Why Did You Mess With Him? He’s the Evil God’s Lackey! Chapter 123

Chapter 123: Wait, Why Are You So Familiar With This Place?

Gwen Delin.

Upon hearing the na of the Knight standing before them, the crowd imdiately drew in a sharp collective breath.

They exchanged glances, murmuring among themselves.

"Hey, did she say her surna's Delin?"

"Hiss, Angus's daughter? That old man actually has such a beautiful daughter?"

"You're all missing the point—she's Viktor's fiancée… the one on the wanted notice."

"Damn, that scary guy's…"

Vladimir, too, felt sowhat taken aback. He studied Gwen, puzzled.

"You're Viktor's fiancée?"

"Interesting. You didn't co here to drag him back and make him confess, did you?"

Gwen's na didn't carry the sa overwhelming reputation as Viktor's. Within the Northern Frontier, only those among the northern Knights would have known her na.

Vladimir naturally had no recollection of her.

No excess emotion showed on Gwen's face—she spoke as though simply recounting facts.

"I have already co to understand the full sequence of events."

Before arriving here, Gwen had made a stop at her ho.

Her second brother remained unconscious and bedridden. Her father appeared outwardly unhard, yet his eyes were vacant, his reason not yet restored.

When she saw the state of the two of them, Gwen felt a slight surprise.

Because she realized she was even calr than she had imagined herself to be.

These two people before her were, after all, her family.

And yet her emotions stirred neither toward grief nor joy.

Perhaps she was simply too cold-blooded.

But she also knew—she hadn't co back for these two family mbers who were family in na alone.

Kavra had told her it was their father who had struck first, and that Jaxiu had been crippled for threatening Viktor.

And now, Viktor was nowhere to be found. With only Kavra's words to go on, there was no way to convince the northern Knights.

Naturally, there was no way to prove Viktor's innocence either.

The wanted notice was still circulating across the Northern Frontier, and so Gwen had to find him.

If Viktor truly had intentionally hard Angus, then Gwen would challenge him to a fair and just duel.

Of course, Gwen was more inclined to believe Viktor was innocent.

She wanted to trust her sister—and she wanted to try trusting Viktor too.

"I only want to find Viktor. But on my own, I cannot cross the Extre Northern Ice Plains."

"So you ca to us—the Pallid Mage Society?"

At so point, Vladimir had tucked a cigar between his lips.

Whenever he needed to think sothing through, he would always light one up.

He hadn't lit it yet, though—he simply looked at Gwen, his tone carrying a note of gravity.

"I have a rough picture of the situation now. But…"

He glanced back at Erika over his shoulder, then turned to fix his gaze on Gwen again.

"How do you intend to prove you're Viktor's fiancée? Or rather… given what has happened between your two families—"

"Do you truly believe the engagent between you two still holds?"

Gwen opened her mouth to speak, but before she could get a word out, Erika stepped forward from behind her and pulled back her hood.

"She is indeed Viktor's fiancée, Uncle Vladimir."

"Hm?"

Vladimir cast a sowhat displeased sidelong glance at Erika, but when she casually flicked her wrist and sent a fla spell curling through the air to light the cigar between his lips, he couldn't help but let a smile break across his face.

"Long ti no see, Knight Commander Gwen."

Erika gave a graceful bow toward Gwen in her silver armor, smiling elegantly.

Gwen turned to look at the slight figure of Erika, and for the first ti, a flicker of surprise crossed her face.

"Miss Erika?"

At the sight of it, Vladimir scratched his head with a sowhat pained expression.

"Tch. I didn't expect you two to actually know each other. Fine, but my question hasn't changed."

"Viktor has slaughtered a great many of the Savage Beasts on our behalf. And your own standing is… not exactly favorable."

"I'll be plain with you—the only reason my boys have been keeping their tempers in check is out of respect for you being Viktor's fiancée."

"As for that pack of northern Knights from your family—hmph. A bunch of people squatting on the toilet without doing their business."

Gwen's expression didn't shift, but compared to before, there was a new edge of resolve to her voice.

"If Viktor is confird innocent, I will personally arrest my father and Jaxiu Delin, and assu the position of Family Head in my father's place."

"I swear on my honor as a Knight, and stand accountable for my words."

As the last of her words settled, the contempt that had lingered on the faces of the Pallid Mage Corps mbers dissolved entirely, replaced by a wave of solemn respect.

The Pallid Mage Society had dealt with those northern Knights for over a decade—they knew perfectly well what sort of people that self-righteous lot truly were.

Those Knights did nothing of substance, yet the ones who fancied themselves champions of justice placed their honor above all else.

A Knight did not swear oaths lightly.

Once an oath was made, if they failed to see it through—

The power that sustained them would slowly fade away.

Even if they still called themselves Knights, they would no longer possess a Knight's strength.

Vladimir gave a nod.

The young woman before him did indeed carry an exceptionally firm resolve.

As long as she assud the position of Family Head, her engagent to Viktor would naturally remain in effect.

There would naturally be no question of the engagent being dissolved.

So until Viktor openly declared their engagent null and void, she remained his fiancée.

"Haah."

Vladimir let out a weary sigh.

He had wanted to smooth the path for his friend's daughter, but the girl wouldn't do her part.

Vladimir looked at Gwen again with fresh eyes, exhaling a puff of breath—impossible to tell whether it was tobacco smoke or the white frost of a breath in the cold.

"I'll allow you to travel with us. As it happens, I need you to guide the way."

"But there's one thing I'll say upfront."

"As a Knight, don't expect the Mages to protect you."

Gwen quietly nodded and moved of her own accord to the very front of the formation, her expression cool and composed.

No further objections ca from the rest of the group—including Vladimir.

Because everyone understood: Gwen was their guide.

With her at the front, they would save themselves many wrong turns.

***

The interior of the Temple was covered in green, protruding rock—jagged and seemingly random in its arrangent.

Before Viktor stood several great doors, trembling faintly with a white luminescence.

Mysterious constellations seed to be carved across the stone doors, emanating a powerful presence from beyond.

There were 10 doors in all, arranged in a ring throughout the Temple.

Viktor studied the Wind Temple in silence, turning it over in his mind.

In the ga, there were 6 major Temples—and this place was one of them.

Within each Temple stood 10 entrances just like these before him.

Behind each entrance, a powerful guardian stood watch over the elental energy within.

The guardians' power scaled from low to high in sequence—the weakest at Level 15, the strongest at Level 50.

Though the final Boss had a high level, the very nature of these beings capped their ceiling. They were nowhere near comparable to even a fraction of a Calamity's power.

Coming back to himself, Viktor watched the great stone door slowly swing open.

Dust rained down from the shuddering fra, accompanied by a deep, rolling boom. A pitch-black, cavernous passage appeared before him.

A faint current of air drifted out from within.

Viktor walked steadily through the 1st door.

He stepped inside. The door slowly swung shut behind him.

And yet before it had even fully closed, Viktor had already walked back out through the passage.

A white aura coiled around his body—like a spirit.

With each trial cleared, Viktor could feel distinctly a cool rush of energy pouring into him.

Viktor glanced at his status bar.

【Wind Attribute Power 10%】

He calmly watched the stone door slowly open, then strode forward through it.

With the 2nd door's opening, Viktor stepped inside swiftly.

The outco wasn't much different from before.

A short ti later, he erged.

Another white wisp of energy had settled around him.

The power of wind.

Then the 3rd door. The 4th.

He moved steadily through door after door of stone, and each ti he ca out, one more white plu of energy could be seen curling around his body.

Viktor regarded the accumulating buffs in silence.

【Wind Attribute Power 50%】

At last, with the first 5 doors cleared, a ferocious gust of wind ca howling straight at him.

The powerful storm sent his coat snapping and billowing, whipping with a loud whoosh.

The opening of the 6th door seed to carry a different weight to it.

He pushed against the wind and slowly walked in. The deeper he went into the passage, the more strangely the wind subsided.

By the ti the gale had died away entirely, Viktor found himself looking at surroundings completely unlike anything in the previous 5 doors.

This trial ground was considerably larger than the ones before it, and the great rock overhead had been carved into the shape of a part of so beast's body.

A white radiance lit the vast expanse of the trial ground.

"Just as I expected."

In the ga, the first 5 doors had been a relatively simple, straightforward difficulty—

A level that the vast majority of players could clear.

It wasn't until the 6th trial that the difficulty spiked sharply upward.

Gradually, from the surrounding stone walls, a violent gust erupted outward.

The gust twisted and reshaped itself, assembling before their eyes into so strange creature.

It seed to have no fixed body—a mass of white smoke and dust swirled together, its formless shape undulating and shifting.

Its arm-equivalents fractured off into several scattered clouds of smoke, each taking on a different shape.

Long spear, battle axe, keen blade…

Weapons cycling through a hundred forms, they ca crashing toward Viktor in a fierce assault.

Unfortunately for the creature, Viktor was a Mage—and the last thing he feared was close combat!

In the blink of an eye, Viktor's hands were instantly enveloped in dense natural energy. A long spear and a keen blade materialized in his grip, burning with fierce fla.

As the tendrils of smoke ca rushing in, Viktor sidestepped, striking toward the hazy body of the cloud.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

The smoke shattered the instant it was struck. Viktor picked his timing precisely and spotted the orbs embedded within each of those wisps.

He hurled the long spear!

Crack!

The orb instantly crumbled to dust.

Stripped of the orb's power source, that tendril of smoke began trembling and shuddering in the air, dissolving into a current of air that dispersed throughout the trial ground.

As one tendril vanished, the remaining cloud seed to attack with even greater ferocity.

But Viktor had long since mapped their patterns completely.

He relied on swift evasion to avoid them perfectly.

The remaining clouds of smoke were naturally dood to the sa fate.

One by one, Viktor destroyed them all.

Viktor landed calmly, brushing the dust from his body, and watched as a wisp of white smoke coiled around him once more.

He said nothing, turned, and walked back out of the trial ground.

With the stone door open, Viktor moved toward the next door of trials.

The 7th. The 8th.

Those stone doors might as well have been decorations. One after another, Viktor cleared them with ease.

Weija had been brimming with questions for so ti. It wasn't until Viktor walked out of the 9th door that the crow finally voiced what had been gnawing at him.

"Viktor, be honest with —how many tis have you actually been here?"

"Why are you so familiar with this place?"

Viktor didn't answer imdiately. He simply looked toward the final stone door, responding to Weija in an even tone:

"Lost count."

Standing inside the Temple, Viktor watched the last trial slowly open before him.

"Let's go."

He passed through the still corridor and arrived at the final trial ground.

This place was vast beyond asure—like a pocket dinsion.

The blue sky above stretched on, peaceful and expansive.

Beneath his feet, the ground was blanketed in thick cloud cover. As far as the eye could see, there was nothing but white.

Countless pillars stood upright across the cloud layer.

Viktor peered down through the clouds at what lay beneath the pillars.

Bottomless.

Viktor walked steadily forward and took his place atop one of the pillars.

In that mont, he felt as though he stood among the clouds—suspended between sky and earth.

With that movent of his, in the blink of an eye—

A ferocious gale ca surging toward him, slamming against his body with full force.

Viktor tucked his hands into his pockets, feeling the hurricane batter his collar in wild, unrelenting waves.

Then, at last—

A massive bird, its body bristling with white feathers, slowly burst through layer upon layer of cloud, beating the air with its wings as it erged and ca to face him.

It bore a pair of enormous white wings shaped like great hands, ceaselessly fanning great gusts of wind.

Its body was laced with patterns of azure blue, and a formidable elental wind power erupted from within it.

It looked down at the one who had co, its eyes filled with contempt.

"Ree—!"

A roar rang out. The fierce cry reverberated through the entire sky, resonating like the clear, sonorous toll of a great bell.

Viktor looked up at it, his face expressionless. The patterns on the back of his coat behind him slowly lit up in 2 distinct colors.

A long health bar appeared before Viktor's eyes.

Lv50—

"Looks like the battle is beginning."