Chapter 16
Chapter 16
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 16
Chapter Title: The Moment Humans Are Most Off-Guard
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The moment when humans let their guard down the most.
It is when they believe the battle has ended.
Salsoo had lured the ogre all the way to the foot of the mountain range for this very reason, waiting for Agnes to finish the fight.
“...”
He had reflexively shouted loudly earlier, but Damian had regained his composure and was now crouching low.
Damian focused on the sounds around him. Agnes was the target, but there was a chance they were after him too.
The rustle of fallen leaves in the wind. Agnes's faint breathing. The footsteps of mountain beasts. Fortunately, no further attacks followed.
They might have already fled, or they could be scouting the situation.
Either way, he couldn't just sit idle. Damian approached Agnes.
A thick arrow lodged in her side. Cough. Red blood trickled from between her lips. Damian turned her face to let the blood flow sideways.
“This is...”
Normally, you wouldn't pull out the arrow and would take her to a healer, but this case was anything but simple. He tore her clothes to check the wound, and venom dripped from the arrowhead.
She was already unconscious. Her lips had lost their color, and red blood mixed with white foam leaked from between them. Her limbs twitched unnaturally—it seemed to be a neurotoxin.
‘First, I need to stop the poison from spreading further.’
With that thought, Damian immediately yanked out the arrow. Blood spurted out, but it wasn't as bad as he'd feared.
Whoosh. A green flame flickered to life on Damian's fingers. Using the smallest Hellfire he could manage, he cauterized Agnes's wound to staunch the bleeding.
Even before his regression, he had treated the wounded with Hellfire.
Of course, the searing pain often made them scream, and some even lost their minds and lashed out with their fists.
The real problem came next. He'd stopped more poison from entering, but the toxin already in her system was still eating away at her life force.
Damian wasn't versed in pharmacology. He didn't know what this poison was or how to antidote it. And he couldn't use healing magic either.
‘Wait, what if I use Absorption...?’
Absorption could extract intangible forces like life force, mana, or memories.
He couldn't directly pull out the liquid poison, but he might be able to extract the toxic effects working through her body.
Then, using Gremory's power, convert it into a physical form. Once it had shape, Hellfire could incinerate it.
Of course, it was all theoretical. He'd never practiced this. He couldn't maintain the materialization indefinitely either. If he failed to destroy it, he'd have to absorb it himself.
Risking his own life to save Agnes was absurd.
‘Start with a small amount.’
If it was just a little, absorbing it himself shouldn't be a big issue.
Damian placed his hand on Agnes's neck. Pink energy rippled out and was absorbed into her body.
‘Found it!’
The alien energy gnawing at her life force. Damian used black magic—Absorption—to draw it out.
“Grrgh!”
It hadn't fully integrated into his body yet, but the sensation of the toxin flowing through him was unpleasant.
Hummm. The toxin took form, condensing above Damian's fingers. Immediately, Hellfire bloomed across all five fingers.
Damian concentrated the firepower he could control into a single point and burned the materialized toxin.
‘It worked!’
From this first try, he realized how much he could safely extract at once.
Damian repeatedly pulled the toxin from Agnes's body, materialized it, and burned it away.
As the toxin drained out, Agnes's condition improved rapidly. Her breathing normalized, and color returned to her face.
With her naturally sturdy body from all that training, removing the toxin completely should save her life.
Swoosh. Just as that thought crossed his mind, he clearly heard the sound of wind being cut. Damian swung his arm wide, spreading Hellfire like a curtain.
Dozens of daggers rushing toward him couldn't breach the flames and embedded harmlessly into nearby trees.
But Damian's expression wasn't relaxed. This attack hadn't been aimed to kill.
The enemy had deliberately made noise. It was a warning.
Looking left and right, he spotted five assassins perched on tree branches. Hoods and masks concealed their faces, leaving only their eyes visible.
But those eyes revealed their identity.
Half-lidded as if drugged, with unnaturally dilated pupils, yet brimming with clear killing intent.
“Desert druggie bastards.”
Hashashin.
The continent's premier assassin guild.
They were said to fetch even the Emperor's head for the right price. Renowned not just for their skill but for their unbreakable secrecy.
Their defining trait: performing missions in a drugged haze.
The drug hashish massively boosted their abilities, though it left their minds half-deranged.
Before his regression, the Hashashin had been hired by the orthodox faction. Rumor had it that after the civil war, they were granted territory and independence.
Having long desired their own nation, the Hashashin threw themselves into targeting reformers, risking their lives. Damian himself had nearly died by their hand once.
So who had commissioned this hit? The one who hated Agnes most was obviously her uncle, the current head of the Schubert family.
But he didn't seem the type to resort to this. There were simpler ways to kill his niece if he wanted her dead. Besides, Agnes still had her uses.
“Man. Not. Target. Go. Leave.”
The voice evoked a desert rattlesnake. Though halting, his meaning was clear.
Damian wasn't their goal. Leave Agnes behind, and they'd let him go.
Fwoosh. Damian fired a green fireball skyward. At a certain height, it exploded brilliantly, illuminating the surroundings.
He and Agnes were the only ones who'd entered the Teya Mountains today. If the guards saw the signal, they'd know something was wrong and respond.
‘Or at least Anna or Felix would react.’
The Hashashin seemed to grasp his intent, drawing daggers from their belts.
Then they vanished from sight. Before Damian could wonder where, assassins surged from front, back, sides, and above.
Assassins wielded aura differently from knights. Rather than enhancing their bodies for explosive power, they focused on concealing their presence.
If it worked perfectly, even the finest knight would lose their head in an instant.
The Hashashin were the pinnacle in that art.
They didn't just hide—they seemed to teleport. Aura elevated to the realm of magic.
The inexperienced wouldn't even realize they'd moved before dying.
If they lacked experience.
Fwoom! Green flames formed a barrier once more. This time, the firepower was incomparable.
The Hashashin must have thought the previous display was his full strength. They'd fallen neatly into his trap.
The earlier Hellfire curtain had used only three fingers' worth. Now all five blazed.
Three reacted instantly, pulling back, but the remaining two were devoured by the Hellfire.
““!!!!!!””
Even in their hashish-fueled stupor, Hellfire's agony pierced through. They writhed on the dirt, screaming silently.
““For the. Great. Being.””
With those cryptic words, their movements ceased.
The Hashashin Damian had faced before his regression muttered something similar at the end, but he hadn't cared enough to investigate.
“Plan. Change.”
The remaining three exchanged glances, then widened the distance. No close quarters—they'd harass from afar.
Their intent was obvious. Damian wasn't the target anyway. Agnes was poisoned. They just needed to stall.
Damian swung Hellfire like a whip at the surviving assassins, but they dodged with utter focus, leaving him few options.
He couldn't use Absorption on Agnes in this situation either. The Hashashin's attacks weren't lethal, but they weren't negligible.
Absorption demanded more concentration than any black magic. It was nearly impossible mid-fight.
Worse, poison arrows were mixed in with the daggers.
If Damian got poisoned, there'd be no fix. Absorption couldn't be used on oneself.
Slash! Prioritizing the poison arrows left him with minor cuts from the daggers.
Point attacks had limits. He needed to target areas—the forest hiding their bodies.
But that would burn the surroundings too, and uncontrolled flames could consume even him.
In short, he needed maximum firepower to end it in one go.
‘It’s about time...’
The light magic at the ruins, Absorption on Agnes, and the ongoing fight had drained his mana heavily. He couldn't muster the power he wanted.
Moreover, beating the Hashashin wasn't the end. Saving Agnes's life was the real goal.
He had mana potions in his Subspace Pouch, but absorbing them fully took time.
The desert killers wouldn't wait.
‘What to do.’
There was a way. He just wasn't sure it was worth it. The cost was steep.
Damian glanced at Agnes, gasping raggedly, lost in thought.
As the Hashashin said, he wasn't their target. They wouldn't prioritize comrades over mission, so if he retreated, they'd let him.
‘But...’
Post-regression, Damian's goal was crystal clear: revenge. He'd use any means for it.
But he had standards. Without them, he'd sink to the level of those he sought to avenge himself against.
He didn't want that. Revenge mattered, but not at the cost of becoming human scum like them.
Abandoning Agnes here... He wasn't sure, but it felt like crossing that line.
He could look away, but the memory would linger in his subconscious, haunting him later.
“Huuuuh.”
He had his answer. No hesitation now.
A weathered grimoire appeared in Damian's palm. The Book of Hell—Mem—he'd absorbed earlier.
Creeeak. The Book of Hell twisted oddly, compressing into a small sphere.
“...”
The Hashashin's movements froze for a moment. Even these drugged killers, who took lives without qualm, felt inexplicable dread at the sight.
Aura? Magic? Powers derived from mana, yet it seemed a step outside the world's laws.
[Kekeke!!]
Molech's voice echoed from his soul.
[Yes, don't settle! Imagine fiercer flames, ones that could burn the whole world!]
The compressed Book of Hell—Mem—hovered before Damian's face.
‘I'll collect some payment one way or another.’
Separate from his principles, he hated taking losses. He'd extract a Book of Hell's worth from Agnes as recompense.
Crunch! With that thought, Damian bit into the Book of Hell.