Ch.9594. Proof (4)

# 94. Proof (4)

The expression on his face during the process was one of overflowing confidence, as if asking, “Are you watching carefully?” And it was certainly a sight worthy of such confidence.

With barely 10 people, they were marking approximately 1,000 troops.

In this process, the princess and Albert played significant roles, while the remaining members and those providing support from a distance faithfully fulfilled their duties.

“But he’s keeping that skill active even when his teammates arrived?”

“Because it’s advantageous that way.”

Rather, turning off that skill would be disadvantageous.

The intimidation that skill emitted.

If the intimidation works, it reduces the stats of any being, and by a fixed percentage at that.

“If it reduced by a fixed amount, it would be better to turn it off, since those guys’ stats are basically lower. But in this situation, the opponent’s stats are higher.”

Therefore, it was true that the opponent’s stats were being reduced more than our team’s stats.

And above all, the stat-boosting effect Albert gained from that skill was at a level that absolutely couldn’t be ignored.

“Seems like all his stats are increasing. At first, he seemed to be in a lot of pain when hit, but after activating that, it seems less severe.”

“And in the princess’s case, it doesn’t seem to affect her. I was worried because her magic stat seemed overwhelmingly high, but it’s unchanged.”

Indeed, her magic showed no difference whether she was close to or far from Albert.

“Can he control the intimidation? For something like that, the other team members seem to be affected.”

“Then the reason is likely with the princess.”

It was certainly more rational to think that way.

“Anyway… they’re amazing. At that age, to be that good… if they do well, they could probably kill someone like Fenex with just those two.”

No matter how weak Fenex might be among the Executioners, an Executioner is still an Executioner.

It was impossible not to admire them for making such a person struggle like that.

Conversely, watching that fight, Lilith was greatly disappointed in Fenex.

Originally, Lilith didn’t think highly of him due to his demon supremacist views, but she still thought his skills were remarkable.

Unlike herself, he had risen to the high position of Executioner at such a young age.

“But…”

Fenex insisted on a one-on-one battle with Albert solely because of his pride, and the result was, as you can see, utterly miserable.

Not only did he fail to deal with Albert, who had faced those troops alone, but with the arrival of team members, the battle was dragging on.

Because of this, their original goal of infiltrating Michael Palace and capturing the empress and emperor’s children was now nearly impossible.

“The only consolation is that the target is right in front of us… but capture seems impossible.”

As Lu said, one of their targets, the princess, was right in front of them, but they couldn’t even touch a hair on her head.

Far from touching the princess, the reality was that they were too intimidated by Albert standing in front of her to properly demonstrate their abilities.

And thanks to Albert and the princess’s astonishing teamwork, they were exerting even greater power than their original capabilities.

“Well… it’s impossible not to make comparisons at this point.”

Fenex, who always tried to solve everything alone, versus Albert, who trusted his teammates and successfully maximized the team’s combat power by complementing each other’s weaknesses with strengths.

The difference between the two was stark.

They seemed similar yet were different, and in Lilith’s eyes, Albert appeared to be an upgraded version of Fenex.

“If someone could heal Fenex’s wounds, he might become like Albert…”

“That’s not easy.”

Fenex had endured a harsh childhood and reached his current position, but before reaching that position, he had suffered numerous wounds, and those wounds continued to hurt him even now as an Executioner.

And those wounds had been engraved on his body like tattoos since he was very young.

***

Fenex was born as the eldest son of a very famous ducal family.

However, he had one flaw.

“Your son’s body is too weak to be strengthened with magic power.”

As the medically skilled maid said, Fenex’s body was too weak to handle the overflowing magic power characteristic of demons.

Unlike humans, whose magic circuits were limited to specific parts of the body, Fenex was a Ma-in whose entire body consisted of magic circuits, which is why demons could engage in close combat by strengthening their bare hands with magic power without needing weapons.

But Fenex couldn’t do that.

Fenex’s body itself was too vulnerable to magic power, so he had no choice but to rely on weapons, just like humans.

“Well… if I can become stronger this way…”

Still, since there were demon races like Dark Elves or Beast-kin who used weapons, it wasn’t difficult to obtain them.

Of course, the looks directed at Fenex, who purchased weapons as an ordinary Ma-in, were never kind.

Even his family looked down on him, and his father didn’t even consider Fenex as his son.

That was what Fenex actually heard from his father when he was 13 years old.

“Don’t call me father.”

“…What?”

“Are your ears as inferior as that weak body of yours? Or is your brain so inferior that you couldn’t understand what I just said?”

“Th-That’s…”

His father inflicted an immense wound on his trembling son.

“I’m saying that I don’t need an inferior son like you, so leave this house, leave my territory. And don’t ever mention that you were my son anywhere.”

“…Was your son? So now I’m…”

“Finally understanding? It means you’re no longer my son.”

Thus abandoned by his family, Fenex headed to an orphanage near the border and spent his time there until he turned 50, the age of adulthood.

Even at the orphanage, he strived to become stronger so that his father would look at him again.

He gathered magic power like ordinary demons to level up, and when that wasn’t enough, he even considered swallowing his pride and adopting human methods.

“But that’s not right… A demon like me using the methods of inferior humans is unthinkable.”

Unlike Lilith, who abandoned her pride and adopted human methods, Fenex extremely despised humans.

Just like his father.

Because of this, he grew stronger through an unethical method, but one that was certainly different from human methods.

“By killing humans.”

He thought humans were less valuable than stones rolling on the ground, which is why he could think of becoming stronger by killing such inferior beings.

Thus, Fenex took advantage of the orphanage’s location near the territories of the human nations, the Kainis Empire and the Orion Kingdom, to kill many humans who approached Babylon Kingdom’s territory out of curiosity, and grew through this.

Humans gifted Fenex with quite a lot of experience points each time they died, and seeing himself grow day by day, he felt a thrill he had never experienced before.

“At this rate, maybe I can become as strong as my siblings and be acknowledged by father…?”

That terrifying thought dominated Fenex’s mind and was gradually turning him into a killing machine.

Without realizing that more and more humans were coming to where he was.

“There’s quite a lot of prey today…?”

That was all he thought.

After finishing another thrilling hunt as usual, he returned to the orphanage, his home and sanctuary.

“I brought a lot today.”

Fenex always deceived the orphanage people by claiming the human flesh was from animals, and they ate it together.

Thus, Fenex and the orphanage people continued to practice cannibalism.

However, among the orphanage people, there was someone who was curious about the true identity of the meat.

She was one of the orphanage members and a Dark Elf whom Fenex secretly liked.

“By the way, where did you hunt this?”

“This…?”

Fenex couldn’t lie to her, so he later told only her where he had hunted.

“If you go beyond the border, there’s a big forest, and I hunted there.”

“Then can I go with you next time? I want to see Fenex hunting too.”

“N-No! It’s a very dangerous place…”

“R-Really? Okay…”

With that, she returned to her room after saying one last thing.

“But Fenex is very human-like, using weapons to hunt like that… Anyway, keep up the good work!”

Hearing those words, Fenex had many thoughts.

‘I’m… human-like? Me, who was the son of a ducal family?’

But since it was from her, whom he liked, he couldn’t refute and returned to his room.

“She’s… saying such nonsense… I should tell her later that the difference between those inferior humans and me is as vast as heaven and earth.”

Fenex made such a resolution and quietly fell asleep.

Not knowing what trials awaited him tomorrow.