Chapter 133: Catfight (5)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 133: Catfight (5)
Giant pillars of fire soared into the sky, incinerating the undead.
“Ouuuur... our veeeery own Altoooo...”
“Bullshit.”
As they spewed their nonsense while burning, I personally used Roar and Howling to crush their heads.
Hello? Long time no see, right?
Last time at the Magic Tower, there wasn't much for me to do because they weren't even worth fighting.
“Bloodhound, get on!”
Levantello, mounted on his horse, called out to me.
I glanced toward Little Lady Narupa; our resident mage was wearing a rather delighted smile.
“Go on. I know you want to go wild on your own. I’m prepared for any variable.”
She was a woman who instinctively sensed that Alto and I were different, so her voice was thick with mischief.
Without hesitation, I hopped on behind Levantello.
Feeling my weight, Levantello spurred the horse forward, and the noble steed galloped ahead without looking back.
“What’s the plan?”
“Even for the Little Lady, the numbers are too high for her to handle alone if they swarm. We’ll tear through the alleys and sweep up the stragglers!”
“Let’s do it!”
I slaughtered them relentlessly, swinging Roar and Howling in a frenzy.
Strangely, the horse’s mane and the hair on my head began to stand on end.
A moment later, a blinding flash and a thunderous roar shook the very foundations of the earth.
Crackle!
Kaaaa-booooom!!
It seemed Little Lady Narupa had unleashed a lightning spell.
The air was thick not just with the smell of burning, but the scent of things being charred to a crisp.
“Cutting them down one by one is too slow! Levantello, let’s circle that building. We’ll bring it down and crush them!”
“Dammit, that pub was actually pretty decent.”
“The owner’s probably gone anyway, right?”
“But think of all the good liquor left unsold in there!”
“Is that booze worth more than your life?”
“Well, no!”
“Then ride!”
I drove Howling into the wall of a thick, sturdy building as we sped past, then circled back and kicked it.
The building collapsed, burying the undead beneath the rubble.
Damn, they’re still squirming even after that.
“Lord Alto! Please! Listen to me!”
“I have nothing to say to you! And the name is Bloodhound! Alto locked the door because he hates you!”
“What are you... You haven't spoken to me properly since the day you left Lukart!”
Krima appeared wherever we rode, trying to force a conversation.
Knowing it would just be more nonsense about how she’d prepared land in the Duchy like Resin and her stubborn demands for me to accept her, I rejected her.
Sure enough, Krima tried to turn it around on me, sounding annoyed.
Without hesitation, I slammed the flat of my dagger into her, making her burst.
Thwack!
“Are you saying I’m the one in the wrong?”
“It’s not that... Lord Altoooo! Why won't you show me even a fraction of the kindness you showed those other women?!”
“You’ve got it all wrong.”
As soon as I popped one Krima, she reconstructed herself and reappeared nearby.
The fallen priestess pleaded with me, but unfortunately, she was barking up the wrong tree.
“Alto was kind to you people for five whole years. He devoted himself to you longer than he has to his current wives. And what did he get in return? His party members cheating on him. Diane was the only one who realized that and came to apologize immediately. The rest of you were busy plotting your pathetic little schemes and didn't show your faces once. Not even at the border!”
I slashed, stabbed, and struck.
Multiple Krimas burst apart, only for new ones to emerge.
“It’s because a simple apology wasn't enough! Please, stop this violence and give me a chance to formally beg for forgiveness...!”
“Levantello! You know more about Villen than I do! Do you know where the host’s main body is?!”
“There’s no way to know unless we sense the corruption like Yobeste and the other priests, or if the mages find a heat source!”
“Ugh, seriously! This pathetic bitch won't stop yapping!”
“It’s grating on my ears too!”
“Lord Altoooo!”
Krima screamed his name, but I ignored her.
I swear, ever since I started humoring these bitches by responding, they think they can force a conversation just by being stubborn.
“Bloodhound, your strategy is... actually, never mind. I assume it’s just 'slaughter everything until we find it.'”
“I can't even argue with that because it’s true. We just have to hope Little Lady Narupa finds it!”
“Then let’s at least thin out the numbers!”
“Sounds good!”
I leaped off Levantello’s horse. We ran side-by-side, my daggers blurring through the air.
Every time my daggers flashed, the noble steed leaped, and I sliced through the zombies behind it.
Conversely, when I ducked low, Levantello’s spear pierced through the undead in front of us.
Thanks to his experience running wild in Yobeste’s trap field, Levantello had no trouble keeping pace with the Bloodhound.
“Lord Al—Gah!”
“Just a mo—Urgh!”
“I was arrogant. Let’s talk ag—!”
“I said, let’s talk!”
Krima, who had been burst more times than I could count, finally unleashed her corrupted divine power.
“I have no choice. I’ll force you into a place where we can talk!”
Thorns of murky black vines sprouted from the ground, attempting to ensnare Levantello and his horse.
When I tried to slash them with my daggers, they didn't just cut; they clung to the blades like viscous slime.
The more I cut, the heavier my daggers became.
“No matter how much you struggle, you’re only adding to the weight. Now, please calm down and listen to my—Gack!”
I gripped Roar and Howling in one hand and grabbed Krima’s face with the other. I slammed her against a wall and sprinted, dragging her along until a thick, dark red line was smeared across the stone.
At that moment, a warning voice rang out from the sky. It was Narupa.
“Oppa, get out of there! I detect a heat source right beneath you!”
“Finally!”
I leaped away from the spot along with Levantello’s horse.
Just like when she summoned the pillars of fire, multiple layers of chants stacked up, and a magic circle manifested. The mana gathered in the circle discharged, and a beam of white light slammed into the ground.
Kwaaaaaaaa—!
A flash so blinding followed that I could barely see, and all I could do was shield my eyes with Roar and Howling.
The light was so intense that even after the beam faded, flickering afterimages remained in my vision.
Little Lady Narupa, Levantello, and I stood side-by-side, staring at the sizzling ground gouged out by the beam.
However, the thick smoke made it difficult to confirm anything.
“Didn't you hit it a bit too hard?”
“Look at what that bitch is doing. I had to give her a good roasting so she’d stop acting up.”
“I think you were roasting her pretty well from the start.”
“You want to see full power?”
“...Let’s just keep it at an appropriate level.”
Her bloodlust was enough to give Lord Bisharen a run for his money.
As the smoke slowly began to settle, I peered into the crater with intense focus. Suddenly—
Swish!
“Watch out!”
I blocked a vine aimed at Narupa, but it latched onto my dagger, initiating a struggle of strength.
“Oppa, let go of it. I’ll channel lightning into the dagger.”
“My pride won't allow me to lose a dagger to the likes of Villen or Krima!”
“Ugh, men are so stubborn!”
“Little Lady, imagine if you lost your staff while fighting Resin.”
“...Okay, that would piss me off!”
But we weren't the problem.
Because I was busy protecting Narupa, Krima’s other vines changed targets and lunged for Levantello.
They targeted his horse relentlessly, forcing Levantello to leap off to save the animal.
But before his feet could even touch the ground, vines erupted from the earth, constricting and piercing his ankles.
“Agh!”
The vines lunged for the throat of the fallen Levantello.
Both I, locked in a struggle, and Narupa, who was preparing another big spell, were a split second too slow to react.
“Levantello!”
“Tell my daughter I’m sorry.”
Levantello closed his eyes calmly.
Just as I was about to desperately let go of my dagger to help, a circular portal opened between the vines and Levantello.
Zzzzzzt!
The incoming vines were sucked into the portal and severed.
“What?!”
A startled gasp echoed, not from underground, but from somewhere else.
A bronze-skinned hand reached out from the portal, and a tall woman stepped through, ducking her head as if passing through a low doorway.
She easily severed the vine gripping my dagger with her divine power and sneered.
“Still as predictable as ever. Your party was always like this, you know? At least Diane knew how to move her body.”
“And how am I now, Lady Yarismal?”
Diane, who had appeared beside her at some point, asked the question. Yarismal stroked her hair with a tender expression she had never shown before.
“Want to find out? I’ll evaluate you personally—as the youngest executive of the Adventurer Guild headquarters.”
“Understood.”
“Mhm! Our Diane has finally become a proper person. As a member of the Church, such reformation brings me great joy.”
Both Narupa and I were genuinely surprised.
The preparations for the Duchy’s purification spots were finished this quickly?
I found out later that a full day had already passed since we entered Aztera.
Even so, finding and preparing purification spots across the entire region in just one day was an incredible feat.
“Diane...! Why are you with Lord Alto’s party...! And even Yarismal?”
Krima’s clone appeared atop the rubble, spitting out a lamentation.
“'Yarismal'? Your manners have become quite insolent.”
And our priestess, who was strict about etiquette, appeared behind the clone in the blink of an eye.
“Huh?”
“That’s Lady Yarismal to you.”
CRACK!
“Kweeeeeeek!”
The moment the divine-power-infused knuckles slammed into its side, the undead clone vomited filth and writhed in agony.
It was super effective. Yeah, this was the scene I wanted.
I really wanted to see Krima suffering like that.
However, the situation was by no means turning in our favor.
“Oppa, is that a spear over there? Like a lightning rod or something?”
“Huh?”
I looked where Narupa was pointing into the ground, and my face instantly hardened.
There, glowing with heat, was something shaped like a giant black needle—a spear of sorts.
It was a Vulcanus mass-produced spear.