Chapter 322
The battlefield fell silent.
Everyone stared at Christian, their eyes wide with disbelief.
The shock was shared by both the Dark Alliance and the Four Kings' Castle.
Before Chris lay the remains of two undead.
They were the remains of the Legion Commander ‘Scythe of the Abyss’, who had been the first to challenge him, and another Legion Commander, the ‘Ruler of the Dead Sea’.
Two Legion Commanders had been defeated and annihilated.
And that wasn't all.
Another victim was being made.
Squish!
“Gah… H-how, impossible….”
A black magician with ash-gray eyes vomited a mouthful of blood and collapsed.
He was no ordinary black magician.
He was one of the Five Evils.
One of the five High 7-Star magi who formed the core of the Curse Demonic House had just lost his life.
“……”
A deathly silence descended.
The Legion Commanders and the Five Evils were considered the strongest warriors of the Necromancy and Curse Demonic Houses.
Of course, above them were the 8-Star Absolutes known as the Four Kings and the Three Abysses, but the Legion Commanders and the Five Evils were still beings of overwhelming terror.
And yet, he had faced and defeated three of them alone.
Furthermore, it had been a crushing victory.
“N-no way.”
“How could he do such a thing?”
The magi of the Dark Demonic House clicked their tongues at the magi from other houses, who were reacting with disbelief.
“Didn't we tell you? Not to doubt the Grand Duke. Nothing is impossible for him. He's a madman.”
That reaction didn't just come from the common magi.
Grand Duke Vessian and Duke Huam, the heads of the Destruction and Venomous Demonic Houses, were just as astonished.
In fact, their shock was even greater. With their higher levels, they understood far better just how impossible the feat Christian was performing truly was.
Nordian shrugged.
“That's my grandson.”
“……”
Just then, Count Khazar spoke cautiously.
“Shouldn't we be calling him back soon? I doubt the Four Kings or the Three Abysses would step forward to face a mere Grand Duke like Christian, as it would be beneath their dignity. But we don't know what dirty tricks those bastards from the Four Kings' Castle will try to use.”
Nordian agreed with him.
They weren't the type to just take this lying down.
However, before the Four Kings' Castle could even make a move.
Christian caused a stir that no one could have predicted.
“Is this all the Four Kings' Castle amounts to? The Legion Commanders, the Five Evils, they are all nothing but disappointments.”
“!!”
“The Five Evils are particularly pathetic. The same goes for that puppeteer, Märchen, who was all talk. To think they acted so high and mighty at such a pitiful level. If it were me, I'd be too ashamed to even show my face.”
The complexions of the remaining members of the Five Evils turned cold.
All of the Five Evils were from the direct lineage of the Curse Demonic House.
Unlike the members of other prestigious Magus houses, they were unusually close to one another.
There was no way they could endure such a taunt from the enemy who had just killed two of their own.
Chris smirked at the Five Evils, as if in ridicule.
“The rest of you dregs, all of you come at me at once.”
“…What did you say?”
“Your level is so low that it doesn't seem necessary to face you one by one. It’s a bother, so I'll just kill you all at once.”
“!!”
To think he would face the highest-ranking High 7-Star magi all by himself.
Astonishment spread once again.
Chris’s insane provocation did not stop there.
“Ah, is that too much for you? It’s not like you’d be a match for me even if you all came at once, so how about this? I’ll let you cast your curses on me as you please, without interfering.”
The air on the Four Kings' Castle's side heated up with an explosive rage.
The three remaining members of the Five Evils stepped forward, their expressions grim and heavy.
“We will put you in a state where you can neither live nor die.”
“That's the same line the last guy used. I think Märchen said something similar to me before he died, too. Did you all promise to make it your last words?”
“Shut up!!”
Paaaaaaah!
Ash-gray magic circles appeared around the Five Evils.
The magic circles that had appeared around the three of them expanded their territory, and soon, they merged into one.
They intended to combine their powers to cast a curse.
[Prison of the Abyss.]
It was a miracle-class curse that stole all perception, as if one had fallen into a bottomless abyss.
The curses continued one after another.
‘Scream of Grief’, which shakes the mind with a primal fear as if facing a devil, and ‘Wail of Collapse’, which inflicts horrific pain while simultaneously destroying the body's balance.
“!!”
As if he could not ignore a miracle-class curse cast by the combined power of the Five Evils, Christian was seen staggering.
“H-he…!”
The magi on the Dark Alliance's side let out urgent cries.
“We must save the Grand Duke at once!!”
Curses and illusion arts had a similar aspect.
Once you started to be pushed back, it was difficult to turn the tide of battle.
Additional curses continued to rain down.
[Collapse of the Origin.]
It was a heinous miracle-class curse that went beyond the mind to destroy the very self.
Stagger!
Chris stumbled greatly again.
He had been hit by the curse!
The light in Chris’s eyes began to fade.
The Five Evils drew up their power even more intensely.
The ‘Collapse of the Origin’ continued to strike Chris’s mind.
And then.
The light drained from Chris’s eyes.
Seeing him completely overcome by the curse, the magi of the Dark Alliance screamed in terror.
“Grand Duke!!”
The member of the Five Evils gave a cruel smile and beckoned.
“Foolish boy. This is the price for your insolence. Come here.”
Thud, thud.
Like a mindless puppet, Chris walked toward them.
Watching the scene, Grand Duke Vessian and Duke Huam spoke urgently to Nordian.
“Shouldn't we save Grand Duke Christian?”
But Nordian’s reaction was strange.
He furrowed his brow and said something else.
“He may be my grandson, but he's a madman. A wicked one, at that.”
“…What did you say, sir?”
Just then, Chris arrived in front of the Five Evils.
Jaehwa, the woman among them, gave a cloying smile as she stroked Chris's face.
“Hehe, I'm so looking forward to this. You will become an experimental subject for our Four Kings' Castle, suffer endlessly, and be reborn as a monster that can neither live nor die.”
“Are those your last words?”
The words suddenly shot out from Chris’s mouth, which had seemed to have lost its reason.
“…What?”
In that instant.
Chris’s sword flashed.
Squish.
The woman, terrified, tried to hastily put up a barrier, but the distance was far too close.
Her heart was pierced through.
“How?!”
“Ah, it was an act. You were fooled, weren't you?”
Chris raised the corner of his mouth.
“There's no way someone of my stature would fall for your pathetic curses, is there?”
Unfortunately for them.
Thanks to his elevated soul-rank, Chris possessed a powerful resistance to mental attacks.
‘Curses from those at or below my own level are almost completely ineffective against me.’
In other words, to deal a blow to his mind, one would need to be at least 8-Star or higher.
‘Of course, even I can't ignore curses that directly strike the body. But I subtly neutralized those with the secret arts of the Healer Noble House.’
Chris looked straight at the two of them.
“Now, you die.”
“!!”
The two remaining members of the Five Evils, shocked, tried to get away from Chris, but he wouldn't let them.
The two who were left were curse specialists who focused on the mind.
They were a terrible match-up against Chris.
Swish-swish-swish!
A spray of blood erupted, and soon, Chris’s sword cut the neck of one of the remaining members.
“You bastard!!! I will never forgive you!!!”
The last remaining member shouted, his eyes bloodshot.
Paaaaaaah!
An unusual energy flared up, as if he was about to sacrifice his own life to kill Chris, but.
‘It's about time to end this.’
Chris stretched out his hand.
The eyes of everyone who saw the ensuing scene widened as if they would tear.
Fwoooosh!
Darkness spread out from around Chris, as if devouring the surrounding area and making it his own.
Someone uttered, like a groan.
“…A Domain of Dominion?”
It was a far more advanced form than when he had first deployed it against the devil.
‘It’s not yet properly complete, though.’
Chris’s Domain of Dominion did not yet contain its own unique ‘meaning’.
It was merely a maximization of the Dark Demonic Energy’s authority of domination, but.
‘It's enough.’
The swirling energy of the curse came to a dead stop.
“Vanish.”
The unbelievable continued.
The energy began to fade away.
It had submitted to the authority of domination imbued in Chris's Domain of Dominion.
“N-no way.”
“What do you mean, no way? For me, there is a way.”
Squish.
Chris’s sword pierced the neck of the last member of the Five Evils.
The duel ended with his opponent dying with his eyes wide open.
A suffocating silence descended at the incredible miracle Chris had shown.
Chris looked down upon the Four Kings' Castle.
“How pathetic. Continuing this would just be a waste of time, so I will end this duel now.”
“!!”
“So the Four Kings' Castle was just an empty bluff. All for show. To think our Dark Alliance struggled for so long against such pathetic fools. I can't believe it. If it weren't for the Corridor of Death making it difficult to maneuver our forces, we would have wiped you out in an instant.”
It was an outrageous statement.
It was in the moment that someone from the Four Kings' Castle, unable to endure it, was about to step forward.
Chris made a surprising declaration.
“It's a waste to spend any more time on fools like you. We will have a pitched battle in one week.”
“!!”
Chris raised the corner of his mouth and continued in an incomparably arrogant voice.
“The location will be our Dark Demonic House's Richard Plains. I will annihilate you there.”
* * *
Chris’s declaration shook both camps.
“Is what you spoke of truly possible?”
Nordian asked with concern.
“If you fail, our Dark Alliance will suffer irreversible damage. Our strength is completely insufficient compared to the Four Kings' Castle.”
Completely.
And that was no exaggeration.
The number of their high-ranking magi was clear proof of that fact.
As seen with the Legion Commanders and the Five Evils, they had a massive number of magi who were at the High 7-Star level or above.
When you included the regular 7-Star high-ranking magi below them, and the other high-ranking magi of the 5th and 6th-Stars, the gap became even wider.
It wasn't for nothing that the Four Kings' Castle was called the strongest coalition in the Magus Empire.
Duke Huam, who was standing beside them, spoke in a heavy voice.
“Wouldn't it be better to defend at the Corridor of Death rather than making a gamble?”
But Chris shook his head.
“If we just stay here, we'll only waste away and die.”
“!!”
“And it's not a gamble. Because I will succeed, without fail.”
Silence flowed through the room.
The three house heads present could not find the words to speak.
They simply could not believe him.
That was just how absurd the plan Chris had laid out was.
Nordian let out a sigh.
‘I believe in my crazy grandson. But this matter isn't just for our Dark Demonic House.’
The other houses had to agree.
But then, Grand Duke Vessian said something unexpected.
“Fine. We will do as you say.”
“Grand Duke Vessian?”
Everyone wore surprised expressions.
Grand Duke Vessian frowned and looked at Christian.
“Don't misunderstand. It’s not that I trust you. I only agreed because cowering in a fortress, constantly afraid of those gloomy bastards, is a blow to my pride. I will use this chance to wipe them all out in one go.”
“…You don’t believe in my grandson?”
“No, Brother. That's not what I meant….”
As Nordian narrowed his eyes, Grand Duke Vessian became flustered and stammered.