Chapter 330 – Disaster Level Claudi (3)

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Translated by Heavenly Cat
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Matis Dean Karl, a senior in Black Magic Studies.

Suddenly, the words he had said came to mind. It was in Matis’s office. Looking at the magic tools dyed black by the Suitable Magic Power I had radiated, Matis had carefully opened his mouth.

-“Black magic is contradictory. Magic should pursue the truth that lies in the future, yet Suitable Magic Power, the source of black magic, is bound to the past. I do not dare to presumptuously argue about it, but…… I earnestly hope you can be lenient with yourself, Chief Lee.”

I had never talked to Matis about the past—that is, about the Claudi family.

I wasn’t crazy; I had no intention of dying of shame.

Matis had simply guessed based on my Suitable Magic Power and warned me.

-“I dare not fathom it, nor do I want to. By any chance, if you, Chief Lee, fall into Blackening……”

When I first heard about [Blackening], I thought Matis was just trying to scare me. Didn’t it sound like something a master passing down an ultimate technique would commonly say to a disciple? I simply took it as a prompt to steel my resolve before entering black magic.

However……

[The status effect ‘Blackening’ occurs.]

It was a delusion.

My vision, my thoughts, and the echoing voice were clearly different from usual.

I could realize it immediately.

Why Matis had told me to be so careful of ‘Blackening.’

-“Your past and background will flow backward, Chief Lee. I am not confident I can face it. No one but you, Chief Lee, would be able to handle such vast Suitable Magic Power. Oh my…… I have spoken presumptuously. Please forget it, Chief Lee.”

Matis had stopped speaking there and bowed his head.

But was it better to experience it once than to hear about it a hundred times?

Even if I hadn’t heard the end of it, I could feel the danger of Blackening.

Every time I breathed in and out.

The Suitable Magic Power seeping into my body.

The past.

Felt like they were gripping and shaking my body.

But if there was one thing different about me from Matis or other black magic users…… the source of my vast Suitable Magic Power was not my, Lee Ho-yeol’s, past, but Granfel’s past.

Damn it, the saying ‘a blessing in disguise’ doesn’t exist for nothing.

If I had been getting away with it easily thanks to Granfel’s settings all this time, now it meant I was suffering from an even more extreme Blackening because of those very settings. The effect of Blackening was superimposed on Granfel, who only existed as a ‘setting,’ and he began to feel like another ‘personality.’

Let’s see, if I traced it back……

Acknowledging Claudi must have been the culprit of the current situation.

Because acknowledging Claudi meant also acknowledging the cruel end of the Claudi family.

“Are you prepared to insult my sister with that base mouth?”

Granfel’s voice echoing in my ears was extremely cold.

Just mixing words with it felt like I would freeze.

The weight of the past Granfel must have been shouldering hit me.

……Yes. So that was it, Kitch?

The Shadow Mercenary Corps that carried out the request of the Great Evil related to Claudi.

The specific content of that request must have been to assassinate Granfel’s blood relative—to be exact, his sister. I had thought she was making a fuss over something that had already passed, without knowing that……

His sister’s hair had wandered around the auction house, and the family’s hunting dog became food for crows. If he knew the gruesome whole story…… I could fully understand Kitch’s feelings for not being able to show himself in front of Granfel.

And at this moment.

The fact that the Arcana Continent was covered in Suitable Magic Power.

[The capital of the Empire, Antonium, is engulfed in infinitely deep darkness.]

[The Empire is engulfed in infinitely deep darkness.]

[The Arcana Continent is engulfed in infinitely deep darkness.]

Moreover, the fact that Blackening had come so suddenly.

I had seen it all this time, even if I hated seeing it, right?

I knew what blood relatives meant to Granfel. Even to my enemies, with whom I have a love-hate relationship, I always religiously called them Sister, thanks to my loose tongue.

“Ah……”

I hadn’t manifested the Black Coffin or any other black magic.

The head of Maxima.

Ignite was already suffocating from the Suitable Magic Power.

“Ugh……”

His unfocused pupils were wandering incessantly,

His tongue, which had spat out slips of the tongue, was paralyzed,

The place where he knelt was drenched.

It was safe to say the punishment was practically over.

Ignite’s condition was not much different from that of the demon worshippers I had seen in the Infinite.

However, I—Granfel—did not stop.

As if he would take the price for insulting his sister with Ignite’s life. He was interfering with the Suitable Magic Power, preparing to manifest black magic. I could intuit it.

If this went on, Granfel would kill Ignite.

I fully understood his feelings. Beyond empathizing, it felt somewhat refreshing in a way. Ignite’s remarks were infuriating enough to make me shudder when I heard them.

Nevertheless, I couldn’t just watch.

‘How harsh do you plan to be, Granfel?’

I know that troublesome personality better than anyone.

Yes, a noble pride is damn complex, isn’t it?

If it were you, you would definitely try to shoulder even the aftermath of Blackening all by yourself.

But I have no intention of watching that happen……!

In the end, it was because my body was the one suffering?

Of course, that was an irrefutable reason.

But the biggest reason was that I couldn’t feign ignorance anymore.

Perhaps concerning the end of the Claudi family, which I might have brought upon myself.

Granfel’s infinitely dark past.

So don’t even think about shouldering it alone.

[The First World Tree’s Blessing rejects ‘Blackening’.]

[The status effect ‘Blackening’ occurs.]

[The First World Tree’s Blessing rejects ‘Blackening’.]

[The status effect ‘Blackening’ occurs]……

Amidst the incessantly flickering messages, my hand twitched. Ultimately, the cause of the Blackening was Suitable Magic Power so thick that I couldn’t control it.

If only I could do something about the Suitable Magic Power covering the Arcana Continent…… I could save Granfel, who was consumed by the past, and myself, who was swayed by my dark history.

And just in time.

I knew a suitable method.

To be exact, the newly acquired skill.

[Absorption (Item Skill): The parasitic organism Envy absorbs a target. Depending on the absorbed target, Envy gains a new unique effect. The number of unique effects that can be stored varies depending on Envy’s hunger. Envy’s current satiety – 0%]

[Neutral Parasitic Organism Envy (Envy)].

Great Evil, Seven Deadly Sins Jealousy.

The legendary grade item dropped by that guy.

I looked at Envy, whose appearance had changed into a jewel under the influence of [Aesthetic]. Envy didn’t move an inch, as if it were a jewel originally crafted onto the jacket. You followed the command to watch quietly well; how commendable.

But I’ll have to owe you a little now, Envy.

[The skill ‘Absorption’ is activated.]

When the skill was activated, Envy’s exterior changed from a jewel to a snowflake.

As if taking a deep breath.

Envy swelled its body a few times, and my vision flashed.

[The Neutral Parasitic Organism Envy (Envy) absorbs ‘Suitable Magic Power’. Envy’s current satiety – 1%]

1 percent.

10 percent.

50 percent……

Envy’s satiety filled up frighteningly fast. I couldn’t properly verify its performance because it hadn’t been long since I purified it with the Exorcism Ritual, but it was still a legendary item, wasn’t it?

I had verified the performance of a legendary item several times through Gwicheol. So if it was Envy, I thought it could somewhat neutralize even Suitable Magic Power thick enough to suffocate someone.

However.

‘!’

……Are you saying it’s nowhere near enough?

Suitable Magic Power originating from the past.

The past of the Claudi family was.

Apparently at a level that treated even a legendary item as ‘mere.’

Brrr!

[Envy’s current satiety – 100%]

[Envy digests the absorbed ‘Suitable Magic Power’.]

[Digesting – 0.1/100% until a new unique effect is generated]

Envy flinched and trembled its body, then returned to being a jewel again.

To think even a legendary item didn’t even make a dent.

Damn it, it felt like I’d been betrayed by someone I trusted……?

Clack—

With steps moving on their own, idle thoughts disappeared on their own.

Ignite was gradually getting closer.

“Grrrrgh…….”

Infinitely deep darkness.

What was he looking at in the Suitable Magic Power?

Ignite rolled his pupils back.

He struggled pitifully on the floor, which had been made slushy by his own mistake.

It wasn’t just Ignite.

“Urgh.”

“My head feels like it’s going to split……!”

“Ugh, I can’t breathe anymore.”

The soldiers on the plain groaned in pain.

No, it probably wasn’t just them.

The system does not lie.

It was clearly stated in those system messages.

Suitable Magic Power had spread beyond the capital of the Empire, Antonium, to the entire Empire.

Beyond the entire Empire to the entire Arcana Continent.

However, my gaze remained fixed on Ignite. At this point, I really wanted to ask seriously: do you really want a punishment worse than this, Granfel……?

‘If it progresses to manifestation here, the Arcana Continent will……’

An immeasurable disaster.

It might fall into a cataclysm.

But there was no answer.

Not even once.

He didn’t blink an eye.

Just with his usual gaze.

He gazed at Ignite.

“Gah……!!”

Before long, was it the final rigor?

It was the moment Ignite’s body bounced up greatly.

Only then did my mouth open.

“I believe you have understood by now.”

He was as calm as if nothing had happened.

[The First World Tree’s Blessing rejects the status effect ‘Blackening’.]

‘……!’

At the same time, the sensations of the body returned.

In a fraction of a second.

‘……What the?’

The Suitable Magic Power covering the Arcana Continent also.

Disappeared without a trace.

The loose tongue, no different from usual, continued speaking.

“Head of the Family, Ignite Maxima. Since you have paid for your sins representing the Four Families, I will suspend the punishment of Yugrick, Cansel, and Akamond. Of course, to receive your blessings back, you will have to prove a corresponding pride, just as your ancestors did.”

“……!!!”

The family heads excluding Ignite answered in unison.

“I will keep that in mind, O Claudi.”

“Cansel will obey that will.”

“Akamond swears loyalty to Claudi.”

[You have acquired command authority over Clenze Yugrick.]

[You have acquired command authority over Smite Cansel.]

[You have acquired command authority over Retel Akamond.]

It was sudden, but I tried to gather the situation.

Whether because of pride or the punishment, I didn’t know, but the situation was rapidly concluded. If it were the me of the past, I would have recalled Granfel’s settings around here.

“The first thing Granfel mastered as the next family head was not to be swayed by personal matters.

The position of the head of the Claudi family was a place where not even the slightest agitation was tolerated.”

But Granfel, you.

Even if you deceive everyone in the world, you cannot deceive me.

Yes, throughout reality and the Arcana Continent.

The only one who can understand your tightly twisted inner thoughts is me.

So I had no choice but to ruminate seriously.

……Are you really okay, Granfel?

However, now that Blackening had been lifted.

There was no way an answer would come from a mere setting.

Pat, pat─

I just adjusted my attire as a matter of habit.

The usual posture.

Hiding the inevitably exhausted inner thoughts.

Within the pride that wouldn’t be strange to sink at any moment.