The Failure Marquis Is A Genius [EN]: Chapter 71

10. Hatching: The Targeted Bastard

I felt the operation was too easy.

There wasn’t even a decent resistance force, let alone an Expert, not even a User-level martial artist.

I should have suspected something and checked it out at least once.

Did the Twilight executive really not prepare for this situation at all?

“Tom, it’s been a while, hasn’t it? It’s really good to see you.”

As expected, he greets Pilgrim Tom first. Tom’s face turned red as he realized he had been tricked.

“Milo! It’s you!”

“Yes, yes, it’s me.”

“Then who is the guy in the Iron Maiden?”

“Who else could it be? I picked someone with a similar build and voice to me and made him play the clown. There have to be a lot of people after me like you, Tom.”

The Twilight executive, Greed, his real name must be Milo.

Anyway, the Iron Maiden seemed like a pretty rare relic, but they caught the wrong guy instead of Greed, so the ploy was wasted.

Greed glanced at the Iron Maiden floating in the air and smirked.

“The Iron Maiden is still in good shape. When I was young, the fact that such an absolute sealing relic existed was quite shocking to me. What kind of relic is it that can ignore all the laws of the world and temporarily bind existence?”

“Shut up.”

“But my brother told me that as powerful as the seal is, its drawbacks are also clear. Once you activate the relic, it takes at least a month to activate it again.”

Unlike the sealed fake Greed, the real Greed knew everything about the relic Tom had.

“It doesn’t matter. I don’t need the Iron Maiden to catch you.”

“Are you sure about that?”

Greed, who had been acting relaxed, snapped his fingers in the air!

Then, tentacles shot out of the darkness where the mana stones didn’t reach, rushing towards Tom.

“Tom!”

I used Shunpo [a technique for moving quickly] to try to save him, but I was too far away from Tom because I was saving Campbell.

The tentacles surrounded Tom and formed a seamless black sphere.

Tom was completely imprisoned.

A loud noise erupted from inside, but the solid black sphere wasn’t even scratched.

“Don’t think you’re the only one with confinement methods. It’s a demonic plant full of life force plundered from the Blood Chalice, so even Tom will take time to escape.”

Then Greed turned his eyes and looked at me.

“Hmm… what brings the Marquis’s Bastard here?”

Even though I hid my face with a mask and hood, my identity was revealed at once.

“You know who I am?”

“How could I not? You’re the one who screwed me over so badly recently.”

Creak!

Greed’s hidden teeth grind behind the mask.

“I’ve wanted to see you for a long time. A bastard should just stay out of the way, so why did you suddenly stand out and make things difficult for so many people?”

The fact that Greed had hatred for me was a good thing. At least it meant he was targeting me first.

I made eye contact, and Sion and Campbell, who understood, quickly sent Sasha to the rear and positioned the rescued slaves and the Full Moon Market slaves as far away from Greed as possible.

It was my arrangement to prevent them from getting caught up in the battle that would soon break out.

Of course, there were still many more people connected to the tentacles in the magic circle, having their life force drained, but it was impossible to rescue them all.

“I received the crap you pulled in Lloyd’s territory well. You really are a backstabbing expert. Tom, Rosalyn, too. Do you get itchy if you don’t betray someone?”

While provoking Greed, I kept my eyes and ears open, preparing for any possible attack. The biggest problem was that I didn’t know Greed’s fighting style at all.

Nifleheim, the executive I met in the north, was a highly individualistic fighter. He sprayed ice everywhere and used monsters like his own limbs.

What kind of combat does Greed enjoy? Just looking at his outward appearance, he didn’t seem like a close-combat style. His body looked skinny, and he wasn’t carrying a sword.

I guessed that he enjoyed using tools in combat, like Pilgrim Tom. In other words, he was a warrior with excellent utility, which was troublesome for me because standard countermeasures wouldn’t work.

Greed didn’t react much to my provocative words.

Rather, he smiled unpleasantly under his mask, turned around, and walked slowly into the middle of the magic circle.

Greed, exuding an ominous aura, gently touched the surface of the pulsating egg as if caressing a newborn baby, then nodded as if he had made up his mind.

“It’s a little earlier than planned, but it can’t be helped. You’ve come all this way, so I’ll give you a good show.”

Then, he took out a chalice full of blood from the air and placed it in front of the egg.

The unidentified egg stretched out its tentacles as if it had been waiting for the chalice to be placed in front of it, and grabbed the bottom of the chalice and lifted it up.

The moment the chalice and the egg met, the entire underground space of the city hall began to shake violently.

Kugugugugu!!!

Debris falls from the ceiling.

The magic circle activated, and the scent of blood spread everywhere, forming a blood mist.

A stinging pain rose the moment the blood mist touched my body.

[Self-purification is activated.]

[Immune to abnormal status.]

Of course, I recovered quickly.

Sion and Campbell also seemed to circulate their energy to prevent the blood mist from penetrating their bodies.

The problem was the slaves.

Ordinary people’s eyes became bloodshot and their breathing became rough as the blood mist seeped into their noses.

“This is crazy.”

What would happen next was obvious.

Those whose minds were consumed by the blood mist screamed and attacked the person next to them.

“Kuaaaa!!!!”

It was similar to being a zombie.

Of course, you don’t become a zombie if you get bitten.

Unlike zombies made up of dead people, the slaves were people, and they were supporters who came to help me, so I couldn’t just kill them, and it was ambiguous.

“Sion!”

Sion hurriedly used Water Lizard Steps [a quick movement technique] to knock out the survivors who had lost their minds by hitting the back of their necks.

Fortunately, the survivors’ stats weren’t high, so it wasn’t a difficult task.

Right then,

“Kyaaaaack!!!!”

A scream was heard.

I wondered where it came from, but it was Sasha.

The high elf was desperately dodging a knife wielded by a man who had been consumed by the blood mist, crawling on the ground.

[Wind Control]

[Activates Shunpo.]

I kicked off the air and rushed in, hitting the man in the back of the head and knocking him unconscious.

Sasha, who was terrified, teared up and hugged me tightly.

“Sob, it’s scary. Mister.”

I felt sorry for Sasha. She didn’t volunteer to come here. And there was one more surprising thing.

“Sasha, are you okay even if you inhale the mist?”

It was the fact that she was maintaining her sanity.

Sion and Campbell were experts, so it was understandable, but Sasha didn’t have any mana, but she seemed fine.

“My chest is a little tight, but I’m okay.”

This can only be explained by the fact that she is a high elf, a superior species among elves, and is immune to negative energy. I felt Sasha’s specialness anew.

But the problem was just beginning.

As the magic circle activated, the people tied to it rapidly dried up. The tentacles pulsed continuously, and the life force of the tied people was drained even faster.

At the same time, the pulse rate of the monster egg increased rapidly. I don’t know what that unidentified egg is, but at this rate, hatching was only a matter of time.

“You guys stay here and protect this place. I’m going to go break that egg.”

I ordered Sion and Campbell to stand by and tried to charge towards the egg.

Greed, who had been preparing for this, took out a rusty knife from his pocket and slashed the empty air from top to bottom.

Then, an amazing thing happened.

The space split open, and a dimensional gap appeared!

Inside the gap, black energy divided into several strands writhed as if it had a will, reaching out to breathe the air of the middle world.

“You have all sorts of junk.”

“Junk? It’s a relic of the Aslan Empire. I swiped this when I ran away too.”

“You’re bragging about betraying someone you trusted.”

“Well, I wonder if you’ll still be able to talk like that after tasting the true value of this relic.”

As soon as he finished speaking, something poked its head out of the split dimensional gap. It was like a pregnant mother giving birth to a child.

Eventually, a Killdog covered in sticky fluid fell to the floor with a thud.

It seemed that the relic was a medium for summoning monsters. It was a very troublesome situation for me, who wanted to break the egg as soon as possible.

The quadrupedal monster, having tasted the fresh air of the Arnia continent, immediately revealed its murderous instincts, baring its sharp teeth.

“Kuaaaa!!!!”

The hunting dogs, running at the speed of cheetahs, rushed in to enjoy human blood and flesh.

I glanced to the side. Tom was still struggling to get out of the tentacle sphere. It seemed like it would take a while longer for him to escape.

I had to buy time until then and break the egg while being checked by Greed, so it was a disadvantageous situation in many ways.

“Sion, Campbell. You know what to do.”

“Damn it! When I’m with the Deputy Commander, I’m always far from ordinary.”

Campbell grumbled and stepped forward.

The Killdog’s sharp teeth aimed for the large Campbell, and Campbell swung his bastard sword like a windmill.

The bodies of the Killdogs, which were directly hit by the large, wide attack, were split in half.

During that time, Sion focused on protecting Sasha and the slaves.

He quickly dodged the Killdog’s attack with Water Lizard Steps and then grabbed it from behind and cut off its life in an instant.

It was indeed an assassin’s skill.

A few Killdogs came to me too.

Without using the Druid’s abilities, I slashed the Heavenly Demon Sword in an X shape and cut them into pieces.

Summoning monsters was annoying, but I thought I could handle it enough.

If it weren’t for the huge cow head that appeared from the crack.

“Kuwoooo!!!”

Minotaur.

The bipedal monster with the head of a cow was as tall as an ogre.

This monster, known to inhabit mazes, was like a monster with stats right in the middle of a troll and an ogre.

Above all, the wooden club in his hand looked quite solid, and if I hit it with a sword instead of a mana sword, I wouldn’t even be able to pick up my bones.

There were not just one, but three of those monsters.

Greed, seeing the Minotaurs snorting and aiming for their prey, laughed wildly.

“Hehehehe! This is quite a sight. I’m already looking forward to the moment when those Minotaurs turn you into minced meat.”

Sion and Campbell were busy dealing with the Killdogs that were constantly being produced from the cracks.

If even the cow-headed monsters joined in, the balance that had been maintained would collapse.

One way or another, I had to deal with those three Minotaurs alone.

– Brat, why are you hesitating so much! Finish it quickly, wash your feet, and go to sleep.

The voice of the Heavenly Demon, which I happened to hear, inspired my will to fight.

That’s right.

I’ve faced and overcome even more difficult situations than this, so there’s no need to be intimidated here.

I draw my sword and aim.

I kick the ground with my foot.

My figure, which had been still, stretched out.

Before I knew it, I had arrived in front of the Minotaur at the very front.

The agile monster immediately raised its club and tried to crush me.

There’s no need to face such a monster head-on.

I laid my body down at the same speed as I was running.

Sliding, sweeping the floor.

I slipped through the Minotaur’s legs and cut off the tendons in his ankle with the Heavenly Demon Sword.

“Uwoooo!!”

No matter how much of a monster he is, he can’t stand even if his tendons are cut.

The Minotaur collapsed.

When he knelt down, the head that had to be cut off was placed in a perfect position to be cut.

Just as I was about to rush towards him again to finish him off,

– Brat, it’s on the side.

The other two Minotaurs were swinging their clubs from both sides.

I had already felt the chill before the Heavenly Demon warned me, so I reflexively cast a Druid skill.

[Stone Control]

[Activates Stone Shield.]

Kwakwakwak!

The rocks that soared from both sides protected me like wings.

The wooden club broke the Stone Shield, but its speed and power were significantly reduced after colliding once.

In the meantime, I arrived near the Minotaur whose ankle was broken.

“It’s over.”

Deonggeong—!

The Minotaur’s head flew into the air.

I have to take advantage of this momentum.

I immediately stepped on Shunpo in the air.

Then, my trajectory in the sky ignored the laws of physics and bounced to an odd place.

The place I arrived at was behind another Minotaur.

“Kuwo?”

The monster, who was completely caught from behind, let out a flustered sound, but it was already too late.

The emerald light soared and cut the monster in half.

Amidst the monsters split to the left and right, I wiped the blood from my cheek with the back of my hand and glared at the last remaining Minotaur.

Jieeeing

Even monsters know those who are stronger than them. The remaining Minotaur, who faced my murderous intent head-on, was frightened and turned his back.

[Wood Control]

[Activates Bind.]

The tree roots that rose from the ground wrapped around the Minotaur’s ankles. Escape was virtually impossible in front of me, a Druid.

Seogeok!!

A bloodstain was drawn on the neck of the last remaining Minotaur. The monster collapsed with a dull sound. It took only 1 minute for three medium-sized monsters to fall.

I looked around and saw that the Killdogs were also being cleaned up. Sion and Campbell, who had completely cleaned up the monsters, stood on either side of me.

Now all that’s left is Greed.

I aimed at him with the tip of my sword and said.

“Is the playing around over? If you have nothing more to show, it’s time to hand over your neck.”