Chapter 296 Black Crystal
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The day passed rather quickly after lunch, which was a delicious steak of freshly caught wild boar that the hunters of the duchy caught for the Duchess with some mashed potatoes, a delicious, sweet sauce, and a lot of vegetable salad with cheesecake for dessert, we ended gathering inside an underground room with Julia, where the corpse of the Vampire that attempted to assassinate her was located. A Court Magician that serves her, named Emiliano, a well-known noble used the Conservation Life Attribute Spell to maintain the corpse in a state where it wouldn’t get nasty nor it would begin to rot.
“So this is the corpse… beheaded.” Said Julia. “Damn they were quite brutal now that I think about it, but I guess this is the best way you can kill Vampires, blasting their brains out.” Sighed Julia as she looked at the corpse while containing her impulse to vomit.
“Hm, it appears this corpse is still quite filled with magic…” Said Lucifer, inspecting the corpse in detail.
“Magic? What do you mean? Its dead, right?” Wondered Julia..
“Precisely, but… I can see that there are certain substances and foreign objects inside of this corpse that seem to be increasing its power… The magic still lingers inside.” Said Lucifer. “May I open it?” Asked Lucifer to Emiliano, who was a green-haired man, he had been briefly introduced to us and has been rather polite and silent.
“S-Sure, Sir Lucifer. If you feel bold enough… Here.” Said Emiliano, as he helped Lucifer take out the clothes of the Vampire, which were all infused with Stealth Runes, which are created through the usage of the Stealth Skill into a Rune through what’s called Rune Creation, a specific way of creating magic that can be infused into objects with certain effects.
After that, we covered the corpse’s crotch, and Lucifer used his claws, which he made grow into long black knives, surprising everybody who saw him.
“W-Woah! He can do that?!” Asked Julia. “Y-You’re not a human, aren’t you?” Julia seemed shocked.
“No, I am a Majin.” Said Lucifer. “I hid my real appearance using the Morph and Shapeshift Skill, most of us Majin can do this.” Lucifer showed to Julia his “true” form, as he grew horns, a tail, and scales over his hands and around his neck. His presence suddenly grew more menacing, but Julia seemed to only grow more amazed by our group.
“A-Amazing! To think I would get to see a Majin so up close, they’re such rare and mysterious people filled with amazing innate abilities!” Said Julia. “Let me tell you that I am not someone that discriminates Majin! My mother taught me to never discriminate people’s races, and the bias against the Majin is built upon the hate against the Vampires and also the Demon King said to have terrorized the continent of Midgard back then… But I believe there are good Majin, just like there are good and bad humans.”
“I am grateful for your acceptance and open-mindedness.” Said Lucifer with a charming smile, as Julia seemed to be falling more for him. I don’t know if that’s good or not, he’s my husband after all! But I guess he can have his club of admirers. I am containing my jealously.
Emiliano did notice the eerie aura I was emanating a bit, as he quickly asked Julia to move a bit away from the corpse because it might spray blood as it is opened.
“Young Lady, please move a bit aside from the corpse as it might spray blood.” Said Emilian, as Julia quickly was brought to reality.
“R-Right!” Said Julia, quickly stepping away from my charming Lucifer, as he used his claws to open the stomach of the Vampire, putting his hand inside of his entrails rather disgustingly, the face of enchantment that Julia had a few seconds before was completely gone as she felt rather disgusted, making a face as if she was about to puke.
“Ueggh…” She muttered.
“Young Lady please hang in there!” Cried Emiliano, covering her with the “Rest” Spell, that calms a person’s heart and let them relax and heal their wounds at the same time.
Lucifer ignored what was going on around his surroundings as he called for me, the two of us, and then Partner who began to look into the corpse with a smile filled with hunger saw what Lucifer suddenly found, a black stone, or a black jewel. It was certainly more like a jewel than a stone, as it was semi-transparent, and shone brightly below the light of the candles.
It contained an eerie, dark, and miasmic aura from within, and it looked utterly frightening. This is a Black Crystal, a crystallization of the miasma taken from the Fragment of the Evil God… So the Vampires are indeed all related, this guy didn’t came from another faction but the same one that has been behind everything before! Seriously, can’t we get new villains for once?
“This is a Black Crystal, it is part of the Fragment of the Evil God.” Said Lucifer, showing the piece of material to Julia.
“W-We have confiscated some of these materials before! Some of the slavers had them with them for some reason, and there were some corpses of slaves we once found with these things inside their stomachs…” Said Julia. “Just what kind of thing are they doing with these things?”
“Think of them as monster’s magic crystals.” I said. “They’re filled with magic and miasma, and can enhance the strength of a person when it is inside their bodies, it can affect their behavior as well, but it brings them the ability to use magic better and easily, and increase the power of their bodies too… This Vampire most likely used it to enhance his power enough to get pass the barrier. He must have many more inside his body which he had either eaten or implanted.”
“I-I see… That’s terrifying… The Gods themselves forbid humanity from meddling with the Fragments of the Evil God yet… they are still playing with them as if they were mere toys… Just how foolish can these people be?” Sighed Julia.
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