Chapter 67

Lucion’s darkness moved.

Unlike when he was the one moving it, he didn’t hear any whining.

‘What’s the difference?’

Lucion noted Russell’s move.

It was Russell who moved the darkness, but Lucion saw how and how Russell controlled it.

‘Soft.’

The way Russell drew lines like a navigation system to guide the darkness.

Among the darkness, those who followed the order and those who did not were quickly distinguished, and those who followed the order were forced to drag the rest of the darkness.

‘…They didn’t move like this when it was me doing it. These bad kids.’

Lucion pursed his lips.

[First of all, let the darkness flow to the opponent’s head. It doesn’t matter which way you send it as long as it arrives on their head.]

Even though he sent the darkness to the man’s head, the man looked fine.

The man was just as surprised and scared as he was a moment ago.

Sting.

Lucion was surprised for a moment.

As soon as darkness entered the man’s head, a tingling sensation rose as if electricity was burning his body.

[It doesn’t matter if you take your hands off now. The darkness has already entered the man’s body.]

Lucion quickly lowered his hand.

“What was this feeling just now?”

[Everyone has mental power. It’s like a protective shield was activated to keep out the darkness. To pierce it.]

The darkness that had penetrated into the man’s head continued to rise and penetrated straight into the brain.

‘..!’

Lucion was surprised to see the darkness that changed shape quickly and naturally.

Doesn’t it look like it’s made by hand?

[Look now. The darkness must have risen in the man’s eyes so that only you can see it.]

Russell pointed to the man’s eyes.

The man was still confused and crouched down to pray for the end of this hell.

When Lucion and his eyes met for a moment, as Russell said, the man’s eyes rose like a flame in the dark.

[He doesn’t look dazzled, but this is the state of being dazzled.]

—Ratta can see it with her eyes. Ratta has become amazing. It feels weird.

Ratta giggled at the strange feeling.

“It doesn’t look like he’s under a spell.”

Lucion said.

“That’s how I see it, too. Is he really under a spell?”

There was no feeling that anything had changed with the man so Hume had to ask.

[That’s why the probability of the delusion being caught is low. He doesn’t realize it. Anyway, this is the hard part, after this it’s simple.]

“Do I just have to give orders?”

[Right. But there’s a limit to what you can use right now. Like raise his hand, open the door, or bring something with him, if there are a lot of them together, it is limited to giving orders with

three movements, usually one or two movements.]

“Is it because I lack darkness?”

[No, it’s because the object of the darkness is a person, not a ghost. The darkness that stays in people’s heads disappears pretty quickly, and the more you move them, the shorter the duration, so there’s a high chance you’ll be caught on the way.]

Russell decided to move on to the curse as he saw the slowly extinguishing flames in the man’s eyes.

[Now you can use the curse.]

“Do you mean I have to do all of that to use the curse?”

Lucion’s voice was mixed with embarrassment. The color of the mask also turned purple.

[Right. You use a curse in exchange for the darkness that penetrated your opponent’s head. This is the most basic cost of using a curse.]

“How many curses can I use now?”

[When he sees a rock, he trips over it. When he sees light, he howls like a chicken. No more than that because the price is insufficient.]

“That level is better than I thought.”

[Right. But it’s not a joke. What if that situation repeats every day, every single day?]

Lucion’s mask turned yellow.

“It’s no joke.”

[But this curse doesn’t last long. One month at most. Two weeks at the shortest. Still, it’s pretty useful.]

Lucion looked at the man who was in a state of delusion.

‘Let’s save that curse for now.’

The curse was meant to be used on the head of the Rats.

“Bring me your Master’s most precious thing.”

At his command, Lucion saw the darkness that had penetrated the man’s head covering it like a curtain.

The man rose from his seat with a nod.

There was no lack of focus, no stiff expression, he just seemed to act as usual.

‘So, this is delusion.’

Lucion thought he had mastered quite a good spell.

“Ratta.”

—Yes.

“Call No. 15 and tell him to stand by where the boss is. I’ll go at once.”

—All right! Ratta will tell him.

The cave was quite complicated, and if the people who were sent to the advance team didn’t return, the enemies would send another one.

He was going to go to the head of the Rats at once by moving through shadows without wasting unnecessary energy.

“When that guy comes back, I’ll go to the leader right away, so knock everyone out except for the boss.”

“I understand. Now I’m a little more confident in my punches.”

Hume smiled.

After a while, the man came limping along.

He had blood on his body as if he had a fight with someone.

What the man handed to Lucion was a bunch of papers.

Lucion confirmed the state of delusion wasn’t extinguished even after he had received the bundle of documents.

A small but dark flame lingered in the man’s eyes.

‘The magic ends only when the darkness is all gone.’

Lucion intended to keep the man alive because the criminal who stole the documents had to stay alive.

“Go and treat yourself.”

At Lucion’s command, the man flinched back.

“S-save me!”

He crouched down again and trembled as if his memory had been broken.

‘…Oh, is it like this?’

Lucion confirmed what would happen when the delusion was over and said quietly.

“Go.”

“Th-th-thank you!”

The man ran forward without looking back.

There was nothing to do now.

“Rental. Remember this.”

Lucion handed the documents to Hume.

He should remember this important information.

“Yes. I will copy and write it down later.”

“Okay.”

Lucion looked at Ratta for an answer.

She muttered ‘Tu-Tu-Tu’ like a phone dialer, and after a while, she pricked up her ears.

—Ratta gets a call!

“Have you remembered everything?”

Lucion asked Hume before using the shadow movement.

“Yes, I remember everything, so you don’t have to worry.”

Hume handed out the papers to Lucion.

Russell looked at the documents that Lucion had in his hand and held back a small laugh.

He wondered what kind of curse Lucion would use, it seemed that he was thinking of putting on the world’s cruelest curse.

“Then let’s go, Ratta.”

Lucion’s mask turned yellow.

* * *

Snap.

As soon as Hume confirmed that the surrounding landscape had changed, he hurriedly looked around.

One enemy.

The other enemies were quite far from them, as they were beyond the room.

The man made eye contact with him.

His pupils grew bigger and his eyes widened.

It was a feeling of fear.

His mouth opened quickly and his throat trembled.

Hume didn’t miss the gap.

He quickly reached out and kicked the man in the abdomen.

“…Gasp.”

He grunted in pain, but the sound was small because he couldn’t even breathe properly.

Hume learned this simple fact from the fight a while ago.

The screams of a person were different depending on how he caused the pain.

Hume grabbed his neck so that he couldn’t make a sound and knelt down in front of Lucion.

“Is it this guy?”

“That’s right.”

It became clear when he saw the red thread connected to that guy.

Lucion put his hand on the guy’s head.

He chose the short distance on purpose.

With his current skills, it was difficult to freely change the shape of darkness as if he was directly touching it.

It was like using a second hand to form the shape, so he had to go through where the hand was and how to move his fingers before he could form the shape of the darkness.

‘Because I can’t do it like Teacher yet.’

But that didn’t mean there was no other way.

Lucion twisted the darkness.

[Your application looks good?]

Russell raised the corners of his mouth.

He was very proud of Lucion for trying to use his own method instead of trying to imitate him.

“Hamel is always good at everything.”

Hume gave a bright smile that didn’t match the situation.

Lucion licked his lips for a moment.

It was his first attempt, so he felt very nervous and excited.

Lucion twisted the darkness, again and again, making it as sharp as the tip of a screw.

Before the darkness, which had taken a sharp shape, could feel bored and scatter, he stabbed at the mental power that protected the man’s head.

Sting!

At that moment, Lucion’s hand trembled as if he had touched electricity with his fingertips, but he still controlled the darkness and stayed focused.

—Ratta is holding it back. Don’t worry about Lucion.

Ratta had her ears pricked up.

[As expected, he has a good mentality.]

Russell was satisfied with Lucion’s state of concentration.

Thrush.

Lucion didn’t care about his hands and kept pushing the darkness to penetrate through the mental power.

Whoop!

After several attempts, darkness reached the man’s head, and dark flames rose in his eyes.

“…Wow, this is no joke.”

Lucion felt blood flowing from his nose.

Throb.

The act of interfering with other people’s minds also affected his own mind, resulting in a headache.

[It is always difficult at first, but mental magic is especially difficult. That headache is unavoidable.]

“Now tell me the curse.”

Lucion said, enduring the pain.

He knew that a special spell was required to use a curse.

There was a spell that all warlocks used the same way.

Lucion knew the spell because it was written in the novel.

[The curse is standardized magic. All warlocks must cast the same spell to cast the curse. Repeat after me.]

Lucion waited for Russell to speak.

[I am one of the servants the darkness watches over.]

“I am one of the servants the darkness watches over.”

[Please, do me a little favor, and help me harness the power of darkness.]

“Please do me a little favor, and help me harness the power of darkness.”

[I dedicate this to you.]

“…I dedicate this to you.”

Lucion felt an unknown shudder when he uttered the last spell.

At the same time, just like when he first felt the darkness, an intense cold came rushing in and his teeth clenched together.

What do you want, dear child?

Someone whispered in his ear.

It was darkness.

But that wasn’t his own darkness.

Unfortunately, you can’t be an exception. As much as you pay. I can only listen to that much.

It was not a single voice, but a combination of several voices.

Now, tell me.

The darkness seemed to stroke his face.

It didn’t feel bad.

Rather, it felt comfortable as if he was lying in bed.

‘I hope he will destroy his most precious thing on his own.’

All right, all right, I’ll make it happen. As much as you want.

Crackle.

The darkness that had lodged in the man’s head became letters.

Break your most precious thing.

The letter became a stigma, and the stigma remained as a curse.

A black star was stamped under his left eye.

[The curse is on.]

Russell said.

“Let him go.”

At Lucion’s instruction, Hume pulled back the hand that grabbed the man’s neck.

“Cough, cough!”

He fell to the ground and coughed continuously.

Lucion walked over to him and waved his cherished paperwork.

“I want you to obey me. Nod your head if you wish.”

“Damn it! I….”

Swift.

Lucion tore off a piece of the papers and threw it at him.

For a moment, darkness fluttered on the black star.

Squeak!

The man tore up the paper as if he had met an enemy.

[Right. I knew it.]

Russell nodded.

There should have been no mercy for the enemy.

In the end, the mercy would be the blade that cut through his back.

“…?”

When the man belatedly realized that the paper was the information he had cherished and collected one by one with his own life, he felt unbearable gloom.

Without even thinking about why he tore it, He couldn’t stop the scream that leaked out.

“Hush.”

But Lucion covered his mouth with darkness.

For a moment, his eyes widened.

It was a warlock.

A warlock..!

“As I said before, I want you to obey me.”

Lucion waved the papers in front of him.

“You know what this is, right? Oh, you just ripped it with your hand, so you know it well.”

Lucion’s mask was dyed yellow, full of mischief.