The Young Master in the Shadows - Chapter 426: Poison Lord

“Tolin greets the poison Lord,” Tolin said as soon she entered the hall, falling to one knee and bowing in front of the young man who was inspecting her ancestor’s heart.

“Do you know what you did wrong?” the poison lord asked directly after one full minute, not sparing her a glance!

“I am sorry! This servant has ruined the lord’s plan and had to summon your lordship ahead of schedule!” Tolin said as she shivered a bit. That’s what Rita who was eavesdropping from behind one of the columns at the entrance noticed.

“Not only that… You also interrupted my solidifying of the concepts I collected from this world fragment!” he said as out of thin air, he drew a dangerous-looking whip and struck it on the ground next to her, leaving a deep gouge in the marbled floor. She didn’t dare to move or respond.

“I am sorry!” she bowed again hitting the floor with her head.

“What happened?” he asked coldly.

“Ann that bitch escaped the trap somehow and managed to scam me… I had to use the dungeon summoning talisman you gave me as a last resort to escape!” she quickly explained.

“Oh… Do you mean it was not your fault?” he asked in a cold voice striking again at the ground, making Tolin shiver more.

“I… I didn’t mean that… I just don’t know how she escaped… I… I might have underestimated her… I am very sorry….” Tolin explained, stuttering as her legs shook.

“Might have? Do you even know how much your little mistake has cost me?!” he interrupted. “Your entire family was a crucial part of my plan for the coming war!… Do you think a simple apology would suffice?”

“I will die for you my lord if that may appease your anger!” she said as she hit the floor with her head bowing.

“Oh… How would killing you benefit me?” he sneered,  “You still have some uses… You are one of my favorite toys after all.…” he said, looking at her while pondering.

“Thank you for your praise, your lordship!” she said, wiggling her butt as she bowed.

“I will forgive you this time since everything else went according to plan… But there would not be a second time!” he sighed, making Tolin relax a bit.

“Thank you, my lord…” she said. “Hopefully your lordship had found what you were looking for…” she asked. He clearly forgave her because he was in a good mood, and she was subtly trying to push his thoughts in that direction.

“I did! Thanks to all the chaos, those old fogies also miscalculated, not expecting me to attack, poisoning them before they could unleash their full power!” he said with a smirk, looking at the dead wiverns.

“Are those the guardians?” Tolin, who raised her head a little to look at the corpses, asked. “They were monsters?” she exclaimed, making Rita also squint at them.

“Wyverns Knights…” the lord said. “A relic from the time of the Soul Empress… Too bad they refused to join me, preferring to defend their traitor general’s soul until the end,” he said, squeezing the beating heart in his hand a bit.  “Now all Authority he stole would be mine!”

“Authority? Soul Empress?” Tolin frowned and asked. She clearly was not informed of her lord’s plan.

“A long dead nasty hag… Don’t concern yourself with such things,” he said with a sneer.  “Did you finish cleaning up your mess?” he asked, clearly changing the subject.

“Ahh… Yes, Marcos and everyone who was a part of the plan are dead!” she said directly. There was no remorse in her voice. Rita almost gasped hearing her. Was the patriarch dead?

“You don’t sound sorry about killing your lover and children!” the poison lord said, with his casual playful tone. It was impossible to tell if he was serious or joking, just like a venomous snake.

“My lord… You don’t have to tease me… You know those bastards were not my children, just props to complete the act! And I only agreed to sleep with that ad excuse of a man because of the plan, knowing that your lordship takes pleasure in sleeping with other people’s women, my lord…” she said, beginning to shake her body. This time not out of fear!

What the fuck was going on here? Rita who watched with a frown wondered. This woman was changing her mood too fast! Moments ago she was shivering in fear, no she was acting like a bitch in heat!

“Ha ha ha….. True…” the poison lord said. “Ever since we met in that Ruin, you knew how to say things that pleased me!”

“I am made to serve, my lord…” she smiled. “My lord… May I ask you one question…” she suddenly said.

“What?” he asked.

“Why not kill this entire damn family once and for all? For you it would be super easy…” she said in a voice full of hatred. A different mood swing?

“Definitely Not… That would alert the others!  No one must know that I was the one who got Nickolas’s soul!” He said, putting the heart inside a black sack and then taking another similar heart from his stroke ring and putting it in the hole inside the crystal, before throwing a talisman at it and making the crystal wall close up around it. “This way it would be better!” he said with an evil smirk.

“Is that heart poisoned?” Tolin asked as she slowly stood up.

“My little girl has become smart…” he smirked, roughing up her hair.

“Thank you my lord…” she said as she gasped for breath, her eyes were those of a woman in ecstasy.

“Now, it is about time we leave, this dungeon is about to be conquered and I can’t enter the world yet!” he said, sighing.

“Already?” Tolin was taken aback. She was clearly hoping for some action here on top of the Wyvern corpses. That’s how Rita felt.

“Two scions are hacking at that poor shell of a dragon… It will not last for long!” he said.

“Scions?” Tolin frowned. Her lord was using many strange and unfamiliar terms.

“Yup… Too bad they are not suitable to become my vessels… “ he sighed as if talking to himself. “One has a very fragile fate, and the other is a damn Hero…”

“…” Tolin just nodded despite clearly not understanding anything.

“Well… I think…” the young man paused and looked at the entrance. “REVEAL YOURSELF!” he howled angrily, making Tolin draw her sword and immediately turn to face the gate.

Rita shivered in fear. Was she discovered? SHIT!

Before she could move, she felt the Poison Lord’s whip pass by her head, missing her by a few feet before it was pulled back. It was twirling around the neck of a young man who was dragged to the floor, falling in front of the poison lord with his hands around his neck, struggling to get rid of the whip.

“Look what we have here….” the poison lord said with a smirk.

“Ahh.. don’t… kill… me!” The young man struggled to speak with his neck constrained.

“Who the fuck are you?” Tolin asked him.

“I am paul… Please… spare me… I will do anything…. I work for you….” he began to plead as his face turned blue, with tears filling his eyes.

“As if someone like you can help me…” the poison lord smirked, kicking Paul straight in the stomach, making him fly away and hit the wall behind him before falling to the ground beside one of the wyvern corpses.

“Is he dead?” Tolin asked, looking at the collapsed Paul.

“As if something in this level can kill a demon… He is just pretending…” the Poison Lord said.

“Demon?” Tolin frowned.

“Yeah… Just a little parasite…” the poison lord said. “Your family is so rotten, that even these maggots began to appear… I am shocked they were able to survive until this day!” he sighed.

“What should I do with him? He must have seen what your lordship did!” Tolin asked as she began to walk toward Paul with her weapon drawn.

“Nothing… Don’t go near it!” the Poison lord said, waving his hand and making a green light shoot toward Paul who was playing dead. The moment it hit him Paul turned into a green goo that evaporated moments later.  “Now, he would never talk!”

“Yes! Your lordship!” Tolin said.

“I think we are finished here…” the Poison lord sighed.

Moving his hand in a brown motion, all of a sudden, a hole seemed to have been torn in the space around him. It was as if the space itself was melting.

“Let’s go…”  he grabbed Tolin’s hand and jumped.

Moments later the tear in space began to heal. It closed up 3 minutes later.

…

“Damn it!” Theodore yelled as he watched nervously.

Alice and the girls fought the Corpse Dragon with all their might, but none of the family team who wished to help them could jump into the arena that was at the moment strangely surrounded by some kind of a barrier that stopped anyone from approaching.

Ann, who couldn’t fully understand many of the inscriptions on the wall before finally did.

This place was not a temple, but an Arena where the sacrifices engaged in a battle against monstrous foes as a kind of ritual.

Yes, this entire Arena must have been a place for some kind of game. All the mazes and tunnels were made to service this Arena!

The temple Zed described before, the one where he was transported from, was definitely one of the entrances, where they brought in the gladiators or the monsters.

The hall they were in at the moment, must have been the VIP hall built to oversee the battle below. The throne must have been made for some king to watch the games.

The wall that was broken earlier due to the shockwave of the battle below was not made of stone, but some kind of transparent crystal that has gotten dark and brittle over time.

“What should we do?” Octavia asked nervously watching her daughter barely miss a volley of black liquid that the decaying dragon spat at her.

“We should send the men to find the Arena’s real entrance!” Mike said.

“No… That would spread our men too thin, It is too dangerous!” Premios said.

“But my daughter!” Octavia yelled.

“I don’t think she is doing bad…” Ann interjected, making everyone shut up. “Look… “ she added, her eyes following Zoe. She knew before that Falcon lied about the girl’s level. And watching her now, she didn’t seem to be at a disadvantage.

“But…” Octavia frowned. So did Zed whose squinting eyes couldn’t leave Kuu. Her dress was a little torn apart, revealing her tan muscular thighs.

“Mother is right… They are doing fine!” Theodore said. Finally realizing what his mother saw.

“It is almost over…” Ann said. The others didn’t notice it, but she had. The girls who seemed to have been moving randomly had a pattern to their fighting style.

That servant girl Kuu with Zoe was methodically hacking away at the dragon, tiring it and gaining all the Agro as Zola assisted them from the back.

Alice on the other hand, only attacked sparingly. She was secretly focusing on setting up a network of talismans all around. She was setting a formation to take it out!

All that was left was to drag the dragon to the center and then vanquish it.

“YES! Go, Zola!” Octavia, who finally noticed the girl’s plan, began to cheer at her daughter as the others in the group watched.

Still… Ann, who was smirking, felt that there was something very strange. It was the dragon’s attack. Why the hell was it spitting mud? It was the same kind of matter they spotted in the tunnels. The stuff Zed fell in.

At first, Ann thought it was poisonous, but like what happened with Zed before, Zola did get a few splashes on her as she dodged, and she seemed to be perfectly fine. Zoe also stepped on some of this mud on the floor, and it didn’t hurt her.

Monsters with the keyword Decay, Corroded, or Corpse usually had some very nasty poisons, that’s why the family had a ton of antidote pills ready when they started the dive here. A ton of antidots that were never used.

Yes, ever since she entered the dungeon, the only poisoning incident they encountered was when the guard touched the Throne and melted.

If not for this, it would have taken them ages to reach this place.

Frowning, Ann looked at the throne and the shallow lake below it…Could it be that something or someone sucked all the poison from this place?

Impossible… That was an absurd idea!

It might have just been that this place is too old that all the poison might have simply long expired…

Yup… That would make perfect sense.

“GO!” Alice shouted from below, making Ann look back at the Arena.

The dragon seemed to have entered the trap zone in the middle of the Arena.

“DRAGON TAMING CHAIN!” Alice yelled, making an aetherial-looking chain appear out of nowhere and constrict the dragon, “ZOE!” she screamed.

Zoe, who seemed to be ready, made a back jump, falling on Kuu’s fist which sprung like a catapult, throwing Zoe high into the air.

“SLAY!” Zoe, who flew high above the chained dragon screamed as she began to fall. In her hand a bladeless sword handle pointing downward. “SHINE!” she screamed.

All of a sudden, something shone in her hand as the sword handle began to grow a long blade of light.

It all took a moment before Zoe and the blade fell upon the Corpse Dragon, cutting it in half with one swing!

THE BOSS WAS DEFEATED!

…

After the poison lord left, Rita didn’t move… She had the time and she was afraid that the poison lord would return. She remembered Victor’s orders to be very cautious.

One minute… Two… Five… Nothing happened.

Suddenly she saw it.

; ;

What? Finally! The poison lord would not be back anymore! She needed to quickly take that fake heart and escape… She couldn’t leave it here or it might endanger the family.

Just as she was about to leave her hiding place and make a move, she felt something.

It was one of the corpses of the guardian wyverns. It started moving.

It was as if it was trying to sit up but didn’t know how to coordinate its body. Making it turn into bizarre angles like some ghost.

Rita didn’t need anyone to explain what happened. She knew what this was. Possession. Earlier when Paul was stuck away, she noticed how he fell over the corpse of this very wivern, with his hand falling at the wyvern’s butt, something the lord didn’t notice from the other angle.… She felt it was very bizarre before, but now she knew why.

“Kaaa….” the Wyvern slowly began to synchronize its movement. The demon was getting used to the new body.

Just as it finally sat up, it felt something grab its neck, then in one smooth movement a sharp dagger slit at…

Sssssssssssssssssssssssssssss….

The wyvern fell to the ground with blood flying all around.

Rita quickly stepped back, then turned to the other wyverns, intending to also slit their throats just in case.

She was not going to allow a demon to rampage in her family!

Too bad she only walked two steps before falling to the ground, it was as if something was trying to take control of her very soul!

…

Poe, who was now called Paul, slowly stood up…

“SǶƖƬ!” he cursed.

He was in a white world, stretching infinitely. A place he was familiar with. The soul realm!

He no longer looked like a man, but his body resembled his original, that of an ugly boy with a balding head, green skin, webbed fingers, and a turtle shell on his back. A kappa!

“Ɗ𐤠𐒄Ɲ ƖƬ!” he cursed again as he flexed his muscles, making his soul body go a little foggy and resolidify.

He died not only once, but twice in the span of a few minutes. Having to take the body of a dead Wyvern in the process and revive it.

Damn it! This cost him a lot of energy. In his entire life, he had never been put in such a situation!

Thankfully, whoever sneaked behind him and slit his throat, had no idea that as long as he didn’t fully integrate with the new body, he had the ability to jump and possess any attacker. This was one of the perks of his soul-transfer skill.

Now, he just had to take over this body and check who it was.

“Now… Where is the soul of this body? I am hungry…” he asked as he began to look around.

“Are you looking for me?” someone asked, startling him.

He began to look around… There was no one… Strange… Was it hiding?

“I am up here…” the delicate girly voice said, making Paul look up.

Above him, filling the sky, a large purple ethereal dragon was looking at him with shiny white eyes.

“Ahhh…” he shitted himself… His soul did… That’s what he felt…. For the first time, he knew what the world fear was.

Moments later the dragon pounced on him, swallowing him in one gulp.