Chapter 60
Chapter 60
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 60
Chapter Title: The Hunt Begins
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While Lord Helmut single-handedly held back the main force of the hardline elders pouring through the main gate, a few of them took the opportunity to scatter and infiltrate the upper floors of Duke Sachsen’s castle.
And there, the guardians of House Sachsen stood in their way.
“The Agent of Black…!”
It was a woman in a suit, her monocle glinting. An elder from the Black Magic Tower cried out upon seeing her.
Lord Black’s secretary, the Agent of Black, Eris.
Furthermore, being the secretary to the Master of the Black Magic Tower was by no means the same as being a ‘mere secretary.’
“I never thought there would be so many fools who would dare to oppose the Master.”
Eris muttered bitterly, facing the elder who couldn’t hide his bewilderment.
“How can you say such a thing after seeing the state of the Black Magic Tower now!”
At her words, the elder from the Black Magic Tower shot back, refusing to be outdone.
“Agent of Black, can you not see the Master, weakened, and the Black Magic Tower, its ideals dead after a long decline!”
“Did you say the Black Magic Tower is dead, and the Master is weakened?”
“That’s right! Lured by the warmth and affection of family, he has forgotten the spirit of the Black Magic Tower and—”
It was at that moment.
“Ha!”
Eris burst into laughter, as if she could no longer contain it.
“What’s so funny?”
“That a mere 6th Circle elder dares to fathom the depths of the Master of the Black Magic Tower.”
Eris spoke, her monocle glinting coldly.
“Just because a wolf wears sheep’s clothing does not mean its heart becomes that of a sheep.”
“What in the world does that….”
“No matter how a demon hides its identity under the guise of an angel, its demonic wings can never become angelic feathers.”
As black magic swirled around her feet, Eris let out a scornful laugh, as if finding the situation utterly amusing.
“High-Rank Annihilation: 《Event Horizon》.”
Eris spoke. Soon, ‘stars of death’ began to orbit her like satellites. A celestial body said to pull in all things with its gravity, from which not even light could escape. A black hole.
“The Princess of Darkness!”
It was a name she rarely revealed herself, finding it too embarrassing to say out loud…….
Before being the Agent of Black, or even the secretary to the Master of the Black Magic Tower, she was a 7th Circle black magician once known by the moniker ‘Princess of Darkness.’
“…Be swallowed by the darkness.”
The Dark Princess.
It was a ‘self-proclaimed moniker’ born from the childish sentimentality of her youth, a dark history that haunted her to this day, thanks to a naming sense that made her jolt awake in the middle of the night.
***
“Damn it, damn it all…!”
There was a man whose blood was boiling, much like Walter of the Bloodflame, as he faced a 6th Circle elf magician.
“I’ll kill you, I’ll kill you!”
The elder from the Black Magic Tower screamed, veins popping as his blood threatened to not just boil, but evaporate.
“I’ll torment you and torment you until you beg me to stop the pain and kill you…!”
He thrashed about desperately amidst the resounding echoes of 《Blue Dissonance》.
“I truly cannot understand why a magician, who should maintain his composure, is so agitated.”
Watching him, Sephia tilted her head in confusion.
As a 6th Circle water-attribute magician, she precisely intercepted every spell fired at her, neutralizing them one by one. With her renowned incapacitating magic, she sealed her opponent’s movements, again and again and again.
***
Contrary to what people thought, Ray Yuriseu was not merely the adopted son of Lord Crimson.
He was the successor to the bloody will built by a great clan. The heir to the legacy of the Red Magic Tower.
《Young Blood》.
A scion of the Yuriseu clan, Ray Yuriseu was there.
“D-Don’t tell me your true identity is…!”
The elder from the Black Magic Tower muttered in disbelief, blood streaming down his body.
“I do not dislike the blood of the wicked.”
Ray Yuriseu smiled faintly. He licked the blood smeared around his lips, revealing sharp, protruding canines as if to show them off.
Flowing through Ray Yuriseu’s veins was the bloody history of the ‘Yuriseu clan,’ the power of a bloodline inheritance that could not be compared to the mere bond between a parent and child.
“I cannot disappoint my father.”
Ray Yuriseu shot forward, kicking off the ground with an absurd physical prowess that surpassed even that of an Aura Knight. It was not a power borrowed from aura or magic, but purely the overwhelming physical ability of his species.
In this world, the fate of a magician who allowed a knight to close the distance was self-evident.
Furthermore, a magician who allowed a vampire to close the distance was no exception.
*Crunch!*
Ray Yuriseu’s fangs dug into the neck of the elder from the Black Magic Tower. Simultaneously, the blood in the elder’s body began to flow back into Ray’s mouth.
“Gack, gurgle!”
Blood from the 6th Circle black magician dripped from the vampire’s fangs and the bio-fused artifact, the ‘Dragon’s Jawbone.’ This was the true purpose for which Ray Yuriseu had come to the frozen lands of Sachsen: the ‘Black-Red Exchange.’
“So this is the magic of a 6th Circle black magician….”
He muttered, then rotated the two circles in his heart.
The searing, magma-like red magic and the dark, abyssal black magic that was like peering into the bottom of the night.
Fire and darkness.
The red and black magic mixed, swirling like a vortex at his feet.
Just like the chilling cold and dark magic—the black and blue—that Dale had once shown.
***
“Mother, Lije!”
When Dale crossed the castle corridor and reached the Duke and Duchess of Sachsen’s bedroom.
“You have arrived, Young Master!”
The area in front of the room had become an impenetrable fortress, guarded by the castle’s Night Raven Knights.
These were the vassal knights who normally resided in Duke Sachsen’s castle to protect their lord. Among them were the finest warriors of the Night Raven Knights, second only to Lord Helmut.
They were the silent knights who did not reveal their presence carelessly, aware of their own importance, and who did not normally join the training sessions of other knights. They were the knights who had taken a ‘vow of silence,’ pledging to become the shadows of House Sachsen for their entire lives.
The elite personal guard of House Sachsen.
The 《Grave Guard》 knelt before Dale in unison, plunging their swords vertically into the ground.
They were masters of the Sword of Ideology, possessing a level of skill that could shatter the ideological world an elder of the Black Magic Tower might unfold.
Each of them was an Avatar wielder, knights who had surpassed even Aura Knights to reach the realm of ‘Aura Master.’ They were transcendent warriors capable of deploying the ultimate form of combat for a knight.
Just as the casting of mass-destruction magic and the involvement of magicians of the 4th Circle or higher were forbidden in disputes between lower lords, the participation of ‘Avatar wielders’ who had reached the realm of Aura Master was also impossible.
It would cause far too great a sacrifice.
That was why the highest-level combatants who had participated in the Black-White Skirmish were Aura Knights like Lord Veil or Lord Milvas.
And right now, those very Aura Master knights, the Grave Guard, were protecting the Duke and Duchess of Sachsen’s bedroom. As Lord Black had said, the fortress of Sachsen was not so weak as to fall to a few elders from a magic tower.
“Waaah, big brother!”
Amidst the sudden commotion, Lije burst into tears, terrified. Even one as young as her, who knew little of the world, could sense the ominous atmosphere pervading Duke Sachsen’s castle.
“Lije, come here.”
“Brother, I’m scared!”
“Don’t be scared. There’s nothing to be afraid of.”
Dale’s little sister trembled in fear. He rushed to her and held her in his arms. Lije, unable to hold back her sorrow, cried even louder.
“I’ll protect you.”
“R-Really?”
“Of course.”
He bit his lip, watching the small, fragile life tremble.
“Dale….”
“There is nothing to worry about, Mother.”
Dale smiled at Elena, who was holding her breath. An unknown emotion tightened around his heart.
“They will never reach you and Lije.”
Dale spoke calmly, ignoring the ‘jet-black tentacles’ constricting his heart.
“Lord Helmut is tying up the enemy’s main force, while the high-ranking magicians of the castle are intercepting the elders who have infiltrated the upper floors.”
Lord Veil of Baskerville reported from Dale’s side.
The high-ranking magicians of the castle. Eris and Sephia, among others, who pledged their loyalty not to the Black Magic Tower, but to House Sachsen.
Realistically, the chances of the intruders reaching this far were slim. But considering the one-in-a-thousand possibility, the knights of House Sachsen were guarding this place, and the skills of the Aura Masters here were beyond doubt.
These very same supreme knights were protecting the people of Duke Sachsen.
But Dale had no intention of being passively protected by them. Besides, it was not his role to defend this place.
That role would fall to them, the Grave Guard.
“I leave my mother and Lije in your care.”
“Dale!”
“Y-Young Master!”
“Please, trust me.”
Leaving a bewildered Elena behind, Dale gave his orders to the knights of House Sachsen. He then moved through the darkness of the castle.
He was now a hunter seeking his ‘prey,’ determined to make those foolish enough to challenge the Master of the Black Magic Tower pay the price.
***
Belok, the unit commander of the Black-Red Brigade and a 6th Circle black magician, was striding down a castle corridor.
He recalled the Black-Red Brigade’s bio-experimentation lab during the war. A utopia where everything needed for the pursuit of truth was provided. A devil’s paradise. He recalled the insights and the 6th Circle he had achieved there, unconcerned with trivialities like morality.
It was then. He sensed a presence beyond the ominously flickering shadows in the castle corridor.
‘A Night Raven Knight…?’
No. There was only one presence.
‘To think he’d walk right into my hands!’
Belok grinned with delight upon seeing him. His target, his prey, was there.
“Well, well. If it isn’t the Black Prince.”
The son of Lord Black. Belok smiled faintly.
“……”
But the ‘Black Prince’ did not answer immediately. He simply stood in an indescribably ominous darkness and silence, feeling the presence of the tentacles writhing around his heart.
“Still don’t understand your situation?”
The hunter who had found his monster spoke.
“Does the title of successor to the Master of the Black Magic Tower seem like such a joke to you?”
That black magician believed himself to be a monster without a shred of doubt. Therefore, Dale had no reason to hold back.
It was time to hunt the monster.