Chapter 271
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 271
Chapter Title: Lesson 53. Equivalent Exchange - 3
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—The Demon King's daughter! That succubus has brazenly revealed herself in space!
—His Majesty has commanded us to bring him the head of the succubus. Today, we'll repay the debt we owe the Demon King to her!
The universe grew noisy.
It was something they'd experienced even in Dimension D-13, but the difference was that instead of external invaders, combat ships launched from the Diabolo planet were swarming toward them all at once.
The enemies weren't using simple voice signals; they were exchanging real-time signs through a securely encrypted intranet, tightening their encirclement.
"Of course, security that means nothing to Lilith."
[Ahem.]
Ever since devouring that meteor, Lilith had gained the ability to profoundly influence and interfere with external machines, communication networks, and spaceships.
His guess was that the authority extracted from the constellation fragment had combined with Ban Yu-won's power to handle all concepts, sprouting a new unique authority in Lilith...
The scope of that authority was truly immense. In this vast space, she was receiving their communications and relaying them inside the ship even before the enemy fleet entered visual range.
"So."
Mira turned her gaze to Shati, who was covering her face with both hands, and boldly asked the question everyone was thinking but no one dared voice.
"What's this succubus talk about, Shati?"
"Kyahaha... This is embarrassing."
Shati's distinctive laugh lacked its usual energy.
She averted her eyes from Ban Yu-won and gave a simple explanation.
"Succubi are one of the sub-races under the Evil Ones. Among them, the top dogs are the dream demons, but even they're somewhere between demons and monsters."
"So that means... I knew it from the start, but calling you a succubus is derogatory toward you, Senior."
"Exactly."
But she wasn't called that for no reason.
It couldn't just be because she was pretty.
Ban Yu-won briefly entertained some wild imaginings in his head, then realized that no matter how he phrased it, it would come off as sexual harassment, so he clamped his mouth shut.
"Um... Planning Director? No."
"Of course."
"You seem to be misunderstanding something?"
"I'm not misunderstanding."
"Liar! You're avoiding my eyes right now!"
"Hey, stop flirting with my boyfriend and explain already."
Unable to hold back any longer, Mira grabbed her with a voice laced with curses, and Shati finally sighed and explained the situation.
"Those guys coming now... they're from the Human Empire, and one of their Three Princes fell for me or something, tempting me with lame offers to come to the Empire. About a year before I entered the Academy."
The eyes of everyone except Ban Yu-won turned to her in unison.
Stories of love always drew attention, regardless of race.
But hearing it, Ban Yu-won had a strange realization: 'The Empire folks don't treat demonkin as human, huh.'
No wonder war was inevitable when their basic perceptions were so warped.
"So? What happened?"
[Was he handsome?]
Shati shrugged at Mira's cold interrogation and Lilith's sparkling interjection.
"He was uglier than our Planning Director, and he kept pestering me annoyingly, so I killed him. Wasn't my type anyway."
"K-Killed...?"
"At least it's not a love story."
"So that's why they're calling you a succubus..."
"Who knows. Maybe dying with his neck snapped by me sounded worse than being drained of his vital essence by a succubus's wicked magic."
Ban Yu-won responded indifferently to Shati's giggling words.
"If you were ugly, they'd hurl different insults. Black propaganda's like that—no need to mind it."
His nonchalant comfort seemed to actually cheer her up.
She flashed her usual grin and poked his shoulder playfully.
"Kyahat, are you hitting on me right now?"
"I can't say anything anymore."
Ban Yu-won snorted at her and turned his gaze to the forward monitor, reminding himself that silence is golden.
"Lilith, got their intel?"
[Yes, I'll list them from strongest first. The top one is riding in the central red spaceship...]
Lilith's authority didn't just allow eavesdropping; it helped assess enemy forces from afar. As expected of an A-rank dimension, the internal power of the ships was formidable.
Each ship teemed with at least 1,000 Life Force—over 4 Irecto—and the flagship at the center of the twenty-ship fleet held a master so powerful that even Lilith's enhanced authority barely read it.
A whopping 2,000 Life Force, 8 Irecto!
In terms of presence alone, it surpassed even Dokgo Yeon, the strongest in their group.
After hearing Lilith's thorough explanation, Ban Yu-won stared at Shati in bewilderment.
"Are those guys the Human Empire's elite?"
"Close, but no. Above them is the Emperor's Imperial Guard Knights, then the Empire Guardian Knights below that—looks like those. First time I've shown such a gap, so they brought a crowd."
Ban Yu-won mainly operated in the Union, so it was easy to misunderstand.
Union students hailed as geniuses were rated on potential, not current strength—they weren't the dimension's top yet.
Beings in each world lived long due to mana, not just elves. Even without Academy-level talent, decades of leveling put them above students.
Higher dimensions overflowed with mana for easy growth, breeding masters—and dangers everywhere.
So in A-4 dimension Diabolo, Shati never strutted through space like this.
Not holed up in the Demon King's castle, but deep in demon territory the Human Empire dared not enter.
Especially after accidentally leaving demon realm, bumping into the Third Prince, and suffering his stalking—she'd been extra cautious.
"I see. During break, you teleport me straight from Academy home."
"Didn't expect to return so boldly under 'special activities,' but seeing them swarm like ants just to glimpse me? Not bad. Kyahaha!"
Shati seemed back to her usual self.
Ban Yu-won eyed the closing ships and pondered.
"Their firepower's high, but tech level seems low."
"A-rank dimensions have big civilization gaps. Most stole and modded dimension pirate ships."
"Dimension pirates get beat down here too..."
That explained the mismatched ships. Ban Yu-won nodded and asked Shati,
"They can't match Lilith's speed, so shake 'em and head to demon realm?"
"Demon King would intercept me if I led them there."
"Got it. Then deploy space-optimized Abel here..."
"No."
Shati stopped Ban Yu-won, who was about to unveil an even stronger combined robot Abel, enhanced with Lilith's upgrades and accumulated concepts.
"I'll handle it. Kya, that creep's probably peeking creepily anyway."
"Shati?"
At her friend's worried look—facing a level 200 foe—Shati raised her hand, authority etched on its back, and grinned.
"Came to show this from the start. Gotta crush them myself."
Before authority modification, Shati boasted top 3rd-year prowess with deep mana and Evil One durability, outshining Special Class students.
But not Academy's best... Now, with Ban Yu-won's help, her power had more than doubled.
Enough to fully surpass Mira again, even after Mira briefly matched her via a favorable constellation contract in 3rd year.
Enough to overturn her father's disappointment in his unskilled daughter.
"Near demon realm, summoning mana cost's under half. Means double output."
"Please moderate your power when fighting."
"See ya. Watch close, everyone."
She winked at Ban Yu-won and leaped boldly from the ship.
Flaming mana enveloped her, accelerating her into a comet-like charge toward the Human Empire fleet, trailing light.
"Her raw power doesn't look much changed..."
Dokgo Yeon muttered, tilting her head, unable to pinpoint Shati's confidence source.
No wonder—authority change didn't drastically alter mana or body, hard to read shifts.
"Focus on software, not hardware."
"I'm confident discerning martial depths, sorcery, even unorthodoxy... Hm?"
Squinting after the comet, Dokgo Yeon suddenly widened her eyes.
Then, from the fleet's vanguard, ships exploded in sequence, engulfed in blasts!
"Heh."
"Wow..."
Dokgo Yeon marveled in astonishment, Lucelle clapped in pure admiration.
Meanwhile, Aire, watching the horrific chain explosions and grasping the authority's mechanism, looked stunned.
"Even for a monster, using life fusion rejection for explosions? Eviler than known Evil One authorities."
"No need for rejection. She's forcing collapse. That powerful."
"Still absurd. Not double—pure firepower's triple at least..."
Mira gaped in awe, and Ban Yu-won, glad Shati's hair matched the red, glanced aside to see Dokgo Yeon turning away disinterestedly.
"Powerful, sure, but manifestation too slow. Just siege weapon."
"Feels slow to super-masters like you."
Though manifestation created suction to restrict targets, one like Dokgo Yeon could read timing and evade—power meaningless.
Plus, attacks too wide-ranging.
Perfect for vast space against distant giant ships, but weak in personal combat.
"Fits now, though."
"Shati buried half the fleet alone..."
Mira muttered in awe at the monitor, explosions scaling with chained authorities.
Then.
"One escaped a ship."
Aire, evaluating Shati from a magic user's view excitedly, murmured.
"Probably the strongest."
"Realized staying meant sinking with it. Should help."
Shati's authority was amazing, but at 2,000 Life Force, speed differed vastly, as Dokgo Yeon said.
Shati's hybrid martial-magic style held in close quarters, but solo frontal? Too strong.
But as Ban Yu-won moved to support, Mira blocked him.
"She knew the master was there from start. Has a plan—watch."
"The one I worried most... Huh?"
Right then.
The spreading explosions converged to one point.
Ban Yu-won was shocked.
Controlling even his authority-sparked blasts!
So ignoring the flagship for chain explosions from outskirts was tactical!
"Ah, enemy noticed. Charging Shati—!"
Realizing the disaster, he dodged converging energy, reaching for Shati.
Kill her to stop blasts? His sword shot like light toward her—but
Just before, amid the fully exploding fleet, a small red glass bead from the vanished ships slammed his back.
And that was it.
The exquisitely shaped mana didn't explode—it atomized and annihilated him on contact.
Meaning no post-death concepts remained.
"I've seen Professor Xenon use that."
—One of top mana forms. Like your primal energy. ...She didn't plan relying solely on your authority. Mastering that power so quick.
Sellon kindly explained to Ban Yu-won murmuring blankly at the spectacle.
No support needed anyway.
He watched Shati return triumphant, having annihilated the Human Empire fleet, and had to admit his impromptu authority mod yielded beyond-expected results.