Chapter 32

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“Kuh, kuaaak!!”

Oswin let out a painful scream.

The moment he reached out to Lucy, his arm was severed with a cold sensation.

“M-my arm…!!”

His arm rolled on the ground, blood gushing out.

“How dare you lay your hands on her.”

A cold voice echoed.

It was a deep voice, resonating like it came from a cave.

Oswin slowly raised his gaze.

In front of him stood a knight clad in black armor.

The Death Knight, Darcan.

Darcan held a large greatsword, and blood dripped from its blade.

“How dare you try to touch our master’s precious body with your filthy hands… I will never forgive this…!”

Darcan’s blue eyes glowed fiercely as he prepared to swing his sword again.

At that moment, Lucy grabbed Darcan’s arm.

“Uh, ugh…!”

Darcan made a strange sound and stopped his movement.

“Don’t kill him.”

Lucy said.

“Not yet.”

“U-understood, Master…”

Darcan staggered back, and Lucy approached Oswin, asking,

“Where’s Ellie?”

“You… you…”

Oswin was too shocked to form a proper sentence.

The knight in black armor who had just severed his arm.

He wasn’t a living being.

He was undead.

Which meant,

“Y-you’re really a witch…!”

Lucy nodded calmly.

“That’s right.”

She had no intention of hiding it.

After all, she would need to use her powers to get Ellie back.

“Bishop! What’s happening?!”

Guards came rushing in.

They must have heard Oswin’s scream.

“Th-there’s an undead here!”

Oswin shouted.

The guards looked at Darcan in shock.

“…!”

Jet-black armor. Glowing blue eyes.

It was clearly an undead.

Swish—!

The guards drew their swords and surrounded Darcan and Lucy.

Yet, Lucy’s expression remained calm.

Her red eyes were still fixed on Oswin.

“Where’s Ellie?”

Lucy asked again.

Oswin didn’t answer her question.

Instead, he stopped the bleeding from his severed arm and shouted at the guards.

“Capture that witch! Don’t kill her!”

Even in this situation, Oswin’s eyes gleamed with desire.

“…I’ll kill her myself!”

[What should we do, Master?]

Darcan’s voice echoed in Lucy’s mind.

It was possible to communicate directly with summoned undead or demons without speaking aloud.

[Should I deal with these guys?]

Darcan looked at the guards surrounding them.

[No.]

Lucy shook her head.

[Leave them to Amon. You grab Oswin.]

[Understood.]

Thud!

Darcan kicked off the ground and charged towards Oswin.

“H-he’s moving! Stop him!”

“Don’t let him reach the Bishop!”

The guards frantically tried to block Darcan, swinging their swords, but it was useless.

Darcan simply crashed through them.

“Kuhak!”

The guards who collided with Darcan were sent flying, tumbling to the ground.

Meanwhile, a few other guards approached Lucy.

Following Oswin’s order not to kill her, they didn’t swing their swords.

Instead, they reached out to grab her.

One guard managed to grab Lucy’s wrist.

“Got her!”

“Subdue her now!”

Witches are beings who use magic.

So, how do you subdue a witch so she can’t use magic?

It’s simple.

Cover her mouth so she can’t chant spells.

Knowing this, one guard quickly covered Lucy’s mouth.

Another guard twisted Lucy’s arm behind her back and forced her to the ground.

Lucy, with her mouth covered and arm twisted, was subdued.

It was a sight that would have made Oswin gasp, but he had no time to look at Lucy now.

“St-stop him, you idiots! Stop him! He’s coming for me!”

Darcan was charging toward Oswin with terrifying momentum.

“Kuhak!”

The guards were helplessly knocked aside, unable to stop Darcan at all.

‘Sh-should I have called the holy knights…?’

There were about thirty guards, but it seemed far from enough to stop Darcan.

This wasn’t a problem that could be solved just by numbers.

Darcan was a high-level undead.

To stop him, they needed the Holy Knights, not just guards.

“D-damn it!”

Before he knew it, Darcan was right in front of Oswin.

Oswin stretched out his remaining arm and activated a holy spell.

“Holy Burst!”

With Oswin’s shout, a blinding white light exploded.

A powerful holy spell from a bishop-level clergyman.

It might have been effective against low-level undead, but it had no effect on Darcan.

Darcan swung his greatsword and easily shattered Oswin’s holy spell.

“Huh…!”

Oswin collapsed to the ground in terror.

Though he still had plenty of divine power left, he couldn’t muster the courage to try anything else.

He had lost the will to fight.

If the Papal Court had seen this, they would have been deeply disappointed.

A bishop-level priest, reduced to such a helpless state.

Of course, Oswin couldn’t help it.

Despite possessing exceptional divine power, he had never truly utilized it.

The holy magic he used was limited to blessing children or healing the sick.

Though his divine power was strong, his magical abilities remained at the level of a low-ranking priest.

Moreover, this was the first time he had ever faced an undead head-on.

“Get up, pig.”

Darcan grabbed Oswin by the collar and forcibly lifted him.

His strength was so immense that Oswin’s clothes tore with a rip.

Oswin flailed his remaining arm, barely managing to stand.

“P-please spare me…”

Oswin’s face was filled with terror, and his body trembled uncontrollably.

Darcan clicked his tongue at the pitiful sight.

“What an ugly creature.”

“…”

For Oswin, it had been a long time since he had been insulted to his face like this.

Of course, he had heard such things often as a child, but this was the first time since becoming a priest.

“P-please spare me… I-I’ll tell you where Ellie is, please…”

Oswin pleaded, his face drenched in sweat.

“…”

Darcan’s blue eyes dimmed slightly, as if narrowing.

“How can someone like this wield divine power?”

Thud!

Darcan’s fist slammed into Oswin’s stomach.

Oswin’s belly jiggled violently.

“Guhk!”

Oswin bent over, vomiting everything he had eaten.

“…”

Darcan quickly averted his gaze.

Even as an undead, such a nauseating sight was hard to stomach.

“Guh… guhh…”

Oswin knelt on the ground, writhing in pain.

Darcan firmly grabbed the back of his neck and looked toward where Lucy was.

“Oh…”

For a moment, Darcan’s blue eyes flickered intensely.

Where Lucy was.

A massacre was unfolding there.

“Open your mouth.”

The guards subduing Lucy tried to shove a cloth into her mouth.

That way, they wouldn’t have to keep her mouth covered to prevent her from chanting spells.

But Lucy clenched her teeth and resisted.

She hadn’t resisted much when her wrist was grabbed or when her arm was twisted and she was forced to the ground, but she couldn’t tolerate a strange cloth being shoved into her mouth.

And she didn’t need to tolerate it.

“…Kekeke.”

A chilling laugh echoed, and shadows deepened around them.

“?”

The guards slowly turned their heads.

“Gasp…!”

Terror spread across their faces.

Behind them stood Amon.

“Long time no see, Lucy.”

At Amon’s words, Lucy simply blinked.

Her mouth was covered by the guard’s hand, so she couldn’t speak.

Of course, even if she could, summoning Amon wasn’t difficult for Lucy.

Lucy didn’t need to chant spells aloud; she could activate skills with her will alone.

[Take care of them.]

“Understood.”

Amon, who had received Lucy’s command in his mind, grabbed the head of the guard in front of him and bit into it.

Crunch—!

“…”

The guard, now headless, slumped to the ground.

“Gah, what the hell!”

“It’s a demon! This girl summoned a demon!”

“Run away!”

The remaining guards began to flee in terror.

They weren’t knights.

Though they had received some training, they were still just guards.

An undead in black armor was bad enough, but a demon that chewed off heads?

They had no courage to fight.

“Keke, I won’t let you escape!”

But it was impossible for mere humans to outrun a demon moving at invisible speeds.

Crunch!

In the end, the guards didn’t make it more than a few steps before they all lost their lives.

“…”

Lucy brushed herself off and stood up, looking around.

Headless corpses were scattered everywhere, and the landscaping and grass were stained with blood.

“Good job, Amon.”

Lucy flicked her hand, and Amon bowed, bringing his head closer.

Pat pat—

Lucy stroked Amon’s wriggling head and looked toward where Darcan was.

Darcan was also walking toward her, dragging Oswin by the scruff of his neck.

Translator Note

T/N (Translator’s note):
Come to think of it, this is the first time the two summons meet face to face.

At least from our perspective…