Chapter 59
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 59
Chapter Title: Sensory Hell
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Kaboom!
A fierce blaze erupted in the forest.
Those swept up in the raging inferno screamed as they scattered in all directions.
Mephisto burst into mad laughter at the sight.
"Haha! Look at those pathetic losers! Faust! Give me more potions! I'll toss just a few more!"
"You lunatic! Do you have any idea how much that one costs? Materials are already hard enough to come by!"
"Haha! I'll pay you back once I succeed! Just hand some over for now!"
"Looking at you right now, sure you will!"
Faust yelled, but he handed over the explosive potion without hesitation.
Grinning wildly, Mephisto snatched it and hurled it at the coalition soldiers.
Who could ever believe that madman was a noble of the imperial family?
Faust clicked his tongue and shook his head.
Yet even he slyly lobbed a hallucination potion laced with potent aphrodisiacs toward the fleeing foes. He wasn't so different from his friend, after all.
Thanks to Faust and Mephisto's frenzied onslaught, they not only rescued scattered imperial soldiers but also took out a hefty number of coalition troops.
The explosions were deafening, and the visual spectacle dazzling, drawing every coalition soldier near the forest. But Faust and Mephisto, buzzing with adrenaline, couldn't care less.
In fact, they turned it into a nightmare for the coalition ranks.
After incinerating a massive wave of them into ash, Mephisto grinned with satisfaction, looking utterly refreshed.
Faust quietly tsked at the sight.
"As expected, you're no prince—just a raving maniac. The elves will come charging to gut you the second they see this charred forest."
"Haha! Unavoidable sacrifices! We saved a ton of comrades because of it! Besides, you secretly loved it too—don't play innocent!"
"Don't lump me in with trash who gets off on burning people."
Mephisto shrugged at Faust's scowl.
"Those weren't people. No one like us would do that. Didn't you see? The cities and villages they ravaged."
Faust clamped his mouth shut at Mephisto's calm words.
He vividly remembered the border landscapes they'd passed through.
"No matter how much they hate the empire, they had no right. If they want to vent, go after the fat noble pigs or our glorious emperor—not innocent citizens."
"...Say that anywhere else, prince or not, and your head rolls."
"Haha. I'm not that reckless. Only telling you because it's you."
Faust tsked again, irked by Mephisto's carefree grin.
"Anyway, let's enjoy it now, friend! We saved way more comrades than expected! Cheers!"
Mephisto offered booze pilfered from coalition supplies.
Faust took it quietly and downed it in one go.
Mephisto beamed.
"You look like a saint, but you sure slam liquor like a pro!"
"Who's a saint?"
"Oops! My bad! Too sharp-featured for a saint anyway! Sorry!"
"Damn maniac."
Faust tsked again, refilling his glass silently.
Mephisto matched him and raised his cup.
"To our epic performance! To this damn empire! And to those coalition scum who gifted us this fine booze—may they rest in pieces!"
Faust didn't cheer but lifted his glass all the same.
Their cups clinked lightly in the air.
They linked up with surviving squadmates and a fair number of imperial soldiers right away, but the coalition's pursuit was relentless.
Escaping their encirclement toward safe imperial territory meant battles every hour, every day.
Skirmishes large and small claimed countless soldiers—wounded or dead.
Mephisto and even Faust fought tirelessly, but limits were clear.
Endless chases and depleted supplies had worn them thin long ago.
In that hellish grind, they pushed on desperately.
Just as they neared the imperial camp, overwhelming despair struck.
Survivors were less than a third of the start.
And most had fled for their lives.
Only a handful of imperials remained on the field, Faust and Mephisto included.
Mephisto wiped unknown blood from his eyes and sighed bitterly.
"Damn it... Just one more mountain to cross!"
Faust said nothing to his rage-filled friend.
No energy left for words.
"......"
Faust scanned the surroundings quietly.
The ordinary forest had become a hellscape of carnage.
Corpses littered the greenery—corpses everywhere.
No coalition dead among them.
All were the imperial soldiers who'd endured with them till now.
"...Tsk."
Chest tight with frustration, Faust glanced sideways despite himself.
His gaze fixed on the culprit behind this slaughter.
A monster who'd felled over a hundred imperials alone.
A calamity beyond mortal comparison.
An Aura Master.
Faust scowled at the knight standing aloof amid the roaming ghosts.
"Damn...! It's all my fault...! I got cocky! If I'd planned more perfectly...!"
Faust shook his head at Mephisto's lament.
Despite the disaster, no one could deny Mephisto's pivotal role in getting this far.
His cunning plans had evaded pursuits and even mocked the coalition.
They simply hadn't anticipated that monster.
"Snap out of it, Mephisto. What if you lose it?"
"...Sorry, Faust. No way out. Not from that beast...."
This listless Mephisto was worlds from the man Faust knew.
Faust grimaced and snapped.
"So what? Give up?"
"......"
Mephisto clamped his lips, silent. Faust frowned.
After glaring a moment, Faust stood.
Mephisto gaped as he popped a potion and gripped his sword in one hand.
"...Faust?"
"Rot here and die, abandoning your grand dreams and everything. I'm surviving, one way or another."
Faust strode toward the knight, indifferent to whatever they tried.
Mephisto stared blankly at his unflinching back.
Step by step.
Faust's advance trembled but stayed steady.
Speed building, he charged.
Doped beyond limits by potions, his pace outstripped most knights—but not this one.
The pinnacle: a Master.
The knight parried his lightning rush with ease.
Faust tumbled pathetically into the dirt.
"Good speed, lousy footwork. Needs more training."
"Who asked for lectures, you fossil?"
Faust spat blood or spit and lunged again.
"Rough mouth for a knight. Fitting for a decayed imperial cur."
"Got something to back up your jab at my filth? I'm no knight anyway!"
Faust hurled a potion at the effortlessly dodging knight.
Special explosive, point-blank.
'This range—I'll take damage too, but that monster...!'
Faust's thought snapped short.
The knight casually caught the tossed potion.
"Hm? A potion? Must be those infamous explosives, tossed like this. So you're the alchemist?"
Faust gaped as the knight inspected it leisurely from afar.
"Even a monster... this is ridiculous."
"Orders from above: capture the potion-maker alive. Lucky you—your filthy neck's spared."
Faust snorted at the flat tone.
"Bullshit."
"Filthy mouth indeed. An alchemist crafting this should have manners too."
"Blame the back alleys, monster!"
Faust roared and charged anew.
Still fast, but attacks riddled with obvious gaps.
The knight sighed softly and shook his head.
"No manners. Guess I'll shut that trap by lopping a limb. Hands for potions, so legs it is."
The knight raised his sword calmly.
One whim, and Faust's legs would be gone, helpless.
The outcome was obvious, but Faust didn't flinch.
Instead of swinging, he tossed another potion—at his own feet.
Shatter.
Thick smoke billowed from the broken vial.
The knight smirked.
"Poison? Pity—standard toxins don't faze a Master like me. If hidden, maybe, but exposed? Aura neutralizes it...."
"Who said poison?"
The knight furrowed his brow at the low voice.
"This is...?"
"A reinforcer. More medicine than toxin. Packed with benefits."
The knight stared, baffled, as Faust stated flatly.
Empowering the enemy? A lie, maybe poison? He checked—no anomalies.
Vitality surged; strength swelled genuinely.
Faust snickered at the puzzled knight.
"One issue, though. Effects are a tad too good."
"What do you—"
"Wait and see. You'll discover a new world."
The knight frowned at Faust's smirk.
Soon, he understood.
"Th-this...?!"
"How's total sensory overload? Fine in moderation—overdone, and it's madness."
-Hear that already?
Faust's grin didn't register.
Sounds flooded his ears: Faust's voice amid thousands more.
Near and far rang crystal-clear, like whispers in his ear.
Hundreds of insects crawling inside.
His face twisted in horror.
Not just hearing.
All senses amplified hundreds, thousands-fold.
For an Aura Master already hypersensitive, pure hell.
Face demonic, he glared at Faust.
"You bastard...! Fix this... now!"
"Sorry, no antidote."
-Last one.
Faust shook an empty vial after downing another.
The knight glared ferociously.
"You... unforgivable...!"
"Oh, wait—one more antidote."
"Gah...! Give it here!"
Faust nodded oddly at the bellowing knight.
"Fine. If you insist."
Whoosh—the potion arced through the air.
The knight leaped.
Agony wracked even that simple move, but the antidote would end it.
'Swallow that, then slaughter the bastard who did this!'
Orders be damned—endless hell erased mercy.
'Chop fingers one joint at a time! Flay skin, strip flesh... worst death imaginable!'
His hand brushed the vial.
Cautious reach—but it shattered effortlessly.
As if designed to.
Shatter.
Lightning exploded.
"Never said it was the antidote, monster."
Rumble.
Electrocuted, the knight convulsed faintly.
Faust smiled quietly as he watched.