Chapter 238

Instead of the usual Illusion Stone, a pitch-black darkness unfolded before him—an overwhelming hallucination!

It was as if he had plummeted into an abyss.

His surroundings darkened, his vision clouded, and he felt trapped in utter blackness, unable to sense anything.

“A trap…!!”

Shing!

Blood splattered.

Beside him, Christian swung his sword like lightning.

At the same moment, he cast a dark magic illusion that blurred the guards’ vision, preventing them from reacting.

“Your Highness!!”

A guard shouted belatedly.

But it wasn’t over yet.

“How dare you!!”

Maximus clutched the bleeding wound at his neck and stumbled backward in panic.

Even rotten fish is still fish—true to his 7-star status, Maximus immediately broke through the hallucination and narrowly avoided a fatal blow.

“You… you’re the Dark Mage Christian? How dare you sneak into my kingdom. I’ll have you killed.”

Maximus gritted his teeth and drew his sword.

“Ruina, after all I’ve done for you, you repay me like this? Don’t expect a gentle death.”

The accompanying guards drew their swords as well.

Christian, having failed his surprise attack, assessed their strength.

‘The guards are better than I expected. Both are 6-star knights?’

Since this was a secret meeting, only two guards were present.

But both were 6-star knights—no easy opponents.

“What now? He’s not dead!! Ahhh, it’s all over!!”

Ruina fussed, then smiled slyly at Maximus.

“Oh my, Your Highness, I don’t know anything about this. These are strangers to me.”

“Shut up! I’ll kill you first!!”

“Ahhh! Please spare me!!”

Christian turned to Evan.

“Can you handle the guards? They’re tougher than I thought.”

Evan nodded.

“I’ll manage somehow. But are you alright? That pig king may look like a joke, but he’s a 7-star Dominant Class.”

Christian shook his head and stepped forward.

“That’s enough. Even a 7-star is just a 7-star.”

Maximus was nothing more than an old lion with missing teeth.

More importantly—

“The fight’s already half over.”

“…What?”

Seeing everyone’s stunned faces, Christian smirked and snapped his fingers.

Suddenly—

“Guhk!”

Maximus coughed up blood.

“Your Highness?!”

The guards shouted, but none dared approach him.

Blood began trickling from their noses and mouths as well.

“Guhk?”

“P-Poison? When?”

They looked utterly bewildered.

These weren’t ordinary people—they were high-ranking knights who had reached advanced levels.

When poison enters the body, instinct triggers a rejection response, but they hadn’t even sensed it.

“No, this isn’t poison.”

“…What?”

“Since we’re all going to die here anyway, I might as well tell you. I used medical qi like poison.”

Christian had adapted the true essence of the secret technique ‘Medical Qi Mirror’ he recently acquired from the Medical Qi clan.

The technique detailed various ways to manipulate medical qi, and Christian twisted those methods to inflict internal injuries instead.

In other words, while Maximus was carelessly enjoying his drink, the outcome had already been decided.

“Shut up, you insolent fool! Attack him all!”

Despite his severe internal injuries, Maximus swung his sword fiercely.

His aura blade radiated the powerful energy befitting a 7-star, but Christian easily dodged the attacks.

“Too slow.”

Slash!

The black steel blade struck, and blood splattered.

“Ugh!”

“Your Highness!!”

Maximus was clearly on the back foot.

‘He’s been away from the sword for so long, it’s hard to even call him a proper 7-star. Looks like he hasn’t swung a blade in at least ten years.’

Add to that his internal injuries, and he was a pitiful sight for a 7-star.

‘The guards are actually more threatening. If it weren’t for Evan, this could have gone badly.’

The guards were incredibly skilled—far beyond what one would expect from mere subordinates of that pig king.

Judging by their swordsmanship, both were nearly on par with Evan.

Yet Evan held his ground, not losing an inch.

That was because Evan was a prodigy with uncanny instincts, able to exploit openings even when outmatched.

‘While Evan holds them off, I need to finish Maximus. I can do this.’

Christian swung his sword again.

‘I’ve grown a lot recently. Taking down a toothless old lion like him is nothing.’

Having mastered the basics of the Heavenly Poison Body Technique, Christian’s overall physical abilities had improved dramatically—not just his poison skills.

With his 6-star proficiency in both Holy Radiance and poison arts, his understanding deepened, allowing him to grow even further.

Though his Dark Magic was still at 5-star, he wouldn’t lose to most 6-stars now.

‘My Dark Magic will reach 6-star soon enough. I’ve almost met the conditions to obtain the Dao Painting Realm.’

Slash!

His sword flashed again, blood spraying.

Christian also intermittently coated Maximus with poison, steadily wearing him down.

Maximus, who had been pushed back so badly, suddenly let out a fierce roar.

“You insolent wretch! Your rampage ends here! Hahh!”

“!!”

Christian’s movements faltered for a moment.

‘The 7-star’s miracle! The Lion’s Roar!’

This was the miraculous power that earned Maximus the title Lion King.

A divine ability that could incapacitate an opponent instantly.

Though brief, it was deadly.

But—

‘Such a weak miracle is nothing to me.’

Christian summoned his dark mana.

The clash between Maximus’s miracle and Christian’s dark mana erupted head-on, and surprisingly, Christian emerged victorious.

The dominion of dark mana overpowered the miracle’s binding power.

Slash!

Blood flew again, and Maximus’s face turned pale, drenched in blood.

“W-Wait. Stop.”

“Stop? Why would I stop now?”

Christian tilted his head.

“Since you started this war, you must have been prepared to die. I’m just tired of this—so come on, show me your neck.”

Realizing he couldn’t win, Maximus retreated.

The guards fighting Evan shouted urgently.

“Your Highness! We’ll hold them off!”

“Get Your Highness to safety, no matter what!”

But it was hopeless.

How far could a fat, untrained body like Maximus’s run?

He must have known this too, biting his lip hard before doing something unexpected.

He stabbed one of his own guards with his sword.

Thud!

“Y-Your Highness? Why?”

Not stopping there, Maximus slashed down all the nearby guards and cried out desperately.

“Oh Great One! I offer these lives as a sacrifice—please grant me your power!!”

Then, a chilling voice echoed from the void.

[Yes… I shall grant your wish.]

At the same time, a sinister aura began to descend.

Evan’s expression hardened.

“Could it be…?”

“Exactly.”

Christian nodded.

“This is the Evil Qi of Gehenna.”

An astonishing revelation.

The Lion King Maximus was actually a demon contractor!

‘No surprise there. Without demonic aid, there’s no way such a pathetic fool could reach 7-star. Damn these cursed fiends.’

There were quite a few demon contractors even within the alliance.

‘Whether in the Magic Empire or the alliance, demon contractors hide like cockroaches everywhere.’

The comparison was apt.

They swarmed everywhere, impossible to root out.

‘Especially Maximus—he stabbed the alliance in the back during the Great War. Because of him, Gold Cross collapsed so quickly.’

Alongside the former Law King, he was the main culprit behind Gold Cross’s downfall.

That was why Christian had resolved to take Maximus down this time.

“What will you do now?”

“Of course, I’ll finish him.”

“…Is that even possible?”

Evan trailed off.

Maximus, now empowered by demonic energy, radiated a terrifying aura.

His eyes’ whites had turned into pitch-black darkness, fully consumed by the Evil Qi.

He seemed impossible to face, but Christian said calmly,

“Of course. But you need to buy me some time.”

“Time?”

“I need a little preparation.”

Evan shook his head.

He didn’t know what Christian was planning, but he now understood one thing:

Christian never spoke empty words.

If he said he could do it, then there must be a way.

“Understood. But I can’t hold out long.”

Slash!

A pure white aura blade sliced through the air.

True to his hero status, Evan wielded the radiant mana that countered Gehenna’s Evil Qi, holding the line.

Still, the power gap was too great for him to last long.

Meanwhile, Christian closed his eyes.

His consciousness drifted away from the surroundings, deliberately severing contact with the outside world.

His mind sank into the darkness conjured by his thoughts.

A deep, profound darkness.

Like pure holy darkness.

Christian’s consciousness reached out toward it.

‘I haven’t obtained the Dao Painting Realm yet.’

The Dao Painting Realm.

A power that would elevate him to a level beyond comparison.

‘I’ve almost met the qualifications, so I can at least imitate it for now.’

The qualifications to challenge the Painting Mirror were as follows:

Achieve a rank of six stars or higher in three different fields, excluding dark magic.

Chris had currently reached these levels:

Six stars in Sacred Radiance.

Six stars in Poison Arts.

Although the Art of Healing Qi didn’t categorize achievements by rank, by comparison, it was at least equivalent to six stars.

“If dark magic were included, that would mean reaching six stars in four fields—a brutally demanding requirement.”

The reason for such a stringent condition was simple.

“The Painting Mirror is an infinite concept drawn with darkness.”

Infinity.

The thoughts painted with the Painting Mirror had literally no limits.

The moment one mastered it, they would gain power incomparable to any other six-star achievement.

Moreover, the deeper the mastery, the exponentially stronger the power became.

Just like the Demon King of Annihilation.

This was the power Chris absolutely had to obtain.

“Let’s do this.”

A brilliant radiance of mana burst forth from Chris’s sword.

It was the Will of Intent he had gained as a Sacred Radiance wielder—the “Sword of Annihilating Light.”

A weapon capable of inflicting fatal wounds on beings of evil.

“But this alone isn’t enough.”

Another force stirred.

It was the “Will of the Protector.”

“The noble will to save others’ lives is diametrically opposed to evil. It can be wielded like a weapon.”

One of the truths inscribed in the Art of Healing Qi.

Like light overwhelming shadows, the nobility within the Will of the Protector could strike at evil beings.

“Of course, it’s hard to deal a heavy blow, so its practical effectiveness is limited.”

But Chris’s case was different.

“I just need to imbue the nobility of the Will of the Protector into my Sword of Annihilation.”

It sounded absurd.

They were completely different forces—how could they be combined into one?

But with the Painting Mirror, it was possible.

As mentioned before, the Painting Mirror was an infinite concept drawn with darkness.

Beneath the horizon of enlightenment, it could create limitless possibilities.

“Of course, I haven’t obtained the Painting Mirror yet.”

Still, it was possible to infuse the nobility of the Will of the Protector into the Will of Annihilation.

Flash!

Within the darkness that held infinite potential, Chris performed a miracle impossible in reality.

The Will of the Protector was now embedded within the Sword of Annihilation.

“Done!”

Chris’s eyes snapped open.

He saw Evan in grave danger.

Maximus, completely consumed by the evil instrument, had lost all reason and was recklessly unleashing his power like a monster.

Chris took a step forward.

“Grrr…”

Sensing something was off, Maximus turned his head toward Chris.

At that moment, Evan hurled an aura blade like a lightning strike at Maximus’s neck.

Maximus raised his sword to block the attack, but a momentary opening appeared.

“Nice, Evan.”

Chris’s sword sliced through the air.

Maximus tried to respond, but it was too late.

Like darkness vanishing before light, the evil instrument was forcefully pushed back.