Chapter 263
Chapter 263
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 263
Chapter Title: Salvation (2)
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1.
When the two had slept for about four hours and risen at dawn,
they hurried straight to the branch manager's office at the sudden ring of a phone.
It was because Della had awakened.
Upon arriving at the branch manager's office, Della was sitting on the bed with a white cloth draped haphazardly over her.
Her entire body was wrapped in bandages, layer upon layer, and her expression was dazed, as if she were half-lost in a dream. The wounds covered so much of her that scarcely any skin was exposed.
"...Thank you for saving me."
Della expressed her gratitude the moment she sat up.
Her face still seemed unable to grasp the sudden reversal of reality.
No matter how resilient her spirit, being confined in pitch-black darkness underground, impaled on spears, was no easy ordeal.
While Sua Branch Manager disinfected and cleaned the needles she had used,
Eloa stepped forward before Della.
Eloa, who had rushed down without proper preparation, looked far from tidy.
Her outfit was the usual activewear—leggings and a sports bra, topped with a windbreaker.
Even her pink hair, which fell nearly to her hips, was tousled as if she'd just rolled out of bed.
Yet Tiphereth was Tiphereth.
The soft, fluffy side she'd shown Siu the night before was gone.
She exuded the solemn air of a finely honed blade, with sharply arched brows.
The subtle menace in her presence befitted her title as the War God.
"To the point, Della Redcliff Baroness. You stand accused of collaborating with the Witch of Cowardice."
"Collaborating? Is this how you treat an accomplice?"
Della gave a wry smile, gesturing to the bandages swathing her body.
It was the exhausted look of someone freshly rescued from a POW camp.
"It's possible they sent you here as a decoy. In fact, none of the twelve spear wounds pierced any vital organs."
Eloa's observation was spot on.
Paola had merely pinned Della to the wall to neutralize her, with no intent to kill.
"I'll tell you everything I know. Judge me then if there's even a shred of falsehood."
"No need for that. There's a surer way."
"Word of Power."
The moment Eloa drew her Contract Sword, intent on brooking no lies,
Sua, guessing her purpose, intervened.
She likely meant to form a contract with Della to extract a truthful confession.
It would have been the perfect strategy in calmer times.
But the timing now was all wrong.
"Your Grace, preserve your strength. Have you not already expended one contract for Lord Shin Siu?"
Eloa was Wizpoint's mightiest asset.
Recovering her Word of Power after reclaiming a contract took time.
Sua judged it unwise to waste one now, with crises looming.
"We can question the Baroness first. It's not too late if suspicions arise."
"...Very well."
As Sua and Eloa conversed, Della slowly turned her gaze to Siu.
A glint lit her ruby-like eyes.
Siu had left quite an impression in Della's life.
"...You really aren't an ordinary human, are you?"
A man who was a witch.
Warded by Countess Jemernai.
He'd beaten Della, albeit under unfavorable circumstances.
And here he was, present at a critical discussion between Sua Branch Manager and Tiphereth Duke.
No ordinary man.
Likely part of some grand collaborative experiment by multiple witches.
That was Della's firm conclusion.
"Long time no see. Sorry for hitting you with the car out of nowhere."
"No worries. Got any booze? Wine if possible."
Sensing Della about to speak, Siu preempted her with an apology for the car incident.
Della waved it off nonchalantly.
Without that encounter, the pursuing White Knights would have nabbed her.
Getting hit by the car had been a blessing in disguise.
Della gulped down the wine Siu brought, straight from the bottle, wetting her parched throat.
Nearly half the bottle vanished in one go.
"Haa... I can't tell you how much I've craved this."
Della's face lit with satisfaction as she turned back to Eloa.
"I'll tell you everything I know."
2.
The reason Della had risked her life to escape:
to warn Wizpoint of the horrific calamity soon to unfold.
Truth be told, had anyone else been involved, Della wouldn't have gone to such lengths.
All humans die anyway.
Of old age, starvation, accidents, disease, disasters, war.
In this vast world, tens of thousands perish daily, more fleetingly than insects.
Even if a disaster now claimed hundreds of thousands or millions, it was merely part of the cycle repeating since antiquity.
Witches, who defied nature's order in pursuit of magic, bore no duty to intervene.
Della truly believed that.
But the mastermind being her friend Paola stirred a twinge of responsibility in Della.
Paola already bore unforgivable sins, but Della didn't want her vilified beyond the moniker "Witch of Cowardice" by other witches.
Thus, Della calmly relayed what she knew.
The Witch of Cowardice had subjugated the Red Knight.
Using hearts gathered via Dagon's flute last time, she'd forged an army of White Knights.
Four witches had been sacrificed for the plan, and no sooner was the mysterious "altar" complete than the sealed stormwater conduits would unleash the White Knights.
To kill more humans. To gather more mana.
"......"
"......"
Right after receiving Della's soft-spoken intel, which felt detached from reality,
a chill silence enveloped the branch manager's office.
Sua Branch Manager, seasoned through ages and historic upheavals, gaped in shock.
Eloa, battle-hardened to the bone, stared at Della in horror.
Siu went without saying.
"I figured you'd react like this. But we don't have time to sit around idly."
Was it because, even as she spoke, Della realized it was "already too late"?
Her tone lacked fervor.
Rather than hoping they'd stop Paola, self-reproach gnawed at her—why hadn't she saved Paola sooner?
Eloa, shaking off her shock, finally spoke.
"...We have no proof yet that everything you've said is true."
"Which part? That Paola, having unleashed Deep Sea horrors before, will now loose White Knights for a massacre? That nearly four figures in humans have already been offered as sacrifices?"
"Aren't you the Cowardice Witch's friend? This could be deception to break our will with distorted info."
"A trite response, but I stake my witch's name on it. Hold me accountable later if anything's amiss."
The dam was on the verge of collapse.
Cracked beyond repair, too late for fixes—even a drizzle would send it crashing, flooding the lowlands.
That was the state now.
"Per the Baroness, the Witch of Cowardice has subjugated the Red Knight and assembled an army of White Knights, its replicas?"
"Yes."
"Then how many?"
Perhaps because she'd only just awakened?
She'd omitted the most crucial detail.
Della slowly bowed her head.
"Twelve hundred."
"Twelve hundred..."
"It's not just the numbers. The spears they wield are replicas based on the Red Branch.
The more that gather, the closer to the Red Branch, the more they resonate, forming a force-field barrier.
Unless you're like Her Grace there, with a physical attack framework, you can barely counter them. Even I only managed to take down twenty out of thirty-two."
Della was a great witch of the 20th hierarchy.
She wielded flame and heat freely, chaining spells endlessly.
Yet even she had been stalled by a mere twenty White Knights.
No matter the bad matchup, was that possible?
"You've given them too much time already. Sochitl didn't prepare this plan in a day or two. It was built over decades, piece by piece. And we're trying to stop it overnight."
Paola, once limited to enhancing and commanding homunculi, had reached the realm of replication over long years.
Not stopping there, she'd gathered artifacts and catalysts, piecing together her desired puzzle.
While the witches of the present world trusted solely to Kether Duke and neglected public enemy response,
Paola had prepared with near-mad obsession over ages.
"It's too late to stop her. Only the slimmest reprieve remains."
"Not yet too late."
Eloa's resolute voice cut through the gloom.
"I'll handle it."
"The sealed stormwater tunnels span 12 km. Over six vertical vents connect to the outside. Even Your Grace can't block the rain with one hand."
The Witch of Cowardice had indeed prepared perfectly.
Sua and Tiphereth's responses had been inadequate by comparison.
Yet none of the foretold events had come to pass.
Before the White Knights rampaged, before they burst into the world to slaughter civilians, countermeasures weren't impossible.
"So before she pulls any more schemes, I'll go myself. Kill the Cowardice Witch before her plan launches. End this once and for all."
As Eloa said, descending the stormwater tunnels to slay the culprit would resolve everything.
But it meant entering the enemy's lair, fully prepared and fortified.
Striking where their forces concentrated.
No matter Tiphereth Duke's fame against public enemies and homunculi,
could she face 1,200 White Knights, the Witch of Cowardice, and the Red Knight simultaneously?
"This girl has not been idle either.
To prevent a repeat of the prior tragedy, I've prepared barriers over all of Seoul. Even if the Cowardice Witch unleashes 1,200 homunculi at once, I can contain them within for a time."
Sua too had not ignored the crisis.
Though she couldn't detain departing witches or summon grand reinforcements, she'd installed safeguards against the worst before it struck.
"And right now, I'll summon all witches."
It was a race against time.
Issuing the pre-prepared artifact summons, seven witches gathered at Wizpoint in under an hour.