Ch.468Episode 17 – The Blood-Drinking Tree

Life is a series of surprises.

Though I thought I had lived for quite some time, there were still too many things in this world that I didn’t know.

A cool sensation washes over me.

The blade resting on my nape emanates a chilling aura.

“Who are you people?”

A knight in plate armor questions me.

Episode 17 – The Blood-Drinking Tree

A red radiance resembling a halo floats above the helmet, and the knight aims a greatsword—which appeared from who knows where—at my throat.

Then comes another question.

“I’ll ask once more. Who are you people?”

It was a question as difficult to decipher as the knight’s mysterious identity.

“Were you sent by the Church? Or are you from the Dawn Society?”

“……”

The Church I could understand, but what on earth was the Dawn Society? Despite researching countless organizations since my appointment to the Laterano embassy, I had never heard of such a place.

The knight tightened their grip on the sword, as if urging an answer. A dull metallic sound echoed briefly. The visibly heavy greatsword moved slightly.

The way this person freely wielded what must have been a several dozen kilogram hunk of metal—with just one hand, no less—was clearly abnormal. But it wasn’t surprising. This world had always been half-mad to begin with.

I removed my hand from the firearm on the floor and began staring at the helmet.

“And who might you be?”

There was no answer. The knight chose silence, merely tightening their grip on the greatsword without taking any other action.

Whether man or woman, the knight remained tight-lipped, but one thing seemed certain—this person was not a vampire.

That much was clear from their demeanor.

“You’re not a vampire?”

“Vampires? Do those wicked creatures still remain in this land?”

The suspicious voice echoed in my mind. The knight’s voice carried a subtle resonance, like an organ.

The armor emitted a metallic sound. The knight stepped back while still aiming the greatsword, then let out a short contemplative hum.

“Hmm…”

For a while, the knight said nothing, perhaps organizing their thoughts or sizing me up. Then, as if suddenly remembering something, they were about to ask a question.

Just as their mouth was about to open—

I rolled across the floor to the side, and immediately after, a fiery bolt struck where the helmet had been.

—WHOOSH!

The greatsword swung through the air as sparks flew in all directions. Having detected the ambush, the knight turned and deflected the flames. The massive sword pushed back the fire like a shield, but through the scattered flames came a single stream of fire.

Just before the straight beam of flame could touch the plate armor, the greatsword was raised like a shield to receive the attack. Like waves breaking against a seawall and scattering into white foam, the flames bloomed spectacularly.

“Camilla!”

“Get away!”

As soon as I got to my feet and shouted, a cry came from midair. Approaching from the knight’s blind spot, Camilla was bombarding them with flames, pushing the opponent back.

“Wait, stop—”

Just as I was about to shout something, a wind from behind roughly grabbed and shook my hair. Before I could turn my head, blue lines narrowly grazed past my eyes.

Tendrils of magical power wrapped around the plate armor. As the arm swinging the greatsword stopped, the knight looked up at their right arm. Taut strings, looking as if they might snap at any moment, came into view—

“You should have watched your back.”

Deep purple eyes gleamed.

While distracted by the flames, Francesca had successfully immobilized the knight’s movements.

Realizing her presence, the knight immediately counterattacked. They kicked a piece of rock on the ground, shooting it like a projectile.

An attack that would crush bones if it hit. As Francesca, with strings wrapped around her gloved hand, gently waved her other hand, a massive arm made of concrete and rock began to block the path in front of her protectively.

—BOOM!!

—Crumble…!

The projectile shattered upon impact with the concrete, and the core embedded in the magnificent body emitted a bright light.

The golem stepped forward to protect its master. As it cradled Francesca with one arm, she naturally leaned back against it.

—Rumble, thud.

The golem moved according to the sorceress’s command.

After placing Francesca in a safe location, the golem charged toward the knight and swung its massive arm. The knight, who had been breaking free from the restraints, raised their unbound arm.

The empty gauntlet extended toward the golem. Compared to the golem’s rough and sharp arm, the plate armor looked infinitely fragile. However, when the extended hand precisely targeted the golem, the golem’s seemingly unstoppable punch halted in midair.

—WOONG—!!

Just before the fist could touch the armor, the air began to distort, and a dull explosive sound erupted. Recognizing that the attack had been blocked, Francesca tried to directly control the golem, but the knight moved first.

The extended gauntlet contracted. As if grasping at the air, the knight closed their open hand into a fist. With a crack! the concrete and rock split, and the golem’s body crumpled like a sheet of paper.

The massive body was mercilessly crushed, and the protruding fragments clawed at the gears. The gears, resonating with the sorceress’s magic, emitted an intense light and rotated violently, but they stopped functioning due to the concrete and rock constricting from all sides.

It happened in an instant.

“Tch.”

Francesca clicked her tongue briefly after confirming that the golem’s core had stopped. With the core containing pure magical power now damaged, all that remained was an explosion.

As the core emitted an ominous light, the protective magic built into the magical tool activated.

A purple hemisphere enveloped us, and Camilla, who had appeared from midair, hugged me and Francesca tightly while screaming.

“GYAAAAH! The Titan is self-destructing!”

“No, stop talking nonsense and everyone calm down!”

“Calm down my ass! We’re about to die, how can we calm down?!”

“HUAAAARGH!”

And then the explosion occurred.

With a tremendous boom, a shockwave erupted. Thanks to Camilla using teleportation magic just before the shockwave hit us, we were barely able to escape the blast radius.

“Oof!”

Camilla, falling from midair, screamed. As a bonus, she vigorously rubbed her forehead after banging it against the table.

“Is it dead?!”

Francesca raised her voice urgently, lifting her head. Still lying on the floor, she quickly regained her senses and checked on the knight who had been caught in the explosion.

“Listen to me! Stop fighting, I said!”

I restrained the two with an urgent voice while glancing at where the knight had been. Smoke and dust filled the air, and the hazy explosion cloud floating in the air was tinged with a red hue.

The knight wasn’t dead. It was an instinctive feeling.

And that feeling was soon proven true.

Right after the smoke cleared, the knight emerged from the deeply gouged concrete. Despite the tremendous explosion, there wasn’t even a scratch on them.

After brushing off the dust on their plate armor, the knight looked around at the crater they were standing in.

“…Impressive.”

The deep voice resonated in my mind. After expressing admiration, the knight looked around broadly, then naturally reached behind their back.

What the knight held was a hammer. They reached behind their back and grasped a handle that had appeared from nowhere. As if the hammer had been there all along.

After climbing out of the crater, the knight raised the arm holding the hammer high into the sky.

“Ah, this is driving me crazy…”

I tried to persuade the two to “at least hear what they have to say,” but it didn’t work at all.

“What nonsense are you suddenly spouting?!”

“Have you lost your mind, sir?”

“I said let’s just talk, why are you reacting like this?”

“If someone who was trying to kill you moments ago suddenly asks for a conversation, wouldn’t anyone find it absurd?”

“……”

Even I had to admit it was a reasonable assessment.

Camilla and Francesca had no intention of backing down. The determination to finish this once and for all was evident in their eyes.

And perhaps the opponent’s thoughts weren’t much different.

Whoosh— The hammer rotated widely, creating an intimidating sound.

After spinning the massive hammer as if it were a toy, the knight firmly readjusted their grip on the handle. Then they assumed a stance as if about to attack at any moment.

“……”

The knight was staring at us with perfect posture. There was not a hint of humanity to be found in that figure, whose posture—even breathing—remained undisturbed.

Should we fight like this? Am I really under some kind of delusion?

After retrieving the rifle I had dropped on the floor, I looked at the knight with anxious eyes.

—Whoosh.

Just as the hammer, having completed one rotation, was being raised high into the sky—

—BANG!!

A single gunshot successfully interrupted the knight’s attack.

A bullet lodged itself in the raised hammer. The bullet, which had flown through the darkness, collided with the hammer, causing it to be pushed back.

The knight didn’t lose grip of the hammer. After the pushed-back weapon collided with the ground, the knight retrieved it with both hands but instead of preparing for the next attack, examined their weapon.

“……”

The bullet was embedded in the hammer’s surface.

It was certainly no ordinary bullet. No mass-produced item in the world could contain such a refined energy.

After removing the bullet lodged in the weapon, the knight silently caressed the deformed projectile.

“Stop right there.”

A person walked out from the darkness. It was the shooter who had fired the bullet.

A slender voice indicated that the shooter was female. The knight, who had been fiddling with the bullet, set the hammer down on the floor and waited for her to reveal herself.

And Camilla and Francesca,

“Hah. Where on earth have you been hiding?”

“We’re saved…”

Each let out a sigh of relief and a mild rebuke.

It was then that a person emerged from the shadow-draped corridor. A woman with silky black hair, carrying a revolver in one hand, entered the battlefield.

“Phew—”

While exhaling a puff of whitish cigarette smoke.

Placing the cigarillo she had been holding between her lips on her finger, she put her hand on her hip. And with a face full of annoyance and fatigue, she stood with one leg casually forward.

“Fighting and causing a ruckus in a sacred place.”

The 58th Saint of the Church.

Veronica.

The Bell of Angels, the Silver Bullet Shooter who brought down demons, the greatest badass the Papal State ever produced.

“Arrest them all. Damn bastards.”

Probably, that’s who she was.