Trolling 6

“…I am Perdain Arbentaine.”

Even betrayed, even with all sorts of unforeseen and ominous accidents erupting one after another, Perdain was the head of a meritorious family, a noble among nobles.

“I am a descendant of those who built this Ark and carried on the last embers of humanity!”

At that, the Marlangs bared their teeth and laughed.

It wasn’t to mock him.

It was because the very person who had hurt them, who had caused them to be born in pain, was not running away from them, so they couldn’t help but laugh.

“Even if all sorts of miserable irrationalities and coercion are before me, I will not yield!”

Perdain activated the mana within his body to strengthen his physique.

Although the anti-mana barrier was activated in multiple layers, the mana within his body was intact, so he would be able to engage in hand-to-hand combat.

“Jestiel! You probably want me to kneel before you, obey you, and apologize! But I will not bow to the likes of you. The only time I bow my head is when the cause of purifying the Ark is accomplished!”

And so, Perdain, without hesitation.

Without fear.

He chose to confront them with dignity and firmness rather than bowing his head in a pathetic manner and begging for his life.

This was the head of the Arbentaine Family.

This was the epitome of a noble.

A manifestation of self-esteem and pride, unlike those cowardly Coffee Tree members!

“Come at me!”

-Thwack thwack thwack thwack thwack thwack thwack!!!!

“Ugh!”

And with the countless kicks from the Marlangs, imbued with tons of force and mass, Perdain was knocked out in 3.42 seconds.

There are too many enemies.

I’ve learned a thing or two.

In truth, Perdain couldn’t even be sure of victory in a one-on-one match against a Marlang combat homunculus.

Combat homunculi were born with all sorts of martial arts and combat methods forcibly implanted in their brains, and their very nature was that of terrifying weapons whose purpose was slaughter and combat.

In that state, they were infected with the immortal girl Marlang’s factors, so their potential and latent power blossomed spectacularly less than a minute after birth.

In martial arts terms, it was as if a child less than a minute old had reached the realm of Hwagyeong.

In fantasy terms, it was an absurd situation, as if a one-minute-old infant had become an aura master.

And there were 465 such beings in this central entrance alone.

“Kuaaaaaaack!”

Perdain gritted his teeth at the countless kicks that were inflicted again as he tried to get back on his feet.

I see.

It was you! Jestiel!!

My wife, the one who was closest to me yet the most like an enemy, was the traitor!

In fact, Perdain had known from the beginning that Jess regarded him as an enemy.

It was only natural.

During their time at the Academy, he had taken note of Jess’s talent and abilities, put pressure on her family, forced her into marriage, and extracted and accumulated Jess’s talent and abilities through the Arbentaine Family’s vision.

He had taken everything from Jess, whose promising future was guaranteed, so how could he not know that she resented and hated him?

But from this point on, Jess was an unnecessary existence to Perdain.

Nevertheless, the reason Jess was holding onto the nominal position of mistress of the Arbentaine Family under the name of Jestiel was solely due to aristocratic duty and prestige.

It wouldn’t do for the head of the family to be without a mistress.

Moreover, Jess had given birth to Dehite Arbentaine, whom he could consider making his heir, so she had already fulfilled her role as a wife sufficiently.

After that, Perdain didn’t pay any attention to Jess at all.

After all, no matter how much Jess struggled, she had no means of taking revenge on Perdain.

She was a broken kite.

A firefly trapped in a cage, a butterfly with clipped wings.

Her power and talent had already been extracted by the Arbentaine Family’s vision. Her family was insignificant compared to the Arbentaine Family, no different from commoners, and the only entity that could threaten Perdain was the Ark Central Administration, but how could Jess be connected to the Central Administration?

But. But…!

“You wretch, Jess…cough!”

“Marlang!”

-Thwack!

“Just when, just when did you turn against me and the cause…! Keuk!”

“Pouring is unforgivable!”

“Squishy kung fu!”

“Pouring kung fu!”

“Dipping kick!”

-Thwack thwack!

-Bang!

But Perdain was being beaten by countless Marlangs while curled up almost like an egg.

Does it sound like they’re playfully throwing out technique names?

If you consider that each punch or kick contains roughly 10 tons of mass, it’s no joke.

Of course, there’s no doubt that Perdain’s skills are on par with a First-Class Overseer, but that’s only based on his status as an Awakened who has utilized the Arbentaine Family’s vision.

In other words, with the anti-mana barrier activated now… and it’s not just one or two anti-mana barriers, but dozens, hundreds of them overlapping in this narrow space, unless you’re someone who can purely break through them with your own skills or physical abilities, you’re no different from an ordinary person.

“Kui kui!”

“Marlang Marlang!”

-Thwack!

“Keuk!”

Perdain was knocked down in a pathetic and miserable state, to the point where he couldn’t be seen as the head of a meritorious family.

One Marlang throws a straight punch.

When Perdain blocks it by crossing his arms, Perdain is pushed back in the blocking stance due to the Marlang’s overwhelming physical abilities and strength.

And a Marlang who moved faster than the speed of sound was already waiting in the position where Perdain was flying.

“Spine punch!”

“Waist correction kick!”

“Cough, heuk…!”

The Marlangs, recognizing that Perdain was the one who created them, delivered filial correction attacks for Perdain, whose back must be in bad shape from paperwork.

Thanks to that, Perdain’s back was not only bent like a bow, but his spine was shattered, and he began to leak spinal fluid, and Perdain collapsed in excruciating pain.

In fact, the Marlangs could have slit Perdain’s throat with their first attack.

Since they received the immortal girl Marlang’s factors as they were, they could freely manipulate and mutate bones, spinal fluid, and blood, so they could pull bones from their hands and make swords, and they would probably be able to freely make guns and bullets soon once they got used to it.

They were already at a level where they could freely create swords wrapped in mana.

But the reason they only punched and kicked was because of their deep filial piety and hatred towards Perdain.

Due to the experiments and infliction of pain, drug administration, forced vision injection, and forced mana circuit awakening, the combat homunculus Marlangs had to scream a whopping 59311 times, so the Marlangs, whose hearts were constantly overflowing with gratitude towards Perdain, continued to punch and kick while shouting their hateful pouring.

Fortunately, Perdain’s mana within his body hadn’t completely disappeared, so he didn’t explode and die even after receiving the Marlang’s attacks…

“Cough! This, shi…t…!”

Judging by the fact that Perdain was even using profanity that he hadn’t used since graduating from the Academy, it would have been better to have his body explode in one go.

In fact, Perdain’s current appearance was quite miserable.

At first, he had confidently said that he would confront them and had drawn up the mana within his body, but after blocking the Marlang’s straight punches once or twice, he was soon collectively lynched by dozens of Marlangs.

“Haha…”

In the end, Perdain, whose limbs were bent in the opposite direction and whose spine was bent like a bow, collapsed in the central entrance with a look of emptiness on his face.

Jess, protected by the Marlangs, approached Perdain.

“….”

“Jestiel… I may not have given you love, but I allowed you to live as the mistress of the Arbentaine Family without any shortcomings.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“But, how could you? You should know how important this cause is…!”

“The cause? Ha, that’s funny.”

Jess looked down at him with a hint of derision.

Jess still remembered the feeling of being forced to marry Arbentaine in the past and having all her talents sucked away by his vision.

Beyond despair, humiliation and anger.

A dream and nightmare that she could never achieve, no matter how many hundreds of times she repeated it in her mind that she would definitely repay him.

Her own son, who had become the heir, was a good-for-nothing who tried to sexually assault his mother, and ridiculously, she had to place her hopes on such a good-for-nothing.

Jess quickly stopped reminiscing, as she felt like she would only throw up if she thought about the past.

“Perdain, I won’t say much. You’ve always thought you were smart. You probably thought it was natural for everyone but you to think and feel like you. So, what I have to say to you is that I’ve never been interested in the cause in the first place.”

“…So you’re still trying to protect yourself, succeed, and achieve some paltry… self-realization? Just such trivial things?”

“It may be trivial to you, but it was everything to me. Isn’t it normal for a woman who has had everything taken away to become vicious?”

“…Ha.”

“And you must know? That’s why you didn’t kill me, like you would look at a performing monkey. You wanted to keep me by your side and laugh at me, to feel superior to the authority and power you had while watching me with unfulfilled hope.”

“….”

That wasn’t wrong.

The reason Perdain had left Jess as the mistress even though she had outlived her usefulness was that, apart from the fact that she was good-looking, her pathetic movements satisfied his base pleasure.

“…It’s so futile.”

“I’m not futile. I’ve been waiting for this day for so long.”

“Is that so.”

It was so futile.

Perdain had prepared everything for the sake of the cause.

Ruincrest Academy would be filled with talents who were critical and hostile to the Ark Central Administration in the future, and the private army and combat secretarial corps would be equipped with the latest combat gear to confront the Central Administration.

Above all, the biggest secret weapon.

If only the combat homunculus cultivation facility, into which 90% of the meritorious family’s assets had been poured, could be fully operational, all the conditions for competing on equal footing with the Central Administration would have been met.

Three years.

No, if he had at least one year, everything would have been perfect…

To think that it would be destroyed by Jess, whom he thought had no power.

‘If I had known this would happen… I should have monitored and verified the inside more thoroughly instead of monitoring the outside of the layer. No, it’s already too late. There’s no such thing as “what if” in a reality that has already happened…’

“Jess, I’ll ask you one last time.”

“What.”

“How on earth were you able to seize the combat homunculus cultivation facility?”

“….”

Jess didn’t answer.

Because she didn’t know either.

But the truth was more futile than she thought.

It was because Alice had fixed the destroyed cultivation facility, and since she had forgotten to restore the system, all the reproduced Marlangs followed Jess, who was the first person they saw, as their master.

While harboring hatred for the ‘adult male’ and ‘Perdain’ who had caused them pain.

“You must have put in a tremendous amount of effort and secretly devised a meticulous plan in the shadows. The rights of the mistress of the Arbentaine Family, the collapsing family fortune, and even your body… you must have used everything you could… Ah, I see. Now I understand. In the first place, Alice was never a spy or a snake who had infiltrated. It was all you. You were the Judas.”

“…….”

Jess didn’t answer this time either.

All that remained was the feeling of, “What the hell is this guy talking about while he’s dying?”

But no matter what Jess said, Perdain was somehow convinced, and he was admiring the huge and terrifying conspiracy that Jess had imagined to destroy him with his outstanding intellect.

“I thought you were just talented in the Academy days, but your head was simple… I apologize. You are so cold, outstanding, cunning, and have great patience. How could you always look so dead in front of me, express hatred that wasn’t even threatening, and show the despair of grasping at a rotten rope? It was all acting… You acted out even the trivial things to destroy me.”

“…Yeah, let’s go with that.”

“Ha… If I had known this would happen, I should have not only taken your talent but also truly gained your heart and trust… If that had been the case, if you and I had been true comrades, achieving the cause would have been a dream… Is this what they call karma?”

“…”

Why is this guy enlightened and realizing things all by himself?

He’s practically a Buddha.

Jess didn’t even feel like giving him an answer.

“Ah, ah! Perdain, no!!!”

At that moment, Alice opened the door of the mansion and came in.

Perdain and Alice’s eyes met.

At that moment, a small hope filled Perdain’s eyes.

It was because he saw extreme despair in Alice’s eyes.

Those despairing eyes.

Those are the eyes that only someone who is in danger of losing something precious and important can make.

‘Alice… Could it be that she’s here to save me!?’

When he thought about it, there was a reason why Alice would save him.

He had not ignored or despised her as a returnee from a commoner background, but for Alice, Perdain was a foster father, and for Alice, whose future was bright, Arbentaine and Perdain were indispensable existences.

As long as Perdain was alive, Alice could enjoy a luxurious life that she couldn’t even imagine, and in fact, Perdain thought that he and Alice were communicating with each other without hiding anything.

Yes, when he thought about it, that was the case.

Even if they weren’t on good terms, they needed each other.

Alice always faithfully followed his words, and even said that she would infiltrate Coffee Tree first and carry out double-agent work.

She was excellent as an heir and as an Academy student.

And above all, Alice fixed the homunculus cultivation facility in front of Perdain’s eyes.

Tremendous power as if time was going backwards.

If that was the case, it wasn’t impossible to heal Perdain, who was in tatters, and reverse this situation!

‘Yes, Alice. Save me! I can give you everything! The future of this family depends on you, and you will have that future!’

Perdain smiled inwardly.

Yes, I believed in you. Alice.

No, actually, there was a time when I suspected you were a Central Administration stooge and a hidden Overseer, but you acted truthfully and gained my trust.

And you’re quite a materialistic woman.

I have to be alive for you to fulfill all your materialistic desires!

So Alice. Hurry up and save m-

“Nooooo! My eight years of ultra-luxurious villainess lifeeeee!”

What?

At that moment, Perdain saw something blue around Alice’s neck.

Oh, that’s… an armband?

It’s a blue armband.

What is that?

There wasn’t anything like that before…

And if it’s a blue armband… it’s a kind of symbol and power that the administrator, the highest-ranking being in the Central Administration, gives to his favorite Overseer…?

The jumbled puzzle that had spread out in Perdain’s head in an instant began to fit together.

“You fucking bitch!!!!”

And an even worse curse than before came out of his mouth.