Final Villain's Broken System: Geniuses Make Me Stronger!

Alaric was about to rush in for another bout of battle when he paused.

Protect me?

Then, like pieces of a puzzle snapping into place, everything connected.

According to Tales of Golden Era, House Orlen’s situation was extremely precarious.

Their head Marchioness Orlen had taken the majority of strength of the House and had left to defend the border of the kingdom.

The issue was that she had performed well. Too well in fact.

The Marchioness had accumulated enough merit to warrant an elevation to Duchess.

And that was something the majority of the noble houses and the king didn’t wish to see.

A higher title meant greater authority, and greater authority translated directly into power for the Official Path Power System.

So they were delaying sending reinforcements to the border so she couldn’t be freed up and attend the title upgrade ceremony.

Of course, there were other ways to upgrade her title, but everything was subtly being blocked or delayed.

Therefore, the moment Alaric heard that the Knight had been sent to protect him, he understood everything instantly.

House Orlen’s enemies obviously didn’t wish for them to upgrade their authority.

So they sent people to protect him, the young lord.

Because if he died, Marchioness Orlen would have sufficient reason to leave the border to attend her son’s funeral without being charged for treason.

She could then undergo the title upgrade ceremony before returning to the border, having a much greater chance to survive now.

Alaric sneered as he resumed his assault.

"Protection? I got the information that your squires are out to kill me."

The accusation served two purposes. It was both a probe and an attempt to shake the Knight’s composure.

And as expected, it worked.

There was shock in the Knight’s eyes as he narrowly failed to dodge the knife to his leg.

He understood the implication of the young lord’s words.

There were traitors in his group!

The people he had been saving by putting his life on the line didn’t share his goal at all! They had been bought!

Is that why they insisted I stay back at base while they would protect the young lord?

But he was, after all, a warrior who had fought many times. His eyes regained focus as he spoke while defending an attack to his lower chest.

"Young Lord, your information is incorrect. House Yuglev’s only intention was to ensure your safety."

House Yuglev huh?

Alaric scoffed. It was public knowledge that Marquis Yuglev and Marchioness Orlen were bitter enemies.

They stood to lose the most if Marchioness Orlen’s authority upgraded to that of a Duchess.

No wonder House Yuglev wants to protect me.

The Knight became noticeably defensive once he realised who he was fighting, but Alaric didn’t let up on his offense.

Just because the Knight said he was out to protect him, he had to believe it?

As they fought, Alaric grew increasingly comfortable with his acquired minor mastery of throwing knives.

The imparted memories were rapidly being transformed into real life experience due to the insane pressure brought by a Knight’s attacks.

Suddenly, the Knight leaped backwards, putting distance between them and offered.

"Why don’t we head back and regroup with my men? We can verify your information first.

"If it turns out to be true, I’ll personally kill the traitors."

Alaric laughed at the sheer absurdity of the idea.

"Do you take me for a damn fool?"

I would have to be retarded to let you regroup with the Squires.

Alaric crouched low to pick up the second dagger in the ground before launching himself towards the Knight.

Even if he is telling the truth, the Knight still serves House Yuglev. Leaving him alive is an unnecessary risk.

Alaric hadn’t missed the occasional deadly strikes hidden within the Knight’s defensive maneuvers.

He knew the reason. The young lord of an enemy house was already monstrously strong at Squire stage, he would become a nightmare for their house once he became a Knight.

Clang!

The sound of metal hitting metal rang out as he used his knife to throw the sword off balance before using the second knife to stab at the neck.

Even though his forearm dangled uselessly, the Knight still managed to swing the upper arm across his body, barely intercepting the second knife.

He blocked it, but unfortunately, Alaric’s first knife was faster than the sword he had thrown off balance with it.

Spurt!

Blood gushed from the Knight’s neck as Alaric finally landed the killing blow.

It really is Minor Mastery...

No wonder every strike had carried an uncanny certainty.

He had spent the entire battle defending against those knives exactly to determine the young lord’s skill level, and there was no mistaking it anymore.

A Squire with Minor Mastery.

His pupils trembled.

This level of talent...

If this young lord survived today, reaching the realm of Paragon Knight was no longer a distant dream. It was a very real possibility.

One Paragon Knight had already elevated House Orlen to the brink of becoming a ducal house.

A second...

His house would have understood his decision.

Protecting such a monster had never been in their best interest. Killing him while he was still a Squire had been the correct choice all along.

...A pity I failed.

With that final thought, resentment filled his gaze as the last trace of life faded from his eyes.

Alaric let out a long breath as he watched the Knight collapse.

This had been the first true battle where his life hung by a thread.

Throughout the fight, the Knight had been weaving lethal strikes into his seemingly defensive maneuvers.

Had it not been for his minor mastery of throwing knives, even a single mistake would’ve left him grievously wounded, if not dead.

Alaric didn’t linger around. He ran to the previous location and picked up the six bloodied knives before following the trail.

After nearly a ten minute jog, he reached a makeshift camp where he could see people moving about.

Out of fifteen, I remember killing five. I can count only four people moving around.

How many of the remaining six had survived the collapsing bear and his volley of stones made no difference to his plan.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Four bloodied knives whistled through the air, burying themselves in the necks of four clueless Squires.

Four more dead.

Without wasting a second, Alaric rushed toward the camp and searched the tents one by one.

Four of the remaining six had already died. The other two were asleep.

Neither ever opened their eyes again.

Only after confirming that everyone was dead did he breathe a sigh of relief.

As his eyes glanced around, they settled upon something which made his eyes lit up.

Something to relieve stress after all the fighting.

But first, he had things to do.

He took out a communication device made by the mages and contacted Alice.

"Lead the hunting squad of House Orlen to the location I’ll tell you. Make sure they bring enough personnel and equipment to move a heavy corpse back."

After cutting the connection, he began erasing traces of minor mastery of throwing knives from everything.

He carved shallow cuts across armor that served no purpose in killing, snapped spear shafts beneath corpses, and hacked at shields until they resembled equipment damaged in desperate combat.

For some wounds, he widened them until they looked like injuries from beast claws.

The serpent’s body already bore countless slashes from where he had disguised the killing blow.

He added several more around its jaws and tail before burying broken branches beneath the coils, making it appear as though it had thrashed wildly before dying.

A couple hours later, Alice was leading the hunting unit of House Orlen deep into the Moliken Forest.

Despite the brightness of noon, it was dark beneath the dense canopy of trees.

When they finally reached the location, everyone including Alice gasped.

There lay a corpse of a massive serpent more than a dozen meters long which wrapped around sixteen corpses.

The blood still leaking from their bodies radiated an oppressive aura that made everyone freeze.

Fifteen Squires and one Knight!

But even that wasn’t the main focus.

Behind it lay the colossal corpse of a beast the size of a two storey house.

Seated atop it was a lone figure, taking an unhurried drag from his cigar. Smoke slowly escaped his lips before dissolving into the silent forest.

For reasons none of them could explain, the lone figure felt far more terrifying than the monstrous corpse beneath him.

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