Chapter 170 – The Witch and the Black Knight (47)

Rea​d on Ka​tRead​ingCa​f​e

The Witch of the Sea, Lapis.

The mid-boss of Aria Chronicle Part 2, the first to embody a witch’s curse while also triggering Aria’s awakening.

With her conditional Ulti, broken only within the ocean, she tormented players, twisting them into knots. If you had to name the top five most infuriating bosses, she’d easily make the list.

And reality was even worse.

Far worse than I’d initially feared.

“Estelle, behind you!”

“Got it!”

Thanks to Edel’s warning, I dodged the curse lunging at my back and swung the Triceratops.

Right. This curse.

The curse, once dissolved into the sea, had begun taking shape, projecting Lapis’s will.

Meaning we’d entered Phase 2.

No matter how much the Triceratops devoured, the curse surged endlessly, as boundless as the ocean itself.

“There’s no end to it.”

Just as Edel said, it truly was endless.

The relentless curse left us gasping for breath.

Even with protective magic circles, the curse seeped through, leaving wounds all over our bodies.

Neither Edel nor I were in good shape.

Time blurred in the abyssal depths.

Maybe it was just my imagination, but Edel’s expression looked strained.

“You’re not tired already, are you?”

“I can’t afford to look pathetic in front of you, Estelle.”

What’s that supposed to mean?

Ah, right.

He’d vowed to grow stronger through pure love, so as a disciple, he couldn’t show weakness in front of his teacher.

If that was his reasoning, I couldn’t exactly scold him for it.

I sliced through a curse aiming for my heart.

Devoured another lunging for the Triceratops.

Edel’s demonic energy repelled the ones slipping through blind spots.

A meaningless war of attrition.

And with the curse tightening around us, our room to maneuver was shrinking fast.

“Estelle, I’ve realized something important.”

“What?!”

“Lapis is targeting you.”

Damn it, really?!

I was already fighting for my life, and he had to state the obvious!

Then again, Edel had no way of knowing the truth about the Triceratops.

“It’s because of the Triceratops! It’s what Ophé wants!”

After cleaving through another wave of curses, I barely had time to catch my breath before turning to assess the battlefield.

“Ugh… Her patterns are insane!”

Even worse than in the game.

True to Phase 2, Lapis had long since vanished into the curse-tainted abyss.

If only she’d show herself, we could counter her Ulti, but she was just spamming curses, waiting for an opening. It was maddening.

If this kept up, Lapis, with her infinite curse output, would win by default.

“Estelle, what if we bait her by offering that?”

“No.”

I shut down Edel’s suggestion immediately.

I knew what he was implying.

But there were two reasons we couldn’t.

First, Edel’s attacks alone couldn’t break through the curse shielding Lapis.

From what I’d seen, even pouring massive amounts of demonic energy into her defenses only pushed her back slightly.

Without the Triceratops, the only thing capable of devouring curses, we had no way to land a decisive blow.

Second, if the Triceratops fell into Ophé’s hands, things wouldn’t end with just losing an eye.

The Triceratops was the bone of a dragon capable of swallowing the world, far beyond any mere treasure.

And Lapis’s price would be equally steep.

If Ophé paid a cost he couldn’t afford and got devoured by Lapis…

Would the curse run rampant, bringing ruin?

Would it spread across the world, swallowing the southern continent where Ophé’s traces remained?

The future that followed… was an unknown even to me.

“The moment we hand over the Triceratops, it’s over.”

“……”

After a brief silence, Edel scanned our surroundings.

He didn’t ask why we couldn’t surrender it.

The endless tide of curses.

The battlefield shrinking by the second.

Or perhaps he was searching for something hidden deep within the abyss beyond the curse.

Finally, as if all calculations were complete, he looked at me.

“Then we have no choice but to reset the problem.”

“Reset?”

“Yes. We persuade the elf. It’s still a viable option, isn’t it?”

“Viable…? I guess?”

Lapis’s heart wasn’t the curse embedded in her chest, it was Ophé himself.

The only way to break through Lapis’s near-invincible curse barrier right now… was through Ophé.

But there were two more problems with targeting him.

“Except there’s an issue.”

“An issue? What?”

While slashing through curses mid-current, I shouted my explanation.

“We don’t know where Ophé is!”

The abyss wasn’t just dark.

The curse-tainted currents disrupted mana flow, and detection spells lost all direction.

It was as if the entire ocean had become Lapis’s body, moving to protect its heart.

And most importantly—

“Even if we find Ophé, Lapis will block us!”

Knowing his location meant nothing if we couldn’t reach him.

“Then it’s no problem. I know where the elf is.”

“Huh…?”

How could Edel know when even my detection spells failed?

“That bastard stared at your chest like he wanted to drill a hole through it. So I memorized his stench. To me, his foul odor is worse than this curse.”

“……”

For a moment, I was speechless.

There were too many things wrong with that statement.

Is he a damn bloodhound or something?!

Now that I thought about it, he’d once said my scent was like sweet fruit or some nonsense…

And what about my chest?!

Sure, Ophé had looked—glanced—but…

…Drilled a hole through it?!

In the middle of this life-or-death situation, Edel’s dead-serious tone left me at a loss for words.

“O-Oh? So… where is he now?”

“Over there. His stench is buried under the fishy reek.”

Edel pointed in a direction where nothing seemed out of the ordinary, yet he sounded absolutely certain.

Fine. Let’s say Ophé’s there.

Then who’s dealing with Lapis?

At the end of the day, she was the real problem.

Even if we knew Ophé’s location, if Lapis blocked us… it wouldn’t be much different from now.

“So one of us persuades the elf. The other holds off Lapis. A two-person job. Heh… I suppose this is pure love too. Therefore—”

Edel raised his demonic sword, and his energy began surging violently.

“Estelle, you handle the elf.”

“In your condition—”

“I’ll keep Lapis occupied in the meantime.”

He cut me off before I could argue further.

His tone was calm, as if this was the only way.

His gaze locked onto something beyond the curse—Lapis’s hidden form.

“Even the Demon King never ignored me. I won’t tolerate being dismissed like this.”

Edel’s demonic energy rose like a quiet storm.

At the same time, his sharp fangs, distinctly demonic, bared themselves, embodying his fury.

“Edel…”

Unconsciously, I called his name, stunned by this side of him I’d never seen before.

Angry Edel… doesn’t look bad.

The thought flashed through my mind before I violently shook my head.

“I’ll leave Lapis to you.”

Fighting in his wounded state was insane.

But the anger in his eyes, the unshakable resolve—

This new facet of him, unseen in all our time together… left me a little dazed.

More than anything… I wanted to trust him.

So I decided to let him handle it.

Holding him back with worry and fear… would’ve been no different from trampling on his pride.

“But on one condition.”

Edel simply looked at me, waiting.

His serious eyes said he didn’t need further explanation.

“Don’t overdo it.”

“Trust me.”

That was enough.

“I’ll clear the path.”

“No. We’re fighting together, remember?”

The demonic energy radiating from Edel suddenly retracted into his armor.

Even his sword dissolved into the black metal.

Blade fragments jutted from the gaps in his armor.

Demonic claws extended from his fingertips.

The armor itself took on a more monstrous, demonic shape.

Black Knight, Phase 3.

The same form he’d used against me.

Now, it manifested fully before my eyes.

“It’s a joint attack. You can’t hog all the glory.”

“Don’t worry. But if you’re late, there won’t be any leftovers.”

As we exchanged pointless banter—

A crimson glow erupted from the Triceratops, intertwining with Edel’s inky-black energy in a double helix.

The spiraling force tore through the abyss, heading straight where Edel had pointed—toward Ophé.

The curse, thinned by Edel’s pressure, split apart as the Triceratops’s power carved out an empty path.

Before the curse could close the gap, I reinforced my body with mana and shot forward.

“Did you think I’d let you?!”

Lapis emerged from the curse, but I ignored her.

After all—

“Your opponent is me.”

Edel, now in Phase 3, slammed into her with raw demonic force before her tentacles could even strike.