340. The Silver-Haired Witch - (2)
340. The Silver-Haired Witch - (2)
***
It was impossible to know.
Why she was here, why she had revealed herself, whether she had even come looking for him directly. Everything was unclear, and nothing could be confirmed with certainty.
Except for one undeniable truth.
The fact that the witch had revealed herself like this was true beyond any doubt.
The sight of her wielding the Crescent-Moon Weight, a peculiar weapon no one else used, and the blood-red aura of unusual light—both were as good as symbols of the witch.
'Still, if I can kill her here...'
If he could eliminate that witch here, there might at least be room for dialogue with the Imperial Princess.
Even if dialogue was impossible right now, given time...
A knight who had gone to investigate returned and reported the situation. At that, Zernati's closest aides could not hide their shock.
"Silver hair and an unusual weapon. Doesn't that all point to the witch?"
"But how in the world did she learn the route and come here...?"
"They say she appeared alone, but she must have some scheme. We must exercise extreme caution."
"For now, we must stop her. She is not an existence our soldiers can handle."
As the knights who could be called his closest aides voiced their opinions one after another, Zernati slowly opened his mouth with a grave expression.
"...Pull the soldiers back. We will have to face her directly. Summon all forces equivalent to high knights to this location."
Whatever scheme lay behind her revealing herself, considering the witch's value, it was worth enduring all of it.
If he could kill that witch, even if their forces suffered massive damage, it would be worth the cost.
Several knights immediately launched themselves to summon their forces, while the remaining knights looked at Zernati with worried expressions.
"Still, isn't it too dangerous for you to go personally? Surely she didn't reveal herself without thought."
Among them, a female knight with brown hair spoke up as if representing the group.
When Melia, the deputy commander of the Knights of Radiance, which belonged to the First Knight Order of the Imperial Knight Order, spoke, Zernati turned his gaze to her and answered in a subdued tone.
"That may be so. But even so, it will be worth the risk."
Even now, the blood-red trail was visible in the distance. She was probably slaughtering soldiers without pause. Which was exactly why she had to be captured or killed here, now.
'It's entirely possible.'
With the forces gathered here now, capturing that witch—killing her—was possible.
BWOOOOOM!!
Just as a horn blast shook the battlefield and signaled the soldiers, the high knights were swiftly summoned.
Immediately after, as Zernati and numerous knights launched themselves while radiating power—
——!!
From a boulder that no one had been paying attention to, a great light burst forth, and brilliant golden light and pitch-black energy tore through the air as they surged forward.
SWISH!
Zernati and Melia urgently turned their gazes to meet it, but by then, several knights had already met futile deaths.
"Ambush! Everyone, prepare yourselves!"
As Melia shouted urgently, the two women revealed themselves as they were.
A woman dressed like an assassin and a blonde female knight revealed themselves, and Zernati, recalling his original objective, looked at Melia.
"...I leave it to you."
"Yes."
At Zernati's single utterance, Melia nodded as if it were only natural. Immediately after, as Zernati launched himself with several knights, Sua urgently flew after him.
"Execute them immediately!"
As Melia urgently fired a blue aura to stop Sua, Yujeong frowned and launched herself forward.
Clang!!
Yujeong met the aura and canceled out its force, then found herself surrounded by nearby knights, but with a calm expression, she watched Sua flying off into the distance.
'Will she be okay...?'
Somehow, even though they had ambushed them, the situation was not satisfactory.
Rin had succeeded in drawing attention at the front, and they had thought things were proceeding smoothly.
But as numerous knights who could be considered the main force continued gathering around Zernati, at first they thought things had gone wrong and the escort around the leader Zernati had been strengthened.
Then, as the situation escalated and those gathered knights all tried to head toward Rin at once, they had no choice but to reveal themselves.
"What exactly is your scheme?"
As Melia pointed her sword at Yujeong and asked coldly, Yujeong smiled as if feigning composure and slowly twisted the corner of her lips.
"Who knows."
When she gave an answer too ambiguous to even be called an answer, Melia frowned deeply while raising her other hand to stop the knights who were about to attack her.
'She's no ordinary human.'
The long manifested nails were one thing, but the pitch-black aura enveloping her entire body was also far from normal. With Zernati already moving directly toward the witch like that, her role now was to minimize losses among the other knights.
The standoff between Melia and the remaining knights surrounding Yujeong lasted only a moment.
Clang!!
Yujeong suddenly launched herself forward, and Melia swiftly met her sword, signaling the start of a fierce battle.
***
"Urgh..."
A knight collapsing with vacant eyes.
Whirr!
I retrieved the Crescent-Moon Weight embedded in that body and looked around once.
Soldiers now keeping their distance, as if a great circle had formed around me.
The countless soldiers who had thrown themselves at me as if disregarding their lives—now, as if it had all been a lie, they were widening the distance and shifting to a defensive posture.
All of it after the great horn had sounded across the battlefield.
I felt the unfolding situation was strange.
Just moments ago, the aggro had been drawn heavily to me, enough to see their formation falling into disarray. But now, the soldiers were clustering together and focusing firmly on defense.
With knights positioned among those soldiers and showing a thoroughly defensive stance, I could no longer rampage as freely as before.
'Why?'
I kept wondering, unable to understand.
From their perspective, I was alone right now. Rather than defending and clustering like that, attacking to eliminate me should have been the natural response.
That thought lasted only a moment. From one side of my vision, a blue light approached with overwhelming presence.
Zernati.
He was surging toward me with other knights. As our eyes met without thought—
"..."
I couldn't help but freeze. Even with distance still between us, his will was clearly felt. Emotions so deeply suppressed that even I hadn't sensed them until our eyes met seemed visible.
Looking at the knight whose emotions had vanished behind cold hardness, I couldn't help but wonder.
'Why is he looking at me like that?'
Was it because I'd killed so many soldiers that the aggro was drawn heavily to me?
As I looked at Zernati for a moment, I saw Sua following behind him, and words slipped out without thinking.
"What's going on?"
I didn't understand, but it was clear that things were not proceeding as we had initially planned.
FWIP-FWIP-FWIP-FWIP-FWIP!
As countless arrows filled the air and poured toward me, I dodged them while glancing over.
A rapier wrapped in golden light cut through the air, and only then did Zernati turn his gaze to look at Sua.
When I saw them landing on the ground some distance away, I thought briefly and made a decision.
'I should link up with Sua.'
Even if I didn't understand why they had approached with me as their target, the situation was like the target we needed to aim for had walked right up to us.
—Swift.
I immediately activated the skill and looked at the soldiers slowly closing the distance. At the sight of them forming a defensive square and slowly trying to surround me, a laugh escaped me. I pushed hard off the ground.
BOOM!
The ground caved in where I kicked off, and my body rose high into the air in an instant.
Watching another volley of arrows pour toward me, I rotated my body lightly.
As a ghostly heat haze followed my movements and painted the air, blocking every arrow, I activated a skill without hesitation.
—Swift - Single Kick.
Boom!
I kicked hard against the air and flew toward the space where Sua was facing off against Zernati and the knights.
I didn't know what had happened to Yujeong, who was nowhere in sight, but linking up with Sua came first.
—Explosive Spike.
I thrust the Crescent-Moon Weight down as if striking the very space where they were facing off, and the blood-tinged weapon slammed mercilessly into the ground, causing massive destruction.
BOOOOM!!
With a roar as if the earth itself was bursting apart, dust rose and heavily obscured the battlefield.
Thunk!
Through the thick dust, a clear blue aura pierced the smoke and surged straight at me, and I urgently twisted my body.
Watching the blue aura pass narrowly by my hair, I flew toward where Sua would be.
Whoooosh!
As I launched myself, a massive wind pressure rose and instantly cleared the thick smoke.
Slide.
I immediately pressed my back against Sua's as if leaning on her and looked at the revealed space, and a hollow laugh escaped me.
Five beings who appeared to be high knights I recognized. And at their center, Zernati's presence seemed stronger than I remembered.
"Serin."
When Sua, her back against mine, called me in a bewildered voice, I nodded and spoke.
"I'll handle the high knights, so don't worry."
I spoke to reassure her, and—
"Serin, do you know Zernati? He seems strangely focused on you alone."
Sua's voice, full of questions, reached my ears.
I was greatly flustered inside, but outwardly I shook my head slightly and answered.
"I don't know him...?"
Even now, Zernati was glaring at me with bloodshot, murderous eyes, but I had no choice but to answer that way.
The sight of Zernati in my vision was fascinating even after all this time.
A figure so similar to my memories. If Sua hadn't been pressed against my back, the realism would have been enough to make me believe I had returned to the past.
Back then, we had been greatly hostile due to conflicting opinions, and there had been many incidents. And all those memories were irrelevant now.
'It's all from Black Ark, anyway.'
I might know Zernati, but there was no way Zernati knew me...
"Rin. What exactly are you thinking?"
At the murderous voice addressing me precisely by name, I could only widen my eyes.