The Author's POV

Thump—!

"Done."

I patted my hands while a body fell flat on the ground in front of me. Taking out one of the tubes Melissa had given me moments prior, I opened the Duke's mouth and poured the contents into his throat.

"Ukhah!"

His body jerked immediately after pouring the substance into his mouth, seemingly rejecting its existence.

...But I didn't care and forced the contents in.

His complexion gradually began to fade away, becoming paler by the second, while at the same time, scales began to form on his skin, and black veins began to emerge.

"It looks like it's working."

The poison did indeed look rather effective.

'My body is a lot sorer than I thought.'

Stretching my back, I felt every part of me ache.

'I guess this is a consequence of ingesting the Duchess's blood.'

It was only after I swallowed a bit of her blood that I was able to acquire a Sloth-related ability. Because I didn't take much of it, it wasn't very strong, rather, it was pretty weak, but it was still there.

Furthermore, it was only because I had the Nectar that I even dared to swallow her blood. Had it not been for that, I probably would've never done such a daring thing.

'It was worth it though.'

I refrained from giving the demon a further glance and instead turned to look to my right, where I saw a lovely figure standing with her bow held low in her left hand.

I thanked her.

"Thanks."

"Mhm."

Amanda did nothing more than give a slight nod of her head before walking forward and retrieving the arrow that had pierced the core of the guard.

Putting her arrow away, she looked at me.

"Do you think the demons will be aware that something happened now that he's dead?"

"Don't worry about it."

I reassured her and looked at the Duke beside me.

"Unlike the Duke over here, the guard doesn't have any contractees. His death will not cause any commotion."

According to what the Duchess told me, it was forbidden for the guards to enter into contracts with other beings. I didn't have a crystal clear understanding of the reasoning behind this action, but I knew the Duchess wouldn't intentionally mislead me about something of this nature.

Thus, I just went ahead and killed them. It saved me from using all of the gallbladder.

Lifting my head to stare at the moon hanging in the sky, I turned around.

"Let's go. We still got a lot of work to do. We only have tonight to act."

***

Duchess Klove, Duke Rhimenhart, Duke Givon, and Duke Ansandricth.

These were the names of the four remaining successors. All of them were at the beginner Duke realm and were rather respected.

Before I left the mansion, the Duchess presented me with a comprehensive booklet that contained all of the information she possessed regarding them.

which they live, the people with whom they associated with, and

like

Unfortunately…

bright, the four of them took their

it the last

Thump—!

before my feet, and I wiped the sweat that had accumulated on my

few hours of hard work, I was able to get everything that

than earth, else I wouldn't have been

the horizon, a bright yellow glow began to tint the sky, and what appeared to be an orange

all of which took

initially struck me as odd, but I very quickly adjusted to the new schedule. I was

"Are you also done?"

I looked at Amanda.

me,

"Yes."

"That's great."

stretched my back

I need to catch up on

everything was said and done, all of the preparations were finished. All I needed

everything to piece itself

I'll know if the plan

"Hm?"

a warm and gentle grasp on my hand. After looking down, I could see a soft hand grasping mine. Raising my head a little, I found

smiled at

"Let's go."

she could still be cute while under the

***

at Point Z has failed. The enemy

X has failed. The enemy seemed prepared.

has failed. The enemy

inundated with a tidal wave of notifications, all of which came in the form of an alarm

were the only sound that rang within the

message, cracks

'What's going on?'

to him that the

something that they had meticulously prepared in order to take advantage of the ability that one

one to

wasn't what surprised him the most,

fact that they were aware, in some way,

they should've been

"A traitor?"

Other

things rather

a lot of plans, and he had even sacrificed several high ranking members in order to achieve his

could

since I'd

they took was tracked by the chip. Be it when they ate, slept, or went to the

constantly monitoring everything that they were seeing and

stupid of them to

this that Hemlock was reasonably confident that

"Just who…"

dwell on it for

empty space of the hall,

came from, he was surprised to see two crimson red eyes staring back at him. His figure was cloaked by the darkness of

"It's you?"

"Surprised?"

Tap. Tap. Tap.

rhythmic echo of his steps reverberated throughout the empty hall, and shortly thereafter, Kevin made his way

spoke, allowing the silence to permeate the entire