God of Tricksters

A few days later.

Coline and Chris were running together in a plain to meet Theo, but Coline suddenly raised her hand, stopping Chris.

"What's wrong? Another enemy?" Chris asked.

"I smell stock."

"You serious? So, we're going to fight against monsters now? Is it strong?"

"Stock and broth are different. The broth is made of meat and vegetables while the stock is made of bones."

"I am a musician, not a chef. I'm not going to call you out if you don't understand the musical notes…"

"…" Coline fell silent before pointing forward, seeing a great number of skeletons walking at the same pace.

"Skeletons? But there are so many of them and they seem to be organized. They're not monsters."

Coline took out her weapon and said, "Either way, we have to go through these skeletons to reach Italy."

"Fair enough." Chris nodded in agreement as he began increasing Coline's ability with his music.

Coline went first, becoming the vanguard. They didn't need to fight all these skeletons since all they needed to do was to create a gap and slip past them.

But she was shocked when she approached the skeletons. Their bodies trembled as if they recognized her and immediately raised their hands, surrendering to Coline.

"Huh?" Coline furrowed her eyebrows since this was the first time she had met something like this.

The skeleton suddenly stopped in their tracks, and one of them stepped forward, writing something on the ground.

"Huh?" Coline became even more confused. Although she didn't dare to get that close to the skeletons since they acted weird, she could see what they were waiting for. It was a person's name. And that person was none other than Theo.

That was right. The skeleton wrote 'THEO' on the ground and pointed at the left as if telling him that if she followed them in that direction, they would find Theo.

"Huh? What's going on?" Coline stopped and waved her hand to Chris, asking his opinion.

"What's wrong?" He rushed to her while asking before following her gaze. "Theo?"

"Yeah. The skeleton is pointing there as if telling us that he's there. Is this a trap?" Coline frowned.

"It might be, but there is a chance it's not. Maybe we should follow them and see what's going on. Of course, from a distance."

"Fair enough. The skeletons also have stopped moving." The skeletons seemed to be intelligent enough to do something like this, so they must be controlled by someone. However, Theo wasn't supposed to be able to wield this kind of skill, so they didn't know how these skeletons could direct them and even know Theo.

To their surprise, when they were about to make their way in the pointed direction, they saw a figure approaching them at high speed.

"That's… Felix?" Coline squinted her eyes, recognizing the person. "It's really Felix."

Theo sent Felix to fetch them the moment the skeletons found them.

"Felix. What's going on?" Coline asked.

"We've been had. The one who caused this entire event was not Theo but another him aside from his clone. They're trying to make it look like he's the culprit, causing us to be chased away by those people. Then, the Griffith Family took that opportunity to get rid of us. We're safe right now, but we have to move to another place. So, come with me to meet Theo."

"For real? Does that mean we'll be rejected by everyone else after this?" Chris widened his eyes in shock.

"You should know Theo's personality. He's not someone who will get beaten down without any fight. We should follow him for the time being and see what he'll do next." Felix shook his head helplessly, recounting all the past scenes when Theo was in this unfavorable situation.

No matter what he did, he actually managed to turn it around beautifully. This time, there was Hel that helped him, but Theo should have some plans when fighting the Griffith Family as well. Hence, he believed that Theo would do something about this as well.

"Anyway, follow me. I'm going to lead you to Theo." Felix waved his hand, brushing all the matters. The explanation could wait since they should regroup with Theo first.

Chris and Coline nodded in agreement and followed Felix. At the same time, the skeletons began to crumble as if they had served their purposes. Their bones also disappeared since everything was made of Magic Power.

"Still, how many skeletons are there? Who is the one controlling the skeletons? He/she must have a huge amount of Magic Power."

"The one controlling it is the Goddess of Death from Norse Mythology, Hel."

"Huh? Goddess? What are you talking about?"

"It seems that she didn't die in the past and froze her body or something. It was quite complicated, but she might be the only survivor from the God Age." Felix shrugged.

"Are you serious?" Chris' face was distorted because he couldn't believe it.

"Well, you can see her later. I'm merely telling you stuff I learned a few days ago."

"Fair enough. By the way, are we going with everyone? How many people survive the onslaught?"

"Everyone. Though, Phyrill, Ellen, and their families are not with us. The same applies to Enrica."

"I see. So, we're back to the original group." Coline nodded. "At the very least, everyone is still together even in this situation, except for those two. Well, I can understand that they have a big family to take care of."

"Either way, what are we planning to do next?" Chris asked.

"I don't know. Theo hasn't said anything about it yet."

"I'm pissed." Chris sighed. "Those people needed Theo when the apocalypse happened, yet they immediately threw him away when he was accused like this."

"Don't say it. I'm also pissed. Those ungrateful bastards." Felix nodded in agreement. "Either way, we have arrived!"

Chris and Coline looked forward and saw a group of people sitting on the ground, waiting for them. Millie was the only one standing, waving her hand as if she was greeting her father.

Seeing this group made Chris and Coline feel relieved. "I guess our situation is not that bad."