The Hero Becomes the Duke’s Eldest Son

Translator: Marctempest
Editor: Rynfinity

Chapter 72

Entering the hidden space, something was there.

A huge glass tube where all sorts of corpses had been dissolved, half-melted.

Splash.

A small spout at the bottom of the glass tube was dripping red solvent, slowly soaking a small red crystal.

The crystal absorbed the red liquid gradually, growing slightly.

It was like a stalagmite growing slowly, only from the drops of a thousand-year-old giant stalactite.

“Is this the jewel?”

The item created by sacrificing hundreds of humans and Ents by the warlocks.

Many had lost their lives because of this single item.

The jewel emitted a sinister aura, and a power comparable to it.

Aden didn’t know what this object was, but one thing was certain.

‘This jewel is still incomplete.’

He felt it instinctively.

It was an object with powerful strength and potential, but its direction was undefined.

It was in the state of a master’s sword that had not yet been sharpened.

But even its potential alone was enough to show how tempting and seductive the item was.

‘I can’t let it be completed.’

However, the thought of destroying it hastily felt unsettling.

Since the Dark Knight was involved in its creation, it was surely related to Sylbeta.

In other words, this jewel was Sylbeta’s most secret and dangerous weakness.

‘For now, I’ll keep it and think about disposing of it later.’

Aden reached out to store the unidentified red jewel in his subspace pouch.

At the moment his fingers touched the jewel.

-You have met the conditions for Hidden Piece.

Suddenly, his system reacted.

Aden’s expression turned peculiar.

‘Hidden Piece?’

The system had never sent such a message in his previous life.

Just as Aden instinctively tried to withdraw his hand from the stone.

-By meeting the conditions for the Hidden Piece, the ‘Incomplete ? Jewel’ is absorbed by the user.

Swoosh.

The unidentified red jewel turned soft and was instantly absorbed into Aden’s body.

“…!”

“Aden-nim!”

Next to him, Ets exclaimed in surprise.

Aden also flinched and quickly tried to push it out with mana, but it was as futile as trying to scoop out flowing water with his hands.

Aden sensed the changes happening in his body in real-time.

The jewel that had been absorbed into his body settled around his heart.

More precisely, between the mana organ and the heart.

Aden observed the jewel inside his body with a stiff face.

Then he was shocked.

‘Wait, is the Demon Stone… is the dark mana…?’

As if to affirm that what Aden confirmed was true…

-Aden Albireo, Dragon Slayer.

Curse’s voice, tinged with confusion, was heard.

-Why in the world am I inside this thing?

The Demon Stone in Aden’s mana organ, the core of the curse, had been transferred and assimilated with the unidentified jewel.

Aden asked, dumbfounded.

‘Hey, why did you go there?’

-…I have no idea. I just transferred on my own.

Curse’s voice carried the emotions of confusion as if he too had no idea why he had ended up there.

From his perspective, it was as if he had been forcibly relocated.

No more changes occurred in Aden’s body.

Aden’s face was twisted with irritation as his brows furrowed deeply.

The sensation of something foreign entering his body brought back unpleasant memories.

‘Damn, one time of having something parasitic in my body is enough. This is disgusting.’

-Are you referring to me, by any chance?

Yeah, who else would it be?

The memory of the Curse’s Invasion that had taken over Aden’s body just before he was betrayed by his comrades in his past life was horrifying.

Recalling that sensation made him feel incredibly dirty.

Aden shook off the unpleasantness and focused on the mysterious jewel.

‘What the hell is this?’

The jewel had become silent after assimilating with the Demon Stone inside Aden’s body, as if it had found its home.

-Hmm, it’s unexpectedly comfortable. I almost don’t want to come out.

Curse seemed content, finding the inside of the jewel comfortable.

Aden’s feeling of unease doubled at Curse’s reaction.

‘Tch, I guess I’ll have to wait and see for now.’

Anyway, there was no immediate way to resolve it.

And though unpleasant, it was harmless to him for now.

Aden decided to think positively.

‘Who knows? When the Demon Stone was in the mana organ, I couldn’t remove it unless I committed suicide, but if I find a way to remove this jewel, that damn thing might come off with it.’

-Aren’t you being too harsh, Dragon Slayer? We have spent quite some time together.

‘Too harsh, my ass.’

Curse was the original unsettling presence with no way to remove it.

As long as it caused no harm to his body, it was tolerable.

Aden decided to consider it an extension of the Demon Stone.

After lightly inspecting the lab, Aden ordered the Ents.

“The bodies here, could you sort them out while I’m gone?”

“Yes, Benefactor. But where are you going…?”

To that question, Aden looked towards the epicenter where two manas were clashing fiercely.

It was the direction where the Dark Knight and the Basilisk were fighting.

Aden smirked darkly.

“It’s time to devour a well-prepared meal.”

Someone once said, black food and snakes are very good for the body.

—

-Kiaaaaaooo!

The Basilisk roared.

Though it was not comparable to a dragon, high-ranking dragonkin possessed a powerful aura in their roars.

The Basilisk’s aura stiffened the bodies of monsters and humans alike.

The Basilisk began devouring the closest monsters first.

The monsters, paralyzed with fear, couldn’t resist and were swallowed whole by the Basilisk.

Those who were farther away or of relatively higher rank regained their senses and tried to flee.

But the result was the same.

If a group tried to escape…

-Kyaak!

The Basilisk would shoot deadly poison from its fangs in that direction.

A single drop of that poison was enough to kill a Poison Ogre instantly.

If they attacked the Basilisk out of desperation, they died due to the deadly poison coursing through its body.

The Basilisk then swallowed their corpses.

Whether they resisted, stayed still, or fled, the outcome was always the same.

“Ba, Basilisk?”

“Why is that monster here…!”

“Run away!”

“Aaaah!”

-Kyaaaooo!

And it applied equally to the warlocks.

It was pandemonium, a living hell.

The fleeing warlocks were the first to be devoured or killed by the deadly poison.

Gerard urgently shouted to his subordinates.

“Running away is useless! We must fight! Some deploy shields, others prepare attack spells!”

Understanding this, the Dark Knight was the first to charge in.

Gray Sword Aura gathered and condensed on his black greatsword. Aura threads formed around the sword.

“Haaaaaap!”

With a shout, he thrust his greatsword deep into the Basilisk’s massive body.

Splash!

Thick green poisonous blood splattered.

-Kyaaaa!

The Basilisk’s mouth emitted a roar of fury, writhing violently.

Thus, the life-and-death battle between the king of snakes and the knight continued.

Dares Clayman was a knight of the upper level among Semi-Masters.

Supporting him was Gerard, a mid-level warlock.

Their combined efforts allowed them to hold their own against the high-ranking dragonkin, the Basilisk.

But that was the extent of it.

As time passed, the humans were increasingly at a disadvantage.

Their opponent was a high-ranking dragonkin wielding deadly poison.

Every breath, every drop of blood, contained various poisons.

The longer the fight dragged on, the more they were slowly poisoned.

One died.

Five died.

Ten died at once.

Eventually, the warlocks died one by one.

Even Gerard, a mid-level leader, was on the brink of death from poison.

Thud!

Gerard collapsed, gasping for breath.

Then he thought.

‘Where did it all go wrong?’

The monster wave arose, and now the Basilisk appeared at this perfect timing.

Was it all just a coincidence?

He felt something had gone terribly wrong.

Moreover, there was one thing he couldn’t comprehend.

‘Why is dark mana emanating from that Basilisk?’

Dark mana, faintly spread throughout the Forest of Death.

The same wave of dark mana was emanating from the Basilisk.

It meant that thing was the source of the dark mana in the area.

And yet, it wasn’t a creature from the underground world.

The Basilisk was undoubtedly a monster of the surface world.

‘How… could it be? No way…!’

A thought crossed his mind.

Could it be that ‘it’ was here?

If his assumption was correct, this was very important.

‘I need to inform the boss… to tell him about this…’

Gelard’s consciousness faded before he could finish his thought.

And he never woke up again.

Now, the only survivor was the Dark Knight, Dares Clayman.

“Grr…”

A groan escaped his lips.

His condition was dire.

The black armor he wore was corroded and tattered from the poison.

He had lost one eye, and his left arm was on the verge of necrosis from the poison, unable to move.

Resisting the spread of the poison with mana was also a grueling task.

The poison was extreme.

A few drops of the Basilisk’s blood on his wound had caused this.

If he had been bitten by the deadly poison fangs that could even poison a Sword Master, he would have been dead already.

-Grrrr…

But the Basilisk was equally exhausted.

Its entire body was slashed and dripping thick green poisonous blood.

However, its fierce eyes gleamed with greed, determined not to miss a single prey.

Because of this, he couldn’t escape even if he wanted to.

‘Lord Sylbeta, if it were you, you would have cut down this snake in an instant.’

The lord’s reached a level of mastery.

Even a dragonkin the size of a small mountain would have been sliced in half by the Sword Master, Lord Sylbeta.

Thinking of his lord, the Dark Knight’s eyes were filled with resolve.

‘I am Sir Sylbeta’s knight.’

If he succumbed to a monster like this, he wouldn’t be able to help fulfill the grand duke’s wish.

He didn’t forsake humanity to die a worthless death in a place like this.

‘I’ll give it my all.’

He aimed his black greatsword at the Basilisk.

He withdrew the mana he had been using to resist the poison and began gathering all his strength.

Ssshh.

The gray aura threads wrapping around the black greatsword surged with fierce energy.

His entire body’s mana boiled up.

All his focus was directed solely at his sword.

‘Even a little closer to that person’s sword…’

Sylbeta Sias.

His lord, known as the ‘Knight of Thunderstorms.’

Hoping to reach the sword like a thunderstorm.

Did the Basilisk sense that its prey was making its final stand?

It swelled its scales to the fullest in vigilance.

-Kiaaa!

The Basilisk opened its mouth wide.

As its massive jaws descended to swallow the Dark Knight’s body whole from above.

“Haaaaaaaah!”

Squeezing out every last bit of his strength, he unleashed a desperate, thunderous strike.

At that moment, the wall that had been blocking the Dark Knight crumbled.

As he struck, his aura threads changed.

Dozens of strands of aura threads.

Those threads intertwined and merged into a single form.

That strike was…

Kwarrrrrng, Kwagaaang!

An ‘Aura Blade’ in the shape of a lightning bolt.

The power that only those at the level of a superhuman, a Sword Master, could use, was unleashed from the hands of the Dark Knight, Dares Clayman.