Catato Patch 

Magical scrolls are one-use tools that have magic sealed within them. They come in a variety of types such as offensive scrolls, defensive scrolls, healing scrolls, dispelling scrolls and even curse scrolls.

 

Scrolls were initially created with the purpose of overcoming the weakness caused by a mage’s long cast times. However, their crafting process require a large amount of expensive magical ingredients as well as the expertise of a trained mage. This was especially so as  the stronger the sealed magic, the more difficult it was to craft the scroll.

 

While it was created with the common mage in mind, reality ended up being completely different than what was envisioned. Due to the cost of crafting these scrolls, they couldn’t become a staple of magic casting but instead ended up being a last resort for mages.

 

As more research was conducted in this field, the scroll crafting process had become significantly simpler over the ages. Not only was it simpler, the materials required had become more refined, allowing for less materials to be consumed in the overall process.

 

With the overall cost of crafting a scroll reduced, more and more mages were able to get into this field. There were even mages who specialized in scroll crafting as a livelihood. The addition of these scroll vendors boosted the supply of scrolls significantly.

 

However, even with all these advancements, the price of a scroll was still expensive. Even so, it remains a viable last resort option when one’s life was in danger. This was due to the low mana cost of using these scrolls which then only required the user to focus his mind on a target in order to fire the spell.

 

Given a forbidden spell scroll, even a mage apprentice was able to threaten a city.

 

------From <<The Accomplishments of Alchemists>>

 

So even bad guys can fear death.

 

Seeing him pee in his pants didn’t fill me with joy as expected. Instead, I felt a sadness in the depths of my heart. If you were so afraid of retribution, why did you create this tragedy in the first place?

 

How should I kill him...flaying him alive would require too much skill, throwing him into a boiling pot of oil was too crass as well. I need to find a method that won’t kill him instantly but would still inflict unending pain on him. As I pondered this matter, I ended up drifting off once more in daze.

 

Spotting an opportunity, the robed caster who had been sneaking peeks at me all this while, chose this exact moment to make his move.

 

All I saw was the moment he clenched his left fist as he targeted me before a fireball the size of a basketball shot out of the ruby ring he wore on his finger.

 

By the time I was able to react to it, the fireball was already within inches of me. A second later, the fireball slammed into my head without even giving me the time to dodge…

 

It felt like I had been splashed by a bucket of hot water followed up by the shockwave caused by the fireball’s explosion which flung me to the ground unceremoniously.

 

“I bet you never expected that even without the necessary time to chant, I could still rely on a high-grade enchanted gear to cover for my long chant times.” Having regained the upper hand with his sneak attack, he abandoned his guise of a weakling and instead went on the offensive, firing off fireballs continuously, all the while laughing haughtily.

 

“I’m a bonafide three-star occultist! Just in terms of mana alone, I’m able to overwhelm you!”

 

A torrent of fireballs chased my back as I dodged around, blasting me with a wave of hot air as they exploded. If it hadn’t been for my innate devil resistance to fire, my back would’ve been severely scalded by now.

 

Initially, the appearance of enchanted gear had been to shorten the cast times of mages. A mage with a high-grade enchanted gear was at least several times stronger than one without. Take this occultist for example, if he didn’t have that ring with him, I could’ve broken his limbs and sliced off his tongue in the time he took to chant a spell.

 

However, with that enchanted gear aiding him with its magical array, he was able to fire off fireballs instantly, stacking the odds significantly in his favor.

 

Thankfully, due to my fire resistance, his fireballs mostly felt like splashes of hot water even if they hit my head. However, no matter how strong my resistance was, there was still a limit to it. Given enough hits, my hide would give way too and so taking them head on wasn’t an option.

 

Seeing that his fireballs barely hit me, the occultist probably thought that his fireballs were too slow and decided to mix it up. His right hand rose up, revealing a white glint that I did not want to see.

 

“Let’s see how you dodged this!” Splitting his focus, he simultaneously activated his ruby ring and the white gemmed ring on his right middle finger which was probably of the ice element.

 

*whoosh whoosh*

 

A fireball and an ice spike shot out of his respective rings and hurtled towards me. With a dodge and a tumble, I easily dodged the two spells. This room was after all built for a summoning ritual, given the vastness of the room, there was more than enough space for me to avoid these attacks.

 

At least that was how it was at the start.

 

While the fireballs were mostly harmless once they exploded, the ice spikes were different. As their crystalline bodies exploded, they would leave behind a glistening layer of ice and water on the floor. Not only was the ice surface chilling to the bone, it was extremely slippery.

 

All that, I learned first hand when I accidentally stepped on the ice and welcomed a fireball to the face as my body fell butt first onto the floor, my skin prickling with the spicy sensation of the flames.

 

Despite my best efforts, I didn’t make much headway into approaching the occultist. His defense was extremely tight; each time I came close to him, he would take out a scroll and rip it open without hesitation.  

 

While I haven’t seen such scrolls in action before, I knew some basic knowledge about them. Normally, an offensive area of effect magic would be sealed in these scrolls which meant only one thing, trouble!

 

I immediately halted my advance but it was still too late. With a savage grin on his face, his hands pulled apart the seal on the scroll as his grinning eyes locked onto me.

 

A flurry of wind blades burst out of the scroll and flew straight at me the very next instant.

 

I focused my energies onto my legs as I willed them to step backwards in spite of their forward momentum. With a tilt of my body, I simultaneously tried to dodge to the side as well. However, the wind blades were simply too fast and I knew that a portion of my body was bound to be hit.

 

In the face of these unavoidable wind blades, all I could do was put my faith on my trusty blade, Shadowfang. As an epic blade, it clearly wasn’t as simple as it looked. My desperate defense ended up working as the wind blades dispersed harmlessly on its gleaming black surface.

 

Even so, this wasn’t a method I could rely on as the enormous length of the blade meant it was difficult to wave around. Thus, the remaining wind blades had to be dodged.

 

With the combination of Shadowfang and my dodging, the flurry of wind blades flew past my skin, barely missing me by an inch. Their sharpness was enough to give me goosebumps just from being in proximity; no matter what, this wasn’t something my body could withstand.

 

Even though I ended up avoiding them perfectly, in actuality, my heart was racing with anxiety. A single misstep would’ve easily cost me a limb. If I hadn’t thought to pull out Shadowfang at the last second...I would’ve been a pile of minced meat.

 

However with that out of the way, the danger should have passed. Scrolls were a rare magical tool and no matter how rich this guy was, he shouldn’t have that many right? With that in mind, I rushed forward once more into another magical scroll…

 

The occultist nonchalantly pulled out a fire scroll and with a quick stare, locked onto his target. As the ripping sound of paper echoed in the air, it was swiftly drowned out by the roaring sounds of a 2m wide giant fireball that easily crushed my feeble attempt at pressuring him. Sh*t, that thing’s going to squash me!

 

There was no doubt in my mind that that humongous fireball had the power to kill even a three-star flame resistant devil, let alone a two-star devil like me. If I ate that head-on, I would probably be lucky to be left with cinders.

 

Thankfully, the room was nearly 100 meters wide and had more than enough room for me to dodge. With the first scroll as a reference, I wasn’t as shocked at seeing him take out the second.

 

Upon seeing the scroll, I erred on the side of caution and immediately retreated before he even tore it open. This bit of caution ended up saving me as the giant fireball landed at my previous location a mere second later. The resulting shockwave crashed into me like a sledgehammer, sending me flying into the wall.

 

Had this been a normal building on Earth, this room would’ve probably collapsed from this devastating shockwave...however, this wasn’t Earth and this basement wasn’t any old basement. In the face of that deafening explosion, it barely shook let alone collapse.

 

This rich kid was just too scary; if it hadn’t been for my tenacity, I would’ve probably died god knows how many times by now.

 

By now, my fury had built up to a never seen before level and yet my mind seemed to be clearer than ever.

 

Having fired off over ten spells, his attack speed began to drop noticeably. This is the time! He probably ran out of mana by now so now’s the time to rip him to pieces!

 

However, just as I started rushing towards him, he whipped out a third scroll from his black robes and targeted me once more…

 

Thinking back on the previous two scrolls, I immediately stepped on the brakes and retreated backwards.

 

The occultist gave a satisfied nod upon seeing me retreat. And then, under my shocked gaze, pulled out a test tube filled with an ocean blue liquid. He bit on the stopper, pulled it out with a yank of his teeth and downed the liquid right before my very eyes…

 

A creeping dread filled me as I saw the blue liquid stream down his throat. That couldn’t have been a recovery potion, could it...

 

“Hmph, I bet you want to cry right now. The one thing this young master isn’t lacking is money. Whether it’s mana potions, high-grade gear or scrolls, this young master has plenty to spare!”

 

Noticing that I had stopped my advance, his grandstanding habit kicked in once more: “Seeing as you were able to kill those two brothers in one swing despite their low-grade gear, that black blade must be a high-grade weapon. My guess is that it had a sharpness attribute enchanted onto it, otherwise there’s no way it could slice through two chainmails reinforced with the defensive attribute.”

 

“...” Is his head screwed on right? Has he ever considered that this might be an epic blade?

 

“Don’t think you can hide the truth by not talking. This young master is swimming in money; there’s no gear he hasn’t seen before! I’ll give you one last chance, swear your loyalty to me and sign this slave contract. This young master will give you the best treatment as before and even allow you to feast on the tenderest of virgin flesh!”

 

“...”

 

“Don’t push your luck!” He bellowed after not receiving a response for a long time. His eyes reddened as he shouted: “Since you refuse to yield, then just die!”

 

The rich bast*rd began tossing his fireballs and ice spikes once more, forcing me to go on the defensive.

 

“Ahh~!”

 

In midst of my dodging, a sharp scream caught my attention. A short distance away was the offering he prepared for me, the underage pregnant girl. She was curled up in ball, with her hands wrapped around her head, at a corner of the room.

 

The reason for her scream was a stray fireball that landed a few inches away from her. The scorching heatwave of the fireball scalded her beautiful face, giving it an unnatural orange look. On her forehead was a noticeable bruise; she must’ve hit herself on the head when the shockwave blew into her.

 

This unfortunate girl...she should be living a carefree life at her age and yet fate had dealt her such a cruel hand…

 

“ *spit* Shut up, you wench!” He tossed her an annoyed look and fired an ice pick in her direction, his mouth never stopping its tirade: “Either way I’m done playing with you, since you’re so afraid, why don’t you just die. After all, you don’t have to be afraid once you’re dead!”