Chapter 179 - Dekan and Mauleon's Mutual Predictions

"All we have to do now is let Mauleon go up and make a move, and we can easily deal with Countess Lysilina," Dekan said to Cornelia, a pleased curve forming at the corners of his mouth.

The two of them were leisurely walking up the stairs back to the second-floor bedroom. They were planning to call up the lazy dog Mauleon and have him scheme against Countess Lysilina so they could easily clear the final mission of this Shadow World.

Their holiday has only just begun!

What Dekan was looking forward to the most today was undoubtedly the confused, frightened, and then despairing look on Countess Lysilina's face when she discovered that she was schemed against.

Dekan could already imagine the moment when Countess Lysilina closed her eyes, waiting for Mauleon's kiss, only for Mauleon to plunge the poisoned blade into her heart.

Dekan was getting a bit impatient.

"Be a bit more humane, Dekan. Even vampires seemed more humane than you... meow..." A faint voice floated from behind Dekan.

Teacher Cat couldn't help but poke its head out from Cornelia's shadow, sharply critiquing Dekan.

"?" Dekan turned around in confusion, looking at Teacher Cat in Cornelia's shadow.

Dekan: "How did you get here?"

Teacher Cat: "Obviously I followed you for safety, it's the same wherever I sleep, meow."

Dekan's smile disappeared instantly. He seemed to have realized many things.

Seeing Dekan's changing expression, Teacher Cat quickly retreated back into Cornelia's shadow.

Although it didn't know the reason, it realized that it seemed to have done something unexpected from Dekan's perspective. It might not necessarily be a good thing.

In fact, Mauleon had secretly spoken to it last night.

He asked it to follow Dekan and Cornelia during the day, capture all their interactions and tell him more in the future.

Dekan remained silent for a moment, squatting next to Cornelia's shadow, tapping on the shadow.

"Teacher Cat, come clean, did Mauleon trick you into following us?"

"Hmm? Hmm meow... Is there a problem?" Teacher Cat dared not poke its head out.

It stuttered while trying to evade the situation.

"Damn it," Dekan muttered under his breath. Although he didn't quite know how Mauleon managed to persuade Teacher Cat, he couldn't be bothered to investigate further.

Anyways, after Teacher Cat jumped into Cornelia's arms, Dekan wasn’t able to do anything to it.

"What did Mauleon do?" Cornelia asked, full of confusion.

"That bastard must have ran off! Now we have to work overtime again!" Dekan gritted his teeth in frustration.

If it weren't for Teacher Cat keeping an eye on Mauleon, he would’ve taken this opportunity to run away by now. And if Teacher Cat had been in the bedroom, Mauleon wouldn't have left the small, helpless cat alone in the room to run off. He might be a ruthless merchant, but he still had some conscience towards his own people.

Soon, Dekan and Cornelia arrived at the second-floor bedroom where they had been staying.

Pushing open the door, as Dekan expected, Mauleon was nowhere to be found. However, he noticed a letter left by Mauleon on the desk.

Reluctantly, Dekan picked up the letter, tore open the envelope, and took out the freshly written letter.

"To Dekan, Cornelia, and Teacher Cat,

By the time you read this letter, I will have left.

The funds earned through diligent work this time amount to about three thousand holy coins.

I took one thousand and the rest is in the Merchant Guild’s crystal card. I’ve prepared them for your luxurious travel expenses. The crystal card is enclosed in this envelope.

I wish you a happy journey through the Holy Kingdom, enjoying a trip full of beautiful memories like a dream.

But first, you need to deal with Countess Lysilina.

It's a pity I can't witness your heroic efforts working overtime in person. I feel a bit lonely knowing that.

I hope you can handle her with legitimate means rather than resorting to any shady ideas. I've always been an upright person.

As for the two remaining challengers who haven't been caught, leave them to me to investigate them. You can go on ahead and enjoy your relaxing trip after dealing with Countess Lysilina.

Regarding the position of "Director of the Rejoice Group" that you mentioned earlier, Dekan, I'll think about it. Afterall, I've never worked for anyone before.

Also, I believe that without me, you all can enjoy yourselves more freely.

Looking forward to our next meeting.

—Mauleon"

Dekan finished reading the letter, shaking his head in resignation.

Once Mauleon, the master of disguise, ran off and blended into the city’s population, there was almost no way to find him again. Mauleon was undoubtedly the person who understood Dekan the most. Tricks like fishing for information were unlikely to work on Mauleon.

It could be said that this was Mauleon's redemption, a successful jailbreak.

"What a disappointment."

Dekan had thought there was some mutual trust between him and Mauleon. However, Mauleon ran off without any hesitation.

"Why did Mauleon run away, meow?" Teacher Cat asked, puzzled.

But this question made Dekan and Cornelia exchange a guilty glance. On one hand, they were planning to make Mauleon play the role of a decoy soon. On the other hand, their first plan after clearing the Shadow World was to tie up Mauleon.

Dekan had predicted that Mauleon wouldn't be very cooperative, so they needed to control him first. However, it seemed Mauleon had predicted Dekan's prediction and used this last chance to escape.

"Were you planning something against him, meow?!" Teacher Cat asked, sensing their hesitation.

"How could we..." Dekan and Cornelia replied vaguely.

Teacher Cat quickly guessed their plan from their attitudes. These two were definitely planning to kidnap Mauleon and have him undergo a ‘military drill!’

Although Teacher Cat felt that Mauleon might have deceived it, upon further thought, Mauleon's desire to leave seemed genuine. He didn't want to be a third wheel.

So, Teacher Cat quickly forgave Mauleon.

"Tsk, that guy, the next time we see him, let's not waste time and just act," Dekan said.

"Agreed!" Cornelia nodded.

While Teacher Cat pondered, Dekan and Cornelia were already planning their strategy for the next time they encountered Mauleon.

Listening to their conversation, Teacher Cat couldn't help but sigh.

"I actually think Mauleon's escape was quite reasonable... You two are just too scary, meow..."

"Hehehe, daring to flee at such a crucial moment..." For some reason, Dekan started laughing again.

"I had a feeling Mauleon would try something on me, so I prepared a little surprise for him too."

Dekan had already predicted that Mauleon might predict his predictions, so he also prepared in advance.

"Let's deal with Countess Lysilina first. Later, we can have some fun with Mauleon."

Though they couldn't catch Mauleon now, Dekan promised himself that he would mess with Mauleon's mind later.

...

Outside a bedroom on the mansion’s second floor stood two vampire servants. It was Countess Lysilina's room.

Besides the countess, there was also her one and only female vampire servant in the room. The entire room was dimly lit with just a few candles and all the curtains were replaced with thick, dark fabric, blocking out all sunlight.

Countess Lysilina was originally asleep, but she was awakened by the sounds downstairs, resembling someone doing renovations.

Although she knew that the two demons under "Marquess Roderick" would be interrogating those three prisoners, the commotion seemed too intense. It sounded as if her two servants were fighting with those three prisoners.

However, soon enough, the noise subsided. It seemed that the two demons had finished their interrogation.

Next, they would probably report to the Marquess, and maybe they would come to her as well, or so Countess Lysilina thought. So, she stayed awake, sitting on the edge of the bed, waiting.

She was eager to meet the Marquess again as soon as possible.

After waiting for several tens of minutes like this, there was finally some movement outside the door.

Later, there was a knock on the door.

"Countess Lysilina, Marquess Roderick would like to speak with you."

Upon hearing the voice of the "demon servant" from outside the door, Countess Lysilina happily stood up from the edge of the bed. She quickly went to open the door.

Two masked demons were standing outside, waiting for her.

"The Marquess would like to speak with you alone," Dekan respectfully said to Lysilina.

“Alright,” Lysilina quickly gestured for her servants to stay here before eagerly following Dekan and Cornelia.

Dekan and Cornelia led Countess Lysilina to their room.

"The Marquess is waiting for you inside," Dekan said, grasping the door handle, ready to open the door for Countess Lysilina.

That very instant, Cornelia was ready to act. She summoned the lethal [Blood Detective's Book] and viciously smashed it towards Lysilina's head.

However, Countess Lysilina once again dodged with eerie agility.

Lysilina seemed to react exceptionally fast and Cornelia actually missed her target.

Countess Lysilina looked at Cornelia with a mix of shock and anger.

"What do you think you're doing?!"

"..."

But Cornelia did not respond. She only raised her weapon again and brought it down towards Lysilina's head once more.

Dekan also summoned the "Ruined Poet" to ensure that Cornelia's attack with the [Blood Detective's Book] would render Lysilina unconscious with the 20x pain if it hit.

They absolutely would not waste time with idle chatter with enemies that could be killed with force.

However, Dekan quickly realized that Countess Lysilina's nimble movements were not due to her current physical strength.

It seemed she had a brief premonition ability to predict her opponent's actions, similar to an extremely high evasion attribute.

When they first encountered her, Lysilina was able to dodge Cornelia's surprise attack head-on. It was presumably also because of this ability.

High stats, vast healthpool, skilled in disguise, and even with minions. Yet she still had this evasion skill?

If this vampire countess were to fully recover to tier 7 strength, it would indeed be quite troublesome.

Even if thirteen tier 6 normal challengers were to work together, it would still be difficult to defeat her and her five servants.

Unfortunately, the countess's luck was cursed and her intelligence seemed to have gone haywire due to love - it was reminiscent of being ten thousand gold ahead in a game, only to have the opponent casually snatch a huge dragon and walk away. Just like that, she encountered Dekan’s team in the lord’s mansion and had no choice but to be one-sidedly toyed with.

That said, she was actually holding out against Cornelia's pursuit.

If Cornelia's buff time ran out, it might really be impossible to deal with this countess.

Moreover, her remaining servants also received her command and rushed over.

It recreated the classic scene of their first encounter.

But it didn't matter.

Dekan had never really feared them before - he had a card that countered all vampires.

Last time, Dekan was worried she would escape.

After all, it was nighttime.

But now, it was daytime. This mansion was both Lysilina's protective shield and her cage. She couldn't escape at all.

The countess's value had been squeezed dry.

It was time to harvest.

So Dekan took out the tier 3 spell card that was effective against vampires.

No matter what flashy abilities Countess Lysilina had, as soon as this card was used, Cornelia could be able to instantly defeat her.

So Dekan used [Solar Flare]!

In an instant, the dim hallway turned into a world of light.

Dekan was the sun.

"Ahhhhhhh!!!"

Not only was Countess Lysilina blinded by the sudden burst of light, she also felt herself enveloped in a sense of powerlessness!

It was as if she was bathing in intense sunlight.

Not only did she reveal weaknesses due to the sudden flash of light, she also lost her ability to counter attack.

But Cornelia wasn't affected by the flash at all because she was wearing a mask!

She quickly grabbed Lysilina and a deadly strike from the spine of her book smashed into the countess's forehead.

Countess Lysilina's eyes rolled back, her body convulsing in pain as she passed out.

"This is the purest power of sunlight, can you feel it?" said the sunshine boy Dekan.

Having lost their commander, the three vampire servants immediately fell into a state of panic.

On one hand, they were afraid of the violent demon holding the book.

On the other hand, they were afraid of the infernal demon behind them who could use the power of the sun.

In their eyes, Dekan and Cornelia seemed like two demons gradually approaching them.

Not long after, the mansion echoed with the screams of the vampires once again.

...

"Fuck! Can this bastard stop flashing without warning every time!"

The audience, who had just been blinded by Dekan's flash, cursed again in anger.

"Does that card really work against vampires?"

"Well, it's called ‘Solar Flare’ and not ‘Flash.’ The names of Dekan’s cards seemed to never lie..."

The audience even suspected that Dekan's primary goal when making that card was countering vampires.

Unfortunately, in that snowy mountain villa, the final boss Viscount Augustin couldn't even let Dekan use [Solar Flare] before being subdued.

"Is this guy an enemy of all races? Why does he always make counter cards..."

"Come to think of it, he does seem to specialize in anti-evil cards."

"Don't think like that, he's just a villain targeting other villains!"