In the dark of the night, Nocturn and Twice turned their heads away from the campfire when they heard a voice saying behind them, “What are you doing here looking pathetic?”

“You’re here? We were just warming up the alcohol. Haha! You came right on time.” Twice smiled and extended his arms out for a hug. He had a bottle of alcohol in one hand.

The Ice King looked at Twice and the bottle and pressed Twice’s forehead away with his finger, avoiding his hug. “Get your creepy face away from me first. How many times have I said that your voice will actually change if you speak like that?”

“Tsk. You’re talking like an old person.” Twice pouted. It wasn’t an expression that suited an old man with a serious appearance. Crunch, crunch! His face and body twisted as his height and size changed. The wrinkled skin faded into the smooth skin of a young woman who looked to be in her mid-twenties. The expression that looked disgusting on an old man’s face now looked cute on her.

How many people would realize that the famous S-rank mercenary known as a cold-blooded murderer was actually a talkative girl? “You’re no fun.”

“I could say the same thing. Why are you going around with a creepy man’s face that doesn’t even suit you?”

“Because it’s dangerous for a pretty girl like me to travel around?”

The Ice King shook his head as he looked at Twice. Still, the smile didn’t leave his face. Twice’s friendly and bright personality sometimes made him feel like she was his granddaughter.

“You’ve come?” Nocturn bowed when the Ice King sat down.

The Ice King was about to nod when Twice began to babble as she sat next to him. “Grandpa, Grandpa.”

“What now?”

“Punish Nocturn for me.” It was a familiar complaint.

The Ice King chuckled. “Did he leave without you again?”

“Exactly. Geez.” She complained that he’d left her behind when the battle began, and she ended up having to move around with strangers. She said that she suffered while helping them.

After the attack on Walpurgisnacht, Atran’s mercenaries all scattered, but these three began traveling together. They were independent mercenaries who didn’t have any affiliations. And since none of them had been contracted to do any work at the time they didn’t see a need to split up.

Also, they got along well, for some reason. The Ice King was an elder who worked well with others, and Nocturn was the type to quietly do what he needed to do. Twice was a little frivolous, but she never hurt anyone. They got along well without interfering in each other’s business, and they turned out to share the same interest in traveling and eating delicacies.

Twice later revealed her identity to them, proving that they had become close to each other. The team moved throughout the Tower and eventually came down to the twentieth floor because of the Ice King. When the Ice King ended up working with Yeon-woo, Nocturn went solo because he wanted a challenge.

That made Twice whine that she felt wronged. The Ice King didn’t say much because he wasn’t exactly innocent, either, and patted her back. “Tsk.”

Still dissatisfied, she shut her pouting mouth. The Ice King found himself laughing. Twice glanced at Nocturn occasionally while she chatted, but Nocturn didn’t react at all, which made her even more annoyed. .

“There’s nothing more irritating than a man who can’t catch on quickly,” the Ice King murmured to himself as he chuckled.

Nocturn waited for the two of them to finish speaking and said to the Ice King, “Sir.”

“Have you still not found your answer?”

Nocturn shook his head heavily.

“Hm. I see. That’s tough.”

After hearing from his teacher, the Martial King, that he had been excommunicated from the village, Nocturn lived with an emptiness in his heart. That was why he was always looking for things to stimulate him: eating delicious food, traveling to different places, and challenging the strong.

However, none of that satisfied him.

“You said you were an orphan, eh?”

“Yes. Although, I don’t remember anything.” Nocturn had no memory of his life before he was ten years old. He only remembered finding himself at the One-horned tribe’s village and becoming the Martial King’s disciple after the Martial King took an interest in him.

“Then what about investigating your past? If you know where you were born and how you grew up, wouldn’t things be better? Your lost memory might be eating at you.”

“I thought of that too…”

“I guess you couldn’t find anything.”

“Since it’s this kind of world.”

“I suppose so.”

The Ice King was also an orphan. There were many people in the Tower with similar backgrounds.

“Tell us what happened instead.”

“What happened? Ah, you want me to tell you about your junior?”

Nocturn nodded. He heard that his old teacher had a new disciple, and he’d even seen him once. At the time, he felt that the guy was different from the Sword God and himself. The Sword God had been chased away because of his greed, and he was thrown out because he didn’t have any direction. But the new disciple? He was on fire. He burned like an unquenchable flame. Was he self-destructing or shining? Or both?

Whatever it was, Nocturn had a strong impression of his hoobae and kept an ear out for news of him even when they were apart. He knew about Yeon-woo becoming one of the Six New Stars, his fight with Triton, and everything else. Since the Ice King had been with his hoobae he was curious to find out what his personality was, how he thought, and what his lifestyle was. His junior had something he didn’t have, so he thought it might help.

“Cain. He’s an amusing child.” The Ice King grinned as he thought of Yeon-woo. Although they’d only spent a short while together, he found Yeon-woo as impressive as his teacher. He almost wanted to continue journeying with him.

Although he hadn’t seen Yeon-woo wake up, he believed that Yeon-woo would open his eyes sooner than later. The Ice King laughed as he saw Twice look at him with glowing eyes like Nocturn and began to tell his tale.

* * *

[Nergal suggests you serve him. He advises that only he can control death properly.]

[Osiris holds out his hand.]

[Ares strongly suggests you become his servant.]

[Aamon gulps while looking at you.]

[Vimalacitra whispers.]

[Cernunnos is silent.]

……

[A god from an unknown world wants you.]

Yeon-woo couldn’t find himself in the flood of endless messages.

[A message has arrived from Agares.]

[Message: Don’t fall for anyone else. You are mine.]

[A message has arrived from Agares.]

[Message: I am the Grand Demon Duke of the East! You’re fated to become Agares’ subordinate! Answer me!]

There were so many whispers in his ear to accept them, to become their subordinate. Some screamed, some tried to hold him. There were too many voices clamoring at the same time, it was like a buzzing beehive. He couldn’t understand a word.

It was hard to deal with the interference of the gods and demons through the Channels. If not for his Cold-blooded trait, his mind would have been destroyed by now. At the moment, there didn’t seem to be much of it remaining in the first place. It was faint, like a firefly against the sun.

The holy fever burned Yeon-woo up, and the injuries that the gods and demons had left ate away at his body and messed up his mind.

『You said you were Heaven Wing’s brother, and this is as far as you can go? And you swallowed me? Ha! How funny. You should just die if you’re going to be like this.』 A voice pierced through all the buzzing. It seemed familiar but he couldn’t recall who it was. Who was it?

The…Summer Queen?

『Hey. Get up. Are you planning to be a bum? I like fooling around, but you shouldn’t get lazy. You need to keep your promise, eh?』 The next voice definitely belonged to the Monkey King’s exuviae.

But how?

They had already left the world after he absorbed them. They shouldn’t be able to speak. Was it just a hallucination? Or…

[A nameless someone begins to block the gods’ voices.]

[Many gods argue.]

[A nameless someone snorts.]

[A nameless someone raises its middle finger at the demons that are glaring at it.]

[Many demons threaten it.]

[A nameless someone taunts them, telling them to bring it on.]

[Most Channels have been forced closed.]

[Currently connected Channels: 4]

1.Hermes (God, )

2.Athena (God, )

3.Agares (Demon, )

4.Hundun (Demon, )

[Vimalacitra has reconnected. (Demon, unaffiliated)]

[Cernunnos has reconnected. (God, unaffiliated)]

[There are currently six connected Channels.]

Yeon-woo felt his headache subside as if someone had splashed cold water on him. The Factors of the gods settled down, and his fever began to dissipate. His mind became clearer. ‘Who was that?’

He knew that two nameless beings had helped him based on the messages. Who had the power to forcibly disconnect the Channels? He thought of the voices he heard, but that was impossible, so he only became more curious.

‘Are the only additional beings…Vimalacitra and Cernunnos?’

Vimalacitra was one of the top three demon kings within the Jie Sect, one of the kings of Asura. There were legends about his battles with the famous lightning god in Deva, Indra. Recently, he seemed to have grown interested in Yeon-woo, and he had appeared again after the Channels had been forcibly closed.

If he was separated from his original society, he would become prey for his enemies. Why had he suddenly left? He had the same question about Cernunnos. He hadn’t shown himself for a while because of his resentment over Rebecca, but he had appeared again with a direct connection. Was it related to Rebecca’s recent silence?

With those thoughts, Yeon-woo began to open his eyes. He saw Anastasia standing in an unrefined manner with one knee popped out, still smoking her pipe. There were nine tails flaring behind her. “Shh. Everyone’s sleeping, so don’t say anything.”

Yeon-woo was about to greet her when he realized it was night and shut his mouth.

“Anyway.” Anastasia narrowed her eyes “What are you?”

He wanted to ask what she meant, but Anastasia beat him to the punch. “Why do you have so many gods and demons hanging around you? And even gods from another world who cannot approach ours?”