Chapter 70
Chapter 70
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 70
Chapter Title: If I Kill You Here, Will It Be a Problem?
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Sein posed the question.
And Varze answered.
-I was thinking the same thing.
That had been their brief encounter with Varze.
-Just kidding. You were kidding too, right? Let's get along from now on, fellow heirs from the three great organizations!
Varze switched up completely, like donning a mask. Even Sein lost his timing for a moment.
'Varze Demorus.'
There was something about the guy.
Something only Sein could sense.
'He awakened the Ancestor's Blessing, didn't he?'
Alman had said the guy awakened the Ancestor's Blessing just like him.
Though it probably wasn't the same kind as his own.
-Lord Ancestor of Demorus possessed three great blessings.
The Ancestor's Blessing wasn't just one.
-The Ancestor's Blessings...
That was when it happened.
Kreeeeak—!
A deafening roar echoed, as if the heavens and earth were splitting open.
The massive gate before Sein's eyes began to yawn wide.
"Nervous?"
Sein said to Roberta.
The day Varze had come, Sein, Roberta, and Cecil received permission to leave the castle.
And now, this was their first true entry into the main house.
"......"
"I'm nervous."
Roberta shot him a glare at his words.
But soon, her trembling stopped.
"Don't let your guard down from here on out."
Sein said.
"This place is a demon's den."
Boom!
At last, the gates swung fully open and halted.
"Let's go."
Sein pushed through the brilliant light, striding forward confidently.
It was his first step into the main house's grand hall, but there was no hesitation.
'Now this is the real game.'
He knew he could finally say he'd stood squarely at the starting line.
The heir to the underworld—that was his life in the final round.
Step, step.
The radiant light illuminated everything, and Demorus retainers stood to either side of the advancing Sein.
Some wore masks, others draped in furs.
Their lack of uniformity only underscored that they were the ones recognized by Demorus.
Gulp.
Roberta, who had steeled herself, swallowed dryly.
'She feels it.'
Roberta would feel it too.
Roooar!
The mana of monsters filling the grand hall.
It felt like being submerged in the deepest abyss.
Like struggling in crushing hydrostatic pressure bearing down on every inch of the body.
Wobble.
In the end, Roberta couldn't withstand it and stumbled.
She nearly made a huge fool of herself, but Sein caught her.
Not with his hand.
With mana.
"......"
It was the first time.
The retainers watching them shifted from indifference to interest.
And that outpouring of attention was directed solely at one person: Sein.
Step.
Sein stepped forward boldly once more.
Now he understood what a demon's den meant.
The sensation of monsters licking their chops, eyeing prey.
Smirk.
But the further he walked, the thicker the smile on Sein's lips grew.
Shhh.
He slowly released his mana.
Fwoooosh—!
The moment he unleashed it fully, the oppressive mana pressure vanished.
"We've only been taking tests up until now anyway."
No one could fail to hear Sein's murmur.
"The tests end here."
Sein had come to a stop before he knew it. Before him stood figures clad in robes blending black and gold.
Even without Varze standing off to one side, it was obvious at a glance.
'These are the bastards.'
Demorus's heir candidates.
And slowly, Sein's gaze lifted upward.
Dozens of women seated in chairs, and atop the dais above them, a middle-aged man gazing down languidly.
That was him.
'He's the one...'
Boom!
At that moment, Roberta dropped to both knees and bowed her head.
Tremble.
Sein's legs were shaking too.
Boom!
Unable to resist in the end, Sein too knelt and bowed his head.
"This... kind of... thing... is... new... to me."
A faint murmur from Sein, barely audible, accompanied by a rising smile.
It was bewilderment.
Even as Crown Prince Sein Archibald, he'd never experienced this.
Not even before the emperor of that great empire Archibald.
"Welcome to the main house."
A heavy, solemn voice.
A voice that seemed to suck in all the darkness of the world flowed into Sein's ears.
"My son."
He was the head of Demorus.
-Tezera Demorus.
The absolute ruler of this era.
*
*
*
He knew he couldn't stand up right now.
It was curiosity.
Humm.
About how far his power could reach the family head.
"Rasiel's Alman and Dante's Rohan declared their support for you."
But at the voice that followed, Sein snapped his eyes wide.
Boom!
It felt like his entire body was being slammed into the ground.
It was a pressure so immense that resistance was meaningless.
A thought surfaced.
'Fuck, it's this much.'
The absolute one he was connected to, whom he'd even seen in this life.
'Angel-class?'
It was the same overwhelming pressure he'd felt from the weakened Angel.
"Insolent."
"......"
Sein gritted his teeth and endured.
Boom!
The pressure intensified further.
Psh!
Sein's lips split open, blood trickling down.
It felt like the whole world—his world—was being consumed by darkness.
"However, your competitive spirit is the curse thick in Demorus blood."
Fwoosh!
That was even more astonishing.
"I forgive your rudeness. My son."
He withdrew it all as if it had been a mere dream.
Perfectly containing what had been poured out was difficult with anything.
Words or water.
Mana even more so.
In the hard-won freedom, Sein slowly rose, thinking.
'Max level.'
Tezera had undoubtedly reached level 30, Sanctuary's max.
'No.'
But in Sanctuary, levels weren't the only measure of strength.
'Overleveled.'
The realm called transcendence, achieved by only a handful of players in Sanctuary's long history, and granted to but a scant few NPCs—the pinnacle of power.
"You may stand."
At Tezera's permission, Sein rose immediately.
But his bowed head remained.
"You may raise your head."
Only then could Sein lift his head and look at Tezera.
He didn't have white hair like Varze or himself.
Jet-black hair like obsidian, and black eyes.
A handsome face that exuded middle-aged gravity yet defied age, with firm muscles visible even over his clothes.
"Sein Demorus, I permit you to become Demorus's final heir candidate."
Everything of Demorus.
It could only happen under Tezera's approval.
*
*
*
"Uweeeck!"
Exiting the grand hall, Sein couldn't hold back and vomited.
He heaved up not just the steak from earlier, but even Cecil's midnight snack from last night before catching his breath.
Roberta had fainted the moment they left the hall and was carted off to the infirmary.
"...Insane."
It exceeded expectations.
As one of the absolutes ruling the current world, he'd figured he'd be a monster, of course.
But still.
'Tezera Demorus.'
The head of Demorus was beyond imagination.
"Seriously..."
Wiping his mouth, Sein muttered.
"It's a whole other world."
He had to accept once more that this was a completely changed world, unthinkable from his past Sanctuary life.
As Sein grimaced at the rising bile again.
"The first candidate to draw support from both Rasiel and Dante—we had high hopes."
Approaching footsteps and a voice.
"You're a disappointment."
The face was familiar.
One of the four at the bottom of the dais where the family head sat.
"Hiding away to puke in secret, of all things."
A gaunt face and body that evoked a snake.
His eyes were just as repulsive.
"Have Alman and Rohan gone senile in their old age?"
He sneered in front of the struggling Sein.
"To back trash like you."
"......"
"I, on the other hand..."
That was when the guy opened his mouth again.
"Uweeeck!"
Sein spewed everything from his mouth right onto the bastard's feet.
"Wha—what...?"
It seemed even he hadn't anticipated this; he stuttered in unmasked panic.
"Weck!"
"Y-you bastard!"
The guy tried to back away, but Sein grabbed his shoulders and emptied everything.
"Haa... Now I can breathe."
Sein's voice came out like he'd finally caught a break.
"You fucking prick, I was barely holding it in, and your breath made me hurl again."
"What did you...?"
Bewilderment, followed naturally by.
"You son of a bitch!"
Rage.
The snake-faced bastard shoved Sein away and unleashed a torrent of aura.
"Son of a bitch? You comparing my father to a dog right now?"
The same bluff that worked in Rasiel.
"Th-that's not..."
No reason it wouldn't work in Demorus.
"Father! You're still there, right? This psycho called you a dog...!"
Sein dodged the flying punch without a word.
"...or so he says."
Finishing calmly as he stopped, a bead of blood formed on Sein's cheek.
The guy's wild swing had pierced Sein's mana barrier, inflicting a wound.
"What? Was I wrong?"
"Eeeek!"
The enraged bastard's aura surged even stronger.
"I was curious but never got to confirm."
But Sein facing it was utterly composed.
"If I kill you here, what happens?"
Unlike with Varze.
Fwaaa!
Sein's mana, laced with genuine killing intent, instantly bound the snake-faced bastard.
"......Mmph!"
Eyes wide in panic, struggling too late to break the bindings—it was over.
Humm.
Sein's mana-charged hand blade rested against the guy's throat.
Just a bit more movement, and it was done.
But he couldn't.
Twang!
Taut threads bound Sein's hand.
"I'll provide that answer for you, Lord Sein."