NOVEL NEXT Chapter 306
<306 - Veterans Draw the Big Picture>
I picked the wrong fight.
When Jonnas used his powers instead of me, the defeat of Anrage’s Apostle was already sealed.
As I used the crew members packed with latent Mana Poison as fuel, the poison stacks just kept rising.
Especially since I absorbed a huge amount of fuel twice, a full stack was already guaranteed.
Booom!
[Latent Period Ends]
[Mana Paralysis Poison Total Release]
At the most critical moment, the release of mana was blocked.
Low could no longer stop Jonnas’s attack and was instantly pierced through the chest by steel thorns.
The steel thorns burrowed into his body, absorbing all the iron in his blood and even changing the color of the blood.
Gack!
As Anrage’s Apostle wreaked havoc on a thousand crew members, his end came strikingly hollow.
“How… could you have predicted all of this…?”
“It was a fixed element that Anrage’s Apostle would appear on the Uninhabited Island Auction Cruise Ship!”
“A fixed element… an unchanging immutable fate… did you read my desires…?”
“If there’s information and a way to break it, why wouldn’t I use it? Plus, the rewards are plentiful!”
Hack… “So you purposely left openings to incite my desires…?”
If he hadn’t instigated a mutiny, he wouldn’t have been granted the authority to expand his
Because of the Director’s engraved gold decree, he would have been trapped in a limited zone, endlessly wasted time under the oppression of other selves.
However, many students crossed the line, allowing strong selves to gradually surface.
“Controlling the losers of the auction to send them back on the ship… it was all to wear down my other selves until my restraints loosened… even facilitating a situation where their circumstances would have no choice but to liberate me…”
He was played.
From the beginning, he had only been toyed with by a little child whose head might not even reach his waist.
Reading and inciting human desires.
This child’s talent was truly extraordinary.
The most dangerous monster of the Wahyhiemhai Foundation.
Comparable to that [Director].
“My lady, there’s no need for you to grace the end like this. Please, give the order to execute.”
“No! We just caught a hidden boss! We can at least have a conversation at the end, right? Any last words before you breathe your last?”
I wanted to ask this, as Oknodie kindly urged me.
“There was a fatal flaw in your plan…”
“A flaw?”
“Relying on the deaths of crew members as collateral…”
“Oh, really!”
“Aren’t you afraid? So many will die just because of your single decision.”
The maid who rescued the sacrifices during the chaos and the assassin Jiang.
The three students freed with their help peered nervously from beyond the destroyed lobby.
Their shadows couldn’t have gone unnoticed, cast upon their feet.
Yet Oknodie smiled.
She didn’t feign or stutter; she answered honestly.
“All crew members on the cruise ship are sinners, anyway! Even if not, they are mere extra NPCs, so whether they live or die, the main story won’t change!”
Ugh. Cough, cough. The Foundation has raised another nonsensical monster… The main story, however horrible a future it points to, is so terrifying that the death of a thousand people wouldn’t even cause me to blink.
“Umm~ how was it? Extras do die quite a bit, yes?”
“You are worse than a Demonic Contractor. It wouldn’t be strange if you showed your true colors as the Dark Princess and aimed for the next Demon King position.”
But this arrogance was, in fact, your mistake.
Low’s eyes sparkled brightly as he raised his soul to manifest a colossal contract magic circle.
A post-mortem magic circle that activates the moment the conditions are met.
Death had already come within arm’s reach.
The contract to offer his soul to the demon who had bestowed strength upon him was about to be fulfilled.
He had no intention of doing anything that would benefit the very demon who would torment him for eternity.
However, he had no reason to refuse the act of avenging a hate from life.
He embedded the information about Oknodie’s reality, the last thing he saw and heard, into his soul.
“With this, a demon knowing your true self has been born into the world. The other Demonic Contractors under his command will not be as easy as I was!”
“Why tell me that?”
“So you can tremble in fear.”
“Wow. So scary!”
“Ha. I can’t even feel a hint of fear from you. How about this?”
As life and soul began to be drawn from him, he shakily lifted his trembling arm to point behind Oknodie.
“Your ‘friends’ have heard about your true self. You showed your true form because you trusted them, but can they trust you?”
Everyone eavesdropping jolted in surprise.
Low confirmed at least one thing before his final departure.
Oknodie’s friends felt fear.
For the story he’d revealed.
For the reality of Oknodie they didn’t know.
For the true danger of the Dark Princess hiding behind the guise of a small, cute child.
For the consequences of what the Foundation’s chief scholarship student saw as the so-called ‘main story.’
“It’s alright!”
Oknodie only showed confidence.
“As long as I keep up my favorability, they won’t betray me!”
“Let’s wait and see. Whether your confidence wins or mine does. While my breath ends here today… our confidence will be resolved in the distant future. This is… the power of the Apostle of the God of Corruption revealing human nature and talent, Anlage. Oknodie, this is a curse upon you.”
Oknodie answered by stabbing her dagger deep into her chest.
“It’s too long! Keep your last words under 300 characters. The game’s national rules must be followed!”
Ha ha. What a crazy girl.
Not seeing the day when her arrogance comes to an end is truly a pity.
As the soul of Apostle Low began to disappear far away, the selves that had not found a new vessel screamed and scattered into the air.
*
[You have defeated Hidden Boss Anrage’s Apostle.]
[Experience efficiency has increased by 5 times due to contribution bonus.]
[Experience efficiency has increased by 3 times due to last hit bonus.]
[Experience efficiency has increased by 2 times due to hidden boss bonus.]
[+300 Experience for Psychological Prediction.]
[+300 Experience for Action Prediction.]
[…]
[+150 Experience for Fear Induction.]
[+150 Experience for Operation Planning.]
[…]
[+90 Experience for Manipulation Skill.]
[+90 Experience for Mana Control Skill.]
[…]
[+30 Experience for Perfect Performance.]
[+30 Experience for Scary Child.]
[Challenge [Defeat Hidden Boss Anrage's Apostle] has been achieved.]
[You have acquired the title [Hidden Slayer].]
[Due to the title effect, all function bonus values against hidden bosses increase by 10%.]
[You have gained 1 million points as a title achievement bonus.]
Wow! Since this was an event overcome in reality and not a dream, the rewards are ridiculously plentiful.
With this, I’m rich too!
Excited, I grabbed April’s hand and spun around, and a different colored spear appeared.
[God of Corruption Anrage recognizes your existence.]
[“You insignificant creature. For taking my Apostle, I will… Oh? Ooooh? What is this nonsensical talent! You, become my Apostle at once. Then I shall forgive all sins!”]
[Anrage offers you an Apostle contract.]
Huh?
Apostle contract? No way!
Even if you dangle a little extra power, what’s the catch? “You can’t do this or that, and this is a request so you have to do it!”
Who would want a role of running errands for the gods?
[You refuse the Apostle contract.]
[“You insufferable brat. No matter how outstanding your talent, how dare you, a mere mortal…?”]
[Anrage senses the gaze of another god and is startled.]
[Anrage panics and hastily retreats.]
“?”
Once noticed by a god, whether you accept or refuse the offer, being bothersome is the same.
The rewards are huge, but I was ready to deal with the annoying consequences, yet the opponent withdrew unexpectedly cleanly.
Could it be that the one true god Sofemia helped by saving the hero?
If even the God of Corruption Anrage, one of the 24 major gods, retreated so easily, it probably has to be that one true god Sofemia.
I’m relieved I got everything!
Gah.
“Are you okay, my lady!?”
“I’m fine. I just used a spell with a bit too much capacity, so I felt a little dizzy for a moment.”
Blood magic indeed has some limitations.
To manipulate mosquitoes, I first need my blood filled with dark mana to be sucked out to help them grow.
While making sure to poison two thousand crew members, my blood lost was significant.
‘I’m glad the Apostle of Anrage is as foolish as in the original game!’
It’s too strong in a direct confrontation, but since it shares one body with many, it doesn’t take notice of the different mana properties nonchalantly.
Low’s personality, which does not feel any discomfort in having such weak power, was an idiot perfectly optimized to manifest latent Mana Poison.
“I can’t believe I just took down that monster so easily…”
The hero mumbled with disbelief on his face.
Well, that’s only because the hero is a strength-focused, intelligence-blind fool!
It’s not that this was an easy strategy.
In order to inject all the crew members with paralysis poison, I need to feed them alcohol laced with dark mana.
To get everyone to drink, I needed to trigger a jackpot event in the auction house on the cruise ship, and triggering a jackpot by luck isn’t so simple after all!
I had to deceive the casino security and dealers who were glaring at me, as if I knew you were going to cheat, to trigger the jackpot.
Not to mention the preparation for the drinks and the poison.
To lace the poison into the liquor, I’d also have to bribe or threaten related individuals.
After going through all that, without allies to incite a rebellion, I would have to recruit an NPC crew member or other NPCs participating in the Uninhabited Island Auction to raise the rebellion, which multiplies the hassle.
In conclusion, even if you know the method to clear it, Hidden Bosses are just annoyingly troublesome beings that require a long series of annoying quests.
Still, it’s lucky the kid is dimwitted! If they were smart, even I, the veteran, would give up on the strategy!
‘Well, calculating the poison that dilutes in the drink and the mana consumption when manifesting the latent poison would indeed have been much larger.’
In the first place, it’s tough to clear an event that normally comes in the second or third year during the first year; usually, when that time arrives, one would feel light and breezy without dizziness.
But it’s rewarding to have pushed through as a first-year, twisting and turning my whole body.
Experience points shot up, lots of points awarded, and hidden boss special bonuses too.
Moreover, having saved allies in near-death situations raises favorability a ton, right?
[Scary Child debuff activated.]
[Many students feel fear from your ruthless plan, which relied on the deaths of a thousand crew members to defeat Anrage’s Apostle.]
[Favorability of many students drops significantly.]
[Obedience of organization members rises significantly.]
Ah.
But, I didn’t know this.
Everyone started looking at me awkwardly.