"So, Baron Atreus...?! What kind of death will you choose in this arena?!"
Baron Chev’s loud shout echoed the cheers of the spectators in the arena.
It seed like none of the spectators were supporting .
The entire arena crowd, predominantly Thornvale residents, was hoping for my beheading.
"KILL VERMILLION! FINISH HIM!"
"BARON CHEV! WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! HE’S THE ONE WHO DISTURBED OUR IRRIGATION CHANNELS!"
"BEHEAD!"
"BEHEAD!"
"BEHEAD!"
"BEHEAD!"
Well, hearing thousands of people want beheaded in this arena was a new experience for .
I saw Baron Chev point his sword at again, then smile like a psychopath eager to dismber his enemy.
"Did you hear that, Baron Atreus...?! They want you to die a horrible death in this arena...! It’s my right, as the highest leader of Thornvale, to execute their demand...!"
Baron Chev disappeared from my sight in the blink of an eye.
I knew that bastard was moving again with his strongest shadow step technique.
Rhaevor imdiately stood at attention near .
His muscular body was burning, and his hands were at the ready, ready to block Baron Chev’s attack.
And I was still kneeling here, catching my breath while enduring the pain from Baron Chev’s slash.
"You’re dead...!"
Baron Chev’s loud and rapid cry was imdiately accompanied by the sound of a swift sword slash.
Rhaevor imdiately darted, parrying the slash that was about to graze my chest.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!
"Ggghh!"
Damn it.
Baron Chev’s three slashes managed to injure my stomach and chest, even though Rhaevor managed to deflect most of his swift attacks.
I could feel the poison intensifying as each slash ant an additional dose of poison in my body.
I controlled my breathing, while withdrawing Rhaevor’s Spirit.
"Hahahahah! You’re exhausted, Baron Atreus...! You can’t activate Rhaevor’s Spirit anymore! The poison has entered your body! You’ve lost!"
Baron Chev’s loud, disdainful laugh rang out.
Although only faintly audible, I could hear his rapid footsteps approaching .
He wanted to take advantage of this golden opportunity to finish off after Rhaevor was gone.
Unfortunately, that was precisely his mistake.
Ever since I activated Rhaevor’s Spirit, I had actually been gathering magical energy to unleash a combination of wind and ice magic.
Baron Chev was oblivious because he was too busy attacking and fighting with Rhaevor.
My lightning bullet attack was actually just a decoy to keep Baron Chev’s attention from realizing I was preparing a combination of wind and ice magic.
Now I had enough energy, and the magic’s casting ti was up.
Before Baron Chev could co and slash my neck, I combined wind and ice magic, creating an ice storm that instantly froze the center of the arena.
SWOOOSSHH!
"C-Cold...! What is this cold wind...?!"
"What the...?! Is this coming from that cursed Vermillion?!"
Despite the distance, the audience began shivering from the impact of the ice storm.
Baron Chev was the one most affected by this ice storm.
He was clearly visible this ti, as both his feet were frozen.
He was only a foot away from slashing my eye, but all his joints stopped moving as the ice storm instantly froze his body.
"D-damn it...! W-what is this icy wind...?! M-my body is frozen...?!" Baron Chev exclaid in panic, unable to move at all.
"You’re wrong about one thing, Baron Chev. I’m not a wizard who can use two magic elents at once, but four. You don’t realize I’ve prepared this ice storm to stop you," I said calmly.
Baron Chev’s face tensed, filled with fear as I walked over to him calmly.
No matter how hard he tried to move, he couldn’t because his body was frozen.
"Why? Aren’t you going to behead ? Try calling your sister to warm you up. You always ask her for that intimacy, don’t you?" I sneered.
"BASTARD...! BARON ATREUS VERMILLION...! I WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU...! I-"
SWOOOSSHH!
A blast of icy wind struck Baron Chev swiftly, and all of his angry ramblings stopped instantly.
Baron Chev’s entire body had completely frozen, turning him into an ice statue.
Now, I could no longer hear the excited cheers of the arena’s spectators.
Everyone seed to have suddenly frozen, their faces pale, watching their supre leader beco an ice statue in the middle of the arena.
It seed they had never experienced defeat in their own arena before.
"No...! Chev...!"
Baroness Cecile’s cry rang out loudly from the audience hall.
It seed she couldn’t bear to see her beloved brother beco an ice statue.
"Get down to the arena, Baroness Cecile! Our duel isn’t over yet!" I shouted, challenging her.
Baroness Cecile imdiately leaped high from the arena’s special seating area to the center of the arena.
She sprinted, drawing her twin swords, her murderous gaze fixed on .
"BARON ATREUS...! YOU MUST DIE...!" she shouted loudly with vengeance.
Good.
From her shout, she was losing her composure.
I summoned Rhaevor’s Spirit again, which imdiately shot to block Baroness Cecile.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
Rhaevor’s fists and kicks clashed with Baroness Cecile’s swift twin swords like a flash of stars, shaking the arena stage.
Compared to Baron Chev, Baroness Cecile’s speed was far below his.
However, what was troubling about Baroness Cecile was her curse technique, which could seal her magic and poison.
And that seal magic and poison are more powerful than Baron Chev’s.
"DAMN! DAMN! DAMN! WHY DON’T YOU DIE, ATREUS VERMILLION...?! WHY CAN YOU SURVIVE MY DEADLY POISON...?!" shouted Baroness Cecile, still pounding Rhaevor with rapid-fire slashes.
Luckily, Rhaevor was able to keep up with Baroness Cecile, so I didn’t have the sa difficulty as I had with Baron Chev.
As for the poison, it seems she doesn’t know that I’ve developed a natural immunity to it, allowing to suppress its harmful effects.
Even if I were hit by Baron Chev’s poisonous slash, I easily neutralized its effects.
Now, I had to figure out how to defeat Baroness Cecile.
For the ti being, I couldn’t use Ice Storm magic again, as it required a long cooldown to recast it.
Even if I used my lightning bullet, Baroness Cecile seed to be able to dodge it.
The only way was a wide-ranging magic attack.
I raised my hand to the sky, then concentrated on forming a high-level fire spell that would create a fiery explosion in the center of the arena.
With the wide scope of the fire magic, there was no way Baroness Cecile would dodge.
"TCH...! YOU WANT TO BLOW UP THIS ARENA...?!"
Damn it.
It seed Baroness Cecile had caught on to my plan.
But I couldn’t stop or hesitate.
She still couldn’t break through Rhaevor’s defenses!
I still had a chance!
"Baroness Cecile...! Please...! Don’t let that wizard win...!"
"Kill Vermillion...! Avenge us for Baron Chev’s defeat...!"
Heh, hearing the hopeful wailing of the audience in the arena was like music to my ears.
I knew Baroness Cecile was in a bind, busy dealing with Rhaevor, but I couldn’t let my guard down.
To my surprise, Baroness Cecile took a step back.
She unsheathed her twin swords and then reached into her coat: a purple crystal ball radiating a murky magical aura.
I could sense that it wasn’t just any magic crystal ball.
And suddenly, Baron Atreus Vermillion’s mories were unlocked.
My vision was transported to a place where Lord Vermillion was berating the Counts at a round table where they were holding a eting.
Lord Vermillion said that the seal crystal ball wasn’t the solution to controlling Dragons or Golems.
However, the Counts disagreed with Lord Vermillion’s statent.
They still maintained their belief that the seal crystal ball was the most effective tool for controlling Dragons and Golems.
Wait a minute.
When I saw one of the Counts show the seal crystal ball, I realized that it resembled the magic crystal ball Baroness Cecile was holding.
Damn, so that crystal ball is a dragon seal crystal ball?
And Baroness Cecile can control it?
Damn it.
When the dragon seal crystal ball radiated a dense purple magical aura, changing the color of the sky around the arena, I knew it contained the power of a dragon!
"IF I CAN’T POISON YOU WITH MY SWORD...THEN I’LL POISON YOU WITH THIS POISON GAS...!" Baroness Cecile exclaid hysterically.
"Idiot...! You want to use poison gas...?! You’ll only poison your own people!" I exclaid loudly.
The audience imdiately gasped upon hearing my warning.
"P-poison...?!"
"The Baroness wants to use the dragon’s poison gas...?! Why...?! Won’t that poison all of us in Thornvale?!"
"Baroness Cecile has gone mad...!"
The panic escalated, and the audience fled the arena for their lives.
"HEHEHEH...! YOU WILL DIE, ATREUS VERMILLION...! FOR THE REVENGE OF MY BROTHER...!", Baroness Cecile exclaid, laughing maniacally.
If things get this chaotic, I don’t have ti.
No matter how fast Rhaevor is, he can’t possibly stop Baroness Cecile imdiately because they’re too far away.
The only way is my fire magic!
Without hesitation, I unleashed my fire blast magic, and at the sa ti, Baroness Cecile released her poison gas from her crystal seal.
BOOM!
WHOOOOSSHH!
An explosion of fire and purplish poison gas instantly filled the arena.
The sky, which was originally blue, was now purple, contaminated by the poison gas that spread rapidly through the air.
Amidst the blast and billowing smoke, I glimpsed the spectators who hadn’t had ti to escape, imdiately collapsing, their bodies limp and foaming at the mouth.
This poison gas was too powerful.
Even I, who possessed a natural immunity to Thornvale’s poison, had to pause for a mont, gasping for breath due to its powerful effects.
I had to pull Rhaevor away to regulate my energy and focus on strengthening my natural immunity.
Damn it.
This was no longer a duel, but a massacre.
Amidst the cloud of purplish poison smoke, I heard the sound of footsteps approaching .
"Baron Atreus...!"
Leysha’s voice, along with Alex’s, called out to , drawing closer.
I saw Leysha wearing a special magical poison-repellent mask developed by the healers of the Vermillion Territory.
Actually, the magical mask wasn’t strong enough to withstand the effects of such a horrific poison, but I had already asked Leysha and the healers to develop an antidote made from my blood.
My blood has a natural immunity that has a high level of resistance to Thornvale poison, so they were able to develop a kind of antidote.
Watching Leysha, Alex, the healers, and my soldiers walk without difficulty in this arena filled with Thornvale’s strongest poison, I knew the dicine was indeed effective.
"Baron Atreus... please drink this imdiately..." Leysha opened the bottle of antidote potion and gave it to .
Within minutes, I felt like I could breathe more normally than usual.
My natural immunity had naturally increased because the dicine had acted as a booster to counteract the effects of this damn poison.
"Thank you, Leysha. Good job, everyone. If you can make it to the center of this arena, it ans the guards in Thornvale City no longer care about you," I said calmly.
Leysha and Alex looked at each other with bitter expressions.
"This poison gas has spread throughout the city, Baron Atreus. No one can escape because the gas spreads so quickly," Alex said.
"When we got here... people were already collapsed, their faces purple and their mouths foaming. We felt like we were walking through a city of the dead. The citizens of Thornvale, even the soldiers, were all fall by this," Leysha explained bitterly.
I took a deep breath.
This idiot Cecile really is destroying her own city.
"Leysha, can our healers cure the poisoned citizens of Thornvale?" I asked.
"A-all of them, Baron...? There are almost a thousand of them... We might have to mass-produce the dicine, which will take ti," Leysha replied, shocked.
"Is there enough ti?"
"Enough...but so Thornvale residents will not survive, perhaps due to their respective immune systems. Most likely, the elderly will be among the few who don’t survive."
"...it’s better than letting everyone die and rot in this city. Imdiately order the healers to prepare dicine and a temporary treatnt center here, Leysha."
"I understand, Baron Atreus."
"Baron Atreus, are you sure you want save the people of Thornvale with the dicine made by the Vermillion healers? They insulted you and threw rotten eggs at you, Baron!" Alex said, still disapproving.
"Well, I’d certainly enjoy walking around this city, seeing the corpses of those who insulted lying all over the streets. But there’s a greater purpose, Alex. If Vermillion wants to rule Thornvale, then we can’t let this area be filled with nothing but poisoned corpses," I said firmly, looking north, specifically in the direction where Baroness Cecile was last seen.
A gentle breeze blew, and the poisonous mist dispersed, clearing the arena’s view.
To the north, I saw Baroness Cecile lying on the ground, her crystal seal beside her.
I hurried over, picked up the crystal seal, and was stunned to see Baroness Cecile sprawled out, her face purple and foaming at the mouth.
I’d never seen Baroness Cecile, renowned for her assassin skills and poison, collapse from her own poison.
She was utterly foolish.
"H-help...help......" Baroness Cecile pleaded, her eyes blank and her cheeks tear-stained.
Her body was stretched out, as if she were about to die.
"Hah...you lost because of your own stupidity, Baroness Cecile," I said, coldly staring at Baroness Cecile, who was still pleading and trying to grab my leg.
"Alex, take Baroness Cecile and Baron Chev who are ice statues to the throne room," I ordered as I left Baroness Cecile.
"T-the throne room...you an, the throne room at Thornvale Palace, Baron?" Alex asked, making sure.
"Yes. Is sothing wrong?"
"N-no, I an, isn’t Thornvale Palace full of their own soldiers who—"
"They’ve all succumbed to their own leader’s poison. Their Baron and Baroness have also lost this duel. Thornvale is mine, Alex. It’s already ours."
Reviews
All reviews (0)