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On top of that, they were well versed in all sorts of traps and toxins. They utilized that knowledge to its fullest extent, indirectly weakening the target magic beasts to create an advantageous fighting field.

「I’m quite impressed by you as well, seeing as you’re still conscious in this environment.」 Fuzzy Dice said that, spreading his arms out as he hopped on top of the statue nearby.

The entire garden was already covered in his sleeping mist, but the leader of Lara Phantom was still awake enough to set up an ambush there.

「Hah…why would you say that when you selected toxins with a delayed effect to use only on me.」

Everyone in Lara Phantom had worked with toxins for a long time, making them masters at identifying different types of poison and venom, as well as antidotes. Just the initial symptoms alone were enough for them to instantly tell if a toxin was made with magic or through chemicals, and how to neutralize it.

They had been hired specifically because of that knowledge. The only downside was that they would be unable to react and create an antidote if they fell asleep instantly.

「Well, I wonder why that happened, hm?」

Fuzzy Dice replied with a clearly playful voice. All of the mercenaries from Lara Phantom were already asleep, except for the leader, who had been awake for longer and was able to come up with an antidote. But he knew that had been only possible because Fuzzy Dice used a different toxin on him.

「What are you scheming here..?」

He knew he would not be able to wake up the rest of his group while Fuzzy Dice was there, so he had no option but to keep his eyes glued on the thief and try to figure out why he was singled out like that.

「Oh, I just wanted to let you know I’d really appreciate your help cleaning up later.」 Fuzzy Dice’s voice sounded rather friendly as he said that. There was no malice concealed within it, but an honest desire for help.

「What’s that supposed to mean?」

「I’m sure it’ll all make sense when you wake up.」 Fuzzy Dice gave a rather vague reply, and then lightly waved his right hand. A moment later, Lara Phantom’s leader fell on his knees, and then lay on the ground, sound asleep.

In the end, all of that could hardly be called a fight.

「No way…they were all defeated just like that.」

The mercenaries inside the mansion, the Viper Cup Knights group, had noticed the thief’s arrival and had seen everything, leaving them shocked at how defenseless Lara Phantom had been.

They were a group of mostly knights and swordsmen, who had trained in a different way to defeat magic beasts. In essence, they were the opposite of Lara Phantom, but that also made them respect the skill and ability of Lara Phantom. So they were shocked that Lara Phantom had been put out of commission less than a minute after Fuzzy Dice’s arrival.

「If it isn’t the Viper Cup? I knew you’d be able to remain awake.」

Fuzzy Dice turned around and spoke from atop the statue, addressing the knights that had exited the mansion to face him even though the garden was still full of sleep inducing mist. The knights remained awake, however, and they stared at Fuzzy Dice carefully.

While Lara Phantom was specialized in toxins, the Viper Cup Knights were specialists in medicine.

Their leader had once belonged to an army that waged war against a large country, being a combat medic until he retired. Thanks to his experience there, he had learned a lot of medical techniques, as well as pharmacy. After retiring, he formed a mercenary group, imparting his knowledge to everyone who joined him, eventually creating a mercenary unit with a deep understanding of medicine.

「I’ve studied that sleep inducing mist of yours quite a lot, so we all came prepared.」

One of the biggest traits of the Viper Cup Knights was their ability to prepare beforehand against toxins.

While they could also identify toxins from symptoms, they had opted to concoct a medicine to treat it instead, which would offer momentary immunity. Essentially, they needed to be affected by the toxin, then take the medicine to treat it, and they would be immune to it for the following twenty four hours.

In essence, their plan was to self administer the same type of toxins Fuzzy Dice would use.

At noon, they would take the toxins, then the medicine, and they would become immune to toxins produced through the same Forbidden Arts for the rest of the day. In other words, Fuzzy Dice’s methods would be his own downfall.

The issue was identifying the correct toxins to administer, and they were on a tight schedule. It was also difficult to procure all the necessary toxins.

Technically speaking, they were in a race against time, which would decide whether Fuzzy Dice would put them to sleep, or if they would be immune to all his spells.

「Then what about this?」 Fuzzy Dice waved his left hand, and barely a moment passed before all the knights in the garden collapsed and fell down.

There was still one toxin that the knights had not been able to prepare for, and Fuzzy Dice used it. But not long after, multiple orbs shot out from the mansion.

Fuzzy Dice instantly jumped back, though he was not the target. Instead, they struck the ground in a vast area, shattering and letting out green smoke. After a few seconds, the knights began to stand up from within the green smoke.

That had been more of the medicine prepared by the knights. There was still someone tasked with administering it from the mansion.

「Let’s try this again.」

As soon as he stood up, the leader of the knights rushed forward, sword in hand, moving much faster than his age would suggest. The rest of them also moved forward, running so quickly that they could hardly be followed by one’s eyes. Just when the leader was about to reach Fuzzy Dice, however, he froze in place.

「Guh… What..?!」

Looking at his sword, the leader noticed that it was caught in countless spider threads, not letting him push or pull it anywhere. As he was still an experienced knight, by focusing his fighting aura multiple times, he gained the necessary strength to make the threads snap and tear apart.

「Oh, I knew you’d be strong.」 Fuzzy Dice began utilizing the spider threads more strategically to avoid the leader’s attacks, sometimes restraining his limbs or entangling his legs.

Meanwhile, the other knights had surrounded the thief too.

「You have nowhere to go now.」

After falling asleep and waking up repeatedly from various toxins, the rest of the knights set up a formation. Fuzzy Dice was still standing atop the statue, and merely looked down at the knights.

「So you’ve managed to corner me, I see.」 He grinned as he made that remark, before raising a hand. His exaggerated actions caught the attention of the knights, who all carefully observed every movement he made, only to be blinded by a bright flash.

That light had come from Fuzzy Dice’s hand, and only lasted an instant. But its effect was extremely effective, as all the knights around him fell unconscious.

Those still within the mansion quickly shot out more medicine orbs, but they could not make the knights wake up anymore. They were not affected by a toxin, but had been hypnotized by the bright flash.

「Only a few knights remain, and a whole group…」 Fuzzy Dice mumbled to himself as he charged into the mansion. Two cries echoed through the hallway the moment he entered, but they were muffled almost instantly.