The Talentless Wicked Prince Wants To Survive ~ The Only Way For Me, Reincarnated As The Punching Bag Third Prince In A Romance Smartphone RPG, To Live Is To Not Break Off My Engagement With The Duke’s Yandere Daughter Who’s Stronger Than The Heroine~ - Chapter 71: We beat the Mastermind to a pulp

Cardinal Lorenzo Salvatori was the event boss who appeared in Christia’s main scenario.

His true identity was that of a vampire with a dark attribute, specializing in skills befitting his race. Backed by top-tier event-boss-class SP, he wielded dark-attribute skills such as [Shadow Tail], [Doppelgänger], [Blind], and the [Ruthven Mist] he had just demonstrated.

However, he didn’t possess any powerful one-hit-kill type abilities. His main arsenal consisted of debuffs and self-buffs through altered states, which meant he wasn’t immediately dangerous. His fights tended to drag on though, which was troublesome in its own way.

“I figured you’d try to turn your body into mist and escape, so I asked Monica to seal off every gap in advance.”

“This Monica Ashton is pleased to report a job well done.”

Monica stepped forward and gave an exaggeratedly elegant bow, wearing a smugly triumphant expression. She really was good at provoking people.

“Of course, we took several other precautions as well. Which means… the only thing left for you now is despair.”

I glanced toward Christia, who was watching all this with delight.

“Fufu, what is it?”

“Nothing. Just wondering if you would prefer that we capture him alive? Or should we dispose of him here?”

“As you wish, Your Highness Harold.”

Good, permission granted.

Since he mostly relied on status-effect skills, it’d be a hassle to let him drag this out. Better to end it quickly.

“…Your Highness Harold, I must ask.”

“Hmm?”

“This morning, I asked you to bring the Saint here. So how could you have arranged all this preparation in such a short time? And how could you possibly know about a skill no one else should know of?”

“Do I need to answer that? Just disappear already.”

At my signal, Sandra, Monica, and Carla moved at once to finish him before he could use another skill.

“Damn it! [Blind]!”

“How naive. For an assassin, darkness is nothing more than a hunting ground.”

“What!?”

Lorenzo’s skill plunged the warehouse into total darkness, but for Monica, that meant nothing. Judging by the sound, she must have struck him right away.

“Damn it! It’s no good fighting blind!”

Lorenzo immediately dispelled [Blind]. Apparently, even he hadn’t realized that using it would make himself unable to see. What a useless skill.

Oh, but come to think of it, in Engage Hazard, whenever Lorenzo used [Blind], his own accuracy stat dropped. So that tracked.

“Then take this! [Doppelgänger]!”

Lorenzo tried to even the odds by creating shadow clones of himself.

“Fufu… are you stupid? There are three of us, you know?”

“What!?”

“Direct Drive!”

“Gwahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!”

“Ugh… ngh… to think that I would be beaten so one-sidedly…!”

“Of course. From the moment you approached us with your scheme, everything has already been within Haru-sama’s palm.”

“Guh… gah… h-hha…!”

Sandra pinned him down and thrust Balmung into his neck.

Just like that, the event boss who should have been formidable was utterly crushed, reduced to ash without a chance to fight back.

Rather pitiful, really.

“…Looks like we didn’t get to do anything.”

“Don’t say that.”

Standing guard with Shadow Shield Casparieg to protect Christia, we ended up merely watching.

“Your Highness Harold, thank you. Thanks to you, we’ve purged one of the Holy Kingdom’s parasites.”

“Think nothing of it.”

Christia bowed deeply in gratitude, and I waved it off as if it were nothing.

That’s right…

Ever since Lorenzo had first approached me with this proposal, I’d been working tirelessly to ruin his entire scenario.

I’d had Monica eliminate Lorenzo’s subordinates and prepare ways for us to use his own setup against him. I’d then secretly coordinated with Christia and Carla so that he wouldn’t catch on.

…Yeah, I’d worked hard for this.

Incidentally, it was actually Christia who had initiated contact with me, not the other way around. After that duel, she’d come to offer a formal apology discreetly, making sure no one found out.

Well, that was a story for another time. There was still work to do now.

“Since everything’s settled, we’ll be taking our leave.”

“Fufu. Of course, leave the rest to me.”

Leaving the giggling Christia behind, we exited the warehouse through the hidden passage.

Why?

Because I planned to let Wilfred and the others handle all the cleanup this time.