The Hero Becomes the Duke’s Eldest Son

Translator: Marctempest
Editor: Rynfinity

Chapter 41

The Silver Witch ran swiftly towards the group of Warlocks from the opposing faction, deep in thought.

‘This is strange.’

She thought of Aden.

He was an unknowable person.

She had attended because she had obtained information that the Warlocks of the enemy faction had come here with some scheme.

As someone who had reached a stage beyond ordinary criminals in dark magic, she could discern people’s souls.

Some souls were dark and dirty, while others were clean or held light.

However, when she first saw Aden Remes, she couldn’t take her eyes off him.

It was an abyss.

It was so deep and dark that she felt she might be sucked in.

But it wasn’t just pitch black.

It held light at the same time.

Darkness and light were mixed together, but they did not cloud each other and instead emitted a strong presence.

She had never encountered such a human before.

What she knew about Aden was that he was the Duke’s scoundrel and had recently killed a troll and awakened his sword aura.

Before that, he was just another common scoundrel of a noble son.

But the Aden Remes she saw in person was very peculiar.

She felt she needed to investigate him more thoroughly.

But then she shook her head.

No, now was not the time to think about someone like him.

For now, she should focus only on killing the ‘heretics’ and erasing the traces.

With that resolve, Niketa moved swiftly.

* * *

-Roaaarrr!

The Leonberger bared its teeth at Taion, letting out a fierce roar.

Swish, slash!

A long gash appeared on the Leonberger’s side, spilling blood.

-Roaaarrr!

The beast let out a scream and glared at its attacker.

Dayer Sias’ sword was ablaze with a blue sword aura.

However, the form was peculiar. Amidst the sword aura, several strands of blue aura, materialized into thread-like forms, were fluttering.

Aura threads.

A sign of a top-tier sword aura user, a semi-master.

Slash!

The aura threads extended like a whip, leaving a long gash on the beast’s body.

It slashed its nape deeply.

A blow that was fatal at a glance.

But it was useless.

Crunch, crackle.

The Leonberger instantly healed the wound on its neck.

It attacked Dayer with its front paws and continued its onslaught.

Dayer Sias, while fighting the beast, was troubled.

‘With such minor attacks, I can’t bring it down.’

He needed to cut off its breath with a one-hit kill, like when he killed the troll.

He had to concentrate a much more powerful blow at once.

But at the moment, it was difficult to deliver such a blow while dodging its attacks.

Someone had to momentarily restrain the beast’s movements.

But the royal knights were currently busy dealing with other monsters.

Twinge.

His arm ached from the aftermath of pushing the Leonberger away to protect the mages earlier.

Dayer gritted his teeth and endured the pain.

‘What should I do?’

If it were his usual self, he wouldn’t have been so shaken.

‘Damn, if only I had my spear!’

His main weapon was a long spear.

Spears were weapons specialized for humans to attack large creatures.

If he had his spear, he would have had a clear advantage.

However, it wasn’t as if he had come to the royal palace expecting to fight, so he hadn’t brought such a large and lethal weapon.

The sword at his waist, meant for formal occasions, had its limits.

Because of this, Dayer was gradually being pushed into a corner.

The Leonberger was about to swipe at Dayer with its paw when Dayer tried to block.

Crack!

Dayer’s sword cracked and broke in half.

“……!”

Taion, who had been fighting ogres while keeping an eye on the situation, shouted in surprise.

“Dayer!”

Taion’s shout echoed distantly in Dayer’s ears.

For a brief moment, Dayer’s face was filled with shock.

Why?

Why did the sword that was fine a moment ago break now?

Swoosh!

Sharp claws aimed at Dayer’s head, who had lost his weapon.

‘I’m going to die!’

For a moment, he thought so.

At that moment.

Flash!

A light burst before Dayer’s eyes, and with a ‘bang!’, the beast screamed and was flung away.

“……Huh?”

It took Dayer a moment to grasp the situation.

Before him was a translucent shield emitting a soft white light.

And the person holding the shield and blocking the beast was…

“Prince Aden?”

“Stop dazing off and take this.”

It was Aden Remes.

Aden handed Dayer a spare sword he had brought.

Holding the Banshee’s Spirit Shield, he muttered with a frown.

“I wanted to see how it would turn out…”

Aden keenly observed Dayer’s battle and the surrounding situation.

He was curious.

How did a semi-master knight lose an arm fighting a mere beast?

Sword masters were superhumans who transcended human limits.

So, semi-masters, who were just below them, could be considered the strongest among humans.

There was no way they would sustain such severe injuries from monsters controlled by Warlocks.

Although a sword master could be struck down by a blind soldier’s blade, his suspicion remained.

So, after observing, he noticed that the monsters were moving in a way that prevented the royal knights from collaborating with Dayer.

‘And the broken sword. It must have been like this in my past life too.’

Seeing Dayer’s sword break, Aden realized it had been tampered with.

Aden was convinced.

The Warlocks’ terror attack was aimed at Dayer Sias.

Why target him?

Why go to the extent of causing havoc in the royal palace?

Aden thought of the one who would benefit the most if Dayer died or was injured.

And the one who could have tampered with the second son’s sword was only one person.

‘Sylbeta Sias, that damn bastard.’

Aden realized that the Grand Duke’s eldest son, Sylbeta, was involved in this terror.

Then, what was his relationship with the Warlocks?

That, he couldn’t know at the moment.

For now, he had to deal with the beast in front of him.

Aden was feeling the effect of the Spirit Shield of Enhancement in his hand.

Aden felt immense power and strength enveloping his entire body.

The mana that felt insufficient suddenly surged.

Thump, thump!

His heart pounded as if it would explode.

He wanted to fight.

He wanted to kill.

He felt the berserk rage that made him want to fight immediately.

Aden suppressed the rage with his strong mental power and thought.

‘With this power, I can use it for a short time.’

It was an ability he couldn’t originally use at his current level.

Aden spoke to Dayer.

“Sir Dayer, be ready until I give the signal.”

With that, he glared at the beast again.

-Grrr…!

The beast, which had been knocked back by the shield, staggered and growled at Aden.

-Roaaarrr!

Aden pointed Baalzebul at it.

Whoosh!

Flames of sword aura flared up.

However, the sword aura began to change its form.

Ssshh.

The intangible sword aura materialized, forming threads of aura.

The threads of aura moved like living things and wrapped around the demonic sword Baalzebul.

Seeing this, Dayer was astonished.

‘Aura threads!’

Dayer thought that Aden was definitely hiding his level.

That’s why he could capture the High Troll Shaman and easily defeat Lord Taion.

But to think he was at the same level as him!

It was unimaginable.

The noble scions who hadn’t managed to escape, and the royal knights, were astonished by the sight before them.

“Is that… aura threads?”

“My god!”

Taion was also stunned by the sight.

“Prince Aden, a semi-master?”

The scoundrel prince, Aden Remes.

In his hand was the symbol of a top-tier sword aura user, aura threads.

But then, Aden’s aura threads began to change shape.

The aura threads divided and increased in number.

One, two, four, eight, sixteen, thirty-two, sixty-four.

Seeing this, Dayer was astonished again.

‘How many are there!’

As a semi-master himself, he could understand.

What was happening before his eyes was unbelievable.

The number of aura threads that could be drawn out at once indicated the user’s ability.

The limit of mana control determined the number of aura threads.

So, the limit of mana control was synonymous with the limit of the user’s talent.

Dayer Sias himself could only manage twenty-two at his utmost concentration.

That’s why he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

Aden drew out at least over a hundred aura threads.

Dayer’s skin tingled.

A hundred? How excellent must his mana control and talent be to produce such an absurd number?

It was not a human ability.

If such a thing were possible, he would have already become a sword master.

But the energy felt from Aden was certainly only that of a semi-master.

He couldn’t understand the disparity.

Perhaps sensing Aden’s danger instinctively, the beast, the Leonberger, charged at Aden with all its might, baring its teeth.

Just before its sharp teeth could tear Aden to pieces.

The hundred

aura threads moved.

Swoosh!

The aura threads shot towards the beast like a shower of arrows.

“Aura Rain.”

A rain of aura fell upon the Leonberger.

-Roaaarrr!

The beast screamed as its entire body was pierced.

The hundred aura threads penetrated the beast’s body.

It looked like a porcupine with needles all over its body.

Aden murmured lowly.

“Bind.”

The countless aura threads that pierced the beast began to entwine.

It was a net, a net of aura.

It was a technique Aden created based on his outstanding mana control ability.

Creating a net from aura threads was something no other semi-master could do.

The aura net restrained the beast’s movements.

The beast thrashed violently, entwined in the net.

Snap, snap.

Then, the aura threads began to snap little by little.

At this rate, the beast would soon break free.

But Aden smiled and shouted.

“Finish it quickly!”

“……Thank you, Prince Aden!”

While astonished by Aden, Dayer seized the opportunity.

Thanks to Aden restraining the beast’s movements, Dayer had prepared a one-hit kill.

A formidable energy had gathered in Sir Dayer’s sword.

The twenty-two aura threads swirled fiercely.

The aura threads extended from the sword, turning it into a spear.

That spear held the momentum to pierce through anything in the world.

Swoosh!

He kicked off the ground and shot towards the beast.

“Haa!”

He then stabbed the beast’s chest with all the power of a semi-master.

It was one of Prince Dayer’s spear techniques, the Spinning Piercing Thrust.

Swoosh!

The fiercely spinning aura threads dug into the beast’s flesh, muscles, and blood vessels mercilessly.

-Roaaarrr!

The beast let out a scream of agony, a death throe.

Finally, the aura spear penetrated and destroyed the beast’s mana core, the source of its life.

Flash!

The aura spear created a huge hole in the Leonberger’s body.

Soon, the light in the Leonberger’s red eyes disappeared.

Thud!

The massive body collapsed, losing all strength.

It was a victory achieved by Dayer and Aden working together.

“Hah, we barely won.”

Dayer wiped his cold sweat and smiled kindly at Aden.

“Ha.”

Aden let out a dry laugh.

‘Barely? After making such a big hole in that huge monster’s body with one strike?’

The thrust he had just seen had the terrifying power to pierce even steel.

Although it had the drawback of being difficult to hit a moving target accurately, it was a technique that overshadowed that flaw.

Dayer Sias.

He indeed had the skills of a traitor’s rival.