The Return of Lilietta - Chapter 126

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 126

Everyone, including the severely injured Leonhardt, needed to be kept asleep. The more people who were awake, the more dangerous it would become.

Any one of them could be suddenly snatched by a demon beast that leaped out from the shadows and have their shell stolen. A monster wearing human skin might hide among people and calmly devour others.

‘Mimics are creatures whose presence is hard to detect even when you’re looking right at them. If one suddenly appears, even augmentation pact holders would have trouble responding. The only way to distinguish them is by their digestive scent…’

The patchouli scent she had just detected was too faint.

If it had devoured a person, the scent should have been much stronger and spread much farther, but there was hardly any scent until she opened the ballroom door and approached closely.

The digestive scent, which should have been stronger than the blood scent, was even masked by the smell of blood. Only someone like her, who was extremely sensitive to patchouli scent, would have noticed it.

‘It means the creature hasn’t devoured anyone yet, so that’s good news.’

Probably the scent had just begun to emerge as it bit Leonhardt’s neck and drank his blood, but since it hadn’t torn into his flesh, only a faint smell was released.

‘The problem is that such a weak scent disappears in just a few minutes.’

Now a Mimic with no scent and no presence would be roaming around in the shadows of this manor.

A monster that had once been an insurmountable nightmare for her, now in the home where her beloved family lived.

She felt dizzy. Rita shook her head and let out a shallow breath.

‘Of all things, a Mimic, and of all places, it appeared in the manor where I am. This must be Pascal’s doing.’

If the previous named demon beasts were terrorism, this was closer to an assassination attempt aimed precisely at her.

“So it’s you.”

She suddenly recalled the words Pascal had said without context while looking back at her when he had visited Beacon before heading beyond the Last Line of Defense.

When she and Gid had survived the graduation exam together, he had been calm looking at Gid but surprised when he saw her.

Unlike the other children, she alone had no record in the heroic tales, and she had possessed the body of Dorothy, who wasn’t a descendant but someone unrelated, probably a distant descendant of Pascal.

‘…From Pascal’s perspective, what was just an unusual experimental sample became a bigger variable than expected? Is that why he looked at me like that?’

An unpredictable variable because it wasn’t recorded in history.

Had the returned Pascal sent this demon beast to target her in order to eliminate a variable he couldn’t control?

‘Did shooting the Crawler stand out too much? It was a creature that gave trouble in the Ash-covered Era, but I dealt with it too quickly… Maybe that bothered him.’

Even while making such speculations and reviewing information, Lillieta kept her hands moving without rest.

She tore more of her negligee, then applied pieces to each spot where the demon beast’s fangs had penetrated her brother’s neck and wrapped them again with the long torn strips.

‘The artery is safe. Should I call this lucky…?’

After creating a makeshift pressure bandage, she carefully pressed Leonhardt’s neck with both hands, being careful not to block his breathing. She maintained this position for about ten minutes until the bleeding stopped.

It felt like a terrifyingly long time. Her body remained still while her mind raced busily.

‘Since I just injured the Mimic, it will also take some time to recover in the shadows. I hit it about twelve times? Then I’ve bought roughly 10 to 20 minutes. But after that…’

Fortunately, all the family members were asleep, but the awake guards and duty servants were in danger. To avoid casualties, she had to do something immediately.

Rita removed one hand from applying pressure to Leonhardt’s wound and searched her gown pocket. She pulled out the hand mirror she had grabbed earlier along with the Tritoma standard mage gun.

Without much expectation, she tapped it. The communicator glowed faintly but didn’t connect.

‘Of course. How could communication work inside a Mimic’s domain?’

Magic was already vulnerable to demon beasts since it was mana-based, so there was no way communication magic would work inside a named demon beast’s domain.

Teleportation-type pact holders who could perform long-distance teleportation could communicate with Oaths even in such situations, but this was merely a magical device made by Olivia, who was a processing-type mage.

‘Communication might work if I go to a bright place where shadows don’t connect. Then… let me devise a specific strategy.’

The operation had three objectives.

First, escape the Mimic’s domain and attempt communication with Beacon.

Second, put all awake people in the manor to sleep. In the process, light up the manor as much as possible to reduce shadows.

Third, act as an active decoy until Beacon arrives, preventing the sleeping people from being attacked by the Mimic.

If she could set up the situation well in optimal condition, it would be possible for her to catch the Mimic alone, but that was unrealistic now.

There were limits to the output she could draw from a standard mage gun, her leg wasn’t in perfect condition, and most importantly, there was no guarantee she could make calm judgments and act coolly in front of a Mimic.

‘When I encountered a Mimic again at 17, I got overly excited and fired wildly until Gid stopped me.’

Rita Pascal didn’t overestimate herself. If she fought a Mimic alone without allies, there was a high probability she would panic and make mistakes.

‘The problem is that acting as a decoy in my current state is also… Ah.’

It came.

Rita bit her lips, swallowed her groan, and curled up her entire body. Even while doing so, she desperately held on to ensure her hands applying pressure to Leonhardt’s neck didn’t lose strength.

‘Damn it.’

Her oath was to eliminate all demon beasts she encountered. And just now, she had watched the Mimic escape before her eyes without pursuing it.

She had missed a demon beast. Let it go. Failed to eliminate it.

The punishment of the Oath was falling upon her.

Blood that surged from within flowed out through her bitten teeth. The sensation of Oaths inside her body becoming thorns that stabbed randomly throughout her insides. Corporal punishment inflicted on those who broke promises. The price of power gained through oaths.

Rita turned her head and spat out blood with a retch. With her spinning vision and splitting headache, she desperately tried to think and think again.

‘I didn’t let it go.’

She hadn’t let it go. She planned to catch it again immediately. The situation wasn’t over. She was still in battle. She would eliminate it soon. She was still inside the demon beast’s domain.

‘It’s not over, I’m thinking of ways to catch it. I have no intention of running away!’

As she convinced herself this way, the pain that had been tearing through her entire body gradually subsided.

She spat out the last surge of blood and let out a long sigh.

‘Having experience with this makes it better than before.’

In the past, she had fought battles while enduring the punishment of Oaths. Even then, she had mitigated the backlash by convincing herself in this manner.

Oaths don’t have a specific consciousness. While they react to humans, they don’t make judgments.

Therefore, an oath with the Oaths was essentially a promise to oneself and a vow made to oneself.

By placing restrictions on oneself and promising severe punishment, one establishes a clear will. This causes the collective of will-less Oaths to be drawn to and submit to individuals who manifest strong will.

That was an oath, and punishment was a side effect that occurred when Oaths tried to break free from control as an individual’s will weakened by breaking self-imposed constraints.

Therefore, the punishment of Oaths could be mitigated by convincing oneself, changing one’s perception, and making renewed resolutions.

Of course, if actual actions didn’t follow such excuses, one would receive even harsher punishment.

‘The battle isn’t over, and the Mimic is still around here. I will catch it.’

She kept repeating this just in case. After confirming that the Oaths within her body had completely calmed down, Rita checked on Leonhardt’s condition.

‘The bleeding has stopped. That’s a relief…’

Her shoulders sagged with relief. She removed her hands from pressing his neck and examined her own thigh.

‘It stings a little. I can run as much as I want if I endure it, but…’

That was optimal, not ideal.

The optimal strategy to achieve her current objectives was for her to accept some side effects and run around directly, luring the Mimic, knocking people unconscious, and then attempting communication.

‘It’s the safest and most efficient approach. I do have means to compensate for my leg condition.’

However, Rita immediately discarded that strategy that came to mind.

“Make your complete safety the absolute standard, and only do what you can within that boundary.”

“That’s the ‘best’ approach. It might be a bit inefficient or frustrating, but it’s the best for those who love you.”

…She would think about it more.

‘What if I wake a few people and ask for their cooperation?’

The first person who came to mind was Ethan.

He was staying in the servant’s quarters, having infiltrated as a Raskail footman.

While the servant’s quarters of Birch Tree Castle in the territory were located in the outer castle within the castle grounds, Creme Dome was a townhouse in the capital, so they couldn’t place the servant area inside.

The small building attached right next to Creme Dome’s back gate, beyond the garden fence, was Raskail’s servant quarters.

‘If I shoot the window with a gun, he’ll wake up on his own without me having to go there. But I don’t know which window is Ethan’s room, damn it.’

The next person who came to mind was Lindsey Dyce.

‘Lindsey made an oath this time and received training at Tritoma. When I checked on her… she was quite good thanks to her solid foundation.’

And Lindsey would probably know where Ethan’s room window was located.

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