The more I started to understand the layout of the brothel, the more I understood why it lasted so long.
There was no way out.
Only one exit out of the confines of the brothel regardless if it was into the dungeon or not.
I discussed the details with Talia in front of the portal door. We made sure to keep an eye on it.
If that janitor who normally used the closet came here, then our cover would be blown in an instant.
Since we had no idea when security would change routines, the best we could do was stall for time.
As I was explaining this, Talia looked at me coldly.
Speaking out her mind: "Do you have any solutions for this? Realistically speaking… Not a false hope."
"I'm gonna need more help from you to complete the mission." Rather than doing it myself, I asked her outright. There was no need for me to not use someone who could be a big help to this mission.
"Me…?" Talia didn't understand it.
"Are you worried about not having any experience in espionage? If so, you don't have to worry." (Pal)
"You must have a reason…" (Talia)
"Nothing important. Only…" I got off my seat and leaned over the table to make my voice more clear to her: "…you'll have to let me use your army for a second. Wait until my signal to occupy the rooms."
"You want me to finish the mission?" (Talia)
"More like put an end to what I'll start." (Pal)
"I'm curious what that'll be." (Talia)
"For the sake of your image of me, I'll have to keep that a secret. Secrets are the etiquette of war." I spoke these words meaningfully. Even so, she didn't seem to immediately understand what I meant.
Even with her age, she didn't have my experience.
And the heartlessness of a man born of the dark.
To reach the level of true pragmatism, it was important to do away with good and usher in evil.
Not the amorality of a hunting beast, but the immorality of a psychopath who knew his wrongs.
With that, I acquired what I was looking for.
Since there was no direct danger those elves were going through, I had the time to train some more.
Before I did that, I checked up on Simon.
One look from afar made me see him sleeping away as usual. Not caring about whether I'm there or not.
Oddly enough, I'd always found this comfortable.
The lack of questions Simon had for me.
He always just did what he wanted, and sometimes helped me when I was finding myself confused.
I let him have his deserved rest.
About an hour later, Talia met me in front of an empty jar which would be used for this mission.
Not by bringing it, but from training me.
"Do you seriously want to do this?" Talia asked to make sure. This wasn't going to be an easy method.
Still, I had steeled myself.
As usual, it was normal for me to give up my well-being and the future in order to complete a mission.
I sighed and nodded heavily.
My emotions plain to see in my eyes.
"I've done this once before, so I'm aware of the amount of dosage and limit to intensity." I spoke.
"But do you really plan on doing this?" (Talia)
"Don't you want me to?" (Pal)
"That's…" She avoided my gaze.
"This particular technique is known as 'Poison Hand' where I came from. Normally, I'd use a collection of insects and plants to create a base. That toxin would be put in the jar and adjusted for me to dip my hands in. Rinse and repeat every day." (Pal)
"But wouldn't that end up killing you…?" (Talia)
"People who don't die forcibly gain a resistance to the toxins. Don't worry too much about it all." (Pal)
"I'm not. It'd be annoying if you died so uselessly." A flicker of disgust appeared in her voice about me.
Looked like I went too far with that joke.
Rather than continuing this topic, I made use of my abilities to make this dangerous act more feasible.
Talia had enough time to gather every single treasure and material she may need in the future.
The poisons and insects I needed were easily found and dipped into the acidic jar alive. Melting inside.
The contents looked scary.
"Have you really adjusted the dosage of it?" Talia was concerned about it, but I didn't say anything.
Truth was, I had intentionally worsened it.
The dosage right now was enough to kill several boat loads of elephants. Maybe even a dragon.
The reason for this was because I was confident in the ability that I'd made my specialty recently.
In this fantasy world, there were four types of poisons. The easiest to understand was just toxins.
Poison aimed at the body.
Also known as 'Biocide'.
The second type after that was known as Nerve Poison. It's what earthlings called a 'Neurotoxin'.
The third was simply drugs. They altered the state of the body and mind, sometimes even ruining them.
Some called it Heart Poison.
But it was better to call them 'Narcotics'.
Though there were some overlap in the first two, the ones I'd just listed were the limit in my own world.
But here, there was one more poison.
Also known as 'Curses'.
As someone with the Evil Affinity, it was only a matter of time before I came across such poison.
The poison of the soul.
'Curses' were a magical poison that invaded the spirit and eventually destroyed those touching it.
The method of their creation came from wrath.
Malice, hatred, annoyance, pride, etc. All emotions of negativity could be focused into a simple 'curse'.
But that also meant each type was vastly different.
As if to show how much she was willing to sacrifice for her goals, she brought out some special 'Curses'.
The ones left by the male elves killed in the past.
The curse took the shape of blood red apples. Most likely a cover for them created by Talia alone.
After all, uncollected curses dissipated in smoke.
At first, my heart couldn't stop pounding when I saw the crazy amount of toxin grown into one apple.
Since the toxicity of a curse highly depended on the experiences of those leaving them, I felt it clearly…
These blood red apples were likely the most toxic curses that could ever exist. The worst in reality.
The hatred of elves seemed scary to me now.
Instead of showing weakness, I added all of the cursed apples in at once. Then all the other stuff.
Biocides, Neurotoxins, Narcotics, and Curses had been interwoven using a brewing method I knew.
It was an optimised recipe I'd researched myself.
Along with a few tweaks thanks to the Curses.
There was such a thing as fast acting and slow acting poison, with their differences shown on the surface.
For this particular mission, I needed the most slowest acting poison that was possible to create.
A little bit of creativity was needed.
I took a deep breath with a gas mask on. Wearing gloves while stirring the contents of the jar lightly.
The bone of a poison resistant lizard was used.
For sake of safety, I got Talia to leave for a moment.
Then added the disease-ridden mouth of the large lizard's spine I used as a ladle for. It made it putrid.
The contents turned impure and black.
I used the curses as a base for this new poison I was making, then weaved other toxins in one by one.
This was to slow down the acting strength of the poison by making it perpetually fight against itself.
A ball of chaos.
The diseased lizard mouth only added some more dirt to the already stagnant poison held within.
Because diseases and poisons were different things.
I formed a cycle of mutual destruction. Almost like a halo that confined the diseases deep at the centre.
I mixed it for nearly an entire day. My arm really hurt from the exhaustion of controlling the result.
What the result looked like on the surface… was an acidic substance that could likely destroy anyone.
Even me…
I reached out my hand anyway. Even though this resulted had a hundred percent chance to kill.
As soon as my fingers were only a centimetre away from touching the jar's content, I used my Skill.
Willpower Enchantment dug deep.
Like that time with the brothel's magic devices, I used my Pure Mana to infiltrate the Mana of Curses.
My affinity for Death finally played a part.
When my fingers finally touched the black goo, a glowing purple tint started to spread up my arm.
['Abyss Core' rejects outside influence.]
['Abyss Core' is absorbing toxins.]
The excess trying to invade my body was taken care of by my core. It was surprising this could do that.
Looked like it had some hidden uses after all.
I used that opportunity to take out my hand. The black goo didn't stick, but the poison left residue.
My hand thrusted back into the jar again.
Slowly, the contents of the jar started to enter my body on its own. It focused mostly on my hands.
The glowing purple hands I continued to dip into the poison day after day caused flesh to mutate oddly.
Muscles on my hand had swollen and twisted.
…..
….
…
..
.
Pal clasped his hands. Fingers overlapping the gaps between the other and forming a makeshift prayer.
'Willpower Enchantment' was used again.
It took around a whole month of exercising control over the poison before he learnt two new Skills.
['Poison Hand' has been mastered.]
['Evil Resistance' has been acquired.]
The latter seemed like a unique Resistance Skill that encompassed narcotics along with the others.
With that out of the way, he finally had the Skill he needed to prepare his entrance into the brothel.
When he entered there the next day, his vigilance was high. Pal simply followed the smell of food.
Coming straight for the place where food was made for the entire hotel. A crucial place for guards.
His poison was to enter their system and wait until a preplanned timing. When everything was 'normal'.
The real raid started now.