Chapter 81: Rudeus's Enemy is Hitogami (Human God)!? (Patreon)

In Eris's eyes...

Rudeus was an absolute, unmatched power!!!

All this time, she had received so much care from him — and deep down, without even realizing it, she had come to treat him as the center of everything.

So — since Rudeus had said the steward's loyalty had wavered, then it had wavered, without question!!!

He might still hold onto some shred of loyalty, but anything less than complete loyalty was complete disloyalty!!!

A man like that deserved to die!!!!

Watching Eris's reaction, Rudeus smiled and nodded.

After letting Nanahoshi Shizuka come in as well, he said with a smile, "Now then, let me go over the plan for what comes next."

As his words settled, everyone nodded and waited quietly for what he would say.

"The main reason I brought Eris here," Rudeus said with a smile, "besides seeing what's become of her hometown, is to bring you along too, Ghislaine, and help rescue my parents."

Ghislaine nodded. "Sure."

"Once I've rescued my parents," Rudeus went on, "I'll put all of you somewhere safe and hidden. Then you'll wait there for me for a while."

"When I get back, I'll bring Eris's parents and grandfather back to life. After that, I'll head to Ranoa University of Magic to see Sylphiette, and reach out to Ariel Anemoi Asura, one of the Asura Kingdom's crown princesses."

"From there, returning to the Asura Kingdom should be simple enough."

Hearing this, Ghislaine's eyes went wide. "Rudeus — you can bring people back to life!?"

Rudeus nodded, smiling. "Yes."

"Th-that's wonderful!!!"

Delighted, Ghislaine clenched her fists and pumped them in the air.

All this time she had blamed herself deeply, grieving over the deaths of Sauros and Eris's parents. But now — everything could be set right again!!

And Rudeus could even reach one of the crown princesses. By then, the Fittoa Region, currently in other hands, should be able to return to its rightful owners!!!

The more Ghislaine thought about it, the more excited she became. Eris, too, was overjoyed.

But the sharp-eyed Nanahoshi Shizuka frowned. "Senior Rudeus — where will you go after you drop us off?"

At her question, every gaze turned at once to Rudeus.

He only smiled. "Just to be safe, I'm planning to wipe out every last one of Hitogami's followers — the North God, the Nether King, the Sword God, all of them, without exception!!"

Ghislaine asked in confusion, "Hitogami?"

Eris explained, "Hitogami has always been Rudeus's enemy. He's one of the seven oldest gods in the world — an incredibly powerful being."

"Uh..."

Ghislaine blinked, feeling as though her heart had taken a heavy blow. How had one trip away resulted in an enemy this terrifying?

Forget Hitogami — the North God and the Sword God alone were already among the strongest fighters in the world right now!!! And yet Rudeus planned to wipe all of them out, just like that!?

She had always known his own strength was formidable. But it had only been a little over two years — had he really grown this strong already!? Wasn't that leap a bit too large!?

Seeing Ghislaine's flustered expression, Eris smiled. "Don't worry, Ghislaine. On the way here, we ran into the pinnacle of the world's fighting strength — Dragon God Orsted. A few days back, did you feel the earth-shattering upheaval out by the Red Wyrm Mountains?"

Ghislaine stared at Rudeus, utterly dumbfounded. Then she turned to Eris and gave a small nod.

Seeing this, Eris continued, "Rudeus has already completely defeated Dragon God Orsted. So next, beating Hitogami's followers — who aren't even as strong as Orsted — those Sword God, Death God, Underworld King types will be nothing to him!!!"

Rudeus nodded, smiling. "Don't worry — I'm quite confident about this."

"Uh..."

Ghislaine, hit with far too much information all at once, felt her mind go hazy.

After a moment, once she'd finally rebooted from her mental shutdown, she rushed up to Rudeus, unable to believe it. Grabbing his arms with both hands, she demanded, "Rudeus — just how strong are you right now!?"

Rudeus smiled. "Well, since I've already defeated Dragon God Orsted, and Orsted is God-rank — a very powerful God-rank, at that — then whoever beat him is naturally God-rank as well. So don't worry, Ghislaine. Killing the Sword God and the rest will be no problem at all."

"Hssh..." She sucked in a sharp breath.

Even though she'd already heard it from Rudeus and Eris, every time the words "Dragon God Orsted, defeated" reached her ears, it felt utterly unreal.

How old was Rudeus even!? All told, he couldn't be even fourteen years old yet!?

And yet — that was exactly how it was. Rudeus had already taken down the legendary Dragon God Orsted. And what had she herself been doing at that age?

Just as Ghislaine sat there in disbelief — not far away, Dragon God Orsted, who had been following Rudeus and the others all this way,

ever since Rudeus had begun studying the Dragon God's Protection, had unexpectedly come up with a modified version of it.

Once fitted onto Orsted, it could take the fear and intimidation his mere presence inflicted on all living things and firmly suppress it to within a one-meter radius.

That was what let him get this close to a gathering of humans without setting off widespread panic.

Still, even so — right at this very moment, Dragon God Orsted, listening to Rudeus and Eris repeat, again and again, that he had been defeated, that Orsted had been defeated—

was thoroughly, utterly irritated!!!!

But — not long ago, when Rudeus had gone head-to-head with him, it had nearly triggered his own reincarnation mechanism, sending him back to be reborn over a hundred years in the past — and that much was an undeniable fact.

Even now, the magic power he'd exhausted in that battle still hadn't recovered much.

Feeling the hollow emptiness inside him where his mana should be, Orsted's face turned cold, and he nearly turned to walk away.

But after thinking it over, he decided to come back and listen a while longer after all.

Forcing down the immense irritation in his chest, Dragon God Orsted crouched in a corner, quietly listening to the voices from inside the tent.