The Book Eating Magician - chapter-367

A single ray of light crossed the sky. The sky was getting darker and
darker because the sun had started to set, so a person would’ve been
able to see the light if they raised their head in a timely manner. It
was a fireball that divided the sky like a meteor. The identity of the
fireball was naturally Veronica, who fled from Hyungkang Castle.

Kwaaaaaaah-!

In the draconic state, her output was three times higher than usual.
Furthermore, all the power was poured toward the flames on her back as
she accelerated without caring about her limits. The momentum was enough
to reach supersonic speed. The clouds near her were torn apart, and the
sudden heat burning in empty space produced a tail of light. People
thought it was a shooting star and sought the trail, but Veronica was
already kilometers away.

‘C-Choking! The pressure is too high! I won’t last for another three
minutes!’

If she were a complete dragon, it would’ve been possible for her to not
rely on oxygen to breathe. However, she was only a quarter dragon. She
couldn’t exceed a human’s biological limits, even in draconic mode.
Veronica’s eyes were bloodshot, and she was breathing heavily. She
couldn’t breathe, but she had to exhale in order to release the heat in
her body.

“Haack! Hak! Haaaah…” Her heart beat like it was going to explode,
and her boiling blood made her dizzy.

How comfortable would she feel if she could close her eyes right now?

If she hadn’t cooled down occasionally in some dark clouds, even the
vitreous of her eyes would’ve evaporated. She just escaped without
resisting the heat of friction. Moving without knowing the direction, she
was just being dragged by instincts.

How far away was she from the hideous, beautiful monster? 100 kilometers?
200 kilometers?

‘My mind is fine. I won’t go back.’

Veronica’s limit came before she could complete the calculations.

Peeng! Her wings exploded and scattered. Her skin that was covered in
scales returned to being smooth skin, and her dragon pupils returned to
those of a normal human. The draconic mode was forcefully turned off! She
had consumed this much power just trying to escape and survive, not in a
battle.

Kwang! Kuwang! Kukukung! Her body plummeted to the ground, breaking
through a few trees and rocks, and then bouncing tremendously off the
ground. Veronica would’ve died instantly if she were an ordinary human
being. Fortunately, the strength of her flesh was like steel even before
the transformation.

“…Uh, urghh!”

If her body condition were normal…

‘Oh, I have to move. A pursuit is obviously coming.’

She could be reassured about escaping quite a long distance, but her
instincts were sharper than ever now. Before crossing the castle wall,
Veronica had seen it.

‘That monster wants to kill me.’

The red eyes of Lust were filled with killing intent. Those dull eyes
didn’t find any value in Veronica. A madness in which all living things
were just seen as a means to be used… Regardless of strength or
weakness, that transcendental darkness was fearful to face.

“—Ku, ock!” Veronica tried desperately to raise her body. She
didn’t have the strength to escape, but she didn’t want to sit back
and wait for death.

Veronica took a deep breath before walking. The priority was to recover
her magic power rather than widen the distance by running. One breath
caused a handful of magic power to fill her circles. It was quite strange
to feel her hollow and empty circles, which were usually overflowing all
the time.

Still, five or maybe ten minutes would be enough. The moment Veronica was
trying to catch her breath…

Roaaaaar!

A storm struck her body from the sky.

“Aaaaack!”

Despite her high body strength, she was cut by the wind, and a red haze
of blood was blown out. She tried to fly up, but there wasn’t enough
strength in her knees. Veronica used her arms instead of her legs and
barely managed to get up. The tiger king laughed when he saw it.

[Kuhahaha! You ran away well, girlie! Are you doing to try and beg for
your life from this king?]

“…Hah.” Veronica twisted her lips. “You… Are you a dog instead
of a cat?”

[What does that mean?]

“You are barking without context, bark bark! And my hips are already
taken. I don’t desire a son of a bitch like you.”

King Hodae’s face twisted dramatically due to the words. […You bitch,
I will pull out your tongue and eat it.]

With black stripes on white fur, the tiger variant raised his big fists.
Veronica also raised her fists, but it was hard to maintain her posture.
It would be fortunate if she died instantly, rather than endure this.
However, King Hodae didn’t know it was bravado and carefully aimed for
a gap. He had insufficient experience, and the previous fight made him
cautious. He didn’t know that he missed his last chance due to these
four or five seconds of hesitation.

Kwarurung!

Simultaneously, thunder was heard above their heads.

[Hrmm? Thunder when I don’t see any rain clouds?] King Hodae felt
uncomfortable. Meanwhile, Veronica released her posture at the sound of
the thunder. Her vision became blurred because all her tension was
released. She let out an involuntary giggle as she spoke, “Ahahat, I
don’t think you should be looking here.”

[What?]

“Get your guard up, you asshole!” Veronica cried out happily as
strength returned. “My fiance is here!”

Before he could understand her meaning, six lightning bolts fell from the
distant sky in different directions.

It was the ultimate electrical magic—Keraunos.

The six branches of the ultimate magic surrounded King Hodae.

This was the Art of Onmyōdō taboo spirit method—Hexagram curse.

A hell that could burn even sacred creatures was created.

―――――――――――――――!!!

Lightning, lightning, lightning, and lightning. King Hodae was surrounded
by countless lightning strikes, and the air burned. The boundary between
matter and non-matter became meaningless. This was the counter that
Theodore had developed for immortal creatures.

The hell turned into a pillar of pale light. Screams weren’t even
allowed as the bloodline of the sacred creature burned meaninglessly.

“Becky, I’m back.”

“Yes,” Veronica changed positions as she replied. She looked at
Theodore’s back, which seemed bigger and more dependable than ever, and
sat down without any hesitation. Simultaneously, the lightning god curse
finished.

■■■■■■■■――!! King Hodae emerged as a lump of
charcoal. Despite his brain being boiled up, the instincts of a sacred
creature aimed precisely at the enemy. The fist that had the strength of
a dragon aimed for Theodore―

Fairy Dance’s Direct Transmission.

Four Major Hidden Techniques.

Moon Breaking through the Clouds.

However, it couldn’t touch one hair on him.

Puk. A blade protruded from Theodore’s right hand and pierced King
Hodae’s heart.

「Burn him. 」 Theodore added hellfire to make up for what was lacking.
King Hodae was torn apart by Soul Calibre, then the flames quickly spread
over his body. The end of the already dying body was determined.

Kung.

Even a golem made of mithril couldn’t maintain its form after all this
firepower, yet the variant of the sacred white tiger managed to keep his
shape. Theodore remained vigilant to the end, cutting off the charcoal
head. He didn’t bother trying to capture the sacred creature since it
could escape with an unknown power. That’s why his first attack was to
kill, and it was an effective strategy.

“Becky.” Theodore turned away from the tiger king’s body and saw
her.

“Theo!” Unlike her usual self, Veronica’s hair smelled of blood.
Theodore continuously used healing magic on her and didn’t ask what
happened. He just increased the strength in his two arms that held her.

Veronica buried her face in his chest and said in a drained voice,
“Ahaha, it is strange. Why do I keep crying?”

“It’s okay.”

“Theo, do you know? I ran away. I couldn’t win by myself. I left
Sylvia there alone…”

“Veronica,” Theodore said, feeling his chest gradually become wet,
“Sorry to keep you waiting.”

She didn’t need to hear consoling words right now.

“No.”

“I was too late. And…” He embraced her tightly and closed his eyes.
“Thank you for surviving.”

“…Yes.”

The two people stood there for a while. They leaned on each other and
rested their tired and injured bodies from the last few days. There was
still a long way to go, but they could rest for a while.

* * *

Flash!

There was the unique light of space movement, and two shadows stood in
the moonlight. It was the middle of a quiet night, near the walls of
Hyungkang Castle. Theodore and Veronica regained their strength after a
few hours of rest. They knew it was dangerous to do space jumps in the
East Continent right now, but they couldn’t be moving any slower in
this situation. Lust might’ve already gone, but they needed to arrive
at Hyungkang Castle even one second faster.

‘However, I don’t know why Lust did it.’

Theodore, unlike Veronica, had a lot of power left and could afford to
think about the situation during the half day of rest. One of the things
he couldn’t understand was why Lust had come personally to Hyungkang
Castle and taken Sylvia. It wasn’t a cool judgment. If there had been
another person beside Veronica who had been able to shake off her
bewitchment, Lust would’ve lost her life in vain.

‘A master-level power isn’t a big advantage in this situation… Of
course, a magician is quite useful, but it isn’t great enough for Lust
to move directly. She also wouldn’t be seeking hostages. A grimoire
based on rationality won’t make a gamble…’

Hypothesis after hypothesis popped up, only to collapse. No matter how
hard he thought, he couldn’t find the answer. Theodore had great
objective and subjective reasoning, but he couldn’t see Lust’s
intentions.

“…It is an unknown problem.”

There was only one hypothesis left—Lust had information about
‘Sylvia’ that he didn’t know. Theodore Miller didn’t know the
value of Sylvia Adruncus. This was still a hypothesis, but based on this
premise, he could understand Lust’s dangerous outing. If it helped to
carry out her purpose of existence, she wouldn’t worry about the risk.
Theodore’s boldness was based on this impulse.

“―Theo.” At that moment, Veronica’s stiff voice woke him up.
“The castle, look at it.”

“Huh? …This?”

The expressions of the two people stiffened as they climbed the castle
walls without any resistance. They had no choice. Before they arrived at
the castle, they thought that all the soldiers and variants would be in
Lust’s hands. If even a master could be controlled, then they were all
puppets the moment they saw Lust. Nevertheless, this sight couldn’t be
imagined.

“Suicide. Both humans and variants.”

The soldiers had stabbed themselves with a spear or a sword, while the
mutants choked each other or pulled out their own hearts. It was
different from a battle. The living creatures had taken their own lives
without any emotions. The scene of ‘death’ in front of them caused
even the two people, who were accustomed to the horrors of war, to feel
nauseous.

Veronica formed tight fists and growled, “Why? Why? She killed all her
subordinates.”

“Because they have no value.” Theodore was accustomed to the way that
grimoires acted and realized it immediately. “The soldiers of this
castle, as well as the variants she made—they are equally worthless to
Lust.”

“Crazy woman.”

“I agree.”

After replying to Veronica, Theodore was about to say something else, but
he then shut his mouth. There was one sign of life remaining in the
castle. The two of them turned their heads, and the person soon appeared.
He had a stately gait despite his blurred eyes.

“…Head of Hyungkang Castle, Wichung,” Veronica stated.

As if in reaction to Veronica’s murmur, Wichung spoke, “You are
Theodore Miller?”

“That’s right.”

“Theodore Miller, I have a message to pass onto you. Please listen
carefully.” He didn’t wait for Theodore’s reply as the message
flowed out. For some reason, Wichung’s attitude was unfriendly.
“Sylvia Adruncus. Go to the village 50 kilometers north to talk about
her treatment. It is a place where the people who escaped from Hyungkang
Castle have gathered. I will send an incarnation there so wait for
them.”

“You son of a bitch.”

“You! Don’t disgrace the great lady!” Wichung, who was known for
his noble personality, drew his sword at the insult. It was completely
different from his personality before becoming enamored. Despite his
regret, Theodore raised his magic power with a deep sigh. As Gluttony had
explained, the fascination caused by the 6th stage Lust couldn’t be
turned off once a person was caught. Even the owner of a Seven Sins
grimoire was only capable of resisting the indirect fascination. If they
had sex with Lust, they would become a subordinate.

“…You won’t want to live like this.”

This was a sword master who had lost the people he had striven to defend,
who had lost his soul to the grimoire that caused this tragedy… The
determined Theodore raised his hands to meet the sword rushing toward
him. The skill of the sword was no different than before. Despite being
manipulated by Lust’s power, Wichung was still a sword master.

“Rising Sword.” The aura blade soared. Theodore was still at ease
despite the blue aura arriving in front of his neck. He foresaw that it
couldn’t reach him.

Gravity Bound.

Force Grab.

Fusion Complete: Coffin of Gravity.

A ball of black magic captured Wichung’s body. Metal couldn’t endure
this squeezing pressure, but a sword master was truly amazing. The
pressure of the gravity was reduced using his magic resistance, and he
raised one hand to try and destroy the magic.

However, Wichung was already defeated by this point. From the beginning,
he shouldn’t have been caught by the gravity. During the time in which
Wichung’s movement was bound, Theodore carried out his next attack.

Kiiing.

As a flying sword shot out from his left hand, something round fell from
Wichung. Theodore looked down at Wichung’s head and said quietly, “I
will pay back your grudge, Lord Wichung of Hyungkang Castle.”

It was an unpleasant finish.