Episode 61
“There are so many types of poison magic, it’s a hassle to carry around a separate antidote for each one. So I made this.”
Ignoring Marisa, who was left speechless in shock, Chris busily rummaged through his belongings until he found what he was looking for.
A transparent orb.
A location signal magic tool used to notify allies of one’s position.
An essential device when operating separately from the group.
“…What are you planning to do with that?”
Chris grinned slyly.
“What if I send false signals to the minions of the Venomous Mage using this?”
“!!”
Marisa growled a warning.
“Don’t even think about pulling any tricks. The moment you mess up even a little, that magic tool will self-destruct.”
Location signal magic tools prioritize security above all else.
If an enemy who captured the user sent false signals to their comrades, it would put them in grave danger.
Therefore, if the magical pattern is entered incorrectly even slightly, the device self-destructs.
The explosion is at least equivalent to a 4-star destructive spell.
“You won’t even leave a corpse behind.”
Chris nodded in agreement.
She was right.
If such a powerful destructive spell went off right in front of him, even Chris wouldn’t survive unscathed.
But—
“Then I just won’t let it explode.”
“…What?”
Marisa’s eyes widened as if they might tear.
Chris was injecting magic into the device!
“You crazy bastard!”
Marisa squeezed her eyes shut.
If the magic tool self-destructed, it wouldn’t just be Chris in trouble—Marisa, standing nearby, would be caught in the blast too.
She braced herself for the shock that was about to hit her whole body, but strangely—
It was quiet.
“……??”
Cautiously, Marisa opened her eyes—and had no choice but to open them wide again.
Chris was doing something insane again.
“Is this the pattern? How’s the security on the transmitter circuit? Is the spiral part the core of the security?”
Like a kid playing with a toy, he was injecting magic into the device here and there, testing its response.
But there was no rejection whatsoever.
“H-how?”
This was the nth time since meeting Chris that she asked that question.
Chris kindly explained again.
“It’s nothing special. Just make sure the device doesn’t recognize my magic.”
“…….”
So, what did that mean?
It was like saying, “I’m right in front of you, but just don’t let me see you.”
“Ah, got it.”
With a click, the device’s security was disabled.
Immediately, signals started flashing.
A green alert.
A query to confirm Marisa’s safety.
If no response came back within the time limit, the Venomous Mage’s minions would come to rescue her.
“What’s the Venomous Mage’s signal encryption code?”
“…You think I’d tell you?”
Disabling the device’s security wasn’t the end of it.
Usually, when sending signals with such a device, more than ten patterns are combined to form a code.
“Well, even if you don’t tell me, I have ways to figure it out.”
Chris’s casual remark made Marisa tense.
‘No way… is he going to torture me?’
It was the easiest method.
If she were in Chris’s shoes, she’d do the same.
If a false signal was sent from the captain’s device, the Venomous Mage’s expedition team would fall into chaos.
‘Damn bastard.’
Marisa clenched her fists tightly.
But she couldn’t blame him.
Right now, they were enemies.
Thinking about being tortured by Chris, an inexplicable surge of emotion welled up inside her, and she bit her lip hard.
It was truly miserable.
She didn’t even know exactly why, but it was the worst.
‘Why did I get engaged to a jerk like him?’
“Hurry up.”
“What?”
“If you’re going to torture me, just get on with it!”
“…What are you talking about?”
“What?”
“I need to concentrate. Can you be quiet? Ah, never mind.”
Marisa blinked blankly as Chris tapped the device, sending signals.
He combined the Venomous Mage’s unique encryption codes.
“…….”
“Still curious how I did it? Well… I’m just a genius. Even if you knew, you couldn’t replicate it, so don’t be too curious.”
To be precise, he hacked the device, traced the magical residue, and deduced the code, but Chris was too lazy to explain.
With his trademark annoying smirk, Chris chuckled.
“Well, I’m off then. Oh, and just so you know, don’t even think about breaking those bindings. No matter how hard you try, you won’t be able to.”
Without looking back, he disappeared.
Left alone, tied up, Marisa wore a dazed expression.
After staring at the spot where he vanished for a long while, she muttered one word.
“…That bastard.”
Chris moved quickly.
‘I’ve already spent too much time.’
But it wasn’t without results.
First, he had Marisa indebted to him.
She might curse him now, but once everything was over, she’d realize that it was thanks to Chris that she survived.
‘We’ll be tangled up with the Venomous Mage a lot from now on. I’ll use this as leverage to make her my pawn.’
That wasn’t all.
The location signal magic tool.
Marisa was the captain of the Venomous Mage’s expedition team.
With this device, Chris could issue false orders.
‘First, I’ll order them to climb down the cliff to explore. Then, I’ll have them dig through the swamp floor. I’ll keep them busy with pointless tasks so they don’t get in my way.’
Chris smiled wickedly.
And that wasn’t all.
‘I’ll keep making them suffer until the perfect moment to use them arrives.’
Chris planned to use the Venomous Mage’s forces as the climax of his ‘operation.’
The Venomous Mage’s expedition team would unknowingly dance on the palm of his hand.
‘Now, I have to steal the artifact.’
Chris’s eyes darkened.
The artifact they were about to discover wasn’t particularly powerful on its own.
But depending on how it was used, it could create incredible miracles.
After more than two years of research, Marquis Langham had figured out how to utilize the artifact, and a terrible disaster had struck the Dark Mage.
That incident had claimed the life of Lord Nogazu Nordian.
‘I can’t let that happen.’
Lord Nogazu Nordian had to survive to prepare for the future.
And Chris himself had to obtain the artifact.
‘I’m the only one who can properly wield the power of this artifact. The problem is, where is it?’
There were two ways the artifact could appear.
First, it could have been hidden somewhere long ago.
Second, it could fall from the sky anew.
‘“Fall from the sky” isn’t a metaphor.’
It literally meant being dropped onto the surface from Gehenna or the Celestial Realm. After all, artifacts were objects created by demons or the celestial order, imbued with their power.
Like watching the insignificant creatures of the surface fight over their artifacts for amusement, demons and the celestial order periodically made artifacts appear in the world.
‘I’ve heard roughly where it is.’
Northwest of the mountain range.
But even that was a vast area.
Searching alone would take days.
‘But there’s always a way.’
He headed northwest.
Along the way, he didn’t forget to send strange orders to the Venomous Mage’s expedition team through Marisa’s location signal device.
“Why does Lady Marisa keep ordering us to explore places like this?”
“It’s Lady Marisa’s command. Surely there’s a reason.”
“True. It’s Lady Marisa, after all.”
The Venomous Mage’s expedition team tilted their heads in confusion but obeyed the orders sent by Marisa.
After arriving northwest, Chris did something unexpected.
He examined the ground and looked for signs of crushed grass in the bushes.
He wasn’t searching for the artifact.
“Bingo.”
Chris smiled faintly.
A subtle trace.
Signs that a person had passed through.
Only a professional tracking team would notice, but it was definite.
‘There’s no reason for anyone to be here in the depths of the demon realm, so the reason for these traces is obvious.’
Chris carefully followed the trail.
Using the secret techniques of the Shadow Sword Clan, his presence vanished completely.
After moving for some time, he came upon a startling sight.
“Are the Dark Mage’s minions here yet?”
“No, not yet.”
“I don’t know how long we have to wait. These sluggish fools. The Dark Mage’s minions should have taken the artifact by now.”
Two masked minions stood there!
Judging by their builds, one was female, the other male, and it was clear at a glance which faction they belonged to.
‘The poison aura. The Venomous Mage’s minions.’
And not just ordinary ones.
The man was 4-star rank.
The woman was an impressive 5-star.
However, the man seemed to have higher status and treated the woman with disdain.
“I’m sick of this. Having to play mole in a place like this. Damn it. Because of that damn Marisa.”
His words revealed a lot.
‘The man is a direct descendant of the Venomous Mage. Probably one of the princes.’
The 5-star woman seemed to be his subordinate.
But why were such high-ranking Venomous Mage figures in a place like this?
Chris answered silently.
‘They must be the ones collaborating with Marquis Langham.’
Indeed.
This conspiracy wasn’t planned by Marquis Langham alone.
There were collaborators within the Venomous Mage faction.
Probably to bring down Marisa, their rival in the succession struggle.
Confirming this suspicion, the man spoke in a dark voice.
“Well, it can’t be helped. Once this is over, I won’t have to see that annoying Marisa’s face anymore. I’ll endure it.”
“…….”
“You know the plan, right? When the Dark Mage’s Princess Jupien takes the artifact, we lure her into a trap and annihilate her. We must leave evidence that it was Marisa’s doing.”
It was the full extent of Marquis Langham’s plan.
The Venomous Mage’s dirty trick would lead to the massacre of the Dark Mage’s expedition team.
Among the victims were Jupien and Christo, both blood relatives of Baron Ga, so this was no trivial matter.
Marquis Langham used the expedition’s casualties as leverage to demand exactly what he wanted.
He insisted on receiving not only the newly discovered relic from this expedition—the “Banner of the Constellation”—but also the “Amulet of Twilight” that the masked man from Geukdok Maga had found previously.
“I can’t give up even one of them.”
First, he had to secretly snatch the Banner of the Constellation right from under their noses.
Just then, the masked man from Geukdok Maga spoke up.
“By the way, I’m not sure what kind of relic this is. It seems to be a sacred artifact of some sort, but we can’t open the seal just yet.”
When a relic is first discovered, it’s hidden within a sealed form.
“It doesn’t matter what it is, since I can’t keep it anyway. My only concern is dealing with Marisa. You should start setting traps soon.”
“Understood.”
The five-star woman vanished in an instant.
Left alone with the masked man, Christo lowered his stance.
“This is my chance.”
Honestly, if the five-star woman had stayed, Christo wouldn’t have been able to pull off any tricks.
But this man was different.
His rank was four stars.
And so was Christo’s—both at the level of ‘Seonghwi.’
“Even if we fight head-on, I’ll win.”