A little kid who looks like they’re only 7 or 8 years old.
Even though he couldn’t even match one-tenth of Richard’s previous attempts, and even if he was left half-dead after falling into the mansion’s traps…
Sataniel could easily crush a kid’s neck with his eyes closed.
The only annoying thing was that the dog next to the kid was giving off a slightly unsettling energy.
But he wasn’t the type to be scared by just one dog.
“I am Sataniel, the one who will rule this continent!!!”
True, he found himself in this predicament due to an unexpected defeat, but there was no reason for Sataniel to be afraid of just a kid and a dog.
Maybe that’s why?
Sataniel charged at Aida without so much as a defensive stance, just running as fast as he could.
“Somerset Style, Bear Catching.”
Despite Sataniel’s approach, Aida remained calm.
She simply steadied her breath, assumed her stance, and called out the name of her technique.
The vision martial arts of Somerset that she learned from Alain.
Among them, Bear Catching was one of the techniques created by her ancestor, John Bofors, which struck down an incoming enemy’s neck as if slashing with a sword.
And Aida had incorporated the principles of her self-taught technique, Footwork, into Bear Catching.
By spinning her waist continuously from her toes, she would channel that momentum all the way from her shoulder to her fingertips.
If you had to name the most important thing in both Bear Catching and Footwork, it would be timing.
This high-level technique was effective only if you delivered a precise strike at the exact moment your opponent approached.
However, to Aida’s eyes, Sataniel’s straightforward movements looked like a target just standing still.
BANG!
Sataniel, who was racing toward Aida, didn’t even get a sound out before…
When Aida’s hand struck his nape, it was as if a bomb had gone off, and his head was planted into the floor like a nail.
SPLAT!
Aida didn’t even glance at Sataniel, whose head was buried in the ground.
She merely raised a fist with her victorious pose.
“Woof!!”
Rach immediately cheered with a howl at that sight.
Whether it was when she chased off the neighborhood ruffians bullying the children of Somerset Territory…
Or when she took down her escort knight Oun…
Or when she made Kyle, who came to visit Somerset Mansion, roll around in the barracks…
Aida always struck this victory pose.
And at that moment, Rach, who knew he would have to deal with a growing monster later if he didn’t howl for Aida, howled with all his might to save himself.
*
“What on earth is going on…?”
Dashing out of his office due to a noise like a bomb going off, Count Bradley and Rupert had no choice but to doubt their eyes.
What they witnessed upon confirming Aida’s door was open was Sataniel who was trembling with his head stuck in the ground.
Aida, who created this unbelievable scene, was grinning with excitement, while Rach circled around her, acting playful in this incomprehensible situation.
“Father! Go outside and call my brother!”
“Okay, got it!”
Rupert couldn’t understand when Sataniel had invaded the mansion, or why he was in Aida’s room in this state.
‘This guy must be the Sataniel they mentioned!’
Then, he decided it was better not to mess with him and call Richard to handle it.
“Aida caught him!”
“Didn’t I tell you not to do dangerous things?”
Rupert could only sigh at Aida, who was bragging as if she had just caught a rabbit.
Having seen Sataniel fight through the window, Rupert knew how perilous an enemy Aida was facing.
“But he charged at Aida!”
With Rupert’s admonition, Aida hurriedly began to explain.
Puffing up her cheeks, she insisted that she merely defeated Sataniel, who came at her.
Rupert patted Aida’s head and taught her to run away instead of fighting dangerously, then checked on the unconscious Sataniel.
Sataniel, who seemed to have lost consciousness, was covered in wounds.
There were arrows stuck all over his back, and tacks embedded in his soles; there wasn’t a single intact spot on his body.
‘It seems he fell for the mansion’s traps completely?’
Looking at the traps Kroon had set up confidently, Rupert thought there couldn’t possibly be a stupid guy who would fall for them all.
But seeing Sataniel, who seemed to have triggered every single one as predicted by Kroon, made Rupert doubt if such a guy could really be the villain who would plunge the continent into crisis.
“Ugh!!”
And just as he sank into thought, the unconscious Sataniel shouted and pulled his head out of the ground.
“What?!”
Rupert was taken aback by the sudden turn of events.
“I shall repay today’s humiliation!”
Though he had woken up, the shock seemed great, as Sataniel still staggered and pointed a finger at Rupert and Aida while shouting.
“Go! Rach!!”
Noticing Sataniel was trying to escape, Rupert urgently commanded Rach to attack, and Rach dashed forward.
“Wow! He transformed!!”
In an instant, Sataniel transformed his body into a bat and fled through the door.
“Woof!”
“We have to chase him!”
Thinking it would be a hassle if they let him escape this time, Rupert immediately pursued him with Rach, and Aida wanted to follow them too.
But Rupert glared and warned her to stay put, making Aida stay inside the room again.
Meanwhile, Sataniel, who was rushing to escape the mansion, spotted a room with the door wide open and flew inside.
As long as he got out the window of this room, no one could catch him.
‘I’ll recover my body and wait for another chance.’
To heal from the injuries he sustained today would take at least dozens of years, if not more, but he was a member of Night’s Kin, with blood from the true dark lineage.
Time was on his side, not the allied forces, and Sataniel was determined to start from the beginning again.
As long as he was alive, a time would surely come when he could repay today’s humiliation, so he had to endure and bide his time for now.
“That’s!!!”
Just as Sataniel was about to escape through the window, an almost scream of horror burst forth from him.
It was all because of an object that suddenly caught his eye.
A single blue flower, carefully placed in a vase on the desk in the room.
Although it lacked the powerful aura of the Aida he had encountered earlier, it was surely the Blue Flower he had been searching for so desperately.
“There you are!!!”
Removing his transformation into a bat, Sataniel approached the desk, dizzy with excitement.
How many humiliations and pains had he endured just to get this single flower?
He had thought about giving up, but the Blue Flower, which appeared before him like fate, felt like a revelation from a god.
A revelation to eat this flower and transcend his limits, painting the continent in darkness.
“Oh! No!!!”
However, while he was lost in joy admiring the Blue Flower, Rupert, who had been chasing him, pounced right at him.
“Don’t you dare interfere!”
Still bewildered from earlier with Aida, Sataniel tensed at the thought that Rupert might be some unbelievably strong monster too.
But soon, seeing Rupert’s clumsy movements, he waved his arms dismissively as if swatting away a fly.
WHACK!
“Cough!”
With just that one gesture, Sataniel sent Rupert flying, crashing hard against the wall.
‘What… why is he so strong…?’
Underestimating Sataniel, who had faced a humiliating defeat from Aida, Rupert lost consciousness, feeling the pain shooting through his body and the nausea swelling in his stomach.
In truth, no matter how weak he had become, Sataniel was strong enough to squash a typical human like a bug.
It was just that the Aida he encountered first was not an ordinary bug but a bug as big as an elephant.
As for Rupert, the ordinary bug, a single blow from Sataniel had left him in a near-death state.
So there lay Rupert, sprawled on the floor, unconscious.
From his chest, a faint light was seeping out.
“Where is the Blue Flower! Where did it go!!!”
Meanwhile, having dealt with the meddler, Sataniel searched for the Blue Flower again, but the flower that had been placed on the desk was now gone.
Wondering if it had fallen to the floor, he hastily checked beneath the desk.
“Woof!”
But then, upon hearing the ominous barking of a dog, he turned his gaze.
There was Rach, holding the blue flower in his mouth.
“You little brat!!! Put that down this instant!!!”
Sataniel charged at Rach, who was holding a flower as precious as his own life.
“Woof!”
But to Sataniel’s efforts, Rach nonchalantly gulped down the Blue Flower.
*
Crackle!
“Ugh… is this the last clone we had?”
“Yes, we’ve managed to take down every single one that fled.”
Richard thought he had dealt the finishing blow.
However, the flesh he had scattered had turned into clones and fled, causing Richard and the allied forces, who were scrambling to stop them.
Luckily, since the clone’s speed was relatively slow and it had no battle power, they managed to take them all down, finally letting out a sigh of relief.
“Thanks, Jenia. It would have been tough without your help.”
“No, if it weren’t for Richard-sama facing off against him, it would have been impossible.”
Richard and Jenia praised each other’s efforts.
It was certain that if either of them had been absent, the battle against Sataniel would not have been easy.
In fact, to be honest, they might have even had a higher chance of losing since Sataniel was such a formidable enemy.
“If a guy like him ends up finding the Blue Flower and grows even stronger, it would be terrifying.”
“Indeed, the Night’s Kin has long sought the Blue Flower.”
Jenia knew through ancient texts how obsessed the Night’s Kin had been with the Blue Flower.
However, the reason they couldn’t obtain it was due to the guardians known as the Blue Werewolves.
“Thanks to those beings, who were far stronger than the current Night’s Kin, the continent remained safe.”
“But to think such powerful beings have gone extinct, it’s hard to believe.”
At Jenia’s statement, Richard expressed his doubt.
Why had the guardians, feared even by the Night’s Kin, gone extinct?
“I looked into them too, but it’s mainly because they were a very small clan.”
– Moreover, the Blue Werewolves were said to have to consume a Blue Flower in order to awaken their true forms.
Due to the gradually dwindling number of Blue Flowers, they likely couldn’t awaken and eventually became regular wolves and disappeared, as Jenia explained.
“Richard!!”
Just as the story was coming to a close, the voice of Count Bradley calling Richard anxiously was heard.
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