Chapter 101: World Molded by Desire and Sins
Swoosh-
My sword tore through the night sky, killing the fifth stone creature I found flying away from a certain area behind the Duke's mansion. They crumbled to dust once I severed their heads, leaving no evidence.
"Hmm, so that's where they hide the girls."
With my heightened senses, I could hear a series of moaning from the underground. My <Presence Detection> also found many girls, likely around 20, from the direction where the Gargoyle was flying out earlier.
Beatrice was also with those girls, probably in the process of turning them into succubus. Once again, I guessed correctly.
Currently, I was hiding behind the shadow of a tall tree in the garden of a massive mansion, surveying the surroundings with a cautious gaze.
According to my <Presence Detection>, many people were still inside the mansion and the building behind it. Probably the building behind the mansion was where the Duchy knights slept, while the servants slept at the separate wing of the mansion.
Small movements happened inside the mansion. They could be knights who patrolled inside to keep the Duke safe. And although it took time, I had found where the Duke was, and in addition... I found something a bit surprising to even me.
'Adam is in the mansion too, huh? And to think his status had become like this.'
Name: Adam (Charmed) (Fallen) (Confusion) (Controlled)
Race: Devilkin
Lv: 65
Sins: 250
Virtues: 0
Status:
HP: 100/100 (MAX 100)
MP: 70/70 (MAX 100)
STR: 68 (MAX 100)
VIT: 65 (MAX 100)
AGI: 68 (MAX 100)
DEX: 65 (MAX 100)
INT: 67 (MAX 100)
LUC: 100 (MAX 100)
Skills:
[Lv 5 Swordsmanship] [Lv 4 Dark Magic] [Lv 3 Wind Magic] [Lv 3 Fire Magic] [Lv 2 Earth Magic] [Lv 2 Dagger Mastery] [etc.]
Titles:
[Child of Hell] [Succubus' Slave]
He had truly fallen.
No, fall wasn't the right word. He was broken to the point he had no self-ego anymore. He even had (Confusion) and (Controlled) status, which was the result of constant use of brainwashing, one of the skills deprived of Lv 6 <Charm Magic>.
It seemed like Beatrice had also gotten stronger after turning many girls into Succubi.
One of the perks often found in a Boss Monster specialized in command back in Horizon Online was that they got stronger if they got more subordinates.
Maybe primordial Succubus was also a Race like that. They didn't gain EXP from hunting, but by turning people into Succubus or Devilkin and letting them hunt for her.
I knew that normal Succubus got stronger from satisfying their sexual desire, so that might be why she kept those girls inside, as their sexual desire would never get satisfied before their virginity was broken, unlike Half-Succubus.
This was truly the world molded by Desire and Sins, just like how the Goddess of Lust, Lilith, planned it to be.
That girl was quite smart. She made an EXP farm by using her Race perk and her skill. Unfortunately, even if she hit Level 100, she would still be weaker than me.
"Let's take care of Adam and the Duke first. Dealing with Beatrice inside that room will be troublesome as I know she will command those girls to attack me."
Besides, I wanted to punish her, so leaving her for the last would be best.
After deciding my course of action, once again, I dived into the shadow and made my way inside the mansion. My targets were on the third floor, in one of the rooms.
Somehow, they were in the same room. Were they doing something questionable? If so, I'd rather destroy the mansion from the outside instead of witnessing it.
Rather, I should just do that to get the attention of the citizens too. But that would be the last thing I would do after punishing Beatrice and resetting her to Level 1.
And now, after making my way inside, I immediately went to the third floor where the Duke and Adam were.
This time, my prediction was wrong. The Duke and Adam were in the office.
Behind the desk was an old man in his fifties, doing the documents diligently. He wore a staple blue noble attire with a white shirt underneath. His long gray hair was tied in a ponytail, and he wore glasses as his hand, which was holding a quill pen, moved across the documents.
Just a little <Appraisal> made me sure he was Duke Bluerose, Orwen Bluerose, and he was already (Charmed) and turned into a Devilkin by Beatrice. His name was strangely similar to Baron Rose, making me wonder whether they were siblings.
And then there was Adam standing behind him in attention with his hands behind his back. He wore all-black clothes with a similarly black sword strapped on his waist.
His eyes were blank, and he was expressionless. Truly a miserable guy. I pitied him even though I was the one who made him like this in the first place. However, I didn't feel guilty at all, as this world was supposed to be my bonus stage.
'Now then, what should I do?'
If we followed the 'Surprise Attack' guide written by one of my former comrades, it would be best to take them both at once with a big attack.
But I wanted to have a little fight too. So I would follow the 'Assassination' guide and take care of one of them. Looking at the situation, I could assume Orwen Bluerose set his revival point in the church in this Duchy.
A few church knights were watching the revival chamber within the church, so even if Orwen Bluerose revived tomorrow, we could catch him again to interrogate him and threaten King Cassius to make him spew more money to the church.
Even if he didn't revive in the church, he might have a portable revival chamber like what we had in the Royal Academy hidden in this mansion. Looking at the assassins in the past, he set it to automatically revive people who registered there in 20 hours' time or a day at most.
I could find the chamber later after I finished.
The Duke was only Level 30, a small fry in my eyes. The office room was dimly lit with a magic lamp on the ceiling and table, casting shadows everywhere. It also included the shadow behind his chair.
Using that as my way out, I jumped out and swung my [Excalipoor]. A bright silver slash was what it left off as I severed Orwen's head alongside the tall chair.
At that moment, I heard a movement on my side and raised my sword.
Clang!
Spark flew everywhere as my sword met with Adam's. That was such a quick reaction expected from someone Level 60. A soft thud rang next, and blood spurted from the decapitated body, raining onto Adam and me.
"You've gotten stronger, huh, Mr. Protagonist?" I smirked as I slowly overpowered him.
Adam didn't reply to my quip. His body shivered as he tried to push me away but was unable to. 60 STR vs 300 STR, it was clear which was stronger.
However, I didn't think the effect of Beatrice's skill would be this overpowered. Stealing status and skills, as well as titles. What kind of bullshit was that? I wanted to use <Appraisal> on her when I met her later.
"Still, you're boring."
Bam!
My kick landed on Adam's stomach and sent him flying toward the wall. The bookshelves got destroyed, and papers flew everywhere. He dropped to the floor, grunting in pain.
For someone with stolen status, he was quite skilled. Using his hands as a pivot, Adam tried to get up. His sword was gripped tightly in his hand, which was quite a good sword even to my standard, making me question where he got it from.
Anyway, he became quite a good opponent after we didn't meet for a few days. At least I could have a good exercise fighting him.
"Come," I smirked in an amused mood. Many knights in the mansion were running toward this room after they heard the loud noise from earlier.
Great, I didn't need to get to them to kill them. They were at fault, too, going along with the Duke's order even when they knew what would happen.
The revival chamber would be filled with people later. For now, I would send another person to the chamber.
"I'll kill you until you don't even remember your name."
And I used <Flash> to immediately arrive behind him. Then with an <Aura Blade> a basic skill derived from Swordsmanship to add extra damage to my slash attack, I swung my sword down.
"<Sonic Sword!>"
Adam activated a skill, causing his black blade to glow a bright light.
Swoosh-!
Still, just like what happened to Rania, my sword easily cut through Adam's and cut his body from shoulder down to the base.
"A-ah."
With a disbelief expression, Adam fell to the ground with a thud. He was good. If he fought someone else, he would be able to win. His LUC had also returned to 100.
However, he made a grave mistake from the start.
"It's your fault for believing Beatrice and offending me."
I spoke in a low tone as I saw Adam stop moving. His blood created a small pool on the floor, turning the wooden color red.
The Succubus' knight had been felled. So with this, my goal was half done. After this, I just needed to deal with Beatrice and her army of Succubi. As for the knights...
"They are just mobs that would die in a hit."
All of them had arrived on the third floor with loud footsteps and clanging metal. A perfect time to use my area skill.
"<Sonic Sword>"
The true power of <Sonic Sword> used by a max Level player. The area was filled with a golden light as a sword arch flew from my slash.
Instantly, the whole third floor of the Duke Mansion was cut alongside the knights who ran toward me.
[Ding! You had killed 50 people with Virtues alignment! Your Sins increased by 50!]
Screams of pain filled the area, and I sheath my sword back.
"It's time to punish the Succubus."