Everyone stared blankly at Chur, who was twisting on the ground in unbearable agony.
What was wrong with Chur? Why did he suddenly look like he was about to die?
However, Liya's gaze fell on the crimson potion in Viktor's hand, and she instantly realized what he had done.
"Another one of those magical potions?"
Looking at the strange, writhing Chur, Liya began to guess.
If the blue potion corresponded to mana recovery, then the red potion must correspond to life recovery.
And Liya was right.
At that moment, in Viktor's eyes, Chur's health bar was wildly bouncing up and down.
Whenever his HP was about to hit zero from the poison spreading through his body, Viktor would suddenly force a fresh recovery potion down his throat.
Viktor was keeping Chur steadily balanced between life and death.
Chur's current feeling was extremely strange.
In one moment, he felt his soul becoming light, as if he were about to ascend straight to heaven.
And the next second, his consciousness would return to his body, only to feel again the unbearable agony of a million ants gnawing through his flesh. His limbs were stiff and locked straight, unable even to move in a way that might lessen the pain.
He couldn't even kill himself.
Foam spilled from his mouth, his eyes bloodshot and leaking tears, drool running down his chin as he screamed at Viktor in fury, "Kill me! Kill me now!"
Viktor quietly watched him, waiting for Chur to once again sink into the brink of death.
Time after time, as his consciousness faded, his life flashed before his eyes, each time shattered by Viktor's own hand.
Chur knew he probably couldn't die anymore. All he could do was wait for the poison to corrode his body, and then be dragged back again into the abyss of pain by the man before him.
After a while, the poison finally wore off.
Viktor had used several potions, but he had forcefully kept Chur alive.
Chur felt sensation slowly returning to his body, the pain gradually receding.
"Finally… it's over…?"
Slash!
Before he could even catch his breath, he suddenly felt blades pierce clean through all four of his limbs.
An explosion of pain hit him again.
His freshly healed limbs were ruined once more, and Chur completely lost it.
"Demon! You demon!"
Squelch!
Viktor drove his blade through Chur's hand and pinned it into the dirt.
Scarlet blood seeped into the earth.
Ignoring Chur's screams of pain, Viktor simply bent down and picked up the Anti-Magic Stone and the round shield from the ground.
The moment he picked them up, his eyes saw the corresponding stats.
[Item Name: Evil Knight]
[Effect: +100 HP, +30 Physical Defense]
[Skill: Parry, Instantly deflects an attack from the enemy in front of you. Successful parry causes up to 1 second of stun.]
———
[Item Name: Anti-Magic Stone]
[Description: Can block mana flow within a certain range.]
"Evil Knight." That was the trap Chur had prepared for him.
If someone didn't know what the Parry skill did and carelessly attacked this shield, they'd be stunned for one second.
And for a boss like Chur, that single second of stun was more than enough to take half a player's life.
That was also why so many players failed to defeat Chur on their first encounter.
Even later on, without level or gear advantage, Chur's unique shield alone made him a nightmare opponent.
Getting parried by the boss and then stabbed in the kidneys wasn't exactly pleasant.
Fortunately, every move Chur made was transparent in Viktor's eyes.
Not to mention, this version of Chur wasn't as powerful as the future boss form.
Even if Viktor had only a level 10 warrior account, he could still take him down without a single hit, just by relying on skillful operation.
It would just take more time.
Viktor put away the shield and turned his gaze to the Anti-Magic Stone.
Its function was exactly as simple and straightforward as its name implied.
Even in the Kingdom, such items were extremely rare.
How did Viktor know about it? Naturally, because he'd used one before.
As an item, this thing was a perfect weapon for screwing over mages.
Just imagine, a mage player finds a wild boss out in the open, defeats it, and is about to divide the loot.
Then a random passerby tosses an Anti-Magic Stone on the ground, grabs all the loot, and runs.
That scene...
Remembering it made Viktor smile faintly.
Yes, that passerby had been him.
When Liya saw Viktor walk away from Chur, she smiled lightly, as if she'd always believed he couldn't possibly lose.
"Go ahead. Time for us to wrap things up."
Her subordinates snapped back to their senses, quickly moving forward to restrain Chur.
Viktor walked toward Liya.
When he passed Leon, he deliberately glanced at her.
Even though he had been inside the barrier, when Leon had rushed in to help him earlier, Viktor had still noticed her.
Her incredible speed had left a deep impression on him, and now, seeing her familiar outfit and green eyes, he felt a flicker of recognition.
He remembered that among Liya's subordinates, there had been one incredibly agile elven subordinate.
Her speed was lightning-fast, and she could infiltrate enemy camps at night as if walking through an empty field.
She once assassinated seventeen imperial nobles in a single night and was known as the empire's most elite and mysterious assassin.
So, Viktor spoke softly, as if testing her, "Leon?"
At the sound of her name, Leon's body suddenly stiffened. She looked at Viktor, unconsciously taking a few steps back.
How did Viktor know her name?
'Impossible, Miss Liya wouldn't have revealed it.'
She forced herself to remain calm, not replying.
But Viktor had already caught her brief reaction, and that alone confirmed it for him.
His eyes scanned her up and down, completely ignoring whether it was polite.
Leon felt a chill crawl up her spine, Viktor's gaze felt as if he had completely seen through her.
Then Viktor withdrew his gaze. A faint, almost polite smile appeared on his otherwise cold face, and he nodded to her, then walked right past without stopping.
Leon quickly turned to look back, but Viktor was already standing beside Liya.
"Not too late, am I?"
"Even if you hadn't come, I could've handled it."
Liya turned away, shrugging. She wasn't the type to be taken down just because of an Anti-Magic Stone.
Still, Viktor's timely rescue had warmed her heart a little.
She secretly glanced at him.
Indeed, she didn't even know when it started, but Viktor had begun to change.
At some point, a crow swooped down from the sky and landed on Viktor's shoulder.
Seeing the crow, Liya frowned slightly.
"Why didn't I see it earlier?"
Viktor replied without context, "Because I never fight a battle I'm not prepared for."
Liya scratched her head, confused.
What did that have to do with her question?
Of course, she didn't know, of Viktor had truly been unable to defeat Chur inside the Anti-Magic Stone's barrier, then Vega outside would have immediately taken care of the stone and lifted the barrier.
Even if the chance of Viktor losing was just one percent, he would eliminate that one percent completely.
He aimed for absolute Viktory, to be someone who never failed.
"The interrogation phase is yours," Viktor said casually.
Liya straightened her posture and nodded seriously.
"Of course. I'll root out the family's traitor from him completely."
Her tone was icy.
A stranger from the kingdom had infiltrated her family's territory, she had already been prepared for this.
Chur had hidden his identity from the start, forging a false one within the empire.
But Liya had known all along.
After all, the one who helped Chur falsify his identity… was one of the Clavenna family's own subordinates.
Chur's disguise might have seemed flawless, but every little move he made had always been under Liya's watchful eyes.
Liya suddenly turned to Viktor and said, "That potion of yours, give me a few bottles."
Viktor looked at her. Beneath her pleasant smile, he could sense something dark and cruel.
She was smiling, but her voice was cold as ice.
"I don't want this guy dying accidentally during interrogation."
Viktor shook five bottles of potion from his coat.
"Ten thousand geo. Don't forget to pay."
Liya glared at him fiercely, grabbed the five bottles, and left without looking back.
Her voice drifted behind her, "Take it yourself when we get back!"
Once she was gone, Vega looked at Viktor.
"You even charge your own sister?"
"That's your snack money."
"Nice! You should charge even more next time!"
———
A teleportation circle lit up beneath Viktor's feet, and in an instant, he disappeared.
He had no interest in interrogations anyway, and he wasn't particularly skilled at them.
Better to leave that kind of thing to a professional like Liya.
In the blink of an eye, with the shimmer of a blue magic circle, Viktor reappeared at the gates of the family estate. The night-watch knights had already been waiting for some time.
When Viktor had returned last night, Hailnason had already informed the family's night guards that their young master was back.
The knights were prepared.
The moment they saw Viktor, they bowed respectfully.
Viktor nodded slightly and stepped into the manor.
Even though it was midnight, he didn't feel the least bit sleepy.
He turned the round shield in his hands like a kid eager to test a new toy.
Anything that could make him stronger, he welcomed it all.
Then his thoughts drifted to Hailnason.
That powerful bear-man warrior was more than enough as a sparring partner, so much so that he could probably kill Viktor with one punch.
Thinking that, Viktor promptly gave up the idea of using Hailnason as a training partner.
True, good technique could make up for weaker stats, but not always.
When the stat gap was so large that you couldn't even break through an opponent's defense, no amount of skill mattered.
Hailnason wasn't the right sparring partner. So who else could he train close combat with?
Suddenly, a silver-haired figure flashed through his mind.
He whispered her name under his breath.
"Gwen Delin."