At first glance, the man didn't seem like someone who could be considered a righteous figure.
Yet, he was walking alongside knights from the human kingdom, and from the way those knights carried themselves, it was clear they regarded him as their leader. This left Wood utterly baffled.
Wood's attention wasn't solely drawn to the man because of his distinct appearance and attire. Another reason was the overwhelming aura he exuded.
To put it bluntly, since Wood had arrived in this world, the skeletal-faced man before him was undoubtedly among the top five strongest individuals he had ever encountered.
In Wood's memory, the only beings who could confidently defeat this man were Orsted, the Dragon God, and perhaps the Hydra from the underground labyrinth, who might be on par with him. As for Eris, Ruijerd, and Ghislaine, they were clearly a step below this man.
"They're from the Dragon King Kingdom. Those are likely the Dragon King Knights. I've seen them before when I served as a temple knight in the church.
The old pope once received envoys from the Dragon King Kingdom," said Therese, who had once been a captain of the temple knights. She quickly recognized the origins of these knights.
Upon hearing the words "church" and "temple knights," the newcomers also seemed to realize something.
One of them, a knight captain from the Dragon King Kingdom, spoke up: "So you're from the Milis Holy Kingdom. It seems our purpose here is the same.
Since you arrived before us, have you uncovered the cause of the anomaly here?"
The one who spoke wasn't the sinister man who had initially caught Wood's attention, but rather a knight captain from the Dragon King Kingdom.
Given that this area was the border between the Milis Continent and the Central Continent, and the two closest kingdoms were the Milis Holy Kingdom and the Dragon King Kingdom, the knight naturally assumed that Therese and her group had been sent by the Milis Holy Kingdom to investigate the strange occurrences.
"The anomaly here…" Therese hesitated, unsure how to respond. She knew exactly what had caused the disturbance, and she also understood why the Dragon King Kingdom had sent people here.
But how should she answer? Should she say that the commotion that had shaken the two continents was caused by her nephew and the Dragon God Orsted?
"There's no need to play dumb," the knight captain said, his tone growing less friendly. "We're all here for the same reason, and the scale of this event is too significant to ignore.
The Dragon King Kingdom and the Milis Holy Kingdom are the closest to this area. If some catastrophe were to occur, our kingdoms would be the first to suffer. So, I hope you'll be honest and share what you know. It would benefit us all to work together."
Seeing Therese's hesitation, the Dragon King Kingdom's knights began to suspect that she was withholding information.
Their attitude quickly turned confrontational. The Dragon King Kingdom was a powerful nation, far stronger than the Milis Holy Kingdom.
They had come here on a mission, and Therese's group—composed of women, children, and what appeared to be a ragtag team of temple knights and adventurers—seemed unimpressive in comparison.
Sensing that Therese might be hiding something, the Dragon King knights decided to flex their authority.
"Stop making unnecessary enemies with your foolish behavior. The people before you are far from as simple as you think.
In fact, it's possible that the anomaly that shook the two continents was caused by them."
The sinister man, who had remained silent until now, finally spoke. He placed a hand on the knight captain's shoulder, signaling him to stop talking.
"But, Lord Randolph, they—" The knight captain started to protest but quickly fell silent under Randolph's piercing gaze.
"I don't know exactly what happened here, but if it involves the Dragon God Orsted, then such a disturbance isn't surprising.
What I'm curious about is who the other party in this clash was. It couldn't have been the number one ranked Technique God, Laplace, could it?"
The so-called "Seven Great Powers" weren't fixed individuals. While titles like "Technique God," "Dragon God," and "Sword God" were permanent, the individuals who held these titles changed over time.
The rankings of the Seven Great Powers were determined by a sacred stone tablet. Originally, the Technique God and the Demon God, both halves of the Demon Dragon King Laplace, held the first and second ranks.
However, during the Laplace War, the Dragon God Urupen, who was then ranked fourth, defeated the Demon God, causing their positions to switch.
Among the Seven Great Powers, there was a clear divide between the top four and the bottom three.
The bottom three—Death God, Sword God, and North God—were typically humans who inherited these titles. The top four, however, were either non-human or deeply connected to Laplace, the creator of the stone tablet.
The Dragon God Orsted was self-explanatory. The first-ranked Technique God and the fourth-ranked Demon God were both halves of the Demon Dragon King Laplace.
Even the third-ranked War God had deep ties to Laplace, as the title didn't belong to a person but rather to a suit of armor created by Laplace—the Armor of War, designed to fight against the gods.
The War God Armor granted its wearer immense power, but its overwhelming magical energy had a will of its own and could take over the wearer's consciousness.
Over time, the wearer would lose their sense of right and wrong, driven solely by the desire to fight.
The armor couldn't be removed until the wearer's life force was completely drained. Moreover, the War God Armor had an absurd self-repair ability.
In the past, Laplace had unleashed an attack powerful enough to create a massive crater on the continent (reportedly comparable in size to the Pacific Ocean) in an attempt to destroy the armor.
Though Laplace perished in the process, the War God Armor remained intact.
In short, the top four of the Seven Great Powers were anything but ordinary, and the Dragon God Orsted, ranked second, was among the most formidable.
His rank wasn't due to a lack of strength but rather because he had never challenged the first-ranked Technique God.
The sinister man accompanying the Dragon King Kingdom's knights was Randolph Marian, the strongest knight of the Dragon King Kingdom and the fifth-ranked Death God among the Seven Great Powers.
Randolph had also recognized the white-haired, cold-faced man in Therese's group—the Dragon God Orsted himself.
If even the mysterious and powerful Dragon God Orsted was here, it wasn't hard to guess who had caused the recent disturbance.
Randolph, as the fifth-ranked Death God, was a formidable warrior in his own right. Based on his experience, he could tell that an intense battle had taken place here.
If one of the combatants was the Dragon God Orsted, who could the other have been? This was the question Randolph couldn't answer.
The first-ranked Technique God was an enigma, with no one having seen their true form.
The third-ranked War God had been severely damaged during Laplace's attack, and its current whereabouts were unknown.
As for the fourth-ranked Demon God, they had been destroyed during the Second Human-Demon War by the "Three Heroes," one of whom was the first-generation North God, Aleksander Ryback.
The Demon God Laplace, as one half of the Demon Dragon King Laplace, wasn't inherently hostile to humans.
However, due to inheriting only half of Laplace's soul and memories, the Demon God's sole purpose became the destruction of humanity, while the Technique God sought to destroy the gods.
Together, their targets—humans and gods—referred to the Human God, Laplace's greatest enemy. Unfortunately, because each half inherited only part of Laplace's soul and memories, their paths diverged, turning them into obstacles rather than allies in the fight against the Human God.
But that's a tangent. The point is, there was a significant power gap between the top four and the bottom three of the Seven Great Powers—so much so that they weren't even on the same level.
'Even Randolph, as the fifth-ranked Death God, would be no match for the Dragon God Orsted. If Orsted wanted to kill him, it wouldn't take much effort.
Given that the third-ranked War God had no current successor and the fourth-ranked Demon God was dead, Randolph could only assume that the other combatant in this clash was the mysterious first-ranked Technique God.
"Your intuition is sharp, but you're wrong. The one who fought me to a standstill wasn't the Technique God. It was that blond kid over there. If he were serious, you wouldn't last three rounds against him."
Orsted, the Dragon God, rarely remembered the names of insignificant individuals, but he did have some recollection of Randolph, the fifth-ranked Death God.
Hearing Orsted's words, Randolph was visibly shocked. His eyes widened in disbelief as he turned to look at Wood, who appeared to be nothing more than a cheerful young man.
Randolph didn't think Orsted would lie. Someone of his stature had no reason to deceive them about something so trivial.
Yet, this only made Randolph more astonished. To him, Wood looked far too young and unfamiliar.
If he truly was a being capable of matching the Dragon God Orsted, how could he be so unknown in the world?
"May I ask your name, sir? And what race do you belong to? My apologies, I don't mean to pry, but I'd like to avoid any cultural missteps. Some races have unique customs, and I wouldn't want to offend."
Randolph's tone was exceedingly polite. He didn't dare underestimate Wood, despite his youthful appearance.
After all, this was someone who could go toe-to-toe with the Dragon God Orsted. Offending him could spell disaster for the Dragon King Kingdom.
While his words were courteous, they also carried a subtle probe into Wood's origins and identity.
"What nonsense are you spouting? Of course he's human! He's my son—do you think I gave birth to some kind of monster?"
Before Wood could respond, Zenith, his mother, angrily interjected. Her reaction was understandable.
After Wood had used the secret technique of the Imperial Armament "Winter Knight," the side effects of "dragonification" had manifested on his body. When Zenith had been tending to Wood while he was unconscious, she had been horrified to find dragon scales on his skin.
She had even confronted Orsted, blaming him for the transformation.
However, Orsted had explained that the scales were a side effect of the immense power Wood had wielded.
After all, no power came without a cost. Fortunately, Orsted had assured Zenith that the scales posed no real threat to Wood's health, which had somewhat eased her worries.
Still, the sight of her son's body covered in dragon scales had left her deeply unsettled. So, when Randolph suggested that Wood might not be human, Zenith's temper flared.