The Hero Becomes the Duke’s Eldest Son

Translator: Marctempest
Editor: Rynfinity

Chapter 54

‘This is impossible!’

The Vice-High Priest denied the reality.

The curse placed on the High Priest had been meticulously accumulated over several years.

Until the curse was broken, he would never wake up, and the only ways to break it were to pour in saint-level holy power or for the caster himself to release it.

Sure enough, it was hard to believe that the Kertel High Priest’s curse was broken given his bizarre state.

Pus oozed from the bandages wrapped around his entire body.

The High Priest’s complexion was very pale, and he trembled thinly, drenched in cold sweat.

He was barely leaning on a staff.

The Vice-High Priest panicked at the fact that the High Priest had regained consciousness despite the curse not being broken.

Then his gaze turned to the person standing next to the High Priest…

‘Why is that bastard here?!’

Next to the High Priest, Aden was smiling at the Vice-High Priest’s horrified expression.

‘Serves him right, looking so dumbfounded.’

Aden had made a deal with the Silver Witch, Niketa.

As he had anticipated, she despised the Vice-High Priest so much that she wanted to deal with him herself.

However, she was the head of a group.

Managing the underworld, expanding external trading groups, competing with other warlock factions, and so on.

There were too many things she had to handle to deal with this one issue personally.

So Aden had asked her for a trade, and in return for him handling the matter, she sent him a consumable magic tool.

Aden fiddled with the ring on his finger.

**[Ring of Antimagic]**

*A ring crafted by an outstanding warlock. It can suppress all curses below master level seven times. The suppression can also be used on others besides the ring’s owner.*

*Current uses: 1/7*

She must have poured her heart into creating this item.

The ability to suppress any curse regardless of its nature or characteristics was an astonishing feature.

Since master-level warlocks were extremely rare, it could practically suppress almost all curses.

She must have been that furious at the Vice-High Priest to send such an item so readily.

The High Priest, who had woken up and realized the Vice-High Priest’s betrayal, made the next part easy.

“Now, give it up, Vice-High Priest Hakel.”

Give up.

At the High Priest’s words, the Vice-High Priest flinched and came to his senses.

Then he glared at Aden with a face twisted like a demon.

He realized that no matter what method was used, everything had been thwarted by Aden Remes.

The priests were agitated.

“The Vice-High Priest is a heretic?”

“Impossible! That can’t be true!”

“But the High Priest said it himself…”

“Then, is it really true…?”

“Vice-High Priest! Please explain yourself!”

It was over.

The Vice-High Priest realized that everything had already fallen apart.

‘Give up?’

He couldn’t.

He hadn’t forsaken the will of the gods just to end like this!

It had been ten years.

A plan that had been meticulously prepared for ten years couldn’t be ruined like this.

There was only one option left.

Total annihilation.

‘The risk is high, but…’

It was better than ending like this.

“Is it true?”

He twisted his smile.

“Yes! It’s true! So what will you do about it!”

The Vice-High Priest raised his hand high and drew out dark energy.

Sinister black energy began to emanate from his body.

The magical tattoos engraved on his arms began to glow.

“That sinister energy…!”

“Oh my God! It’s true!”

Inquisitor Bali of the Sacred Fire Order commanded the monks.

“Immediately arrest the heretic Hakel Korten!”

The monks surrounded Hakel.

However, he sneered at them all.

“Yes, try and catch me. If you can, that is!”

He shouted loudly.

“Come out, all of you! Initiate Plan B!”

At the Vice-High Priest’s cry, warlocks who had been hiding among the priests revealed their true selves.

They drew out dark energy from their bodies.

“Eldon, brother! Why do you have such sinister energy!”

“Samuel, even you?”

They were horrified to discover that their fellow priests, with whom they had shared meals, were warlocks.

The Vice-High Priest began chanting a spell…

“so snsdmf qkfkqhk. sjs wjdtlsdmf dlfgrh!”

“sjs wjdtlsdmf dlfgrh!”

“sjs wjdtlsdmf dlfgrh!”

The other warlocks also chanted spells.

Their spells intertwined to form a single ritual.

Dark energy spread faintly in all directions.

“Argh! My head, my head!”

“Aaagh!”

The monks and priests who touched the dark energy clutched their heads in agony.

The Vice-High Priest burst into laughter.

“Kuhahaha! Kertel! Did you think I would prepare for the great work without any countermeasures? I had already cast a curse of control on most of the followers long ago!”

The curses, which had been secretly planted, manifested triggered by the will of the warlocks.

“Kuuuaaa!”

“Oooowaaa!”

In an instant, seven out of ten followers lost their sanity and turned into puppets.

They surrounded Hakel and the warlocks as if to protect them.

“Kertel, try giving an order. If you want to see the brothers of the Order kill each other, that is!”

“Cough, how far have you fallen, Hakel!”

The Kertel High Priest was furious at the Vice-High Priest.

But he was even more furious at himself.

‘This is all my fault.’

Until the Vice-High Priest revealed his true colors, he hadn’t realized his schemes.

He didn’t know how to suspect people.

Even though the brothers of the Order had fallen into heresy or been sacrificed by Vice-High Priest Hakel, he hadn’t realized.

It was a sin for a person in a high position to be ignorant.

Seeing the priests being controlled, it felt like his heart was being torn apart.

The High Priest regretted it.

“Damn it, are you kidding me?”

At that moment, Aden grumbled with a carefree expression.

“Since your abilities can’t keep up, you make up for the dark energy with magic tattoos and patch up the rituals with numbers. Why are you so confident? Tsk.”

To Aden, who had dealt with numerous warlocks in his past life, the Vice-High Priest’s appearance was full of flaws.

-Oh, you recognized it immediately. It seems you have a talent for black magic. Would you like to learn…?

“Holy Potion.”

-…

Aden shut Curse’s mouth with a single magical word.

“Five.”

Aden deduced their level and aura of black magic.

Five.

If he dealt with five of those warlocks, the mass mental control would be broken.

“Priest Bali.”

Aden spoke to Priest Bali.

“While I take care of those bastards, please keep the priests from interfering. Deal?”

“Wh-what are you talking about…?”

“Just answer. Deal?”

“D-deal…?”

Aden stepped forward and aimed Baalzebul at them.

“I’ll show you something good.”

Aden took out a stone fragment from his chest.

It was a piece of a Lich’s life vessel he had taken from the dungeon.

Aden held the piece in his hand…

Crack, crunch, gulp!

He put the piece of the life vessel into his mouth and chewed it with his strengthened teeth and jaws.

People didn’t know what he was eating.

But the warlocks recognized the life vessel and couldn’t believe their eyes for a moment.

‘That, that was a life vessel?’

‘He chewed and ate it…?’

They briefly wondered how he had a life vessel, but were more shocked by the bizarre act of chewing and eating it.

But they didn’t realize.

Instead of being dumbfounded by Aden eating the life vessel, they should have attacked him or run away immediately.

-You have consumed a piece of a Lich’s life vessel.

-Warning. The life force is tainted with dark energy. Physical and mental damage may occur.

-Help me…!

-I don’t want to die…!

He heard them.

Hundreds of people had been sacrificed to create the Lich’s life vessel.

Their grudges were strong.

For an ordinary person, their minds would have been devoured and driven mad by the wails.

But Aden, with his strong mental strength, wasn’t overwhelmed by their grudges.

‘I’m used to it.’

Mercenaries wander the world without a home.

Thus, they encounter all the tragedies and sufferings of the world.

It peaked during the Talos War.

Despair, wailing, sobbing, pleading; all kinds of suffering shook the heavens and drenched the earth.

It was a world where you couldn’t survive unless you got used to it.

So he swallowed the screams of the world and turned them into power.

The life force of the life vessel converted into mana and spread throughout Aden’s body.

This was a method Aden sometimes used when he hunted warlocks and was low on energy and had no other options.

「Mana levels temporarily increase dramatically.」

Aden calmly asked the wailing spirits.

‘What do you want me to do?’

Soon, the countless voices united in one will.

-Kill them!

-Ease our pain, even a little!

-Give them the same despair!

The spirits directed their hatred at the warlocks, who exuded a similar aura to the Lich who had killed them.

Aden complied with their wishes.

‘Alright.’

He slowly closed his eyes.

‘Give me your power in return.’

He opened his eyes again.

The grudge of the spirits was reflected in his cold gaze.

「Your level temporarily rises.

Current level: Advanced Sword Aura.」

Taah!

Aden kicked off the ground and charged at the nearest warlock.

With the Ring of Swiftness and enhanced strength, he moved so quickly that the warlock had no time to react.

“Goodbye.”

“…!”

In front of the warlock’s eyes, Aden’s sinister black eyes appeared.

Swoosh!

The blade of Baalzebul flashed, and the warlock’s head soared into the sky.

He started by taking down one of them.

Aden’s hand was enveloped in a blazing Sword Aura.

Thanks to the temporary increase in mana, his aura was fiercer than before.

“How dare you…!”

The remaining warlocks’ faces contorted with rage.

One of them chanted a curse aimed at Aden.

“Freeze!”

It was a curse that temporarily immobilized the target.

The warlocks planned to pour black magic on Aden once he was immobilized and leave him half-dead.

However…

Slash!

Without a moment’s hesitation, Aden swung his sword and sliced the warlock’s chest.

This made it two down.

The warlocks were horrified.

“The curse should have worked!”

But Aden moved naturally, as if asking if they had really cursed him properly.

「Mental attacks are nullified due to system user privileges.」

Since the basis of the warlocks’ curses lay in mental attacks, and because Aden had the system, their efforts were futile.

The warlocks, realizing Aden was truly dangerous, launched their black magic attacks.

Swoosh!

Flare!

Black fireballs and pitch-black spears of dark energy shot towards Aden.

But instead of dodging, Aden rushed towards the black magic attacks and swung Baalzebul.

Slash, clink!

The fireball split in half, and the dark energy spear shattered into pieces.

Then the third warlock saw Aden cutting through the black magic and coming at him with his sword raised.

‘Impossible! Cutting through black magic with a sword!’

It wasn’t because of any artifact or special ability.

He had killed dozens of warlocks.

He had cut hundreds of warlocks.

He had piled thousands of warlocks into mountains.

Through countless battles, Aden had learned the ‘trick.’

The black magic they used was the same lower-tier attacks he had faced countless times before.

The manipulation of dark energy, the nature of their attacks, all were the same.

So he had learned how to cut the fireballs.

He had learned how to break the spears.

Black magic was often compared to darkness.

‘A swordsman who cuts through even darkness.’

That was one of Aden’s many nicknames.