Chapter 266
Chapter 266
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 266
Chapter Title: Drainage Tunnel (2)
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Over the roughly 1km they walked, Eloa never once yielded the front line to Siu.
Unlike the initial thirty-two that had charged all at once, even now with far more passive assaults coming in groups of eight to ten at a time, she held firm.
"Stay back."
She had voiced permission for Siu to join the fray, but in truth, it stemmed from her anxiety.
She worried that Siu, still so inexperienced, might suffer an irreparable wound from a split-second mistake or moment of carelessness.
If she could keep him out of the fighting entirely, she intended to delay it until the very end.
"Hah!"
Already the tenth clash.
Eloa neatly cleaved through nine White Knights before steadying her breath once more.
There was no need to expend mana as lavishly as in the first skirmish.
Just as the Coward Witch had gauged Eloa's strength, she too had assessed the White Knights' level.
They might pose a threat if they were Red Knights, but mere White Knights—their inferior counterparts—were no match for her in power or skill.
All that remained was to suppress them efficiently, using the bare minimum of force.
"Something feels off."
"What do you mean?"
Siu reacted to Eloa's murmur.
"The worst-case scenario I envisioned was Red Knights with their White Knight escorts launching a simultaneous assault, or a steady stream of reinforcements draining my mana dry. Even someone without tactical genius would know this sort of force attrition is unwise..."
The situation itself was proceeding very smoothly.
She had already slain a total of 150 White Knights with hardly any effort.
That exceeded a tenth of the enemy's forces, eliminated without a single loss on their side.
At this point, the ease of it all began to gnaw at her spine with unease.
"Maybe they've pulled back outside? To dismantle the barrier?"
"Unlikely. The core of Sochitl's plan is this drainage tunnel. It's a vital stronghold they must defend at all costs, no matter the method."
Wizpoint's top forces had blades pressed to their throats—diverting troops outward would be a gamble with no chance of victory.
Eloa muttered to herself as she tapped the Contract Sword's blade with her fingers.
"By now, even the Coward Witch must realize it. Mere White Knights in these numbers can't halt our advance."
What they called a probing battle had already amassed more than enough data on each other.
Even if they didn't ramp up aggression, deploy Red Knights, or unleash powerful homunculi, they had to know they couldn't stop Eloa.
Were the two witches who entered other vertical shafts executing a flawless diversion?
"What reason could there be for tossing away troops in these ambiguous batches... All it does is slow our steps..."
"Maybe slowing us down is the goal?"
Siu, standing behind her like a folding screen, wiped the sweat beading on Eloa's forehead as he spoke.
"Share your thoughts."
"No one knows what role the altar plays. There could be a way for them to seize complete control the moment the 'altar' is complete, so they're just buying time."
"A valid point."
No sooner had Eloa finished speaking than the intermittent wails that had echoed sporadically filled the tunnel.
Growing closer, the sound rang out far more intensely.
The grating screech pierced their nerves worse than nails on a chalkboard, making both Eloa and Siu furrow their brows.
"That noise is getting on my last nerve."
"Tell me about it."
Della had endured that sound up close for months and somehow stayed sane?
Siu could only marvel anew at her mental fortitude.
If it had been him, he'd have lost his mind by the third day.
"We'd best hurry. And as I've said repeatedly, be ready to retreat at any moment. I'll buy us time."
"Understood."
No more White Knights blocked their path.
Sensing some ominous shift, Siu and Eloa dashed down the passage—only to halt simultaneously.
The drawn-out scream, dragging on endlessly, had cut off mid-note like a snapped cassette tape.
It had been an unwelcome noise they wondered when it would end.
But in the unnatural silence that followed, they almost wished it had continued.
Either way, it signaled a change in the situation.
The spot where Siu and Eloa stopped was a crossroads where five tunnels converged.
Following the second tunnel from the right would lead to the altar.
"Prepare yourself."
Eloa gripped her Contract Sword again.
She anticipated a full-scale assault now.
If the enemy wanted to overwhelm with numbers, a wide-open space was ideal to leverage numerical superiority.
This convergence point, where five tunnels funneled into one, was perfect.
Whatever had happened, dealing with the immediate threat came first.
"This time, you'll need to lend your strength too."
"Understood, Master."
"Be careful."
"Don't worry about me. I won't hold you back."
Unlike before, metallic clanks echoed from all directions as White Knights began crawling from the tunnels.
Endlessly, endlessly they poured out.
Even at a glance, they numbered in the high hundreds—a force by no means small.
"Perfect."
Deploying this many at once meant the Coward Witch was going all-in.
Yet Eloa's expression remained calm.
It looked like the greatest peril since entering the drainage tunnel, but reality was the opposite.
The White Knights were far more manageable than Eloa had anticipated.
Her Nature Magic and fighting style resembled a sports car: exceptional output, but poor fuel efficiency.
If they'd come in waves of 50 to 100, it would have been troublesome.
Constant braking and reacceleration would have wasted mana.
In that sense, having these White Knights—unguarded by Red Knights—cluster together in such numbers was a huge boon for mana conservation.
Even so, not even Eloa could handle them all with just six contracts.
"I contract."
Seventh Contract
Pay one quarter of total mana to convert into pure power.
She supplemented her lacking power with the seventh contract.
These gathered White Knights comprised at least half the total enemy force.
Expending just a quarter of her mana to wipe them out was the optimal scenario, so she calibrated her power and added restrictions.
Eighth Contract
Acquire Transcendent Knowledge to sense all space within a 30m radius.
With the eighth contract, she eliminated blind spots in a multi-foe encirclement.
It covered the inevitable dead zones in one-versus-many combat and ensured she could instantly aid Siu if danger struck from behind.
The White Knights surged forward, making the broad passage feel oppressively tight.
Eloa met them head-on, swinging her Contract Sword without retreat.
-Boom! Kwaboom! Kwarang!
Trailing long streaks of pink mana reflections, Eloa danced about, unleashing sword auras in all directions—like a wolf plunging into a flock of sheep.
She slashed with her blade.
Crushed torsos with kicks.
When they closed too tight, she charged with shoulder or elbow strikes, pressing forward.
White Knights that could shred an average witch were snapping like twigs before Eloa's onslaught.
Fortuitously, their matchup favored Eloa greatly.
The Red Branch's distortion field, which disrupted and defended against various magics, barely affected her.
Her contracts permeated bones and muscles internally, not erupting outward.
Possessing solid physical substance, they weren't greatly hindered by the field—though its sturdy defense required a bit more force to cleave through.
Eloa sliced four White Knights at once while glancing at Siu's status.
Even she couldn't handle this many without letting some slip through.
About seven or eight had dodged her strikes and lunged toward Siu.
Initially fretting over him, Eloa soon realized her worry was unfounded.
"Hah!"
Siu spun in place, whirling his sword like a top.
Lacking Eloa's innate mana reserves and technique, he couldn't match her explosive destructive power.
Yet he calmly faced the White Knights swarming him with steady eyes.
Once gained, insight didn't fade with time.
Siu's swordplay remained beautiful, his ribbon-like slashes cutting space sharply with even greater fluidity.
Refined swordsmanship.
Polished swordsmanship.
And beautiful swordsmanship.
Despite far more foes charging than the previous five, he methodically thinned their ranks.
-Kwarang!
Siu's movements clumsily mimicked Eloa's thrust.
A sharper, fiercer strike wrapped around one White Knight's waist, severing it in a single blow.
The fruits of accumulated training, fused with the Contract of the King of All Diseases latent in his Stigma, blossomed through real combat experience.
He grew stronger by the moment.
Facing White Knights no longer felt as daunting as before—it was almost effortless.
Blood surged fiercely through his veins, every tiny muscle obeying his will in perfect unity, his hand one with the sword: all felt vividly alive.
Suppressing a smile that threatened to break free, Siu split a White Knight lunging with its spear from crown to crotch.
"Hoo... Hoo..."
The battle was one-sided.
Siu caught his ragged breath.
Eloa wiped sweat from her brow and retied her disheveled hair.
A total of 598 White Knights lay shattered by Eloa's hand, with Siu finishing off the 22 that slipped through.
His contribution was minuscule compared to the total, but his growth was undeniably leaps beyond before.
"Any injuries?"
"I'm fine. You, Master?"
"No need for concern. These rabble are nothing."
Eloa's expression eased with relief, while Siu allowed a proud, joyful smile.
Perhaps they'd overreacted out of fear.
Maybe the Coward Witch was rattled by their unexpected raid?
Even optimistic thoughts surfaced, though the true enemy hadn't revealed itself.
Then.
-Kwaang!
A roar echoed.
They'd barely scanned the wreckage of shattered White Knights when...
-Kwaang!
Another deafening boom resounded from afar, like iron plates slamming down.
This time, it came with earthquake-like tremors.
Unsure what was happening, Eloa cautiously gripped her Contract Sword while Siu peered toward the source.
Soon after, heavy footsteps—like blood-soaked boots—followed.
Emerging into the lamplight crossroads was a knight slightly larger than a White Knight, clad in blood-drenched crimson armor.
"That's the Red Knight..."
The aura was different.
Only marginally larger and a different color—yet from its appearance, Siu's instincts screamed alarm.
This one's beyond me.
Taller by 0.5m than before capture, it now stood 2.5m.
In its right hand: a red spear—the Red Branch—at least 2m long.
Having absorbed countless sacrifices and completed its awakening ritual atop the altar, both the Red Knight and Red Branch gleamed with deeper crimson.
"......!"
"......!"
Siu, tensely eyeing the Red Knight, and Eloa, readying her blade, both gasped simultaneously.
They knew the source of those two prior booms.
The Red Knight dangled two witches by their hair in its grasp.
Evelyn, the Witch of Agriculture with healthy brown skin who had flirted with Siu.
Her lower body cleanly gone, half-severed entrails spilled from her torso in coils.
Dragged across the cement floor en route, scarlet flesh clung thick with dust.
Patricia, the Witch of Glass with white hair and lovely gray eyes.
Frozen in terror and shock—or so it seemed, her head half-missing.
Obviously, both were dead.
Speechless, Siu and Eloa watched as a scraping metallic sound leaked from the Red Knight's helm.
Humans and homunculi were different species with wholly alien physiologies.
Naturally, their languages wouldn't align.
Yet even without words exchanged,
even without a single phrase,
the emotion in that repulsive timbre was clear.
It was laughter brimming with ecstasy.
Foes who had hounded it relentlessly—now facing them vastly empowered.
The perfect chance to vent long-held grudge,
obsession,
rage.
Thus, the Red Knight simply laughed, and laughed, then opened its eyes.
The 'twenty pairs' embroidered across its helm curved like a human grin, glowing red.