I Have Become The Heroes’ Rival

Chapter 44

Translator: Kay

If he hadn’t built up resistance, he would have been eaten in an instant.

That was why Benjamin didn’t doubt that Felix would get eaten by the power of the devil.

As soon as the arrow pierced his shoulder, the devil’s power immediately struck him, and the battle for dominance began.

It was unclear how much had passed.

From the window where the warm sunlight penetrated through, he watched the sky dyed with the red glow of sunset turn completely dark. Felix gazed out the window that clearly showed the passage of time and let out a languid breath.

Fortunately, thanks to cigarettes that consisted of unknown medicinal herbs, the pain considerably dulled.

It seemed to contain a drug used in sedatives. Perhaps the kind that soothed agitation……. The details were not of his concern.

He didn’t care as long as it helped.

If the cigarette burned near the filter, a new one was burned and then another.

As he continued to do so, the pain disappeared, and his senses awakened.

Felix aimed at this opening and relentlessly pushed away from the power of the devil. The power of the devil that was running wild in his body was also looking for an opportunity to ease the momentum for a while.

–I can’t believe it. I’m sure you’ve only lived for more than 20 years at best. Did you breathe and develop resistance in your birth? Of all the things, to be caught up in this……..damn it.

The power of the devil must have been intended to take over the body during the confusion and pain.

However, in front of Felix, who could regain and control all his senses again, the devil could no longer trample on his body freely like before. Instead, it was clinging to the vital point, the core of mana, so it wouldn’t be driven out.

The devil grumbled about how he didn’t know what was going on as his powers faded.

–Looking at the energy, it seems that you are the only one who met all the conditions. But you still remain. Seeing that the body is stable, it looks like you can handle anything……. Is it possible for a sorcerer of this age?

Felix pondered to himself.

He wondered what expression Duke Lamberg would make if he told him that, thanks to the cigarettes he left behind, it was much easier to suppress the devil.

After all, this didn’t seem to be his intention. It was such a pity that Felix couldn’t see his expression.

–It’s a pretty good human subject.

He bit a cigarette, lit the end, and sucked in the smoke. The mechanical movements which continued to envelop him with medicine rapidly diminished the devil’s patience.

–Hey. Are you listening?

Felix slowly clenched his fist and opened it. He was exhausted, but he seemed to be able to move his body at will.

He grabbed the tail of the arrow stuck in his shoulder, twisted it up and down, and pulled it out. Without hesitation, he inserted his finger into the wound.

“Ugh…”

It wasn’t without pain. However, whether it was because of the burning of the cigarette or because he experienced more than that, it wasn’t terrible.

Soon after, Felix pulled out an artifact the size of a fingernail.

He knew exactly where it was planted. He had never forgotten about the day.

The Ministry of Magic took children who were so-called geniuses and had talent in magic as if they were kidnapping them. Then, after thoroughly brainwashing their loyalty to the empire, they planted artifacts with ancient magic.

Felix stared silently at the dark red jewel that looked like blood.

As expected, he couldn’t feel anything. As soon as the arrow pierced his shoulder, he felt the magic collide with the power of the devil and completely shatter.

He looked down at it with a grin.

In fact, if he was determined to, he could have pulled this artifact out of his body. Nevertheless, the reason he didn’t was because of the precious people he would leave behind.

It was a sign of obedience that he wouldn’t do anything as long as they didn’t touch his people. He would become a loyal dog if they wanted him to be, it was a leash of one’s own accord. It was their choice to cut it off at will.

‘If that’s what you want, I’ll do as you wish.’

Felix gripped the arrow shaft tightly. This antique arrow released the power of the devil.

‘Is this how it crumbles?’

Still, it was a relic of the devil, which had held the devil’s magic for thousands of years. Felix looked down puzzledly at the arrow that became entirely crushed just because he held it tightly.

–Haha! That’s the strength of this body! If you give me half of your body and soul, I will be able to gain a greater power than a human being like you would dare to imagine.

–I’ll do it for you. What do you think? Isn’t it tempting?

Since earlier, the pounding of the heart seemed to ring in his head. Every nerve in the body seemed to be on edge¹.

It was a room filled with only silence, and yet he could hear the squeaking sound of rats in the mouse hole, the sound of the trees hitting each other outside the window, and the sound of insects crawling through the grass. All the sounds were loud.

Using the wall as support, Felix leaped to his feet and staggered for a moment.

For a moment, his sense of distance was unclear, and his vision was excessively dizzy.

–Hey.

At first, he thought he was suffering from dizziness because he was exhausted, but that didn’t seem right.

He frowned and removed his glasses where the lens was cracked like a spider web.

“……?”

He only grabbed it slightly, but the glasses bent in his hand.

Felix fixed his gaze on the glass that fell to the ground like grains of sand between his fingers.

The tens of thousands of grains that seemed to flow down slowly were so vivid that he could easily count it, one by one.

His eyesight improved. No, it didn’t just improve.

He slowly raised his head. Even though the inside of the building was dark, the dust that floated in the air was clearly visible.

Felix, who was slightly flustered, silently struck the wall with his fist. A crack formed down on the wall, and crumbs of debris fell.

“……”

The power was quite hard to control. It was not a kind of power that humans could exert.

–Isn’t it amazing? You want more power, don’t you? Right? Huh? Answer me!

A sorcerer was relatively weak in physical strength and stamina as they had a habit of relying on magic for every moment.

It was inevitable. While other people moved around, they locked themselves in a room, stuffed themselves on the desk, and researched magic.

In addition, the sorcerers belonged to the Ministry of Magic.

It was basic expectations to stay up all night drinking tea with awakening effects every day, and some were even stuck in the lab for nearly a month.

The imperial palace’s knights would come and go and ridicule the sorcerers of the Ministry of Magic for being like living corpses.

Even if they were born healthy, it didn’t matter. It was expectations for a sorcerer to live as a cripple for life after their physical strength and abilities fell to the bottom.

In fact, Felix was no different.

His physical strength and strength were lower than that of ordinary people, so he relied on magic.

However, he didn’t even use any magic at all…….

–Sorcerer, hey!

“…… ”

–Was half too much? Then let’s do a third.

“…… ”

–Four, a quarter?

“Please stop talking. My head is ringing.”

–Oh, you’re finally answering.

Felix firmly pressed his temples and slowly blew out the smoke.

He once heard that a man who sold his soul to the devil and made a contract with it could raise their physical conditions to the limit.

He didn’t know that it included the devil’s power penetrating the body.

“Leraze?”

–Yes.

No matter how much it became a part of the soul, he didn’t know the evil spirit would be so frivolous.

The devil answered as Felix narrowed his eyes at the devil suspiciously.

–You seem to know who I am, so I shall be quick. Well, I can give you whatever you want. I can bring you the honor of victory.

The devil whispered fiendishly.

But Felix cut off the temptation attempt like a knife.

“All I want is for you to sleep soundly in me.”

–……that’s a weird answer. Did you accept me on purpose?

“That’s right.”

–……Really?

“Yes.”

–F*ck, I got caught by a madman!

“Please refrain from saying vulgar things while you’re in me.”

–Ahhhhhh!!!

The devil felt like he was truly crazy.

He had been tied up in the temple and barely escaped after thousands of years, but now he was bound to this insane human being and sealed in their body!

He didn’t know how long it was since such a pure, sparkling soul was in front of him. But instead of eating it, he was being tortured!

While the devil screamed in despair, Felix completely ignored it and was lost in thought.

‘I didn’t expect myself to be eaten by the power of the devil even if I committed suicide.’

It became difficult. Benjamin’s self-confident attitude suggested that when the body died, it became a corpse and manipulated by the will and techniques of the devil.

‘It’s meaningless to pretend to be dead.’

Felix, who was in distress for a moment, pulled out a dummy the size of a finger from his pocket.

He developed it himself right after he heard about the prophecy from Irene.

He threw it into his blood puddled on the floor. Then the dummy steadily grew larger and expanded and changed into the same shape as Felix.

Without any errors, the wound on the shoulder, the torn clothes, the traces of the footprints on the chest, and the bloodshot eyes were the exact same.

Felix thought to himself.

If he had no resistance to mana and was forced to be eaten by the devil’s power, but then told that the results were the same even if he committed suicide…….

What kind of judgment would he have made?

‘The body should be in a state where it cannot move.’

Once he made his decision, he acted quickly.

They knew Felix was in a state where he could squeeze out his magic. So, he could make it look like he blew himself up with magic.

However, since His Excellency kindly handed him a tool, it would be better to use it.

Felix looked down at the red crystal artifact expressionlessly and put it on the dummy’s fingers.

Then a flame from the artifact sprang out and began to burn the pile and spread to the surrounding area.

The embers created by magic would never fade away easily.

The body damaged to this extent would not be a part of the devil’s soul, and it would not be of any use to the devil.

After erasing all traces, Felix turned his back on the flames and leisurely walked out of the mansion.

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T/N: Hope you all enjoyed this second chapter! (I guess now is when all the action starts ahaha). Sorry again for the lack of chapters last month and thank you again for your mega patience with me! >_< I’ll see you all again on Saturday/Sunday (with 2 chapters!!)

^{1. If your nerves are “on edge” it means that you are feeling tense, nervous, or unable to relax. ↩}

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