Ch.168Dark Lord. (3)

    “You…!”

    Attacking with an electric current, thinking the opponent was an ice mage, had been a fatal mistake.

    “Kehehehe…! Who would have thought you had dual attributes!”

    Clement quickly deployed a mana field to block Olivia’s movement. Even for a Grandmaster like him, mental magic required strict activation conditions and took time to deploy. He wouldn’t have fired that electric current for nothing.

    A critical situation after the failed surprise attack.

    Yet despite this, the smile never left Clement’s face.

    He couldn’t predict how much mana he would gain by extracting blood from a high-ranking mage, especially one with dual attributes.

    To Clement, Olivia was essentially a lump of precious elixir.

    He immediately formed an electric barrier and raised the temperature inside the space to reduce the effectiveness of ice magic.

    Believing he had bound Olivia’s limbs, Clement deployed a secondary spell to create blades that would pierce through her joints.

    Keeeing!

    Blades of mana shot at sonic speed.

    True to their penetrating power, capable of easily piercing through the auras of high-ranking knights, they lightly cut into Olivia’s robe.

    A festival of magic poured down before the opponent could respond.

    Kwajijijik!

    Analyzing the opponent’s mana pattern in a split second and devising the optimal means to subdue them was no difficult task for Clement, a Grandmaster.

    Puhwaaak!

    The golden robe collapsed lifelessly.

    But no blood stained that robe. The moment the mana blade touched Olivia’s body, it was absorbed as if sucked in.

    “…What?!”

    Clement let out a shrill cry and stepped back. Just now, the space around Olivia seemed to distort.

    Peet…!

    As proof, the mana blade that Clement had just fired appeared behind him and grazed his shoulder.

    “T-t-t-triple attribute?!”

    Only now realizing that Olivia had been hiding her true abilities, Clement began to back away with a groan.

    “No. I can only ‘properly’ use two. The rest I can merely imitate at a basic level.”

    With that calm voice, unprecedented power bloomed from Olivia’s fingertips. Simultaneously, a heavy impact struck Clement’s body.

    Kuuuung!

    His body was crushed by gravity as the floor caved in beneath him. Thanks to his shield protecting his body, he wasn’t reduced to a rag, but his eyes still couldn’t regain their composure.

    “…I-impossible!”

    “There are always stubborn fools who won’t believe until they see it with their own eyes. Like you, Clement.”

    Saying this, Olivia created a fireball and imbued it with various attributes.

    “They’re not my main attributes so they’re tricky to control, but I can comfortably fuse about nine of them. Lightning, ice, gravity, space, fire… too many to count.”

    She thrust the mass of mana, mixed with all sorts of attributes and glowing black, straight at Clement’s waist. Tremendous pain poured out simultaneously.

    “Kuh, kuaaaaaaak!”

    “I’ll ask just one question. Is there really not a single mental mage stronger than you?”

    “N-no… there isn’t!”

    “I’m just making sure before I leave. It’s not that I don’t trust you. So let’s continue a little longer.”

    “Kuaak! Aaak!”

    Screams echoed through the corridor.

    If there were any mental mages who had reached the truth, or close to it, they wouldn’t have left a good hand like Clement unused. At minimum, they would have used him in an executive position or maintained connections.

    This was also why Olivia was using such violent methods.

    It was because of the suspicion that, like when Aurelia possessed Rockpa before, it might happen again.

    After waiting a few more minutes, Olivia spoke.

    “…I guess not. It seems there really was no mental mage stronger than you.”

    Olivia smiled at Clement, who could no longer even answer.

    “I won’t kill you. Of course, you won’t be able to function as a mage anymore… but that brain of yours will be useful somewhere.”

    “…!”

    Sensing a terrible fate, Clement bulged his eyes and struggled. He crawled away, trembling, then grabbed Olivia’s ankle.

    “N-no…! K-k-kill me instead!”

    But Olivia ignored his words and placed her hand near Clement’s heart.

    “You just said it yourself. The blood of a high-ranking mage has many uses.”

    “P-p-p-please! O-one more chance…! My disciples! My disciples are scattered throughout the continent! No matter how strong you are, if they deliberately disrupt your surroundings, you won’t be comfortable! Think of the future! I’ll be your slave if that’s what you want!”

    Olivia closed her mouth upon hearing those words.

    This made it even more certain.

    There was no mental mage who had reached the truth. The possibility they had abandoned Clement? They wouldn’t so easily discard a valuable asset like a Grandmaster.

    Kwajijijik!

    Instead of listening to more ugly excuses, Olivia shattered the mana concentrated near Clement’s heart.

    “Kuaaaaaaaaaak!”

    After pounding a few times with her high-purity mana, there was a sound like something breaking, followed by a small explosion.

    “Ah, aaaaa! No! No…”

    As the mana that formed his body leaked out, Clement’s body aged instantly. His hair went beyond turning white to falling out completely, and his skin wrinkled like a slime’s.

    Olivia roughly bound Clement’s ragged body with a mana field, then walked out of the building.

    Passersby lay collapsed as if their strings had been cut. The aftermath of being released from Clement’s control.

    Using blink magic to land on the building’s roof, Olivia placed Clement there and spoke while staring at the empty air.

    “Stop watching and come out.”

    There was no answer, but Olivia’s expression didn’t change at all.

    ‘This crazy voyeuristic bastard.’

    Of course, Olivia couldn’t sense the Master of Dark’s presence.

    It had been difficult to detect him even when she had reached the truth, let alone now when she was far behind that level.

    But the reason she was being stubborn was because:

    [Time remaining: 2 minutes 12 seconds]

    The timer, which should have stopped, continued to count down.

    What could it mean that this timer, which only moved when a regressor was nearby, kept decreasing?

    The Master of Dark had been watching Olivia from the beginning.

    With still no answer, Olivia sighed and opened her mouth.

    “If you don’t come out, I’ll turn Branch 2 upside down next.”

    One more time.

    “You think I can’t do it?”

    […That would be the moment your life ends.]

    A black-haired man with folded arms appeared from between the shadows on the rooftop.

    [Hmm. You clearly showed no signs of searching… It can’t be luck… Perhaps you have good intuition?]

    “I’ve been told I have good eyes.”

    Splat!

    With a sound like mud falling, Clement’s body rolled onto the floor.

    The Master of Dark smiled at that miserable sight. It was a face that seemed to have expected this outcome from the beginning.

    [As fierce as Melina’s disciple should be. Unlike the rumors.]

    “I tend to repay what I receive.”

    Olivia said, nudging Clement with her foot.

    “Take this. If you feed him a few volatile elixirs, you can use him as a slave to make artifacts. Or you could extract his blood to make mana catalysts to sell.”

    […Merciless.]

    “Is that a refusal?”

    [Of course I accept. I was just surprised you know the industry so well.]

    With a gesture from the Master of Dark, Clement’s body was sucked into the shadows.

    “By the way, you were worried, weren’t you? Seeing as you followed from the beginning. Well, I’ll let my master know separately. That the Master of Dark provided excellent after-service.”

    […Unnecessary talk. I’ll pay you back separately for handing over a Grandmaster.]

    “Should I not mention it then?”

    […]

    Zzzzt.

    After feeling that fierce gaze briefly, the Master of Dark’s body turned to shadow and disappeared.

    Whaaak!

    Only after confirming the timer had completely stopped did Olivia click her tongue.

    “…Such a dishonest person.”

    The Master of Dark, true to his assassin nature, has an extremely paranoid and difficult personality, but when you invoke the title of Melina’s disciple, he’s not such a difficult opponent to handle.

    It’s not for nothing that he took on the role of mentor to the unhinged princess in the annihilation timeline.

    ‘At this point, I should meet with Aria.’

    Princess Aria was her “friend” even at this point.

    To the extent that she could meet her anytime without needing the pretext of being Golden Tower Master Melina’s top disciple.

    With luck, she might be able to gauge her true intentions.

    Paat!

    Olivia’s form disappeared, and the mana that had covered the area instantly vanished.

    Immediately after, a completely new landscape unfolded.

    Unfortunately, it wasn’t the Imperial Palace.

    A much more stuffy, dark space. Yet not as dirty as an underground prison.

    “…Where is this?”

    “The spatial movement control room. In case of unauthorized spatial movement, it forcibly twists the coordinates to this place. Naturally… your master’s work.”

    A calm voice echoed from behind Olivia.

    Simultaneously, the timer began to tick again.

    “…Why are you here?”

    “Field trip.”

    A field trip, of all places, to the most secure facility?

    “And they accepted that ridiculous excuse?”

    “Of course.”

    Aria smiled.

    “You seem to forget sometimes. I’m still the ‘innocent and foolish’ princess.”


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