Chapter 163: Wow! The Iona Carry!
Chapter 163: Wow! The Iona Carry!
"Everyone, get your magic ready. It’d be even better if you splash some Undead Assimilation Potion on yourselves too."
Cr-crack—
As soon as I finished speaking, pale, skeletal hands burst through the ground.
The undead sentries must have been triggered by our presence. By now, the cultists inside—who were likely busy proving their faith by stoking their own inferiority complexes—would have realized we were here as well.
"Shield!"
"O invisible shield, Shield!"
Carla and Elisha deployed their shields first, following standard procedure.
Since I was already decked out in defensive magical tools, I didn't cast a shield myself. Instead, I pulled a sky-blue potion from my inventory. Just as the skeletons managed to pull their upper bodies out of the dirt, I splashed a bottle of Undead Assimilation Potion over each of our heads.
Then, pulling out one more bottle, I looked at Iona.
"Professor, should I splash some on you too?"
"No! No! I'm a vampire, so the effect is a bit weak on me!"
"Ah."
Right. Vampires aren't exactly a normal race. They're classified as undead, but because they manipulate blood, they're actually overflowing with vitality.
Iona grinned at the skeletons as they slowly dragged themselves upright.
"Besides, there's no need to confuse their senses anyway!"
Raising one hand high, Iona chanted a short incantation.
"As I shed tears of blood, so shall my enemies pour out their lives. Blood Rain!"
Snap!
the moment she snapped her fingers with her raised hand, blood began to pour from the sky like rain. It fell everywhere except for the spot where we stood. And then...
Sizzle.
The skeletons began to melt the moment the droplets touched them.
—Groooar...
—Clack, clatter...
—Gwaaaah...
The undead, who had barely just risen, collapsed back down and sank into the earth.
It wasn't elemental magic, but her specialty: Blood Magic. Considering that Iona, a High Magician, had used even a short chant, it was likely a spell of at least intermediate rank.
In just a dozen seconds, the surrounding undead were completely wiped out.
As we awkwardly lowered our staffs, Iona puffed out her surprisingly ample chest and bragged.
"Ahem! Ahem! Do you see what Professor Iona is capable of now? Don't worry too much; just focus on sticking close to me! I'll send a few guys your way later, so just worry about handling those! It won't count toward your grade, but I'll be watching with a professor's eye, so do your best to take them down!"
Iona brought both index fingers to her eyes and put on a mock-stern expression.
I let out a small chuckle at the sight and adjusted my stance.
"Understood. We'll leave the front to you, then."
"Huh...?"
Iona tilted her head for a moment, but her crimson eyes widened when she saw our triangular formation—a tactic we'd grown accustomed to after several dungeon runs.
"Excellent! Excellent! Then let's get started right away! We just need to go down into the villa's basement, right?"
"Uh... well, yes, but seeing your firepower, Professor, I don't think we need to bother going down through the trap-riddled corridors. We can set something up on that side to keep them from escaping, and then..."
Recalling the layout of the basement—known among players as the Villa Branch—I tapped a specific spot on the ground with my foot.
"Professor Iona. Could you collapse the floor right here?"
"Sure, sure. I can do that... but what's here?"
"There might be a slight margin of error, but according to my calculations, this should drop us directly into the branch manager's office."
"Aha? Aha? So we can catch them before they can dispose of or smuggle out any documents?"
"Exactly. As for the ceiling collapsing... we can just lift it back up with magic later."
Iona's playful face turned cold and eerie, radiating a chilling aura.
"I like it. Everyone, get behind me."
As we moved back as instructed, Iona first cast a barrier around the villa, the only exit.
She muttered something under her breath as she drew up her mana, and soon, a dark red film-like membrane enveloped the entire villa in a sphere.
"Bloodsucking Curtain..."
Carla whispered in awe as she watched.
I knew what the Bloodsucking Curtain was. When players encountered a vampire enemy, if the vampire thought the player looked like easy prey, they would deploy that magic first to block the escape route.
The effect was simple: its primary function was basic physical and magical isolation. However, what made it terrifying was the secondary effect—it absorbed the vitality of nearby enemies to increase its own durability.
If you weren't the type to have a powerful finishing move, or if your power didn't exceed the caster's, you'd have no choice but to wither away, unable to break the barrier.
Well, there was a trick to bypass it easily... but these cultists probably wouldn't know that.
Having blocked the exit, Iona extended both hands toward the spot I had pointed out.
"Piercing thorn spear. Bond of blood. Reaching vines. None shall dare escape my harpoon. ...Bloody Thorn Spear."
Perhaps she was trying to increase the power this time; she recited the incantation clearly while manifesting a magic circle in front of her palms.
The blood-red magic circle spun rapidly, drawing unknown runes according to its own logic.
The magic circle glowed brightly. From its center, thorny vines made of dark red blood erupted.
Crunch!
The vines, bristling with thorns as sharp as spearheads, bored into the ground in an instant.
And not long after, the entire section of the ground was hoisted up.
The thorns, which had branched out like roots, gripped the soil, keeping it from crumbling and preserving its shape perfectly.
Iona had ripped out not only the dirt covering the top like a lid but also the ceiling of the underground building.
She threw herself inside without hesitation. I peeked my head in to look down.
"Aaaaaagh!"
The thorns of another vine that had penetrated deep inside were skewering a cultist's limbs, pinning him to the wall.
He wore the same drab black robes as any other cultist. However, the symbol embroidered on his chest in gold thread—a wide-open eye—was striking.
We found the right place.
That was a symbol only high-ranking members of the Narrow-minded Usurpation could wear. And the rank of the person in charge of this villa branch was a Bishop.
Having neutralized the branch manager in one go, Iona sat in a large chair with a natural posture, as if she were in her own home, and waved her hand.
"It's okay! It's okay! Come on down!"
"Uh... okay."
Even though it was my idea, I couldn't help but think, Is it really okay for it to be this easy? as I hopped into the hole.
Carla and Elisha seemed to share the sentiment, as their expressions were a bit complicated.
The branch manager, pinned to the wall like an insect specimen, glared at me the moment he saw my face.
"You...! You damn brat interfering with our great work, you've finally joined hands with this crazy bitch!"
At the same time, his eyes began to shimmer with an eerie light.
So, I immediately gave him a flashbang.
"Light!"
"Urgh!"
He tried to force his eyes open, but in the end, he couldn't resist the physiological reaction and squeezed them shut.
"You little... trying to use Magic Eyes right off the bat..."
Squelch!
"AAAAAAAAGH!!"
"...Uh, well."
Before I could even finish my sentence, the branching thorns pierced both of his eyes, blinding him.
Iona, the owner of the thorns, gave me a wink as if to say "good job" in response to my awkward expression, then immediately turned serious and kicked the branch manager in the shin.
Thud!
"Guh...!"
"Hey. You think you can look at my student like that? You don't seem to understand the situation... from now on, you're going to spit out everything you know."
"Heh... cough. The Usurper is watching this place with his narrow gaze. You won't hear anything from me—AAAAAAGH!"
The thorns that had crushed his eyes pulsed repeatedly, injecting something into the branch manager's head.
The man began to foam at the mouth mid-sentence.
Iona, with eyes so sharp they felt like they could cut you just by looking, tapped the shin she had just kicked.
"I'm the one who decides that. Not you. And not your god, who can't do anything but glare. I, Iona Francesca, am the one who decides. Do you understand?"
"You... you crazy bitch..."
He was insulting her, but his voice was clearly more broken than before.
Damn, why is Iona so scary when she's facing a cultist?
I didn't really know because she rarely showed her serious fighting side in H&A...
So this is what she's like.
I was staring at Iona with a mix of admiration and bewilderment for a moment. Then, Iona—who had reverted from a charismatic, cruel vampire back to her usual airhead self—grinned and pointed toward the office door.
"Student Yandel! Student Yandel! Other cultists will be swarming here because of that scream just now! While I interrogate this guy, could you handle the intruders for me?"
"Sigh... alright. Leave this side to us."
She probably planned this from the start.
Since the exit was blocked by the Bloodsucking Curtain, all the remaining cultists and monsters would come rushing here.
But this was just a small mountain branch. No matter how many there were, they'd likely just be ordinary believers or low-level undead.
That much would be simple. In fact, we might finish cleaning them up before Iona's interrogation is even over.
Taking a step toward the door, I spoke.
"Elisha. Stand by my side and let's block them from getting close. Carla, you handle the big finishing moves in the meantime."
"Sounds good. I'll take this opportunity to show you that I haven't just been playing around."
"You can count on me, Master! I'm a bit stronger than before, thanks to you!"
Reliable answers.
With a satisfied smile, I drew up my mana.
"Frozen chill. Soaring spear. Pierce through, Ice Sphere."
Whoosh—!
The sharp chunk of ice that formed at the tip of my staff shot toward the door.
Crash!
"Kyaaaaah!"
A high-pitched scream echoed past the sound of splintering wood.
It was the signal marking the start of the cultist subjugation.
