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After they exited the border region, Azell’s party moved carefully towards their destination. This location was known to be the habitat for Dragons, so they didn’t want to draw the attention of the Dragons. As expected of a Dragon’s habitat, there were a lot of monsters and beasts there. They had to thoroughly scout the area as they moved stealthily through the land. They avoided getting into a battle.

While they were making preparations to spend the night outside, Yuren asked a question.

“Wouldn’t you like to do a Dragon Slayer’s Ritual since we are here?”

“It isn’t time yet.”

Azell shook his head from side to side. He was able to digest the Dragon’s power faster through the new training method contained within the skill manual. However, he needed more time.

Yuren asked Leticia a question.

“What about you, Leticia?”

“You talk so easily about fighting one on one with a Dragon. You talk lightly of it as if it is a meeting between a young man and a young woman. If you think the Dragon Slayer’s Ritual will be so profitable, why don’t you do it?”

“In truth, I’m not too confident about it myself. Magicians are more disadvantaged against Dragons, and I have to work on getting proper control over my magical energy instead of gaining more Dragon Demon magic.....”

A black fog like energy emanated from Yuren’s hand. At his core, Yuren was a Black magician. In truth, he used his magic more like a traditional magician, but there was an ominous energy emanating from it. It was the energy of Black magic.

Moreover, his energy was overwhelming more ominous and denser compared to other Black magicians. The reason being he had learned a forbidden technique at the guidance of the guide. He had made a connection with the Demon.

The magical energy he earned by connecting to the Demon didn’t disappear easily. It had increased Yuren’s magical energy immensely, but at the same time, it was trying to take over his Energy Pulse. Demons wanted to corrupt humans. It allowed them to acquire souls. The Demons were able to eat away at the user’s magical energy using the connection. There was a demonic will contained within it.

This was why Yuren always worked hard on suppressing the subversion. Recently, the training method from the manual relieved the burden by a notch. The participants gathered their magical energy, and the qualitative nature of the magical energy was synced. Then it imbued Dragon Demon magic to all the participants. This process had an effect of cleansing his magical energy.

Laura spoke.

“You are quite good at using such a dangerous power. That method is forbidden even for those who seek out Black magic.”

“...well, your words are true. Somehow, I feel aggrieved at hearing those words from you?”

“Why?”

Laura tilted her head in confusion. She couldn’t understand what he was trying to say. Yuren clicked his tongue as if he couldn’t believe her words.

“Don’t you know why? The Plain of Darkness tried to make someone like me artificially. I thought all their attempts had all been unsuccessful, but....”

As he spoke, Yuren’s eyes naturally started to turn towards someone. He quickly stopped himself. Leticia spoke in a lukewarm manner.

“You don’t have to be considerate of me. It is unnecessary.”

“Ah, no. It’s....”

“I’ve never told you about it, so I won’t ask you how you know.... In truth, the answer is obvious. You are a crazy person, who had voluntarily called up a Demon, to make a connection with it. You knew we were tarred with the same brush.”

At her words, Laura asked in surprise.

“You also have a connection with the Demon race?”

“The fact that I have to hear those words from you makes me mad, but.... Yes. If seen in a certain light, you are like me as well as Jeffers Almarick.”

Leticia let out a bitter laugh. She had betrayed the Dragon Demon king worshippers as a Dragon Majin, because they had experimented on her with Black magic. She spoke about her past in a calm manner.

“It isn’t some incredible story. The Aunsaurus family worked toward making the final product in you, Laura Aunsaurus. The Almarick family did something similar. However, they chose to make the children in a more organic manner.”

“What do you mean?”

“It is as I’ve said. The men of the Almarick slept with many human women and female Dragon Majins. They required these women to have multiple babies.”

“.......”

If heard in passing, one would think it was a natural attempt at propagating their line. However, Leticia knew the details, so she knew the process wasn’t as benign as it sounded.

“A lot of women were needed to acquire over 100 children. The women were from all over the place. There were the villagers from within the Plain of Darkness, test subjects from outside, kidnapped women.... They were all turned into tools by the Almarick family in an attempt create the child they desired.”

Leticia had no idea who her mother was. The Almarick family separated the children from their mothers before they were weaned. She found this out later, but the Almarick family had no intentions of letting the information of what they were doing leak out to the outside. Magic was used to destroy the minds of the women from the beginning. Their bodies were modified, so they were able ‘produce’ as many children as possible. Afterwards, they were all ‘disposed’.

“...we had no idea about the truth. The children lived on in an attempt to become the ideal heir to Almarick. The education we received was quite severe.”

As the education progressed further, the number of children inevitably shrunk. There were those killed during training sessions or experiments. Then there were those that were labeled as failures. They disappeared to be never seen again. At the time, she hadn’t known what they did with the children, who had failed. Now she knew.

“I was also a failed product.”

The dropouts were sent to a Black magic research facility, and they became test subjects. Leticia had been one of them.

The tests that was performed on her was brutal. The training to become the heir was inhumane, but as a test subject for the Black magic experiments, the fact that they were living beings with personalities was ignored.

“...however, I couldn’t escape.”

The test subjects were under perfect surveillance, and they went through hell on a daily basis. Even the act of running away through death wasn’t allowed. It was a Black magic research lab, so it was normal for them to toy with death. Death wasn’t the end. One suffered more painfully in death. This truth was told to them by demons.... They were basically living within the lowest floor of hell.

Before she knew it, she was staring into the campfire, and her voice shook slightly. She always looked cold on the outside, but there were stacks of memories deep down within her. The memories of pain and fear generated the hate and hostility she felt towards the Dragon Demon king worshippers.

“I was able to escape from that place, because they were covetous of the power of Demons.”

The Black magic research facility within the Plain of Dark used test subjects as sacrificial lambs. They were given to the Demon race in an attempt to gain more knowledge. They were persistent in their pursuit. They even took a step beyond what was acceptable. They performed banned experiments by connecting test subjects to Demons.

“As you’ve seen from this guy, it was determined that one can gain immense power through this crazy process. However, there were no cases of success.”

At the very least, there had been none until Leticia came along.

The Demon race coveted the souls of humans. However, once the connection was made, the Demon didn’t try to take over the body. The Demon soon destroyed the body. The hail of evil destroyed the mind, and the body followed. Those killed in such a way couldn’t be raised as an Undead.

“However, the process succeeded in me. I don’t know why it succeeded. I was connected to a Demon, but my case looks different from what Yuren did. There might be a different explanation.”

On the first experiment, the connection lasted 10 seconds before it dissolved. Leticia’s mind and body remained intact.

Of course, the researchers readied a second experiment. Up until that point, there were less than 10 subjects, who was able to achieve the same result as Leticia. She became a really valuable test subject.

The result of the second test was surprising. The connection was maintained for three minutes yet nothing happened. Normally, the longer period of exposure in the second experiment inevitably led to the destruction of the test subjects. Leticia was able to maintain a longer connection, and she was able to withstand it until the connection was severed.

The researchers were happy. They shouted in joy when they finally achieved the result they had desired....

They immediately became pillars of ice.

“When I look back at it.... I’ve never felt so wronged as what I experience at that moment.”

She had received all kinds of torment from them. However, she had given them a clean death before she could exact a proper revenge.

An enormous change occured when she was connected to a Demon twice. The Demon was gone, but the evil magical energy remained behind. It was overflowing within her. It had destroyed every mechanism that had been placed to restrain her. Her Dragon Demon magic had also received a boost, so she was able to use the power of ice as easily as breathing. She exceeded most Dragon Majin in terms of power.

“...however, I didn’t connect to the Demon on purpose like Yuren. I never want to experience it again.”

“It isn’t as if I did it because I wanted to. I had no choice.”

Yuren grumbled.

The connection he formed with the Demon race was a trump card he had learned from the guide within his dreams. He hadn’t wanted to use it unless it was absolutely necessary. The burden of controlling such a technique was too high.

He used his rationality and senses to create his magic spell, yet it felt as if a foreign agent was destroying his heart with evil. That overwhelming power was being provided to him, but it felt as if his Energy Pulse, which extended to his entire body, was crawling with maggots. It was a horrifying feeling as if it was eating him alive from the inside..

Leticia, who had been looking at Yuren with displeasure, turned to Azell. She suddenly asked him a question.

“I have a question I want to ask at this time, Azell Zestringer.”

“What do you want to know?”

“You don’t have to be so enthused about answering my question. I didn’t reveal my past as a chip to gain information from you. I just....”

Leticia smirked as if she was a little bit baffled at what she was about to say.

“If it is you all, I thought I could talk to you guys about it. The bastards from the Plain of Darkness already knows about my past, so it doesn’t feel too bad to know that the people I chose as comrades knows about it too.”

In the beginning, she had balked when she was questioned by Azell about her past. However, as she traveled with them, the wall she had put up came down.

After she had betrayed the Dragon Demon King worshippers, she had always been alone except for the time when she received instruction from her teacher. She had been in the grips of madness when her teacher taught her how to live as a decent being. After she separated from her teacher, she hadn’t gotten close to any one. She only thought about fighting the Dragon Demon King worshippers.

However, a change occurred inside her heart when she met Yuren. She had overcome hardship with him, and she was able to meet Azell Zestringer. She had comrades, who shared the same purpose as her.

Leticia asked a question.

“As a person who experienced the Dragon Slayer’s Ritual, do you think I will be able to do the Dragon Slayer’s Ritual?”

“It is possible.”

Azell didn’t even have to think about it before he gave his answer.

“Hmm. If that is your assessment....”

“However, there is alway a risk of one losing one’s life in a Dragon Slayer’s Ritual. The fact that one possesses the skill to succeed doesn’t guarantee that one would succeed in it. As the challenger grows in Dragon Demon magic, the Dragon becomes stronger too. You have to remember that point.”

“I’m not naive. I won’t try to eat the world raw.”

Leticia snorted.