I Became A Thief Who Steals Overpowered Skills - Chapter 30

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 30. Playing Dead?

Sera Betela.

A Master-rank skilled fighter and attendant to the 4th Imperial Princess Sizleri Epania, she was frowning over what had transpired the day before.

The informants she had planted within the Imperial Palace had either been turned, or were feeding her nothing but false intelligence.

‘What in the world.’

Even under Sera’s pressure, those who had been compromised refused to talk.

They only repeated, over and over, that they’d had no choice.

‘I invoked the Imperial Palace itself, and still nothing.’

Sera swallowed hard.

‘If that’s the case, then someone higher than the 4th Imperial Princess must have given the order.’

There were few figures in the Empire whose name carried greater weight than Sizleri’s.

And as Sera considered them, her brow furrowed deeper still.

‘Why would they target the 4th Imperial Princess?’

Sizleri had deliberately cultivated her tomboyish reputation to distance herself from the succession struggle.

Precisely because of that, her siblings had never seen her as a threat—so Sera couldn’t fathom why they would move against her now.

‘Can I protect her alone?’

Sizleri was intelligent.

Precisely because of that, she had deliberately kept only the bare minimum of defensive means, refusing to accumulate anything else.

For her, the finest defense was to possess nothing worth seizing.

And so Sera bore an immense sense of duty toward protecting Sizleri.

It was no accident that Sizleri’s mother, out of worry for her daughter, had petitioned the Emperor to assign Sera—a Master-rank expert—as her attendant.

And now, that very attendant was being hunted.

Hunted by wolves prowling within a tiger’s den.

Before those wolves, Sizleri was nothing but a defenseless lamb.

A lamb that could be torn to shreds at any moment.

Sera was the horns that protected such a lamb.

The sole means of her defense—yet horns so small against the vastness of the Imperial Palace.

“Sigh.”

A long breath escaped from her lips.

It began with the 2nd Imperial Prince absorbing Raven, followed by the recent friction between the 1st and 2nd Imperial Princes.

And then there were Sigrin’s peculiar movements on top of it all.

From start to finish, nothing but suspicion.

She was suited for wielding a blade, not for intellectual work—that much was clear.

Which is why she’d spoken to Sizleri directly about it.

Yet Sizleri had only sunk deeper into thought.

And then she’d told her not to do anything just yet.

Instead, she’d offered some cryptic advice to protect herself.

“What exactly are you studying so intently?”

She wished Sizleri would at least confide in her, her only loyal servant.

But Sizleri was too clever for that—rather than explain her thoughts outright, she preferred to subtly guide her companion’s actions instead.

The problem was that the intended target of this manipulation found herself thoroughly exasperated.

Tap-tap.

It was then that a sound came suddenly from the direction of the window.

When Sera turned her head, there sat a raven.

“This creature…”

Sera had seen this raven before.

It was the raven of the boy whom Sizleri had recently taken an interest in.

‘Raven.’

The moment she saw the bird, that name came to mind—but Sera shook her head.

Sizleri had been definitive: the boy was not Raven.

Yet how had this raven discovered her location?

The boy was as inscrutable as Sizleri herself.

Screech.

So she opened the window to verify for herself.

The raven, clever thing that it was, walked directly inside through the window and opened its beak.

“Sera Betela.”

Flinch.

Sera’s face went rigid in an instant.

She had never expected the raven to speak aloud.

In that moment, a smile crossed Raven’s lips.

It was the first time she had seen Raven laugh.

“I’ll lend you Immortality for a time, in exchange for your life force. So play dead.”

The instant those words reached her, she felt darkness seeping into her vision.

“Wha—?”

Her sight vanished abruptly, and she found herself swallowing hard before collapsing to the floor.

The darkness had shattered her sense of balance in an instant.

She hadn’t reacted at all, hadn’t even resisted whatever was happening to her.

‘What in the world—’

Her body tensed, and she steadied her breathing, sword already drawn.

Every muscle focused on sensing movement beyond the darkness.

Cold sweat traced down her cheeks when, gradually, her vision began to return.

Without her knowing, a black star had flickered in her pupils and then faded away.

“……!”

Sera Betela’s head snapped up.

But Raven, who should have been at the window, had already vanished.

What in the world had just happened to her?

The question was still churning through her mind when—

Crash!

The ceiling above her suddenly caved in.

Through the rubble, a golden aura blazed.

Sera’s body moved on instinct, her blade slashing upward toward the ceiling.

Clang!

Her sword met the enemy’s spear, and the impact turned everything around them into chaos in an instant.

Furniture shattered and rolled across the floor; the windows couldn’t withstand the force and burst apart.

But she had no time to care.

As dust rose from the collapsed ceiling, spear after spear came thrusting through.

Sera quickly adjusted her stance and met each thrust with her blade.

But the force behind each spear strike was far beyond what she’d anticipated.

“Ugh—!”

Sera’s eyes flew wide as she was slammed against the wall by the spear’s overwhelming thrust.

She’d never imagined being overpowered in sheer force.

She had reached Master rank herself.

Yet here she was, being pressed back.

That could only mean her opponent was a Master-level fighter as well.

‘Who is this?’

There were quite a few Masters, even counting only those at the foundational stage.

But across the entire world, their numbers barely exceeded a thousand.

Naturally, she should have known any Master who’d risen in the Empire.

As her eyes pierced through the smoke and finally locked on her opponent, Sera’s gaze went round with shock.

Before her stood a black-haired woman who couldn’t have been more than her twenties.

Long hair, sharp eyes, and a lithe, striking figure—she regarded Sera calmly, her spear raised.

“You’re—”

Sera gasped, recognition flooding through her.

Merry Diana. Daughter of the prestigious Diana Noble House, touted as the Empire’s spear prodigy.

And she had her weapon trained directly on Sera.

But that wasn’t what had shocked her.

It was that Merry’s strength exceeded her own.

Not even in her twenties yet.

A Master at that age?

Even Valheim, the Empire’s great rival, could scarcely boast such talent.

And the Merry she’d known before had certainly not been of this caliber.

‘She’s been hiding her strength?’

Another spear thrust came hurtling down, and Sera parried desperately.

Each strike carried devastating force.

Possibly greater than her own.

At that thought, something shifted in Sera’s eyes.

It didn’t matter that she was from the Diana Noble House.

If she didn’t fight with everything she had, she would die here.

She was Sizleri’s only sword. She could not fall now.

Crash!

As the barrier shattered in an instant, Sera Betela tumbled across the ground.

At the same moment, a crimson aura seeped into her blade, and her eyes grew fierce.

She was the Mad Swordmaster.

The longer the battle continued, the more the Aura dwelling in her body drew forth strength that transcended her limits.

That was the Rampage Form she had mastered.

Its activation came at the cost of severe strain on her body, but there was no time to hesitate.

Whistle!

Her opponent, sensing this, sought to end it with a swift offensive—a spear flew through the gap in the walls.

The spear, cloaked in golden Aura, struck with a force that barely left Sera room to parry.

‘Even so, it’s not beyond my reach.’

If that was the case, it would strain her body, but she could draw out the Rampage Form in a burst.

Crack!

As their weapons collided, blood spilled from the corner of Sera’s mouth.

Simultaneously, her muscles swelled like those of a beast, rough and primal, and her clothes tore away in the moment—

With explosive force, her blade surged toward Merry Diana in an instant.

Rampage Form.

Mad Blood Ascension.

That was when it happened.

Thud!

Sera’s body went rigid, frozen in place.

Drip, drip—

Blood poured from her mouth in a torrent.

Sera’s eyes trembled violently.

Her Heart had been pierced by the spear.

She hadn’t even seen the movement of the spear as it was brandished.

‘A… skill.’

As blood streamed down, she realized that the power that had run through her was a skill.

Merry Diana’s skill—Accel.

An acceleration that drew the body’s speed to an extreme.

“So it had come to that…….”

She’d heard of Merry’s skills before, but she never imagined her own eyes couldn’t keep pace with someone who’d activated Rampage Form.

Accel, meeting a Master-rank powerhouse, was performing feats beyond all reason.

She could be certain of one thing.

The moment she grew stronger here and one day reached Emperor Rank, the stage beyond Master.

There would be no one in the world capable of stopping her spear.

“Sera Betela, rejoice that you die for the Empire.”

As her vision blurred and blood filled her ears, Merry’s voice echoed through Sera’s consciousness.

In that same moment, she recalled what Raven had said earlier.

‘Play dead, she said?’

But she really was dead.

With that thought, Sera’s consciousness simply went dark.

＊ ＊ ＊

With Sera’s Heart pierced and her breathing ceased, Merry withdrew her spear.

Then, as the girl’s body collapsed, she caught it gently in her hands and exhaled.

The backlash from using Accel left her body aching somewhat, but it was manageable.

Though far from her previous level, even this much of a strain was inevitable when facing another Master-rank powerhouse.

‘It’s been a year since Memory Transmission brought me back to the past.’

After the Memory Transmission took hold, she had immediately sought out Sigrin, her closest companion.

Fortunately, Sigrin’s Memory Transmission had also worked properly.

The two of them then went straight to find Arthur.

They wanted to reunite with their beloved hero as soon as possible and protect the world together.

But for some reason, Arthur never appeared.

That night when they had all slept together.

Arthur had said he would wait at that very place when he made his own return, yet he never came.

‘Arthur, where on earth have you gone?’

Merry bit down on her lip.

Days passed with no sign of him, and though she searched the entire Empire for Arthur, he was nowhere to be found.

And strangely enough, Abella had not appeared either.

When she made inquiries at the Red Magic Tower, it turned out that the Tower’s master had vanished just as suddenly.

‘What on earth….’

What was happening?

At least Sigrin had comforted her with the assurance that Arthur would return soon — for that much, she was grateful.

Without that consolation, she might have fallen into despair at Arthur’s disappearance and wasted away the days.

‘All I can do now’

is to support the 3rd Imperial Princess Sigrin and become her strongest spear.

So she had killed Sera Betela — to complete the task Sigrin had entrusted to her.

Sigrin was currently away on other business.

Which meant Merry Diana had to execute this task flawlessly, with absolute certainty, for the sake of everything Sigrin had placed in her hands.

For the future of their Empire, no less.

Thud, thud.

In that moment, footsteps echoed through the space.

When Merry Diana lifted her gaze, there stood a massive man whose face bore stitches crisscrossing its surface.

It was none other than Corpse No. 13 — Ebelask’s corpse.

The Heart in its grip was held by Merry Diana.

Because it was a Heart entrusted to her by Sigrin, Ebelask could not disobey her commands.

Following the orders she had given him beforehand, he placed Sera Betela’s corpse into the sack he had brought.

Then he hoisted the sack onto his shoulder and turned to leave.

“Wait, please.”

At that moment, Merry Diana called out to stop Corpse No. 13.

At the sudden summons, the corpse froze.

Corpse No. 13 was a corpse.

But controlling it was none other than Ebelask himself.

Cold sweat beaded on Ebelask’s brow as he watched everything unfold from behind the corpse.

He grew anxious — had something been discovered?

“You see, I haven’t yet heard which corpse participated in the Martial Arts Tournament.”

One of Raven’s corpses was participating in this Martial Arts Tournament.

On the surface, it was done under the orders of the 2nd Imperial Prince.

The 2nd Imperial Prince had wanted to expand his forces below him; he had chosen to reveal that he controlled Raven, and the venue he selected for this was none other than this Martial Arts Tournament.

Of course, this had been a design that Sigrin and Merry had plotted together in advance.

To make it absolutely clear throughout the Empire that the 2nd Imperial Prince controlled Raven.

So the plan was to have Sera kill Sizleri Epania, make it look as though Raven had done it, and thereby frame the 2nd Imperial Prince as the one who had used Raven to murder Sizleri Epania.

Naturally, they had already prepared ample motive for why the 2nd Imperial Prince would want to kill Sizleri Epania.

Once Sizleri Epania was dead, the 2nd Imperial Prince would be caught up in the same web and left with no choice but prison.

“Still, watching the Martial Arts Tournament made me think I could figure it out.”

So Merry had known that Raven had entered the Martial Arts Tournament.

The problem was that she’d been too occupied with other matters to learn which member of Raven’s organization the boy was.

“It’s that boy who keeps the raven with him, isn’t it?”

So she asked to confirm.

“Yes, that’s correct.”

An immediate answer came back from Corpse No. 13.

“How clever. Carrying around a raven and making such a deliberate show of being Raven. Ah, that must be Sigrin’s orders, surely. It’s inconceivable you’d have such sense on your own.”

Merry, for all her aristocratic airs, was a sharp-tongued wit, and she laughed softly as she spoke.

But Corpse No. 13 showed no particular reaction, and so Merry felt the warmth drain from the moment.

“You’re dismissed.”

Corpse No. 13 bowed her head and turned to leave.

Beyond Corpse No. 13, Ebelask tensed, but Merry harbored no suspicion of her.

As long as she held Ebelask’s Heart, rebellion was impossible.

‘That said, Ebelask was keeping quite the pretty child with her.’

With that thought, Merry’s mind drifted briefly to the boy called Crad.

Ebelask, who ordinarily dealt only in corpses of grotesque appearance, somehow had even possessed a body like that.

‘If only it weren’t a corpse……’

She pondered for a moment, then shook her head clear.

It seemed far too long had passed since she’d been separated from Arthur.

The fact that desires she had once buried were surfacing again told her as much.

‘Arthur, please appear soon.’

With that wish in her heart, Merry resumed her pace.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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