Read Novel Full Chapter 316: Fear Baiting
Chapter 316: Fear Baiting
Vale sighed as he looked over the unconscious Awilix.
‘Every time…’
Naiad had been able to heal her, and it had indeed been a poison; however, even if the poison had been expunged and neutralized, it held a paralytic aftereffect that still claimed Awilix’s body.
‘I knew I was dumb to assume she’d escaped unscathed from a battle.’
Such a thing seemed impossible at this point.
Thankfully, it would take time, but Naiad said she’d go back to normal. So, for now, she had to rest.
But what Vale was more concerned about was the spider who’d done it to her. Or, more so… that was simply one of countless enemies.
Who knew when or if they’d face another with a similar ability?
Vale’s current hunch was that it had been a poison that inflicted whoever killed it. While it wasn’t exactly lethal in this instance, if more beings like that presented themselves, then that changed things.
First, Lust was already fighting as a strong few against a weaker many.
If one of the weaker many was able to sacrifice their life to decommission even one of Vale’s Legion, it was a loss.
Next was the idea that…
‘What other abilities are they hiding?’
There was really no limit in that regard.
What if they had someone like Mias?
Someone who could watch their every move, and they’d be none the wiser.
Someone like Ximena? Like Salome? Like Vale?
To that end, Vale was well aware of what he lacked most in this war for the gorge: information.
And, thankfully, that was something he’d figured out a solution to. In fact, he’d already taken the first step toward not just joining the information war, but winning it.
‘You staged a skirmish to get us to reveal our cards?’
Well, that was a sore mistake.
For they gave Salome a large sample size.
During the fight, Salome tried her best to afflict every enemy with [Vitality Drain]. Meaning, she had also grasped something vital to oneself and their essence: language.
She’d learned the languages of all who had spoken forms of it.
Something that, as far as Vale knew, the anti-lust alliance couldn’t boast.
At most, they had one with a translator ability to help them communicate. Someone like Roderic of Akkuron.
With Awilix being cared for on Floor Two, Toy was sent to watch over her and Naiad. And with Ximena back to guarding the entrance, Vale was left alone with Sivian, Salome, and Mias.
“Are you ready, Reaper?”
The smoky man gave an anticipatory smile to the one-armed demoness.
“Of course.”
Holding out her hand, Salome healed Mias’ vitality. Simultaneously, she embedded the vitality that she had stolen.
That knowledge of their language was unconsciously filtering itself and taking root in Mias’ mind.
While the Reaper was smart, there were a few things even he didn’t know. The myriad of languages was one of them. With that fault neutralized…
Vale smirked as Salome took her arm off Mias’ shoulder and put it on his, imparting him the knowledge as well.
As it filled his head, Vale said:
“Let’s begin our preparation.”
Mias nodded.
“Naturally… What would you like to discuss first, Master Vale?”
“Hierarchy. Mias, who commands them?”
Mias, who still had part of himself watching over the Scar, replied:
“I’ve discerned there is no one leader. At least not yet.”
‘Oh?’
“Not the dragonkin?”
“They appear to be higher in the pecking order, but not exactly at the top.”
Salome leaned back in the [Wingback Chair], having claimed it before Vale could.
“Both the bats and spiders caught your eyes, I presume?”
The Reaper of Knowledge smiled warmly.
“Correct.”
Vale tilted his head slightly.
“How so?”
“First, they checked the first box of a leader: strength. Their innate rankings of their Masters are presumably Anathema or even Demon. As for the second box, cunning…”
Mias shrugged.
“They seemed to be vying for control in a way. They may look like one cohesive unit, but the collective forces didn’t seem to know who to listen to. I knew ancient Emaniean, the dragonkin’s language, and they seemed to be calling to press the attack while the spiders wanted to retreat.”
Mias crossed his legs, leaned back in his smoky chair, then continued:
“And I noticed that some of the weaker ones listened to different orders, showing a split on who they followed. As for the bats… some followed their lead out of fear, it seemed.”
Vale quietly listened, digesting what he could.
‘United under one goal but held together by a common enemy?’
That opened up the perfect door.
Guile attacking his smile, Vale asked:
“I believe you’ve reached a similar conclusion to the one I have in my head. Which of the three should we target?”
Sivian, propped up on her tail watching the entrance of the room, chimed in:
“The dragonkin are too proud.”
Mias affirmed:
“Yes.”
His onyx eyes seemed to be recalling an earlier event.
“They are much too proud to be swayed or tricked. As for the bats… they’re much too violent and uncivil. They hate us the most out of all.”
“So, the spiders then?”
Would they be the easiest to win over?
Salome shook her head.
“They are not to be trusted, nor will they ever trust us.”
Vale squinted.
“How are we supposed to undermine the alliance if we can’t sway one of the leaders?”
“By upending its foundation — the weakest.”
It took Vale a moment, but a moment was all it took for him to understand Mias’ rationale.
That was their goal anyway, to target the weak. But, only now, instead of targeting them for extermination…
‘We convert them to our side.’
Which would swell Lust’s overall power while diminishing their enemies.
There was still the major problem of founding trust; however, perhaps trust was secondary.
After all, the very alliance they were a part of at the moment was born from fear of a Vice.
But what if that very Vice flipped the fear around.