Chapter 723
Chapter 723
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 723
Chapter Title: Party (4)
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1.
-Fwoosh!
The pitch-black corridor was transformed into a vivid crimson by the flames rising from the candelabras.
It evoked the image of a flashing warning light.
Rinne sprinted down the hallway with Si-woo on her back.
She raced along the pre-planned escape route.
From the moment she'd sliced through the workshop door, any hope of a stealthy getaway had been impossible anyway.
So she ignored every security device in the side rooms and charged straight for the shortest path.
Even so, she couldn't just barrel ahead in a straight line.
A barrage of attack spells designed to eliminate intruders kept grabbing at her ankles.
These devices weren't meant to deal lethal damage from the start—they were built to buy as much time as possible.
With Si-woo strapped to her back, reduced to a 0th Hierarchy infant state by the collar, Rinne's movements were inevitably restricted.
"Hold on tighter."
Si-woo, clinging tightly to Rinne's back to avoid slipping off, was certain of it.
This was definitely illegal trespassing.
Rinne had made the decision to turn her back on all of Hexennacht for Si-woo alone.
"What are you going to do?"
"Hide in a pre-prepared safehouse and wait for a chance to escape Hexennacht."
As she answered, Rinne lightly touched down on the floor after running effortlessly up the wall.
"Get off—you might get caught in the crossfire."
"...Got it."
Though he couldn't use magic, Si-woo's magic eyes were still functioning normally, so he obediently slid off Rinne's back and pressed himself flat against the wall.
Because he could sense it.
Someone approaching down the corridor without even trying to hide their presence.
-Click-clack, click-clack.
There was no need to guess who it was from the sound of high-heeled shoes.
The owner of this Almak Club—and a formidable public figure at the 23rd Hierarchy.
Lydia Magnus, the Witch of Gold Coins.
"Well, well, look what we have here—a little rat scurrying about."
Lydia had detected the intruder alarm while attending the grand convention and returned to the Almak Club faster than anyone else.
Her golden eyes gleamed undimmed in the swirling red-and-black darkness, curved in a casual smile.
"You interrupted my happy time earlier... Got some grudge against me or what?"
"I'm here to take him back."
"You're quicker on the uptake than I thought. Figured you wouldn't have a clue."
Lydia dropped the polite speech she usually faked.
In its place, she unfurled a barrier that enveloped the entire corridor.
Violence was strictly forbidden within Hexennacht.
Even in cases of illegal intrusion, the consensus among all Hexennacht members was to follow proper procedures and mete out punishment accordingly.
However, the Solidus Merchant House wielded considerable power even within Hexennacht, and the Almak Club was essentially its stronghold.
They had covert mechanisms in place for handling intruders who pulled stunts like this with in-house punishment.
It meant no one would notice if a barrier was erected and battle ensued inside.
Knowing this, Rinne said nothing and simply drew her sword.
"If you leave him behind, I'll turn a blind eye to your illegal break-in. I haven't even gotten to play with him properly yet."
"If you let him go, I'll leave Hexennacht quietly. I'll show proper gratitude for covering up my crimes and for transferring ownership."
Their conversation was calmer than Si-woo had expected.
Lydia didn't berate Rinne for the illegal intrusion into her workshop or fly into a rage.
Rinne didn't lash out at Lydia for secretly spiriting Si-woo away and lying about it.
The one who's tricked is the fool.
Rules were hazy lines, easily crossed for the sake of one's goals.
Only raw personal power could deliver a clear verdict on right and wrong.
That was the way public figures like them coexisted.
Lydia and Rinne's eyes met quietly as they each proposed different conditions over Si-woo.
They analyzed the current situation in their heads.
First, from Lydia's perspective.
Rinne had committed the grave crime of illegally intruding into another witch's workshop alone.
But if she made it public and went through standard procedures, Si-woo's existence would inevitably be exposed.
And Lydia wouldn't be able to freely decide Si-woo's fate.
The best option was to bury Rinne here and make it seem like nothing had happened.
Next, from Rinne's perspective.
Lydia's act of whisking Si-woo away was done on her own initiative.
The fact that she'd rushed here personally to wrap things up, despite being at the crucial grand convention, proved it.
If she could just take down Lydia here, they could escape without further interference.
In simple terms.
Winner takes all, loser gets nothing.
"I've gotta get back soon, so I'll wrap this up in five minutes. Come at me."
"......"
With no further words, the two reached an understanding and drew up their mana.
The heavy thrum of mana from the 22nd and 23rd Hierarchies made the windowpanes rattle.
-Hummm.
A hazy barrier formed around Si-woo.
To keep him out of the fight, both Lydia and Rinne had deployed double layers of defensive fields.
No matter who won, damaging the prize would make the whole thing pointless.
"Stay put."
With Si-woo's safety secured.
Rinne moved first.
As she chanted, her body melted away like dissolving ink and shot forward.
It was an explosive leap combining Rinne's perfect relaxation—eliminating all unnecessary force—and her self-sustaining magic that controlled inertia.
The follow-up slash flowed like water, severing the neck of any average witch before they could even perceive it.
Even if barely blocked, Rinne's freakish swordplay, bending like an illusion, would slice off a limb somewhere.
Yet even as Rinne charged in with ferocious momentum, Lydia didn't so much as twitch an eyelid.
"That's only if it hits."
-Ting.
A clear, pristine chime utterly out of place on the battlefield.
Lydia flicked a small, crude gold coin with her thumb.
The gold coin, which decomposed in the air sending out ripples, was forged from the spirits, flesh, and souls of humans.
An average of 21.7 healthy adult men and women were needed for just one such tiny metal piece.
The small amount of mana Lydia drew out acted as a catalyst, causing the vast mana accumulated within the coin to burst forth wildly.
With this, Lydia had offered the price.
The world would respond in kind.
"Prove it."
⟨ Proof ⟩
The fine particles that had shattered into golden fragments now took on a definite form as Lydia murmured the incantation.
Golden-bodied moths filled the corridor, flapping their wings.
They seemed far too fragile to block Rinne charging like a black predator.
But Rinne, lunging as a black wedge, abandoned her frontal assault.
Her body twisted in an unnatural serpentine curve.
The black-and-white hues that had trailed her sprint now halted their spread and warped bizarrely.
To Si-woo watching from afar, the scene was hard to comprehend.
Rinne and Si-woo's fighting styles shared many similarities.
Especially closing the distance to gain the upper hand against most witches.
She'd left an obvious gap big enough to slip through, yet curbed her own momentum.
The moths didn't look that threatening at first glance.
"Huh?"
But a half-beat later, as the black-and-white world pursuing Rinne overlapped with the brilliantly glowing moths.
Si-woo realized it had all been a feint.
And that if he'd been in Rinne's place, he wouldn't have even been able to attempt a proper fight before being sunk.
The moths flapping their wings retained their colors even within the black-and-white world.
Rinne's black-and-white realm stripped away the inherent properties of mana, but it couldn't freely rob everything.
It couldn't steal the color from magic possessing such strong 'self-sustenance' that corrosion was impossible.
For example, Si-woo's Red Branch, concentrated with mana, had kept its red hue even in the imagery Rinne manifested.
This meant Lydia's moths harbored a colossal power utterly unlike their appearance.
"......"
In contrast, Rinne knew about this magic.
It was the 'Worthless Venomous Moth,' one of the better-known spells among Lydia's veiled arsenal, despite her long years.
In itself, it had no power or destructive force to cause harm.
Even touching it bare-skinned without defenses would just make it scatter and vanish.
Yet the golden venomous moths corroded the very 'value' of their target.
Once contact was made, no belated defense or evasion mattered.
For a witch, it degraded everything that made her valuable: self-sustaining magic, mana, physical abilities, vitality.
It regressed high-level characters to novice levels with a mere brush,
And no matter how sturdy the defense, it shaved off a fixed percentage of life force—an absurd technique.
Even a typical great witch would be restricted to apprentice-witch strength after five made contact, and beyond that, she'd die without even shaking them off.
In other words, this swarm was a death trap Lydia had spread wide.
A lethal snare where even one touch spelled instant defeat.
This was Lydia's self-sustaining magic, manipulating the very concept of 'value'—not elements, formulas, or fields.
Similar concept-manipulating witches included the 'Witch of Luck,' but Lydia at the 23rd Hierarchy outclassed her in precision and power.
"......"
Yet Rinne was a veteran survivor forged by countless experiences.
She'd never expected an easy fight.
Black mana blazed along Rinne's swords.
The ink that had painted the air was sucked in, concentrating at the tips of her greatsword and shortsword.
No matter how potent the venomous moths, not with numbers like this.
When comparing power focused on a single point versus scattered force, the answer was obvious.
Even though the moths were terribly slow, Rinne plunged into their swarm without hesitation.
Every time her body traced a black streak like a storm, the pests fell like rain.
-Slash! Shlaash! Slash!
But to Lydia, the venomous moths were merely guardian golems for buying time.
They'd fulfilled their role by first halting Rinne's charge.
"Prove it."
"Prove it."
⟨ Proof ⟩
A clean, beautiful gold coin rang out clearly once more as it was flicked.
The same coin forged from Lodge's corpse earlier spun gracefully in the air.
At this point, Lydia was convinced of her victory.