The Young Master in the Shadows

Chapter 265: Inverse Soul Apple

Harvey Von Geldstadt kicked Tobias chest very hard, breaking a couple of his ribs and sending him flying through a couple of walls and a dinner table. The poor man finally stopping after hitting the reinforced concrete wall on the other side of the mansion.

Harvey slowly moved through the new ‘openings’ in the walls and stood above his grandson who was coughing up blood.

The poor maids who were shocked by the sudden destruction, all ran away as soon as they saw the patriarch's angry face.

“Grandpa! That maniac killed Clint!” Tobias screamed after wiping his mouth. "I had to do it!"

“I already said that no one was allowed to make a move against Victor!” Harvey said as a silver sword slowly formed in his hand. “Clint was already expelled from the family anyway! Do you think I didn’t know you were secretly sending him money?” he added as he slashed Tobias’s arm.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhh………” Tobias screamed in pain as two men ran into the ruined dining room nearly stumbling upon the crushed glassware on the ground.

“Father/Grandfather please stop!” they said. Those two were Kolmir, the punishment hall master, and William, Gary’s father and Harvey's favorite grandson.

“What? Do you want to defend this bastard too?” he said angrily before beginning to cough hard causing him to cover his mouth with his pale hands… black blood seeped through his fingers.

“Father, appease your anger…” Kolmir said, “You already cut his hand… I think this is enough punishment! You must care about your health…. We already sent out an agent and removed the bounty on Victor.”

“Fine then…” Harvey said angrily as he glared at his son while wiping his hand. “But if anything were to happen to Victor I will kill you myself!” he barked. If Victor was hurt by his family this would be some real trouble, as Victor had already made him sign a contract.

Kolmir sighed as he ran to help his father who leaned on the wall for support. He became a little weak after his outburst. His health was not very good.

“Will! Take your brother to the infirmity,” Kolmir told his nephew who nodded and hurried toward Tobias.

“Wait!” Harvey said, “William, about what I told you last week, make it happen soon…”

“Grandfather, but Elise is… That man is a pervert!” William said with a complex expression.

“Shut up. Don’t act as if you really care about the girl now? Your wives and sons almost bullied her to death last year! All you truly care about is your f*cking image!” Harvey scolded then coughed a little.

“But father, can’t she be an official wife?”

“No, it would take a lot of time for that, I need someone to carry the seed of the Von Weise as soon as possible… If my sources were right, their family might not last until the winter!” Harvey said as he turned around and began walking to return to his office with Kolmir’s help. He slowly passed through the broken opening in the wall which slowly began to repair itself after him.

…

“Father, wasn’t this a bit too much acting?” Kolmir asked his father, who was completely fine.

He sat on his chair, raised his legs on the gilded mahogany desk, and watched the office’s wall repair itself. This wall material cost a fortune as it can only be found in some specific dungeons, but it was worth it.

“No… Fooling the dark chamber is our priority now… They must not know that I was cured of that poison,” Harvey said after some pondering.

“But wouldn’t Tobias try to attack Victor again? Clint was his favorite son!”

“I am counting on that! That fool Tobias is as useless as his son… I am sure he will go and ask the dark chamber for their help very soon…”

“But didn’t you want to protect Victor?”

“If Victor can be killed this easily then I would be a fool! My hunch is never wrong, if the Von Weise family manages to survive this crisis, that kid might become one of their supreme elders if not the patriarch one day!” Harvey replied, “I just want to watch the chaos and wait for a chance to gain some benefits.”

“Father… You mean that Victor’s latest blunder in the brothel was a cover-up?” Kolmir asked, “He even dared to damage his own public image like this on purpose?”

“Yes, I was pretty surprised when I met him that day in the auction, that kid is a snake! He has been deliberately building a certain image around himself, and he managed to pull a cover over everyone’s eyes!” Harvey said as he looked at the report on his desk, “And… Those toys he left at the brothel are very interesting…” he said.

“Aren’t they just normal toys? Do they serve some purpose?” Kolmir asked.

“No… It is just that those are handmade, you can’t find things like that on the shelf… They reflect some fine taste…. Find out where he got them from!”

“Ah… ok…?” Kolmir was not really sure what to reply. His father was beginning to revive his old habits after he was cured. Kolmir was already expecting to gain a lot of new little brothers and sisters pretty soon.

“Now leave me, I need to… Meditate…” Harvey said as he took out a leather bonded book from his storage ring while waving for Kolmir to exit the room with his other hand.

“Yes, grandfather…” Kolmir said as he walked out of the office while wondering what kind of top-secret things that book continued. His father always kept it with him.

…

Margret cursed as she began to bang her head against the rock-solid ground… It hurt like hell and she felt that it was about to explode.

Why was this happening, she had no idea.

The moment she ate that demon in her soul space everything was fine, but the moment she regained her consciousness she felt this pain.

It was getting stronger as if her very soul was tearing apart. She could taste the blood in her mouth and she knew that she had bit her tongue, but she didn’t care… She had no time to care. She felt everything around her clearer than ever, but at the same time, the pain was 1000 times more severe.

She could feel the burning lines appearing all over her soul. It was breaking apart.

Was she going to die?

Just as the pain became unbearable, from deep within her soul a series of symbols shone as in Margret’s soul space a large talisman began to form as it absorbed energy around it.

The pain slowly subdued and then stopped.

Margret slowly sat up and focused on her soul space where now a complete golden talisman was floating in front of her soul.

What was this?

Margret had no idea, but she knew it was not harmful as on it, Victor’s symbol was engraved.

…

“Were you telling the truth earlier?” Lily asked Victor as she watched the girls leave after getting their instructions. Victor usually told her the truth when they were alone.

Although Lin was with them at the moment, from the way Victor treated her, Lily knew that he would not mind telling the truth in her presence.

“About what ?” Victor asked.

“Everything… The mural…” she said.

“Oh… About 90%. I only lied about one thing. Can you guess what it is?” he asked as he eyed both Lin and Lily. “The one who guesses right will get a kiss! While the other would get her butt spanked!” he declared as he inspected the rest of the murals.

“The language name? No… The woman on the mural is definitely an elf..” Lin pondered as she frowned, trying hard to remember what Victor said exactly… “Is it about the deal with the demon? In the mural there was no demon, just skeletons,” she said.

“No. The deal is true… This entire garden was probably the result of that deal… The demon is hiding in the black coffin," he explained, spanking Lin’s butt out of nowhere.

“Ahhh…” she moaned in surprise then blushed. That was not a voice a noble girl like her should make… She hoped that Victor liked her reaction though.

Lily glared at Lin hatefully. That slut was definitely trying to seduce her young master.

“You lied about the old man who taught you. It was definitely a pretty girl. That’s the only reason you would listen to her…” Lily said finally, earning herself a surprise reward kiss on her pouting lips as Lin who was glaring at them with some jealousy rubbed her butt. She lost this round.

“Exactly! You are prettier though!” Victor told Lily as he chuckled, then let go of her and began to move deeper into the hall.

“There is nothing in that direction, I already checked,” Lin said as she ran after Victor and grabbed his arm while glaring at the still-stunned Lily with challenging eyes.

Lily quickly sobered up and touched her lips with a smile, then, not wanting to lose, ran to Victor’s other side and grabbed his other arm.

“There is something there….” Victor said then paused, “Ladies, I might need my arms later….” Victor pointed out, but none of the girls let go… Did he push them too hard earlier?

“Ok, since both of you don’t want to let go, grab hard! This might hurt a little” he said as they reached a certain bland wall. Then the world around them wrapped as Victor used his shadow-shifting ring to pass through the wall.

The girls watched as the scenery changed around them, they were now in a white room with a marble pedestal in its center.

“What is this place….” Lin asked as she tried hard to regain her balance and in the end, had to let go of Victor and sit down… Her mana was a little drained.

“The reward room for the upper dungeon…” Victor said as he took a pill and put it in Lily’s pale mouth, her state was not good at all as the process of passing through the thick wall had drained all her mana. Her intelligence attribute was not high enough.

“First dungeon?” Lin asked as she watched Victor lay Lily on the ground slowly. This was her punishment for not listening to his command earlier.

“Yes, If I guessed correctly this dungeon is composed of two or three dungeons above each other.”

“What?” Lin asked.

“You saw the mural earlier… the elf queen must have found the dungeon below this one, and instead of clearing it, she must have made a deal with its boss!” Victor explained…. “I presume that the deal must have had a curse that shattered the elf queen’s world!”

“But… how could she leave a dungeon after entering it?” Lin asked.

“Different worlds have different rules… or maybe she had some artifact for that… I can’t really tell,” he said as he slowly walked toward the marble pedestal. On it, there was a small golden apple.

“Sh*t this thing was amazing!” Victor said with a smile.

“What is it? It looks like the ones in the garden!” Lin exclaimed as she grabbed his arm again.

“Lin… We can be intimate later….” Victor scolded, flicking her small nose with his finger. Lin bit her lip and then slowly let go of his arm. she was a bit reluctant but his tone was clear.

“This apple is useful to me… for others, it might be wasted, or be very dangerous…” he said finally as he put the apple in his ring.

“What does it do?” Lin asked.

“It allows someone to convert energy to soul power… Basically, it is for enlarging one's soul!”

“Why is it dangerous then?” Lin, who didn’t fully understand, asked.

“You must know that enlarging someone’s soul recklessly is a very dangerous process. Souls are not usually that flexible. In fact, most souls have a hard limit, if they grew any larger than that, they might explode…. I have ways to mitigate its effect that others can’t understand….” he explained as he surveyed the empty reward room one last time then headed toward Lily who slowly opened her eyes and sat up.

“Do we have to go through the wall again?” Lily asked with a little fear. She had just recovered.

“No… The wall here can be opened from the inside…” he said, moving a secret lever that opened the wall. “We will rest a bit here then move downstairs toward the second dungeon… “ he said as he frowned.

“That Hell symbol thing?” Lin asked.

“Demons that come from Hell are very unique… You can consider them nobility among demons, who usually have some very tricky and underhanded techniques. If my guess is correct, that Lich king is such a creature.” Victor said, “ We must rest and prepare well, the battle downstairs would certainly be hard…” He paused as an announcement rang throughout the dungeon.

“Sh*t! What the hell happened?” Victor asked as he read the notification while ignoring the girl's questioning eyes.