Chapter 270: Who is the Target?

Axel was just a mortal.

Thus, his stats had a limit. The normal limit was 2,500 points for the SS-Rank. Anything beyond that was God’s territory, unable to be stepped on by one who’s still in the mortal plane.

However, with the help of his accessories, the System’s stat boost, and the additional boost from the Soul Seals, he was able to increase his stats beyond the normal limit. Even if Axel’s stats exceeded what mortals could achieve, they were still far from reaching God’s territory.

Axel fighting Wrath—the Demon King—and destroying his clone was basically the furthest he could achieve. Anything beyond that point was unrealistic.

Of course, that included actually besting a God—a Dragon.

Fafnir’s claw was pulled out of Axel’s chest roughly. Losing all support, his body fell straight down, almost like a ragdoll. Axel was still conscious and alive; however, he could tell that his injury was far from being “negligible.”

’Shit…’

His thoughts were getting slower. He can’t even think straight.

All he knew was that death was knocking on his door and that Eve was in danger. Fafnir just flew away, heading right to where Eve was, after all.

“M-MASTER!”

Fenrir finally snapped back to reality at that moment.

Using her ability, she teleported right below the falling Axel, holding his body and slowing it down as it fell. Carefully, gently, like holding a baby.

As soon as they landed, Fenrir withdrew an Ultimate Recovery Potion and literally doused Axel with its contents. As there’s a large hole on his chest, the potion quickly entered his system, and—

FLASH!

With a blast of green light, he recovered to full health. If not for the large hole left in his coat, nobody would’ve thought he was actually injured.

“I’m fine… but Eve…!” Axel groaned, trying to stand up.

However, just as he thought he was fully healed—

“COUGH!”

He vomited blood.

It was such a sudden thing that Even Fenrir couldn’t process it. All she knew was that, on the chest that was recovered using the potion, green “veins” appeared.

“Poison!” She declared fast.

Fafnir was a dragon of greed, of destruction, and of poison. Getting poisoned was largely possible. Instead, if the fight continued, being poisoned was the most likely way for all of them to die.

Fenrir moved as if wanting to help Axel, but the person himself raised a hand to stop her.

Right, he can handle himself already. It’s not like he’s dying again or anything.

Axel felt that his blood was burning one moment and then cold at another.

The potion that remained in his system was healing the injured internal organs, blood vessels, nerves, and everything else. But the poison was spreading around too, moving fast enough to not get fully cleared by the potion.

And even if it gets caught, it’s not like the Ultimate Recovery Potion can remove poisons.

As the cat-and-mouse race of the potion and poison was happening, Axel felt weaker.

It felt as if his body was undergoing destruction and reconstruction dozens of times per second. If he could lessen the pain by shouting, even if it’s shameful, then he would definitely do so. However, he knew that it would only be a waste of energy.

’First, mana!’

He thought as he withdrew another ultimate mana potion.

Bearing through the pain, he drank the potion and felt his mana reserves return. He wasn’t really sure “where” the mana that “returned” came from, but it’s right there, inside him now, undeniably.

After his mana recovered, he quickly recast Overdrive, boosting his body at the cost of 1% of his mana per second.

The extra boost also upped his resilience and recovery, which reduced the damage from the poison inside his body. Although it was now “contained,” it’s not like the poison went away. It was still there, but now, it was dealing less damage.

“We need to help Eve!” Axel groaned.

With Fafnir’s speed, he should reach Eve in just a few seconds. Now, about 15 seconds had passed. More than enough time to have arrived at her location already.

“M-My King… Sir Axel, I’m right here.”

“…Huh?”

But to his surprise, Eve was already standing behind him, hugging the large rifle taller than her within her arms. She was completely unharmed, though a little pale from the fright of getting locked on by a powerful dragon.

Axel’s mind blanked out before finally realizing what had happened… He almost forgot that even this event was still a part of their plan!

Eve, who was staying a few kilometers away, launching deadly but easy-to-avoid attacks, could easily retreat using Escape Scrolls. Its activation was near-instantaneous after all.

Using that, Eve “lured” Fafnir as close as she could before tearing the Return Scroll and retreating back to where the girls were. The location where the poisonous swamp was initially formed served as their original “landing” spot.

With Eve present, Axel sighed in relief.

At least, he tried to feel relief… but a certain “uncertainty” was swelling within his chest.

He could feel that something was really wrong… But he couldn’t tell what it is.

BOOOM!

Only when a red flare flew toward the sky a few kilometers away, exploding powerfully like giant fireworks, did Axel realize what was going on.

“FUCK!” He cursed. “THAT BASTARD WENT FOR MARIA AND CHERRY!”

Right.

From the start, Fafnir wasn’t there to kill Axel and the rest. Its only plan was to gain power through the sentient flames, the Hearthfire of Nidavellir. In short, if it could get the fire without fighting, it would choose that for sure!

The red flare’s color, shape, power, and duration had indicated almost everything that Axel needed to know.

The information included details about the emergency, the inability to put the Hearthfire in the inventory, the difficulty of moving the entire thing, and other related issues in that single, unified signal.

In short, ignoring every other indicator, then either Maria or Cherry, or maybe both, was now in grave danger.

Axel didn’t delay, turning to Fenrir and nodding toward her.

“Let’s go save them!”

The gray wolf lady nodded without delay. “Yes, Master!”

With just one swing of her claw, a new portal was made, leading them to the same spot from before. The space before the gate leading to Nidavellir.

The spot where they first found Bellachrona.

And speaking of…

Before jumping in, Axel looked around with an eyebrow raised, asking.

“Wait? Where did Bellachrona go?”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep