Chapter 289

Trial of the Alchemist (V)

The roof of the house blew up almost immediately, the debris scattering omnidirectionally, while the wild winds of Mana surged from within, corralling the old woman. Cain himself was blown back out of the room, his body beyond his control for a long while before finally landing near the forest at the very bottom of the town.

The explosion seemed to have woken up the rest as the startled shouts and screams filled the sky. However, the ripping sounds of the violent winds drowned all others out. Within the eye of the storm, the elderly woman floated, her skin suddenly melting like a candle wax and burning off like paper, revealing beneath an entirely new one, like snake. It was far smoother and younger and milkier, akin to the young girl’s.

Cain had put almost all the pieces together already, but couldn’t help sighing still at his own stupidity. It was also then that the window popped up in front of him, further cementing that sentiment.

‘Trial of the Alchemist’ has been updated.

You have discovered a heinous scheme by old woman Fau.

In truth, she was Queen Terrasha in disguise, the exiled Queen that had killed over a hundred young boys in her lifetime and was condemned by gods and men for her actions.

‘Trial of the Alchemist’ has become ‘Trial of Cruelty’

New task: defeat Queen Terrasha once and for all and liberate all the souls she had stolen.

The trial’s difficulty has been updated to… ‘Cosmic’

Previous rewards have been removed

New rewards are being calculated…

Upon completing the quest, you will be given ‘Terrasha’s Necklace’

Good luck, Conqueror!

Reading through the lines, Cain grew angrier and angrier; not only had he been hoodwinked like a child, the rewards he was after were removed entirely and replaced by a single necklace. That was without mentioning the fact that the trial’s difficulty had been upgraded to ‘Cosmic’—a grade of difficulty exclusively reserved for the superstar-level Conquerors in his previous life. In fact, it was a point of pride—every young Conqueror would boldly proclaim to the world if they’d completed a Cosmic-level trial, not just here but on any floor, as that indicated their potential.

Looking at the woman revealing herself from within the storm, though, Cain didn’t share their excitement; he wasn’t youth chasing clout, he was a very lazy man chasing an easy way to treasures. And this certainly wasn’t it. Even just casually observing the surge of Mana, both in terms of quality as well as quantity, told Cain that it would be yet another longer battle.

Realizing there was no way out, he sighed yet again and kindled the wings on his back, taking to the sky and quickly reaching the woman. The storm had subsided slightly but not before nigh-leveling the city below and leaving many, from the looks of it, dead or dying.

The Queen was far too self-indulgent to notice Cain approaching her, seemingly in love with her revitalized self. She kept looking up and down her arms and running them across her body—which still remained entirely naked—touching seemingly every inch for confirmation that, indeed, her old wrinkles were gone.

“Ha ha ha ha,” she cackled, tossing her head back. “Queen Terrasha has returned, foul world! There is nothing that will stop me from getting my revenge on those infidels!”

“Oi, oi,” Cain, finally tired of being ignored, called her out. “You’ve gotten younger but remained blind and deaf? Sheesh, your magic sucks, ya’ old hag.”

“Huh?” the woman finally tore herself away from admiring her figure and turned toward Cain, arching her perfectly-shaped brows and licking her upper lip in the process. “I suppose I do owe you a thanks, Conqueror. If you’d like, after I destroy the village, I shall allow you to wash my feet. You will, of course, have to die after, but still… can you imagine a death more grandiose?”

“Uh… yes? Literally getting hit in the face by a steel dildo and croaking sounds more grandiose,” Cain rolled his eyes. “And could ya’ please put on some clothes? Kicking your ass with a boner doesn’t sound like a fun time!”

“Impudent!” the woman roared angrily tossing a swirl of raw Mana at him. It was Cain’s moment to be confused—he casually caught the swirl and played with it for a moment before tossing it aside. “Oh? You know a bit of magic?”

“Do… do you not know that I’m a fucking Mage? What… WHAT IS THIS QUEST?!!” his frustrations seeped into an angry roar, one he used to vent out slightly. “Ugh, whatever. Please, for the love of God, put on some clothes! Contrary to what men claim, we don’t prefer women in public be naked; can you fucking imagine the awkwardness? You’d either have the gawkers on the sidelines wanking off like champions, or the creepers creepin’ close about, or the self-professed charmers hitting on everything with a pulse. And then there’d be people like me, keeping a respectful distance and observing from our apartments… with binoculars… and wanking off. Respectfully, though. Ah, don’t forget the gay men, though. It’d probably be a horror movie for them if the movie clichés are to be believed.”

“…” what awaited Cain was a confounded expression, but he wasn’t surprised; after all, he mostly went off on a self-indulgent tangent, something he adamantly fought for during his break, mostly with people on the internet. Alas, venting off at a mythical witch who just hoodwinked him hardly eased the pain.

In lieu of continuing the nonsense, Cain charged up infernal whips that stretched out from his sides immediately, lashing out against the old(young) woman. The latter cried out, partly in pain and partly in shock that someone actually dared attack her. After all, even those who survived her initial outburst ran off like the wind at the mere mention of her name. Sometimes, Cain mused, ignorance truly pays off. Even if he had an inkling over just how terrible she was.

Roaring, the woman finally put on some clothes, manifesting a silken dress that wove off like tendrils around her arms which kept floating behind her as she spun her hands around in a circle. Thereupon, a sphere of magnetic Mana formed, sucking in Mana from its surroundings as it built up like a bomb; Cain fell back in a faint surprise—it was his first time seeing something like this in the current run. It would eventually become a fairly popular way of utilizing Mana for mages with access to the element.

He quickly overcame the shock, however; likely because it was this early on, despite being able to utilize Mana’s innate magnetism toward itself, it was all… just so, so, so slow. So much so, in fact, that Cain managed to blink at the witch’s rear and blast off a skill of his own, easily hitting her in the back squarely. The woman cried out once again, the spell cast disabled abruptly. Unlike what would happen if Cain’s skill got interrupted, the woman suffered seemingly no backlash.

What was even stranger amidst all of this was that despite landing two fairly strong skills… Cain didn’t even dent the woman’s health bar. His brows furrowed, he continued to fire off one skill after another. It didn’t truly cost him anything, since his Mana regen could keep up with his current expenditures.

However, despite firing off for nearly a whole minute… the health bar didn’t move. All. Growing even more frustrated, Cain fashioned a bullet-like skill, innately fiery, that dealt true damage, regardless of target’s resistences. He blew through half his Mana in one go but at least he was certain of the damage it would deal.

The ‘bullet’ easily hit and pierced through the woman who, once again, cried out in pain. All the same, the health bar didn’t move. In fact, it looked like it grew bigger.

“Te’gha, can you see her health?” Cain asked out of desperation. Because their levels were so far apart, as she appeared to be a hundred and a chunk, Cain turned toward the cat that was hiding in his undercoat. The kitten peaked its head and glanced at the woman before nodding.

“Naturally, great Te’gha can see something the puny human can’t! Kekekeke~~”

“Oh, great Te’gha, would you kindly share your findings with his puny human?”

“It’s a big number…” Te’gha mumbled embarrassingly, but Cain wasn’t about to latch onto it and make fun of him. Not now, anyway.

“Just list them out individually, then.”

“Uh, of course! Te’gha was going to do that, for you, stupid, stupid human!”

“…”

“Uhm, it goes: six, six, four, eight, one, five, five, two.”

“Are… are you… are you sure?”

“What?! Of-of course! Do you think great Te’gha can’t read stupid numbers?!”

“… you’re… you’re sure,” Cain mumbled, deflating. A number echoed inside his mind repeatedly, like a bell, beating his soul like a baton in the process. Sixty-six million, four hundred eighty-one thousand, and five hundred fifty-two. 66, 481, 552.

He began mumbling the number like a lunatic, over and over and over again. And then he began cursing, and then crying. In fact, he entirely ignored the woman who was firing off unskilled spells that wouldn’t hit a wheelchair-bound let alone him. He finally grasped the caveat of the trial: the woman was weak. She was as weak as a piece of paper. If that piece of paper was made out of the strongest material known to man and then reinforced a billion times by the strongest material known to aliens.

It would take him a lifetime to burn through 66 million health through conventional means, and likely never if she had high base regeneration. There had to be another hook somewhere in this. There had to be.

“There had to be,” he mumbled like it was a mantra. But deep down in his heart… he knew there wasn’t.