Chapter 103
Chapter 103
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 103
Chapter Title: Tampia's Fall
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Tampia, her head bowed low.
"The king... of all assassins...?"
She had heard such legends before.
But legends were just legends—she had never truly believed them.
—It's nothing more than a vague old tale.
Hadn't Opas himself said as much while telling the story?
Swoosh.
Tampia raised her head and gazed up at the sky.
Something.
Crack!
It felt like something in her chest and mind had shattered.
"Tampia."
Opas called out to her once more.
"Sein Demorus will become the family head."
"......"
"He will soon be the head of Demorus..."
At that moment.
Bang!
Something flying in pierced straight through Opas's throat.
Sizzle.
It hit the ground and began melting the floor as it burned away.
A green bead.
Boom!
It exploded, spewing poisonous smoke.
"Finally... my head feels clear."
Tampia.
The woman who had gazed at the sky in self-mockery now stared at Sein, Opas, and the others with a face full of venom.
"Opas, you were my poison."
The elders of Demorus were monsters capable of annihilating a city single-handedly.
But now, time had passed.
"Sein Demorus."
The successor candidates had become monsters of equal caliber.
Tampia had awakened her blessing in childhood and learned much from Opas, who specialized in poisons.
And just before Sein appeared.
—There's nothing more for you to learn, Tampsia.
Opas had admitted it herself.
That Tampsia had surpassed her.
"Cover your mouths! Control your breathing!"
Sienjin shouted.
"It's poison smoke!"
Poison smoke filled the abandoned castle.
Even Demorus's treasured armor.
Sizzle!
The ultra-lethal poison that melted everything was spreading everywhere.
'To this extent...!'
Sienjin was genuinely shocked.
Of course, he knew Tampsia was strong.
Gail, the former captain of the Third Combat Squad, had backed her, after all.
But no one had ever properly witnessed her true power.
"Sein Demorus!"
He never imagined it would be to this degree.
Even the lowest elder, the Sixth Elder, rendered combat-ineffective in an instant.
Moreover, a poison that worked even on the Third Combat Squad members who had built up resistances—definitely dangerous.
"Keep... "
Rustle.
"Why do you keep calling me?"
Sein said to Tampsia as he dug in his ear.
"I admit my defeat."
The spark vanished from her eyes seemed to return.
Opas's poison had reached even her brain.
Whoosh!
But the poison she had just awakened was incomparably stronger than Opas's, devouring it entirely.
"But I can't just exit stage left like this."
Whoosh!
The poison smoke billowing from her feet grew even denser.
"I'll stake everything!"
That was when Sein finally took a step forward for the first time.
"Heal the Sixth Elder. I took the hit on purpose, so it shouldn't be fatal."
"......"
"And all of you."
Shing.
Sein drew the sword coiled at his waist.
A famed blade gleaming with iridescent light and ornate decorations.
The moment he infused it with mana.
Boom.
Sein's sword let out a sound like it was shattering, then turned pitch black.
There was no longer Bastion for Sein.
It belonged to Cecil now.
"Fall back."
Sein said.
"Barrier activate."
This was the stage Sein had prepared.
Wooong—!
At Sein's words, those who pressed the buttons in their pockets.
A wave spread out, enveloping the abandoned castle.
No sound or mana would leak out.
"You madman!"
Tampsia said to Sein.
"You're going to fight me in an enclosed space?"
She understood why the barrier.
To keep the battle here from reaching the outside.
But that was Sein's greatest mistake.
"Huu."
Tampsia thought.
Sein took a small breath.
Toward him.
Roooar—!
The poison smoke Tampsia unleashed began flowing in.
"......!"
It was a poison she was confident could kill even a dragon just by its presence.
Yet Sein, who had devoured all that smoke.
"Tampsia. Do you know why I've left you alone until now?"
Spoke in a casual voice, stepping forward nonchalantly.
"Because of Demorus's rules?"
Of course, that was part of it.
Sein had decided to follow and exploit the rules as much as possible.
Thanks to that, over the past year, he had built his forces within Demorus and grown stronger.
Because he acknowledged his shortcomings and accepted them swiftly.
But.
"No."
That wasn't all.
Smirk.
The corners of Sein's mouth lifted all the way to his ears.
Madness gleamed thickly in his shining eyes.
"Because you weren't a threat to me."
In that instant.
Clang!
Black aura surged in, erupting with light right in front of Tampsia's nose.
If not for the poison shield she hastily created, Tampsia would have been bisected and fallen moments ago.
"Myriad poisons, huh?"
Right in front of her.
Sein spoke, his breath undisturbed.
"What now?"
"......!"
"I'm impervious to all poisons."
The moment Sein's eyes slowly shifted to those of a lizard.
Rumble!
Sein's sword began scattering even denser aura.
"Hey, the promise...! You have to keep the promise! Sein Demorus!"
Opas's voice came as she regained her senses.
*
*
*
Sienjin looked at Tampsia in surprise.
He hadn't expected her power to be this great.
But exactly.
"Hold your positions, everyone."
That was it.
The forces Sein brought weren't there to hunt Tampsia.
Her guards had long been subdued, and per Sein's orders, they had all fallen back to watch the fight.
This was like the customary speech before heading into battle.
Clang!
Sein's sword seemed to speak.
—Believe.
Believe in him and don't retreat.
Just advance.
And they would.
Roooaaar—!
The Sein they had seen until now was no longer someone Tampsia could block.
From a certain day a year ago, Sein had thrown himself into missions like a madman.
But those who had spent time with him knew.
"This is all...?"
Sein had never shown his true power.
The shocked Tampsia retreated.
Scratches covered her body.
She could guess what promise Opas had mentioned.
"Kuh."
Spare her life, probably.
That's why Sein was holding back.
"That blessing is high-class, but you're barely using it."
Each of Sein's words stabbed at her lungs.
"Acting all high and mighty because you're from the main family—that's your problem."
But Tampsia couldn't respond.
Spiiiin!
Sein's sword spun toward her.
"Cough!"
She was too busy blocking it.
The matchup was horribly unfavorable.
None of Tampsia's prized poisons worked on Sein.
'Really...'
Overwhelming despair.
'Is he a dragon or something?'
The ultimate creature impervious to all poisons—a dragon was the only possibility.
No.
"Bless... ing..."
Even a dragon could be killed, she had believed.
She thought her poison would work on the family head too.
"Release."
Squelch.
The spread green poison smoke turned purple in an instant.
And soon, it gained viscosity.
Plop, plop.
Falling to the ground.
Tampsia's poison began to clump together.
"Yeah, now that's more like it."
Sein smiled in satisfaction at the sight.
The monster formed from the gathered purple poison.
A hydra opened its maw toward Sein.
*
*
*
The ending was obvious from the start.
From the moment Tampsia showed up in this abandoned castle.
From the moment Opas sided with Sein.
From her arrogant certainty that she had plants in the Third Combat Squad.
'No, that's not it.'
The beginning was earlier.
When Sein Demorus became a successor candidate.
No, even before that.
—Oh, you've awakened the Blessing of Myriad Poisons!
The mistake was that her blessing was Myriad Poisons from the start.
Matchup.
The matchup against Sein was far too poor.
She knew poisons didn't work on Sein, but she hadn't thought none of Myriad Poisons' toxins would.
She hadn't imagined even the hydra poison from releasing her blessing would be useless.
'Ah.'
She had been tricked.
Her mind cleared even more.
Now it was crystal clear.
—I need to test if poisons really don't work on him.
The few experiments she had done after hearing rumors about Sein.
Sein had shown slight signs of poisoning, and she had let her guard down.
From the very beginning.
Step, step.
She had been played by Sein.
"You think that's the start?"
Tampsia, kneeling.
Sein slowly withdrew the sword he had thrust toward her and spoke.
"Even worrying about that much is the problem."
A greenhorn from the main family.
Those born in too privileged environments, looking only downward, get consumed by that gaze.
Tampsia and Zegar were prime examples.
"Think about it."
Smirk.
Sein smiled and said.
"The moment I was born, your lives were already ruined."
"......!"
Thud.
Sein tossed her the robe he was wearing.
Her poison had melted his clothes, fully exposing her alluring figure.
"Unlike you, I keep promises, so I'll spare you."
Sein said.
"...To think you'd prepare this thoroughly."
Tampsia finally bowed her head.
Born and raised in Demorus, she was human at her core.
The terror she felt fighting Sein just now truly evoked the word death.
She couldn't overcome that fear.
She had lost completely.
She could never beat that matchup.
"I admit defeat."
Opas, clutching her throat, let out a sigh of relief.
But.
"What bullshit?"
Sein scowled and said.
"You think I went through all this just to catch you?"
From the very beginning.
"My target isn't someone like you."
Roberta approached Sein, who said that, and draped another robe over him.