Ch.78Chapter 78: Case Overview

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Around midnight, as yesterday turned into today.

Three knights of the Imperial Knights, moderately intoxicated, had spent a pleasant evening at the Adler Inn.

The three formed a group and made their way toward their respective lodgings.

The three knights who had shared the table were all powerful warriors representing the best of their respective age groups among the knights stationed at this fortress.

Sir William Vader, the oldest knight in the fortress except for Lord Nighthart.

Sir Renart Karnap, who had built a reputation through numerous military achievements while serving exclusively in this fortress before reaching his forties.

Sir Löwenhart Eckhart, who despite being the youngest among the fortress knights, had earned a reputation for mastering the intricacies of Imperial formal swordsmanship at a remarkably young age.

These battle-hardened knights, despite their considerable age differences, were close enough to drink together informally in private settings after having shared countless battles.

So on payday, they drank together as usual.

And this continued until the time they needed to return after enjoying quite a bit of alcohol.

Although they were drunk, they weren’t so intoxicated that they couldn’t control their bodies, and even if they had been heavily inebriated, there were very few in this fortress who could pose a threat to these three.

However, to faithfully execute the order from their superior, Iriana Ranos, which essentially stated that regardless of rank, at least three people should move together as a group since no one could predict what might happen inside the fortress at such a late hour near midnight.

Since the three happened to be staying in the same lodging, they naturally formed a group as they left the Adler Inn and headed back after completing their evening.

Even the ordinary soldiers stationed at this fortress, who weren’t even minor officials, possessed overwhelming physical capabilities compared to soldiers stationed at other strategic points.

With three Imperial Knights together—knights who couldn’t be subdued even if hundreds of such soldiers charged at them—

They would have smoothly entered their lodgings, their final destination after leaving the Adler Inn, had nothing unusual happened.

That is, until they encountered an unidentified figure standing and waiting right near their lodgings.

Last evening was exceptionally bright with moonlight due to the volcanic ash that Lord Nighthart had completely blown away.

However, even in such a bright night sky, they couldn’t properly identify the person as the figure had thoroughly wrapped themselves in a robe, concealing any physical characteristics that might have allowed identification.

The only thing they could discern was a slender frame that might suggest the figure was female.

But this wasn’t the women’s quarters, including those for female soldiers.

And naturally, the silhouette was unfamiliar compared to anyone they knew who stayed in these lodgings.

Upon realizing this, the mood of the three men who had been enjoying their walk home changed, they said.

The three knights, sobering up instantly, surrounded themselves with battle aura and entered combat stance to confront the unidentified figure before them.

The unfortunate problem was that…

Before they could fully prepare to fight…

The unidentified figure had entered their space in the blink of an eye, which was their misfortune.

Sir William, the most senior knight who stood at the front of the three, tried to respond when he saw the approaching figure enter their space.

But he was struck squarely on his right cheek by the attacker’s outstretched hand.

He couldn’t respond to the opponent’s movement, which had entered his space and delivered a strike before he could even prepare to fight.

Honestly, even if he hadn’t been drunk, it would have been difficult to counter such a swift and fierce strike, according to the calm testimony of Sir Löwenhart who witnessed the scene.

As the slap struck, Sir William’s entire head seemed to ring violently, causing his body to jerk.

It was as severe as being hit in the jaw by the fist of a skilled fighter.

This disrupted the stance of the experienced knight who normally showed no openings.

Seeing the prey’s stance falter, the opponent didn’t miss the opportunity and cruelly severed Sir William’s major tendons, including his Achilles tendon, with a few effortless hand movements.

Needless to say, as a result of those cruel hand movements, Sir William collapsed on the spot, rendered incapacitated.

Appalled by this sight, the second senior knight, Sir Renart, attempted to subdue or kill the opponent in a joint attack with the young Sir Löwenhart who was behind him.

But before they could even complete one breath after entering combat stance…

The attacker who had incapacitated Sir William immediately extended their body and arm toward the next victim.

The extended arm this time came down with the edge of the right hand poised to split Sir Renart’s crown.

Sir Renart, the target, had no choice but to helplessly face the attack coming to split his head, without a chance to display his usually dazzling movements.

An overwhelming attack filled with killing intent, approaching with no chance to evade.

It was a sharp strike that even Sir Renart, with his body perfected through repeated training, thought would be fatal.

Fortunately, Sir Renart was able to avoid the opponent’s lethal attack by a hair’s breadth just before the terrifying hand blade reached his crown.

It was at that moment that Sir Löwenhart noticed the opponent’s blood-red eyes flickering like crimson flames, barely visible even in the unusually bright moonlight.

If he had succeeded in evading here, he thought he could immediately counterattack and subdue the opponent.

With this in mind, Sir Löwenhart immediately dove into the opponent’s exposed flank as they made a large movement against Sir Renart.

He attempted to kill the opponent by demonstrating his specialty—the ultra-swift Imperial drawing technique.

Until he witnessed a scene he couldn’t believe even with his own eyes.

It happened in an instant, they said.

Despite making such a large movement that left them completely exposed…

The opponent, as if they had never shown such an opening, extended their left hand and grabbed Sir Renart’s neck, who had just barely succeeded in evading.

Sir Renart wore a blank expression, not even comprehending why his neck had been seized.

The opponent violently threw Sir Renart’s neck aside.

As Sir Renart lost his balance and his body tilted, the opponent delivered a powerful kick to his abdomen.

Sir Renart let out a short scream and collapsed unconscious.

Even as he fell, the opponent’s cruel hand movements continued without exception, severing all the essential tendons needed to support the body with just a light gesture, completely incapacitating him.

The time it took for Sir Renart to fall after Sir William had collapsed was merely 5 seconds.

Sir Löwenhart, who watched this scene with astonished eyes, said he sensed his impending death from that moment.

Although he prided himself on his swordsmanship, believing he was no less skilled than his two seniors.

Against an entity with physical abilities that allowed them to toy with his two seniors like children while inflicting violence…

He felt the premise that his swordsmanship would be fully effective was fundamentally negated, naturally leading him to anticipate his own death.

That’s how Sir Löwenhart testified.

Of course, even while thinking this, he neither turned his back to the enemy nor refused the hopeless fight by fleeing.

While he judged that running away to save himself would be impossible…

His sense of duty as a knight compelled him to draw his sword, determined to buy time by at least hindering this demonic opponent rampaging inside the fortress.

He hoped to give time to comrades who might detect the anomaly and approach.

The moment the blood-red eyes of the opponent, who had toyed with two knights inflicting tremendous pain without killing them, met Sir Löwenhart’s…

He was astonished to see the opponent’s body, which he had fixed his gaze upon, vanish like smoke in an instant.

His body stiffened in surprise, but sensing the opponent had slipped behind him, he turned his head.

At that moment, a thunderous sound—not like the cutting of wind but more like an explosion—mercilessly struck his right ear, completely rupturing Sir Löwenhart’s right eardrum.

His ear went numb and his head spun, nearly causing his stance to collapse.

But enduring this with superhuman fortitude, what Sir Löwenhart witnessed was the robed opponent’s fist passing by his right ear.

Even though there seemed to be no force in the punch itself, let alone battle aura…

The fist, though it cut through empty space rather than hitting any object, produced a thunderous sound as if it were shattering space itself.

This showed that the attacker who had toyed with the three knights, though cruel in their techniques…

Was not someone whose skills could be underestimated based on their hand movements alone.

From just hearing my sister’s explanation, it wouldn’t have been surprising if Sir Löwenhart had lost his life or suffered a comparable fate.

Very fortunately, Sir Löwenhart was spared further harm before suffering the same fate as the two knights, thanks to the presence of someone approaching the knights’ quarters with heavy footsteps.

The identity of this presence that saved Sir Löwenhart was Lord Nighthart, who had repelled the invasion of the undead legion at noon yesterday with just a swing of his greatsword.

The mysterious figure wrapped in a robe seemed to judge that further rampage would not yield the desired results.

“You’re lucky. Lucky enough to be proud of it for the rest of your life.”

After leaving these words for Sir Löwenhart, the attacker instantly distanced themselves from him.

With movements too fast for the eye to follow, they disappeared beyond the knights’ quarters toward the outside of the fortress.

As the attacker retreated, Sir Löwenhart noticed a few more physical characteristics that could identify them:

The beautiful yet chillingly cold voice he felt when they spoke to him.

And the presence of large, obsidian-black horns reminiscent of a goat, revealed from the robe that was momentarily pulled back by the rapid movement.

Sensing the gravity of the situation, Lord Nighthart called out loudly to gather people nearby and hastily pursued the opponent, but the chase ended in failure.

Though he thought he had cornered them in a dead end, the attacker leaped over the 25-meter high walls of Night Haven in a single bound and escaped.

There’s no doubt that a sigh of frustration escaped Lord Nighthart’s lips as he witnessed this.

“That’s the outline of the attack incident that occurred inside the fortress yesterday.”

My sister’s explanation of yesterday’s incident concluded with these words.

With a calm tone as she finished…

*Crunch*

While making a distinct sound of grinding teeth that no one could mistake.

Watching my sister grind her teeth, I sensed it.

‘She’s angry. Extremely angry.’

Right now, my sister is furious to the tips of her hair.

This is a completely different dimension of anger than when Excel, who isn’t here now, shows excessive love and attention to her.

When she raises her right hand to shut his mouth, shouting loudly to hide her momentary embarrassment.

I could easily tell that a different level of anger was dominating her now.

As evidence, after entering the room, my sister explained yesterday’s incident to Shizu and me in a measured voice and with a calm expression.

She tried to disguise all outwardly emotional elements with serenity.

But if nothing else, her normally gently curved eye corners…

Were now formed into cold straight lines without any curve, which made it clear.

‘I’d better watch what I say.’

Even though she rarely gets angry, when she’s like this, it’s best to stay quiet and not irritate her nerves by speaking carelessly.

Well, just recalling the attacker’s appearance described in the incident outline was enough to make my head complicated, so I wasn’t going to open my mouth anyway.

I recalled the physical characteristics of the attacker from Sir Löwenhart’s testimony.

Blood-red eyes reminiscent of crimson.

A beautiful but chillingly eerie voice.

Fairly large, obsidian-black horns reminiscent of a goat.

Without a doubt.

The attacker’s identity is an unparalleled powerful being among the impure entities in that demon realm, second only to the Demon God.

The highest-ranking demon who controls the demons who have turned their backs on the Blood Pentagram with a single gesture.

A quasi-divine being who possesses divinity, though too weak to influence their surroundings.

It’s that dangerous entity who calls herself the most faithful servant of the Demon God, Desire.

It must be that woman who reigned as the closest to being the agent of the Demon God before I was forcibly made into that agent.

Her name is Adorator.

Her species is an extremely rare hybrid of Baphomet and Succubus in the demon realm.

Powerful strength, madness, and devotion to the Demon God bordering on religious faith from her paternal lineage.

Innate beauty and decadent, even lustful characteristics inherited from her maternal lineage.

She’s a tyrant who reigns while calling herself the mistress of the obsidian palace where the Demon God, Desire, resides.

At this point in time, her power hasn’t fully returned, so she can only operate outside the demon realm in pitch darkness rather than daylight.

But just seeing how she toyed with three key personnel of the fortress defense, it wasn’t hard to tell that the damnable woman’s skills hadn’t diminished.

Anyway, some might find it strange that someone holding the position of second-in-command in the demon realm would sneak into Night Haven alone and toy with three knights so casually.

But she actually has impulsive and hot-blooded tendencies that don’t suit her position, so it’s not that odd.

I don’t know for sure, but she probably got so heated over Pale Sanguin’s failure today that she physically disciplined Sanguin.

Then she impulsively set foot here to vent her anger through violence.

Some people will certainly find this ridiculous, but let me dare say one thing:

It’s just exhausting to judge the beings of the demon realm by human standards.

Even though they have intelligence, it’s developed in a different direction from ours, so it’s better to give up expecting them to play by our rules.

‘Still, I didn’t expect such overt activity.’

Pale Sanguin’s presence alone was enough to give me a headache, but now with the addition of Adorator, who can set foot in this fortress without concern despite her handicap of only being able to operate in deep darkness, my head feels like it’s about to split.

If there’s nothing wrong with my memory…

This Adorator only began her full-scale activities just before I faced my first death.

To think that after one regression, it’s been moved forward to now, allowing her to roam this fortress…

“Hmm…”

Barely suppressing a sigh that naturally came out, I racked my brain.

About how to escape this difficult situation without problems.

It was a dilemma without an easy answer.