Actually, the reason Baron Batchelor had been poisoned was simple.
When Dekan had first entered the Cooking Classroom, he had secretly slipped three [Venomous Ground Spikes] into the Demon Student's pocket.
And they were the latest version, which Dekan had continually improved.
[Venomous Ground Spikes 2.4] [Category: Spell Card] [Rarity: Blue Precious] [Rank: 2] [Effect: Inflicts continuous severe poison and bleeding. This spell can be triggered remotely.] [Note: Current version 2.4. Fixed the bug where the poison could be dispelled by second-rank Purification magic.—Researcher's diary]
When Dekan heard Baron Batchelor's opening line, "I sincerely invite you all to attend my dinner party,"
he had guessed that the loser of this game would probably become Baron Batchelor's dinner.
After all, it was Baron Batchelor's dinner party.
What did Batchel want to eat?
Obviously, the three little demons he saw through his eyes, which brimmed with a desire to kill.
If that was the case, as long as Baron Batchelor ate the Demon Student, there was a very good chance the Venomous Ground Spikes would make it safely into his stomach.
Using [Venomous Ground Spikes] to hunt large magical beasts was a fishing-for-lawbreakers trick Dekan had regularly used ever since he was in the Kulan Border Territory.
First, he caught small animals that magical beasts liked to eat.
Then he placed [Venomous Ground Spikes] inside the small animals.
After that, he drove them toward the area where the large magical beasts lived.
Once he confirmed that a large magical beast had caught and eaten a small animal, he summoned the Ruined Poet from hiding and triggered the Venomous Ground Spikes.
As long as Dekan kept supplying mana, the Venomous Ground Spikes wouldn't disappear.
Most importantly, Dekan had softened the Venomous Ground Spikes card, strengthened its flexibility, and coated it with a specially made acid-resistant coating.
As long as the Prey swallowed the card, Dekan could keep triggering the Venomous Ground Spikes inside its stomach.
He could kill the Prey without drawing blood.
The only downside was that retrieving the card was a little troublesome. He probably wouldn't be able to get these three back from Batchel's stomach.
But that wasn't a big deal. It was time to develop a new version.
"Cornelia, help me tie him up."
Dekan gave the order.
Cornelia nodded, put away her hammer, and took out another card Dekan had given her.
[Steel Wire Rope] [Category: Equipment Card] [Rarity: White Common] [Rank: 1] [Effect: None] [Note: Can also be used as a weapon.]
Dekan had brought its mechanical properties and geometric structure to their limits. Steel wires had been twisted together in a spiral according to a set pattern, then combined with a rope core and lubricating grease.
Although it was a rank-one common card, once the Steel Wire Rope had bound someone securely, even a fourth-rank warrior couldn't snap it with brute force.
In just a few quick movements, Cornelia tightly bound the spasming, agonized Baron Batchelor. Then she planted a foot on his back again to keep him from moving around.
"All done."
"Thanks for your hard work."
Dekan slowly raised his right hand. The Ruined Poet turned into a streak of light and gathered at his fingertips, transforming back into a card.
Batchel immediately felt as though he had been reborn.
The pain corroding him diminished drastically in an instant, as if the curse had been lifted.
It took a long while for his consciousness to fully return.
Though he was still tormented by pain, compared to before, even the air he breathed now seemed sweet.
"Are you ready to talk to me now?"
Dekan leaned forward slightly and looked down at Baron Batchelor.
"Die!"
There was only one thought in Baron Batchelor's mind.
That was: Get rid of this guy, quickly.
He was the source of all evil!
Baron Batchelor's eyes shone with bloodlust. He put all his strength into trying to break free of the ropes, which didn't look all that thick, but found them astonishingly sturdy.
He couldn't feel any magic attached to the ropes! How could they be impossible to break?!
After failing to break free, Baron Batchelor suddenly stretched his neck out again, trying to swallow Dekan.
But before he could turn back to his original form, Cornelia slammed her hammer down on him, smashing his head into the ground so hard that the floor caved in, leaving a small crater.
"Ah!!!"
Baron Batchelor howled.
Being hit by that hammer hurt a lot, too!
The damage itself wasn't particularly deadly, but the pain was excruciating!
Baron Batchelor was already extremely weak. He couldn't withstand Cornelia's brute-force attacks at all.
"Ah, it looks like I'll have to give you a memory you won't forget."
Dekan sighed and tossed out a card, summoning the Ruined Poet.
"This darkness, where hope is lost and redemption impossible, for this darkness is myself..."
At the sound of that chant, which made Baron Batchelor's scalp tingle, his brief respite ended in an instant.
He once again fell into a state of extreme agony. The pain within him surged, and his body and mind were relentlessly battered...
"Ugh, glugluglug..."
Baron Batchelor's face turned deathly pale. His mouth hung open as unintelligible sounds escaped him uncontrollably.
At last, he realized that the summon surrounded by black mist was the source of his pain.
"Cornelia, don't hit him too hard. Just tap him on the shoulder blade."
Cornelia once again raised the mallet in her hand.
[Terror Warhammer] [Category: Equipment Card] [Rarity: Blue Precious] [Rank: 2] [Attack Bonus: 200] [Effect: When struck by this weapon, the target feels twice the pain.] [Note: "Here's Cornelia!"]
This was a custom warhammer Dekan had made for Cornelia, designed to work perfectly with his system.
Dekan still couldn't make a sword sturdy enough to withstand Cornelia's strength.
So for now, he had forged her a blunt weapon.
Compared to a sword, a blunt weapon was less likely to break.
This mallet was much larger than an ordinary tool hammer, and its handle was about as long as the blade of the sword Cornelia had used before.
As a result, Cornelia found it surprisingly easy to swing.
The Ruined Poet hadn't been present when Baron Batchelor was hit by the Terror Warhammer earlier, so he had only felt twice the pain.
Now that the Ruined Poet was here, if Cornelia hit him with the hammer,
Baron Batchelor would feel pain twenty times worse than anything he had ever experienced.
Cornelia seemed to be trying hard to control her strength.
Then she tapped Baron Batchelor on the shoulder, as if cracking a walnut.
"Ahhhhh!!!"
An incomparably miserable scream rang through the Cooking Classroom.
"How was that?"
Dekan asked.
Baron Batchelor seemed unable to speak. He writhed and spasmed wildly on the floor.
Dekan: "Baron Batchelor, do you know what it feels like to pass out from the pain, then wake up in pain?"
Baron Batchelor: "Ah, glugluglug..."
Dekan: "Cornelia, once he's a little more lucid, start with his right hand. Then his left hand, and then his left foot."
Cornelia: "What about his right foot?"
Dekan: "Leave that one for him. I want his need for symmetry to suffer."
Cornelia nodded.
She didn't have a compulsion for symmetry herself, but Baron Batchelor, who was so particular about elegance, might have a severe one.
After all, he had arranged everything in the Cooking Classroom perfectly, and he was also very particular about the position of his tie.
Before you continue