Chapter 283
Chapter 283: Deduct 1, Send a Succubus
The surging waves crashed against the solid reef, erupting violently and scattering white sea spray across the sky.
A solitary reef cave sat isolated above the ocean, as though cut off from the world entirely.
The churning waves lapped and battered at the surroundings, filling the cave with the constant sound of crashing water that echoed throughout.
A deep-blue Teleportation Formation slowly descended, countless dense blue streaks of light raining down from the sky, passing through the narrow opening of the reef and finally settling cleanly against the ground.
Viktor held Erika tightly in his arms, one hand looped beneath her legs, the other supporting her body, keeping her fixed against his chest.
Erika's face was flushed, her breathing labored, her entire body appearing terribly weak.
Even from her complexion alone, it was plain to see that her condition was far from optimistic.
"Pro...Professor..."
Viktor lowered his gaze, studying Erika carefully.
His fingers shifted slightly, and from his fingertips, a wisp of green breath exhaled, slowly seeping into the rock beneath his feet.
The next moment, vines and thick branches reached out, breaking through the reef floor with raw force.
【1st-Tier Magic: Wood Carving】
A wooden bed took shape, settling firmly onto the ground.
Viktor used his Magic again, drawing out several pieces of soft Magical Creature fur from his Player-exclusive Inventory.
He cleaned them, then dried them with flame, before spreading them evenly across the wooden bed.
Only after this did he gently set the Erika in his arms down.
Viktor had just begun to rise when he saw that Erika's hand was still gripping his arm tightly, unwilling to let go.
"Don't..."
"Don't...leave me."
He hesitated for a moment, then sat back down.
The rock beneath him split open with vines that instantly formed a vine chair, supporting Viktor as he settled into it.
He sensed that Erika's palm felt feverishly warm. A faint mist of heat evaporated from her forehead, slowly sliding down along her hair.
Her eyes were slightly unfocused, each breath accompanied by warm, hazy white vapor.
Viktor watched her, then spoke:
"Don't worry."
"You did very well."
Hearing Viktor say this, Erika broke into a brilliant smile—like a candle suddenly lit within the dim reef cave.
As though the hollow in her heart had been filled, she had finally received his recognition.
"Professor, thank you..."
Erika murmured those last words weakly, her head tilting to the side as she fell unconscious.
Her breathing finally steadied, and she appeared to sleep peacefully.
At that moment, whatever one might do to her, it seemed unlikely she would stir at all.
Yet Viktor did nothing. As he withdrew his arm from Erika's palm, he turned his hand and gently clasped her slender fingers in his own.
He felt the warmth radiating from her palm—a warmth that seemed slightly abnormal.
That heat and her body felt somehow disjointed.
"That feeling is rather familiar, isn't it, Viktor."
Weija spoke slowly from atop his shoulder.
Guided by Weija's words, Viktor found it coming back to him.
He knew it well, of course.
This was exactly like the first time he had absorbed the Core of Origin of the Calamity of Fire—alternating waves of scorching heat and biting cold.
A state of Magic Overload.
This kind of overload could only pass gradually through the body's own recovery.
Viktor had no way to help.
And yet, Erika's current overload had come about because he had used her body as a conduit to bring together the power of 3 Calamities' origins.
Channeling through her body to fuse and release them.
And this was something only Erika could have done.
"As expected—Duke Livi is no simple man."
Even now, Viktor could not imagine how Duke Livi, an ordinary human, had managed to court the Goddess of Nature and have her willingly bear Erika.
Erika was a divine descendant.
Within her veins flowed half the blood of a God.
And so, she could hear the calling of the Calamities—and even draw strength from them.
Or perhaps that power did not come from the Calamities at all.
Perhaps it was nature's gift to her.
A power that had always belonged to Erika herself.
Just as she had once seen in her dreams.
Inheritance.
Every omen had been an awakening of the power of nature lying dormant within Erika's body.
Viktor gazed at the now-unconscious Erika and spoke calmly:
"After a few days of rest, she'll be perfectly fine."
"But for those few days, the Duke will likely be unable to see his beloved daughter."
To fuse the Calamities required passing through Erika's body—this was something Viktor had already confirmed.
But the power of the Calamities was not something so easily borne.
And so Erika would need several days to recover and master the power that nature had bestowed upon her.
Equally so.
Viktor slowly raised his other hand.
Two radiances of alien color bloomed from his palm.
Calamity Cores.
The blue Core of Origin of surging currents rippled and churned, while the other—a black-violet Core—flickered like a ghostly bolt of lightning, elusive and ethereal.
Truthfully, the Calamity of Lightning had been an unexpected bonus, since Viktor had only intended to defeat the Calamity of Water this time.
Yet because Dozarel had let out a whale cry, Reileis had come on its own.
It was hard not to wonder whether those two had something going on between them.
But then again, it made sense.
The Calamity of Lightning could only manifest within an extraordinarily overcast cloudbank—one dark and heavy enough to swallow the land whole.
And the air itself had to be in an extremely dry state, where even the slightest friction could generate an electrical current.
The Calamity of Water happened to be perfectly capable of summoning complete storm clouds.
Add to that Gulton's presence, with its scorching heat searing the moisture from the humid air and parching the world's cloud layer—
And so, under those very conditions, the Calamity of Lightning revealed its form.
Weija stood on Viktor's shoulder, her voice carrying a note of quiet feeling:
"Now, there's only the last Calamity left."
The Calamity of Earth.
Viktor gave a slight nod.
Since coming to this world, he had spent much time gathering the Cores of Origin of these Calamities, acquiring power enough to protect himself.
The time had not passed slowly.
But it was still not enough.
"Still not enough."
To overcome those existences above, the power of the Calamities alone was insufficient.
And what's more—even if he gathered the power of all 5 Calamities, he was not necessarily able to overcome the Calamity of Earth.
More precisely, he was not certain he could land a single blow on it.
The Calamity of Earth was unique in that its power had never been diminished.
The other Calamities had each been weakened to varying degrees.
The Calamity of Fire was sealed within a volcano. The Calamity of Wood had been used as a power bank by the City of Mages.
The Calamity of Wind was too free-spirited and wayward—restrict its movement, and it could be defeated.
The Calamity of Water's ocean had been polluted, and it could only maintain its power through the sacrificial offerings of the Sea Folk.
The Calamity of Lightning was in a class of its own—it could only appear beneath a dry and overcast sky, though it had the advantage of flight.
Only the Calamity of Earth remained unconstrained in any way, and had therefore never been weakened.
And so...
"The matter of the Calamity of Earth will have to be set aside for now."
With that, the 2 Calamity Cores drifted from Viktor's palm, trailing along his Coat, before slowly merging into it.
5 alien-colored stripes surfaced on the Coat, flaring suddenly to life in the pitch-dark cave.
A fivefold radiance flashed through Viktor's eyes, his aura carrying a faint edge of pressure as dense natural energy overflowed from within him.
"At least for now."
"We have other matters that need to be resolved."
His cold voice echoed through the cave, like the distant rumble of rolling thunder.
***
Heni glided across the surface of the sea, as though walking on tiptoe through the air.
She spread her arms wide, doing her best to maintain balance like someone walking a tightrope.
A brilliant smile unlike anything she had ever worn before spread across her face, and her delighted laughter bloomed again and again among the sea spray.
Beside her, the crimson crocodile lurking in the ocean depths drifted leisurely through the waves, concealing itself with practiced ease—as if it were not even there.
Then, all at once, a familiar silhouette glided into this stretch of sea.
A tuft of white cloud, soft as cotton, drifted gently through the sky.
"Hmm, where was I supposed to be going again?"
Because she had been frequently working overtime for Viktor recently, Cocotte had not been getting enough rest.
So taking advantage of the free time, she had slept for a long, long while.
She drifted idly through the sky on her cloud when, before long, she spotted Heni's figure on the sea below.
Cocotte blinked, a sense of mild bewilderment rising in her heart.
"Heni!?"
She could see Heni clearly from a distance, and instinctively moved to close the gap.
But just as she was about to approach, she felt something slightly off.
Because Heni's usual wide black robes were nowhere on her.
The memory of Heni stripping her robes right in front of her was deeply engraved in Cocotte's mind.
And now, seeing Heni without her robes, Cocotte felt a creeping unease.
That feeling—she truly did not want to experience it again.
But on further thought, she had already become a 5th-Tier Mage.
Still afraid of this?
So she let out a quiet snicker and guided her cloud drifting toward Heni.
"Heni!"
Cocotte's voice rang out across the sky. Hearing someone call her name, Heni lifted her head.
The moment she saw Cocotte, her eyes could not help but sparkle with joy.
"Senior Cocotte!"
Since Cocotte was a former Council Member with vast knowledge, and Heni was a gifted learner, the two had gotten along remarkably well.
In their spare time, they would often have long, in-depth exchanges in private.
Cocotte drew closer to Heni and asked:
"You're here, but where's Viktor? Where is Viktor?"
She had come to provide support for Viktor but had spent a good while wandering and failing to find her way.
Heni blinked.
"It's already over."
Cocotte: "?"
She had slept through it?
Cocotte frantically grabbed Heni by the shoulders and pressed her urgently:
"Wh—what happened?"
"Did he lose, or did he win?"
Heni gave a natural, matter-of-fact nod.
"It's impossible for the Professor to lose."
Hearing this, Cocotte finally let out a sigh of relief.
Right—how could that freak Viktor possibly lose?
She felt reassured.
Because in truth, Cocotte had not particularly wanted to come for this battle.
After all, asking an Elf to fight a Calamity? That felt like a bit much...
So hearing that the battle was over, Cocotte was actually rather glad.
Still, at that moment, something felt off to her.
She could not sense even a trace of that bewitching aura she had always felt from Heni.
Even though she herself had become a 5th-Tier Mage, in theory she should still be able to pick up at least some of it.
Heni seemed to sense Cocotte's puzzlement, and gave a light smile.
"Don't worry, Senior Cocotte."
"I've already learned how to control her."
Cocotte looked at Heni with vague bewilderment, as though she had noticed some subtle change in her.
She seemed far more vibrant...and more confident than before.
But Cocotte could not quite put into words whether this sudden transformation in Heni was a good thing or bad.
Then, just as this thought crossed her mind, Cocotte noticed the change on Heni—and suddenly, her eyes went wide.
She studied the Magic Power on Heni and abruptly stared in disbelief.
"You're...3rd-Tier already?"
At that, Cocotte closed her mouth and had nothing more to say.
What on earth was this absurd leveling speed?
What Tier had Heni been just recently?
No wonder she had suddenly become so lively and self-assured.
She was still so young, yet she had already become a 3rd-Tier Mage.
Who wouldn't get a swollen head from that?
Heni caught Cocotte's expression of shock, and a brilliant smile spread slowly across her face.
The corners of her mouth curved up like a crescent moon—uncommonly captivating.
She lightly swept her hair aside, let her shoulders drop, and fixed her gaze on Cocotte with those eyes of hers—clear and boundless as a vast, tranquil sea.
Then, Heni's voice began to rise.
Her originally soft and delicate voice seemed to carry within it a few threads of something that did not quite belong to her.
"Senior Cocotte."
She extended one hand, slowly reaching toward Cocotte's cheek in a caress.
Warm breath exhaled and grazed across Cocotte's face, then lingered and wound around her ear without fading.
Like a hand that kept teasing endlessly at the edge of her ear.
Beneath the water, the crimson crocodile seemed to find this interesting and quietly lifted its eyes to watch.
And at that moment, it saw it.
The peculiar aura of desire that radiated from Heni—it was growing ever more dense.
And it was gradually forming into a shape uniquely her own.
It was a phantom—so faint that only a Demon could perceive it.
A fox-like tail appeared behind Heni, swaying continuously.
Steadily emanating that aura of desire.
Even Heni's voice seemed to have draped itself in a veil of enchantment:
"The feeling of pleasure."
"Would you like...to experience it once more?"