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.

environment in which they live, the people with whom

seemed like a lively

Unfortunately…

four of them took their

makes it the last

Thump—!

demon fell before my feet, and I wiped the

few hours of hard work, I was able to get

times more than earth,

gaze toward the horizon, a bright yellow glow began to tint the sky, and what appeared to be an orange sphere began to rise into the

half days, all of which took place during

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

"Are you also done?"

I looked at Amanda.

back at me, she nodded her

"Yes."

"That's great."

stretched my back and

go back then. I need to catch up on

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

for everything to piece

I wake up, I'll know if the plan worked or

"Hm?"

about to leave, I felt 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 Amanda quietly staring

at her

"Let's go."

still be cute while under the influence of

***

Z has failed. The enemy seemed prepared. Requesting

at Point X has failed. The enemy seemed prepared.

has failed. The

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

continuous notifications were the only sound that rang within the confines of the now empty

at the message, cracks formed on Hemlock's

'What's going on?'

a surprise to him that the Alliance had discovered the trap

meticulously prepared in order to take

to control

surprised him

that they were aware, in some

wasn't something they

"A traitor?"

Other

things rather

up a lot of plans, and he had even sacrificed several

who could it

definitely not the other high members since I'd know thanks to the chip in their

chip. Be it when they ate, slept, or went to the bathroom... the chip

had a specific team that was constantly monitoring everything that they were seeing and hearing. Furthermore, he had made it so that

them

because of this that Hemlock was reasonably

"Just who…"

dwell on it

within the empty space of

was surprised to see two crimson red eyes staring back at him. His figure

"It's you?"

"Surprised?"

Tap. Tap. Tap.

hall, and shortly thereafter, Kevin made his

of them spoke, allowing the silence to permeate the entire