Chapter 419: Witch of the Curse (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 419: Witch of the Curse (2)
“…What?”
Hearing Kang Hyun-woo’s words, Lavinia’s demonic energy subsided without her realizing it.
They say you’re left speechless when you’re completely dumbfounded, right?
That was exactly how she felt.
“…W-What did you just say?”
“Are you so old you’ve gone deaf? I asked what a filthy old hag like you is doing, lusting after someone you shouldn’t.”
Snap—
At that moment, a sound like something snapping echoed in Lavinia’s mind.
“How dare you…!!!”
At the blatant provocation, the smile lines around Lavinia’s mouth deepened. In an instant, the beautiful woman in her late twenties transformed into a middle-aged woman in her forties; her face was truly that of a witch.
Rumble—!!
As her demonic energy surged with rage, the entire cavern began to tremble precariously, as if it would collapse at any moment.
A suffocating killing intent poured out towards Kang Hyun-woo.
“P-Please, wait a moment, Lady Lavinia!”
In the hair-trigger situation where a battle could break out at any second, Melissa urgently stepped forward.
But Lavinia’s gaze was icy cold.
“Melissa.”
“?!”
At the cold summons, Melissa instinctively flinched.
A fear etched deep into her instincts constricted her.
“If I had my way, I’d kill you right now for the crime of bringing an outsider here. But for the sake of your contributions so far, I’ll forgive you just this once. So kill that bastard right now.”
“B-But…!”
“Now.”
THUD!!!
“Are you questioning my command?”
The demonic energy Lavinia unleashed upon Melissa acted as a trigger, amplifying the effects of the brainwashing cast upon her.
But Kang Hyun-woo wasn’t one to stand by and watch.
“Melissa.”
He released his own demonic energy, easing Lavinia’s pressure.
Thanks to him, Melissa collapsed into his arms with a visibly relieved expression.
As his Mystic Eyes, which he usually kept hidden, revealed their power, Kang Hyun-woo’s Asura energy emanated a foreign aura, different from its usual feel.
Had Ma Paeseon seen it, he would have been unable to hide his bewilderment.
The same was true for Lavinia.
“N-No way…!”
Lavinia’s face twisted in horror as she sensed the power of a Great Demon.
Ignoring her reaction, Kang Hyun-woo gently stroked Melissa’s hair and whispered softly.
“You see that? She’s trying to kill a comrade who shares the noble goal of resurrecting Lord Malefis, without a second thought.”
“L-Lady Lavinia…”
“You don’t need to use honorifics for an old hag like that. She’s just a heretic who got lucky and inherited the power of a Great Demon.”
Kang Hyun-woo didn’t realize it, but his whispers were laced with a strange magical power.
Demonic energy was a power with a clear hierarchy. Since Bireciel was a higher-ranking demon, it was possible for him to partially overwrite the brainwashing Lavinia had cast.
“O ye who seek salvation, doubt not.”
“Ah…”
As Kang Hyun-woo recited the first verse from the scripture he had secretly read, Melissa’s eyes glazed over.
—!!!
But that moment of respite was brief. Something entered Kang Hyun-woo’s detection range.
He immediately pulled Melissa into his arms and quickly dodged.
BOOM!!!
In the next instant, a powerful explosion vaporized the nearby dark mages without a trace.
Only then did Kang Hyun-woo turn his gaze to Lavinia.
Demonic energy, materialized by her rage, was overflowing and spreading in all directions.
“How dare you not only steal the essence of a Great Demon, but absorb it?! Do you have any idea what that is?!”
Lavinia shouted, forgetting that her face was wrinkling with anger, but Kang Hyun-woo’s attention was elsewhere.
Five dark purple spheres were orbiting around Lavinia.
“…Orbs?”
Orbs.
A technology developed for mages to serve as fixed turrets on battlefields or in gates. Their official name was Self-Mana Generators.
By constantly rotating mana internally, they not only drastically reduced mana consumption but could also automatically recognize targets and fire magic according to pre-programmed algorithms.
Of course, only low-level magic could be stored in an orb.
But just as Kang Hyun-woo used Black Flames to cast more powerful fire magic, combining them with demonic energy could produce power on the level of 4th-Circle magic.
BOOM, KABOOM, KABOOOM!!!
Holding Melissa in his arms, Kang Hyun-woo used his lightness skill to run, dodging the barrage of spells flying at him.
“L-Lady Lavinia!!”
“Aaargh!!”
“R-Run! We’ll get caught in it!!”
Thanks to his movements, the unfortunate(?) dark mages in his path were killed off one by one, but Lavinia didn’t care in the slightest.
In fact, she even swept the area with wide-range attacks as if they were merely in her way.
The cavern shook precariously as if it would collapse at any moment, but since the dark mages had already fortified the entire cave, there was no fear of being buried alive.
“Scurrying around like a little rat…!!”
Lavinia seethed with rage as she watched Kang Hyun-woo narrowly evade the bombardment that had lasted for nearly ten minutes.
Her anger reaching its limit, she finally let go of the thread of patience she had been desperately holding onto.
—!!!
At that moment, a demonic energy, distinctly different from before, surged from deep within Lavinia’s chest.
Kang Hyun-woo, having casually escaped the magical explosions, paused for a moment as a wave of demonic energy washed over him.
“…Tsk.”
KWAAAAAA!!!!
In that instant, the materialized energy swept out in all directions like a violent wave, wiping out everything in its path.
The dark mages, who had barely been holding on with barriers, were sent flying and slammed into the walls.
Kang Hyun-woo blocked the torrent not with a barrier, but by raising his own demonic energy.
However, the barrier he formed with his demonic energy looked precarious, as if it would shatter at any moment.
He had taken the Prajna Divine Pill along with Bireciel’s essence to absorb it safely, which meant his absolute amount of demonic energy was less than Lavinia’s.
“M-Master…”
Melissa, held in Kang Hyun-woo’s arms, trembled with a pale face.
He had blocked the physical damage from the wave of demonic energy.
But the moment she felt Lavinia’s power, the fear that had been ingrained in her for so long resurfaced.
“Y-You have to run, quick—”
“Too late.”
An alluring voice echoed through the cavern.
Within the space illuminated by a purple glow, Melissa stared into the air with a look of despair.
“Ah…”
“Melissa. After I cherished you so much, you betray me for a mere man?”
There, with horns and wings, stood Lavinia, using the air as her foothold.
At her demonic appearance, Melissa and the few surviving dark mages were seized by an irresistible, primal fear and began to tremble.
It was the feeling of prey facing a predator.
“Haaah…”
Lavinia let out a heated breath, trembling with an indescribable sense of omnipotence.
The wrinkles on her face were gone, and in their place stood a captivatingly beautiful woman.
She gave a sensual smile to Kang Hyun-woo, who was looking up at her.
“Don’t you worry. I have a lot of questions for you. So, I’ll make a special exception and capture you alive.”
Whoosh!!
At that moment, Lavinia’s wings spread wide.
As the wings, now three times their original size, scattered a pinkish aura in all directions, something strange happened to the dark mages, including Melissa.
“Ah… Lady Lavinia…♡”
“Melissa?”
Forgetting even the fear that had consumed their instincts, they began to walk toward Lavinia.
Blind loyalty and affection.
Forcing this upon others was the Authority of Lulucia, the Great Demon whose power Lavinia had inherited.
Looking down at the scene, Lavinia gave a mocking smile and issued a command.
“Harm yourselves.”
““As you command…””
Stab!!
The moment Lavinia’s order fell, the dark mages drew daggers without a hint of hesitation and stabbed themselves in the neck.
Fountains of blood erupted from all sides.
Swoosh—
With a light gesture from Lavinia, the dark red blood gathered and flew toward her.
Dozens of liters of blood soon condensed into a small pill.
“The color is murky. Is it because it’s the blood of these dark mages?”
Lavinia swallowed the pill with a dissatisfied expression. Soon, her eyes curved into a beautiful crescent.
Her reaction was like that of a drug addict.
“Is that how you maintain your youth?”
“Hm?”
Hearing the voice at her ear, Lavinia looked down. There stood Kang Hyun-woo, with Melissa lying unconscious beside him.
“So, the fact that my Authority doesn’t work on you proves you’ve absorbed the Great Demon’s essence. How did you do it? Even carefully selected executive candidates would go mad from mental corruption without undergoing the ritual.”
“You must be on your way out, asking so many questions.”
“This bastard, bringing up my age again…!”
The smile vanished from Lavinia’s face, which had shown a flicker of curiosity at Kang Hyun-woo’s comment about her age.
“…Fine. I suppose I don’t need to ask right now.”
Crack, crunch, grind—
At that moment, Lavinia’s eyes rolled back grotesquely.
It was a grotesque sight that would make anyone cringe, but Kang Hyun-woo focused on the strange pattern that appeared in her pupils.
He soon realized it was a Mystic Eye.
“After all, if I start tearing the flesh from your bones while you’re still alive, you’ll tell me everything without me even having to ask.”
Piiing—
Her pupils emitted a strange light.
An immense amount of demonic energy, incomparable to before, began to swirl.
The moment her eyes met Kang Hyun-woo’s, Lavinia was certain of her victory.
Her full-power mind control would work even on a 7th-Circle mage. The countless curses embedded in her Mystic Eye would completely break the target’s will to resist.
Both mentally and physically.
That was why Lavinia was called the Witch of the Curse.
“Huhu. You were insolent, but thanks to you, I won’t be bored for a while…”
Her mocking soliloquy was cut short.
Lavinia stared blankly ahead.
A large fist was filling her vision.
As time slowed down like a scene from a revolving lantern, Lavinia watched Kang Hyun-woo swing his fist at her and thought.
‘…Why didn’t the mind control work?’
A thousand thoughts flooded her mind, but there was no time to find an answer.
SMACK!! CRASH!! CRASH!! BOOM!!!
The fist Kang Hyun-woo threw tore through Lavinia’s barrier like paper and slammed squarely into her face.
Lavinia plummeted at an incredible speed, hit the ground, and then skipped across it several times like a stone on water.
She finally came to a stop only after crashing into the cavern wall.
Kang Hyun-woo stared beyond the thick cloud of dust.
Ting—
[Devil Slayer has detected demonic energy.]
[The Blessing of the Demon Hunter descends.]
[Blessing of the Demon Hunter]
[Grade: Unique]
[Greatly increases physical abilities.]
[Greatly increases resistance to demonic energy.]
[Allows you to strike the demon’s true body.]
[Grants a chance to resist a demon’s Authority.]
[Inflicts the ‘Mark of the Demon Hunt’ on the target.]
Ting—
[‘Blessing of the Demon Hunter’ resists Mind Control.]
[‘Blessing of the Demon Hunter’ resists the Curse of the Succubus.]
[Accessing information on the demon.]
[Searching…]
[Search Complete]
[True Name: Lulucia
Title: Great Demon
Authority: Mind Control, Curse of the Succubus]