Chapter 305: Greed

In the next instant, the plague dissolved into a cloud of smoke and materialized behind Lumine, throwing a devastating hook punch. Lumine spun around, heart racing as he saw the terrifyingly fast fist heading straight for him. It was unbelievably swift—even with the absurd [Skill] that should’ve allowed him to battle an Advanced, it wasn’t enough against an Expert.

Unable to raise his injured left arm, Lumine instinctively shielded himself with his right. The punch connected violently, sending shockwaves through his bones and causing the ground beneath him to fracture. Lumine skidded backward, feet dragging through the shattered earth. The wind roared furiously, tossing his hair and rustling the plague’s cloak. Before Lumine could even blink, the plague appeared directly in front of him again.

‘Fast! He’s too fast!’

Pain throbbed mercilessly through Lumine’s trembling arm, blood dripping from fresh wounds. With burning determination, he narrowly dodged another lightning-fast strike. A surge of resolve filled him as he caught sight of the maid frozen in terror and Yelena lying motionless.

The plague watched impassively, relaxed, observing Lumine’s desperation. Lumine’s expression darkened. Taking a deep breath, he released it slowly. The wind around him erupted, scattering shards of grass into the air as he surged forward, fist engulfed in roaring flames aimed directly at the plague’s jaw.

The plague effortlessly evaded, tilting his upper body aside with chilling ease. In that instant, Lumine activated another skill:

“[Force]!”

Mana swirled violently between them, slamming into the plague like a solid wall and hurling him back several meters. Yet immediately, he dissolved into black mist again. Lumine gritted his teeth in frustration.

‘What the hell is this?! Every time things get tough, he becomes mist—is that his [Unique Skill]!?’

If that was true…how could he possibly counter it?

Desperately, Lumine drew an awakened-ranked sword from his storage ring and with his good hand, spun swiftly, hurling it through the air like a missile. The blade sliced through the wind, aimed perfectly at the plague’s reappearing figure. Yet once more, the blade passed through harmlessly as the plague transformed into mist.

Expecting this, Lumine pivoted instantly, launching an overhead punch enveloped not in flames, but an intense blue hue. This time, the plague was fully solid. He dodged the punch narrowly, but the sheer force exploded outward, carving a massive trench that demolished the estate’s distant gate.

“Hm? A combat art? Quite dangerous, I see…” the plague remarked with curious calmness from behind his mask.

Ignoring the taunt, Lumine unleashed another uppercut, again wrapped in blazing blue flames. The plague sidestepped smoothly, countering swiftly with an open palm that struck Lumine’s broken left arm.

“Agh!” Lumine screamed, agony engulfing him as he was flung backward, skidding painfully across the ground. Each movement magnified his suffering until despair threatened to consume him. Yet, through blurred vision, Lumine saw the plague approaching to finish him.

Then, a sudden cry rang out:

“Gah!”

A green translucent mana arrow pierced deeply into the plague’s right shoulder, blood immediately staining the grass crimson. Whirling around furiously, the plague’s calm demeanor shattered completely.

“How!?” he roared, genuinely enraged.

Yelena lay on the ground, barely conscious yet fiercely clutching her bow, aimed unwaveringly at the plague.

‘Now!’

Lumine seized the chance without hesitation. Before the plague could react, Lumine’s hand—shrouded in blazing blue—grabbed his masked face and slammed him violently into the earth, creating a massive crater.

“Jump back!” Yelena shouted, her voice raw and strained.

Lumine instantly obeyed, leaping clear just as the embedded arrow detonated in a fiery green explosion. Another anguished roar came from within the rising dust. As the haze cleared, Lumine recoiled, fighting nausea—the plague lay panting, clutching his shoulder, now grotesquely torn open, bone gruesomely exposed.

Hurriedly, Lumine glanced toward Yelena, who was pale, drenched in sweat, her eyelids fluttering weakly.

‘I need to get her out of here!’

But just as Lumine moved to reach her, the plague’s voice thundered:

“Enough!”

An icy chill shot through Lumine’s nerves, freezing him instantly. In mere moments, his entire body became utterly paralyzed.

‘No! Move, damn it! Move!’

The plague sighed deeply, rising slowly to his feet, his frustration evident as he clutched his head with his remaining good arm.

“Annoying… so damned annoying. How long has it been since my blood was spilled? So much precious blood wasted! So much potential lost!”

As Lumine watched in helpless horror, dark, threadlike tendrils emerged from the plague’s gruesome wound. They wove swiftly, reattaching torn flesh, mending bone and sinew until the shoulder was fully restored, leaving no trace of injury.

“Ah…” Lumine gasped weakly, terror gripping him tightly as he struggled to comprehend what he had just witnessed.

‘What…what the hell did I just see?’

He just… healed himself? Like that? Such a serious wound—gone, just like that?

Lumine stared in horror as the plague walked toward Yelena, who had once again fallen unconscious. His eyes trembled.

‘What do I do?! I can’t even move a muscle!’

Then a thought struck him—

He could still move his mana.

‘This better work…!’

Lumine activated another skill:

“[Mana Burst].”

Suddenly, explosively, all the mana within his body discharged in a violent blast. The entire estate trembled—cracks formed, debris fell, the walls groaned and split. It felt like an earthquake, with Lumine at its epicenter. Unstable mana surged outward like a violent sea crashing against a cliff, hitting both him and the plague.

Then, without warning, Lumine was flung backwards. He crashed through the estate wall, stumbling and smashing through several more before finally rolling to a painful halt.

“A…AAGH!”

Pain flooded him. His entire body screamed. His left arm felt like it was being torn from his body. He forced his trembling frame up with his right hand, gasping.

It hurt. It hurt so much.

“Khah!” Blood spilled from his mouth as he coughed, staining the ground. His left eye was bruised, his lips split and bleeding.

…But he could move.

Dragging his feet, he summoned wind around his legs and pushed forward.

‘It hurts. My arms hurt. One is already broken. I can feel internal injuries. I have to be faster!’

He moved through the wreckage he’d created. More debris fell like a rain of stone from the fractured estate.

When he finally reached the garden, he saw the plague.

He stood over Yelena, while the maid lay motionless on the other side.

‘Unconscious… both of them…’

Then, more horror gripped his heart.

The plague stretched out his right hand toward Yelena.

Beneath his wrist, three long, thin, needle-like claws extended, gleaming like a predator’s weapon.

Instinctively, Lumine looked at his own left arm.

Six puncture wounds.

Six. Hidden beneath blood. He hadn’t even noticed. Hadn’t even felt them.

Lumine gritted his teeth.

‘I’m such an idiot…!’

He should have listened! He should have run away!

He had gambled both his and Yelena’s life for nothing more than greed!

For his own stupid, selfish greed!

Stupid! Stupid!! Stupid!!!

Instantly, he summoned his soul armor. A radiant, white-plated set of armor wrapped around him from neck to toe—like something pulled from a fairytale knight. It hid the wounds, the dirt, the blood… the shame.

The plague stared at him, unmoved, hand still hovering above Yelena.

“So many skills. Soul armor, soul weapon, ranked weapon, an absurd [Unique Skill], combat arts… and yet you’ve barely trained properly in actual combat—at least not against humans. Still a student, then? Who is your master, kid?”

Lumine said nothing. His throat burned. He could barely breathe, let alone speak.

“Did the princess always have such a skill? Or did you give it to her? A healing trait that activates while she sleeps… quite fascinating. If I didn’t have to kill her, I would have taken her in. Experimented on her.”

Lumine clenched his jaw so tightly that blood filled his mouth.

“Well, we’ve played enough. You were smart to figure out the poison I injected could be purged with a strong enough shock. But I have to go. Hopefully that annoying eyepatch has completed his task in Keft by now.”

He mumbled to himself.

Lumine launched forward with everything he had.

But just as he was about to reach her, the plague’s voice rang out, cold and certain:

“You should know… an Expert’s greatest advantage is that they are never alone.”

“…!”

Lumine froze in place.

In that instant, Lumine felt it—a dreadful, alien presence fixated entirely on him. A gaze so cold and unnatural it clawed into his very being. His head snapped instinctively to the right.

There—

“Ah…”

He saw something he could barely describe—and wished he couldn’t.

An abomination.

It resembled a heaving, crawling hill of wet carapace and flesh, roughly the size of a large cart or a mutated ox. Its body was riddled with honeycomb-like cavities, oozing translucent larvae that squirmed out, fell to the ground, twitched, and burrowed back into its own mass. Every inch of its surface pulsed and flexed as though it were breathing from every pore.

Dozens of thin, tendril-jointed insectoid legs dragged it across the earth, each step slow and deliberate.

It was crawling toward him.

Lumine’s hands curled into tight fists, so tight that his nails punctured skin. Blood welled in his palms as he trembled.

That thing—

‘Is that… a soul echo?’

“That is a Cthellid,” the plague said calmly, still facing Yelena. “One of the only things in my life that almost killed me.”

Lumine tore his eyes away and prepared to move, but—

A horrible, alien hum filled the air.

It came from the Cthellid.

A moment later, a sharp pain exploded in Lumine’s skull, and his knees buckled. He collapsed, his muscles spasming violently.

‘No…!’

Through the haze of pain, Lumine lifted his eyes. His vision blurred, and through it, he saw the plague’s arm inching slowly toward Yelena’s face. Closer.

And closer.

He couldn’t move.

‘No! No! No! No! Please! No, please!’

His soul screamed.

Anyone. Anything! He’d accept anything—

Just please—don’t let her die!

The system! The God of Life! Anyone… please…!

And then—

Just as the needles were about to pierce her forehead—

They stopped.

Inches away.

“Huh?”

Confusion echoed from behind the plague’s mask as his arm trembled.

Then, Lumine heard another voice.

“Phew… made it in time.”

Both the plague and Lumine turned.

Lumine blinked rapidly, trying to focus. His spasms stopped. The Cthellid halted.

And then—they saw…

“…Vergil?” Lumine’s voice trembled, barely more than a whisper.

Vergil stood at the shattered gates of the estate.

To his left stood Celestina Frost.

To his right—Instructor Ranni.