Chapter 114
Chapter 114
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 114
Chapter Title: Too Many Fallen Nobles 7
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Azadin broke free from the dead were-rat.
The horrific chill that froze his blood continued to take effect even after the were-rat's death, encasing him in ice.
“An incredible amount of mana. Be careful. You all might want to bundle up in some winter gear.”
Scott warned.
“W-Winter gear? In this summer heat?”
Sir Brock asked in bewilderment. They had all dressed lightly, expecting to fight in armor.
“No helping it. Wrap yourselves in cloaks at least.”
Azadin's group unpacked the blankets they carried, tying them into makeshift cloaks and bundling up properly for the cold.
“So in the end, this mess happened because your wife and your mistress fought, huh. What a disaster.”
“I-I’m terribly sorry.”
Sir Brock outranked Brand, but he couldn’t utter a peep under his scolding.
Just then, another eerie sound echoed from beyond the mist.
*********
A young woman emerged from the fog.
With brown hair tinged in a reddish glow, she pierced through the thick mist and revealed herself.
“Sir Brock.”
“…Fran!”
Brock recognized her and panicked. The woman gazed at him with dazed, drunken eyes.
“You’ve come looking for me. I knew you’d choose me over that woman.”
Brand stepped forward then and bellowed.
“Hey now! You there, missy!”
“…….”
“I already know you’ve become a minion of the Spider Queen Atra! So drop the seduction and let’s talk straight!”
Brand’s shout drew chuckles from the onlookers.
“Straight to the point.”
“Saves us the pointless formalities.”
Ismail said as much and nocked an arrow to his bow.
“You’ve come to slay me? Brock?!”
“Fran. I…”
“It’s that woman’s fault I ended up like this! She’s the one who turned Highnest Fortress into this hellhole. And you said marriage felt like a cage yourself!”
“…….”
“That’s just talk to fool a naive young girl into bed. Missy. You’re not bound by marriage’s chains, so snap out of it. Whether man or woman, most bluster about mistresses feeling good is just hot air.”
Brand said that and shot Brock a glare.
“Uh, S-Sir Brand. Aren’t you scared?”
Brand wasn’t a knight but a scribe, yet Guillaumevalt called him “sir.” The woman approaching now radiated an unnatural, sinister aura, yet Brand treated her as casually as any neighborhood housewife.
“No need to worry. I act with righteous intent—what do I have to fear from heaven?”
“It’s not about shame keeping you back.”
*It’s fear.*
“Choose me, Brock. Stop fighting that woman and let’s run away together. We can start fresh somewhere no one knows us.”
*Impressive.*
Azadin ignored Brand, who shattered the mood, and felt a twinge of respect for the woman still pleading with Brock. Her obsession ran deep to persist like this.
“Fran, I…”
Brock writhed in agony. As Brand said, he’d spouted nonsense by his bedside to seduce an immature young girl.
He had no intention of breaking his marriage, yet he’d called his wife a wicked tyrant who bound and tormented him, insisting his true love was her alone. If not for his duties as a noble and knight, he’d divorce and be with his one true love—but sadly, duty called.
He’d deceived women with such sweet lies, and this one had believed every word. Brock himself had spewed so much he’d forgotten the lies, yet here she clung to them even in this horror.
“Looks like I’ll have to silence your babble. It’s always been like this. Sir Brock can’t hear the voice of his true heart because of his duties and position.”
“Fran! No! It’s just that I’m a coward!”
Brock cried out, but his lover vanished into the mist. Spider silk shot through the fog, aimed straight at Brand.
-Ping!
Ismail, waiting behind, shot it down midair with an arrow.
“I was gonna pierce that woman’s skull originally… but the drama was too entertaining, so I spaced out watching.”
Ismail grumbled as he nocked another arrow.
“Yeah. You lot be careful too.”
“The spider silk?”
“Nah, you Aragas won’t fall for that. Don’t get suckered by a cheating bastard’s nonsense.”
Azadin said as much and beckoned to Brand.
“Got it!”
Brand pushed the wheelchair loaded with the spear rack forward.
“Follow me!”
“H-Hey!”
Sir Brock panicked at Azadin’s group turning his lover into an enemy without mercy, but the mist began to clear just then.
“Huh!?”
Inside Highnest Fortress’s village, spiderwebs blanketed the rooftops of the two- and three-story wooden buildings. Bound to those webs were the shriveled corpses of were-rats and nagas, drained of their fluids.
Between the bell tower and the fortress walls stood a massive spider atop a frozen web barrier turned into an icy waterfall by frost.
A woman’s upper body protruded from the spider’s form—the very Fran who had just spoken to them. With madness-filled eyes, she screamed at Brock.
“Sir Brock! I’ll free you from the chains of duty binding you. By slaughtering them all!”
“Won’t be easy.”
Azadin scoffed and signaled Zibek. Zibek drew a rusted flail and hurled it.
-Flail of Judgment!
As potent white magic channeled through the flail, the spider-woman swiftly spun silk to snare it.
But Azadin loosed an arrow. It struck the flail’s haft dead-on, sending the weapon soaring high to evade the webs.
“N-No way!”
“Such archery…”
Brock had dismissed Ismail’s earlier shot as luck, but this confirmed it.
“The Herald Clan!? B-But a holy knight…”
Zibek’s status as a holy knight was obvious. A holy knight wielding such powerful white mana was rare even among their ranks. And one teaming up with the Herald Clan?
“When your cause is noble, allies gather.”
Azadin said that and stuck close to Brock. Meanwhile, Zibek’s Flail of Judgment plummeted toward the spider-woman. She wove webs overhead and slipped beneath to dodge.
The flail exploded in midair, shattering the webs. The fortress’s tiled roofs and bell tower’s lightning rod, tangled in the silk, crumbled together.
“Kyaaak!”
The spider-woman shrieked. She circled behind the bell tower to evade further attacks.
“Useless!”
Midiam fired an arrow. It tore through the air, curving mid-flight to pursue the spider-woman hiding behind the tower.
“Am-Awesome!”
Brock gaped. An arrow from a young girl packing such power, moving like it lived and breathed. He’d heard rumors of the Herald Clan’s prowess, but now he saw they could slay even the divine king and his nobles.
As the spider-woman wailed behind the tower, the ground around her sank, and small spiders erupted from below. Small relative to her, but huntsman-spider-sized. Even without venom, their bites would be lethal.
“No, wait! Fran! Hear me out! I was all wrong!”
Sir Brock begged, but the spider-woman ignored him.
“You’re just addled by your duties as a vassal! Strip away your vassal duties, your knightly oaths, and you’ll think only of love.”
Azadin, listening, clicked his tongue.
*What the hell did this idiot say to bewitch one young girl?*
He’d probably justified not remarrying his mistress by claiming his marriage was hell but he couldn’t divorce due to his knightly and vassal obligations.
Just then, Scott muttered.
“Hey. The naga woman’s fleeing.”
While Azadin’s group battled the spiders, Shati had bolted between the buildings.
“Shh. Quiet.”
Azadin intended to track Shati, so he’d let her run deliberately.
He could’ve just asked Sir Brock about nearby merchants or brothels to find the nagas’ lair without tricks… but having Shati lead the way on her own feet was better, no?
“So we finish that spider-woman quick? Should I step in?”
Scott asked.
“No. Hold off on necromancy in front of people.”
“I’m not limited to necromancy.”
“Use colorless mana instead of black. Leave the big one, just the spiderlings.”
“What about her? Gonna spare her?”
“Nah. She’s already lost her mind. Pity, but no choice.”
Azadin said that, drew his bow and sword, and advanced. The spiders lunged at him in unison…
-Thwack!
Azadin slashed, severing the charging spiders’ legs, then flicked the hand holding his bow. The bowstring wrapped around his upper arm, securing the bow to his arm and freeing his hand. In an instant, he’d shifted from bow to fist.
His punch pierced a spider’s abdomen. He hoisted the dead spider by it.
“Here we go!”
Azadin used it as a shield to block incoming spider silk.
-Snap!
The spider-woman fired silk at him and yanked, but only ripped free an innocent spiderling that flew off.
“Ah! Damn it!”
She lamented catching a spiderling instead of Azadin, but the moment it stuck to her foreleg, her lower spider body—equivalent to human hips—opened its maw and slurped it up.
The spiderling deflated as its fluids were drained. The motion was so swift, instinct drove her to sink fangs into anything her forelegs grabbed, no thought required.
“Too bad. She’s become a beast already.”
Azadin grabbed his bow again and unleashed arrows at Fran in rapid succession.
He drew the heavy bowstring—requiring full strength per shot—with ease, firing one after another in a steady *twang-twang-twang*. He even picked up a severed spider leg, hooked it to the string, and loosed it like an arrow.
-Thud-thud-thud!
Arrows and spider legs riddled her body. She screamed as blood sprayed, soaking her legs. The massive spider-woman couldn’t cling to her frozen webs and slipped, tumbling down.
Plus, the icy silk shattered like a melting waterfall, crashing in a clamor.
-Boom!
The earth shook with the impact as she hit the ground.
“Uwaaaah! Why are you doing this! I just want to save Sir Brock! Why interfere!”
Her mind shattered, the spider-woman wailed like a child. Azadin let out a long sigh at the sight.
“What a pointless mess.”
For a fool noble’s affair, things had spiraled way out of control.