Chapter 90

-- To verify if the Evil-Repelling Necklace would still be effective after drinking the kiss of the Alraune.

-- To taste it beforehand so that I could spit it out immediately if I were drugged while not wearing the necklace.

-- I lined up these reasons and convinced everyone that I should take the Alraune's kiss myself as soon as I got the necklace.

I knew the effects were temporary, and even if it were addictive, Ashley's healing magic would take care of it. Losing my free will temporarily wasn't a big deal, as I could trust them to handle it.

The next step was to have Caduceus memorize and replicate my behavior before and after taking it, to make it as realistic as possible. This was part of the overall strategy. I knew I had been drugged as soon as I took a sip of the tea, because I needed to know the taste to distinguish it from regular poison.

Anastasia removed the veil covering her face and caressed my cheek with a joyful smile. ...This one.

"Well... We finally have it. Where should we start?"

She walked around the room with her arms crossed, a delighted expression on her face. Anastasia is definitely the black sheep, but I'll ask my first question before doing anything else. I might get some information.

After that, I'll restrain her with a Light Bind and send her flying to knock her out.

"First... Tell me your weaknesses or secrets that you can never tell anyone. Or do you, a child like you, not have any?"

I see. If I have your secrets, I can call you whenever I need you. I can drug and control you again without leaving evidence of a subjugation spell, and maintain a good surface relationship until I play my card.

"Well... I understand the method."

"After being stabbed... I couldn't delete the data in the storage."

"What did you say?"

It's from my past life. It's a secret, but she wouldn't understand even if I told her.

"Light Bind"

I pointed at the puzzled Anastasia and activated the magic.

"What!?"

A ring of light converged and shattered just before touching her, and her sleeve exploded from the inside. Anastasia, with a look of shock, deployed a Magic Shield and flew backward. Dolls approached from the side.

"You...! How did you...!?"

While listening to her curses, I used the Ouroboros to sweep away the approaching dolls. I shattered the torso of one doll and sent it flying to the corner of the room.

Anastasia, who was glaring at me, had bracelets and rings on her arms. She was wearing excessive ornaments under her flowing clothes. They were probably for magical defense. They must have blocked my Light Bind, but the magic stones couldn't withstand the overload and shattered.

"Damn it!"

As if responding to Anastasia's angry voice, dolls flew into the room from the doors and windows. There were more than just one or two. They were armed with machetes and axes, probably scattered throughout the mansion. While sending the dolls at me, Anastasia tried to escape through a door at the back. A magic circle glowed on the door, indicating she was trying to lock it with a magic key to trap me inside.

"Get out of the way."

I swept away the approaching dolls. Their parts scattered, but they reassembled in the air and returned to the battle.

She was buying time. I deployed a Magic Shield and kicked the floor, knocking down the doll in front of me. Instead of the door, I shattered the wall with the Ouroboros and jumped into the next room. The room was also filled with dolls. I saw Anastasia trying to escape through a door on the other side. She turned back and looked at me with wide eyes. The dolls were a waste of time. I charged straight ahead, breaking through more walls.

I chased Anastasia to an open courtyard.

"You're making a mess in someone's house!"

Anastasia turned around, a magic circle glowing in her hand. In the next moment, a rock was hurled at my Magic Shield.

She didn't intend to run but to fight in the open. Fine by me.

I turned to face her, holding the Ouroboros. Doll parts flew out of the windows and doors of the mansion, forming centipede-like creatures that crawled toward me. I avoided their linked arms and shattered their heads as I passed by. The dolls didn't stop. Each part was an independent magical creature.

Anastasia also provided magical support, using the dolls as a vanguard while firing ice pellets from a distance. I dodged without using magic and aimed the staff at the centipede doll in front of me.

"Trample Thorn"

I used wood magic to entangle and immobilize it. If I only shattered it partially, the intact parts would reassemble. I decided to solidify them all together.

I levitated the thorn ball and hit it with the Ouroboros, launching it at Anastasia.

"Damn!"

Anastasia's eyes widened. She used Levitation to leap over the thorn ball, which passed by her narrowly.

The doll parts continued to increase. They formed a dragon-like creature that lunged at me with its mouth open. I spun the Ouroboros in front of me, creating a massive shield. I received the dragon's head and, behind the shield, expanded an even larger magic circle.

Seventh-tier lightning magic—

"Lightning Blast!"

As I released the shield, a huge lightning bolt, as wide as the circle's diameter, pierced the dragon doll's mouth. It exploded the dragon's back of the head and spread the shock through the entire body. The dragon's body stopped moving and crumbled to pieces.

"Nice work!"

Anastasia was running away again, entering a glass house at the end of the courtyard. I naturally followed her inside. It was a—

"Greenhouse, huh."

A greenhouse filled with trees and flowers. The plants were medicinal herbs and poisons. She cultivated Mandrakes here, some as Alraune. She lured me here because the greenhouse itself was a pile of evidence. If her methods were exposed, she would use it to her advantage.

She probably wanted to prevent me from using large-scale magic to preserve the evidence.

Anastasia was at the back of the greenhouse, taking out something white and blade-like from her pocket and glaring at me. It was a dragon's tooth.

"Come!"

She threw it to the ground, and a skeleton soldier emerged.

Not a crude skeleton, but a dragon tooth soldier, or a Sparto, a magical creature summoned using a dragon's tooth as a catalyst—quite a powerful warrior.

She must have a lot of funds. She intended to corner me in a situation where I couldn't use major magic and finish me in close combat.

"Out of the way."

I charged without hesitation, striking the Ouroboros against the two scimitars held by the dragon tooth soldier. He crossed the scimitars to block it, pressing one against the Ouroboros while thrusting the other at me. The white blade flashed past my cheek.

He then used the scimitar to slash at me, a unique attack of the curved blade. I created a shield in the air and used it to kick and roll, dodging the attack.

As I prepared to counterattack, I noticed Anastasia casting a spell with a magic circle at the edge of my vision.

Her disguise was weak. I read the spell from the circle's pattern and used the staff as a spring to jump up.

A moment later, a Heat Fog appeared below me. The dragon tooth soldier emerged from the hot mist, trying to knock me down. We clashed in mid-air, and I pushed him away. Using a tree trunk as a pivot, he turned and pursued me, determined to prevent me from reaching his master.

Anastasia created a platform in the air with a Magic Shield, supporting the dragon tooth soldier's aerial combat.

I fought the dragon tooth soldier in the air. It was a good imitation, but impressive for an impromptu performance.

While fighting the dragon tooth soldier, fireballs and lightning bolts were also launched from below. I blocked them with a shield and dodged, receiving a cross-slash from the dragon tooth soldier.

Perhaps because I was fighting a dragon tooth soldier, he didn't care about collateral damage. It must have made it easier for Anastasia to support him with magic.

But.

The dragon tooth soldier was a brave warrior, fighting without fear of death. That was his downfall.

I created a shield under my feet to create a platform and defend against Anastasia's magic attacks. I then cast a spell at the approaching dragon tooth soldier.

"Magnetic Wave!"

Sixth-tier earth magic. I used magnetism to entangle his scimitars.

The dragon tooth soldier refused to let go. This was a testament to his fearlessness, but—

I pulled him with magnetism and threw him into the sky. He broke through the greenhouse ceiling and flew through the air. I followed him, flying higher.

"What!?"

Anastasia was shocked. The falling dragon tooth soldier was out of her magic range. By the time he chased me in the air, the master and servant were effectively separated.

"Disappear."

I used Magnetic Wave again to entangle his scimitars. The Ouroboros seemed to anticipate the outcome and growled with excitement.

I threw the scimitars overhand, aiming for the roof of Anastasia's mansion. The dragon tooth soldier, accelerated by magnetism and gravity, crashed into the roof and disappeared. He was probably shattered.

"Monster...?"

Anastasia, witnessing this, spat out a curse in a dazed expression.

I landed in the greenhouse and turned to face her, shaking my head.

"...Wait. If you have such power, it would be wiser to cooperate with the one I serve. You'll surely be valued."

Seeing that she couldn't defeat me, she tried to persuade me.

No, I doubt she was serious. She was pretending to be someone else, so if I escaped this situation, she could deny everything later.

"...Serve? You say that, but you're the one."

My words made Anastasia's eyebrows twitch slightly. She was used to the noble society, so she wasn't easily fooled by my bait.

Still, I was almost certain. Prince Albert had his suspicions, and I confirmed it when she caressed my cheek.

That ring is a secret magical artifact of the royal palace's magic engineers. There are multiple, but they don't circulate outside. Only those closely related to the royal family can use them.

The princess who leaves the castle with the arrival of the lords. The fortune teller who appears in society at the same time. And the culprit of the Princess Marlene assassination attempt who hasn't been caught.

The dangerous secret drug like the Alraune's kiss is something she wouldn't entrust to others.

Possessing such secret drugs and engaging in power struggles indirectly... It was probably to ensure a natural succession to the throne, or to prepare for consolidating power after becoming queen. She probably found it convenient to ally with the Greg faction, which dislikes magicians.

"What are you talking about? Just listen. My master is—"

Anastasia smiled thinly, but her face contorted at my next words.

"Let's skip the answer-checking. I just want to say that I only sent the person who drugged me flying."

I infused the Ouroboros with magic and kicked the ground.

"Wait! I—"

I closed in. The Ouroboros was about to be swung. Anastasia tried to block it with a Magic Shield. The staff and shield collided, and blue-white sparks flew.

"The king! I can make you the king!"

She screamed. I had already refused that offer before.

Her concentration broke, and the balance didn't last long. A shattering sound. A shock wave from the collapse. Anastasia's body was thrown back, hitting a tree trunk and rolling into the garden.