning drama would get criticized if it were this ridiculous.

But up to this point, it was still manageable.

Frey was able to maintain her composure.

After all, she had experienced near-death situations several times.

No matter how absurd the situation, she could remain calm.

“Lucia…?”

But when Lucia suddenly collapsed, Frey’s solid composure crumbled in an instant.

She reflexively caught Lucia as she fell. Her eyes were gently closed, and her breathing was steady. She was unconscious. A warning bell started ringing in Frey’s head. Suddenly, memories of the past flashed through her mind. This wasn’t the first time Lucia had suddenly fainted. Before, she had fainted while bleeding.

‘Could it be… again…?’

You said it would be okay.

God of War, you said it would be okay.

You said that all the necessary measures had been taken, so there was nothing more to worry about.

…No, Frey didn’t believe it wholeheartedly. She had accepted it because it was what the God of War said, but she was secretly suspicious. 

There’s a reason why there’s such a thing as a white lie. She had constantly suspected that he might have lied to avoid worrying her.

Yet, she didn’t try to find out more. Because she wanted to believe it. Because she wanted to believe those words. Because she wanted Lucia to believe it. Even if it was a lie, even if she suspected it, she pretended to be fooled.

Now it has been greatly alleviated, but Frey had a suspicious personality.

Except for Alice, another version of herself, she didn’t trust anyone.

Meeting her.

Seeing, learning, and experiencing many things.

Her bottomless suspicion was corrected.

However, that doesn’t mean her fundamental personality was completely fixed.

Frey always hid suspicion behind a mask of belief.

That was the same even for Lucia, whom she trusted the most.

‘She was so mentally cornered that she even attempted suicide, there’s no way that would be okay overnight.’

Lucia explained that it was because of the devil. No, she excused it. That might not be wrong. It must be true. But the explanations that followed were excuses. 

The problem with the devil was resolved by the God of War, so it’s okay? Don’t make me laugh. You didn’t even take the devil out of your body in the first place, did you? You just sealed it inside, right? Nothing has been resolved.

Silently cursing and clenching her fists so hard that they trembled, Frey was so frustrated, but she nodded. She decided to believe it because Lucia said so. She decided to pretend to be fooled. 

Because Lucia wanted her to. She whispered as if hypnotizing herself. Maybe she was over-suspicious this time as well. It was guaranteed by the God of War, no one else. The Commander himself testified. Surely the greatest and strongest guardian of mankind wouldn’t lie?

In fact, she seemed fine after that, so she was relieved inside…

[Frey.]

At that time, Alice, who had been silent, opened her mouth. Unlike Frey, whose thoughts had stopped as she faced the reality she had been trying to ignore, Alice was observing the situation quite calmly. 

Of course, it only meant that Alice was more composed compared to Frey; from an external point of view, Alice was far from normal as well. It was closer to forcibly maintaining composure by desperately continuing to think.

[Lucia isn’t the only one in a strange state.]

“What?”

Only after hearing Alice’s words did Frey look around at the surroundings. The first thing that caught her eye was Eugene. The guy who was already a target of attention now had a face similar to Alice. It couldn’t be helped that her eyes went to him first.

“Ah… Aagh… Euh…”

Eugene’s pupils rolled back. Sticky saliva dripped from his slightly parted lips. Anyone could see that he was far from normal. He trembled violently as if he had been electrocuted and started sweating profusely. 

Frey’s face turned pale. What’s wrong with this one again? Lucia alone is driving me crazy, please give me a break.

Frey couldn’t possibly know, but it was a kind of resonance phenomenon. As Astaroth recreated Dawn to defeat the God of War, Eugene, the original owner of the body, was being affected by it. 

Naturally, from Frey’s point of view, it just looked like he was suddenly having a seizure.

“Haa, haa, haa, heu…”

Seri gasped for breath and tore at her hair. She gripped it so tightly that strands of hair snapped off. Her forehead was soaked with blood. 

Trauma. Unforgettable trauma washed over her. The shadow of Astaroth loomed. Her presence was growing larger and larger. Even if others didn’t know, the two girls who had been dominated by Astaroth’s mask could definitely feel it.

“…”

Regina blankly stared at the sky, then suddenly bit her own finger. 

Crunch. Crunch. 

A chilling sound that should never be heard echoed. Flesh was torn and bones were crushed. Tears welled up in Regina’s eyes. The terrible pain made her mind hazy. 

But conversely, that pain helped her stay sane. She mustn’t lose her mind. She had to maintain consciousness. Regina desperately bit her own hand. Hot blood stained her chin.

“I’m going crazy.”

It was a total mess.

Frey suddenly felt like crying.

What the hell am I supposed to do?

If Lucia was okay, she would have somehow solved it, but Lucia was also unconscious.

“Sorry, excuse me.”

With a dull thud.

The girls’ seizures stopped.

With ‘Acceleration’, he knocked them unconscious by striking the back of their necks before the girls could even recognize it.

Leo frowned as he supported the collapsing Seri and Regina with one hand each.

“Why is she okay?”

“Well, that’s because Eugene is much stronger than you.”

“I… I have no response to that.”

Leo chuckled at Anastasia’s answer.

Unlike the troublemakers of Class D, Eugene didn’t even flinch at Leo’s surprise attack. The difference in basic stats was too great. 

Although Eugene’s physique became much smaller after entering Astaroth (Yui)’s body, his stats had actually increased even more. Leo’s surprise attack was no more than a mosquito bite. If he had hit with all his might, he might have made him flinch a little.

“Let’s see… Hmm…”

Anastasia walked towards Eugene with hurried steps. Eugene, whom she would normally have to look up at, was now slightly smaller than her. Anastasia stared at Eugene for a moment, then nodded.

“Yap.”

“Hic?!”

She struck the back of Eugene’s neck accurately with a knifehand strike.

When Leo struck, there wasn’t even a slight flinch, but this time there was definitely an impact.

Eugene’s legs gave way and he collapsed with a short groan.

“Oh, he didn’t faint. Oh, I hit him with all my might. Oh, it might hurt his pride.”

“…What did you just do?”

Frey’s eyes sharpened.

“Huh? What?”

“Just now, what did you do?”

The proper subject was omitted, but it wasn’t difficult to infer the meaning contained within. She knocked Eugene down. Even if he was defenseless, it was an absurd phenomenon considering the difference between Eugene and Anastasia. 

How could Anastasia, who hadn’t even awakened as someone close to God? Moreover, Frey felt it. The weight contained in that blow. It wasn’t the destructive power that an ordinary academy student could produce. 

It was because Eugene was the one who was hit that he was okay; if the Class D leftovers had been hit, their heads would have been cut off.

“Recipes are the life of the store. Strictly confidential.”

“What?”

“Would you tell others?”

“…”

She had nothing to say when she put it that way.

Even if they were academy students, they didn’t reveal everything about their abilities to others.

Frey herself was hiding a lot from Anastasia.

They weren’t even that close in the first place.

“Oh, he didn’t faint. Oh, I’ll keep going until he does. Oh, you’re already a dead man.”

“No, fainting is just a means, and if you can calm him down, there’s no need to make him faint.”

Leo put his hand between Anastasia’s armpits as she blew on her knifehand. When he lifted her up with all his might, the silver-haired girl dangled in the air.

“Oh, it’s high. The air in high places is so clean and refreshing. Ah, I love the sky. Come to think of it, no one has ever stood in the sky from the beginning. 

Neither you, nor me, nor even God. So that’s why the world is in this shape. But that unbearable emptiness of the heavenly seat is over. From now on, I will stand in the sky.”

“I sometimes don’t know what you’re thinking. How does Arin even understand what you’re saying? Ah, come to think of it, Arin only understands the surface of what you’re saying.”

“That’s the theory of the loser. We must discuss not what the world is, but how it should exist. For example, even if the real owner of this world is a devil, even if the current world was created in that way, if you examine the fundamentals of the world one by one, it’s truly…”

Anastasia suddenly closed her mouth and rolled her eyes.

“Oops, revealing secrets of heaven. Watch my mouth. Shh.”

She pretended to zip her mouth and took the strength out of her body.

“…?”

Frey had to feel an uncomfortable feeling that was hard to explain. It was the usual nonsense. It wasn’t like Anastasia barking like a dog was anything new. But… why this time? It didn’t just sound like dog barking.

“Let’s get out of here quickly. This is just my thought, but if we keep staying here, we won’t see anything good.”

Leo, who had put down the quiet Anastasia, lifted up the unconscious Regina and Seri like baggage in each hand. Frey, who was staring at the scene, sighed and shook off her head. 

Right, now wasn’t the time to be having useless thoughts. Safety was the top priority. Moving to a safe place was the first thing to do.

Anastasia, who was glancing at Frey holding Lucia dearly, approached Eugene again. He had failed to faint, but he seemed to have calmed down to some extent after being hit. 

He was still spaced out, but at least he wasn’t drooling and having seizures. Still, it seemed difficult for him to move on his own, so Anastasia carefully picked up Eugene.

“Oh, safe driving.”

She put her hand on the inside of his knees and grabbed his back with the other hand.

After adjusting her posture a few times and looking down at Eugene, Anastasia leaned down and whispered in a small voice in Eugene’s ear.

“To have your body stolen by a devil, you still don’t know your worth? You incompetent bastard.”

Author Note

A/N (Author’s note):
In order for Eugene to borrow supernatural abilities, the other side must accept him.

But Eugene couldn’t borrow Anastasia’s ability.

In order words…

Translator Note

T/N (Translator’s note):
This one has lost her sanity too.

Resetting something a lot of times is bound to make noob people become even more noob.

Especially if their power makes them less sane to begin with.