Chapter 245
Duke Huam had a surprised look on his face.
“You? Get back! This is no place for you!!”
He shouted urgently and looked at Christian. Then, Duke Huam froze.
“You…?”
He could feel a completely different aura from Christian than before.
It wasn’t just that his power had grown stronger. It felt as if his entire existence had changed.
A deep sense of pressure flowed from him, as if one were facing a being of a higher order.
Duke Huam stared at Christian as if mesmerized, then hurriedly shook his head.
“This place is dangerous, so get away quickly! I can’t let you get caught up in this too!”
“I can’t do that. After all, I am also a member of the Venomous Demonic House.”
“…What?”
Chris looked mischievously at Marisa, who had appeared with him.
“Isn’t that right, Marisa? We’re engaged, after all.”
“…Y-yes.”
Marisa nodded, flustered, her face turning bright red.
Duke Huam had a look of disbelief on his face.
Since when were the two of them engaged? Of course, he had been hoping they would get together again.
“Therefore, since I have also become a proper member of the Venomous Demonic House, I will participate in the Patriarchal Duel.”
“What?”
“The Patriarchal Duel isn’t over yet, is it? Therefore, as a member of the clan, I will also challenge for the position.”
It was an absurd declaration.
Of course, according to the rules of the great magical houses, when a Patriarchal Duel takes place, any member of the clan could issue a challenge.
“This is no time for such nonsense.”
“I don’t intend to challenge you, Your Grace.”
Chris looked at the Jinok Serpent, which was glaring at him with menacing eyes.
“I will take care of that ugly monster, so please consider it my victory in the Patriarchal Duel.”
“!!”
Duke Huam was so dumbfounded that he didn’t know what to say.
‘…He’s probably not actually aiming for the Patriarch’s seat. Instead of the seat, is he perhaps going to demand that we join the Dark Alliance, which he mentioned last time?’
Chris nodded. He was correct.
“You think you can stop that monster?”
“Not stop it. I’m going to kill it.”
“!!”
A voice full of conviction, without a trace of worry.
“I am more than enough.”
Duke Huam swallowed hard.
An unbelievable story.
But was it because of the strange sense of pressure he felt from Christian?
It didn’t sound like a lie.
No, to be precise, he wanted to believe him and place his hope in him.
“…If you truly stop that monster and save our Venomous Demonic House, then we will gladly enter under the banner of the Dark Demonic House.”
Chris raised the corners of his mouth.
“Is that a promise?”
He strode toward the Jinok Serpent.
All the poison wielders were startled by his defenseless appearance.
“It’s dangerous?!”
“It’s fine. I’ll take care of everything.”
“!!”
Everyone watched Chris with anxious eyes.
Duke Huam also swallowed hard, having no idea what Chris was thinking.
Finally, Chris stood before the Jinok Serpent.
The Jinok Serpent had an interested look in its eyes.
[So, you have embraced the Venom Source. For a mere mortal to possess such a level of soul. The level of your soul is no less than my own.]
Chris, who already possessed the level of a half-demon, had seen the plane of his being rise even further now that his soul was strengthened.
‘If I manage to embrace the Flame of Ruin as well, I might possess a soul on a level approaching that of a Devil or a Constellation.’
In any case, that was something to think about later.
“You’re noisy. For a disgusting monster corrupted by greed. You are a being less than a worthless insect.”
[!!]
The Jinok Serpent emitted a grim and imposing aura.
[How dare you. To utter such insults to this supreme body. I will devour you, soul and all, and use you as a sacrifice for my complete resurrection.]
The Jinok Serpent flicked its tongue with a greedy look in its eyes.
Right now, the Jinok Serpent was not in a perfect state.
If it used Chris’s soul, which had embraced the Venom Source, as nourishment, it would become perfect.
[Consider it an honor to become the foundation for my resurrection.]
Fwoosh!
The Jinok Serpent’s gaze fell chillingly upon Chris, and in that moment, something surprising happened.
Chris’s entire body froze stiff.
‘A miracle!’
It was a miracle similar to the ‘Lion’s Roar’ that the Lion King Maximus of the Kalbern Kingdom had once used. But in terms of power, there was no comparison.
Like a mouse caught by a snake, he couldn’t resist at all; he was completely unable to move.
The Jinok Serpent’s mouth opened wide.
“W-wait? He has to dodge?!”
“Grand Duke Christian!!”
The poison wielders of the Venomous Demonic House reached out in a panic.
But it was useless.
Gulp.
The Jinok Serpent’s mouth swallowed Chris’s body like a python.
“What is this?”
As Christian was defeated so futilely, the poison wielders of the Venomous Demonic House, including Duke Huam, had bewildered expressions.
Marisa, in particular, had a blank face, as if she couldn’t believe it.
The Jinok Serpent looked at the poison wielders with a satisfied gaze.
[Now, it is your turn. Starting with you, I will kill all the humans nearby, then ascend, and this time, I will truly become a great being.]
Gwoooooh.
Toxic energy once again swirled toward the Jinok Serpent’s mouth.
It was the moment everyone’s faces turned pale.
Suddenly, an anomaly occurred.
Fizzle.
The toxic energy that had been gathering in front of the Jinok Serpent suddenly died down as if a candle flame had been extinguished.
[…What?]
The Jinok Serpent’s bewildered voice was heard.
And then.
[Keok!]
The Jinok Serpent vomited a gush of green blood, then twisted its massive body as if in pain.
[W-what?! Kuaaaaargh!! Don’t tell me? This bastard…!!!!! Stop!!]
The poison wielders of the Venomous Demonic House belatedly realized that Chris was pulling some kind of trick from inside the Jinok Serpent’s body.
They were correct.
Chris was not dead.
He was perfectly fine.
‘I expected the Jinok Serpent would swallow me.’
He wasn’t dead, thanks to his Dark Demonic Energy.
He could defend against something like mere digestive fluids with the dominating power of his Dark Demonic Energy.
Shrouded in Dark Demonic Energy, Chris looked around the inside of the Jinok Serpent’s body.
‘So this is near the core.’
The Jinok Serpent had intended to use Chris as nourishment to restore its condition. That’s why it had moved him to its core, intending to absorb him as a part of itself.
All without knowing that this was precisely what Chris had been aiming for.
‘Even for someone like me, I can’t fight the legendary magical beast, the Jinok Serpent, head-on.’
Right now, the difference in power between Chris and the Jinok Serpent was like that between an ant and a tiger.
But what if that ant were to grasp the tiger’s heart?
[You bastard!! I won’t let you get away with this!]
The Jinok Serpent belatedly began to respond.
Fwaaaah!
An intense toxic energy surged.
It was a toxic energy containing a pure aura of destruction, and it seemed that even Dark Demonic Energy couldn’t block it.
But he had a countermeasure for this as well.
“Be quiet, you insect. Stay still.”
[!!]
The moment Chris gave that command, the Jinok Serpent’s movements came to an abrupt halt!
[W-what? Why? Don’t tell me, a Sealing Formation?]
“Bingo.”
Chris grinned.
“When dealing with an ill-tempered beast, it’s only natural to prepare a leash, isn’t it?”
As mentioned before, the history of the Venomous Demonic House began for the sake of managing the Jinok Serpent’s seal.
Therefore, this main family residence, Jinrok Fortress, served as a barrier to seal the Jinok Serpent.
‘The majority of the guardian poison formations protecting Jinrok Fortress also serve to maintain the Jinok Serpent’s seal.’
But as countless years passed, the Venomous Demonic House forgot its duty, and the management of the sealing formation became neglected.
There were even cases where a Patriarch who knew the sealing formation’s formula died without appointing a successor, and so it is said that most of the management methods have been lost.
It was so bad that the Demon King of Azure Flow was able to take advantage of the gaps in the sealing formation to arrange the contract with Marquis Goras.
But Chris had managed to figure out how to activate that sealing formation of Jinrok Fortress.
‘I analyzed the formula of the formation on the Path of Venom and figured out a way to activate it through a shortcut. It’s because all the formations share the same core.’
Of course, it wasn’t easy.
It was only barely possible because Chris was a supreme master of formations.
‘It won’t be effective for long, since I activated it through a shortcut and not the official formula.’
At most, it would only stop it for about one or two minutes.
As if sensing this fact, the Jinok Serpent spoke in a triumphant voice.
[It’s useless. In any case, you won’t be able to put a single scratch on my core.]
At those words, Chris tried swinging his sword toward the Jinok Serpent’s core.
Clang!
Although it was imbued with a powerful Black Steel Aura, it didn’t budge an inch.
‘As expected, it’s impossible with my power alone.’
But.
“Sorry, but I’ve prepared a special remedy just for you.”
[…What?]
“I wonder if you remember something called the Heavenly Poison.”
[!!]
The Jinok Serpent showed a sign of agitation.
There was no way it wouldn’t know.
After all, it was the decisive reason for its defeat at the hands of the Poison Demon King.
[Don’t be ridiculous. There’s no way you could wield the Heavenly Poison.]
The Jinok Serpent let out a scornful laugh.
[It seems you somehow managed to absorb the Venom Source and complete the vessel to handle the Heavenly Poison, but even so, it is not a power that someone like you can touch.]
It wasn’t wrong.
The Heavenly Poison Body was, true to its name, just a vessel.
To actually use the Heavenly Poison, one had to reach a corresponding level of mastery.
‘Normally, I would have to reach 9-Star in the poison arts, the same level as the Poison Demon King.’
But Chris said something surprising.
“No, it’s possible. Even the Heavenly Poison is ultimately a power that lies beneath the darkness.”
[…What?]
“I’ll show you. The great authority of the darkness.”
Fwoooosh!
Chris closed his eyes.
His consciousness sank into a darkness made of thought.
It was the Blooming Realm.
He had also reached the 6-Star level with his dark magic.
Unlike the time he had vaguely unfolded it before, a perfect darkness now filled his mind’s eye.
‘I was able to reach the Blooming Realm faster than I thought.’
This was thanks to the Venom Source, which had strengthened his soul, mental power, and body.
‘The Blooming Realm is a realm of infinite possibilities drawn in darkness.’
As long as his level of mastery allowed, he could manifest any possibility into reality.
To be more precise, he could manifest them as ‘Will Constructs’.
This meant that, unlike other 6-Star wielders who could at most handle only two or three Will Constructs, he could create and use them without limit through the Blooming Realm.
A great power, incomparable to any other 6-Star.
‘I can also manifest the power of the Heavenly Poison as a Will Construct.’
Chris’s consciousness continued to sink deeper.
Within the darkness, he began to give form to the Heavenly Poison.
‘Heavenly Poison is a poison that gives form to the will of the heavens to annihilate the world’s wrongdoings.’
To wield such a power, one had to reach the 9-Star transcendent realm, where one could directly intervene in the world’s ‘Law of Causality’.
But.
‘Even if I can’t control the Law of Causality, I can still mimic the will of the heavens with darkness.’
Fwoosh!
The world of darkness surrounding his consciousness changed.
A brilliant light flickered in and out of existence along with the darkness.
It was a light that gave form to Radiant Mana.
‘Radiant Mana is, after all, a power that contains the will of the heavens.’
Again, the world of thought changed.
The brilliant light began to take on a vast green hue.
A wide and deep green light, as if it embraced the vast sky itself.
It was the Heavenly Poison, drawn with the Blooming Realm.
‘I have already attained enlightenment on the Heavenly Poison. I just lack the power to wield it.’
Instead, through the Blooming Realm, he had recreated the Heavenly Poison so that he could wield it even at his current level of mastery.