Chapter 37: Sentenced
Within the dark haze, Nith became a blur as he raced toward Huxley.
Dark purple venom wrapped around his arms, mixing with the continuously pouring black venom, blending harmoniously with the mist.
Amidst that chaos, Nith allowed the invisible toxin to coil around him. In close combat, he’d force Huxley to inhale it, gradually slowing him down until his arms became inept.
All that was left was to dance with that muscular freak!
Like a snake, Nith’s spear silently slithered through the dark haze, not disturbing its billowing form, aiming solely for Huxley’s neck.
Before Nith’s spear connected, Huxley drew a wide slash, sweeping away the mist. He somehow brought his spear back to his hand and slashed with such force that the black venom scurried away, betraying Nith’s presence.
Huxley nimbly switched from slashing to cutting, precisely meeting Nith’s blade.
A stalemate between the two unfolded but didn’t last long. Huxley’s raw strength was far greater than Nith could handle, his spear exerting too much strain on Nith’s hands.
Creating an obvious gap, Nith forced Huxley’s spear to slide down along with his. He quickly changed his grip during this motion, thrusting into the floor and pole-vaulting himself to deliver a heavy kick to Huxley’s face.
As the sole of his foot sank into Huxley’s face, Nith leveraged the force of inertia and simply hurled himself back into his domain, hiding beneath the dark haze.
Huxley took a few steps forward, his face in his palm. He glowered between his fingers, trying to locate Nith again.
Given the density of Nith’s Dark Haze, finding him was too difficult without advanced observation skills.
On all fours, Nith gave the man a wide berth. ‘He’s brimming with vitality and strength. A perfect target for my Eclipse Venom.’
Due to Kyouka’s new title and her remarkable feat of creating poison with incentives that Nith didn’t have, Nith had a foundation to improve his skills.
Drinking and studying her recipe had increased Nith’s skills, enabling him to combine his poisons in perfect harmony.
Though the harmony remained flawless, a few limitations still applied to him.
That said, Nith didn’t care about them at the moment.
He wanted to connect with his spear.
He couldn’t let his venom do all the work.
Despite not having a title related to the spear, Nith could use The Spear of Starvation’s skill—Deprivation(S). This skill weakened the immune system of Nith’s enemies, stacking until their demise.
It meant that Nith could speed up his poisons’ effects by dealing more damage with his spear’s golden blade. The crucial point was that he had to open wounds on them.
With Huxley sporting a six-pack muscle armor, it was quite the challenge.
One that Nith gladly accepted!
As the dark haze undulated around him, Nith flew toward his foe, leaving dark purple and golden particles in his wake.
Upon releasing another thrust, Nith added his Eclipse Venom to the mix, spitting at Huxley, much to the man’s discontent.
Of course, Huxley first roared with relief as Nith had stopped hiding, then his fury surged upon receiving a dark-purple glob of saliva on his cheek. To his surprise, Nith didn’t back down after the first attack and even dared to unleash a flurry of cuts!
A few cuts sliced through Huxley’s skin, drawing a sneer from Nith.
“So… you call yourself Princess’ Spear, right? That’s not how you hit on girls. Yeah, Valora’s not a girl, but a woman, so you gotta be direct with her and not play around with ambiguous nicknames, you know? Be as direct as I’m being right now, little boy,” Nith spat, inwardly hiding the fact that his hands ached and his wrists felt like they were breaking.
His sneer, words, and wounds left on Huxley combined into a wave of indignation that flooded every cell of Huxley’s body.
His mana clapped like thunder, and he seemed to grow taller. Amidst the thunderous claps, the howls of a beast resounded, further enhancing Huxley’s raw strength. A second later, golden skin grew on him, with black stripes crisscrossing his chest and back.
A lion mask encased Huxley’s head.
“YOU ARE DEAD!” Huxley howled, his voice alone blowing away a considerable part of Nith’s Dark Haze.
Speaking of the hunched bastard himself, Nith had long since abandoned the source of Huxley’s fury and escaped to the edge of his domain. Only an idiot would fight that man head-on at The First Stage!
“YOU THINK YOU CAN HIDE?!” Huxley roared.
With a single sweeping motion, he strained all his muscles to make a vast slash. As he swung his spear, the dark haze before him vanished in an instant.
A few disciples were blown away by his raw force, while others toppled backward, all of them receiving serious lacerations.
In this chaos, however, Nith was nowhere to be seen.
Only his soulmate located him before anyone else, as if the title allowed her to always find Nith despite all obstacles.
Staring at him floating above everyone else, Kyouka clutched her head and screamed, “This is too precious! Don’t!”
A single shard rested on Nith’s tongue before he gulped it down. A huge surge of strength filled him upon consumption, turning him into an embodiment of the Venom Virtuoso. His arms turned dark purple with Eclipse Venom, and dark wings formed from his Dark Haze.
He descended before anyone could realize his location, his spear cutting through the air in a beautiful blend of dark purple and golden colors.
Upon hitting the ground, Nith channeled all the force from above into Huxley’s chest, carving a deep and long laceration from his shoulder down to his stomach!
Huxley spat a mouthful of blood, then choked on his cries as the wound pulsed with more pain than he’d ever experienced. His legs wobbled; standing upright became too difficult.
Before he could embrace the pain and grit his teeth to kill Nith, the hunched bastard had enough leeway to hurt him again, and Huxley’s heart drummed with fear.
Would he… really lose?
That was when the royal soldiers barged into the training hall.
“HALT! We’ve been notified of treason against the Royal Crest! Nightshade, you’re hereby sentenced to prison!”
“The fuck?” Nith tilted his head.
