Pushed back by the Trident, Aster.
From that spot, he used Ilseom three more times, advancing straight along the direction he had been flying.
Before long,
Tonk!
“Aster!”
He finally reached the first ship.
Quinie welcomed him.
“You really ran that whole distance? That’s amazing.”
“It’s been a while, Senior. I had some help.”
Ludovic had launched him at the start, and most of the distance had been reduced thanks to the Trident. Whether that could really be called help was another question.
“But Aster, is that side okay?”
Quinie looked toward Agoris with worried eyes.
The sea over there was already not normal. Poseidon’s figure could be seen every so often even from this ship.
And in front of him, something huge and long had stretched its neck out as if in a standoff.
‘Is that supposed to be a snake?’
For a snake that huge, Quinie’s knowledge allowed for only one possibility.
“Don’t tell me, Jormungandr......”
“That’s right. I don’t know the details, but it looks like he’s on our side.”
“What? How do you know that?”
“Because Cybel was riding on his back.”
“What?!”
Quinie flinched in fright, looking at Aster with trembling eyes.
“Then are you saying Cybel is fighting Poseidon right now? That main god?”
“Mm, that’s how it turned out.”
Aster’s voice was relaxed. His gaze was also turned toward Cybel, but his eyes were not all that worried.
“Is it really okay to just leave that girl alone like that?”
“She’ll be fine. If it’s Cybel.”
Aster’s trust toward Cybel was quite high.
He didn’t know Cybel as well as Frondier did, but Aster had clearly seen her talent.
It had been that way when she achieved aura before him. Back then, Cybel had done without effort what Aster could not understand at all.
The same was true now.
Cybel’s combination of mana and aura was something even Aster could never imitate. He didn’t even feel the urge to try.
“And it’s not like Cybel is alone. Jormungandr is with her.”
“That’s true, but......”
Even so, Quinie was still uneasy.
Could Cybel really face Poseidon? In truth, she thought it would be fine since Jormungandr was there.
The problem was whether Jormungandr was truly on their side.
“I’m going to continue on like this all the way to the Falind continent.”
“You’re really going to go?”
“Yes. We each have our own roles to play.”
Aster knew his role.
To reach the Falind continent as quickly as possible and take Mistilteinn into his hand.
He had decided that he would not stop no matter what happened along the way.
Besides,
“I have to steel myself too.”
Leaving those words behind,
Sss─
Aster vanished.
When Quinie looked behind her, she caught a glimpse of Aster far off in the air. Even that vanished in an instant.
“A–amazing.”
The knight beside her spoke in admiration.
Quinie snapped open her fan and covered her mouth. She fell into brief thought.
‘Now that Aster has arrived here, we no longer have any business on this sea.’
These ships Quinie had deployed were nothing more than stepping stones for Aster.
Now that Aster had come, Quinie’s objective had been fulfilled.
‘But this arrangement is too valuable to waste.’
Quinie looked toward Agoris.
It was still a great distance away, but Poseidon and Jormungandr’s battle was already unfolding before their eyes.
In other words, even if only temporarily, Agoris and Falind were connected to each other.
At a time when the strength of all humanity was needed, it was a shame to throw this chance away.
‘If only we could at least avoid Poseidon’s gaze......’
Just then.
Shwiiik!!
Someone else flew toward Quinie’s ship.
‘What? An enemy?’
Startled by the unexpected appearance, Quinie reflexively took a combat stance.
However, the one who appeared was not an enemy.
“That Aster brat really shot off like an arrow.”
Ludovic de Fabre.
After launching Aster, he had flown over himself. Unlike Aster, he had come here by ordinary flight.
“Mr. Ludovic!”
“Oh, Quinie. It’s been a while. Is Lord Ridwi doing well?”
“Yes. Until not long ago he seemed to have no energy, but at the last imperial conference it felt like something woke up inside him.”
“Oho, that’s good news.”
Ludovic nodded with a relieved smile.
The knight beside them looked back and forth between Quinie and Ludovic at the sight.
‘So it’s true Miss Quinie has connections with Zodiac Ridwi. And she even seems to know Lord Ludovic.’
What was it again—something about Ridwi being the one who stayed by her side when the Viet family declined?
Ridwi was also ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) someone who knew about Quinie’s past “fear of corpses.” They must be paying a lot of attention to each other.
“But you managed to come here well enough.”
“Yeah. Looks like Poseidon’s attention has been completely stolen away by Cybel.”
Ludovic looked in Poseidon’s direction.
He had checked roughly while flying over, and it seemed Cybel was holding out fairly well. Jormungandr was already equal to Poseidon in strength, and there was no one who could match Cybel when it came to survival.
“So, are you going to withdraw these ships?”
He asked Quinie. Quinie answered.
“I’m still thinking about it.”
“Hmm, it really would be a waste to just head back like this.”
“Just because Poseidon let one or two people slip by doesn’t mean that will keep being possible. It’d be nice if we could maintain steady contact somehow.”
As she said that, Quinie fell into thought.
Her gaze, partially hidden by her fan, naturally dropped downward.
And then,
“......?”
She met eyes with someone whose head alone had popped up over the deck.
“Hi.”
“Kyaaaah?!”
Quinie shrieked and stumbled backward in fright.
Meanwhile, the one who had stuck up just their head pulled up more of their body.
Looking closely, their body had risen out of Ludovic’s shadow, and when they were fully up, it was a face Quinie knew.
“L–Lady Ria Liss!”
“Hi, Quinie! Long time no see, ahahaha!”
“You scared me! What was that just now?”
Quinie asked, her feelings of surprise and relief at Riri’s appearance swirling around. The knight beside her was thinking, ‘So she even knows Ria Liss. Does Lady Quinie know all the Zodiacs?’
“Shadow transfer. I learned it from Selena.”
“Transfer...... you say? Then from where did you come here just now?”
“Atlas. It’s a place like Constel over in Agoris.”
“......Could that transfer be done at any time?”
“Sure. The farther the distance, the heavier the strain, but I can endure it.”
Riri shrugged as she spoke.
“When you say strain, how bad are we talking?”
“For an ordinary human, it’d be enough to cause symptoms like dehydration or exhaustion.”
Then Riri grinned playfully and added,
“But I’m a demon, so I’m fine.”
“......R–right.”
Quinie nodded. She had already received information ahead of time that Riri was a demon. Even knowing that, it was still astonishing.
Quinie’s mind spun rapidly.
Riri’s transfer did not get noticed by Poseidon. On top of that, she could leap this great distance in a single jump.
If that was the case,
“......Lady Riri, would you help me?”
***
Frondier, going to save Atjie’s soul.
He had become a demon and crossed worlds for that purpose, but in truth, Frondier’s current location was closer to the exact opposite side from Atjie.
The reason was simple.
“Thanatos is a god of Olympus. And his power is to send souls to Tartarus.”
“So that’s why we have to get out of this world first.”
The place where Frondier had been summoned by Belphegor was Nastrond. They had escaped from there and arrived in Niflheim. It was still the world of Norse mythology. There was still a distance to Tartarus.
“So with this, we can jump straight to Tartarus in one go?”
Frondier stroked the trunk of Yggdrasil.
Beyond Hela, they had reached Niflheim’s Yggdrasil. They could use this to move between worlds.
“No.”
But Belphegor shook his head.
“What?”
“As you know, Yggdrasil is the world-tree that connects the Nine Worlds. Tartarus isn’t included among those Nine Worlds. So ordinarily, even if you use Yggdrasil, you can’t go to Tartarus. But in our case, it’s a little different. The situation has changed.”
At his words, Frondier realized and nodded.
“......Right. Satan connected the worlds.”
“I’m someone who should originally have fallen into the demon realm’s hell, but I fell into Nastrond instead. That means the demon realm and Nastrond are connected. More precisely, this Niflheim is.”
“So we first use this Yggdrasil to go to the demon realm, and then,”
“Head for Tartarus, which is connected to the demon realm.”
Understanding, Frondier nodded.
The path Satan had connected. Now, in reverse, that had become the path Frondier would take.
Selena spoke.
“......In that case, they’ll obviously have prepared on that side as well.”
“That’s right. Since the route is clear.”
Both gods and demons could predict the path Frondier would take. There was no way other than this route.
“We’ll have to watch out for attacks from demons when we arrive in the demon realm.”
“That might happen, or it might not.”
Belphegor gave a vague answer. Under the gazes of Selena and Frondier, which demanded an explanation, Belphegor went on.
“There are two reasons it’s hard to carelessly attack Frondier. The first is that Frondier’s Ecleksis is too special.”
“......Aha. You’re saying they’d have to be able to block it just to try.”
“Something like that.”
Frondier’s Ecleksis kills its target. Even if that’s not its original effect, that’s what it ends up doing.
Every one of the Seven Deadly Sins had already seen that it didn’t discriminate in range, duration, or the rank of the target.
“If they mess up, it’ll just be a fight that ends with only an uncountable number of demons all dying. No matter how much Satan hates Frondier, he still has to at least pick a fight he can win.”
“A fight the demons can win......”
Selena sank into thought at that. Watching her for a moment, Belphegor spoke again.
“Besides, Frondier has no intention of killing Satan ‘right now,’ right? What matters is Atjie. Which means if they don’t touch him first, they can at least keep their necks for the time being. That hesitation will be pretty significant.”
At Belphegor’s words, Frondier nodded.
“Yeah. Either way, my choice doesn’t change. We go, see the situation, and respond accordingly.”
“That’s the right way to think. Let’s hurry.”
“Where is Atjie right now? Can you predict it?”
“If he were an ordinary human, if we go now we’ll just barely not be too late, and if his soul has strong will, he might be able to hold out for quite a while.”
“Good.”
Frondier placed his hand on Yggdrasil.
“How do we go? How exactly do we use this Yggdrasil?”
“Coat your entire body in Ecleksis and place your hand on the trunk. Then Yggdrasil will send you to the next world. You’ll probably arrive in about five minutes.”
“......Five minutes.”
Frondier looked at Selena.
Because she was human, Selena could not use Yggdrasil. She would therefore have to enter Frondier’s shadow.
However, she couldn’t breathe inside the shadow.
“Can you endure it? Five minutes.”
“Piece of cake.”
Selena’s expression said, why are you even asking. There wasn’t a hint of bluff.
Well, she had already said she could endure ten minutes. If it was five, it really would be easy for her.
“......All right. Get inside my shadow.”
“Yes.”
Selena’s body hid itself inside Frondier’s shadow, and Frondier placed his hand on the trunk.
Then he lightly wrapped his body in Ecleksis.
‘......But, hold on.’
As he manifested Ecleksis, Frondier thought.
His power plunged whoever was hit by it into terror, made them faint, or in the worst case, killed them.
Was it really okay to touch Yggdrasil with that kind of power?
‘Come on, it’s the world-tree. It’s something any god or demon would have done,’
He had only gotten that far when,
Whik.
“Ah.”
Frondier was sucked into the inside of Yggdrasil’s trunk, which had suddenly opened.
Fwhoooop─!
Then, turning into the form of mana, he moved in an instant. The speed was tremendous. Frondier wondered if it was originally this fast.
“Oho, that’s something even I’ve never seen before.”
Belphegor, watching from behind, exclaimed in admiration.
Yggdrasil was delivering Frondier with great haste. It seemed flustered, as if it had to move Frondier even a little bit faster.
“Kekeke, you’re being treated with honors, Frondier.”
Belphegor placed his own hand on Yggdrasil to follow after.
