Chapter 79
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 79
Chapter Title: The Underground Garden
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He was a man I wanted nothing to do with, but there was something I had to say.
“Below your expectations? That’s because your eyes are failing you, you madman.”
“……!!”
“The world would be a better place if a deranged degenerate like you just died and disappeared. One day, I will take your head.”
Sherard’s eyes widened at the sudden outburst.
And then.
“Hmm.”
The smile on Sherard’s lips vanished, replaced by a chilling aura.
*Thump, thump.*
Memories of the past resurfaced, making his heart pound, but Chris did not back down.
Instead, he glared at the man with even more intense hostility, as if conveying his resolve to one day truly take his head.
A taut tension, ready to snap at any moment, filled the air.
“Hahaha! Alright, I take it back. You’re rather interesting, after all.”
Sherard burst into a hearty laugh.
“But you’re still not enough to capture my full attention. Try a little harder.”
*Fwoosh!*
With a single drop of blood, Sherard’s body vanished.
It was the Blood Art.
Sherard, the leader of the Blood Shadow Demon Troupe, had never accepted dark magi, despite hailing from a Dark Magic House.
Instead, he mastered the Blood Art.
A demonic art perfectly suited to Sherard’s bloodthirsty nature.
Reappearing on a distant tree, Sherard smiled a viscous smile.
“I’ll be watching.”
“……”
After Sherard’s figure had completely disappeared, Chris gritted his teeth.
And then.
*CRACK!*
He violently struck a tree.
‘Damn it. Goddammit!’
He couldn’t even lift a finger against the murderer of his past comrades standing right before him.
A miserable sense of powerlessness surged through him.
‘I have to get stronger.’
But getting stronger at an even faster rate was impossible.
Chris was already growing stronger at an unparalleled pace.
Less than a year after his regression, he was already on the verge of reaching 4-Star.
No one in history had likely ever grown stronger so quickly.
‘If I pushed myself, I could probably raise my Star level even faster. But doing so would likely cause problems down the road.’
The higher the Star level, the more important the foundation beneath it becomes.
Considering the future, building the necessary foundation was essential, so even Chris needed a minimum amount of time to advance his level.
‘Still, one year. I have to kill him within a year, no matter what it takes.’
I couldn’t yet sense the lingering scent of a demon on him.
That meant he hadn’t made a contract with a demon yet.
If he contracts a demon and receives the ‘Soul Eater’ blessing, he’ll become a truly terrible disaster.
I had to take his head before that.
I had to find a way.
‘To kill him within a year, I need a tool to amplify my power.’
An artifact or a relic.
All powerful individuals who have reached a certain level use their own tools to amplify their strength.
‘I have the broken holy sword Grunade, but it has too many restrictions. It’s damaged, so it can’t fully manifest the power of a Constellation. I need to find another tool.’
The problem is, artifacts and relics like these aren’t easy to come by.
I had recently obtained the Crest of the Constellation, but unfortunately, it wasn’t a combat relic.
I could get help from Ruina’s merchant guild, which runs the auction house, but the ‘real deal’ never shows up at auctions.
‘The Dark Magic House must have artifacts and relics in its possession, but they won’t give them to me. That leaves only one way.’
Chris’s eyes narrowed.
‘I have to explore ruins. I know which ruins hold the artifacts and relics I need. I just have to figure out how to get there.’
Just then, a servant approached.
“Young Lord, the Marchioness is waiting for you.”
“Ah, I’ll be right there.”
He had been on his way to see the Marchioness.
He took a deep breath to calm himself and headed for the Marchioness’s office.
“You’re here? You’re late.”
Fresia greeted him in a calm tone.
Her face had grown gaunt, perhaps from the shock of the recent tournament.
‘It doesn’t seem like she called me here with good intentions.’
Chris scoffed inwardly.
Fresia’s gaze was utterly cold.
He could feel a hostility far more intense than before.
A hostility akin to killing intent. He could feel her desire to rip him to shreds right then and there.
“What can I do for you?”
“I called you because of the Young Lords’ Convocation. Do you know what it is?”
He knew.
‘A social gathering for those who have recently become Young Lords and Young Ladies, was it?’
It was for the three great houses of the Southern Demonic States.
It was held once every three years, and those who had become Young Lords and Ladies within that period were grouped together to build camaraderie.
‘They call it camaraderie, but it’s really a battlefield.’
The venue was always a perilous demonic realm.
And in the middle of it all, there was an open ‘competition.’
The attending Young Lords and Ladies would compete with their family’s pride on the line.
‘It’s a fairly important event, then. A chance to make my name known outside the Dark Magic House.’
Fame would be a source of power for him.
He had to build as much fame as possible whenever the opportunity arose.
This convocation would be a good opportunity.
‘But did she really call me just to tell me this?’
A message through the vice-butler would have sufficed.
As he tilted his head in confusion, Fresia revealed her true colors.
“The venue for the convocation is chosen by each house in turn. This time, it is our Dark Magic House’s turn to choose. I have decided on the ‘7th floor of the Underground Garden’ in the Grand Duchy of Vessain’s territory, so be aware of that.”
“!!”
Chris’s expression hardened.
It was a famous ruin.
A ruin located in the territory of the Destruction House, the Grand Duchy of Vessain—a mysterious place whose origins and creators were unknown.
No one knew how many floors it had in total, and the deeper one went, the more perilous the monsters and dungeons became.
‘The Young Lords’ Convocation is usually held in a dangerous location, so the Underground Garden isn’t a particularly strange choice.’
In fact, the Underground Garden was a regular venue for the convocation.
As long as the ‘floor’ was chosen carefully, it could provide a suitable level of danger for the Young Lords.
But.
‘…But the 7th floor, of all places. That’s strange.’
Chris narrowed his eyes.
Because it was dangerous?
No, on the contrary, because it was safe.
‘The 7th floor poses no threat to me whatsoever.’
The Underground Garden had currently been explored down to the 26th floor.
The curious thing was that the floors were divided precisely according to Star levels.
Floors 1 to 3 were manageable for 1-Star Majin.
Floors 4 to 6 were for 2-Star Majin.
And floors 7 to 9 were for 3-Star Majin.
In this way, every three floors were prepared with a difficulty level corresponding to a single Star.
‘For this reason, it’s also called the Garden of Training. It’s a place where Majin from the Southern Demonic States go to train.’
By that calculation, the 7th floor should have demonic beasts at the level of a lower-grade 3-Star Majin.
If the plan was to harm Chris, this was a completely mismatched arrangement.
‘There must be some ulterior motive.’
To grasp her intentions, he asked.
“May I ask who else will be attending besides myself?”
“From our Dark Magic House, you and Young Lady Jupien will attend. From the Extreme Poison House, Young Lady Marisa. And from the Destruction House, Young Lord Kashmir.”
“!!”
Chris flinched.
It wasn’t because of Marisa, this body’s former fiancée.
It was because of the name of the attendee from the Destruction House.
‘Kashmir the Resistor.’
A famous name from the Age of Ruin.
He would later become a 7-Star Majin and a high-ranking member of the resistance against the Demon King of Bloodletting within the Magitech Empire.
‘Not all Majin followed the will of the Demon King of Bloodletting.’
The Demon King of Bloodletting created a living hell by engaging in merciless slaughter.
But as one could see from the Dark Magic House, not all Majin enjoyed such carnage.
No, the majority of Majin pursued power and dominance, but did not revel in such evil.
It was only natural for dissenters to appear.
Kashmir was one of them.
‘Was Kashmir from the Destruction House? I’d only heard he was cast out by his family when he was young… Ah.’
In that instant, the pieces of the puzzle clicked into place in Chris’s mind.
He understood after seeing the list of attendees.
Kashmir.
Marisa.
Jupien.
Christian.
They had something in common.
They were all outsiders within their own families.
People whom many wished would die and disappear.
And on top of that, the ambiguous choice of the ‘7th floor.’
‘The plan is to annihilate all the attendees, along with the entire floor.’
No one knew it at this point in time.
But the Underground Garden held a secret.
A secret that Chris knew because he was a regressor.
Using that secret, it was entirely possible to annihilate everyone attending this convocation at once.
As if to confirm his suspicion, a glint flashed in Fresia’s eyes.
It was the look of someone certain that Chris would die.
Proof that Chris’s suspicions were correct.
The right thing to do would be to avoid it, but.
“Understood. The 7th floor of the Underground Garden. I will prepare accordingly.”
“!!”
It was a trap from which no one should have been able to escape, but Chris knew the one and only way out.
A method only possible for him.
No, on the contrary.
Chris swallowed hard.
‘This is an opportunity. A tremendous one. For a chance to obtain the highest-grade relic of the Underground Garden to present itself like this.’
In his past memories, there were certain relics he absolutely had to obtain.
One of them was in the ‘Underground Garden,’ but he lacked the power to even think about trying to get it.
Normally, he would have had to wait much longer to attempt it, but by making good use of this ‘trap,’ he might just get a chance to obtain the relic.
‘As a bonus, I could gain immense fame. If I play my cards right, I could even become a Trailblazer.’
The Underground Garden was a ruin that had not yet been fully explored.
Those who achieved new feats were called ‘Trailblazers’ and were specially recorded in the Underground Garden’s Hall of Fame.
Among the Majin of the Southern Demonic States, the Underground Garden was like a holy land of the demonic path.
To leave one’s name in such a place was a great honor.
His name would spread far beyond the Dark Magic House.
“You’ll attend?”
“Yes, I’ve been wanting to visit the Underground Garden anyway. I thank you, Aunt, for providing such a fine opportunity.”
Was it his proactive attitude that bothered her? Fresia frowned.
‘Surely, he hasn’t noticed the trap, has he?’
No, that was impossible.
The scheme Fresia had prepared was a trap utilizing a secret the Destruction House had recently discovered while investigating the Underground Garden.
There was no way he could know that secret, and even if he did, once he set foot inside, he could never return alive.
“The Young Lords’ Convocation is a matter of the main house’s honor, so be sure to prepare thoroughly.”
“Yes, I understand. But may I ask a favor?”
“A favor? What is it?”
“Give me some money.”
“…What?”
Chris grinned.
“I’m exhausted from beating that bastard Maisac so thoroughly in the recent tournament. I plan to rest up and have a wild time in the city before I leave, so please give me some seed money.”
He had to prepare to survive the trap.
And for that, he needed money.