The Failure Marquis Is A Genius [EN]: Chapter 124

16. Disguise: The Bastard Who Was Going to Die

“So, you’re Henon.”

I felt it instinctively.

That woman’s true prey was me.

“Who are you?”

“Sloth.”

It was a short answer, but its impact was immense.

Campbell, who was beside me, jumped.

“Sloth? The Sloth we know? One of the Twilight’s Great Executives, Sloth?”

“That’s right.”

Normally, I would have dismissed it as a lie.

Because an ordinary person wouldn’t go around proclaiming themselves as an executive of the Twilight Church.

But her calm demeanor, peaceful tone, and chilling aura proved that she was the real deal.

“Whatever the reason, coming here in person was your mistake. Our family’s power is immense, and the Lord is none other than the Seven-Star, Lord Lloyd.”

I gestured to Campbell, who understood what I meant, kicked off the ground, and returned to the estate.

Now, he would bring Lord Lloyd and Sebastian.

Sloth was about to be surrounded by powerful enemies, yet she remained calm without the slightest agitation.

She even let Campbell leave to request support.

“Why did you come to Lloyd’s territory?”

“To kill you.”

So, her purpose was me after all.

“If that’s the case, you could have just killed me. Why did you touch Zion?”

“I advised Zion to abandon you, but she insisted on staying by your side until the end. So, I had to deal with her.”

I could forgive anything else, but I couldn’t forgive her for hurting Zion.

I drew the Heavenly Demon Sword and released my aura.

-Hey, kid, she’s definitely a level above you. Are you still going to do it?

“If I run away, do you think that woman will let me go willingly?”

-I suppose not. Struggle as much as you can. I’ll help too.

Sloth stared at me, who was burning with fighting spirit, and then opened her mouth.

“You should consider yourself lucky that I came.”

“What kind of twisted thinking makes you consider it lucky that a Great Executive of the Twilight Church came in person?”

“If I hadn’t, the entire Twilight Church would have rushed in and torn you and the Lloyd family apart.”

“Don’t lie.”

“It was decided at the Twilight Church’s executive meeting. We were willing to reveal our true nature to wipe the Lloyd family off the map.”

A chill ran down my spine.

Could that woman’s words be true?

It felt real.

“I decided to end things by killing you alone.”

“Wow! That’s great! So? What do you want? Should I be grateful to the person who’s trying to kill me?”

“…I see. I hesitated for a long time whether to kill you because of Zion. It seems that all situations will be resolved if you disappear. Let’s end this.”

Sloth’s figure blurred.

At the same time, the Heavenly Demon’s urgent voice.

-Roll in any direction!!

Before my head could think, my body reacted first.

Without caring about getting my clothes dirty, I immediately rolled on the floor.

Where I had been standing, a comb-like sword strike was drawn.

‘If I had been even 0.1 seconds late…’

My heart would have been pierced.

That’s how fast, accurate, and deadly Sloth’s attack was.

On the other hand, Sloth tilted her head.

“How did you avoid that? According to my calculations, your heart should have been pierced by that attack.”

“I’ve been meeting a lot of enemies lately who blindly trust their calculations. Not long ago, Envy’s disciple went down like that too.”

“Well… I’ll find out as I go. Whether it was just luck or skill.”

Sloth attacked again.

Honestly, I couldn’t see the attack.

I absolutely relied on the Heavenly Demon Navigation.

-Left!!

-Right, you idiot!

-Damn it. Move faster!!

It had been a while since I heard the Heavenly Demon’s shouts and colorful curses as I rolled this way and that.

I had long given up on dodging with my own judgment and intuition.

I only evaded like a robot according to the Heavenly Demon’s orders, and as a result, I endured Sloth’s offensive that lasted for 5 minutes.

“It seems you do have skill. Something’s unsettling, though.”

Sloth admired.

I also acknowledged Sloth.

She was definitely among the top masters.

At least Karina, who was active, would have to come to be a match for her.

Her attack speed and instantaneous acceleration were faster than anyone I had ever met.

“But can you withstand this too?”

As Sloth spread her arms, daggers poured out in all directions.

The eight daggers, connected by fine threads, looked like a spider with her body as the torso, spreading its legs wide.

Each dagger, imbued with a chilling aura, rushed towards me as if they had their own will.

“Damn it.”

It wasn’t something I could avoid by moving my body quickly. Since the attacks were coming from all directions, I had to defend.

[Summon Wood Golem]

[Summon Stone Golem]

Kwakwakwakwa!!!

The ground flipped over, and ten giant golems appeared majestically.

Sloth’s eyebrows twitched slightly.

Regardless, all ten golems threw their bodies like bodyguards to protect me.

They overlapped each other to form a sturdy igloo-shaped defense line.

The daggers mixed with aura mercilessly tore apart the golems that formed the barricade.

Clang! Kwakwak! Kwakwakwak!

The golems made of wood and stone were torn like paper in front of the aura swords.

Still, the speed of the daggers slowed down slightly due to colliding with the golems’ massive bodies, buying me time to defend in the brief gap.

I drew out the extreme power of dual mana and swung the Heavenly Demon Sword here and there to block the daggers.

Clang! Clang! Kwakwang! Kwakwakwang!

The mana sword, which collided with the aura sword, was being depleted of mana in real-time.

Fortunately, the Heavenly Demon Sword itself was a high-grade sword, and the Heavenly Demon’s soul endured the aura to some extent.

Therefore, I focused solely on protecting my body.

The golems that were destroyed by the aura swords were not destroyed at their core, so they quickly restored their bodies and blocked me again.

[Wood Spear]

[Stone Spear]

In addition to this, I cast Wood and Stone Spears.

I didn’t cast them to use for attack.

After all, I wouldn’t be able to hit with such clumsy attacks, and even if I did, it would be useless.

Instead, I made the stone and wood spears collide with each other.

Crack! Crack! Crackle!

The colliding wood and stone turned into dust and scattered.

It happened to be a day with a light breeze.

The dust swirled around me, becoming a smokescreen.

As a result, Sloth’s vision, who was attacking me with dagger manipulation from mid-range, was obscured.

Of course, a super expert like Sloth would attack me with her senses even without vision, but even so, each small variable had a big impact in the current situation.

“Druids have endless skill utilization. I don’t know where they’ll bounce next.”

It was unexpected that Sloth knew I was a druid, but there was no room to be surprised in this urgent situation.

I immediately deployed the ancient artifact.

[Ancient Artifact]

[Gravity Field Generator]

[Creates a gravity zone advantageous to oneself in a specific area for a certain period of time.]

[Remaining Uses 0/5]

[Recharge Required]

I activated the gravity field generator.

It was the last use.

A gravity field spread throughout the area, and Sloth’s body became heavy.

Using that gap, I linked binding skills.

[Bind]

Thick tree roots full of thorns tightly bound Sloth.

Fortunately, I was able to bind her because it was a skill cast while the gravity field was deployed.

[Stone Lance]

[Stone Shield]

I tried to crush or pierce Sloth with stone spears and shields, but it was impossible for her, who was surrounded by aura all over her body.

I knew this wasn’t the real deal either.

The finale is always Aura Bullet.

I took out the revolver, aimed at the tightly bound Sloth, and pulled the trigger.

[Aura Bullet Ammunition]

[1/6]

Taang!!

Before, the paladin Johann was careless and almost got seriously injured by the same skill combination as just now.

What would Sloth be like?

Would she be damaged like Johann?

Or would she be fine?

Or would she be seriously injured?

As the thick cloud of dust cleared, the vision became clear.

Sloth was standing calmly without any particular injuries.

‘Damn it.’

I had poured out all the precious ancient artifacts, but seeing Sloth without a single wound, I cursed inwardly for a moment,

Thump.

A line of blood flowed down from Sloth’s forehead.

At first, it was just a few drops of blood, but soon it became a drizzle, and later it became a downpour.

The Aura Bullet grazed her forehead and properly tore her skin.

Sloth, with half of her face stained red, licked her own blood and muttered.

“Not even a master yet, but with fierce combat senses and instincts. A fighting spirit that doesn’t falter even in front of a master. A variety of unpredictable skills and excellent swordsmanship. There’s a reason why you’re called the successor of the hero Kyle.”

Sloth evaluated me based solely on facts.

I also had questions about Sloth while fighting.

“I have a question.”

“Speak.”

“Did you use the Water Lizard Footwork?”

Her sharp attack, which would have been impossible to avoid without using the Heavenly Demon Navigation.

It was definitely the Water Lizard Footwork at the beginning.

It was the footwork that Zion used every time during training, so there was no way I wouldn’t recognize it.

Although the power and speed were on a different level.

“That’s right. Water Lizard Footwork. You recognized it.”

“Why are you using the technique that Zion and the Head Butler use…”

“Stop!!!”

With a lion’s roar full of internal energy, Sebastian appeared.

He was out of breath, calmed his heavy breathing, and first checked on Zion, who was lying down.

After confirming that her pulse was beating, the Head Butler checked my condition this time.

“Are you alright, young master?”

“For now. Is Father coming?”

“No. Only I came.”

“What?”

I was dumbfounded by Sebastian’s answer.

Having directly experienced Sloth’s combat power, I knew that I and Sebastian alone were not enough.

We needed a master of the same level on our side.

“Please buy me some time. I’ll bring Father myself.”

“No. There’s no need to do that.”

Sebastian was strangely calm.

Sloth had already sheathed her sword and was crossing her arms.

Suddenly, a lull.

Sebastian told me, who was clueless, a shocking fact.

“Sloth is my wife. Or rather, my ex-wife would be the correct expression. She is also Zion’s biological mother.”

It is said that people freeze when they are surprised.

That was exactly my state right now.

Now that I looked at it, there were more than one or two strange things.

‘Why didn’t I know this?’

It was abnormal for the Seven Deadly Sins to enter the enemy’s territory alone.

In addition, she used the Water Lizard Footwork, which was Zion and Sebastian’s signature movement technique during the battle.

Moreover, didn’t she have the exact same purple hair as Zion?

Sebastian faced Sloth with a stiff face.

Finally, a reunion between husband and wife.

Although they are divorced.

“What brings you here?”

“I came to kill Henon.”

“Have you forgotten our promise?”

“The promise is to save Zion and you. Henon is not included in that.”

“Zion and I have a duty to protect the young master. Kill us first if you want to kill him.”

Sloth’s facial muscles, which had been expressionless and didn’t feel human, twitched for the first time.

“You taught me. Promises between family members must be kept unconditionally.”

“That’s right. So keep your promise.”

“Then I have to kill Henon even more.”

“Why?”

“The main church has targeted Henon. If I retreat this time without any gains, the next time they will all rush in and turn the marquis territory into a wasteland. Then you and Zion will die too.”

I understood how the situation was unfolding.

The things I’ve done so far are quite a lot.

I helped Karina catch Envy, and Greed, whom Liang caught, is also close to the marquis territory.

Moreover, I even killed Urka, Envy’s disciple, so I had already destroyed half of Twilight.

In the end, the entire church issued a kill order, and Sloth seems to have stepped up to take care of it herself.

“Do you understand? Now get out of the way. If you and Zion want to live, Henon must die.”

“I can’t do that.”

“It doesn’t matter. I just need to subdue you and kill Henon.”

Sebastian and Sloth’s gazes intertwined in the air, sparking flames.

As the two couples slowly raised their energy, a brilliant idea flashed through my mind.

‘What if I do this?’

The best way to put a good idea into practice is to do it immediately.

I hurriedly intervened between the two.

“Both of you, stop.”

The moment of imminent crisis subsided for a moment.

“What are you plotting?”

“Young master, it’s dangerous. Get behind me.”

Looking at the two who were in opposing positions, I made a suggestion.

“From today, I will be a dead person. You go back to the Twilight Church and report that Henon is dead.”