Margret slowly descended into the cellar, using a torch she got from the vault as a light source.
Standing a few steps above ground she frowned as she looked at the alien monsters’ carcasses thrown on the ground and the metallic skeletons pinned to the walls.
“What if they moved?” she asked herself… “If that happens, I will turn from a rich slut to a dead slut…” she pondered… she didn’t want to end up as a dead slut.
Thinking for a while, she took three bottles of soul perfume from her ring and then began throwing them around the cellar. Covering the entire place with it.
She stepped up again, looked at her mechanical watch, timed five minutes, and waited…
Victor told her that the soul wine weakened the soul, and those monsters were definitely undead. If they had any souls left, the perfume should weaken them right?
Of course, Margret was wrong because those things didn't breathe!
Finishing with that, she slowly took off her clothes, held the mace gave her before entering the dungeon in her hand then slowly stepped down…
Nothing happened.
She activated her charm skill…
Nothing happened… Still, she was not sure, what if those skeletons were females? What if they were gay?
Thinking for a few moments she poked one of the carcasses with her club then stepped back…
Nothing happened…
Margret frowned… Although there was nothing wrong here, her intuition was telling her to be careful, and the feeling that something was wrong was getting stronger.
She always trusted her intuition. The last time she ignored it, she ended up with a swollen butt!
She was unsure of what to do… Sure, she could leave all of this, but she was reluctant to do that… No, she better leave.
Making up her mind, Margret quickly stepped back… It was too late.
From the 17 golden skeletons pinned to the walls threads of black gas suddenly appeared then in a flash surrounded her... They began to form strange shapes that quickly collapsed after mixing with the pink perfume floating around the room.
Margaret could hear them curse as they collapsed into smoke again then ignoring the protective talismans, the 17 entered her mind’s soul space to seek shelter in there!
Inside they began to fight! She didn’t see them but heard their voices of angry shouts of murder. All of them had been here for ages and they wanted her body! Too bad that gas outside had made them weaker.
Margret quickly sat down in a meditative posture as blood seeped from her eyes…. The pain was intolerable, but it was nothing compared to what she suffered in her past life…. She quickly remembered what Victor told her about how to protect her soul.
She firmly closed her eyes and began to dive into her soul space where she began to build a defensive castle in her imagination…. Margret had no experience in this at all, but she tried her best!
Slowly as they fought, all of the gas threads were devoured by the strongest one that made its way toward Margret’s soul which was now surrounded by a flimsy cartoon castle that fell in seconds! And Margret’s soul froze in its place! She failed
The gas thread that showed its true form as a giant red-eyed demon made his way to Margret's frozen soul and then tried to bite her off... It tickled... That thing had the teeth of a marshmallow monster...
“Vasattkl opws tote w,” The demon said, strangely enough, Margret understood what it said… It was cursing and saying that she should just die… That soul perfume she scattered had affected it making it squishy! It couldn't affect Margret's solid soul!
Feeling that the demon was weak, Margret decided to struggle again, but the demon simply stepped back away from her, frowning a little he began to slowly draw a symbol in midair.
As he drew this symbol his body began to become smaller and smaller as if drawing this thing consumed tons of energy!
Margret tried to interfere, but she couldn't move her soul around here… Some strange suppressing force was affecting her. She could only watch as the demon finished his work.
Although the demon shrunk so much that he was no larger than a small mouse, he wasn’t bothered. He flicked his finger, making that symbol slowly hover over Margret.
He couldn't eat her, so he was taking ownership!
Just when Margret thought all was lost a strange similar symbol flashed in a blue light behind her! it made the demon symbols shake then pause… Margret knew that it was the symbol Victor activated that day. The one that he told her he drew on her talisman.
It was an ownership symbol.
“Kar Vegar terra!” The demon mocked as he made a shape in his hand, forcing his symbol above the other one. He was going to write it.
Margret watched nervously as the two symbols overlapped, then… The demon’s symbol shattered!
<INSUFFICIENT AUTHORITY> |
“What?” The demon asked just as the energy from the shattered symbol got absorbed by Margret. This was her body after all.
What does insufficient authority mean? The demon wondered. When he ate the other 17 demons he also acquired all of their authority! All of them were once the grandest wizards in the world!
He had an Authority of 1741046!
Although the demon didn’t understand what just happened, he firmly decided to leave, he was now too weak to face another soul!
Unfortunately, it was too late for him! Margaret's soul which was now 100 times larger than him had already set her angry eyes on him. All the shackles that stopped her suddenly vanished as she caught him and then slowly pushed him into her mouth.
He tasted like sh*t... Old sh*t.
…
Rebecca’s sword struck down swiftly, hitting nothing but dirt as Victor used all that was left of his strength to roll to the side.
“Bastard, stay still!” she said as she prepared to strike again… seemingly she wanted a clean cut!
Before she could strike again, she felt a threat coming from behind, so she turned and swung her sword to parry the stone that was thrown at her!
“Margret you …. slut! ….What are you doing…” Mana who was out of breath and in very bad shape said as she entered the clearing running toward Rebecca and then attacking her with a wooden stick.
Rebecca easily parried intending to cut the stick and Mana with it, too bad the sword simply slid on the stick, earning Mana a hit on Rebecca's Ribs.
The stick was a branch that fell from one of the trees after the last explosion, it was tougher than steel!
Rebecca growled in pain but didn’t pause, the attack was not strong enough to really hurt her as Mana was simply very weak now.
Rebecca, who noticing that, smiled then attacked back, this time she waited until Mana parried before using her iron-covered boot to kick Mana in the chest, sending her tumbling into the ground with a couple of broken ribs.
Mana who was already drained didn’t have the energy for a long fight! She just winced in pain as the two girls who were saved by Victor hurried to her side, giving her a healing pill.
“Oh… Do you think you can defeat me with your wimpy skills? You better stay in your place and be a good girl or I swear your end would be crueler than his!” Rebeca asked in a mocking voice, then swiftly looked back and pushed her sword down into victor’s thigh, he was trying to crawl away.
“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh….”
What she didn’t expect was that in the next moment, Victor who was screaming in pain moved in a flash and tried to prick her leg with a needle. It was the same one he used on Gustave and was still in his fist.
Too bad, because of the paralysis, he was too slow and she managed to step away in time and then use her other leg to step on his fist hard making him drop the needle. She wanted to break it, but she couldn't!
“You sneaky bastard sure have some tough bones…” she said.
“Can … can I tell you one thing first…..” Victor said with difficulty as he watched her raise her sword.
“What? Wanna beg for mercy?” she asked as she stayed vigilant.
“I just want to know how dare you to kill a Von Weise heir!” He shouted, making Rebecca frown and then start cursing as she looked back. A few players entered the clearing… They seemed to have been hiding earlier and decided to enter when they heard his words.
“You guys seem to be having fun!” A skinny man suddenly said, he seemed to be the leader of this group.
“Guys! Save me and I will reward you handsomely! “ Victor suddenly shouted shamelessly. “I am a Von Weise heir !" he repeated!.
“Sh*t!” Rebecca cursed inwardly, why was her luck this bad. Now even if she killed Victor, those guys would surely grab her to claim a reward from the family… She was not sure that her disguise would last long enough until she exited the dungeon.
“We heard you, young master…. We are here to help!” The skinny man said as he turned and looked at Mana who was frowning and the two girls who were a little surprised.
“Girl… Let this little brother go….” the man said as he turned back and looked at Rebecca.
“Don’t come any closer!” Rebecca, who thought of something, suddenly said as she put the sword on Victor’s neck.
The men stopped… Shit, if she killed him now they would take a part of the blame… and now that he asked for their help they can’t just walk away.
What shit luck of this? They should have waited until she finished!
“How about a deal?” She asked as she bit her lip.
“What?” He asked.
“Why don’t you just ignore what is happening here… I will share the bounty with you…” She said after some thinking. “You only have to eliminate the witnesses…” She said pointing to the girls with her eyes.
“Bounty?” the man asked.
“He has a $100,000,000 bounty on his head! As long as no one knows, we all win!” she said, slightly moving her sword and leaving a purple bloody mark on Victor’s neck.
“Oh….” The man was tempted, really tempted. He had no way to save Victor... And the reward was more tempting.
He turned and looked at the three men who were with him. They met here so he didn’t really trust them. “What do you guys think?” He asked…. If they said yes, they would be considered accomplices in the crime. And they would never rat out!
“Ah… ok…” “Yes…” Maybe…. Oh… Ok, I am in!” The men didn’t really have a choice so they agreed. Little did they know that their boss had already planned their end.
“Get the Girls… “ the man said, making his men run and surround Mana and the two girls.
“Kill him!” he turned and told Rebecca who cursed inwardly…. This man was smarter than she thought.
“I can’t trust you. We do it together…” She said to the man as she fixed the sword on Victor’s neck. If the man tried anything funny, Victor would die and he would be the cause.
The man frowned then nodded moving toward her… If he could, he would kill her, but he didn’t know from where he could claim the bounty, so he had to listen to her for now.
“How dare you!” Victor yelled angrily… “This is your last chance… Help me and this young master will spare you! Don’t trust this b*tch!” he added as he looked at his mana bar, it filled up slightly, he would be able to use his disguise to run if he rolled around, but attacking would be impossible. And Mana would surely be in danger.
"Come on! " Victor cursed inwardly, why was it taking so long?
Damn it, this was what he gets for being overconfident. Maybe he can create some chaos and earn some time until…
Victor slowly formulated a plan. It was very dangerous with a success probability of 11%. But he would rather risk it than live his entire life with the guild of not being able to save Mana. He had already sworn not to let any of his loved ones suffer again.
The man seemingly made up his mind and put his hand on the sword with Rebecca. Then, together, they cut down on Victor’s neck.
Too bad, the Sword only passed through him as Victor’s body turned into smoke!
“Fuck!” Rebecca cursed.
“Fuck you! Were you tricking me?” the man asked nervously as he kept his hand on the sword…
“Let go, that bastard is still here somewhere, he is badly hurt!” Rebecca said, not letting go of the sword too. “If that guy escaped, both of us would be in deep sh*t”
“Let go of the sword and I will believe you!” the man said.
“Damn you!” Rebecca said, letting go of the sword and jumping back, this guy was stronger than her.
The man seeing that Rebecca cooperated, decided to prioritize disposing of Victor.
“Kid… You better come out…” he said,
“Use the girls! That red-haired one is his maid!” Rebecca said, making the man nod and Look at Mana who began cursing… This was the first time she cursed this much in her life!
“Margret you whore, bitch, slut, piece of sh*t…. The young master trusted you!”
“Sorry, I like money more… and his ***** was too small for my taste!” she said, making Mana pause and frown… No, it wasn’t! Was this really Margret?
“Hey, kid… If you don’t show up, I will start raping your maid in front of you…” the man said after thinking. He slowly headed toward Mana, kicked the stick out of her hand then ripped the clothes she was wearing. She tried to struggle, but to no avail, she was too tired to fight back.
Victor cursed as he slowly began to roll toward Mana, he had already taken an antidote pill, but it needed time to work!
His only choice was now to slowly approach Mana and use his disguise on her before pulling her away, he didn’t have enough energy to disguise the entire area… Sadly he knew that the man and Rebecca were expecting this, so he needed to be extra careful.
Suddenly a beeping sound startled not only Victor but everyone in the dungeon.
SYSTEM NOTIFICATION 1# QUEST HAD BEEN COMPLETED THE SKELETON QUEEN HAD BEEN ELIMINATED. |
“Ohhhh….” Rebecca and the man paused and frowned, not realizing that this notification spelled their end.
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Lily Votes: 502 65.4%
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Mana Votes: 39 5.1%
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Mina Votes: 31 4.0%
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Aria Votes: 26 3.4%
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Lin Votes: 158 20.6%
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Margret Votes: 204 26.6%
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Alex!!! Votes: 190 24.8%
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None, Victor will have blue balls forever! Votes: 87 11.3%
Is there a deeper reason for making Victor struggle so much with those nobodies?
Because if you only did this for fillers then I will be upset.
Most likely to remind him to be humble. There's a saying - "The most dangerous opponent to a top ranking swordsman is the second rank swordsman, it's the amateur."
They tend to be underestimated and unpredictable tactics that doesn't make sense or match the timing the expert expects.
excessive OPness can make the story boring.
@travisswan86 Not really, It's. depend on what the author wants you to focus on.
Here for example:
Mr. Author wanted to tell the tale of a master behind the scene, he doesn't have to move personally to do what he wants, he controls and no one suspects him.
In short, it is a story of a mental war and unending schemes, So if the hidden puppeteer suddenly becomes a wuxia protagonist and needs to be beaten first to overcome his trouble and anybody can make his life hard and in danger then my friend you will find it unsavory
@travisswan86 But making Victor stupid and nerfed doesn't make the story more entertaining...
@Beeteetee Reminding him to be humble is useless since Victor was 'overconfident' many more times in this novel. I remember he said that at least like five times already that he was overconfident... Moreover that cunt isn't unpredictable only Victor can't move. So he didn't underestimate amateur but undead king who had similiar level. He didn't take precaution against explosion and poison even if he knew the corpse could explode and necromancers are known for poisons( + plus he had A ranked resistance against poison which tells a lot too).. He could just take those doors he has on himself and some antidote in mouth as he did before and everything would be better.
@Argon459 He had like 15 seconds to prepare for this enemy, he shot from the hip to kill a high value target that was going to be very hard to kill, and succeeded, ducking behind the indestructible tree to hide form the explosion.
The real world is not pokemon, a general purpose antidote does not exist in the real world (excluding syrup of ipecac-makes you vomit; and activated charcoal-only works on some ingested toxins), all poisons are chemicals that require a unique anti-toxin to deal with, taking an anti toxin without even having the poison is almost as bad as taking the poison in the first place.
However, in Victor's world, while the rules may be flexible: Reference the corpse poison cure in the previous chapters or even the cure that he fed his grandmother. They were still unique from each other. Taking a pill before he knows what he has, may be deadly in a future fight.
Aside, he succeeded in killing the necromancer. And then another enemy showed up when the poison killed his mana and made it nearly impossible to move and unable to use his skills. He just needs to have time for a follow through. He didn't have the time. A Specific Antidote takes time.
This combat was fine: Victor had less than 15 seconds to plan, and managed to kill a necromancer who had decades to build an ARMY that he kept in his pocket. The necromancer had a higher level, higher skills, and that Army. Victor avoided the corpse explosion as much as he could (his shield took it without breaking) and took the passive/combo poison aura infection (which, as they weren't players he wasn't able to identify) in exchange for killing that necromancer and saving Mana (the girl).
You may not like it, BUT HE IS NOT A SCION. Fate is not going to help him, by the rules of the world, he is not the main character, he has to rely on his own ingenuity (and shooting from the hip is going to cause issues) or blind stupid luck (his is over 40). His luck is that Lily is almost there and will probably save his ass.
He is going to struggle because he is not the main character (according to the world), and that is one of the things I love about this series.
@Blueneck666 and add to what you said that grand general misfortune that affects "everyone" except him, means everyone would have to survive a calamity in this month and this includes the side characters, we can say the fake Margret misfortune is killing Victor, and be witnessed by Lily for example or falling to hide her true appearance and the other players discover her real identity and blackmail her or give her to the family for money and those players misfortune is their greed as they choose to help a regular player instead of a young master which normally doesn't happen, Victor neutral position allows him to choose a neutral path with no bad impact on him, as he already stated in his plan, he could pull this off with minimum risk, but because Mana and the rest of prisoners misfortune are dying or turning into undead, and Victor decided to help them at any cost, his neutral position temporarily becomes negative as he shielded their misfortune.
In the end, I may have read too much into it, and Mr. Author may have a different view.
@Blueneck666 15 seconds is enough for him else those almost 300 stats of inteligence is useless since it makes him think faster. While the antidote isn't panacea in the merchant there are many tiers of no name antidote. If he took one of best while it may not perfectly counter poison but he would be able to move at least. But ok not like that needed to be his first thought when fighting against necromancer. But it was stupid to get that exploding corpse to him not expecting to explode. He even mentioned it. So he could just take quickly some measures. That is called critical thinking. His shield didn't break ? When did you read that ? Talisman absorbed most of damage but Victor was still badly hurt. That is one of reason why he was without mana and stamina. The poison wouldn't be that big problem otherwise... Next he rushed at him without being cautious. I know he didn't want the opportunity slip by but still he was careless. You can't say that he was not since he said that himself. He already several times in novel said he was overconfident so I don't understand why you defend him if even he acknowledges it. Simply Victor could do better and most people agree. It isn't about being scion so I don't understand this:
You may not like it, BUT HE IS NOT A SCION
What you said doesn't make sense. I talked about him being careless and overconfident yet you talk about fate not helping him... Actually it is opposite. Now he was careless he needed to rely on luck just like Scions. Yeah it is fate who helps them but fate and luck are connected. Moreover it was that kind of nonsensical drama luck where something helps him at the last second. Someone slayed skeleton queen second before he got killed making him survive. If that isn't something that almost only happens to Scions then I don't know.
Simply Victor could do better. If he wasn't sure he coud do it he could just escape with girls only. His life is more important and he is at the beginning of all.It is just few months after he regressed. While I agree that the antidote solution may not work I don't agree with any other opinion of yours. Victor was rash and impatient.
@H-GO It is plausible if Mana's misfortune can affect Victor. But if the misfortune can't affect him directly what makes you think it can do so indirectly ? If it wasn't mentioned of course (maybe it was ?)
@Argon459 cause & conditions can nerf us even if we are the best of the best. Relax & have fun.
@H-GO don't over analyze it. That will cause self deletion.
@Argon459 If someone's fate is to be crushed by a meteor no matter what he did to avoid it, and Victor wants to save this person, he has the choice to save or not to save because he is neutral, if he doesn't ignore that person then doesn't that means he is facing that misfortune?
It's just that simple.
@travisswan86 Okay.
@H-GO Maybe but in this situation the 'meteor' is someone who also has misfortune so Victor should have advantage against them. Well but maybe it doesn't work that way dunno.
@travisswan86 I read this to relax and for ffun. This kind of discussion is part of my hobby. My only problem right now is that Victor is over and over again overconfident. If things were out of his control then fine but him saying he was overconfident again means he f*cked up. I know he isn't perfect and that is fine but he should finally learn lesson to not be too careless and overconfident. That is my only wish. After all he is the mastermind so he should use his head the most.