The Game of a Legendary Genius Dark Mage-Chapter 314
5.
The Kingdom of Rieskan had always been famous as a nation of knights, from its founding to the present day.
Yet even in this knight-dominated land, mages clearly existed.
There were court mages, and even an entire Mage Tower.
No matter how much it was a nation of knights, it couldn’t possibly survive on knights alone.
That much was inevitable.
But did the mages—few as they were—receive proper treatment?
Of course not.
Which was why Court Mage Malcom ground his teeth in frustration.
“Goddamn it, what the hell do they expect me to do?”
A subjugation squad.
Outwardly, it looked like a demon subjugation squad.
And indeed, their role was to subjugate demons.
But beneath the surface, things were different.
It was a scenario quest from Will Baghdad.
And given the nature of that quest...
The Kingdom of Rieskan was deeply involved. Just like before, they had once again aligned themselves with demons.
So why were they subjugating demons?
It was simple.
“Those damn demons have factions and now they want us to wipe out their political enemies?”
It was laughable.
They had allied with one demon faction, and now they were summoning members of the rival faction into one place to eliminate them all in one go.
Whoever came up with that plan—it was genius.
Aside from the fact that he was the one stuck having to carry it out.
One of the kingdom’s precious, rare few mages—being used like a mere errand boy.
It infuriated him, but...
There was no way around it.
If it weren’t for the mana bomb planted in his head, he’d have run off a hundred times by now.
“Huuu...”
Fine. It was bearable.
Eliminating political enemies?
Even serving as a relay for communications—sure, that was manageable.
But then—he had thought that would be the extent of his involvement...
“Why the hell is the Hero’s disciple suddenly here!?”
A completely unforeseen variable had shown up and thrown everything into chaos.
There was no way...
But what if the Hero had sensed something and sent his disciple here?
What if they figured out that the Kingdom of Rieskan had aligned with the demons?
If that happened...
All the carefully laid plans would be for nothing.
Court Mage Malcom, much as he hated the idea, had no choice but to follow orders if he didn’t want his head to explode.
“I need to keep an eye on that damn disciple somehow...”
He was unusually sharp.
Every time Malcom merely looked at him, he would turn his head and stare back.
What kind of senses are those?
Is this what they mean by "the Hero’s disciple"?
Malcom was still trying to figure out what to do when he spotted two knights yawning lazily on horseback.
He let out a sigh.
He wished he could live so carefree, without having to think.
But no one was around to help him.
At that moment—
“H-Huh? Court Mage, sir? What is that? Isn’t that a demon!?”
“What nonsense are you spouting? There wasn’t supposed to be a demon—wait, what??”
He was just about to scold the knight for spouting nonsense when he looked in the direction the knight pointed—
And it was there.
A demon holding a massive greatsword, flying through the air with wings like membranes of blood.
Only one had appeared?
There had been no such .
Malcom started reaching for the communicator to it, but then—
“KHAHAHAHAHA!! The glorious Valtar... L—Rok! Lord Valtarok shall bring you despair!!!”
At the sound of that booming voice, a barrier shimmered to life around them, cutting off the area.
And the demon—not devil, but demon—shouted again.
“『Severance』!”
If Malcom had been a player, a system message would have appeared:
[Due to the effect of the skill 『Severance』, summoning companions or servants into this area is disabled.]
[Due to the skill 『Severance』, communication with the outside is blocked.]
But since Malcom was an NPC, he could only feel it.
A sensation of total isolation.
His eyes widened in shock as he shouted.
“W-What is this!?”
“D-Demon!!!”
“Prepare for battle!!”
“A demon has appeared!!!”
The subjugation team shouted out, but—
The knights of the Kingdom of Rieskan were frozen in place.
They hadn’t received any warning of a demon appearing.
And now, faced with a sudden arrival, confusion spread rapidly.
Even if it was technically an enemy demon...
It had been their faction who summoned it.
Surely there had been a contract, and all its actions should have been under their control.
But this demon had shown up without warning. Of course they were confused.
“What the hell is going on?”
“I haven’t heard anything.”
“What is that thing...”
“It’s coming!”
The knights and Malcom exchanged hushed whispers.
And then, the demon who had declared himself “Valtar...rok” appeared.
Now that he thought about it—
“Do demons usually have names?”
As far as he recalled, demons never had names.
Suddenly, the demon stiffened as if remembering something and shouted again.
“I—I am a demon noble! Baron Valtarok!!!”
It was like he had forgotten and just remembered again.
But his oppressive presence left everyone stunned.
“H-Huh!?”
“D-Demon nobility!?”
“Even if it’s just a baron, it has a name!!”
“Everyone, be on guard!!!”
With that, the knights panicked and charged in.
They couldn’t send out a message anyway.
They had to stop this thing—somehow.
If they could just hold him off, maybe the Hero’s disciple would step in.
With that thought, Malcom shouted his command.
“Knights! Hold him back!!!”
“Hrrahhh!!”
“Hyaaahhh!!”
“Uwaaahhh!!!”
At Malcom’s frantic command, the knights charged.
But Valtarok only burst into mad laughter and swung his demon greatsword.
A surge of crimson and ashen energy burst from the blade.
Whoosh.
That energy spread instantly, rushing toward the knights.
Like paint mixing on canvas, the two colors blurred and pulsed—piercing the knights in an instant.
Crimson blood erupted from their bodies.
“Guhhuek...”
“Wh-Why... is the demon...?”
“Why would you do this to us...?”
Even in death, their faces were twisted with confusion.
Valtarok laughed again.
“KHAHAHAHAHA!! Come at me!!!”
Some knights, trembling in fear, began to retreat.
But Valtarok relentlessly hunted them down.
Malcom swallowed hard.
Something was definitely wrong.
This so-called demon noble was far too powerful.
“We... we can’t win.”
Why the demon had suddenly turned on them was unknown.
But what mattered now was survival.
He had to get out of here.
But then—
“W-Where do I even run?”
That thought dominated his mind.
How could he escape from this?
Ah!
“Th-The Hero’s disciple... where is he?”
He frantically looked around.
But why?
No matter how hard he looked, the Hero’s disciple was nowhere to be seen.
And after Valtarok finished massacring the knights, he stepped up behind Malcom.
Desperately, Malcom cried out.
Trying to save his life—
“W-We’re on the same s—”
But before he could finish...
The crimson blade grazed his neck.
And Valtarok spoke.
“I know. KHAAHAHAHA!”
With that devilish grin, Malcom felt the world spin—
No, it wasn’t the world.
It was his head.
And as consciousness faded, he saw it.
The Hero’s disciple—finally moving, far too late.
And that disciple, grinning in satisfaction, charged toward Valtarok.
That was the last thing Malcom saw before he closed his eyes.
6.
After the court mage and the knights had all been wiped out—
Seong stepped in, belatedly, and managed to defeat none other than the demon noble, Baron Valtarok.
He could’ve sworn the demon had been grinning in excitement at the end.
But regardless, it was a flawless takedown that left everyone breathing a sigh of relief.
However—
“What should we do now? Even the court mage is dead...”
“Is there any mage who can reconnect the communicator?”
“For now, we need someone to take command...”
With their former leader suddenly gone, Subjugation Team 3 was thrown into chaos.
And all eyes naturally turned to Seong.
It was inevitable.
He was the only one who could take on Baron Valtarok.
And he was the Hero Hindel’s disciple, no less.
Unconsciously, people began to hope he would lead them.
Some even said it out loud.
“I believe it’s right for the Hero Hindel’s disciple to lead us!”
“I agree completely!”
“Frankly, who else could lead us but him?”
One by one, voices of agreement rose up.
And though Seong looked troubled, he couldn’t refuse.
As if he had no choice, he accepted the role of leader.
Communication duty fell naturally to Babaros.
Now the two of them had essentially seized command.
They wore troubled expressions—
But inwardly, they were smiling.
“Perfect.”
“Indeed.”
With those words, Seong stepped forward and began leading Subjugation Team 3.
And watching it all, Will swallowed hard.
“Whoa...”
Even Will, stunned by the sheer level of manipulation and skill, was left speechless.
He had lived a hard life too.
But pulling something like this off?
Unbelievable.
With that, Will made a quiet vow.
“I need to learn from him.”
Not that it was something worth imitating.
In any case, Seong and Babaros had taken over.
Seong handed the communicator to the concealed Fiora.
And then—
“Thanks for the help, Malcom.”
“Khehehe, I couldn’t be more grateful you’re avenging me!!! You’ve no idea how long I worried my head would explode thanks to those bastards!!! Evil, all of them!”
Malcom sounded like an evil bastard himself—
But given how cooperative his spirit was, Seong decided to let it slide.
Using Malcom’s memories—
“Fiora, let’s extract some info.”
“Y-Yes!”
Fiora, still concealed, transformed into Malcom.
She had already harvested his corpse and absorbed all his memories—making the transformation perfect.
Then—
[Is there a problem? There were traces of you trying to contact us earlier.]
“Nothing serious. Just saw the Hero’s disciple acting suspiciously, so I reached out. Turned out to be nothing.”
[Even if it’s nothing, you’re still supposed to it.]
“Ah, apologies. Turns out he was just getting close to another team member. Looked suspicious at first, but it was nothing.”
[Hmm... Understood.]
“Yes, sir.”
[ immediately if anything unusual comes up.]
Once the communication ended, Seong mulled over how to extract more intel.
He initiated deployment and began collecting data bit by bit.
“—Unit 1? That you, Jun?”
“—Who is this? Malcom?”
“—Don’t you think we’re being treated like trash?”
“—Hah? Since when is that news? Something up?”
“—Hey, isn’t the Hero’s disciple part of our squad? Now they want me to dig up info on him. Can you believe that?”
“—What? That’s insane. And don’t get me started. I’ve got to train those damn intel recruits on the demon matter. You know where they’re raised? Badiya City. How do they raise kids in a dump like that? Well, I guess it makes sense—it is a war zone.”
“—Oh? First I’m hearing of that.”
“—Shit, really? Guess it’s classified. But it’s you, Malcom, so whatever.”
He’d poked at one overly chatty mage—
And just like that, the information flowed out.
Seong cross-checked it on the community board.
“Badiya City, huh.”
It still existed.
He smirked.
Looks like he could pull more intel than expected.
Once he set up his alibi—
They finally arrived at the mine where the demons were residing.
.
!
Chapter 314
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