[Silver Ash] - Become The Strongest In Another World
CHAPTER 129: N-EP

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(Somehow I got away, but .. It really hurts .. )

A few moments had passed since Noelle had escaped from Lucius with her fog transformation.

At first he felt pessimistic that the escape plan using the fog transformation would work, but fortunately it went smoothly.

Noelle had returned to her physical form and ran jumping one building to another, towards the gathering point all Asterisk members had agreed upon.

Explosions were still going on all over the city's important points, but Noelle easily ignored that and landed right in a field surrounded by the ruins of buildings.

Noelle had gotten to the agreed place, but it seemed that she had come too soon because absolutely no Asterisk members had appeared yet.

For a moment, Noelle thought of helping them, but she immediately erased the thought as soon as she saw the figure of Colyn who came by lying on her pillow.

The flying speed of Colyn's pillow is not so good. So it took longer for him to get to the gathering point located in the suburbs.

Noelle took off her mask and waved her hand at Colyn who was getting closer to her.

"Souris, you're fast! Have you finished your part? "

Colyn asked him as he arrived right in front of Noelle.

There were absolutely no stains on either the pillow or his body. Which means, Colyn finished her work so quickly that there were no stains left.

Noelle could only smile wryly as she thought about how much damage Colyn had caused with her《Inviolable Area》 ability.

"Well, there's some problem with that. But, that shouldn't matter."

Colyn tilted her head in confusion, but she did not ask any further because Damian's figure suddenly appeared and approached them with Lucia.

"How's your share? " ask Damian.

Lucia who was walking beside him had re-installed a black cloth that covered his eyes. He walked with bloodstains on some parts of his clothes.

"Unfortunately no. I failed to kill the mayor because that bastard named Lucius was bothering me."

"Lucius? "

Upon hearing the name, Noelle could see that there was a fairly drastic change in expression on Damian's face.

Her eyes narrowed, and her gaze was sharp, as if implying on Noelle to continue her explanation.

Lucia who has the power of the eyes of the gods can certainly see the intent of Damian's gaze, and the thing Noelle is hiding. But, she decided to remain silent with a smile, letting Noelle take care of it all.

The only one who did not understand the situation was Colyn who looked at Noelle and Damian in confusion.

(What's going on? )

That was all he could think of when he saw that sudden change of atmosphere.

"Sourists. You mentioned Lucius, right? "

"Unn. Do you know him? "

Noelle asked to be sure. Although in fact, he already knew the answer.

When viewed from his uniform, Damian was a soldier from the Republic. What's more, high-ranking. It was impossible for him not to know a figure as strong as Lucius who was most likely to be on the battlefield often.

In response to his question, Damian nodded.

"I met him at a diplomatic meeting a few years ago, and .. Just to be sure, the Lucius you were referring to was Lucius Roux, right? "

Noelle nodded. Although Damian had previously said that he met Lucius at a diplomatic meeting, Noelle was easily aware that it was a lie.

"I see, yes .. Then, no more wrong. He was one of the Knight of Round members that existed in this Kingdom … "

Damian seemed to know Lucius very well, it made Noelle feel interested in scraping even deeper information. But, Damian would see his intentions if he asked further about their relationship.

In that case, he would have to shift the conversation to cover up his intentions that were beginning to be seen.

"Hey, actually ... What is a Knight of Round? "

Noelle decided to ask that instead. After all, he was also quite curious about what a Knight of Round was.

Of course he already had his own theories about what the unit really was, but Noelle still wanted to confirm it from people who knew them.

Damian seemed to be aware of Noelle's curiosity. He sighed and tried to escape from Noelle's curious gaze.

"In short, the Knight of Round is the name of the honorary knight unit in this Kingdom. Currently, there were only about 13 people occupying that position. They were called honorary knights because they were under the direct command of the King. Only the King's authority can move them."

(Ahh, I expected .. )

Noelle had guessed it when she saw the loyalty Lucius had shown before, but still she felt annoyed when she heard it directly from Damian.

Knight of Round, or often referred to as the King's personal unit. It was a unit of knights chosen to serve the King directly.

Even positions with high-level authority such as the Prince, Queen, and Duke could not move them except in the event of an urgent situation.

Therefore, all members of the Knight of Round are referred to as the strongest unit in various senses.

Each member has a force that can change the conditions of war in a short time, and they are also often assigned to guard in areas that are very prone to armed conflict.

"The person named Lucius Roux you fought is one of the Knight of Round members who has a strong influence in the Rondo region. No wonder he suddenly showed up and stopped you."

"Once, yes … "

Noelle nodded understandingly, but was then made aware of what Damian had said earlier.

"Wait, you said he had a strong influence here, right? "

"Yes? "

"If you knew about it, why didn't you warn anyone? "

If Damian had such information, he should have given it to all the Asterisk members at the time of the previous meeting. But, Damian did not do that and instead kept it a secret.

Anyone who saw his actions would immediately think that he was a traitor. Colyn was already about to have that thought, but suddenly Damian raised his hand.

"That's because I didn't know he was here. Earlier, I got word that Lucius would be in the neutral territory of Elfrieden. There's no way I thought he was in town."

Lucius's movements were monitored by the intelligence agents sent by the Republic, so Damian could easily trust the information the agents gave him.

But, perhaps one thing the agents never thought of was that Lucius had such a flexible movement that he was able to evade the scrutiny of all the agents the Republic had sent.

(Yahh, he is unfit to occupy that position if he cannot avoid spying.)

After the silence had stayed for a while, Damian spoke again.

"But .. You're really amazing to be able to stay alive after dealing with him. I hear he'll never be disinclined by his enemy."

(That's what happened.)

Noelle was only able to smile wryly. Unmistakably, Lucius was indeed very strong even when he was not in fighting mode, and became much stronger again after Noelle provoked him.

Moreover, Lucius possessed troublesome techniques that could disable most of the passive skills his opponent possessed. Due to the sudden effect of pain coming at her at that time, Noelle could barely think clearly. As a result, he was almost turned into minced meat by Lucius.

Fortunately, the strange technique that Lucius had used on Noelle to seal his passive skill had already disappeared. Now Noelle can remain calm without having to be disturbed by pain and continue to regenerate without worry.

Colyn now looked worried at Noelle who had faced Lucius. He looked at Noelle with a look of wonder if she was okay or not.

Colyn's sleepy expression accompanied by a slight sad look on her face reminded Noelle of the appearance of Olivia who was worrying about her some time ago.

Noelle smiled wryly at Colyn and leaned against one of the stone rubble that was near them.

"No need to worry about that. Somehow I managed to survive and left quickly to leave that Lucius without letting him follow me."

Damian then spoke after confirming Noelle's condition.

"You look fine. But ... It would be troublesome if you let go of the mayor like that."

Noelle raised one corner of her lips and looked at Damian fearlessly.

"Don't worry about that. If all goes according to my plan, that mayor won't survive for long."

"Whatchu mean? "

"Not something you should care about. For now, I already have a plan ready to be implemented at any time. That's all you need to know."

Damian didn't say anything more. And Colyn too.

The two of them simply stared at Noelle in silence, while Noelle slowly closed her eyes while feeling the coldness of the stone surface on her back.

For now, the first stage of his plan had been completed. He was far away from Lucius.

Although there were still some stages to complete, Noelle could not do much acting because she was short on pawns.

Previously, Noelle had arranged all things in such a way that Lucius would move as he had planned.

With regards to the plan he had just made a while ago, it seemed that Damian showed absolutely no sign of awareness of it. So, right now Noelle could still breathe quietly.

Although, he might have to perform some crazy maneuvers behind the scenes later.

"You did manage to escape from it, but .. Are you hurt? I can cure you if you want."

As Noelle silently thought about how all her plans were going, Lucia walked up to him and asked while tilting her head.

"No, that's not necessary. Most of the injuries I've had on my body are gone, I just need to remove some of the small wounds that remain."

Even as he was talking to everyone, his super-fast regeneration continued to work to remove all the injuries his body was going through.

From the start, Noelle wasn't so hurt, so Lucia didn't have to worry about it that way.

"Alright if that's what you said," Lucia said with a smile.

Shortly after, the figure of Asher appeared by falling from the sky and landed gently on the ground.

There were almost no stains on his body. Her hair was clean, and so were her clothes.

Only, his face that was already free from the mask looked grim.

Noelle was curious as to what had happened, but she decided not to ask him. It was a wise choice because it seemed Asher was in a bad mood.

It would be troublesome if Noelle triggered her emotions even further.

Asher looked at the four Asterisk members who had gathered, then traced around him.

"Has Mordred and Caver yet to come? "

It's only natural that he said that. When compared to Noelle targeting the mayor's office, and Lucia targeting the military headquarters, destroying production areas and warehouses should not be a big deal.

Tania and Arnaz should have gotten the part done early.

Ethan is not with them either.

Ethan targets a section of the Central Administration Department, it's pretty close to Colyn's previous position.

It was indeed an important point, but the guarding there should not be so strict. At the very least, the defense there might be weaker when compared to the mayor's office.

"Hey ... I have a bad feeling here .. Can we catch up with them? "

Just by thinking about all that, Noelle already had the conclusion that something had happened to the three of them.

For that, he decided to investigate.

"You're right. Even though Ortis looked like a child, he was still strong. There was no way he would spend a long time just for this matter."

Although Damian feels very bad when it comes to imagining Ethan committing murder, he can't do anything to do it.

More precisely, he cannot.

Although Ethan is still a child, he is one of eight people chosen to be a member of the current generation of Asterisk. Just that was enough for Damian to come to the conclusion that Ethan was not a normal human being.

"Are we going to help them? But ... Where are they now? "

Colyn asked them while both of her legs swung freely in the air.

"About an hour has passed since this operation began. Assuming that they were all done with the task given, they shouldn't be far from the pre-set location."

Noelle then presented the map in front of everyone.

"From the three of them, only Mordred and Caver got parts with adjacent locations. As for Ortis, he was quite far away from the two of them."

Damian nodded lightly.

"Considering some of the explosions that occurred earlier, it should have come from the production area building. Mordred Locations. But the explosion did not happen again. Which means, there's a chance that they've all moved on."

"Narrower range. Mordred could not use magic. He should have taken longer to finish his job. While Caver and Ortis are quite good at large-scale attacks," Asher added.

While the three of them were busy discussing, Colyn just boredly swung a second time while watching them all. While Lucia who was beside him just stood there, as if ignoring everything around him.

"That means ... Their location should be around the production plant that's Mordred's part, right? Then let's go there soon."

Saying that, Noelle's figure then disappeared and reappeared several tens of meters ahead. It was clear that he was in a hurry.

Asher ignores her and follows Noelle from behind, while Damian catches up with them.

Meanwhile, Colyn and Lucia were left behind …

" … Do you need a ride? "

" … Please."

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As soon as Noelle and the others reached the location where they thought Tania, Arnaz, and Ethan were, they were immediately startled by the sight before them.

The collapsed building thus made its former shape become invisible again, and the ground surface was shattered with many strange black liquids that had a pungent smell.

The black blobs that were actually Arnaz's army of micro-insects roamed uncontrollably, making him display such a terrifying and disgusting sight.

Noelle had guessed that all the insects Arnaz controlled had corrosive attributes, but she did not expect that the damage would be this big.

While he was thinking that, a strange fight continued to unfold before his eyes.

Arnaz and Tania jump in all directions with no clear direction, as if avoiding something, while Ethan does his best to keep his position at the top of the tree while throwing some playing cards as weapons.

However, Noelle could not see what or who they were fighting at the moment.

Some stone debris was seen floating and thrown towards Noelle, but the stone was instantly shattered once the tip of Asher's spear touched it.

"Don't let your guard down" Asher said briefly.

Noelle remained silent and nodded in exchange for thanks, then turned around and looked at Lucia who was sitting quietly on Colyn's lazy pillow.

"Can you see what they're up against? "

Neither Arnaz, Ethan, nor Tania seemed to be aware of their presence, so Noelle took advantage of the opportunity to seek information first.

Noelle had information to some extent about the ability of the eyes that Lucia possessed. When she first found out, Noelle thought it was amazing before Lucia finally told her about the side effects that the eye had given her.

Lucia's eye ability was something needed to analyze the situation that Asterisk was facing right now. Without it, Noelle might find it difficult to create a backup plan if the main plan fails later.

Lucia remained silent as she watched Tania and Arnaz who kept moving to avoid one by one the attacks that came approaching them from an unknown source.

Before long, Lucia responded by frowning.

Noelle tilted her head slightly. "Augers? What's wrong? "

" … This is strange .. They should not be fighting anyone right now, but .. Attacks keep coming … "

"Whatchu mean? "

Damian who heard that immediately narrowed his eyes and implied to Lucia to continue her sentence.

"No one was there. Not apart from the three of them, and the five of us. The attacks that continue to come to them, just appear from empty space … "

Colyn still did not understand what Lucia was saying, but she realized that the situation was so serious that everyone changed their expressions.

There was nothing wrong with Lucia's vision. His ability still works as well as usual. However, for some reason he could not see the figure who launched the attack.

Physical form, soul, attack connection, magic, emitted aura, air of existence, or even the concept of the roots of the muasal. There are absolutely no signs of life to be found in a normal entity.

That is, what they are fighting at the moment is something else.

Lucia suddenly recalled what Olpus had said earlier.

In this world, there was a figure that surpassed human common sense, yet had a lower degree of deity.

Their existence was abstract and impossible to understand even by the eyes of a god.

"I really don't understand this … "

Lucia shook her head quickly, as if rejecting the reality she had just seen.

Noelle was naturally aware that something was wrong was going on. She looked at Lucia with an expressionless face, and spoke in her cold tone, "Explain everything you know."

Although his appearance was no different from most teenagers, the killing intent emanating from him even made Damian, who was actually an experienced military member, feel a slight tremble.

Withholding that killing intent was not a problem for Lucia, but she still had to explain it to Noelle for the success of their mission.

That way, Lucia finally explained everything that was on her mind.

Well, Asher, Damian, especially Chloe, doesn't really understand what she's saying. But, Noelle understood that well.

His forehead was furrowed, and the two ends of his eyebrows met each other, making him display a very clear expression of anxiety.

If what Lucia said was indeed true, then it would be a dangerous situation. At least, that was what Noelle thought.

After hearing everything, Noelle concluded that the opponents Arnaz, Ethan, and Tania were currently facing with great difficulty were something abstract and paradoxical.

The figure exists, and at the same time it does not. He exists, but he doesn't. All the actions he took became something real, but at the same time neither did.

That's really something that's really hard to understand. Briefly, Noelle described it as the 'will of nature'.

The enemy that Asterisks faced, was a paradoxical figure that they could not possibly understand. Physiological non-existence.

As Noelle was busy thinking to herself, several other large rocks suddenly appeared and almost fell on her. However, the rocks were easily split into pieces with both swords in Damian's hands.

"What are you doing? This is not the time to daydream. We need to help them, and leave immediately."

" … You're right."

Noelle nodded, ending the topic she was thinking about in her head.

However, just as they were all about to act, a flash of light suddenly appeared in the sky, displaying something like a beautiful white comet in the night sky.

Noelle and the others fell silent while staring at that 'comet.

'The 'Comet' was shining so brightly, that it made the scenery around them look like during the day.

Moments after the 'comet' flashed, another bullet-like flash of light suddenly appeared and followed the 'comet' from behind.

A second later, they realized that it was not actually a comet.

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