Chapter 62. Ambush (2)
Clang—! Clang—! Clang—!
The deafening bells rang throughout the manor. While the bells continued ringing without pause—
Crash! Clatter!
Crunch! Craaack!
Gruesome, spine-chilling sounds of tearing flesh and thunderous crashes erupted one after another.
Anyone who could remain asleep amid such a commotion had to be either unconscious or dead.
Viscount Venenon, however, was neither unconscious nor dead.
“What is happening?”
When he looked out the window, he was greeted by absolute chaos.
The manor’s main gate had been smashed apart, the surrounding walls had collapsed, and guards lay sprawled nearby, spraying blood across the ground.
Craaaack—!
Another thunderous noise rang out.
Booooom!
....No, it was an explosion.
Just as he wondered what in the world was happening—
“V-Viscount!”
Someone practically smashed the door open and rushed inside, gasping for breath.
It was the butler responsible for managing the manor. His face was filled with bewilderment and fear.
“What in the world is happening?”
“Invaders are attacking the manor!”
“....Invaders?”
“This is no time to stand around! You must evacuate immediately!”
The butler urgently pressed him as though disaster had struck.
To be sure, it was indeed a disastrous situation, but Viscount Venenon unconsciously tilted his head to the left as a question occurred to him.
Invaders?
Who could they possibly be?
And why would they suddenly attack out of nowhere?
“Who are the attackers? Have you identified them?”
“I-I don’t know. However, according to what we’ve determined so far, there are two of them!”
“....Two?”
Viscount Venenon’s head, which had been tilted to the left, now tilted to the right.
“Are you saying that merely two people caused all this because you couldn’t stop them?”
“Y-Yes!”
The butler’s confirmation left Viscount Venenon dumbfounded.
How could this manor’s formidable defenses have been breached so helplessly by only two people?
Had a Master-level knight attacked them?
No, even a Master-level knight could not have done this.
After all, every guard in the manor was—
That was when it happened.
Booooom—!
One wall of the room collapsed with an enormous explosion. A dense cloud of dust billowed into the air.
His vision was momentarily obscured, but the dust soon settled.
The person revealed beyond it was a man drenched from head to toe in blood.
He was obviously one of the invaders attacking the manor. However, a mask concealed his face.
“Who are you?”
“The delinquent.”
“The delinquent?”
If he was the delinquent—
“Adrian White Wolf?”
“What? You know me?”
At that moment, a sigh came from one side.
A man equally drenched in blood appeared beside Adrian.
His hair was stained red with blood.
However, strands of gold could still be seen between the stains.
The golden-haired man released another deep sigh and pulled off the mask he had been wearing.
He possessed a face that anyone would call handsome.
However, the look he gave Adrian—
“Didn’t you say we were infiltrating?”
....Made it clear that he was wondering whether Adrian had completely lost his mind.
* * *
Kai removed his mask with a sigh.
“Didn’t you say we were infiltrating?”
He then questioned me in an accusatory tone.
“Why did you wear a mask if you intended to reveal your identity?”
“I thought he wouldn’t know who I meant if I called myself the delinquent.”
“There are almost no nobles in the Kingdom of Vatenberg who haven’t heard of ‘the delinquent’.”
“Am I really that famous?”
Those memories were so old that they had become hazy. I had never paid much attention to them, either.
However, judging from Kai’s expression, which seemed to ask why that even needed explaining, I must have been quite famous.
Well, even so—
‘A Homunculus shouldn’t know who I am.’
Even a Replicant Homunculus inherited only thirty percent of its subject’s memories, so it should not have known that “the delinquent” referred to me.
The same should have applied even if this person was Avarus.
No, it applied even more strongly to Avarus.
Avarus was one of the Devotees of the Fallen Souls.
In other words, he was not a noble of the Kingdom of Vatenberg.
There was no possibility that he would know some trivial gossip about the delinquent of a count’s family.
‘Was I mistaken?’
Swallowing that question, I activated Predatory Instincts[S].
Information about the man before me appeared in an orderly display.
== <Character Information> ==
Name: Evolutas de Venenon
Classification: Kingdom Animalia, Class Mammalia, Family Hominidae, Human
Sex: Male
Age: 42
Trait: Transmog
The information clearly indicated that he was Viscount Venenon.
Could I really have been mistaken?
That thought briefly crossed my mind, but I soon shook my head.
The reason was the Transmog listed under his traits.
When I activated Predatory Instincts[S] once more, information about Transmog appeared before me.
◆Transmog : This spell uses transformation and reconstruction, allowing its user to transform by perfectly imitating a designated target’s appearance, traits, abilities, and even mind.
However, if the transformation is maintained for too long, it may become permanent.
The information appeared before me.
However, it indicated that Viscount Venenon was not a Homunculus.
Nor was he Avarus.
Transmog was a spell that allowed its user to transform by perfectly imitating a target.
It was different from Polymorph Magic, which changed only one’s outward appearance.
It could imitate the target down to what was commonly called the genetic level.
What it required was the Genetic Factor of the person whom the user intended to imitate.
Transmog was a spell that scraped away a target’s Genetic Factor and used it to create a perfect imitation.
Since the entire body of the person being copied had to be used as material, the real Evolutas de Venenon was dead.
The person standing before me was Avarus, the Forger of Greed.
‘He almost fooled me completely.’
He would have, if I had not possessed Predatory Instincts[S].
I sharpened Dragon’s Claw [A].
Avarus, one of the Devotees of the Fallen Souls—was an Alchemist.
More specifically, he was a deranged Alchemist who used humans as materials to create Homunculi.
People commonly considered Alchemists and mages to be entirely separate.
They thought Alchemists were merely drug makers incapable of using magic.
However, that was a grave misconception.
Alchemy was a branch of Arcane Studies from the very beginning.
One could not even learn Alchemy without understanding Arcane Studies.
An Alchemist was simply a mage with more extensive knowledge of Alchemy.
Not every mage was an Alchemist.
However, every Alchemist was a mage.
Therefore, Avarus was also a mage.
He merely happened to be far more obsessed with Alchemy.
When fighting a mage, there were several ironclad rules that absolutely had to be followed.
The first of those rules—never give a mage time.
◆Activating the Combination Skill “Metabolic Overdrive [U]”!
◆Calories consumed: 50,000 kcal
◆All the player’s stats will increase by [+50%] for [500 seconds]!
Thump!!
My endocrine hormones erupted into overdrive.
When I kicked off the ground—
Boooom!
The floor caved in, and my body shot forward.
“What in the—?!”
Avarus was caught off guard.
He was far too slow to react to my speed, but several layers of translucent barriers appeared in front of him.
It was Shield Magic.
However, Avarus was currently in Viscount Venenon’s form.
Transmog had altered him down to the genetic level, leaving him in a body incapable of using magic.
It was probably a Magic Artifact designed to activate during a crisis.
As always, he was meticulous to an infuriating degree.
Without hesitation, I thrust Dragon’s Claw [A] into the overlapping shields.
Dragon’s Claw [A] was an ability engraved with a dragon’s Genetic Factor.
Its attack power rivaled that of a dragon, and it ignored [-35%] of the target’s defense.
It was not an attack that could be stopped merely by layering a few Shield Magic spells.
Craaaack—!
The overlapping magical shields shattered like brittle crackers.
Splurt—!
Avarus’s chest was torn open, and blood sprayed into the air.
I felt the unmistakable impact through my fingertips.
However, Avarus did not die.
For one thing, no message appeared informing me that Avarus had been defeated.
Even without that, his grotesque appearance made it impossible to believe he was dead.
Gurgle, gurgle—!
His entire body took on a grotesque appearance, as though his flesh were melting and flowing downward.
Before long, Avarus’s true form revealed itself.
His body was hunched and twisted.
His frame was as gaunt as a withered branch, and the two legs supporting him staggered with a bizarre rhythm.
His fingertips had been blackened by countless experiments. Several of his fingers had been replaced with metallic prosthetics.
They were signs that he had used himself as a test subject.
Perhaps because of that, his exposed skin was covered in burns, scars, and patches of flesh that were abnormally swollen or deeply sunken.
Unidentifiable devices were attached all over his body.
Some had fused with his biological tissue and circulated through his body alongside his blood.
Others protruded from his hunched body, continuously supplying him with unknown drugs and liquids.
His erratically trembling eyes were unfocused, yet they contained endless curiosity and an obsession steeped in madness.
That was the Avarus I remembered.
Kai’s eyes widened in shock.
“What...?”
Kai’s eyes opened so widely that they appeared ready to tear.
He was clearly astonished.
That was understandable.
Transmog changed even the user’s Genetic Factor perfectly.
Not even a Master’s senses could detect it. Nor could any form of magical detection uncover it.
“....How did you know?”
That was why Avarus was equally puzzled.
“Detection Concealment was active, so there shouldn’t have been any traces left. Did you identify my unique Mana pattern? No…. That’s impossible.”
Avarus continued rambling, but—
I did not understand or care about any of that.
He had simply failed to deceive Predatory Instincts[S].
It was an ability I had obtained by consuming the Lycanthrope with Predation [S+], as well as one of the authorities possessed by the Monarch of Beasts.
To summarize Predatory Instincts[S], it could be described as the “survival instinct” that the living creatures of this world had evolved in order to survive.
To survive against natural predators. To avoid being devoured by other predators.
It was an instinct developed over hundreds of millions of years, allowing living creatures to recognize poisonous mushrooms, determine which places were safe, and identify what might benefit them.
It was information accumulated by innumerable living creatures struggling to survive within countless natural environments.
As a result, it allowed me to know information about every organism, environment, and target innately and a priori.
Moreover, I knew more about Avarus than almost anyone else.
The information about the Dark Merchant Company that I had investigated while serving as the Special Warfare Unit’s Covert Operations Commander remained perfectly preserved in my mind.
“You bastard. How did you discover my identity?”
No matter how many tricks Avarus tried to pull—
“What would you do if I told you? Buy yourself more time?”
He was ultimately in the palm of my hand.
Sure enough, Avarus flinched.
I had struck the nail on the head. However, I could not charge at him carelessly.
“I don’t know how you uncovered my identity, but—”
After all, there were ironclad rules that absolutely had to be followed when fighting a mage.
The second rule—
“The moment you set foot in this place, it was already too late!”
Never enter a mage’s territory.
Eeeeeeeeee—!!
A piercing ringing sound threatened to tear apart my eardrums as the magical power surrounding Avarus began to vibrate.
Hexagram Magic Circles of incomprehensible meaning were engraved in every direction.
Then the entire room became completely isolated from the outside world, as though it had been covered by a transparent veil.
What followed was a distorted silence.
The sound of the wind, our breathing, and our beating hearts—all of them stretched out and trembled.
Every phenomenon occurring within this space felt misaligned with reality.
‘It’s a Barrier.’
When I activated Predatory Instincts[S], information about the Barrier appeared before me.
◆Infinity Silence : The flow of Mana is completely halted within this Barrier. No entity inside the Barrier can use its own Mana.
This Barrier remains active infinitely, regardless of the passage of time.
Judging solely from its description, it was difficult not to wonder how such an absurd Barrier could exist.
There was no other Barrier as outrageously overpowered as this one.
‘Even the Archmage was caught off guard.’
It had not been only the Archmage.
The Spirit Wielder, one of the Heroes of the Coalition Forces, had also been caught off guard by Avarus’s Barrier.
It was an outrageously powerful Barrier that even the Heroes could not oppose.
Of course, that also made it exceedingly difficult to activate.
It could be used only in specific locations, and even then, it required an enormous amount of time and effort to construct.
That was why the ironclad rule against entering a mage’s territory had come into existence.
It was also why Avarus had not fled despite all the chaos.
‘I didn’t expect him to activate it immediately.’
That was somewhat unexpected.
It appeared that after watching Kai and me slaughter the Combat-Type Homunculi guarding the manor, he had concluded that he could not defeat us through ordinary means.
“Urgh...!”
Kai suddenly staggered.
That was only natural because the power Kai used was Aura.
Aura was ultimately a form of energy created by converting Mana into a usable state.
If the flow of Mana completely stopped, the power of Aura would also be severed.
However—the same applied to Avarus.
Avarus was a mage.
The power he used was magical power.
Magical power was also a form of energy created by converting Mana into a usable state.
If the flow of Mana completely stopped, the power of magic would likewise be severed.
Apparently, he intended to fight using pure physical strength within a territory where the flow of Mana had been completely blocked.
He could not use magic, but his opponent could not use Aura, either.
That would make it nothing more than a fight between two humans.
However, Avarus was both a mage and an Alchemist.
He possessed methods of strengthening his body through drugs.
As if to demonstrate that fact, the unidentified devices attached throughout Avarus’s body began moving vigorously.
A device fused with his biological tissue and circulating alongside his blood began to boil.
Each time it did, Avarus’s body underwent a grotesque transformation.
It was now a battle between a monster and a human.
The outcome should have been obvious—except for one thing.
There was a variable.
I was the exception.
After all, I could not use Mana at all.
Therefore, none of my abilities were based on Mana.
They were powers of biological evolution.
Even if the flow of Mana were severed, Dragon’s Claw [A] would remain Dragon’s Claw [A].
Regeneration [B+] would remain Regeneration [B+].
Hardened Skin [B], Nutrient Synthesis [B], Promote Metabolism [C+], and even my Combination Skills all remained unaffected.
I was Avarus’s perfect “counter”.
Moreover, I knew exactly what kind of mage Avarus was.
I had not entered a mage’s territory—Avarus’s own lair—of my own accord without a reason.
Avarus, on the other hand, knew nothing about me.
More precisely, he believed that I was merely the delinquent of a count’s family.
It appeared that he thought he only needed to block Kai’s Aura.
“Hehehehehe...!”
Avarus began snickering.
“What an utter fool.”
He apparently believed that he had secured victory.
Come to think of it, he had acted the same way in my previous life.
Within a territory where the flow of Mana was controlled, he had watched the Heroes of the Coalition Forces panic and laughed until he could barely contain himself.
And then—
“To think you crawled into my territory of your own free will! Hehehe...!”
I ripped out his heart and killed him.
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