Chapter 47 – The Lord of the Forest (3)

“I will praise you for coming all the way here without being afraid. You saved me the trouble of searching for you.”

Wearing a sneer, the woman slightly unfolded her crossed arms. As the robe’s sleeves slid down, her slender wrists were revealed. Perhaps because of that, the monstrosity held in the woman’s hand was even more prominent.

It was a sinister staff carved from human bone with a purple gem embedded in its forehead. ‘It looks quite valuable.’ While Belloc was having such thoughts, the woman opened her mouth once again.

“The paladin and the elf bitch will make perfect ghoul food, and the heavy fighter and the mage are just right for experimental materials.”

Kuaaaa!

As if responding to the woman’s words, the surrounding undead shrieked. Ghouls with torn flesh around their mouths clattered their gums. The three Dullahans also exhaled blue ghost fire and spewed curses from the heads tucked under their arms.

The highlight among them was the Black Knight standing imposing to the side of the woman. Clad entirely in black iron armor and holding a giant warhammer, he consistently exuded a ferocious momentum.

Seeing this, Kara furrowed her brow. A monster said to be capable of easily decimating an entire territory on his own was standing right before them.

“A Death Knight… I know that the last time one showed its face was during the Hundred Years’ War. To see this here, it’s driving me crazy.”

The woman’s smile grew even deeper. She reached out her hand and caressed the Death Knight standing in front of her.

“You. You red-headed country girl. Seeing that you know about this, you are not completely clueless. Yes, this guy is my greatest masterpiece. I captured knights who were quite famous in these parts, and through experiment after experiment…”

Sshwooo!

The woman’s words were cut off by a suddenly flying arrow. Isabel had shot it. However, even that was easily blocked when the Death Knight merely flicked his hand. The group widened their eyes as they saw the arrow shaft trembling, caught between his gauntlets.

“Catching an arrow with bare hands…? I had expected it, but it’s terrifying.”

As Kara let out a frustrated voice, the woman flicked her finger.

“Tsk. Being that slow, you cannot make a single scratch on my body. Didn’t you hear from your kin who were in the forest? Ah, are they all dead already?”

“You witch!”

While the woman cackled and the enraged Isabel tried to shoot another arrow, Belloc stepped forward. In his hand, he held Tollio’s head. The woman’s eyes sparkled with interest.

“Tollio. You were alive. Nice to see you. My faithful servant.”

“M-Master.”

The Dullahan’s head rolled his eyes here and there, gauging the reactions of both the knight and the woman at the same time.

‘Is this guy seriously… debating whose side to take right now? He has good intuition.’

Chuckling, Belloc rolled the head in his hand, playing with it as if it were a toy. It fit snugly in his palm, feeling just like a steel ball. It was obvious how he should use it. The woman spoke.

“Young knight. Won’t you return Tollio to me? If you do, I will reward you.”

“What will you give me?”

At the knight’s dry reply, the woman’s lips narrowed.

“I will kill you without any pain especially. And I will turn you into a decent undead. What do you think?”

The woman’s voice was full of playfulness. Without even considering the other’s acceptance, it was merely wordplay to display the leisure of the strong.

“That sounds rather appealing.”

However, at Belloc’s subsequent reply, the woman burst into a small laugh. Was he crazy?

“Fufufu. Unlike those bitches, you are quite easy to talk to. So, will you return my property then?”

“Catch it well.”

Belloc’s hand blurred. Huh? The woman was shattered into pieces with her smiling face intact.

The Dullahan’s head had flown like a flash and crushed her skull.

Because the speed was so fast, all the people in the stone chamber saw was the figure of the woman tilting and falling over without a head.

For a moment, silence enveloped the stone chamber. Even the Death Knight, who had caught the elf archer’s arrow, turned his head late. The red light inside his helmet shook violently. He seemed flustered.

Isabel stammered and asked.

“Is s-she dead? Just like that?”

Belloc shook his head. He had not received any experience points. ‘It seems this bitch has something hidden as well.’ Just as he was about to speak, the woman’s corpse lying on the floor trembled and jumped to its feet. ‘An familiar development. These guys basically seem to have at least two lives.’ Clicking his tongue, Belloc gripped his sword.

[What a crazy knight! You. What the hell are you! I have never suffered such humiliation since receiving Lord Astaroth’s power.]

Dripping blood from her missing head, the woman pointed at Belloc. To call it a grotesque sight, the surrounding corpses looked even more gruesome. Belloc did not bother to answer. He merely measured the width of the stone chamber, tapped his greatsword, and ran forward.

“Be careful not to get caught up in this.”

“I will assist you!”

Adel also rushed behind Belloc, emitting flames from her body. Responding to this, the three Dullahans and the Death Knight also pounced on the two.

Keeping her creations at the forefront while observing the situation, the headless woman raised her staff. The skull attached to the top opened its mouth wide, and the light emanating from the gem on its forehead grew even clearer.

[You will not even be able to die in peace. I will toy with your very souls and torture you.]

Ignoring the gloomy words echoing in her head, Kara threw the ice spear in her hand.

The woman lightly waved her hand. At that, a few ghouls quickly leaped up and blocked Kara’s spell with their rotting bodies.

Aiming for an opening, Isabel shot an arrow. However, the woman covered it by using her own body as a shield. In the end, a buttonhole was added to the blood-splattered hem of her robe, and the spell the woman was crafting was completed.

Clicking her tongue, Isabel drew her sword instead of her bow and entered the battlefield. It was due to the calculation that assisting even one of the two engaged in a two-on-one fight would make the battle much easier.

“Everyone watch out! It is the enemy’s spell!”

Just as Kara, with a frustrated face, shouted. The woman lifted her staff high. A sinister light enveloped both the living and the dead.

Facing both the Death Knight and the Dullahan at the same time, Belloc frowned as his body suddenly became heavy. ‘Is it a curse?’ His thoughts could not continue.

This was because the Dullahan’s axe swung from the left while the Death Knight’s hammer swung from the right. Flying in simultaneously in perfect timing, it was an exquisite attack that seemed to have been well-practiced.

Blocking or parrying one would immediately lead to being turned into mincemeat by the other’s attack. Of course, to Belloc, who was not an ordinary warrior, this did not matter.

He concentrated his senses. Instantly, the world slowed down, and the weapons they swung also stuttered as if caught on something. For Belloc, that single tiny gap was enough.

Even if his physical abilities were degraded by the curse, his body remained robust. The greatsword held in his hand was as long as a spear and as thick as a fortress wall.

Lowering his waist slightly and bracing his calves and thighs firmly, Belloc spun around once. Gaining centrifugal force, his greatsword swung wildly, repelling the hammer and even parrying the Dullahan’s axe.

Clang!

Inside the stone chamber, which was filled with sizzling noises and clashing weapons, a beautiful melody rang out. In the eyes of Kara, who was engaging in a spell duel with the woman in the back, the two weapons were deflected simultaneously in the blink of an eye, making them stagger back.

Kuoooo!

Befitting his grand reputation, the Death Knight did not panic. He merely spun his body using the force of the deflected hammer as an axis. Then, he struck down once more.

Belloc blocked by bracing his greatsword like a shield. A boom metallic sound echoed, and a brief struggle of strength ensued. Immediately after, Belloc shoved the guy’s hammer away by slamming his knee against the greatsword and rolled on the ground.

Above his head, the axe swung with a tearing sound. His ears rang, and his heart throbbed due to the heat of the battle.

Belloc did not care. Placing one hand on the ground, he quickly stood up and raised his greatsword like a dagger. It was a giant spear meant to block the opponent’s approach. However, the Death Knight avoided it by tilting his upper body. Then, he swung his hammer. Not only that, but the Dullahan was also charging from behind with his axe.

Even without seeing them, Belloc could feel all of this in detail through his transcendent senses.

The sound of their footsteps grew louder. Their hostility toward the living was also soaring to the heavens. The red light of the Death Knight drew an arc. It was due to the expectation that he would soon be able to crush the body of the human knight.

At that moment, the Death Knight’s right shoulder was severed.

“…?”

A body that had suddenly grown lighter and an off-balance posture. The warhammer rolling on the ground. Only then did the guy realize that his shoulder had been cut.

The flustered Death Knight turned his gaze. However, by then, Belloc’s shoulder guard was already flying forward.

Baaaang!

His armor miserably crushed, the guy rolled on the ground. Confirming that the opponent had fallen, Belloc turned around with a short breath.

He saw the axe that had flown right in front of his nose. However, his sword was faster. Leaving only a blurred afterimage, the greatsword turned into a line, slicing the axe and even its owner. The Dullahan, whose body was sliced to pieces, collapsed with a thud.

The burning blue flames extinguished with a sizzle, and the head rolling in the corner shifted its eyes. ‘I’ll deal with that later.’ Just as Belloc rested the sword on his shoulder and moved his steps, the Death Knight, left with only one arm, charged while letting out a bizarre noise that was neither a scream nor a shout.

The greatsword flashed. His body split diagonally, and the red light emanating from the helmet blinked out. Belloc turned his gaze. Her once neat leather armor torn here and there, and her hair disheveled, Isabel was frantically rolling on the floor.

Right before her head could be split by the axe, Belloc’s greatsword cleaved the guy’s head.

Letting out a sigh, she reached out her hand. The knight’s steel gauntlet pulled the elf up. The two turned their gaze. Right on time, the paladin of Helena turned another undead knight into ashes.

Spitting on the ground, the paladin approached and bowed her head. The three turned their gaze. The woman who was engaging in a spell duel with Kara was staring at them with a dumbfounded face. Since she had no neck, they could not be certain, but in Belloc’s eyes, that was how it seemed.

[This makes no sense… The curse of weakening must have wrapped around your body? Yet you defeated the Death Knight in that state? What on earth are you…]

Guys who lived in self-conceit immediately fell into panic when their plans fell through. It was a familiar reaction by now. ‘Yeah, all the guys who died by my hands were like that.’ Belloc smirked.

“Is this really the end?”

[What… did you say?]

“Compared to the demons I have faced so far, this is not even that difficult. You are just playing with dolls while hiding behind corpses.”

Belloc moved his steps toward the woman. The greatsword held in his hand scraped the floor with a rumble, creating a chilling noise.

Intimidated by that hideous momentum, the woman who was a member of the witches’ coven, the Scola, and who had stained this land with fear, stepped back slightly. Flora looked down at her index finger.

A ring set with a black gem emitting an ominous light came into view. It was also the artifact given by the archdemon, which had been used to destroy the barrier of this forest. Using this was a great burden even for her, but this was no time to be picky. She had to survive.

[In the name of that…]

The moment she thrust forward her hand wearing the ring and tried to speak.

“Not so fast.”

The greatsword thrown by Belloc cleaved the woman’s torso. Blood spurted violently, and the floor boomed. The woman’s outstretched wrist slumped down like a doll with its strings cut.

“It is over.”

Moving his steps, Belloc pulled out the greatsword lodged in the woman’s corpse with a tug. Experience points came in. It meant that the witch was completely dead. If so, it was now time to achieve the goal of their journey.

Staring for a moment at the blood-soaked woman and what the knight had done, Kara brushed up her hair and muttered.

“A merciless warrior has arrived.”

“It is only right to block despicable tricks in advance. As expected of you, Lord Belloc.”

Sheathing her sword and slinging the shield on her back, Adel laughed and clapped her hands.

“Good job, everyone.”

Tapping Adel on the shoulder, Belloc looked around. A door came into view behind the dead witch. He recalled his past memories. Although faint, it seemed that the alteration stone had been in the room behind that door.

Belloc stroked his chin. The greatsword he was currently using was also no ordinary item. Although he had gone through numerous battles, it did not have a single nick. Furthermore, it had even cut a spirit-type demon. If he could enchant such a greatsword and turn it into a rune sword? He could not even guess how strong it would become.

Belloc smiled contentedly. He was quite looking forward to growing stronger in a way other than leveling up for the first time in a while. ‘Right, fantasy is all about magic gear after all.’

“I think the items we are targeting might be inside there.”

“Wait!”