Chapter 126: Catfight (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 126: Catfight (1)
She was untouchable.
No matter how many dozens or hundreds of zombies were sent to attack, Mirei would swing her greatsword once, and they would all be cleaved in two, rolling across the ground.
“Aaaah!”
Krima extended the mana of her black rose vines, attempting to bind her.
However, she was soon forced to sever the mana connection as a searing, burning pain surged through the vines.
“It’s hot…!”
It was a foreign sensation, yet strangely familiar, as if she had experienced it somewhere before.
Come to think of it, the wounds on the zombies Mirei had cut down were not regenerating or reattaching. Looking at the affected areas, which appeared melted and fused together, Krima became certain that the pain she felt was no illusion.
“Fire…? No, is she using heat…?”
“Who knows? It just kind of happens when I swing this thing.”
“You think something so half-baked will work? It’s not even divine power or magic!”
“Haha, Krima.”
Mirei smirked at Krima, who was clutching her burned wrist.
“You’ve gotten quite arrogant in such a short time, haven’t you?”
“Ugh… I’m not the same person who was suppressed by you and Resin anymore. Under God’s grace, I’ve gained the power to crush the likes of you.”
“Really? Then go ahead and try to crush me.”
“If only my power were complete, I would have already…”
“Already?”
Mirei’s gaze shifted away from Krima, piercing toward another direction.
It was toward the cemetery.
Yet, for some reason, Krima felt as though she was the one being stared down.
It was strange. Mirei used to be nothing more than a cocky, illogical warrior who only had strength going for her, but now, Krima felt a strange reluctance to provoke her.
She couldn’t tell what had changed, but her intuition screamed at her to be cautious.
“From the looks of it, you don’t even realize what a pathetic state you’re in, do you?”
“What… did you say?”
That smirk.
Rather than feeling angry or provoked by that ominous smile, Krima found herself instinctively walking on eggshells. Even more so than back in Lukart.
“You and Resin abandoned me. Why have you come looking for me now?”
“Resin? Ah, the meat price?”
“Meat?”
“I heard she was talking nonsense and doing idiotic things at the Magic Tower before getting taken down by some bitch named Narupa and turning into a vegetable. So, I sold her to the Magic Tower as a useful experimental subject for the price of her meat. It’s thanks to that money that I was able to come to the Duchy.”
“You abandoned your comrade… No, I suppose that’s the natural course of action for people like you. After all, I was the first one you threw away!”
[Gruwaaaaaaa—!]
As Krima pressed her hand against the ground with gray divine power, a massive zombie face erupted from the earth behind Mirei.
Mirei was already within the zombie’s gaping maw, yet she didn’t take her eyes off the direction she had been looking.
If anything,
“Gross.”
She scowled deeply, looking as if she had seen something repulsive.
“Die!”
[Gwaaaaah!]
The zombie snapped its jaws shut, swallowing Mirei whole.
But immediately, orange slashes carved through the massive face as light leaked out from within.
Crunch.
Crrraaaack!
Before long, a massive pillar of light burst through the top of its head, and the zombie’s face shattered and crumbled to the left and right.
“Krima, Resin wasn’t fun at all. I couldn’t even crack a smile.”
Mirei was no longer holding her greatsword.
The greatsword had been forcibly split vertically and shaved down into the shape of a crude, slender needle-like spear.
“Then Diane suddenly shows up and says she was forgiven by Alto. It’s annoying.”
“Diane? Why are you bringing up Diane?”
“Do you know what Resin said? She said if she defeated Narupa, she could take over the Magic Tower. Then she’d offer the tower to Alto, get forgiven, and become his official wife. Does that make any sense to you?”
Of course it didn’t. Even to Krima’s ears, it was an absurd plan.
Official wife? Just with that?
However, the plan to swallow the Duchy and offer it to Alto for forgiveness was twin-like in its resemblance to Resin’s plan for the Magic Tower.
“Not a chance. We wounded Alto’s heart. Do you understand? His heart. A heart… isn’t something material like a Magic Tower or a Duchy. It’s not material, and it’s not physical. And yet, it’s also a shitty achievement earned with these pathetic bodies of ours.”
“What have you been rambling about…?”
Mirei pointed the tip of her spear under her own chin.
The sharp point touched the soft flesh beneath her jaw, and at the sense of crisis—as if it might pierce through at any moment—Krima’s crotch became helplessly wet.
“Ha, hoo, ha, ha, haaa… Hey, Krima. Would Alto be happy if we died? Or would he be sad, even though the bitches who wronged him are dead? I want him to be sad. I want him to yearn for me forever, for the me who will never return.”
Before long, the faint smile vanished, and she pulled the spear tip away from her chin.
She was clearly out of her mind.
The appearance and martial prowess of the insane Mirei served as a wake-up call for Krima, who had been intoxicated by power and running amok in the Duchy.
At the same time, she felt a sense of doubt regarding the very existence of Mirei, who not only stood tall before someone who had ravaged a nation but also exerted such pressure.
The sinister smile Mirei had shown at the start of their clash, and the corners of her mouth that were twitching even now, were enough to make Krima—and even the entity that had possessed her—feel uneasy.
“Who are you?”
“Heeeh~?”
“You’re clearly possessed by a ghost. As one guided by God, I shall exorcise that spirit for you. Stop this madness and prepare to beg Lord Alto for forgiveness…”
“Forgiveness! Yes! Forgiveness!”
At the word ‘forgiveness,’ the corners of Mirei’s mouth tore wide open.
“How do you plan to beg for forgiveness? Hmm? Krima. I’m so curious. How did you want to beg for forgiveness that you went to these lengths?”
Before she knew it, Mirei had closed the distance and grabbed Krima by the chin.
Krima’s mouth was forced into a ridiculous fish-like shape, but facing those eyes being dyed in madness, she didn’t even dare to squirm away.
“Go on, tell me. I want to use it as a reference. Ah, dammit, if I’d known this would happen, I wouldn’t have just beaten Diane up and left her there. You know, that bitch showed up at the entrance of the Magic Tower and said she’d been forgiven by Alto. She said she couldn’t just leave me be. What do you think, Krima? Do you think that’s true?”
“Urgh, let go of me.”
“I’m asking you. Do you think it’s true? You gaping whore.”
“It’s true! I saw it with my own eyes in Dakuren! Lord Alto was still kind, lovely, and wonderful, and beside him was that loathsome Diane, who left us just to seek forgiveness for herself!”
“She’s certainly found her voice. She stopped stuttering like she used to before Alto left, and she actually had the nerve to look me in the eye and speak clearly.”
“That’s right, she was the same with me. She talked about how she was honorable and how we were pathetic. She said she wouldn’t let herself be ignored like before… so arrogant. Ack!”
Creeeeak.
“Shut up. Just answer what I asked. Keep it short. Even talking to a whore like you makes me feel so sorry to Alto I could die.”
“Who are you calling a whore! Why do you keep calling me a whore!”
“You don’t know why?”
Smirk.
A strange light flickered in Mirei’s eyes.
Then, a look of pure, innocent joy—like a child who had finally found a toy—spread across her face.
“Hehe, hehehehehehe, heh? Heeeeeee~.”
“Let go, you crazy bitch!”
Krima swung her gray divine power to tear herself away.
Red bloodstains were carved into Mirei’s wrists and chest, but she didn’t seem to care.
“I told you to tell me how you plan to beg for forgiveness.”
“Ugh… I will offer him this country! The Magic Tower is useful, but it’s just a handful compared to the vast territory of the Duchy! If I offer this Duchy and beg for his forgiveness and atonement for my past insolence, that kind man will…”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake!”
Kiiiiiiiiiiing!
A bizarre sound rang out.
It sounded like power was being gathered and forcibly twisted.
She had simply gripped the spear shaft and pulled it back over her shoulder, yet the movement of the swirling air was almost visible.
“Want a taste?”
Before she could even respond, the spear was thrust, nearly piercing her abdomen.
The only reason Krima was unharmed was not because she had blocked it, but purely because Mirei had stopped.
She had lost.
She was completely outmatched.
If Mirei hadn’t truly held back just now…
Twitch.
Imagining her own death, Krima’s hips instinctively buckled.
Thump.
“Kihit! Ah! Oogh…! Ggh?!”
At the same time, she squeezed one eye shut, stuck her tongue out like a goblin or an orc, and experienced a light climax.
“Ooooooooogh—!!!”
No, the climax continued.
It was strange. It felt as if something was thrust between her legs.
Both in the front and the back.
And it didn’t feel like there was only one of ‘it.’
It wasn’t just her lower body. From the neck down, her entire body felt buried and ravaged by the joy of pleasure.
And for some reason, that joy was coming from the very direction Mirei had been staring at for a long time.
After taking a few deep breaths and waiting, the pleasure fortunately subsided quickly.
“Ahahahaha! Villen! You’re scared, aren’t you? You were scared and thought about abandoning her? Ah~ seriously! You’ve always been pathetic in your thoughts and actions. Thinking of sponging off Alto Bertrand.”
Mirei burst into laughter.
The demonic energy permeating the atmosphere laughed along with her.
Krima realized instinctively. There was something within Mirei that was not human.
“Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Offering something for forgiveness? You’re just like Resin! No, that won’t work. It won’t.”
“Mi… Mirei?”
“Alto is… mad for blood… Like me, like me, like-like-like-like-me? Like me. He won’t forgive me. Because he loved me that much. Ah, dammit! I shouldn’t have done that! Oooooh, calm down, Mirei. But because it’s Alto, he won’t be able to throw me away. We… I… since we’re both mad for blood, I just have to let him see my blood. That alone will be enough to make sure Alto can never escape.”
“Hiii…”
“But what if Krima’s way is right? What if Resin’s way is right? That would be so much fun! I wonder what will happen? What do you think?”
Mirei thrust her face inches away from Krima’s.
“I’ll give you a chance. Go ahead and try it your way, you whore. If you fail, you’re disposed of. I’ve wanted to do that for a long time. Villen. Hee-hi-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Ah, ha-ha-ha-ha!”
Crucially, even Mirei seemed puzzled by her own laughter.
Why am I laughing like this?
“You have to show me results within a month, okay, honey?”
Krima saw the fire blazing within Mirei’s eyes.
As if possessed, Krima nodded toward the fire, and by the time she snapped out of it, true night had fallen.
Her underwear soaked with sweat, Krima slumped to the ground.
“More… I need more undead… To recreate the glory of the past… more undead… But I’ve taken almost all of the Duchy. Where can I get more corpses…?”
The fallen priestess muttered blankly before finally finding the answer.
“Ah, the Kingdom. There was the Kingdom, wasn’t there?”
It was a very minor occurrence.
The arrival of two or three undead in the Kingdom—a place where the influence of Krima’s backer struggled to reach—was a trivial matter.
Something that could have been easily handled by an adventurer from Lukart.
However, the tragedy occurred in a small village, not Lukart, and the aftermath began to spread slowly.
Very faintly, but surely.