Childhood Friend of the Zenith Chapter 1166

A section of the forest was shrouded in darkness.

The thick scent of burnt flesh permeated the air.

Sizzle.

The crackling of fire mixed with the acrid stench of charred skin, stinging the nose.

“Tsk.”

Spitting to the side, I casually waved my hand. A slight shift of my internal energy swept away the foul stench.

The breeze carried it away as I turned my gaze forward.

“……”

The man had already breathed his last.

What was once the Fire Artisan Demon was now nothing more than a blackened husk.

“Hmm.”

I lightly stomped my foot.

Crunch.

With just that, the body crumbled into dust and vanished.

“Maybe I overdid it?”

It was my first time conducting torture after gaining this much power.

Maybe that’s why I had a hard time controlling myself.

“Looks like I’ll need to practice this too.”

I had to refine my control. If I wasn’t careful, I’d end up killing my targets before getting any information out of them.

Like just now.

I narrowed my eyes in frustration.

There was still much I wanted to hear, but I never got the chance.

The Fire Artisan Demon simply couldn’t withstand it for long.

‘In that case, I should’ve just demonized him.’

Yes, I should have forced him into demonic transformation and extracted the information that way.

But instead, I wasted time playing with torture.

“Tsk.”

Clicking my tongue, I dusted off my hands.

Still, it wasn’t a complete loss.

‘At least I found out why he was here.’

The Fire Artisan Demon.

One of the Four Demonic Monarchs, infamous for his murderous nature.

Or rather, he used to be.

‘Because the moment he met me, he was already dead.’

Not just him—his entire title of Demonic Monarch was in the past now.

From what I knew, the Fire Artisan Demon…

‘Was supposed to have been killed by the Martial Alliance on the frontlines.’

After raping the daughter of a famous merchant guild leader,

He fled to the battlefield to hide, only to be discovered and executed by the Martial Alliance.

His death had been pitiful, disgraceful, and well-known to all.

I had thought he was nothing more than a foolish brute.

But now…

‘This doesn’t add up.’

Meeting him in person gave me pause.

‘It wasn’t just about hiding on the frontlines, was it?’

He didn’t just come here to lay low.

‘Y-You… are you here for that too…!? Are you the contact…?’

The Fire Artisan Demon had come to the battlefield with a purpose.

Yes, he was trying to stay out of sight, but more importantly—he was after something.

‘What was he looking for?’

What could be so important that he risked coming here?

And—

‘Where did he even get that information?’

If he came knowing something, then someone must have told him.

Something stank about all of this.

‘There’s something here.’

A deeper plot was brewing.

‘And there’s a contact.’

The Fire Artisan Demon was supposed to meet someone here.

“Hmm.”

My eyes darted around as I casually flicked my hand.

Fwoooosh—!!!

Flames erupted, consuming the corpses littering the ground.

I disposed of the bodies the Fire Artisan Demon had killed.

Then, I perched myself atop a nearby boulder.

‘That leaves only one option.’

I didn’t know what exactly was going on,

But I did know that someone was supposed to show up.

Which meant—

‘I’ll wait.’

Not for long, but just enough to see who would come.

For now, I decided to pass the time.

**********

A short while later

Time trickled by as I sat atop the boulder.

Not too much had passed—perhaps just under half an hour?

The night was still deep, and the moon hung high in the sky.

Just as I started getting bored and considered leaving—

‘Hm?’

Something flickered within my expanded sensory field.

‘Someone’s coming.’

A human.

Not a beast.

‘Lucky me.’

Didn’t seem to be from the Martial Alliance.

Most likely, this was the contact the Fire Artisan Demon had mentioned.

Now was the time.

Vwooom.

I focused my strength on my heart.

And then—

Crack. Crrrack!

My bones twisted, my body contorting as my form began to shift.

In mere moments, I had taken on the appearance of the Fire Artisan Demon.

“Aah.”

Even my voice had changed.

It wasn’t perfect, and my body wasn’t an exact replica,

But at the very least, I had copied his face and external features.

‘This should be enough.’

Even if the voice wasn’t flawless, it was close enough.

That would have to do.

As I waited—

“Are you the Fire Artisan Demon?”

Someone had arrived.

“That would be me.”

I responded smoothly, lifting my gaze to meet the figure before me.

Their face was obscured by a veiled mask.

One thing was clear—they were a man.

‘I could push my energy perception further and see through that mask…’

But the man was using an energy-obscuring technique.

And given that I wasn’t fully used to this transformed body, forcing more internal energy into my senses would be tricky.

‘Hmm.’

For now, I needed to gather more information.

“It’s an honor. You look as formidable as expected.”

“I hear that often. So, what is it you wanted to see me for?”

“…Hm?”

The man’s reaction was slightly off.

Damn. That wasn’t the right response.

‘Was I the one supposed to request this meeting?’

A brief pause.

I had missed the perfect timing to answer.

But then—

“You already know the reason, don’t you?”

Fortunately, it seemed like I had guessed correctly.

He was the one who had arranged this meeting.

“You may know the reason, but I wished to hear it once more.”

“…As meticulous as they say, I see.”

I had managed to dodge suspicion—barely.

The fact that Qi Translation Technique limited my facial expressions was proving to be useful.

“The request remains the same as before.”

Swish.

The man pulled out a sealed letter from his robe.

“I wish for you to take me to the Vigo hidden within this forest. In return, I shall grant you your freedom.”

“……”

Vigo?

My ears perked at the unfamiliar word.

There’s a Vigo inside the battlefield?

I had never heard anything about such a thing existing here.

“Freedom, you say…? And how exactly do you intend to grant it?”

Before asking about the Vigo, I wanted to hear more about the offer—the kind of information that could have lured the Fire Artisan Demon in the first place.

It was necessary to avoid raising needless suspicion.

“Your identity will be erased, and the Fire Artisan Demon will be declared dead here.”

“……”

“Your corpse, mauled by beasts, will be recovered by the Martial Alliance. They will report your execution to the main sect. From there, I shall provide you with a new identity, one that I have already prepared. Once this is done, the Martial Alliance will no longer pursue you. What do you think?”

‘Hah.’

I scoffed internally.

…If that’s true,

Then the story of how the Fire Artisan Demon supposedly died here could be entirely different.

‘He might have actually survived and returned under a new identity.’

If what this man said was true—if the Fire Artisan Demon had faked his death—

Then he wasn’t truly killed by the Martial Alliance on the battlefield.

Instead, he had disappeared after erasing all traces of himself.

“…Hmm. Not a bad offer.”

I gave a small nod.

Now, what should I do?

Should I capture this man and force answers out of him?

After a brief moment of thought—

“Fine.”

I replied.

“Let’s do it your way.”

For now, I would watch and see how things played out.

**********

After finishing our conversation, I moved alongside the man.

Since I had no idea where we were headed, I simply followed his lead.

‘Who is he?’

As we walked, the question gnawed at me.

Who was this man?

What kind of person would make such a request to someone like the Fire Artisan Demon, one of the Four Demonic Monarchs?

And more importantly—

‘Is there really something called Vigo?’

If something like that existed inside the battlefield—

‘Why didn’t I know about it?’

Why hadn’t I heard anything about it before?

The battlefield was heavily monitored by the Martial Alliance.

But it also technically fell under the jurisdiction of the Gu Family.

‘…Of course, I don’t know everything.’

Did my father know about this?

Did he know there was something hidden in the battlefield?

‘Who knows.’

Then again, this Vigo might not even be real.

I couldn’t trust anything so easily.

Right now, only one thing mattered.

‘Something is happening here.’

I was told to investigate an unusual occurrence.

And that meant something was unfolding in this place.

Keeping my senses sharp, I continued walking.

“This way.”

“Mm.”

I followed the man’s guidance, stepping deeper into the battlefield.

Along the way, monsters occasionally appeared, but dealing with them was no trouble.

They were nothing more than green and blue-rank beasts.

Aside from that—

‘There are some martial artists around.’

I could sense patrols of orthodox warriors in the area.

But not just them—

‘There are unorthodox fighters too.’

The battlefield was a lawless zone, after all.

In this era, it was a time when the unorthodox sects ran even wilder than in my own.

It wasn’t unusual to see some of them lurking here.

‘But there are more than I expected.’

Their numbers were surprisingly high.

And worse—

‘They reek of bloodlust.’

It seemed like they had been fighting both monsters and orthodox warriors non-stop.

“Dieee—!”

“Graaah—!”

I swiftly dealt with the ones who rushed at us.

I killed the unorthodox fighters and merely incapacitated the orthodox ones.

It took some effort to do it without drawing suspicion.

‘This is a damn mess.’

This battlefield was different from what I remembered.

Ordinarily, humans wouldn’t be able to roam freely here like this.

‘There’s no structure.’

The Martial Alliance, the Peng Clan—those in charge of this battlefield—

Their patrols and operations were anything but systematic.

Even someone as reckless as me could tell things were a complete disaster.

‘It’s a fucking mess.’

Suppressing a sigh, I pressed forward.

“We have arrived.”

Eventually, we reached our destination.

‘Hm?’

Something felt… off.

‘Who are they?’

We had arrived at a small clearing in the battlefield.

There, two figures awaited us.

One was a woman.

The other was an old man.

“What is this?”

Before I could question the man who had guided me,

I felt it.

‘That bloodlust…’

The killing intent emanating °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° from them was intense.

These two were no ordinary people.

Their martial prowess was nothing to scoff at.

As I processed this, the man stepped forward and addressed them.

“Fire Artisan Demon.”

“Yeah.”

“You were the one who asked about the location of Vigo. You said you knew where it was and that you would guide me to it. In exchange, you wanted your identity cleansed.”

“……”

“Then why did you ask me for directions?”

Ah.

Hearing that, I froze for a moment.

So that’s how it was…

“I messed up.”

I had made a mistake from the start.

That was the tricky part about acting.

“You’re not the Fire Artisan Demon, are you?”

The man’s eyes narrowed.

I gave him a sheepish grin.

“Who knows?”

The moment I spoke, the two experts beside him lunged at me.

“Guess you’ll have to find out yourself.”

I stomped lightly on the ground, summoning black flames to my hands.