Boom! Boom! Boom!

The surroundings shook several times with the loud explosions.

‘This will get complicated if I let her be.’

Gretel was a normal apprentice magician, but since Alphone's spirit fragments were possessing her, her magic power had increased by dozens of times.

The same went for Sylvanas.

Her movements were more agile than most elves and her senses were accurate. He would soon get noticed even if he wore the banshee’s cloak and went outside.

‘There’s no other choice. I’ll have to do it myself.’

It was hard to leave his va.s.sals in charge of the battle since Leifina’s soul fragments were on the line.

Woohyuk watched Gretel and Sylvanas' movements with his senses.

[Agnes, disturb them with your abilities.]

[Alright~! Understood!]

Agnes exited Woohyuk's shadow as her body creaked.

Then, she recited a spell and a black fog spread around the hut in an instant.

“Do, don’t think of messing with us!”

Gretel panicked and raised her staff again.

Then, the vampiric dagger flew from behind and slightly cut the side of her throat.

“Ugh… !”

Gretel turned around in confusion.

Asura.

They were standing face to face.

“It’s the poison of lizardmen. It has a hypnotic effect, so it's easy to use against captured enemies.”

“You, you b.a.s.t.a.r.d…!”

The poison had already spread all over her body, and it wouldn’t move at will.

As Gretel trembled, dozens of purple arrows flew in aiming at Woohyuk's head.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

A transparent s.h.i.+eld appeared and neutralized all the arrows.

[Queen Star Snake Ghost].

As its grade had increased to B, physical attacks of this degree were easily prevented.

“Wait here for a while. I'll go capture that girl who keeps pretending to be an elf.”

“…Okay."

Gretel, in a state of hypnosis, replied with an expressionless face.

Woohyuk applied poison on his dagger again and then stepped toward Sylvanas.

Swoooooos.h.!.+

He ran so fast that ordinary people could only see the demonic energy aftertrail.

Sylvanas gulped.

‘I, I can do it. My arrows have rarely missed their mark.'

She felt such an urgency and crisis that Alphone's soul fragment mistook herself for Sylvanas for a moment.

Her sense of self was unstable.

Sylvanas sharpened her senses and gazed through the black mist.

After a while, a faint figure was seen in the distance and she released the string.

Swoooos.h.!.+

Arrows loaded with purple demonic energy flew through the air.

'Did they hit?'

Her aim had been accurate.

As Sylvanas looked around for Woohyuk’s figure, his voice came from the air.

“Where are you looking at?”

“…!!!”

Woohyuk was already above Sylvanas' head.

When Sylvanas urgently tried to pull the bow, Woohyuk's figure disappeared for an instant.

'Eh?'

Incomprehensible situation.

She did not know about the Elder Naga’s Ancient Ring, one of Woohyuk's artifacts.

“I guess you can’t cope with this type of battle since you’re merely a fragment of the soul.”

It was a short distance teleportation magic called Blink.

Sylvanas swallowed her saliva when Woohyuk positioned the tip of the vampiric dagger on her back.

“It must’ve consumed a lot of mana to repeatedly use this many spells in such a short amount of time…”

"It’s because I'm not an ordinary demon."

Asura's demonic energy grew in proportion to his mana, but its increase was several tens of times higher than that of ordinary demons.

So, when fighting by consuming demonic energy instead of mana, he could repeatedly use his artifacts without a problem.

However, demonic energy was similar to internal energy, and was difficult to refill compared to mana.

Anyway, after defeating Sylvanas, Woohyuk called Alphone and his own va.s.sals.

“Get started.”

“Yes, I just need to recover some mana.”

Alphone's soul was split so her stats were low.

She took out a flask containing a blue solution, drank it, and immediately activated the soul separation technique.

Tsssssss.

Blue energy escaped from Gretel and Sylvanas and was absorbed into Alphone's body.

“The dolls are here.”

Woohyuk took out the pink stuffed rabbits from the pockets of the two fragment hosts.

After a while, as Leifina recovered her soul fragments, Woohyuk asked her questions.

“Where did you first meet me?”

“At, at the witch's chapel. You rescued me while I was pretending to be Angrboda, My Lord.”

“What is the name of your sword?”

“It’s Argent. It is a sword that has been pa.s.sed down from generation to generation in our Ecclet family. If you make a master-slave vow with it, your life would belong to your master.”

Her memories seemed to have completely returned.

After a sigh of relief, Woohyuk stroked her head.

“I’m glad you’re safe.”

“… I have to ask for forgiveness, My Lord.”

Leifina knelt with a heavy expression.

Everyone was puzzled by her sudden behavior.

“What is it?”

“I was threatened by Alphone to kill you, My Lord. But I could not report it immediately because she was holding the residents of the barony as hostages.”

“So did you really intend to kill me?”

“Of, of course not. I was just trying to find another solution. I would never do anything that would harm you, My Lord...”

“That’s fine then.”

“…”

As Woohyuk brushed it off as if it were nothing, Leifina blinked multiple times.

Her mistake was so great that she had prepared herself to be exiled.

Her mind was still filled with complicated thoughts.

“I believe in you, Leifina.”

“My, My Lord…”

“So you don’t have to worry about me again.”

It was an order with words of sincerity.

Leifina bowed her head as her heart beat rapidly.

"I understand."

A subtle mood floated between the two of them.

Then, Aris's face distorted in envy.

“Lord Asura, in truth, I must also beg for your forgiveness…”

“Aris.”

"Eh? Yes?"

“How old are you this year?”

“…I may be old, but my heart will always be in its twenties.”

“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that.”

“Boo...”

Aris pouted as she looked downcast.

Agnes watched her and whispered into her ear.

“If you want to win Lord Asura's heart, learn to cook. Leifina seems to have poor cooking skills.”

"Eh? Is that true?”

“Yes, I've heard Lord Asura say that before.”

“Okay, then I’ll become the best cook and delight Lord Asura’s tongue and stomach.”

Since she lost in both age and body style, she had to make up for her disadvantage with housework.

Aris burned with enthusiasm as she watched Leifina getting supported by Woohyuk.

***

When the Soul Fragment incident was settled, Woohyuk immediately headed towards Angrboda’s sanctuary.

A gloomy fog weighed down on the forest.

To get rid of it, the chapel had to be destroyed. But he had something to do before that.

“Are you sure this is the right way?”

“Yes, if we walk a little more, you will see a hill.”

Alphone knew the geography of this area skillfully, because she had been serving Angrboda for a very long time.

While she guided Woohyuk's party, a huge silhouette appeared with the sound of heavy steps.

It was Silvator.

“Master, we have been waiting for you at the sanctuary as you had ordered.”

“If you see someone suspicious, report to me immediately.”

“Please leave it to me. If anyone tries to get inside, I’ll smack the soul out of them using a stick...”

Silvator showed off his shoulder muscles and pretended to hit an imaginary intruder.

Woohyuk nodded and pointed towards the area between Silvator’s legs.

“It better behave well. Otherwise, your precious things may disappear.”

It meant that you shouldn't even think about betraying Woohyuk.

Silvator gulped momentarily.

“I will keep it in mind. I am a faithful servant of my master.”

“...I’ll trust you for now.”

He didn’t expect much of him

He just needed him to report the situation outside while he was within the ruins, but that was it.

Woohyuk continued marching forward, leaving behind Silvator who was lying on the ground, showing his belly in a position of obedience.

“By the way, how did you get the ability to separate souls?”

“I was lucky. After running away from the village, I wandered around and...”

Alphone, who was only fifteen at the time, was begging on the streets, and with the help of a n.o.ble lady, she entered the Free City Craftsman Guild.

Afterwards, she created and sold dolls there to make a living.

She had no one to rely upon, since her father had been burned at the stack for colluding with the Witch Cult. She spent her days sleeping in her workshop.

Then one day, a man came to her.

His name was Aleister Crowley.

He was the head of the Golden Rose Society and the Witch Cult.

“Did he teach you those skills?”

“Yes, there was nothing he didn’t know.”

Aleister researched many magic books and reached the pinnacle of knowledge as a genius alchemist.

Alphone had learned the Soul Separation Technique from him.

“He’s truly an incredible person.”

“In a way, he’s more terrifying than the Witches of the Seven Sins. He is quite literally Lady Lilith's shadow.”

“Lilith?”

“Yes, a long-established witch who has existed since the Genesis.”

“That’s why he wouldn’t die.”

Woohyuk recalled what had happened in the Izuna Royal Library's secret section.

Although it was in the imaginary world, he was astonished and dumbfounded that Aleister would not die even if he were cut it in half by Verserios.

However, if he had made a direct contract with Lilith, Woohyuk could be convinced to some extent.

‘Back in the past, Lilith could neutralize all of my attacks.'

Before the regression, when he had defeated all seven witches and the 72 Demon King, Lilith had appeared and made a proposal to Woohyuk.

‘Will you destroy this world with me?’

Of course, Woohyuk refused and fought a fierce battle with her.

…At least, that was what it looked like on the surface.

‘Lilith was extremely powerful.’

If she had fought with all her might in a duel, the results would’ve been unpredictable.

However, he didn’t get a chance to try it out.

‘I’m certain she had said that she wouldn’t meet me before I reached the divine thrones.’

It means that he had to become a G.o.d, or an even higher existence if he wanted to kill her.

He was dubious and doubtful back then, but seeing Aleister, he was now certain of it.

As Nakron had said, it would be difficult to fight her unless he had complete control over all of the Demon G.o.d’s demonic energy.

'I have to find Eteria Rodinus.'

To overcome his future trials, he needed the secret knowledge they kept hidden.

First of all, he had to find the Sangreal Chronicles as Martinus had told him.

The Sangreal Chronicles contained information about the divine lineage and their guardians, which would help him meet Eteria Rodinus.

While Woohyuk organized his thoughts for a while, Alphone spoke to him.

“We are almost there now! Over there!”

On the hilltop she pointed with her index finger, there was a large old tree.

Leifina looked at it and seemed surprised.

“That's…”

“Do you know something, Leifina?”

“It’s a divine tree. The residents used to offer their sacrifices to the earthly G.o.ds beneath that tree. It contained a mysterious magical power.”

“… So it's not an ordinary tree.”

Woohyuk nodded as if he knew.

Later, as he whistled, a three-footed eagle was summoned in the air.

“I will head there first.”

“Wha, what about us!?”

Leifina and Alphone protested.

Since the tree was on top of a cliff, they had to take a detour for a long walk to the side of the slopes.

Like Woohyuk, it would be better to ride on an aerial anime to use the shortest distance.

However, that was only the case if they didn’t have flight abilities like Aris and Agnes.

“I'll lend them to you if you want.”

At Woohyuk's words, two undead gargoyles were summoned.

As Leifina and Alphone climbed on top of them with nervous expressions, they flew high, flapping their wings wildly.

“Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaa!”

“Mo, Mommy!”

The two women screamed as if they were about to die.

Both of them had acrophobia.

Woohyuk, who had been flying earlier, looked at them in apology.

“Now that I think about it, there was no need to make you two fly as well.”

Leifina could teleport to his side through the Call to Arms skill, while Alphone hide herself within his shadow.

But the cup was already spilled.

Although he pitied, he couldn't help it.

'I'm sorry, Leifina.'

Become strong, so that you can always be by my side.

Woohyuk looked straight ahead as Leifina's screaming ceaselessly reached his ears.