How Could the Villainous Young Master Be a Saintess?-Chapter 399 - 119 : You are still as vicious as before

Charon's gaze passed over Winnie, landed on Fanya and Amisa standing behind him.

"Are you two second-years, or first-year juniors?" Charon seemed impressed by the two girls' appearances. His eyes lingered slightly longer on Amisa, particularly on her eyes, before he spoke.

"Senior Charon, I'm Fanya Cassian. This is my childhood friend and closest companion, Amisa Meriver. We're both first-years," Fanya replied.

"Oh, so you're first-year juniors?" Charon responded, indicating that he understood.

"Yes, Senior Charon. You seem quite familiar with Winnie?" Fanya glanced at Charon, then at Winnie.

"Familiar? If you mean merely acquainted, Junior Fanya, then yes, you could say that." Charon's words already make the underlying meaning clear.

"Speaking of which, Cassian and Meriver. Your families both belong to the Church of Radiance, correct?" Charon asked.

"Yes, our families are indeed part of the Church. Mine is a knightly order family of the Church of Radiance," Fanya said.

"Hmm, the Cassian family, I've heard of them. A remarkable knightly lineage. Your ancestors even produced the Church's [Champion Knight], didn't they?" Charon nodded in recognition.

"Yes."

"And then, the Meriver family. If I'm not mistaken, Junior Amisa, your ancestors produced an Arch Bishop of the Church, didn't they?" Charon shifted his gaze to Amisa.

"Mm, yes, Senior." Amisa's soft, gentle voice carried no emotional fluctuations. She nodded, and whether intentionally or not, quietly shifted her gaze aside, avoiding direct eye contact with Charon.

Winnie listened silently to the conversation. He couldn't shake the feeling, was it just his imagination? He felt that Charon's sudden interest in Amisa and Fanya's family backgrounds seemed somewhat deliberate.

"You two also ended up in this world by accident, got lost, and have been under constant attack from monsters, right? Still, it's fortunate you managed to find each other amidst all this misfortune," Charon said, nodding.

"Yes, Senior Charon. We're not very strong, but thankfully we were able to meet again during this crisis," Fanya agreed.

"Good. Don't worry. As long as I'm here, nothing will happen to you." Charon spoke calmly, as if he'd already become the team's central pillar.

"What are your plans from here?" Charon asked.

"We're heading to the ruined altar at the center of the forest. Maybe that's the key to leaving this place," Winnie answered.

"Oh? The altar in the center of the forest? I was thinking the same. I believe something like a magical formation has been set up there," Charon mused.

"Until we escape this danger and leave this perilous place, I believe we must work together, five fingers clenched into a fist, not fighting separately." Suddenly, Charon changed his tone.

"So before that, I must say this clearly, so no one holds resentment. Winnie, I hope we can put our past grievances behind us, and not let personal grudges affect our unity or cause internal conflict at a time like this." Charon spoke with an air of noble righteousness.

Winnie raised an eyebrow. This was exactly what he'd been worried about, but he never expected Charon to bring it up first.

Now, it makes him seem petty for not being the one to initiate reconciliation.

"That's exactly what I thought too, Senior Charon."

"Good. It seems we've reached a temporary agreement." Charon nodded.

Fanya and Amisa exchanged glances between Winnie and Charon. Anyone could see there was bad blood between them, deep resentment that couldn't be summed up in just a few words.

But Charon was right, for now, unity was most important. No one wanted to dwell on this topic and make things worse.

"Amisa, don't be afraid. We'll definitely get out of here." Fanya firmly gripped Amisa's hand. "Now we're four people. And with Senior Charon here, we'll definitely overcome this danger."

"..." Amisa remained silent, only quietly glancing in Charon's direction before saying nothing.

The four continued toward the ruined altar. Along the way, they faced numerous monster attacks, the flower-bud creatures were the most common, followed by vine rhinos, and then strange seed-headed things that burst out from the ground and exploded on contact. Winnie had lost count of how many he'd eliminated.

But as time passed, Winnie realized the importance of alchemical potions that restored magic essence. Although they couldn't fully refill his magic reserves, each sip accelerated his recovery. If he'd been drinking them continuously during combat, he'd likely have regained enough magic for at least one [Ice Chain] spell by now. Higher-grade potions would've been even more effective.

After a prolonged fight, Fanya and Amisa had completely exhausted their magic. They'd spent this stretch bringing up the rear, barely helping Fanya protect Amisa, slashing at weakened monsters that Winnie and Charon had already damaged.

Even so, she was barely managing. As enemies grew stronger and accelerated, physical attacks were increasingly ineffective.

For the most part, it was Winnie and Charon doing the heavy lifting.

Winnie realized how much he missed his [Frostfang], having never fought such prolonged, intense battles before. Endurance was crucial now.

Without [Frostfang], he could only rely on magic to deal with every monster, unable to conserve mana. His mana reserves were rapidly depleting, even as a Warlock, he was starting to feel the strain.

He couldn't exactly just coat himself in [Armour Fortress] and punch things, could he?

The overwhelming power of [Roar of the Frozen Earth] allows for level-transcending effects, but the cost was equally great. Losing [Frostfang] for so long had severely weakened him, especially since he was used to casually unleashing techniques like [Frost Moon Slash].

After battling their way through, they finally caught sight of the ruined altar.

Approaching cautiously, they noticed something strange, while monsters had swarmed the forest, the altar itself was completely devoid of them.

At the center of the crumbling altar, they found a finely crafted dark-gold dagger with a serpentine blade embedded in a white tile engraved with intricate patterns.

After thoroughly searching the area and confirming no monsters were lying in wait, the group approached the center.

They didn't step onto the tiles. Charon stopped them, casually tossing a pebble toward the tile. It rolled smoothly into the space without incident, so Charon cautiously stepped forward.

"There's nothing unusual around here, no hidden switches. If I had to point to something that looks like a switch..." Charon eyed the dark-gold serpent dagger embedded in the tile's groove.

"...It'd be this."

Winnie and the two girls moved closer. Winnie crouched down to examine the finely made dagger in detail.

He exchanged glances with Fanya and Amisa behind him.

"Stand back. Let me see if I can pull this dagger out," Winnie said, worried it might trigger a trap.

Hearing this, Charon stepped back a few paces. But Amisa and Fanya didn't move.

"What's wrong? Is there something else?" Winnie asked, confused.

"Let's stay here," Fanya said. "That way, if pulling out the dagger causes something strange, we'll be able to help."

"Help? We'd just all be in trouble together. Step back. I'll handle it alone." Winnie rolled his eyes.

Fanya and Amisa reluctantly obeyed, retreating.

None of them noted Charon watching the scene, his expression shifting shifting, his brows briefly furrowing before quickly relaxing.

Winnie remained alert, grasping the dagger's hilt and giving it a slight tug. He felt some resistance, but not much.

He pulled harder, and smoothly extracted the serpent dagger.

Instantly, everyone tensed, scanning the surroundings for traps. Moments passed. Nothing happened.

After a brief hesitation, they regrouped. It was then that the tiles on the altar's floor flipped open, releasing streams of green gas.

"Damn! Cover your mouths and noses!" Charon shouted.

Not that he needed to, everyone had already instinctively covered their faces and started running the moment they saw the toxic gas.

Winnie instinctively dropped the serpent dagger and dashed out, hand over his mouth. Amid the frantic steps, they suddenly heard Charon's shout.

"You! Winnie! What are you doing?!"

"?" A giant question mark floated above Winnie's head as he ran.

What the hell was that?

What did he mean, "What are you doing"? What was Charon going off about now?

Winnie had no idea what had gotten into him this time.

Soon, all four had escaped from the altar.

"What happened? What's wrong with Senior Charon?" Fanya asked, bewildered.

Amisa hesitated slightly, then pointed in a certain direction.

Fanya turned, and saw Charon crouched there, one hand braced on his sword, his face contorted in pain.

Stuck in his back was a dagger, the very same golden-handled serpent dagger Winnie had pulled from the altar.

"Senior Charon? What happened?!" Fanya and Amisa rushed over to check on him.

"Careful! This dagger, It's poisoned!" Charon gritted through the pain.

"What exactly happened?!" Fanya still didn't understand. One moment the dagger was in Winnie's hand, the next it was buried in Charon's back?

"Winnie... that Winnie... took advantage of the smoke..." Charon didn't finish, but Fanya and Amisa understood what he was implying.

"What happened? What are you shouting about?" At that moment, Winnie emerged from the green toxic fog, still covering his mouth, looking at the trio with utter confusion.

"Winnie! You actually attacked me at that moment! Were you trying to kill me?!" Charon growled through clenched teeth. "I thought you'd changed. But your heart is still as wicked as ever!"

"???" Winnie's face was covered in question marks. "Wait, what are you even talking about?"

"Still pretending? Your acting is truly impressive," Charon sneezed coldly.

"Acting? What are you talking about?!" Only now did Winnie notice the serpent dagger embedded in Charon's back, and the alleged stares of Fanya and Amisa. He finally understood.

"How did you get stabbed by this dagger?" Winnie asked, truly puzzled.

"Hmph. How did I get stabbings? Don't you know better than I did?" Charon shot back icily. "Who was holding this dagger just now?"

"But I threw it away when I was escaping!" Winnie frowned.

"Threw it away? Did you? Do you expect me to believe I picked it up myself and stabbed it into my own back? What a ridiculous lie. Do you really think that's possible?" Charon snaps.

"But you can't just claim it was me!" Winnie stepped forward. "Be reasonable, why would I do something like this right now?"

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?!" Charon glared.

"Wait, there are way too many flaws in your logic. If I wanted to attack you, would I really use a dagger that was already in my hands, knowing full well it would make me the prime suspect?" Winnie said, exasperated. "Why would I use it? Are you serious?"

"Never mind that, Are you alright?"

"Don't pretend to care! You know perfectly well how I am!" Charon clenched his fist. "Thankfully I wore chainmail under my uniform. This dagger only grazed me. If I hadn't been wearing it, someone might have succeeded!"

"Look, how do I even explain this? If I really wanted to hurt you, why would I use some random, untested dagger with unknown lethality?" Winnie said, baffled. "I wouldn't even know if stabbing you would kill you. Why would I do that? Am I insane?"

"So are you saying I stabbed myself?!" Charon shot back.

"Senior Charon, yes, I was holding the dagger earlier. But I didn't stab you. I'm not like certain people who always use gloves to do their dirty work."