The outskirts of the Imperial Capital – a place where its population continues to grow exponentially.
A place where dim lights illuminate the windows, where women dressed in indecent attires roamed the streets hoping to catch the eye of the male population.
Venturing even deeper into the outskirts, one would find themselves in the territory of the Alfred Family. In this place, the boundaries of legitimacy and illegality were convoluted.
"Gasp....Gasp....Gasp....."
And in this place, a young woman could be seen limping and panting like a drug addict.
One could also notice a deep wound in her leg, probably because of some accident, but the woman continued to limp in her strange state, even with her injury wide open and drenched in blood.
Her robe was also torn, so her exotic appearance caught the eyes of many.
A beautiful snow white hair.
And a fair pale skin that glimmered under the gaze of the full moon.
"..."
Some men visibly gulped when they looked at this woman, they succumbed to their lust as they started following her.
However, they didn't know that under the veil of a seemingly harmless woman stood a hungry beast who wanted to rip and tear everything until there remained no flesh...
* * * * *
In a dark and deserted alleyway.
Laura stopped walking as she could feel the gaze of numerous men licking her whole being.
Her breath became even more erratic as her pupils were dilated to the extreme.
"Hey, man….. Look at this bitch. She must be drugged out of her mind. I've never seen eyes like that….."
Perhaps the group approached Laura because she would be easy prey for their lustful desires.
A woman so beautiful that seemed…. unnatural.
But what stood out the most was her frail body, which seemed as if it would break at any moment. However, this further enhanced their sadistic and twisted desires for her.
"Aha…..hahahaha..."
And Laura, who was the target of their twisted desires, let out an eerie laugh as she proceeded to take out her robe.
Rustle!
Her 'admirers' gulped as her robe was released and her full body was shown.
One man, in particular, could not contain himself any longer as he grabbed Laura by her shoulders and pushed her against the wall…..
Crack!
Suddenly, a rift in space was opened, and from inside this rift, a coffin was released. All those men froze at this scene.
But Laura continued to smile innocently, clutching the Rosario in her neck — Her Altar.
"..."
The situation changed entirely when the word "Wizard" was added to the equation.
Even among those who have the blessing of mana, there is still an absolute difference between their ranks...
Therefore, imagine the difference between those who are born with mana and common people.
And no one would ever find out if an accident happened in those dark and deserted alleyways.
Now, it was as if a red alarm rang through each of those men's minds, as they discarded their lust entirely and only focused on getting away from that woman…..
"Shit! Hey, we need to get ou–!"
Creaaaak!
The faint clicking sound of the coffin being opened echoed in the dark alleyway.
Gush!
"Ahhhhhhhh!"
Before they could even comprehend the situation, a stream of boiling water was poured over them.
Crackle!
Next, ice crystals started to form in their soaked skin and remained stuck to their body.
When a kid puts their tongue on ice, the tongue will get stuck to it due to the contrast between the ice's cold temperature and the tongue's warm temperature.
So what would happen if one tried to forcefully remove those ice crystals that formed when your skin just made contact with a stream of boiling water?
Yes, your flesh would be ripped off.
"Argh!!!!!…. What the-"
Laura then instructed her corpse servant to freeze their legs as she approached them slowly, barely managing to contain the enormous pleasure she felt at this instant.
Crack!
And when she tried to rip off an ice crystal stick to the body of one of those men...
"Aaah!…..Hum?"
Since her body was quite weak by nature, it was a difficult task for her to rip off those crystals.
Because of that, she then controlled her corpse servant to move forward and rip off those crystals, but....
────!
The wall of ice created to seal the alleyway had disappeared, and the ice magic used to hold those men in place was dispersed.
Soon after…..
Stomp.
Stomp.
The constant sound of footsteps echoed in the dark alley. A man in a luxurious suit that contradicted the dirty and gloomy surroundings calmly sauntered his way towards them, gracefully wiping the sweat from his forehead.
"Laura…. De Charles Rosenberg."
Yes, him.
"You..."
The man whom she had crashed while running.
"It seems that you owe me an explanation."
Ferzen Von Schweig Louerg, the man who had ventured deep into the outskirts of Ernes, searching for his target while under the gaze of the full moon.
* * * * *
"..."
I loosened my tie as much as possible without messing up my appearance while calming my rough breathing.
But as I loosened my tie, I realized that in this way, my outfit would become asymmetrical, so I just took it off, folded it, put it in my inner jacket pocket, and looked at Laura, who was in front of me.
Since I couldn't comprehend this situation, I simply didn't even try to.
"Get Lost."
In these dark places of the capital, there is a kind of unwritten rule of noninterference when a confrontation between Wizards happens.
You will be 'kindly' removed when you cross that rule.
However, since we were in the Imperial Capital, things could get troublesome if Laura slaughtered those men.
Since the Capital's whole territory was under the Imperial family's jurisdiction.
Furthermore, this is also a place under Alfred's shadow, so I don't want to make a mess here.
"Oh! M-My Lord!....Thank you for saving us!"
Was it righteous of me to save them?
After thanking my so-called 'kindness,' those men dashed out of the alley.
But it seemed as if Laura had no intention of letting those bunch of trash run away, as her corpse servant created a wall of flames blocking their way out.
"..."
Laura is a Keter-Class Warlock.
So even if the corpse she controls is of a Euclidean-Class Elemental Wizard, there is a limit to how much she can exert the corpse's abilities.
Therefore, after neutralizing the magical phenomena that took the appearance of a wall of fire, the distance between us could be slowly narrowed.
Because of my way of analyzing magical phenomenons does not rely on mathematical formulas, my speed at implementing the ❰Disruption❱ skill was faster than expected.
When Laura's corpse servant casts a spell at Keter level, the composition of the spell could be visualized as a single line or dimension.
And in order to neutralize it, I need to weave my mana in the exact volume as hers and in the same 'shape' as the line, connecting my mana to hers.
When a Warlock uses this technique, the end result is that the disrupted spell will be reverted to its original state before the formation of any magical phenomenon —- a mass of pure mana.
On the other hand, Laura, who is ministering the corpse of an Elemental Wizard, could, in theory, apply the ❰Disruption❱ skill using the corpse of an Elemental Wizard as the medium to not only reverse the spell to its original state as pure mana but also reshape it to form another spell.
Actually...
Crackle!
The residual mana released from her disrupted fire-wall spell was being reshaped into ice spikes and were pointed at me.
'So I have around….10 minutes, is it?'
No matter how fast I am in Disrupting her spells, she can just reshape them again, and if I am too close to her, I won't be able to disrupt it in time since I have to analyze the composition of the spell first.
So I need to maintain a safe distance from her.
While constantly neutralizing Laura's spells, I'll bide my time until her mana runs out.
There is no way her mana capacity as a Keter could be comparable to mine as a Euclidean class Warlock.
The difference between us is like comparing a lake with the vastness of the sea, so I could subdue Laura without even using Isabel's corpse, or any other corpse for that matter.
"Ah...!"
And soon enough, Laura, who was already showing the symptoms of mana depletion, stumbles and leans against the wall.
Her copse servant collapsed on the floor like a puppet without strings.
Since Laura's actual physical ability was laughable, I walked toward her.
'Is this kid drugged or something?...'
Her eyes were unfocused, and her pupils dilated to the extreme.
The only place someone would be able to get their hands on drugs this strong would be here on the outskirts, so it's plausible Laura is here...…
Who knew that the prized daughter of Rosenberg was, in fact, a drug addict?
"Ahhhhhhhhhh!"
Despite her mana exhaustion, Laura reached her trembling hands to my neck and tried to choke me to death.
No matter how you see it, this kid is out of her mind.
Plork──!
So controlling my strength, I struck Laura on her solar plexus.
"Ku!…..Cough…..!"
But Laura surprisingly didn't faint from my blow, and even while coughing under intense pain, she bit on my forearm as her already crimson eyes turned bloodshot.
"Tsk….!"
Since I was caught unprepared by her ravenous attempts to hurt me, I reflexively grabbed Laura by her hair and pulled her back roughly…..
Drip!
From my bitten forearm, blood flowed down.
"..."
Can this really be caused just by drugs?
Frowning, I pushed my other arm close to Laura's mouth, who was screaming like a crazy beast.
"Ahhhhhhhhh!"
And without hesitation, Laura opened her small mouth and bites on me relentlessly.
Just like last time, she bit with enough force to draw my blood.
"Laura."
"Ahhh!....Argh!"
Grabbing her by her hair once again, I called out her name, but there was no response from her aside from more maddening howls.
This kid in front of me is nothing more than a ravenous beast in human skin.
"..."
Tomorrow is going to be my second lecture.
It seemed wrong to return to the mansion now that the situation had escalated to this point, so with a sigh, I put my right foot forward.
Laura, who was struggling to get herself free from my hold, stepped on my right foot.
Ironically, I found an intense sense of comfort in this act….even during this absurdly crazy situation.
It was a deeply satisfying moment for me.