Trail continued speaking.

“Miss Neril. Please ring the bell. You must match the pattern precisely.”

Whoosh.

Trail, borrowing Adwin’s body, tossed the bell.

Neril hurriedly regained her focus and replied.

“Alright. Don’t worry. Adwin said only he could do it, but I can handle it too.”

“I thought so. There’s no one more suited for delicate work than you.”

“……”

“Mr. Offense, please erase all traces of presence for everyone here. Don’t use shadow sorcery. Mide will need to come back out later.”

Wiping away cold sweat, Offense replied,

“Understood. Oldest Hero.”

“……”

“I will greet you properly when things aren’t so chaotic.”

Trail quietly nodded.

Offense tapped his index finger.

With that, the presence of everyone in the group vanished.

Of course, if one concentrated, they could still be sensed.

But for someone of Trail’s level to need to focus to notice them, it was proof of how completely they had disappeared.

He led Neril, Xenia, Lisel, and the sleeping Mide toward the back of the carriage.

Just before they vanished entirely, Neril spoke.

“Thank you. And… I’m sorry.”

Trail only scratched his head without replying.

Once everyone was gone, he turned his gaze to Velosian.

“Not particularly grateful you waited. If you had a conscience, waiting would be the least you could do.”

“Hm. So, you’re one of Adin’s lackeys.”

“Go easy on me. This body isn’t built for overwhelming power.”

“But the soul within it is immense.”

Velosian’s eyes gleamed.

“When Adin created you, he poured everything into it. The Eye of Omniscience, the ability to manipulate time, those aren’t things you can just pour into any soul.”

“……”

“You’re a vessel on another level from the rabble. I suppose I will have to put in some real effort.”

“I said, take it easy.”

“Let’s warm up first.”

In the next instant, Velosian vanished.

Trail reflexively bent his knees.

Velosian’s fist grazed just above his head.

Trail struck back at his abdomen.

But.

BOOM. CRACK.

It sounded like a sword smashing against armor, and Adwin’s wrist snapped.

‘Damn. Sorry about this.’

But now wasn’t the time to worry about a broken wrist.

“Hahaha!”

“Kh…”

Tap. Ta-at.

In the blink of an eye, over a hundred blows were exchanged.

With each clash, Adwin’s body broke, tore, and bruised.

Trail quickly realized this hand-to-hand fight couldn’t last.

If he pushed this body further, Adwin would end up in the Underworld regardless of the battle’s outcome.

‘It’s already straining him just carrying my soul.’

As he had feared, Adwin’s soul was on the verge of being crushed under Trail’s.

He was already half-conscious.

Trail decided it was time to gamble.

“You’re too weak. Are you really going to bore me like this?”

Ta-at.

Trail shifted from clashing head-on to focusing on dodging.

He avoided Velosian’s flurry of punches and kicks, waiting for the right moment.

‘The Underworld has no concept of time.’

He remembered countless times he had killed Idria and gone to the Underworld afterward.

It was a barren, desolate place.

The Celestial God Adin had gone to great lengths to hide his existence from the world.

That’s why, in the Underworld, there was no one he had ties to.

He couldn’t meet anyone in his “own world.”

He might have met Idria, his only true connection, but she never revealed herself.

So Trail measured days by the rising and setting of the sun and moon.

Once, after what felt like a single day in that place, he resurrected to find 100 years had passed in the real world.

Another time, after 100 years in the Underworld, only 20 days had passed outside.

‘At first, I wondered what the standard was.’

But the truth was different.

Time didn’t exist in the Underworld.

At least, not in any way connected to the real world.

‘Meaning, I can stop time here!’

At that moment, Velosian lunged again.

Perfect timing.

Trail picked up Mide’s sword.

He recalled the techniques he had witnessed alongside Mide, and chose the one suited for now.

This stance should work.

‘Sword Throw! Damn it…’

Shhhk!

He hurled the blade at Velosian.

Thud.

The sword pierced completely into Velosian’s body, a body no other weapon had ever managed to penetrate.

“Urgh.”

Velosian was hurled backward, about thirty paces away.

‘Now!’

Trail had never expected this strike to kill him.

What he wanted was distance.

At least ten paces apart.

You have activated the Eye of Omniscience.

Current level: 4. Accessible secret grade: A.

Chosen query: “The secret between Arald Mohan and Dianne Mohan.”

Secret : D-grade. Accessing.

Time stopped.

He let out a sigh.

“Phew. Now I just need to wait for Mide to return.”

“How will he return? You froze time.”

Trail would have said, Because Mide can move in the frozen world.

But his mouth only hung open in shock.

Ssshhk.

Velosian, impaled and sprawled on the ground, began to rise!

“H-how?”

“Oh, right. Mide can also move in the frozen world. But wasn’t his limit around ten steps?”

Yes, Mide could move.

But barely.

Each step shredded his muscles and dislocated his bones, and he staggered in unbearable pain.

Step. Step.

But Velosian was walking forward as if nothing were wrong.

He had already surpassed ten steps.

“You used your head well. Or maybe I just got too carried away.”

“What the hell are you?”

“Looks like the Eye of Omniscience is tonight’s main event. Nothing more to see, so let’s finish this.”

Crunch. Shhhk.

He pulled the sword from his abdomen.

And by then, he had already closed twenty paces.

Trail instinctively tried to retreat.

But he couldn’t move.

‘Ah. This body….’

The body he was inhabiting was Adwin’s.

Of course he couldn’t move it.

Should he release the Eye of Omniscience?

But what difference would it make to end the ability now?

Step. Step.

It was then.

Twenty-five steps.

And as Velosian was about to take his twenty-sixth step, for the first time, his face twisted into a grimace.

“Hm? What’s this? Why isn’t my body moving?”

“……”

“There’s no way just this little distance could be stopping me.”

And yet it was true.

Velosian could move no further.

Like a statue frozen in place.

The only part of him still able to move was above the neck.

He rolled his head around and muttered,

“This feels like it’s gone beyond Adin’s ‘Eye of Omniscience.’”

“……”

“It’s not that I have weakened. No… it’s that you have grown stronger.”

“What?”

“At least when it comes to manipulating time, you have surpassed Adin. Strange. How did it come to this?”

He muttered under his breath

“Come to think of it, Mide’s other companions were already beyond what could be called human.”

“……”

“Could it be that Mide? No, how could he possibly make his party this strong? Wait. I have seen something like this before.”

“……”

“Impelium.”

Velosian’s face contorted in an instant.

The smug, sly grin he had worn all this time completely vanished.

“Impelium also made his party members stronger.”

“Impelium had party members? He had companions?”

“I don’t understand. Is Mide truly Impelium? That makes no sense.”

For now, Trail could breathe a little easier.

Whatever the case, from the twenty-fifth step onward, Velosian couldn’t advance.

All Trail had to do was wait until Mide returned.

When he did, he would find a way.

That man always inspired such expectations.

And then.

“This is something I will have to discuss with Adin.”

“……!”

“But first, I will kill you.”

CRACK!

A terrible sound came from Velosian’s leg as something shattered.

But in exchange, he managed to take his twenty-sixth step.

He staggered forward again.

This time, blood trickled down his lips.

“Just three more steps, that’s all.”

“……”

“No… only two steps left now.”

He raised his leg again.

And just as he was about to take the twenty-ninth step…

“Stop right there, you lunatic!”

----------------------------------------

When I opened my eyes again.

My companions around me were all frozen like statues of ice.

My mind spun like lightning.

I understood everything at once.

‘Velosian is here.’

And they had fought.

But they must have been pushed back.

Adwin was nowhere to be seen, which meant he had surely borrowed the strength of some overwhelming soul.

‘Trail.’

Who else could it be, but the oldest Hero? The one who had slain Idria countless times.

But even Trail must have been overwhelmed.

So, as a last resort, he used the Eye of Omniscience. To stop time itself.

“The problem is, even for me, moving is a struggle…”

I let out a faint sigh.

And then I heard it.

“This is something I will have to discuss with Adin.”

“……!”

“But first, I will kill you.”

A voice I had never heard before.

And precisely because I had never heard it, I knew exactly whose it was.

‘Velosian!’

But how?

How could he speak in this frozen world?

“Just three more steps, that’s all.”

“……”

“No… only two steps left now.”

Step.

His footsteps echoed.

I twisted my body upright with all my strength.

This carriage where we were hiding, judging by the sound of his voice, the distance between Velosian and Trail was…

‘Damn it. Way more than ten steps!’

I staggered toward them.

My instinct told me, the distance between Velosian and Trail was razor-thin.

Move.

Faster. Freer! Chapters first released on NoveI~Fire.net

[You can move if you wish.]

‘Impelium?’

[You still don’t understand?]

‘What?’

[Don’t you know why you have been growing stronger and stronger?]

I asked through gritted teeth.

‘Wasn’t it because you strengthened my blood script ability?’

[Blood script has nothing to do with it, you fool.]

‘But after I began seeing the blood script of the dead, I did grow stronger!’

[All I did was enhance your blood script so you might uncover the world’s secrets a little sooner.]

Impelium’s voice flowed gently.

[You have learned to harness the fame piled before you as your own strength. You have mastered that method.]

‘…! That’s impossible. Fame is only something you accumulate to become a Hero!’

[That’s how Trail must have explained it. He never knew more than that.]

“……”

[But you already know. You have grown incomparably stronger than you were before the regression because you have begun using fame as power.]

His voice carried a hypnotic weight.

Though he gave no proof, I found myself nodding. Yes, that must be it.

[But unconsciously, you have been holding yourself back.]

‘Why would I?’

[Heh. You’re asking me? If I had to guess… maybe you don’t want to go ‘too far.’ Maybe you still want to remain within the limits of what could be called human.]

“……”

[But when Idria or Adin threatened to kill your comrades, you released that restraint. And now, whether it’s fortunate or not, your comrade Trail is in danger. As is Adwin, whose body he is borrowing.]

Sparks lit in my vision.

[Release the restraint. With your fame as it is now, you might even be able to put down this weakened Velosian.]

“Weakened… heh.”

With a bitter chuckle, I steadied myself.

Using fame as strength.

How?

No, Impelium had said I was already doing it.

All I had to do was lift the restraint I had placed on myself.

Had I really shackled myself? Was that possible?

‘Impelium said I didn’t want to go too far.’

That I wanted to remain close enough to be called human.

Why? Why would I want that?

Then, in a flash, a word struck me.

—Retirement.

Yes.

I wanted to finish all this quickly, and live out a retirement with my beloved and my comrades.

If I went too far, that might become impossible.

I might lose the ability to retire of my own will.

Was that what I feared?

“I will recite a spell.”

[Oh? I’m curious. Let’s hear it.]

I drew in a deep breath.

And whispered,

—I forsake retirement.

In that instant.

The frozen world that had been crushing me suddenly lifted, light as air!

I drew my sword and burst out from behind the carriage.

“Stop right there, you lunatic!”

----------------------------------------

TL: Now that I think about it, it was probably Impelium who bound Trail to Mide. That way, he allowed Mide to regress as well, using Trail. Well, I doubt he would have let Mide die, considering their relation which is awfully obvious.

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