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[Translator - Pot ]
[Proofreader - Kawaii ]
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Chapter 208: I Consumed the Mountain Spirit Poison Well
Moritz sat down abruptly, clutching his gushing wound with his small hands.
"Moritz!"
"You stupid kid!"
Zizek and Rob shouted in shock.
"I'm... I'm sorry."
Moritz smiled weakly.
"Why did you step in? I told you to stay back!"
"He-heh. I just... before I knew it—"
"Don't talk! Don't say anything!"
Rob, who had rushed over belatedly, tore his clothes to wrap Moritz's side.
"Damn it, this foolish boy."
Rob's face was brimming with tears.
"Ha, hahaha. Truly a tearjerking farce."
Huten flicked his sword in the air to shake off the child's blood.
"You're all going to die anyway, so what meaning does this have?"
Zizek was enraged by those mocking words.
"Damn it! I'll kill you!"
"That's right."
Huten parried Zizek's sword strike that had fallen for the simple provocation.
Clang!
Zizek's sword energy dissipated after failing to withstand even a single collision, and his sword broke.
"How weak, pitifully so."
The broken sword spun like a top.
"Shut up!"
Zizek pulled out a dagger from his chest and stabbed at Huten.
"!"
Detecting that killing intent, Huten kicked Zizek in the stomach and sent him flying.
"Kuhek!"
Zizek crashed into the wall after a single kick that ruptured his internal organs.
"Kuk, urgh."
Zizek fought back nausea as his vision blurred from the pain.
It was a testament to his remarkable will that he hadn't dropped his knife despite the circumstances—
'Ridiculous. My organs ruptured from just one hit?'
He couldn't muster any strength in his body.
Zizek, now incapacitated, barely managed to lean his back against the wall.
'Damn it. So he really was Huten after all.'
Once, watching Caleb and Nagan fight, he had thought that somehow he too could keep up with such powerful fighters.
But in this moment, Zizek painfully realized just how great that misconception had been.
'Well, Huten was skilled enough to kill his master. This is only natural.'
Zizek fiddled with his dagger. If he had failed to kill his enemy, there was only one use left.
However, Zizek wouldn't need to use that dagger.
"Ah, looks like time's up."
Huten calmly raised his hand and wrapped himself in a mana barrier like a black curtain.
Kwaaaang!
Three sword strikes flew in from different directions, tearing apart the mana barrier.
"Impressive? Breaking through my barrier technique so easily."
Yet even as it was torn apart by the strikes, the curtain writhed like something alive, continuing to wrap around and protect Huten.
"Remarkable power. I applaud you."
As a demonic aura rose from Huten's eyes, the black curtain transformed into sharp spears and awls. They surrounded Huten like a hedgehog's spines, protecting him.
Kaaaang!
The swords wielded by Karzan, Rudgarda, and Turnak were caught and blocked by those dense thorny awls.
"This bastard."
"What strange martial art is this now?"
Rudgarda and Turnak, who had intended to slaughter Huten in one breath, heightened their vigilance at the presence of this dark technique that had stopped their blades.
"Karzan, you're a bit late."
Regardless, Huten observed his encircling enemies with a relaxed attitude.
"But not bad. I thought I'd draw a complete blank, but you managed to find me somehow."
Huten pointed at Rudgarda.
"And this one—"
Of course, he couldn't identify Rudgarda's identity behind the mask.
"Must be from Grunewald's Special Operations Division or Royal Guard. The caliber of martial presence feels completely different."
Despite this, Huten made the correct inference.
"You have good instincts."
Rudgarda and Turnak weren't bothering to hide the fighting spirit churning beneath their masks.
"Karzan, so you too were Grunewald's pawn?"
Huten raised the corner of his mouth as if he had expected as much.
"Think what you like."
Karzan didn't bother to respond one way or another.
"Your master Georg is obsessively meticulous. To think he would so thoroughly interfere with my work."
Karzan didn't bother to correct that misunderstanding, and instead turned his head to check on Zizek.
"Is everyone alright?"
"Well, I'm— Blegh!"
Zizek coughed up blood before barely responding.
"Not dead yet."
"Good. A man of the underworld should be durable."
"I'm fine too, boss."
Gares spoke with difficulty.
"Excellent. Indeed, to survive long in this business, you need a tough lifeline."
"Haha. Of course— Kuh-hack!"
Gares, who had been relieved, suddenly coughed up blood.
"Rob, how's Moritz?"
"Th-thankfully, it's not a fatal wound."
Karzan silently took out a potion from his chest and threw it to Rob.
"Apply it to the wound."
"Yes!"
Rob caught the potion with a tear-streaked face.
"B-boss. Thank you for saving us."
Moritz, who had barely opened his eyes, expressed his gratitude in a pitiful voice like a baby bird.
"Your courage saved Zizek, so you don't need to thank anyone."
"!"
Why did tears well up at that calm acknowledgment? Moritz, cradled in Rob's arms, smiled and shed a single tear.
"Huten."
Only then did Karzan turn back to Huten.
"We've been playing a fierce numbers game, but in the end you're the one surrounded. Can you escape with just those few worthless subordinates of yours? Or are you really that strong?"
"Sigh."
Huten sighed.
"Karzan, Karzan. You interfere with me time and again."
The black curtain surrounding Huten was withdrawn.
'Is there a time limit? Given its incredible performance, the mana consumption must be considerable.'
While inwardly assessing his opponent's technique, Karzan outwardly cursed like a rough underworld man.
"Did this bastard secretly eat something good? Why is he so composed? Are you saying you can handle the three of us alone?"
"Ah, of course not. That would be difficult."
Huten smiled slightly before lifting his head to look at the night sky.
'How tiresome. Things just won't go smoothly.'
If it weren't for that rough-looking, ugly fellow Karzan.
His mood tonight would have been completely different.
'But it's fine. According to plan, Caleb should have met the same fate as Nagan.'
Caleb had attacked Nagan's side carrying a magic scroll embedded with an enormous explosive spell.
'If Karzan had gone there, I could have blown up Nagan and Karzan in one go, but—'
That plan had failed, and instead he was the one surrounded.
'Even I can't survive fighting against those three.'
Huten didn't know the identities of Rudgarda and Turnak, but he instinctively sensed that Rudgarda at least might be a superior fighter to himself.
'Half success, half failure.'
Not a bad outcome.
Anyway, even his failure was merely a small variable within 'that person's' plan.
'Most importantly, all eyes are directed this way tonight.'
With that alone, he had served his purpose.
"Are you trying to make a last stand, or have you given up?"
Karzan, who had been quietly observing him, asked.
"Or are you stalling to escape?"
"Haha."
Huten laughed and put his hand into his chest.
"Yes. Hearing your words gives me a little motivation."
"What nonsense is that now?"
He had 'two' pouches in his chest. One for final resistance, and one for escape.
Huten reached for the escape pouch.
"Originally I wouldn't have minded dying here, but running away would be better for 'buying time.'"
"!"
"This bastard—"
The three people who noticed something suspicious swung their swords again, but.
"!!!"
The three swords perfectly cut through an illusion.
'Illusion technique?'
And one of considerable skill at that.
"That bastard, until the end—"
Swallowing the words "he was hiding his final move," Karzan was about to release a sword strike when—
Huten, who had somehow appeared far away, was pulling something out from his chest.
Bang!
Huten simultaneously detonated mountain spirit poison and diversionary smoke before fleeing into the shadows of the night.
"Poison!"
"Fall back and avoid it!"
The three quickly retreated, though those of lower cultivation could suffer great harm in such a situation.
That's when it happened.
"Huh?"
Once again, Karzan's left hand began automatically sucking in the poison mist.
Just like when it had absorbed the Nepherus's breath.
'Wow, again this time?'
Karzan felt he understood how to use this peculiar constitution.
'So it just sucks in anything strange by itself.'
It was like charcoal that automatically absorbs moisture and odors once placed.
"Wait, boss. What is that?"
Karzan turned to face the surprised Zizek and the silently shocked Rudgarda and Turnak, making up an excuse.
"...A newly learned technique."
"Are you alright? Al— I mean, Karzan."
Rudgarda asked in confusion.
"I'm fine."
This is related to my time-limited constitution, Karzan explained silently, only moving his lips.
"But this seems like mountain spirit poison."
Mountain spirit poison was a wicked toxin that dispersed mana within the body of the infected, making it as deadly as hemlock to mana users.
"About that."
The toxic energy lurking in Karzan's lower abdomen was swallowing Huten's mountain spirit poison as if it were a digestive aid taken for indigestion.
From a certain perspective, it looked like it was trying to purify excessively accumulated toxins on its own.
"Thanks to this, I feel like my indigestion is settling down."
"...?"
Rudgarda's face showed she had no idea how to understand this nonsense.
"Uurp."
Karzan, who even let out a satisfying burp, scratched his head.
Why did he keep burping every time he absorbed something?
"Anyway, I ate well."
Isn't this exactly when you'd say that poison and medicine are separated by a thin line?
Karzan realized that his mana quantity had increased, if only slightly.
'...It even seems to have become a bit more refined.'
Regarding this absurd situation, Karzan reached the following conclusion:
"Must have used good ingredients."
* * *
"They're coming."
"...So they come after all."
Elder of the Sword Leszek and Elder of Magic Geninghen rose from their seats.
"Look there, Leszek."
Some figures were carefully penetrating through the gaps in the supreme defensive barrier that surrounded Grunewald Castle.
The invisible barrier usually operated at only level 1 power.
"So there are petty thieves who dare to covet Grunewald's treasures."
The two elders had been waiting for precisely these thieves to intrude.
"Insolent fools, they've taken us old men too lightly."
They were existences too powerful and dignified to be called old men.
Therefore—
They wouldn't go so far as to be on guard for such trivial enemies.
"The Clan head?"
At Leszek's question, Geninghen answered.
"He's guarding the inner chambers."
"I see."
"We just need to guard the back rooms without worry, that's what he means."
Kugugugugugugugu!
As the archmage's mana and the sword saint's mana resonated together, the entire castle trembled and erupted in rage toward the intruders.
[Deploying the barrier.]
In this world, there existed languages that could transform the shape of reality the moment they were spoken.
"This is quite the rare real combat, isn't it?"
"There's no significant difference between real combat and practice."
Leszek responded stiffly.
"You're no fun."
But Geninghen's expression overflowed with curiosity and joy.
"This old man has researched many new spells recently, you little pups."
The archmage's hostility distorted the world, and the sword saint's fighting spirit made the heavens and seas tremble with fear.
"Try to hold out for a while, if you can."
As long as the two elders stood firm.
No one could violate Grunewald Castle.
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[Translator - Pot ]
[Proofreader - Kawaii ]
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