Chapter 212: How It’s Done
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 212: How It’s Done
“What did you… just say?”
“The strange skill in your head… I dispelled it…”
“Uh—”
Thud!
Iris, who had been speaking normally, suddenly slammed her head onto the desk. Her arm, which had been propping up her chin, seemed to lose all strength, and she fell with a limp, heavy sound.
“Iris?! What’s wrong!”
“Haa… haa. What was that? Where did it come from…?”
“What?! What do you mean? Speak more clearly!”
Iris had already recovered enough mana to rival a high-grade explorer. There seemed to be no reason for her to suddenly lose strength and collapse like this.
“Who… were you talking to…?”
“Mystery Antoinette… the head of the Antonio Brotherhood. I just came back from speaking with her.”
“I see. No wonder she’s the leader…”
Iris panted, her brow furrowed in a rare display of distress. Could it be? Did Mystery Antoinette have a skill active…?
“Do you need anything? Iris? Pull yourself together!”
“Quiet… Just stay still, and I’ll be fine. I’m recovering.”
“I—I see. Understood. Let me know if you need anything.”
“Welcome back…”
“Sigh.”
Iris lay slumped on the desk, her breathing ragged for a while. After about five minutes, she seemed to have recovered to some extent.
“What on earth happened? Did Mystery Antoinette use a skill on my head?”
“Yes. It’s an incredibly powerful Mental Erosion Skill.”
“Mental erosion?”
“Yes. One fueled by the sacrifice of life force.”
“Sacrificing life force…?”
As I struggled to grasp the situation, Iris explained further.
There was a massive magic formation covering the entire Southeast, and a type of absorption effect was active, targeting every living being within its range.
“Wait, is something like that even possible?”
“Yes. To be honest… I’m a bit surprised. You said her name was Mystery Antoinette?”
“Yes. Of the Antonio Brotherhood…”
“That girl. She probably isn’t human.”
“Not human?”
If she meant in terms of humanity, I agreed. Mystery Antoinette didn’t seem human. But in terms of race, she should still be of the Human Species.
“Have I ever told you about the Demon King?”
“Ah, well… briefly. Just in passing.”
“What was lodged in your head was a skill belonging to one of the Demon King’s Legion Commanders.”
“A… Legion Commander?”
“Yes.”
I remembered hearing about the Demon King. When I had asked if the Master of the Calax Great Labyrinth was the Demon King, Iris had told me it was someone else.
This was the first I’d heard of them having Legion Commanders… but thinking about it normally, it made sense. A Demon King was, after all, a monarch. There would be many followers under them, and some of those entities would be exceptionally strong.
“Are you saying… Mystery Antoinette is actually a monster?”
“Who do you think would be skilled at absorbing life force and brainwashing others?”
“…Let me think.”
A monster that grows stronger by absorbing life force and excels at brainwashing.
No way.
“Is it a Succubus…?”
“Yes. Specifically, it’s a skill possessed by the Succubus Lord.”
“B-but Iris, until recently, you were…”
“That’s how I know. Because I’ve experienced being a Succubus, I recognized the Succubus Queen’s skill.”
Iris had been a vampire since birth and eventually became the Vampire Lord. However, the Succubus Species and the Vampire Species used entirely different magic.
If Iris hadn’t acquired the Succubus racial skill herself, she wouldn’t have been able to notice it.
“Did you find yourself empathizing with her words?”
“…Sigh. I think I did.”
“That’s the effect of the skill. It makes you believe everything she says. Slowly, subtly.”
Succubi nestle deep within the subconscious to draw out the target’s favor. There is no forced brainwashing or mental manipulation through coercion, but the longer the exposure, the more powerful the effect becomes.
“You said it sacrifices life force, and that she’s a Succubus Queen. Then what… does that mean Mystery Antoinette has been… doing that an incredible amount?”
“A Succubus Queen doesn’t need to absorb essence through ejaculation. The magic formation covering the entire Southeast must be the thing absorbing the life force.”
“That’s…!”
It was an absurd skill. So that was why, despite her goal of reviving the Southeast, she hadn’t solved the wealth gap and let people die.
I had been short-sighted. No, even if I had thought about it deeply, I probably wouldn’t have predicted something of this magnitude.
It was simply beyond my knowledge.
I had overcome the domination magic of high-ranking mages and even the poison of artifacts dropped by the 7th Stratum Boss.
I even had a physical means of escape: the Teleportation Artifact Aurora had given me. Though it would send me to the 40th Floor of the Labyrinth, it could be considered safer.
Why didn’t I suspect anything…?
They were just criminals. Why did high-ranking nobles, including the Lymain family, trade with the Antonio Brotherhood?
She was the head of an illegal group. Why was she able to walk in and out of the Guild Headquarters as if it were nothing?
Why did Atreus ask after Mystery Antoinette’s well-being without a second thought? The Guild Headquarters had enough military might to wipe out the Southeast entirely.
When we encountered the Antonio Brotherhood criminals in the Labyrinth, why was Theodora the only one who reacted passively?
In that moment, only Theodora had met Mystery Antoinette in person.
The other explorers and I had no reason to meet her directly. But she was the daughter of the Lymain family, which had some level of interaction with the Antonio Brotherhood.
Theodora had had the chance to meet Mystery Antoinette.
“God dammit…!”
What was the Guild branch in the Southeast doing? They could have just blocked the explorers coming from that direction.
Why hadn’t I thought of this?
A young girl barely twenty years old was the head of a massive criminal cartel? She commanded numerous criminals and mages, and even had connections with the Page of Arcana?
It wasn’t that I hadn’t thought about it.
It was just hard to imagine that she was performing mental erosion on everyone she met. I didn’t realize the problem was on such a massive scale.
And above all, I never once imagined that Mystery Antoinette might be a monster.
“Ha… seriously… Why am I only realizing this now?”
“Forget it.”
“…Forget what?”
“Opposing her. Forget it.”
“Why?”
Perhaps because I had snapped at her in my heightened emotional state, Iris averted her gaze as she continued.
“As you are now, you can’t beat her.”
“The Succubus Queen… Is she someone I can never defeat?”
“For now.”
As long as there were sacrifices within the range of the magic formation, Mystery Antoinette, who possessed the Succubus Queen’s skill, could not be killed.
“The Succubus Queen has no physical form. In the end, that body she has now is just an imitation of someone who is easily liked.”
I thought I’d heard that before. Didn’t they say Succubi could change their appearance based on the target’s sexual preferences?
“Her subordinates probably share a portion of her power as well.”
In the end, Iris’s opinion was that I couldn’t topple the tower the Succubus Queen had built up until now.
“What is the reason for all this? Didn’t the Demon King create the Labyrinth to invade the surface?”
“Succubi aren’t a race specialized for combat. But that doesn’t mean she’s weak.”
“What should I do…? How can I kill her?”
“I told you. You have to completely clear out the Southeast.”
“Why… why has no one noticed the Succubus Queen’s existence until now?”
“Look at me.”
“Ah.”
Right. Iris, the Vampire Lord, was living right here in the open. She must be an expert at hiding her mana.
“In the end, I need power.”
“Correct.”
Right now, I lacked the strength. Even if Succubi weren’t specialized for combat, it didn’t mean I could kill her right now.
There were too many sacrifices alive in the Southeast. She was likely constantly absorbing life force and recovering her strength.
And as long as the sacrifices existed, the Succubus Queen could not be killed. Even if she were killed, she could apparently just manifest again.
“Then… is the Succubus Lord immortal?”
“Yes.”
“Isn’t that too horrific?”
“That’s why you are the one they fear.”
“…Me? Why?”
Iris stared at me for a moment, then pointed at my mouth with her fingertip.
“Because if you eat them… you can destroy an immortal.”
“....”
“But not now. You’re too weak.”
This was the first I’d heard of it. I hadn’t known I had such an ability.
“Iris. You said I was unskilled at using my abilities, right?”
“Yes.”
“That means you know how to use this power, don’t you?”
“…I do.”
“Tell me.”
“Tell you what?”
“How to use my strength.”
If it was Iris, she would know.
“How the Emperor of Sinew fought.”
Iris looked at me silently for a long moment, then let out a rare sigh.
“You don’t think this is something that will happen overnight, do you?”
“…I expected it to take a long time.”
“How long?”
“Pardon?”
When I faltered, Iris asked again.
“How long do you think it will take?”
“At least half a year…”
“How optimistic.”
“Will it take longer?”
In truth, it had only been a little over half a year since I fell into this world. I had started my life as an explorer shortly after arriving, and I remembered obtaining the skill a few days later.
It had already been nearly half a year since I started using this power.
Is she saying doing this for another half year won’t be enough?
“Even so, I want to do it.”
Hearing my answer, Iris watched me blankly for a while. She remained silent, just staring. Then—
“Fine. I’ve always been willing.”
“Really? Then why haven’t you until now…?”
“Because you needed to have the will.”
“What, that was the only issue?”
If it was will, I had it. More than enough.
“Tell me. How it’s done.”
“Fine.”
Iris’s eyes flashed.
“From now on, you must devour the Demon King’s Legion Commanders.”