episode_0017

For the past few months, I’ve significantly increased the time I invest in solving magical formulas.

Normally, deciphering Rachel’s magical formulas, which are supposed to be simple proper nouns that take no more than 15 minutes to solve without any help, has become a significant part of my daily routine.

However, as mentioned earlier, there is a separate reason why magical formula research has become a big part of my everyday life.

“Solving magical formulas and directly developing and executing them are entirely different matters.”

I had to maintain a natural appearance, hiding mana-disrupting potions so subtly that even users wouldn’t notice, ensuring they neither sensed it nor tasted it. If someone like keen-sensed Dylan or Gaju were to fall victim to it, it would be a disaster.

Furthermore, I had to strategically conceal assisting magical tools in appropriate locations and observe other magical tools while requesting them from Rachel.

So, what kind of magical formula did I create?

Simple.

*Clap.*

It was a brief applause.

Everything fell silent.

In the dark stillness, the noise emanating from the ceiling was enough to captivate their attention.

An aura unfolds from the sky.

The viscount holding a sword, the merchant grasping the door handle to flee, the attendant heading towards the back door—all fixate on one point, staring at the ceiling as if possessed by something.

“…What have you activated?”

Uriah, who had been observing the situation, displayed a reaction far beyond astonishment.

This wasn’t a dismissive remark; it was a genuinely awestruck question.

When dealing with ordinary people, it might not be known, but even sorcerers of the 5th circle and above could not resist this magic, falling into such a state. Uriah herself recognized that this was undeniably a spell worthy of recognition from outside.

Casting a sleep spell on individuals one by one isn’t difficult if they aren’t resisting.

But casting it on approximately 500 people in a banquet hall presents an entirely different challenge.

No matter how skilled I am, I don’t possess that level of magical power.

I simply used a little trick.

“Poison, that’s what merchants eat and die from. I’ve just taken out the dying part. Just in case, I entrusted you, Uriah, with the secondary inspection and told you to leave any non-lethal poison alone.”

“…Yes, but there was no magic in it. Let alone a scroll…”

Ah,

Uriah, who had been silently contemplating, sighs.

Poison. It was the poison she had ordered to be managed.

A magic that required placing magical devices in specific locations for the theoretical attempt to be possible. In this case, without careful calculation, if the magical device and the internal drugs didn’t react to each other, it would result in failure. That’s why she hadn’t even considered it. However, this aspect was easily covered by Ian’s magic formula.

As she was mostly responsible for setting up the magical devices, Uriah, having roughly calculated in her mind, couldn’t help but admire Ian once again.

Uriah grabbed the railing and looked down with cold eyes.

“……Fifteen, seven of which are already subdued, and latecomers are waiting. They’re all wearing leather or using very discreet concealment magic. If not for the magical devices, I wouldn’t have found them easily.”

The banquet hall is bright now. With a bright white light.

The white magical device commanded by Uriah emitted light.

Shadows passing through the burst of light.

At that moment.

-Clunk.

Uriah’s eyes narrowed at the sound of faint footsteps.

“…Master, they’ve arrived.”

“Oh. I know. I’m watching everything with the magical devices.”

Just then.

Thieves unaffected by the magic rushed towards us.

I turned my head as if I had expected it.

“I thought you’d come first. After all, the prettiest thing here is Uriah.”

-Zap!

A small magical device on the building pillar emits sparks.

Around Uriah, lightning spread out from the magical device. The thieves, unable to dodge, trembled and collapsed to the ground.

‘There’s no trap as specialized in suppression as lightning.’

However, they were not incapacitated. A body trained and protected by mana doesn’t easily break.

“…Ugh, darn it! Where on earth did that viscount run off to…!!”

They fell to the ground and shot their crossbows from their fallen positions. The traces of illegal enhancement were evident from the last magic circle they revealed.

‘The sorcerer who cast the aura circle won’t go down easily.’

However, contrary to their hopes,

Beside me, the next world’s strongest vampire was enjoying her feast, sucking blood to her heart’s content.

A wave of blood, gestured once, lightly deflected the arrows.

The second arrow failed to pierce through the blood-made wall. The bandits who saw this held their breath. Their surprise attack had been a mistake from the start, as we had been onto them from the beginning.

Ian, holding Yuriya, who was still licking his neck from this morning, looked down at them. The bandits’ faces, staring silently, showed embarrassment, their teeth grinding audibly, the sound reaching us here.

“Y-You!!!!! Raising monsters under the guise of nobility… I’ll kill you right now!”

One of them, apparently somewhat recovered from the shock, slowly rose from his spot and drew a dagger from his bosom. It was clear that he was an Aura user, but he couldn’t maintain the form of an Aura Blade or even a sword, indicating his weakness.

The smoke rising from him due to the electric shock, and his charred clothes, easily gave away his identity.

Mottled skin, wrinkled face, whitened eyes with uncomfortably twisted pupils, bent waist, and only one visible black front tooth.

Without a doubt, the guy with that aged appearance was none other than Dylan’s future heroine, Luciel’s assailant.

‘In the original, he was caught trying to force himself on Dylan’s woman and ended up getting caught right in front of her. A sacrificial lamb in a story that educates about the common NTR challenge.’

Nevertheless, that doesn’t make it any less unpleasant.

The bandit’s mana surge revealed a hint of his true nature, boosted by confidence and emotion.

Yuriya, who had captured the unpleasant voice in her ears, slightly furrowed her eyebrows.

“…Kekeke, young man. You’ve ripened well. Even your milky chest looks splendid, just my type. Such a guy should be taken care of quickly—”

As the guy’s laughter echoed, Yuria, who had been sipping blood as if it were water, seemed quite irritated and stopped drinking.

“……..Can I kill that thief now?”

Yuria clenched her fist ever so slightly. It was a habit from using blood magic. It was clear that if my command or permission were given, at that moment, his body would be torn apart without hesitation.

‘But not even feeling any doubt about what’s happening down there and just staring at Yuria’s body, he’s quite stupid.’

Well, I won’t bother saying how charming that is.

The place I’m touching right now is warm and soft, just like one.

“That kind of guy won’t cause any trouble to the plan, so we just need to clean up neatly.”

“Yes, understood.”

Yuria, who had slightly moved away from my embrace, extended her arm slowly.

Then, as she clenched her fist, a thorn-like spike of blood emerged from the ground and precisely pierced the skull of the thief who had shot a crossbow from below.

The thief who had shot from below also died without even screaming. It was a judgment that it’s better to kill both if they’re going to die anyway.

Now it wasn’t surprising. Yuria is the final boss. If she had grown even a little, she should be able to kill such small fries with just a gesture.

I looked at the limp body of the thief, feeling drained.

Yuria nervously pulled my embrace and buried her face between my abdomen and thigh, sending some kind of signal by rubbing between my lower belly and thigh.

“…I belong to you. I will dedicate everything to you. It’s embarrassing and unpleasant for someone like me to be named after such a person.”

“Yuria. Even if you don’t like it, you know you have to feed the familiar, right?”

“…Yes, master.”

Yuria, with a slightly sad expression, petted the wolf-shaped familiar that emerged from the shadows and then instructed it to devour the cold corpse of the thief.

It seemed unpleasant not because the thief’s body was being devoured, but because her own kin was putting up with such a thing.

It was a dismal sight to the average person, but my heart remained surprisingly calm. How many times had I visualized this situation? Everything had gone according to plan so far.

“Thanks to Yuria, many of the thieves are in disarray as she has neutralized the annoying captain’s abilities. If there’s an opportunity, it should be ample.”

Yuria crouched, scratching the ground, waiting for the spirits to consume the humans they had captured.

I proceeded as planned, walking towards where Rachel was.

Beside me was Yuria’s spirit, a wolf-like creature with blood dripping from its mouth. Somehow, it had grown quite fond of me.

“Hmm… the more I look at you, the more I feel attached.”

As if understanding my words, the creature leading the way wagged its tail.

“Shall we call you Badugi?”

“… ”

Suddenly, I recalled Yuria’s serious expression when she first heard that name. How surprised she was when she saw the text box warning of mortal danger through the hologram window. I vowed not to name things lightly from then on.

But, well, what’s wrong with a black Badugi? “Surely Yuria’s chosen name was… Robel? But Badugi suits you better.”

Woof.

Are you a dog?

Seemingly pleased with the name Yuria had given, the creature barked accordingly. It was more like a mischievous house dog than the monstrous Hursu Penrir-level creature that would appear later in the mid-to-late stages.

“Grrr.”

As we walked down the dark corridor, the wolf split into three, indicating the presence of three enemies. Yuria’s spirit could split into a maximum of 100 and would recover within a day as long as the main body wasn’t killed. Crossbows couldn’t penetrate its thick skin and were deflected. Even if facing a wizard, their spells dissipated with a breath. Furthermore, they possessed incredible physical abilities, each one growing stronger by consuming humans, gaining immense capabilities. In this plan, these creatures weren’t just inflicting wounds; they were becoming stronger by feeding on humans.

Of course, it was natural that the mixed breeds from Episode 1, faithful minions of the final boss, couldn’t possibly win. Perhaps the only ones capable of completely eliminating these spirits with regenerative abilities, who consume humans in this mansion, would be Rachel, the Ice Queen, or perhaps Carman. As expected, those poor souls were either already being torn apart by dozens of wolves or had their arms ripped off, screaming in agony.

“What… what is this monst—”

“Kraaah!! My, my arm…!”

“Ruth, these guys… cough!”

It was quite satisfying to see them die without putting up any resistance. “Yuria’s ability is convenient; I’m glad. With just one spirit, she can eliminate half of the variables we planned for.”

Yuria had memorized the faces, features, and scents of all the nobles who had visited this place, so if they were imposters, she could easily tell. Hiding their blood scent was simple, but if she remembered their features like this, it would be easy to expose them. Moreover, if even a hint of a strong blood scent emanated, she would unhesitatingly go for their throat.

Sure enough, while passing between the tables, she quietly stopped and tore into the head of a noble. Upon examining the body closely, it turned out to be an assassin who had disguised himself as a noble, flipped his skin, and pretended to be a noble before succumbing to sleep after eating.

“By the way, I don’t see the ringleader, even though he must have been around Dylan,” I said, before sacrificing the rest to the devil and quickly dealing with them. The reason I cast a sleep spell on everyone was to maintain Yuria’s secret and absorb the devil. It was also to prevent the nobles from sacrificing themselves and gaining combat experience while safely finishing the job. Dylan doesn’t fight moderately here; he gets everyone involved.

The sound of a blood feast, an environment loved by demons, began. Yuria cannot defeat a high-ranking demon at the moment. Besides, demons generally dislike vampires. Given their extremely bad history, it was clear that if they knew Yuria was a vampire noble, they would try to kill her first.

“Oh, I’ve found you.”

Fortunately, while reviewing the plan, a signal was sent that the wolf had found Rachel’s scent.

Upon finding her, I immediately embraced her. Surprisingly, Rachel was light. Despite being 170cm tall, she weighed around 50kg.

Rachel was in good condition. It was just that various parts were touched due to the way I held her.

Rachel nestled in my arms as if she were sleep-talking, wrapping her legs around Ian’s waist.

Then she placed her head on my shoulder and hugged my neck, with her abdomen constantly moving, aligning with the navel. Is this a position Carmen enjoys? No, it has been quite a while since Rachel and I had any relationship, almost as long as when she gave birth to me. It means we have drifted apart as a couple for a long time.

This feels like being with someone in a dream…

At that moment, a voice echoed in my mind, causing my thoughts to turn somewhat blank.

“Ha…aah, th-this, this isn’t… right! We are…”

…Am I even receiving a massage from her?