Chapter 266
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 266
Chapter Title: A Bit Disappointing
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Up until now, Maia had only ever used the scales' weights to exert the Libra's coercive force. She'd never once been subjected to the Libra's power in reverse.
That was why she hadn't realized the secret.
The scales' weights weren't just for using coercive force.
They could also be used to offset it.
For example, in a 5:5 standoff, if the opponent issued a command with five weights, she could resist with five of her own.
In other words, they were both spear and shield.
However, complete negation was difficult in such cases.
Coercive force took priority over resistance, so equal numbers of weights could only halve the effect at best.
That was why gathering all ten weights was necessary to wield absolute command authority over the opponent.
As long as even one weight remained on their side, they could offer at least some resistance to the coercion.
"So."
After a brief silence.
Having heard the full explanation, Maia spoke in a cold voice.
"You're saying that you used every last one of your weights to resist my command... and this is the result?"
"Well, about half of it, yeah."
Rimon shrugged.
Since the command had been issued with four weights in a 5:5 situation, he could use all five of his to resist.
But that alone wasn't enough for perfect negation of the Libra's coercion.
So he'd resorted to a loophole.
He'd half-executed the order to protect his clan and escape the Amazon, burning through some of the coercive force in the process, then set out to find Maia.
That alone had tipped the scales to 6:4 in his favor.
And since seeking her out was itself an act of "disloyalty as a slave," it continued to consume the weights.
The end result was this.
Nine white weights and just one black one left on the pair's Libra tattoos.
"...What idiots you all are."
Maia sneered as she listened to Rimon's explanation.
"You put your own life in peril just to save me. Did you really think I'd be grateful for something like this?"
With this, her own weights numbered nine.
Just one more, and she could seize absolute command authority—enough to drive Rimon to his death.
He had to know that.
Yet the man who had once been the Seven Dragon Society's mortal enemy had brought this crisis upon himself to rescue her.
To Maia, it was laughable.
But he paid it no mind.
He merely shrugged, sliding his fingers from the snake's head to tail.
"I wasn't looking to cash in any favors. Just doing what needed doing."
"What needed... doing?"
"A faithful slave can't just abandon his precious master when she's in danger and run off, now can he?"
By some sleight of hand.
His mere touch split the snake's skin wide open.
He chopped the exposed flesh by hand, skewered it on branches, and set it over the campfire. Then, with a sly grin, Rimon added,
"Besides, the sculptor's treatment isn't even finished yet."
"...Hmph. So you're saying that once the treatment's done, you'd roll over and scamper off, dead or alive?"
"Call it a twofer. My loyalty and my own interests don't have to be at odds."
Maia furrowed her brow at Rimon's toothy smile.
She couldn't begin to guess what was going through this man's head.
But she set her suspicions aside.
Instead, she asked about what needed confirming right away.
"What of Barbara...? No, what of my clan?"
"I saw them break halfway through the Amazon. No need to worry—they'll handle the escape on their own."
"How am I supposed to believe something you didn't even witness yourself?"
"Because I said so."
A battle-hardened veteran who'd clashed with the Seven Dragon Society more than anyone—he knew their resilience better than most.
Didn't his word count for more than some expert's guesswork?
Rimon stated it shamelessly.
Then he hurriedly reached out.
Maia, who had been glaring daggers at him, suddenly tried to stand, staggered, and toppled toward the campfire.
Thud!
The moment Rimon caught her.
Maia flinched.
Even though she'd felt that touch countless times before.
That searing body heat she could never get used to.
Yet the inexplicable comfort she felt in his arms left her rigid.
Mistaking her stiffness for pain, Rimon clicked his tongue and gently reseated her.
"Don't go moving suddenly like that. You almost caused a disaster."
As if she'd get hurt by a mere campfire.
Still, for checking on her welfare like a proper slave, Maia replied coldly.
"...This is no time to be sitting around."
"If you're in such a hurry, I could carry you."
"I need to go back. Now."
At the ridiculous joke, Maia glared even fiercer.
But even that ferocious gaze—one that would make most men quail—only drew a chuckle from Rimon.
"You think you can manage that in your condition?"
Her body light as a feather.
Her face paler than usual.
Her cold skin and halting voice.
Maia's state was dire enough for anyone—not just a healer—to see at a glance.
And as an expert in the Seventy-Two Martial Flows, Rimon knew even more.
"Looks like you even pulled off the Reverse Blood Great Law... You know forcing yourself right now could be fatal."
The princesses of the Seven Dragon Society were born with the Heavenly Dragon Physique and the essence of psionics.
That allowed them to master multiple martial flows, combine them, and amplify psionics with supreme techniques.
But there were limits.
The more powerful the technique, the greater the openings it created.
And the surge in psionics placed immense strain on the body.
Especially in her compromised state, attempting an Eightfold Technique like the Reverse Blood Great Law—one notorious for its severe aftereffects.
Had she not been the sturdiest among princesses, the Green Dragon Princess, it truly would have been disastrous.
That was why Rimon had scrambled to set up this hideout the moment he found her.
"Even so, I have to go."
As a princess.
And as a healer.
She knew it full well, but Maia wouldn't yield.
"Gula... If he can't find me, he'll turn on my clan."
Maia's green eyes darkened ominously.
Numerical superiority meant nothing to her, and she was a near-perfect counter to the Monster Lord—that was how she'd toppled their headquarters alone.
Forest Guild was no pushover.
Moreover, her Green Dragon Clan's forces had fallen into a trap and taken losses.
Even if Barbara had led them to safety, they'd be too battered to hold off Forest Guild.
All the more so without Maia to lead them.
"I need to stop him. So don't get in my way."
Maia stated firmly.
Her words laced with the intent to use the Libra's power if he obstructed her.
Rimon smiled back.
"Your clan's heartwarming and all, but I have to object to that."
"Object?"
"No need for you to risk your neck. Someone else can handle blocking the Monster Lord and Forest Guild."
At the unexpected retort, Maia scowled.
"...You're saying you'll head back first and cut him down?"
"Not impossible, but it'd be a stretch in practice."
Anywhere else, he could've used the power gained from slaying the Serpent Connecting Ends to leap through space in an instant.
But this was the Amazon.
In this ancient spirit-blessed fortress, space movement was out—not to mention signals or even messenger flames.
"Can't leave my ailing master behind either."
"Then who can stop Forest Guild?"
"Forgot already? Who I came to Brazil with."
Maia's eyebrow twitched.
Only then did she remember.
The presence she'd overlooked amid the Monster Lord and her nemesis Rimon.
But one she should never have forgotten—a certain girl.
"...Li Chingwei."
The Seven Dragon Society's seven clans.
Weakest in direct confrontations.
They admitted it readily themselves.
Even so, as Maia hardened at the thought of that most dangerous clan's princess, Rimon chuckled.
"This lowly slave dares to guarantee it."
Not as her fiancé.
But as the Sword Duke, longtime foe of the Seven Dragon Society.
A cold sneer on his lips, Rimon declared without hesitation.
"As long as my fiancée isn't standing by, that Gula—or Kola, whatever—has no chance of beating the Green Dragon Clan."
The land of drugs, Brazil.
True to its nickname, Brazil teemed with countless gangs.
The Green Dragon Clan held the core drug trade, but even the scraps were hugely profitable.
Yet humans always wanted more—give them one, and they'd demand two.
Many gangs chafed at mere scraps from the massive drug industry.
If only the Green Dragon Clan didn't strictly regulate quality and prices, they could seize it all and rake in fortunes, they thought.
Of course, pure fantasy.
The drug boom in Brazil was the Green Dragon Clan's doing.
Without them, high-quality drugs would vanish, and the quasi-legal market would collapse.
The problem? Gangs weren't known for rational thinking.
That was why countless gangs had rallied ecstatically to Forest Guild when the Monster Lord appeared.
Of course, Maia had crushed Forest Guild's HQ, smashing most of them.
But in Brazil, gangs were like weeds—cut them down, and more sprouted.
Lucky survivors.
Overlooked small-timers.
Freshly formed crews.
Gangs still tied to Forest Guild lurked across Brazil.
Vroooom!
"Outta the way! Move it, move it, MOVE!"
"Wahahaha! This city's ours now!"
And at this very moment.
Tens of thousands of those gangsters were charging toward Sao Paulo as Forest Guild's vanguard.
The guild's victory reports had emboldened them to defy the Green Dragon Clan.
Their momentum was so bold.
It almost evoked revolutionaries storming a dictator.
Rat-tat-tat!
"Get outta the way, you scum!"
...Of course, it was just criminals reverse-driving jeeps while spraying machine guns.
"Hey, quit screwing around! If we don't hustle, the others'll snatch it all!"
"Relax, brother. You know how loaded Ketchalkoatl is? Won't run dry no matter how many show up."
"Still, first come, first served! Boss said grab the drugs especially, right?"
"Yeah, that's priority one."
And so the gangs raced gleefully toward Sao Paulo.
Dreaming of looting the Seven Dragon Group—that behemoth clutching the world's wealth.
Barreling toward the makeshift barricade at the Sao Paulo checkpoint, ready to plow through the station itself with their jeeps.
Click.
As they hurtled down the road.
Something like a switch clicked beneath the jeep's tires.
"Huh? What was th—"
BOOOOOOM!!!!!
"Hm, Brazilian-made anti-tank mines are a bit lacking in punch, as expected. A Russian one would've packed at least twice the boom."