The truth was, when I first expected that my fight with the Grand Duke would happen here, my original plan had been to commit every bit of strength I had to this battle if possible.

But.

That changed after my conversation with Kaio.

[2. Central Military Commission.]

Right now.

More than half the forces I could have mobilized

were carrying out a more important mission somewhere else.

“Jinleiiiiiiiiii!!!”

The moment he realized that,

he looked around and shouted in a voice full of fury.

“Why did you not tell me!”

There.

Was a man whose blood had been drained from every inch of his body by the Grand Duke,

and who was slowly dying.

“Did you not say the promised time had come!”

“...Ah, ah.”

Thanks to an awakened’s tenacious life force.

He was still somehow breathing.

But he looked like a corpse on the verge of dying at any second.

“Did you suspect that I would break my promise?”

The Grand Duke did not possess the system.

Naturally, he had no way to check the progress of the conquest war.

The only way he could know whether the occupation had been completed or not

was through Jinlei’s report.

“You knew what my goal was, did you not? That at the end of it, I too would disappear!”

That was why.

The Grand Duke had awakened Jinlei, confirmed it through him,

and then proceeded with the transaction, certain that the occupation had been completed.

“Why...!”

If only Jinlei had said that the conquest war was not yet complete.

If only he had said they needed to delay this transaction a little longer.

Then none of this would ever have happened.

“Ah, uh... ah...”

But.

Jinlei said no such thing.

And naturally so.

“Auh, ah......”

“......?”

Because he...

was in no condition to make that kind of judgment.

***

“...Jinlei?”

Even taking into account that he was dying after having his blood sucked out.

The way he looked right now was far too strange.

And only then.

The Grand Duke finally noticed that something about Jinlei’s state was off.

No.

In truth, he had noticed from the beginning.

‘...When I first woke him, he did seem strangely confused.’

He had simply.

Decided to let it slide generously, thinking it was nothing serious.

“Don’t be too hard on him.”

And.

Looking at Jinlei and the Grand Duke.

I scratched my head and said,

“That’s, well... more like a side effect of the medication.”

“......!”

“You......?”

“The medicine was fine, sure.”

When the Grand Duke smashed through that ceiling and came all the way down to this underground chamber.

Honestly, I’d been pretty flustered.

At that point, I’d been sure Ariella would be able to stall for at least a while.

Even if things went wrong later, I hadn’t thought it would happen then.

But.

“You really shouldn’t give medicine without consulting the doctor first.”

Who would’ve thought.

That he would feed Jinlei my cooking just like that.

‘That bastard must’ve thought it was some kind of treatment to wake Jinlei up.’

And to be fair, my cooking really had contained a strange vitality.

So it wasn’t that unreasonable for him to think that.

But how should I put it.

‘To begin with, I don’t exactly get along with that bastard Jinlei.’

So.

Even if I woke him up.

There was no way someone who already looked at me like I was filth

would move the way I wanted him to.

That was why.

If I had no choice but to wake him up.

[Hero-Class Chef’s All-Out Healthy Jerky for a Confused Mind]

‘I planned to wake him up in a state that was just a little~ mentally foggy.’

If he woke up clearheaded, there was no chance he’d cooperate with me easily.

...Well.

I figured if he woke up a little delirious, maybe I could somehow talk him around~

If he woke up mentally fogged, he’d be easier to use.

I’d meant to steer him into acting the way I wanted. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

“So it was your doing.”

And.

The moment he realized that—

KWA-A-A-A-A-ANG!!!

“Urk...!”

The Grand Duke rushed at me with terrifying speed.

And wrapped his hand around my throat.

Craaaack...

“You said you could not simply stand by and let me do as I pleased?”

At first glance, his face looked expressionless.

“In that case, eliminating you first would indeed be the right course.”

Veins bulged out with a sharp twitch.

He was filled with rage to the point that his blood vessels were standing out.

“The power residing within you. Because I could not discern the true nature of that power, I chose to postpone dealing with you.”

“Khk......”

“But now I no longer care. You too, having dared obstruct my great undertaking... surely did not think I would simply let it pass.”

The strength in his hand increased.

I couldn’t breathe, and tears spilled from the pain.

“Kah, hak......”

My mouth was forced open to drag in even the slightest bit more air through my crushed airway.

But.

“Kh......”

At that moment.

“Kh-heh, heh-heh......”

Despite that much pain.

Instead of screaming in agony.

I felt laughter slip out of me.

“Eliminating me comes first... You’re right about that......!”

“......”

“But then again......!”

Smack!

I grabbed the massive hand strangling my throat.

“For someone as mighty as the Grand Duke!”

Grinning.

I looked down at that enormous Grand Duke.

“Why are you taking so long just to kill me......!”

“......”

Back when we first met.

I’d thought the Grand Duke was some kind of monster who was skilled at hiding his emotions.

And it made sense.

Because my tongue hadn’t been able to properly taste the flavor of his emotions.

But.

According to what Ariella had told me, Valarak was more impatient than anyone.

That skill at concealing emotion had probably come from another Grand Duke he’d devoured.

It wasn’t part of his original nature.

“It’s not that you didn’t kill me.”

Unlike our first meeting, where the Grand Duke had held an overwhelming advantage.

Now, in this state where extreme anger and embarrassment were mixed together.

With my mouth forced open just so I could breathe.

At the tip of the tongue inside it...

“It’s that you couldn’t kill me!”

I could taste it clearly.

Embarrassment and confusion.

Anxiety and worry.

“You worm-like inferior creature......!”

This bastard.

Was afraid to kill me.

***

KWA-ANG!

He flicked his hand lightly.

And my body, still caught by the neck, was flung away violently.

But.

Even this, I knew, was not something he had done to kill me.

Because.

“Three percent... is missing, isn’t it?”

What that bastard had been aiming for.

Was the power of this land once it had been fully occupied.

But that plan had still not been completed.

And.

To complete that plan.

“You need... me.”

“......”

“You don’t know human medicine.”

I slowly turned my head.

And looked at the man collapsed far away.

“Keoheok......”

The man whose blood had been drained completely from his body.

And who was dying a miserable death.

Jinlei.

“The one who can provide you with the [system] of this land... is that bastard alone, isn’t it?”

In other words.

‘The instant Jinlei dies completely.’

The Grand Duke.

Would lose his Plan B completely.

Even turning him into a vampire would still mean losing the system.

“As you thought, I’m a doctor.”

So.

The one person with the ability to save that bastard as a human.

“Let me tell you in advance, there isn’t a doctor among the surviving humans right now who’s better than me.”

That meant.

He had no choice but to need me.

“Thanks to some bastard planting two nuclear warheads apiece into the places where the surviving humans had gathered, anyone with healing abilities got wiped out.”

“...Are you being serious?”

Like hell I was serious.

It was obviously a lie.

But.

From the Grand Duke’s perspective, even a transparent lie like this wouldn’t be easy to ignore.

‘Because he’s the one who swept away the awakened on that island.’

He probably knew that plenty of people had escaped.

But he wouldn’t know exactly how large the surviving population was.

Because I’d had my unit erase every trace of the survivors perfectly.

The scale of the surviving population Valarak was imagining might be small.

It was possible that among them, I really was the only healer capable of treating Jinlei.

“......”

As long as that possibility existed.

He couldn’t kill me.

“Even if I lose him here, I still have another method left. Have you forgotten that?”

Of course.

To begin with, that bastard’s Plan A was Ariella.

Even if he lost Jinlei here.

Maybe if he took the time to let Ariella grow again and then took her blood, he might still manage it.

‘Putting on a brave face, are you.’

But unfortunately.

That bastard was badly rattled right now.

“I told you, didn’t I? I’m confident in my medical skills.”

That was why.

My tongue could still taste his emotions.

“It must be pretty painful... isn’t it?”

“......!”

Pain.

That bastard was in pain right now.

As for the reason...

I had a pretty good guess.

“You were the one who said that possessing power beyond your rank only brings pain.”

[Combat Power Meter]

I could see his mana.

Besides the immense original mana he himself possessed.

Different strands of mana existed separately inside his body.

The two most conspicuous ones.

Judging by how similar they looked to his own mana, they were probably the other two Grand Dukes he’d devoured.

“Even if it’s power beyond your rank, if it’s blood, then you could’ve forced it down somehow and kept it under control.”

The instant those two masses of mana realized the Grand Duke’s objective had failed.

They started suppressing their own power and trying to sink into some part of his body.

But there was one thing.

“If it isn’t blood, then that’s a different story.”

The alien mana gathered around his heart.

No.

“Pretty hard to control something that doesn’t move the way you want, isn’t it?”

That power, so familiar to me.

Didn’t budge in the slightest under the Grand Duke’s control.

It remained in his heart.

If the conquest war progress had reached 100%.

Then the Grand Duke would have been able to use that power to advance to the next stage.

But because that 3% was missing.

“Cough......”

That 97% power.

Was pressing heavily on the heart of the Grand Duke, who had still not attained the proper rank.

“You’re saying... you predicted... even that I would be unable to control this power?”

The Grand Duke suddenly coughed up blood.

And looked at me in disbelief.

Well, I hadn’t been perfectly certain either.

Still.

“At the very least, when it comes to handling the [system], I’m your senior.”

Even so.

I had been able to make a fair guess.

Because.

“That thing’s got a pretty nasty personality, you see.”

Living in this world up to now.

Even if I didn’t know the true nature of the system.

There was one thing about its temperament I had figured out.

“It absolutely hates beings from [Otherworld].”

“......”

Whenever it found a [dungeon] turning this land into [Otherworld].

The system showed open hostility and disgust.

Even if someone had once been human.

The moment that person became a monster, the system would no longer help them.

Jang Youngwoong had been an outstanding awakened.

And he had never left the bounds of humanity.

But the moment he accepted the help of an outer existence, the system gave him no further power.

‘Unless they’ve completely submitted to humans.’

The system.

Was plainly hostile to invaders.

From my perspective, if anything.

The fact that the Grand Duke had even been given a chance to use that power already felt like a huge exception.

“...I see.”

...And yet.

“So that was it.”

At my words.

The Grand Duke seemed to realize something.

“...Although the agreed-upon point of transaction between contractor and selected one has not yet been reached... in consideration of this truly outstanding accomplishment... an early transaction is hereby established as a reward for your achievement.”

He looked into empty air.

And began muttering while staring blankly at a place where nothing was visible.

“Yes. It certainly was not the agreed-upon point of transaction. Jinlei and I agreed that our transaction would take place after the conquest war had been completed. Under normal circumstances, this transaction should never have happened at all.”

To an uninformed onlooker, he would have looked insane.

But.

I could guess what that behavior meant.

“So that was why it permitted an [early transaction] under the pretext of achievement.”

Because.

That posture was one every awakened would instantly recognize.

“Its purpose was to torment me... deliberately!”

He was looking at the [system] window floating before his eyes.

***

“I was faithful to my contract with you! I followed those vicious contract terms without a single complaint......!”

He shouted into the empty air before him.

His voice boiling over with bitterness.

“I did so knowing that if I failed, I would live as your slave forever!”

“What I receive for fulfilling that contract more faithfully than anyone... is this?”

Contract.

That bastard had used the same word when he first drank Jinlei’s blood.

And seeing that.

Something surfaced in my mind.

‘...Duke Valarak’s Invitation.’

At first, even when I heard the name, nothing came to me.

But now I remembered.

At one point.

I had seen that bastard’s name before.

‘A contract......’

And along with that name.

I remembered there had been other items listed there too.

“Treacherous and evil...... Are all great beings like this......! Did you intend from the beginning not to honor your contract with me, but only to use me as you pleased and cast me aside......!”

From my perspective, the Grand Duke was an existence both overwhelmingly powerful and dangerously terrifying.

And yet he kept crying out in grief and resentment.

“It will never go as you intend.”

And then.

As though he had steeled himself.

He clenched his teeth hard.

“The transaction is not over yet. Only the parties involved may determine when a transaction is ended!”

Paaak!

“......!”

Moving at terrifying speed.

He seized me, Jinlei.

And Ariella all at once.

“I will devour this land no matter what and achieve transcendence.”

And then.

He drove his foot into the ground with tremendous force.

KWA-A-A-A-A-ANG!

The hidden chamber buried deep underground.

Had a massive hole torn open beside it.

“And with that rank......”

KWAAANG, KWA-A-A-A-A-ANG!!!

With each continuing kick.

A huge ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) tunnel was carved through the deep underground.

Only when I saw that.

Did I realize what he intended.

‘This direction.’

That’s right.

Unfortunately.

The conquest war still wasn’t over.

[2. Central Military Commission - 3%]

The Grand Duke must have been rattled at first too.

But once he figured out that I was the reason this had happened.

It wouldn’t take him long to realize what that missing 3% referred to.

“I will tear you and your descendants to pieces and devour you!”

To carry out that final conquest war.

The Grand Duke began to move.

In order to stop Karhin, a hole had been opened in the red clouds in the sky.

And to avoid the sunlight leaking through that hole, he had started moving underground.

‘You’re going to chew us up and devour us?’

...And.

At those words, I thought.

‘It’s not going to be that easy.’

KWA-A-A-A-A-ANG!!!

The Grand Duke moved some distance underground.

And then, at one point, burst outside.

A place where there was no longer any reason to fear that sunlight.

Meaning he had reached his destination.

Yes.

That judgment wasn’t entirely wrong.

...The only problem was.

“...At last, you’ve come!”

“Cursed Grand Duke, our enemy!”

That the source of that light.

Wasn’t necessarily only a heavenly body in the sky.

PAAAAAAAAAANG—!!!

“......!?”

Toward the Grand Duke as he burst aboveground.

A massive beam of light flew in from somewhere and exploded against him.