The Tale of Hero Alice’s Social Death

Chapter 407: Using the Enemy's Strengths

Fugallo had naturally tried to cancel the taboo. However, now that the taboo was no longer under his control, he found that not only did he no longer have a connection with the taboo, but he couldn't even cancel it.

"What is this magic?!"

Fugallo was frightened. Although he was a Demon King with plenty of combat experience, he had never encountered such a situation. Not only did Alice steal control over his taboo simply by grabbing it, but he couldn't even cancel it. Moreover, even though the taboo was clearly under Alice's control now, it was still draining his mana to sustain itself. How was this even fair?!

Because of this sudden turn of events, even though Fugallo was supposed to have the upper hand now that Alice's left arm was severely injured, Fugallo still couldn't help but go on the defensive. Whatever Alice just did was incredibly strange, so he had to guard against it.

After all, on the off chance this budding Hero could steal all taboos, how was he even supposed to win against her? Alice wouldn't even need to attack him. All she needed to do was take control of a few of his taboos, let them drain his mana, and he'd be rendered powerless in no time.

Although Alice noticed Fugallo's panicked reaction, she didn't grow complacent. Taking advantage of Fugallo's confusion, she immediately went on the offensive.

Fugallo was an experienced Demon King. Her right hand's ability might have caught him off-guard, but he should be able to quickly figure out her right hand's secrets, particularly its limitations. After all, if her right hand could steal control of all spells, she would have done something about the hypnosis taboo hypnotizing the magicians in the living room rather than just forcibly waking up one magician.

"Have a taste of your own taboo!"

Alice didn't dare to let go of the Feathers of Silver at this time. After all, Fugallo would immediately regain control of the Feathers of Silver if she did so. He would also realize what she was relying on to control his taboo.

Hence, Alice could only attack Fugallo with the Feathers of Silver right now. Fortunately, even though she couldn't afford to have the taboo separate from her body like Fugallo did, she could use it like a whip due to its extraordinary elasticity. Immediately, holding one end of the silver whip, she sent the other end lashing out at Fugallo.

Fugallo naturally didn't dare to defend against the whip. He knew about the Feathers of Silver's abilities. Now that he no longer had control of the Feathers of Silver, if he let the mercury-like substance wrap around his body as he did before, he'd be reduced into a pile of bones in the blink of an eye.

Hence, as soon as Alice attacked him using the whip made of Feathers of Silver, Fugallo relied on his speed and agility to evade the weapon.

Although the Feathers of Silver gave Alice a significant stat boost, the bonuses the taboo gave her were much worse than the Hero's Sword's bonuses. So, Alice didn't have any statistical advantage right now. On the contrary, she was even weaker than Fugallo stat-wise. Hence, even after swinging the whip with all her might for several minutes, she failed to land a single hit on Fugallo.

It seems I can't just rely on the Feathers of Silver.

Alice frowned. If this situation continued, Fugallo would soon realize something was wrong with her right hand. After all, she showed no signs of loosening her grip over the Feathers of Silver. Honestly, if Fugallo wasn't so focused on evading and trying to launch counterattacks, he would have already realized her strange behavior and linked it to her right hand.

However, despite how suspicious her behavior might seem, Alice still didn't dare to let go of the Feathers of Silver. Once Fugallo learned about her right hand's secrets, he would most likely focus his attacks on her right hand. And should he successfully cause heavy damage to her right hand, she didn't know what would happen. Would it lose its ability? Or would it release something strange like Kamijou Touma's Imagine Breaker?

Although curious, Alice didn't wish to test this theory. So, Alice needed to start trying to use other taboos to assist her in battle.

While attacking Fugallo with the whip in her right hand, Alice swung her left hand in Fugallo's direction. At the same time, the phantom of a dragon gradually expanded from Alice's left hand, eventually becoming a full-sized white dragon that hovered above Alice. After materializing, the dragon promptly attacked Fugallo with its maw.

Dragon's Shadow? So she can use other taboos at the same time?

Fugallo felt incredibly aggrieved when he saw Alice using Dragon's Shadow. After dodging Alice's attacks for several minutes, he naturally noticed that Alice was attacking him using nothing but the whip made of the Feathers of Silver. When he realized this, his first thought was to assume that Alice couldn't use other taboos when controlling other people's taboos. Yet, just as he was getting ready to capitalize on this flaw, Alice had summoned a dragon using Dragon's Shadow

The white dragon's massive body blotted out the sky as it lunged at Fugallo. Fugallo knew he couldn't get out of the dragon's way in time, so he gritted his teeth and decided to take the risk of using another taboo. Immediately, powerful winds spread from his body and kept the white dragon from getting near him.

Although Fugallo's physique was stronger than the dragon's, he wasn't so foolish as to trade blows with the dragon. After all, once he let the dragon pin him down, he was certain the Feathers of Silver would strike him.

However, as Fugallo stopped moving during the brief moment he had cast his taboo, the whip made of Feathers of Silver still smashed into his body. Although Fugallo had already surrounded himself with powerful winds, these winds were made of mana. Moreover, similar to Alice's Burning Star, the concentration of mana in these winds wasn't very high due to how large of an area they covered.

So, the Feathers of Silver effortlessly ate its way through the wind barrier without losing any speed and landed on Fugallo, leaving behind a huge wound on the side of his body.

Like the wound on Alice's left arm, Fugallo's wound was deep enough to expose bone.