Chapter 18
Hearing the shout, Van immediately ducked. At the same time, the hole in the Witch’s palm vibrated, and her attack began.
Dozens of dark spikes spread out in a fan shape.
The dark spikes flew past Van’s lower back and slammed into the tree behind him with a series of heavy thuds. Upon impact, the spikes instantly shattered into sharp fragments and scattered.
Without pausing to check the attack he had just dodged, Van seized the opening and unleashed his Sword Aura. Unable to conjure a barrier in time, the Witch pulled back, but the Sword Aura grazed her shoulder, leaving a shallow wound.
“Tch!”
Drops of purple blood splattered across her pale cheek. Veins bulged on the Witch’s forehead, clearly annoyed by the stinging pain.
“A mere human!”
Her glaring eyes turned toward Cadel. She seemed deeply displeased that her magic had been seen through. Regardless, Cadel secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
To think she’d use Shadow Barrage there. Thank god Van has such incredible reaction speed. Otherwise, the pierced corpse would have come flying all the way over here.
Living up to her title as a Witch, her casting speed was no joke. Moreover, true to dark-attribute magic, all her attacks were pitch-black. It wasn’t ideal to face them late at night in such a dark forest.
But it’s not like I can just light up the whole area, either…
Doing so would ruin all the hard work he had put into getting on the Witch’s nerves. Smacking his lips, Cadel opened the [Magic Attribute Window].
[Magic Attribute Distribution]
[Available Points: 10]
[Fire: 10/100]
[Ice: 0/100]
[Lightning: 0/100]
[Wind: 0/100]
[Earth: 0/100]
[Light: 0/100]
[Darkness: 0/100]
The points I received as a reward from the last tutorial quest… I was saving them since I didn’t know what kind of enemies we’d face. I guess it’s about time I put them to use.
Unfortunately, flexible attribute distribution wasn’t easy in ‘Hero of Knights’. Reverting a point distribution once it was decided required an expensive item. Therefore, right now, when he needed to focus on raising his knights, he couldn’t afford to waste points carelessly.
Since the enemy is dark-attribute, allocating them to the opposing light attribute wouldn’t be bad. As long as it isn’t the same dark attribute, anything I pick would be decent… but going all-in on fire instead of being indecisive is fine too.
Cadel’s mind raced.
Van constantly unleashed Sword Aura to keep the Witch in check, and the Witch, using the female believer as a shield, retreated while tenaciously calculating the timing to attack. But she still hadn’t let her guard down against her surroundings. Rather, as if realizing Cadel wasn’t much of a threat, she stopped watching them both so that half her attention went to Van, and the rest to scanning the area.
She thinks more people might show up. I need to draw her attention completely so she can’t even entertain the thought!
He couldn’t order Van to go all out. It was because of the female believer held by the Witch. They had to bring back a living believer, if only for the temple’s reward. The Witch was already using the woman as a meat shield while just testing the waters, so if a fierce battle broke out, the outcome was obvious.
I need to make her turn her eyes back this way. I need an attribute that can inflate my apparent skill… with minimal mana.
He made his decision. Swallowing dryly, Cadel finished distributing his points. Whether this was a good choice or not, he would find out once he used it.
* * *
Meanwhile, the Witch, having allowed a small wound, was slowly formulating a plan to launch a full-scale attack to recover her deeply bruised pride.
She was certain. That human swordsman couldn’t harm this woman. In that case, she would use this woman as a shield and deliver a fatal blow right under his nose.
After that, she just needed to dispose of the flashy but ineffectual mage and savor the well-prepared feast. She had been continuously keeping an eye on her surroundings, but there was no sign of other humans joining the fray. She hadn’t awakened from her cold, grueling hibernation just to be done in by such pathetic trash.
Before you even realize it, you will slowly be isolated. The great cause is near… Hmm?
But while gathering her mana, a scorching gust of wind rushed in from the direction of the mage she had completely pushed to the back of her mind. Flustered, she shifted her gaze and saw a stream of fire rearing its head like a massive serpent, flickering menacingly.
“Fire magic? What is with that absurd size…?”
Furthermore, what was with that movement? Was it even possible for such a massive stream of fire to move at that speed while dodging all the trees and grass?
The stream of fire bent freely as if it were a living creature with a mind of its own, closing in on the ground she stood on. Even though it was merely heading in her direction, gusts of intense heat washed over her, hot enough to scorch her skin.
He can control fire this delicately? …No way. That first fireball wasn’t just to restrict my movement, but he deliberately used a weak attack to deceive me!
Naturally, the power of Cadel’s fire magic remained exactly the same. The only thing that had changed was the addition of the “wind” attribute to his magic. However, unaware that Cadel was creating wind paths to artificially control the fire’s range and trajectory, the Witch found the fact that she had been played by a human’s trick unbearably insulting.
Grinding her teeth, she launched a barrage of black spheres to block the approaching stream of fire. But the stream of fire swiftly and frustratingly changed its trajectory, evading her attacks. At this rate, she would be surrounded by that fire and the human swordsman!
Feeling a sense of urgency for the first time, the Witch whipped her head around to look at Van. He was still maintaining a moderate distance, unleashing Sword Aura whenever he saw an opening. Even now, crimson Sword Aura was condensing on his massive greatsword.
A strange light flashed in the Witch’s eyes. The mage’s attack wouldn’t swallow up his own ally. The swordsman would likely view her running toward him to escape the fire as the “misjudgment of a cornered prey.”
I’ll end this.
That was exactly what she wanted. Escaping the stream of fire that had reached right in front of her, she threw herself toward Van. Van immediately raised his greatsword, aiming for the Witch’s neck, but…
“Go on, try and kill me!”
The Witch thrust Mary forward, curling the corners of her mouth up into a chilling smile. As expected, Van couldn’t swing his greatsword.
Van hesitated at the sight of Mary. It was her chance.
Placing her hand on Mary’s back, she finished preparing to unleash her attack. Her plan was to fire a barrage of those dark spikes right through Mary’s body. Taking the attack head-on, Mary’s body would be left in an inedible state, but it didn’t matter. There would be plenty of opportunities in the future.
“Farewell, pesky human.”
The Witch shoved Mary forward, practically stuffing her into Van’s arms. The hand resting on Mary’s back turned pitch-black. Just as Van instinctively caught Mary and flinched at the palpable murderous intent he could sense.
“No! Dodge, Van!”
Along with Cadel’s panicked shout, a streak of light flashed between them.
“What…”
The triumphant Witch’s smooth brow furrowed. She looked at her right hand, which had been dyed in black mana and perfectly prepped to deploy her magic just a moment ago.
She could no longer feel any mana in her right hand. How could this suddenly happen? Never once had she failed to discharge a spell right on the verge of casting.
Just as she, feeling puzzled, tried to infuse it with mana once again…
Her right arm, which had been perfectly attached just a second ago, dropped to the ground with a thud, absurdly anti-climactic.
“…Huh?”
For a moment, her thoughts ground to a halt.
She parted her lips slightly, staring at the empty space below her elbow. The cross-section was bewilderingly clean. Her right arm had vanished so neatly it felt as if someone had simply hidden the area below her elbow, stripping the moment of all reality.
And a moment later.
Before the pain of the severed arm could even register, a massive geyser of blood erupted from the stump. The dark purple blood shot straight toward Van, who was standing right in front of her. Van blocked all of it with the flat of his greatsword.
Absorbing the blood in an instant, the greatsword vibrated, taking on a redder hue than before.
“A-Ah… Aaaagh!”
Screaming from the delayed agony, she glared at Van with wide eyes. His face was half-hidden by the greatsword blocking his front. His blood-red eyes curved slightly, exuding a sinister aura.
“Thanks for the meal.”
Perhaps due to the shock of having her arm severed out of nowhere, she failed to realize that Mary, whom she had tried to use as bait just moments ago, was no longer in Van’s arms.
Nor did she realize that the missing Mary had been scooped up by a third party she hadn’t noticed until now, and delivered straight into the hands of the mage she had only briefly been wary of.
