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HEL SCANS
[Translator – Kie]
[Proofreader – Kawaii]
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Chapter 94: Orc expedition (2)
***
Late at night, the two dark mages began to put their plan into action.
“Noctis, have you prepared what I asked for?”
At Marina’s question, the green-haired woman spoke confidently.
“Of course! I wouldn’t forget something you asked for, Marina.”
As Noctis clapped her hands, the orcs brought in several wooden barrels filled with water.
Marina opened a vial of poison and poured it into the barrels. The poison mixed with the water and turned into a viscous liquid.
“Wow… amazing. What is this?”
“This is a poison called Tears of Septi. It’s made with Moonflower as the main ingredient. Even a small amount of inhalation will cause symptoms such as hallucinations, headaches, and nausea.”
Marina’s voice was filled with pride.
“There are stronger poisons, but if we use them, our traces will be left behind. But Septi’s Tears is different. While they are delirious, we can kill them with the orcs.”
“Ooh… Marina is really smart!”
Marina poured the poison into the other barrels as well. Then, she used dark magic.
The poison in the barrels turned into solid spheres. Noctis looked at the spheres with a curious face.
“What kind of dark magic is this? I’ve never seen it before.”
“It’s dark magic that pollutes the land in a certain area and addicts the creatures on it.”
“Ooh… the dark magic of the Venom sect is always amazing.”
“Order the orcs to throw these spheres over the wall.”
“Got it! Have you guys heard that? Come on, take one each.”
Noctis ordered the orcs. However, none of the orcs obeyed her.
They just stared at the spheres with eyes full of fear and disgust.
They instinctively realized that if they touched the spheres, they would not be safe either.
“Noctis, why aren’t the orcs listening to you?”
“You’re misunderstanding! My kids are so dumb. Just wait a minute.”
Noctis pointed at the orcs and used dark magic. The dark magic that flowed from her flowed into the orcs’ ears.
Kwooaaah!
Cheeek!
The orcs screamed, clutching their heads. After a while, the orcs’ eyes became cloudy.
“Kids, come on, take one of those spheres each.”
The orcs obeyed Noctis’s orders obediently. They held the spheres in their hands.
As soon as the spheres touched their bodies, the orcs’ skin began to rot instantly.
It was a poison that caused hallucinations, but it was so strong that it had a negative effect even if it just touched the skin.
However, the orcs just stood there blankly, unaware of that fact.
“Then hurry up and come back!”
At Noctis’s words, the orcs started running towards the direction of Walnut Castle.
The orcs ran out of the forest and across the meadow. It was late at night and the world was quiet.
“Huh? What is that? It’s an orc?”
“What are orcs doing at this hour…… Ah, there it is!”
But before they could cross half of the meadow, screams were heard. From afar, knights were riding horses and charging towards them.
“Sir Damien was right! The orcs are trying to attack us at night!”
“Those muscle-headed fools are trying to trick us!”
The knights charged towards the orcs. They swung their weapons and cut them down in one blow.
The orcs, having lost their minds to dark magic, did not even think to resist.
“What is this? Something strange is going on.”
The knights looked at the spheres the orcs were holding. The spheres were still round and solid.
“What the hell is this smell?”
“It smells sweet like honey.”
While examining the spheres, the knights suddenly began to cry out in pain.
“Ugh, my head hurts so much all of a sudden.”
“Uuk, my stomach…… Uuk…….”
“What, what is that? A g-ghost is looking at me!”
As the knights were all panicking, someone shouted.
“Calm down everyone! Sir Damien gave us something to eat in case this happened!”
The knights took out small beads from their bosoms and put them in their mouths. They only ate one pill, but the symptoms disappeared instantly.
“Phew…… I feel alive again.”
“What the hell are these spheres?”
“Is it poison? The pungent smell, the strange things that happened to us…… I can’t think of anything else but poison.”
“Are the orcs using such a vicious poison?”
The knights looked at the spheres with confused faces. Then one of them said.
“What are we going to do with these things anyway?”
“Sir Damien told us to burn them unconditionally if we find anything strange.”
“That’s right. He definitely gave that order.”
The knights poured oil on the spheres. Then they used a magic tool to light a fire.
As the fire caught on, the spheres were instantly engulfed in flames. The sweet smell became even stronger.
“They’re all burnt. We can go back now.”
“Let’s hurry and report to Sir Damien.”
With that, the knights returned to the castle.
***
Noctis and Marina stared blankly at the blazing fire in the middle of the meadow.
“M-M-Marina… Th-that… How, how did that… How is it burning? Th-the poison, it’s all burning!”
Noctis turned to Marina with a bewildered expression. But Marina wasn’t in a situation where she could answer the question right now.
“M-My Tear of Sephti! I, I put in so many moonflowers to make it! Th-that… How could you burn something so precious like that…?”
Marina seemed so overwhelmed that it seemed like foam might even come out of her mouth.
“M-Marina! Calm down! You can’t collapse here! Marina!”
Noctis hurriedly tried to calm Marina down. Fortunately, they managed to avoid the situation escalating to foaming at the mouth.
“I swear. I’ll catch those bastards and melt them in the poison to kill them!”
Marina’s cry echoed heavily through the forest.
***
Although she said that, Marina didn’t move right away.
“The knights weren’t affected by the poison. Not only that, but they even saw the poison and burned it right away. It seems like the enemies are prepared for poison.”
“Then maybe the fact that they were patrolling at that time wasn’t a coincidence either? Maybe they were prepared for us to use poison.”
“I agree with that. No matter how I think about it, it can’t be a coincidence.”
“Then maybe… they know that we are here?”
“That can’t be. How would those sons of bitches know about our existence?”
Marina cut off Noctis’s speculation in one go. No matter how she thought about it, it was nothing more than speculation.
The only people in the Apple Kingdom who knew about the two of them were her sister Leona and Alexander Apple.
How would they know about Marina’s existence in that situation?
“Maybe they had a bad experience with an enemy who used poison in the past… That’s why they were prepared. I just happened to be unlucky enough to get caught in it.”
“Is that so…?”
“What’s certain is that the old methods won’t work. So we need to use a different method.”
Marina dug a hole and then gathered the poison in one place.
The weeds and trees around the hole were so withered that they were almost dead, even though the poison was strong.
“Marina, what are you going to do this time?”
“I’m going to turn this poison into gas and blow it away.”
The Venom sect was a sect that studied not only the manufacture of poisons but also how to use them.
The most effective way was to turn the poison into gas and spread it.
“That’s amazing! But why didn’t you use that method from the beginning?”
“……It’s because this requires a lot of poison, so it costs a lot of money!”
“Ugh, I’m sorry I asked.”
When Marina suddenly got angry, Noctis immediately apologized.
“Wait a minute. I’m going to use dark magic.”
Marina used dark magic on the poison. The poison that had been piled up in the puddle quickly dried up and turned fluffy like cotton.
“Noctis, tell the orcs to take these to the edge of the forest and burn them.”
It was best to burn them as close to the castle as possible. However, if they did that, they would be discovered by the knights, so it was best to burn them at the edge of the forest.
“Got it! What are you guys doing? Hurry up and take them… Where did you all go?”
Before long, the orcs had retreated far away. They seemed to be reluctant to go near.
“Come here right now!”
However, Noctis was a dark mage of the Monstrum sect, which specializes in handling monsters.
When Noctis used dark magic, the orcs had no choice but to carry the poison cotton.
The orcs’ skin began to melt from the poison gas coming out of the poison cotton. Some of the orcs even vomited blood.
“Come on, hurry up and move!”
However, Noctis didn’t care at all. The Monstrum sect was a sect that controlled monsters, not a sect that loved them.
To the dark mages of the Monstrum sect, monsters were nothing more than tools.
The orcs headed to the edge of the forest with the poison cotton and torches.
Noctis followed the orcs and said with a happy face.
“When I give the order, you all burn the poison together. Got it?”
That’s when Noctis said that.
The castle gate opened far away. Knights sprang out of the open gate.
“……Huh? What are those guys? Why are they suddenly coming out?”
While Noctis was confused, the knights reached the forest.
Noctis hurriedly hid behind a tree. Thanks to that, he was able to avoid being detected by the knights.
“Sir Damien was right! The orcs are up to something!”
“Torches and… cotton? Is that cotton?”
“It doesn’t seem like ordinary cotton. Look, the skin of the orcs holding it is completely melting.”
However, they couldn’t hide the orcs either. The knights attacked the orcs as soon as they saw them. The orcs were caught off guard.
“These, these bastards… they’re here to interfere again!”
Noctis exploded in anger again. She wanted to go out and fight them himself.
However, her sister Leona had strongly urged her. She said that their existence must never be discovered.
“Turn the poison over!”
Instead, Noctis commanded the orcs to spray poison over the knights.
The knights who had the poison scattered screamed. Some even vomited blood. As a result, the knights collapsed to the ground. Because of that, the knights could only writhe on the ground.
“Hahaha! It’s so satisfying!”
Noctis watched with delight. But it was too early to enjoy.
“Ugh, that was a close call.”
The knights got up without a scratch. Noctis was greatly confused.
“Why, why are you okay? I, I clearly turned the poison over……?”
The poisons made by Marina, a member of the Venom sect, were incredibly powerful.
The poison that the orcs had spread was especially potent, as it was intended to be burned and spread.
And yet, they didn’t die after being covered in it? No, they were completely fine?
“It was a good thing we applied the oil that Sir Damien gave us in advance.”
“They say that the oil of the Blue Moon Snail is excellent at blocking poison. It really is amazing.”
The knights, who had come to their senses, killed all the remaining orcs.
Then, they gathered the remaining poison cotton, buried it, and returned to the castle.
Only after the knights had disappeared did Noctis come out. She looked at the buried poison and shook her head.
“……Marina is going to be really angry when she finds out.”
Noctis’s worries were correct.
“What? All the orcs are dead and the poison cotton is all buried? What the hell are you talking about?!”
Marina was furious enough to spit blood when her second plan also failed.
“M, Marina, calm down!”
“I’ll kill all those motherfuckers. I’ll me-melt them…”
It took Noctis a long time to finally calm Marina down.
“……This won’t work. We need to completely change our approach.”
Marina, who had finally calmed down her anger, spoke to Noctis.
“What method are you going to use?”
“Anyway, they have no choice but to enter the forest to wipe out the orcs. So, we’ll dig traps in the forest and wait.”
The Venom sect was not a sect that fought head-on.
It was a sect that waited for the enemy to fall into a trap and then cornered them.
“Now that the poison has been discovered, we can’t let them live. If it becomes known that the orcs used a highly toxic poison, the Church will come to investigate.”
The Church’s eyes and ears were everywhere. If they left even the slightest trace, the Church would immediately take action.
“Then can we call all of my kids too?”
“Of course. Call them all. Call them all and kill them.”
Noctis was overjoyed at Marina’s words.
“Really? You won’t change your mind? Hehe, I’m looking forward to it. I’ve put a lot of effort into creating wonderful kids this time. You’ll be surprised when you see it…….”
That’s when it happened.
Kweeeek!
Kieeek!
The screams of orcs could be heard from a distance. The two were shocked and ran outside.
“We found the orcs! Kill them all!”
“Don’t leave a single one alive!”
Damien Haksen and the knights were attacking the orc village.
“……Huh?”
“……What?”
At the sudden sight, Marina and Noctis’s minds went blank.
***
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HEL SCANS
[Translator – Kie]
[Proofreader – Kawaii]
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