Chapter 129: The Dawn of the Counterattack
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 129: The Dawn of the Counterattack
The Immortal Witch. Lu' Cid.
The reason she couldn't be defeated was simple.
You can't win against a being that doesn't die.
“Kugh— Luci! It’s me! Evangeline!”
Evangeline cried out desperately to the immortal witch charging at her. Hearing her voice, the witch paused, as if the name was familiar.
If the <Skull Collector> hadn't seen the immortal witch falter and quickly used magic to forcefully control her, the fight might have ended right there.
─Kya, ahhhhh!
But in the end, Lu' Cid was controlled by the Skull Collector and continued her assault on Evangeline. Not even the awakened Evangeline could stop the immortal witch.
The magic of immortality was a power akin to an authority, a magic that even her own could not penetrate.
An invincible magic that nullified all attacks and damage directed at her, reverting them to nothing.
It had no other advantage besides immortality, but in that single aspect, it boasted an overwhelming, unrivaled power.
Even the Holy Knights, who called themselves the swords of God, had failed to cut through her magic. That said it all.
‘That damned skeleton…’
And it went without saying, but if that Skull Collector weren't here, she could have just ignored this enemy and moved on.
The immortal witch was the ultimate, undying shield, but she wasn't the ultimate, all-piercing spear.
However, every time Evangeline tried to leave, that Skull Collector over there would use magic to interfere, making it impossible.
Facing two opponents—one who revived and controlled the dead, using the abilities they had in life—was too much for her.
“…Get out of my way.”
Evangeline decided to accept a small loss and glared at the immortal witch and the Skull Collector.
Seeing Evangeline’s mana surge and overflow, the Skull Collector began to cackle.
【Sorry, but what I want is your skull…】
Before the Skull Collector could finish, Evangeline charged. She looked at the immortal witch blocking her path.
She couldn't aim for the Skull Collector through the witch, who sensed all magic and moved to intercept it first. Not unless she had two bodies.
And if that was the case—she would just split her body in two. Evangeline tore off her own left arm and threw it at the immortal witch.
【What!?】
The left arm, moving and casting magic on its own, held the immortal witch in place. Evangeline seized the opening to target the Skull Collector.
Stunned by the sheer madness of her tearing off her own arm to attack him, the Skull Collector tried to use magic to stop Evangeline, but without the magic of immortality, there was no way to block her.
Finally caught by Evangeline, the Skull Collector realized his fate and let out a groan.
【A curse upon you—! You damned old maid—!】
“What are you talking about? I’m not a virgin anymore.”
Fwoosh…
Leaving behind the Skull Collector, who had been disintegrated into atomic particles, Evangeline retrieved her left arm, which had been single-handedly dealing with the immortal witch from a distance.
With the Skull Collector who controlled her gone, the immortal witch staggered and swayed, looking at Evangeline.
She showed no sign of wanting to fight. After staring at Evangeline for a moment, the immortal witch vanished, crying out someone's name in anguish.
─Lu…dwig… where… are…
Watching the immortal witch stumble away, Evangeline stopped herself from telling her that Ludwig was already dead.
She would never find the long-dead Ludwig. But telling her that truth felt far too cruel.
Even if she could never find him, it was better than hearing that the one you love is dead.
Thinking of her own beloved disciple, Evangeline immediately headed for the Empire to find Yohan.
Evangeline wasn't the only one who encountered monsters across the land.
“What is this?”
─Gurgle, gurgle…!
Hekaterina, who had fallen into the sea, came face to face with some kind of octopus head.
《My God, why have you forsaken me?》
“You want me to send you to heaven?”
Margaret faced a fallen angel.
[You smell familiar… my cute little witch.]
“…Gross.”
And another faced a spider monster spinning its web.
─All preparations are complete.
“…I think we’re fucked.”
“…Y-Yeah.”
And others, the Demon Dragon who had planned all of this.
As the witches faced powerful enemies they could not easily overcome, Yohan was—
“Oh, look at this.”
“What is that?”
“You don’t know what this is?”
Yohan asked, pointing to the escape pod at his feet. Regina tilted her head, looking at the piece of modern technology that wasn't in her records.
Her magic was to record the events of the past; things created so recently that they hadn't been recorded were beyond her knowledge.
Of course, if she focused her records on that area, she could certainly find out, but there were far too many things to record in this world to waste her efforts on mere technology.
“I’ve never seen one in person either. You press this part here and…”
He said, opening the entrance to the escape pod. It was a device that launched its occupant like a rocket in an emergency to ensure a safe escape.
In the modern era, the technology had been abandoned because it couldn't actually guarantee the occupant's survival, but it seemed to have been properly implemented in this world of witches and monsters…
“…Makina?”
“Ah, ow, ow… Yohan?”
He picked up an escape pod.
He found a witch.
Yohan stared in disbelief at Makina, who was tangled up inside the escape pod, unable to get out.
The Witch of the Empire, Makina.
The fact that she, a close aide to the Emperor who resided in the Imperial Palace of the capital, was found in an escape pod was no small matter.
It meant that the very heart of the Empire, the Imperial Family itself, had fallen.
“What are you doing here?”
“Uhm, it’s a long story.”
“We have plenty of time. Take it slow.”
At Yohan’s words, Makina slowly began her tale. By order of the high command, the Imperial Army had gone on an expedition to the Kingdom, where they had lost the Demon Dragon.
Shortly after that report arrived, the Demon Dragon and its monsters suddenly appeared and began to lay waste to the Empire.
The Empire's witches tried to stop the monsters, but there were only two of them. Without the help of Yohan's party, they were in no position to fight off the monsters and win.
Moreover, one of those two, Makina, had no combat abilities whatsoever. Makina had boarded an escape vehicle with the Emperor, while the other witch remained behind to fight to the very end—
“Adelheid is dead?”
“Well, wouldn’t she be? Honestly, I don’t think anyone could fight all those monsters and win.”
These weren't the common, soldier-class monsters that even Yohan could handle, but legendary monsters straight out of history. Fighting them alone was reckless.
No matter how powerful a witch she was, it would be difficult to survive and return from a battle against them. That's what Makina was saying.
“I see, so that’s what happened…”
“More importantly, you—you know Adelheid?”
“Yeah. By face, at least.”
She wasn't a close friend, but hearing that an acquaintance had died stirred a sense of sympathy from deep within his heart—a feeling anyone would have.
Yohan remained silent for a moment in tribute to Adelheid, and then—he listened to the information about the monsters that had appeared in the Empire.
“A black dragon flying in the sky, a turtle that shoots a beam from its mouth, and besides them, there was a bird with wings so big they covered the entire sky, and something like a white tiger.”
“…A dragon, a turtle, a bird, and a tiger?”
Hearing the combination of monsters, Yohan thought it sounded very familiar. A dragon and a bird, a turtle and a tiger. Didn't it sound just like a description of the Four Divine Beasts?
Of course, the Azure Dragon was blue, not black, and the Black Tortoise didn't shoot beams from its mouth… but he couldn't help but feel a sense of dissonance at the monsters of this other world being so strangely similar to Earth's.
“Do you know them?”
“I don’t. But… Regina.”
“Yes, they are all beings recorded in my records.”
Yohan had no information about those monsters. It was only natural. How could Yohan, who had fallen into this world from Earth, possibly know about ancient legends?
But Regina was different. From the time humanity first began to draw on cave walls to the information about the civilization created by modern humanity.
The Witch of Records, who recorded everything in the universe.
“Of course, I know their weaknesses as well.”
“You hear that?”
Yohan grinned at Makina. We know the enemy's identity. We know their weaknesses.
In that case, it was a battle they couldn't possibly lose.
Know your enemy and know yourself, and you will win a hundred battles.
It was a fight where they knew their enemy.
“It’s time for a counterattack.”
─Kehehehe, hyehehehe—!
A monster with its tongue lolling out began to lick the beautiful woman held in its arms.
Humans were good. Their whole bodies were soft and smelled nice.
He also liked how, with a little poke of his claw, the flinching beauty would let out a pleasant scream and become docile.
─Humans are the beeeest—! The Demon Dragon is even betterrrr—!
The monster, letting out a sound closer to a shriek, suddenly saw space begin to distort.
He didn't know what it was, but it wasn't a good sign. The monster extended the tongue that had been licking the woman and occupied the space.
─Kieek!?
But the spatial distortion, as if anticipating such interference, sliced off the monster's tongue and dropped three people out.
“What’s this?”
Yohan tilted his head, looking at the tongue rolling around in front of him.
“Get rid of it.”
“Yes.”
At Yohan’s command, Regina immediately replicated another witch’s magic and dealt with the monster.