1-Second Invincible Player in the Game

8. The False Immortal (2)

“Have you heard? The butler over there failed too.”

The candle flame flickered.

A few servants whispered in the dimly lit lounge.

They had gathered to discuss why their methods hadn’t worked, talking about the failed assassination.

The ones who had dropped the chandelier were the first to express their doubts.

“Could it have missed?”

“That’s right. There’s no other explanation.”

“Indeed? Lucky b*stard.”

The animal trainer interjected with a disgusted look.

“Really now? To say it was just luck seems a bit off.”

“Why? Do you have a clue?”

“Maybe there’s something we don’t know. He took a horse’s kick straight to the chest and didn’t flinch.”

“Ah, I thought so. It wasn’t a young donkey, was it?”

The maid’s laughter, mistaking it for a joke, was met with a frustrated frown from the trainer.

“Good grief, it was a warhorse, you know? And that’s not all. It wasn’t Hershel’s ribs that broke, but the horse’s leg. If you can’t believe it, come to the stable. I’ll show you myself.”

The listeners’ eyes widened.

It was an unbelievable story, but his serious expression strangely seemed filled with conviction.

“Maybe he was hit by the chandelier… or it seems like he was. Could he have used some trick?”

“Like he hid a thick steel plate inside his clothes?”

“Would that be enough? Even armored, he would have been crushed.”

“Right. A warhorse’s kick can’t be stopped by mere armor. There must be something else.”

They would never discover what that something was.

The only plausible thought was that Hershel was a knight of such caliber that he transcended humanity.

Such speculation was the most natural line of thought.

It was absurd.

The butler shook his head.

To think that he was strong just because he was respected by all and carried the bloodline of Aol was baseless.

Hershel, who had done nothing but drink and laze around instead of training.

In fact, he had such an unimpressive physique that he seemed like he could be easily knocked down by any soldier.

“And that’s not all. There’s something strange going on. Lately, that swine has been doing things he never used to do. Haven’t you all felt the same?”

Everyone nodded in agreement at the butler’s words.

“Right. Even if the prohibition is revived, humans who binge drink won’t suddenly stop drinking…”

“There were no incidents of throwing dishes either.”

“It might be out of courtesy, but thank you notes did spring from that guy’s mouth.”

Even among the nobility, there were many who adhered to the basics.

They drank in moderation, and unless it was something terribly wrong, they didn’t smash dishes or furniture.

And expressing gratitude to the servants, even to those below them, was quite common.

But the fact that Hershel had followed these ‘basics’ was something that couldn’t be overlooked.

“Perhaps, he’s had a change of heart?”

As the maid voiced her thoughts, the cheeks of those listening puffed out with a ‘pfft’ sound.

“No way, right?”

“Must’ve eaten something wrong. Or maybe he’s trying to make a good impression before he dies.”

“That must be it, right?”

“Enough with the nonsense. So, who’s going to try next?”

After a few more exchanges, the lounge was left empty.

As silence fell, the door of the lower shelf was cautiously opened.

The one who opened the door was Selly, who had forced her small body into a bend to barely fit inside.

“Ah, my back…”

There was a sad story behind hiding in the shelf.

Hershel was aware of the poison. As he said, the safest food was only what the servants could also eat.

Selly had come to get it, but when the servants suddenly burst in, she ended up in this state.

“But really, did he do that?”

Selly, who had been marked by the mistress and cut off from communicating with others, hadn’t even heard the rumors.

The conversation she had inadvertently overheard made her head spin.

The sight of Hershel walking unscathed through the mansion in the midst of life-threatening danger made her wonder.

The words he had once boasted about might not have been delusions of grandeur after all.

“I am the reincarnation of the arrogant immortal.”

The words they had just bantered about might have been a misunderstanding,

But hadn’t she seen it herself? Hershel, who had fallen from a sheer cliff, returning alive and well.

The story of ‘immortal’ that Hershel claimed seemed to be gaining a bit of credibility.

Wandering the mansion to survive assassination attempts had left me exhausted.

The layers of fatigue piled up, and I succumbed to sleep in an instant.

But soon, I had to open my eyes.

[Physical attack detected.]

[1-second invincibility trait activated.]

[1-second invincibility cooldown: 59 seconds]

What’s this?

I hurriedly lit a candle. Leaping out of bed, I threw off the covers.

I couldn’t believe my eyes.

Two spiders, each the size of an adult male’s palm, were crawling around.

Their ominous purple color was a clear sign of venom.

“Insane…”

One seemed to have broken its fangs from a previous bite, its appearance incomplete. The other, unable to hide its aggressive instincts, kept advancing towards me.

A chill ran down my spine, and cold sweat followed.

The original me would have been terrified of spiders, almost to the point of a phobia.

So much so that during overtime, when a tiny spider climbed onto my shoulder, I whined like a scared puppy to a female colleague to get it off – a dark history indeed.

Stay calm.

There’s no Miran here to catch cockroaches barehanded.

Looking around for a potential weapon, I spotted a gleaming metal.

I quickly snatched the bell from the desk and rang it with all my might.

Then, I swiftly hid myself in the wardrobe.

The spiders were huge, almost exaggeratedly crab-like, but they wouldn’t fit through the cracks, right?

Just in case, I took off my pajama top and stuffed it into the gaps.

After a short while, I heard the sound of angry footsteps. The sound of the door opening was nothing but rough.

“Why on earth are you ringing the bell in the middle of the night?”

The sharp, high-pitched voice, devoid of manners and filled with irritation, rang in my ears, but I wasn’t angry.

Miran would soon come to put an end to this situation.

“What, what’s going on. Where are you?”

“Over here.”

I swiftly opened the door just a crack to reveal myself.

Hiding in a closet, even I had to admit it was a pathetic sight.

The ‘noble embers of blood’ refused to acknowledge their disgrace, whether out of pride or awareness of others’ gazes, but regardless of my will, they began to flare up.

“There are two bugs in this room. It’s only right that you, the lower one, should deal with them.”

The voice was unnecessarily dignified and baritone, making it feel all the more idiotic.

Sure enough, hiding inside and trying to look tough, my appearance must have seemed foolish to Selly, whose eyes were nothing but cold.

That crazy look, as if watching a madman, wasn’t new to me, and such things hardly mattered anymore.

“One on the floor. One on the bed.”

Sighing deeply, Selly watched the two spiders I pointed out and grabbed a pair of pens from the desk.

The fountain pen soon became a dagger, piercing through the spider’s body.

One stuck to the floor, and the other to the white bed, from which a viscous liquid began to ooze from the spider’s abdomen.

“The sheets were just washed…”

“It’s your fault. Clean it up and bring a new blanket.”

Selly’s fists trembled with rage.

It was enough to make anyone angry, the workload piling up in the middle of the night.

To an outsider, it might seem like a scene ready to explode into violence, but in a world where rank is everything, all I could do was glare daggers and mutter under my breath.

“Can’t even catch a spider, and you call yourself an immortal? Ridiculous.”

“I’m tired, so hurry up.”

“Ugh.”

While Selly went to fetch a new blanket, I was lost in thought, staring at the disgusting spider carcass.

“A venomous spider… What if it had bitten me?”

No, such a hypothesis was invalid. The venom itself was the damage.

Abandoning proper food, my curiosity, which I had suppressed, began to resurface.

What would happen if I came into contact with the poison, whether through ingestion or otherwise?

‘One-second invincibility’ is, to put it simply, the ability to nullify any threat for a single second.

Though unintended, it has been proven in practice that it can invalidate even single-strike attacks like a cliff fall or a sword strike.

Let’s think a step further.

How would it handle persistent, effective damage?

I pulled out a notebook filled with various assassination plans and began to read.

Poisonings were becoming alarmingly frequent. I had intended to avoid that route as much as possible, but it seemed the limit would soon be reached.

Consequently, I hadn’t had a proper meal in days. Surviving on crumbs of snacks was now painful enough to kill me with stress.

“How does one react to poison… Shall we find out?”

With resolve, I tore a sheet from the notebook on the shelf, recalling memories tucked away in a corner of my mind, and began to list the necessary items.

Time passed, and the paper was filled with characters like a cheat sheet. Now, all that remained was to procure the items listed here.

But the person who should receive the order was late.

I glared at the innocent clock and tapped my foot impatiently.

When will they arrive?

“Are they crafting a blanket or something?”

* * *

A woman bustled about in the kitchen.

The young master, who had been skipping meals, sensing something fishy, had ordered a special meal.

A steak dripping with oil was a given, along with a variety of her confident dishes.

But no wine.

The menu was labor-intensive. Yet, Mirei’s mood was slightly buoyant.

A pinch of powder between thumb and forefinger, ready to cast its spell.

A colorless, odorless powder poison. Tasteless as well.

Sprinkled lightly over the main dish, the steak, it induced a heart attack upon consumption.

Nobles dying of heart attacks wasn’t a rare occurrence.

It would easily be overlooked.

The hostess seemed to be on guard only against blatant murder, so there would be no problem.

Mirei meticulously completed the plating inspection, then closed the lid of the dish.

She wheeled the cart to Hursel’s room.

“Your meal is ready, young master.”

“Come in.”

After a brief greeting, Mirei placed the plate on the table without a hint of disturbance.

Hursel’s expression didn’t betray hunger, but his gaze, fixed on the meat, hinted at craving.

If only he knew what was in the meat.

“I feel a bit queasy… Perhaps it’s best to start with something refreshing rather than the meat.”

Hursel grasped the fork. The first dish he chose was the salad.

Next are the fried dishes and seafood.

Among the appetizers that filled the table, she didn’t touch the meat, the main dish.

As if she was avoiding it on purpose.

Mirei sneakily glanced at Hershel’s strange behavior. Their eyes met—his were blue.

‘Could it be… Did he notice?’

But as if to mock her thoughts, Hershel grasped the knife and sliced the steak as smoothly as cake.

Mirei wiped the cold sweat within.

As a suitable chunk of meat entered his mouth, her gaze fixed on Hershel’s throat.

“Hmm.”

He chewed thoughtfully, then seemed to clear his throat with a drink.

Mirei observed Hershel’s reaction closely, but strangely, he only seemed calm.

The same was true as time passed.

‘This can’t be right. Shouldn’t he be collapsing in pain from his stomach burning up by now…?’

The only odd thing was that he took about a minute break between bites, eating slowly.

In the end, only a bite-sized piece of steak remained.

“It melts in the mouth—excellent. How long does it take to make something like this?”

His sinister eye corners were chilling, but Mirei didn’t let her agitation show.

“…The aging period is 14 days. We’ve prepared plenty of extras, so you can have it anytime.”

“Delicious. Especially this tangy acidity—it’s superb. Did you add some secret seasoning?”

His meaningful statement made even Mirei’s shoulders flinch.

Hershel glanced sideways and deliberately put the last piece into his mouth.

[Poison detected. (Type: Tulip Poison)]

[1-second invincibility activated.]

‘1-second invincibility’

For 1 second, any threat is nullified.

To test the extent of ‘threat,’ Hershel, based on the knowledge gained from games, procured various weakly toxic plants.

He tested by consuming persistent and effective poisonous plants, but there was no problem.

Thus, he realized.

The trait ‘1-second invincibility’ also removes ongoing status abnormalities and damage—it’s true invincibility.

‘After all, there aren’t many games where invincibility is activated and dot damage or debuffs remain.’

Of course, it only nullifies damage that targets one’s own body, not continuous external damage like area-of-effect attacks, which it can only block for one second. It was a conclusion reached while burning fingers on a candle.

‘Just one second without the heat.’

Yet, even this was enough to change the upcoming situation significantly.

There were various tests lined up to confirm the utility of the one-second invincibility, but those were postponed for later.

For now, Hershel wanted to savor Mirei’s astonished face as long as possible.