Chapter 74: Chapter: 72

This kind of notification showed 5 times after she devoured the pitiful maid and instantly reached level 95, Emma is indeed become a nutritious food for the merciless silver-haired girl, but it seems too early to celebrate as another notification showed up.

'Fireball?'

Normally, a fireball is a small orb of fire shot by a low-level magician, but Emma who reached level 17 made a rain of fireballs instead, which means the same skill will be different depending on the level of the users or precisely the amount of mana used.

Of course, the fireball cast by the level 17 Emma will be no match for someone in level 95 like Grizel, even though it is only low-level magic, possessing this skill alone is already a fortune for Grizel since she is not originally a magician, it's no different than awakening her 3rd class.

Looking at the notification, Emma's skills seems to be devoured along with her body and became Grizel's, before, she was both Rogue and Holy Class awakener, assassin and healer at the same time, but now she possesses the abilities of a Wizard-Class as well, albeit the skills are quite low since Emma is not a talented magician.

The greedy Queen is thinking what if she devoured a fully awakened Knight-Class next time to balance out her power by possessing all classes, well, it may take some time to choose the perfect knight since she is actually rather picky about food.

Unlike Emma who was devoured simply for the experimental purpose, it would be nice if the next victim, no, food was chosen carefully, a Knight who is as skillful as Rex, because turning a higher quality of material to be nutritious food would result in a greater power, somehow Grizel thought it's a shame that Rex is her ally.

"Brrr"

At the same time, the busy Prince in Palace suddenly gets distracted from his pile of paperwork, unknown chills creep down his spine as he feels a bad sign of omen, getting goosebumps, he wipes the sweatdrop on his forehead while wondering if he somewhat had accidentally offended someone he shouldn't recently.

Well...

Now is not the time for Grizel to think about food or imagining her pitiful fiance as the highest grade of food material.

Grizel stands in front of her underlings, the 4 of them are looking down in silence didn't dare to face their Lord after such a humiliating fight against Emma.

"There is a very thin line between confidence and arrogance"

She warned them, even the strongest might ended up in the hands of the weakest because of one's carelessness, by becoming Grizel's subordinates they were swayed by the sweet victory they gained without any difficulty, this is the first time they have the taste of defeat after joining Tartarus.

"There is no greater humiliation than dying because of your own foolishness"

Feeling ashamed of themselves, Lucy, Levi, Mammon, and Deus clenched their fists, it was lucky that their cautious Lord prepared everything perfectly, what if Emma was going berserk without full preparation?

The consequences will be disastrous, their weakened Lord may be attacked and they might be burnt alive by Emma's awakened magic, without the cautious preparation to empty and isolate the field, the other Tartarus members might get involved in the fight and injured, or even died, they were too naive to think that everything is under control as long as their Lord is breathing.

Today they are aware of one thing...

They are relying on their Lord far too much.

They need to get stronger, strong enough to protect their loved ones, this is not a mere secret organization anymore where everyone was gathered solely because they don't have anywhere else to go, they have to get stronger for the sake of their Lord and Tartarus, where their family and home are.

"Lucy, do you know why your dancing scythe skill was easily blocked by Emma?"

Lucy shakes her head answering Grizel's question, rather than strategy, this assassin fight with instinct, she might find out this weakness of hers if the fight with Emma went a little bit longer, but Grizel who observed their fight understands it perfectly in no time that Lucy has a fatal weakness.

"It because your attacks were too accurate"

As a trained assassin, Lucy was raised to kill people quickly and accurately, she might not aware of this habit herself but her attack pattern is surprisingly simple, neck and heart.

No matter how many tricks used by Lucy's dancing scythe, in the end, she only aimed at those two critical spots out of habit, and Emma as cunning as she always be, only protects those two places and acted as if she could block all of Lucy's attack.

Changing habits may be hard but it is not impossible, for one on one combat, Lucy lacks the variety of attack patterns.

"On the other hand, Deus"

Grizel called the long-range attacker in a menacing tone, he seemed to have committed a grave sin.

"Do you think I don't realize the hesitation in each of the bullets you shot?"

Unlike the other 3 members, Deus never killed anyone before, it's normal for him to act as the opposite of Lucy, he unconsciously only aimed at the barrier acting as a diversion to distract Emma's attention while hoping for Lucy's attack to be successful.

But that was not the reason why Grizel called him in anger, the magic rifle she designed should be able to penetrate a mere level 17 mana barrier, but his bullets could only shatter the barrier.

The weapon was perfect, the reason lies in Deus himself, unlike the usual shooting practice, Grizel could see the mana bullets shot by Deus today were not perfectly shaped, only those who excel in mana control have the qualifications for using magic rifles, but what if the one who controls the mana hesitated to kill his prey?

The answer is like what happened earlier, the mana bullets barely pierce through Emma's barrier because it's not in a perfect shape, the effectiveness of the mana bullets noticeably decreased.

"Deus, your hesitation might end up killing your precious ones"

Deus looked down in guilt, because of his hesitation he almost endangered his new family, he needs to throw away this naive side of him immediately, this harsh world is a place where either kill or be killed.

What's the use of having his dream magic weapon when he failed to protect his family using it?

He lifted his head as his eyes full of determination, from today onwards he swears to never be merciful towards those who pointed their sword to his family ever again, no matter who they are.

Grizel glance at him, it seems there is no need to explain more about his mistake as she shifted her gaze towards the next person.

"Mammon, I guess you have fully understand what is your weakness"

"Yes, Your Highness. I lack combat experience and the time needed to activate my warp skill is too long, I need to learn how to shorten it"

Grizel nodded, as a thief, Mammon will never face his enemies head-on, he did everything silently with a perfect plan he made beforehand, worse comes to worst, he just needs to flee before being caught, engaging himself in a fight is never an option for a thief to begin with, which means he is simply not suitable in the frontline.

"And Levi, you did well protecting your family but you should think about yourself first, thousands of troops may perish once their fortress collapsed"

This kid was thinking about his family more than himself, he creates layers of shields to defend them while he forgot to create one for himself, if Mammon's cunning attack didn't succeed, Levi will be doomed as Emma was aiming at him in her last moment.

Grizel knows that Levi cherished his family more than anything because he grew up alone in the slum, this youngest member may think that it better to sacrifice himself than living with loneliness once again, but...

"As long as you stand, your family shall never fall"

Grizel said as Levi nodded obediently, he seems to realize that sacrificing himself would endanger his family instead, because he is their fortress, the guardian, and protector, if he falls, his comrades may perish.

"Good, and try to learn how to increase the durability of your barrier"

Flop!

Grizel sighed as she threw herself to the comfortable couch, the carrot and stick is a metaphor for the use of a combination of reward and punishment, since they didn't do anything worthy of punishment, the scolding is enough to make them aware of their mistakes and weaknesses, this bitter experience should be able to help them grow.

And now is the time for the carrot, the reward for their achievement, winning against the fully awakened Emma.

"Alright, Levi come forth"

To be continued...

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