------------------
[Translator - Kiteretsu]
[Proofreader - Kyros]
------------------
Chapter 64
Dodging every incoming attack a step ahead, he read the masked woman’s movement path and launched a counterattack.
This won’t work like this.
It was impossible to subdue her while hiding his true skills like this.
He had to use real power.
There’s no other way now. I have no choice but to kill them all to silence them.
The masked woman’s eyes turned fierce.
Fwoosh!!!
A dark pillar of destruction surged from her dagger.
Black Steel Energy.
A holy sword without the radiance of mana would never withstand that destructive force.
“Die.”
A critical moment.
Watching the battle with Marisa, Jupien couldn’t help but shout out.
“Dodge…!!”
But then, Chris did something completely unexpected.
He charged at the masked woman instead.
An act no different from suicide.
“Foolish.”
The masked woman swung her dagger.
The destructive slash howled with a terrifying force.
But in that moment, something completely incomprehensible happened.
Flick.
Like a flame blown out by the wind, the Black Steel Energy was extinguished!
“?!”
The masked woman was visibly shaken.
Why?
It wasn’t intentional.
Chris grinned calmly and lunged into her arms.
“Your Energy level is too low for that.”
Energy is the manifestation of will.
Its strength and stability vary depending on how strong the will is.
Depending on how firm that will is, even within the 5-star tier, levels are divided into upper, middle, and lower.
The masked woman’s level was 5-star low.
A stage where one has just begun to establish their will.
At this stage, it’s difficult to maintain Energy with willpower alone, so many complex techniques are used in tandem.
Chris had tampered with those techniques beforehand.
How?
I used the dominance of dark demonic energy.
During the earlier exchange, Chris hadn’t just pressured the masked woman with his holy sword.
He had secretly infused her dagger with his dominance.
The moment the Energy manifested, it interfered with the core circuit, disrupting it.
A one-time trick made possible only because the masked woman let her guard down, unlikely to be pulled off again—
But it was enough.
Chris didn’t miss the opportunity.
Slash!
The masked woman’s shoulder was cut.
It wasn’t a deep wound.
An injury that could be ignored.
But the real problem was that Chris’s sword was a holy sword.
The power of the Constellation embedded in the holy sword clashed with the demonic energy in her body, causing secondary damage—like being burned by a fire that won’t go out.
Even her core trembled.
And there was an even more critical detail.
“Bingo.”
Chris glanced at his holy sword and grinned.
He had gotten her blood.
He quickly pulled back and cast a curse spell.
When using the opponent’s blood as a medium, a curse could be cast with much greater potency.
Fatigue, pain, weakness, fear, and more—
The masked woman staggered as curses burrowed into her body.
Ha. What is this? These low-grade curses have this kind of effect?
The masked woman was dumbfounded.
Every curse Chris cast was of 2-star grade or lower.
Curses that normally wouldn’t even penetrate her body’s defense.
Yet somehow, like curses woven by a seasoned high-tier sorcerer, they pierced through her demonic energy defenses and dragged her physical state into a swamp.
Chris’s follow-up attacks came without pause.
Flash—one strike grazed her nape, sending a chill down her spine.
The masked woman clenched her teeth.
How dare he.
But that didn’t mean she was in real danger.
A tiger doesn’t fall just because it’s been scratched a few times by a cat’s claws.
Still, her pride was wounded.
I’ll end this quickly and kill him.
The masked woman unleashed her secret poison technique.
Whoosh!
Black smoke engulfed Chris.
It wasn’t just a physical toxin that harmed the body.
It was a magical poison, imbued with magical effects.
Infused with destructive black magic, it collapsed the body from both inside and out simultaneously.
“Christian!”
As Chris was swallowed by the black smoke, Marisa cried out in shock.
She knew how lethal that poison was.
Even with an antidote from a renowned medical family, it couldn’t be resisted.
But inside the black smoke, Chris thought—
It’s going just as I planned.
An incomprehensible thought.
Even Chris couldn’t withstand that magical poison.
Because it was magical in nature, the antidote from the medical noble house he had prepared wouldn’t work.
Even the magical artifact meant to block poison was useless.
It was corroding rapidly, clearly unable to hold out for long.
At most, five seconds.
After that, he would die.
And yet, he smiled.
I finally got my chance.
In truth, Chris had been nervous.
Worried about what he would do if the masked woman didn’t act as he expected.
That’s right.
He had been waiting all this time for the masked woman to use her magic poison.
“You were impressive for a brat, but you didn’t know your place. Die in agony.”
Her voice was composed, as if she was certain of Chris’s death.
But did she know?
That this moment was what Chris had been waiting for the most.
From the very start of the fight until now—
Chris had waited for this exact moment.
The instant her magic poison filled the air and blocked vision.
Magic poison didn’t just obscure sight.
It was filled with demonic energy and magical power.
And that meant—
Because of the interference from the poison’s aura, it was hard to perceive what was happening inside from the outside.
Neither with the naked eye, nor with magical senses.
In other words—
Even if he used the power of the Alliance, it couldn’t be detected from outside.
Chris moved his holy sword.
His hand trembled.
The masked woman sneered.
She didn’t even consider dodging in advance.
Like watching a kitten play, she casually observed and planned to avoid it easily at the last moment—
But then, her body suddenly froze.
[Giant’s Shackles]
It was a 4-star grade curse-type black magic.
A spell that Chris shouldn't be able to use with his current level.
But Chris had modified the black magic in advance, to make it his trump card for this decisive moment.
He added strict activation conditions, allowing it to be used even at the 3-star level.
The condition Chris set was the opponent’s blood.
That’s right.
All those earlier curses were just a diversion.
The real reason he drew blood with the holy sword—was to activate this black magic.
Just for a fleeting instant, to bind her movement.
Of course, it wouldn’t last long.
At most, two or three seconds.
Within that time, the masked woman would surely dispel the curse.
But even that brief moment was enough.
Enough for the sword to reach her heart.
And yet, the masked woman did not panic.
"You used your head quite well, but it's unfortunate."
A deep blue demonic aura cloaked her body.
Like a shield.
Even a holy sword wouldn’t be able to pierce it.
But then, something unbelievable happened.
Paaah!
Light burst out from the holy sword.
The masked woman's eyes widened to the point of tearing.
"Sha… Shine Blade?"
It was faint, but unmistakable.
The power of light said to be wielded by heroes.
Chris smirked bitterly.
"…Because I’m a genius."
The masked woman tried to dodge, but it was useless. She hadn’t managed to break free of the Giant’s Shackles.
The broken holy sword pierced through the masked woman’s heart.
* * *
The events of that day threw both Houses into chaos.
After all, one side had broken the pact and attempted to massacre the Dark Demonic House’s expedition team.
Tensions between the two Houses reached a boiling point, and the Venomous Demonic House, who had committed the offense, was put in a difficult position.
Honestly, it was an unfair situation for the Venomous Demonic House.
The real orchestrator behind this incident was Marquis Langham.
There had been inside collaborators, but it was likely Marquis Langham who extended the dark hand first.
Everyone had been played by him.
Still, it’s better than in my past life. Back then, things went as badly as they could.
When the entire Dark Demonic House’s forces were wiped out, and it was revealed that the culprit was Marisa, the successor candidate of the Venomous Demonic House, both Houses nearly went to war.
In the end, the Venomous Demonic House had no choice but to admit guilt and hand over the "Amulet of Twilight" that Marquis Langham demanded.
But this time, the situation is different.
The damage was minimal.
Even the severely wounded were saved thanks to the elixirs Chris had passed along from the famous medical House.
As a result, the Venomous Demonic House’s responsibility was drastically reduced.
Compensation.
That was all they had to pay.
They never identified who the masked woman was, but well, that’s not such a big deal.
The moment her heart was pierced, the masked woman’s body melted away in the poison.
A self-destruct method to prevent her identity from being revealed. A common technique used by the mages of the Venomous Demonic House.
Still, it seems like Marisa has a rough idea of who she was. Well, it’s an internal matter for the Venomous Demonic House, so they’ll handle it.
In any case, it was a conclusion that wasn’t bad for anyone—except Marquis Langham.
And the one who gained the most from it was, naturally, Chris.
This should be enough to become a noble heir.
If not for Chris, the entire expedition would have been annihilated.
His elevation to noble heir was guaranteed.
And that wasn’t the only thing he gained from this incident.
I obtained the Sigil of the Constellation.
Chris quietly stroked the relic hidden inside his pocket.
In truth, the Sigil of the Constellation was a relic of uncertain nature.
No one could tell what it was supposed to be used for.
In his previous life, even Marquis Langham, after obtaining the Sigil, couldn’t figure out how to use it for two years.
But Chris knew exactly what kind of ability the Sigil of the Constellation possessed.
It was a relic that would bring him tremendous benefit.
No—Chris was the only one in this world who could properly make use of the Sigil of the Constellation.
There were also a few other small gains.
– We’re truly sorry, young master.
The surviving mages of the expedition team bowed their heads to Chris.
– You are our savior, young master. Thank you so much.
For the first time, he was acknowledged by the mages of the main family.
It was faint recognition, but still.
Just then, the ghost maid Banshee, Mari, fluttered over.
[Ohoho… Is your body feeling better?]
“It hurts.”
[To hear that you’re in pain, young master… it breaks my heart. But to be able to nurse you so dearly, my heart goes ba-dump, ba-dump with joy. I’ll bring you some soup—now, say ah.]
“…I can eat it myself, you know?”
[Ohoho… There’s no need to be shy about my touch, young master. Although, this bashful look of yours is adorable as well. Now, open wide. Ah—]
Chris frowned sharply.
“Didn’t I tell her not to feed me with poltergeist tricks?!”
Marie was a ghost.
So even if it looked like she was holding a spoon, it was all done through psychic phenomena.
[Ahhh… To have you all to myself, young master. I wish this moment could last forever.]
“…Could you not say horrifying things like that?”
Just then, there was a knock at the door.
Mari’s expression turned sour.
[It seems… another bothersome guest has arrived.]
“……”
It was only a knock, but he already knew who it was.
They’d already come by several times.
[Why must she keep coming and disturbing the precious time I have with young master? I don’t like it.]
Marie smiled stiffly and opened the door.
A small girl with a cold impression stepped inside.
It was Jupien.
“…You’re here?”
“Yeah.”
“…Again?”
“…You’re one of my team members. I came to check as the squad leader to see if you’re doing alright.”
For the record, their mission wasn’t over yet. The incident hadn’t been fully resolved.
The two of them were attending the joint meeting between the Venomous Demonic House and the Dark Demonic House to testify as witnesses.
------------------
[Translator - Kiteretsu]
[Proofreader - Kyros]
------------------
