Became the Unjust Contract Slave of the Archamage’s Book

Scylla quietly observed the situation from amidst the soldiers of the Order. Apart from Antero, none of the others knew her true identity.

“Die, barbarians!”

“KSHVARL! Stop the civilized ones!”

The soldiers of the Order and the barbarians were locked in a bloody clash. However, it was the soldiers of the Order who were being pushed back. A single barbarian warrior, with no significant armor, was able to fend off more than two of the Order’s soldiers with ease.

“CPALNOM! Come here!”

Scylla thrust his dagger into the throat of an approaching barbarian. As the barbarian fell, he pretended to be crushed under him and slipped away from the frontline. His mission was not to lead this battle to victory. His top priority was to observe and assess the capabilities of Binaeril, the one who possessed the Fragment.

Scylla concealed his presence and carefully monitored the battlefield. Paladin Gregory was facing off against the bald man, while Priya, Yunnaeril’s former lover, was engaged with two Paladins. The target of interest, Binaeril, was being confronted by Paladin Antero.

Calmly observing the three battles, Scylla waited for the right moment to reveal himself . 

Paladin Gregory let out a low groan.  

“…Are you holding back? Why? Fight with all your strength!”

For someone as taciturn as Gregory, it was rare to speak this much. Gregory’s greatsword clashed several times with Inyakan’s bracer. Gregory instinctively knew that Inyakan was a man of the same kind as himself—someone who sought battles where strength collided with strength.

He wanted to savor this heart-heating battle for as long as possible. But Inyakan felt differently.

‘My body’s a mess.’

The shock from breaking through Wendigo’s breath head-on was hitting him belatedly. Every time Inyakan clashed with Gregory’s massive greatsword, he felt the impact resonate through his bones. Even attacks that would normally seem trivial were becoming painfully evident. Despite this, Inyakan didn’t flinch. Revealing weakness in front of an enemy was something only a fool would do.

Swish! Swish―!

Gregory swung his ridiculously large greatsword lightly, as if it were a needle. He then brought it down slowly but powerfully toward Inyakan’s head. Inyakan rolled to the side, avoiding the attack. It was Inyakan who had rolled on the ground, but it was Gregory’s face that flushed with anger.

“Have you no shame! They said all barbarians were proud warriors, but it seems I was mistaken!”

The pain was greater than any shame. Just rolling on the snow made every joint in his body scream in agony. But there was no running away. Binaeril and Priya were both handling their own battles. Waiting for someone else’s help was not in Inyakan’s nature.

“…Hey, do you really want to have a contest of strength that badly?”

“Of course! There’s nothing more valuable than a pure struggle of blood and steel!”

“…What a musclehead.”

“Aren’t you the same?”

“I am!”

Gregory grinned broadly, curling his lips.

“Then don’t run away and fight me!”

“I’m planning to do just that.”

Inyakan took a deep breath and then, with his eyes closed, began muttering something under his breath. Gregory didn’t understand what he was doing, but he decided to wait patiently. As the muttering grew louder, Gregory could hear it clearly—it was in a language unfamiliar to him, likely the language of the barbarians.

From somewhere, a strange noise began to emanate. As Gregory searched for the source, he realized it was coming from the bracer Inyakan was wearing.

“What a peculiar sound.”

Not only was Inyakan’s bracer making an odd noise, but it was also vibrating faintly. Inyakan sensed that his tribesmen were watching him.

“I am a warrior without shame. Watch me. I am Inyakan.”

He murmured quietly.

“What are you muttering about?”

“A dirge to dedicate to you.”

“Let’s fight. A battle of strength, just as you wanted!”

Inyakan walked toward Gregory—not too fast, not too slow. Gregory understood that this was his declaration of battle.

Vwoom―.

The bracer and the greatsword sliced through the air simultaneously. Gregory had to watch as his beloved weapon crumpled and a fist hurtled toward his face. His cheek tore, and his teeth shattered.

And that was Gregory’s last memory.

Unlike Gregory, Paladins Lucio and Sixto were struggling against Priya from the start.

“Damn it!”

Lucio gritted his teeth in frustration. Priya was a mage who manipulated mist and illusions. To counter her illusions, the two Paladins kept part of their bodies in contact with each other to stay aware of their surroundings. But even that wasn’t enough. The cursed weather made it impossible to distinguish between Priya’s mist and the snow fog around them.

“Cunning witch! She chose this place as the battlefield on purpose!”

“It seems you’re mistaken. You’re the ones who followed me here. I didn’t do anything.”

Though she was right, it didn’t make their anger any less.

“Damn it all!”

They needed to get close to her to strike with their swords, but they couldn’t even approach her. Whenever they tried to get near, Priya’s mist would materialize from nowhere and attack them. The tactic of keeping close to each other, which had been a safety measure, was now becoming a constraint.

“Stop being a coward and fight us head-on!”

Priya wasn’t one to flinch at such taunts.

“It seems to me that the two of you ganging up on me is the real cowardice here.”

Dragging this out wasn’t in their favor. Lucio and Sixto were already exhausted from their long pursuit. 

“Is there no way out of this?”

In reality, Priya’s condition wasn’t much better, as she had just slaughtered a horde of monsters. However, the two Paladins were unaware of her situation.

Then, Sixto offered a suggestion.

“How about we use this snow fog to our advantage?”

The snow fog that obscured their vision was a hindrance to them, but conversely, it was also likely a nuisance for Priya. Just as the fog made it difficult for them to approach her, there was a way to close the distance while she spread the mist.

“That’s a good idea,” Lucio said, nodding in agreement after exchanging thoughts with Sixto.

They immediately put their plan into action. Lucio began by savagely hacking away at the loosely packed snowdrifts. The snow scattered by the gusts from his sword filled the air, creating a blurry, swirling mist of snowflakes.

“Ugh!”

Meanwhile, Sixto moved out of Priya’s sight as quickly as possible. Lucio’s role was to keep Priya’s attention on him. He charged recklessly towards her, forcing her mist to block his path and push him back. He added some convincing grunts to make sure she didn’t suspect anything.

Priya must have sensed something was off. But by the time she realized it, it was too late. Sixto emerged from the snowstorm, his sword held in a reverse grip.

“Kill her!” Lucio shouted.

Sixto didn’t waste the opportunity Lucio had created. His sword pierced through Priya’s abdomen, emerging out the other side.

“Urgh…!”

Lucio approached her, following closely behind.

“The fate of those who betray the Order is always like this.”

Priya spat out blood that trickled down the side of her mouth. A faint smile curled at the corners of her lips.

“That hurts, you know… I was stabbed here before, by my boyfriend.”

Sixto, sensing something was wrong, twisted the sword embedded in her body.

Squelch—

But there was no resistance, no feeling in his grip.

“There was definitely a sensation before!”

“Trying to sneak a peek at a lady’s body? That’s quite irreverent for followers of the Order, don’t you think?”

The image of Priya, who had been bleeding onto her white dress, faded into the mist. It was then that Sixto and Lucio realized they had been deceived—they had been fighting an illusion all along.

“Cunning witch!”

“You thought you could use the snow fog to your advantage?”

Her voice echoed through the mist, its source impossible to pinpoint.

“It was a good attempt, but you misunderstood one thing.”

“Where are you! Where are you speaking from?!”

“This isn’t snow fog at all. It’s all part of my magic.”

Suddenly, the fog lifted, revealing the surrounding landscape. The weather was cold, the wind howled, but there wasn’t a single snowflake falling—just a silent, desolate scene. Lucio and Sixto recalled how the snowfall had been especially intense ever since they had first encountered Priya.

“Could it be, from the very beginning?”

“If you wanted to survive, you should have run backward, not forward. Not that it matters now, it’s too late.”

Priya appeared behind them at a distance. Lucio and Sixto simultaneously kicked off the ground, charging at her with all their might.

But before they could take even two steps, they realized they couldn’t breathe.

“Can’t… breathe…!”

“I told you I wasn’t going to go easy on you, didn’t I? That’s my line. You should be grateful I even bothered to play with brats like you, who can’t even compare to the tip of Yunnaeril’s toes.”

The two Paladins felt their eyelids growing unbearably heavy. Their swords slipped from their hands, and they clutched their chests as they collapsed to the ground.

Meanwhile, Antero was rolling on the ground. No matter what he did, he couldn’t defeat Binaeril.

“Why? I even got my hands on the long-awaited Starfall!”

“What good is it to have Starfall if you don’t know how to use it?”

“You insolent brat, who do you think you’re talking to!”

“Give it up. All the others have already been subdued.”

Antero lifted his head and looked around. Binaeril was right. The soldiers of the Order were being pushed back by the barbarians, who were half their number. Even the Paladins, who had charged in with such bravado, had either been killed or knocked unconscious and were in no condition to fight.

“It seems the Order has severely underestimated our strength,” Binaeril remarked leisurely from above Antero’s head.

Antero couldn’t accept it.

“Scylla! What are you doing and where are you?!”

“Scylla?”

Antero called out for Scylla at the top of his lungs, but there was no response.

“Who’s that? Another Paladin?”

“Useless… all this time, she’s been useless….”

The situation seemed hopeless. Even if he managed to survive, returning with such a devastating loss would certainly lead to severe punishment from the Cardinal. The greater his ambitions had been, the deeper his despair now settled.

The taste of bitter blood lingered in his torn mouth.

‘Damn it! Why can Yunnaeril do it, but I can’t?!’

As Antero was consumed by his despair, a voice spoke to him.

-You’re weak.

Antero, still with his face buried in the ground, widened his eyes in shock. It felt as if someone was speaking directly into his mind.

-Weak, greedy, disgusting, repulsive human.

-But I like people like you.

-Heh, heh, heh.

A chilling laugh echoed inside his head.

-If you offer me your soul, I will grant you revenge against that brat who humiliated you.

‘Who are you? What do you mean by offering my soul?’

-You don’t need to know the details. The only thing I want to hear from you is your answer.

Binaeril, seeing Antero’s silence, thought he had given up. But then Antero lifted his head and locked eyes with Binaeril.

‘I’ll give you anything—my soul, whatever—if you just give me the power to kill that damned brat!’

As he made his decision, the blade of Starfall began to glow.

“…Starfall?”

-The contract is sealed. Heh, heh, heh.