IBWCD 43

Chapter 43

As if all the work she’d put into being able to radiate healing power at a distance hadn’t been for naught, a cluster of light that stretched out like tree roots wrapped around the knight’s ankle.

“……!”

The ankle, which had been gushing blood like a fountain, began to fill with new life.

The knights’ eyes widened as they watched.

Bang!

The werewolf’s head, which had been shaking its head at the healing ankle, disappeared.

“…What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

The grim-faced Kalian then yanked ferociously on her arm. His black hair, stained with blood, flowed wildly in a display of raging emotion.

Evelyn frowned at the strength of his grip, which was unlike anything she had ever seen before.

“What the… the hell are you doing?”

She couldn’t understand his sudden anger. But no matter how hard she tried, he wouldn’t let go of her wrist.

She tried to shake him off, but his strength was too much for her.

‘You still don’t believe me,’ she thought, frustration rising to the top of her throat.

“You told me to be useful! I’m just doing what I have to do! I can do it too, if I can heal others…!”

“Who told you to be a human purifier?”

“…….”

“Don’t do anything dangerous on the battlefield under my command.”

With that muttered, Kalian loosened his grip for a moment.

Evelyn looked at the red marks on her wrists, trying to comprehend what he meant, and called out.

“Kalian, back!”

But before she could finish her sentence, his sword sliced through the air.

Boom!

The fast-charging werewolf’s limbs shattered in midair.

A sickening dark green blood splattered across her body.

Thud!

The werewolf’s head landed hard at her feet.

A horrible cry echoed from the severed skull, then died away.

He brushed the blood off his sword and held out his hand to her.

“You’re not going to fight a werewolf, not if you can help it.”

Helping Evelyn to her feet, he reached out a large hand and stroked the woman’s blood-covered cheek.

He wasn’t looking for a compliment, but she wouldn’t have come to the knight’s aid in the first place if she’d been trembling.

Biting her lip, Evelyn considered the knight’s ankle bite from the werewolf, but it was quicker to grab her around the waist before she could turn away.

“Hide.”

Scooping up the slender body, Kalian pushed Evelyn into a safe space behind the crumbling rubble.

“Helping the people is for after the dust settles.”

“But…”

“Answer.”

She wanted to help but he had a point.

Wasn’t she the one who froze in front of the demon that appeared out of nowhere yesterday?

If she had combat skills, it was only natural that he would want to protect her, as rushing in could get her into trouble.

As she bit her lip and nodded, she heard a boom in the distance.

The knights were in total darkness as bats blackened the sky. His keen eyes scanned the sky, and then he turned to her with a hard gaze.

“I understand your concern. But remember, this is not the time for unnecessary mercy.”

“Yes, I will…”

Evelyn nodded once more, and her pupils dilated uncharacteristically wide.

Something that shouldn’t have been here came flying at Kalian’s back as fast as the wind.

“Hmph, Kal, dodge!”

Shhh!

With a wind-cutting crack, a rush of claws sharply clawed at Kalian’s upper body.

Blood gushed out like a fountain as the flesh on his unarmored side was ripped apart.

“Ouch!”

“Hmph, what the hell, hold on, I’ll heal you.”

Stunned and frozen, she quickly released her healing power toward his bleeding side.

“Stop! Hold still!”

But Kalian didn’t budge, clutching at her aura-spreading hand. The glow surrounding his wound dissipated in an instant.

He tore a long tear in his cloak and pulled it tighter around the wound, looking straight into her shaking eyes.

“No matter what happens, you must not leave until help arrives.”

With those words, Kalian shoved her violently inward and disappeared into the dirt.

Evelyn rolled frantically, only stopping when she hit the dirt wall with a thud.

The memory of his wounds made her heart ache and her eyes water, and she had to wipe away tears for a long time.

But there was no point in waiting there helplessly, and she crouched down for a moment to gather her wits.

There was no point in surviving alone.

‘So let me think, what can I do…’

She crouched behind some rubble and peered out, but the situation on the battlefield was even more hopeless than before.

The creature that had wounded Kalian had spread its giant wings and was flying across the battlefield.

‘That must be…’

The head and wings of an eagle in a human body.

The horns of a gargoyle and legs covered in jet-black feathers.

A creature with razor-sharp claws, huge enough to hold a man in one hand.

“Mors of the Plague?”

She doubted her eyes.

The reason was simple.

The Morse of Plague was a mid-level monster that spawned on the third floor or higher of the Bellatra Dungeon, and it was a dark elemental that hated light.

However, flying creatures were rarely powerful in the dungeon.

The dungeons are too narrow for them to engage in aerial combat, as they can incapacitate their opponents with plague spores from their wings and then snatch them up with their sharp claws.

Their relatively weak defenses also made them easy targets for knights’ swords.

As if to make amends, Mors went on a mad rampage.

[KYOOOOOO!]

The gusts of wind from his great wings turned even the smallest dust into a menacing whirlpool.

The knights were caught in the vortex and, unable to resist, were blown away and knocked unconscious against the rocks.

[Hmph!]

Their swords were useless. With plenty of room to maneuver, Mors dodged the flying blades and taunted them with a mind-numbing scream.

For knights who couldn’t use auras, a flying creature in open space was a rat’s nest.

“Uh, what should we do…?”

Her heart sank, but she thought quickly. There had to be a way out.

Just then, she saw a giant dot leaping toward Mors.

It was Kalian, the black-aura-clad master of the magic sword.

“No!”

Riding atop the rampaging creature, he slashed deeply into its shoulder blade, severing one of its wings.

Then he plunged his sword down, aiming for its weakest point, its spine, but it didn’t flinch.

Just as everyone was questioning the creature’s ability to survive a series of rapid-fire attacks, let alone its vastly different size from the adults they’d encountered in the dungeon.

[Do not disturb!]

Mors’s shrill roar, mimicking human language, echoed through the space.

At the same time, a giant claw on the tip of its wing snatched at Kalian’s body.

One tangled body soared into the sky. Blood, unknown to whoever had spilled it, spattered like rain on the floor in a hooded mess.

BANG!

There was a flash of lightning in the sky as the aura-encased magic sword and Mors’s nails clashed in midair.

Evelyn calmly watched Mors’s behavior.

After each flash of light, Mors would agonize, and when darkness descended, it would attack as fiercely as ever.

‘Light is their greatest weakness.’

That makes sense. Why did the fast-moving vampire bats blacken the sky instead of attacking the knights?

It was to provide Mors with dungeon-like conditions: darkness.

Her vision was dotted with knights writhing in strange ways.

‘The plague!’

Why would they, who had no contact with the tainted, show symptoms of the plague?

‘Perhaps the green spores spreading from Mors’ wings are the cause of the plague.’

It’s speculation, of course, but Mors’s disappearance could be a chance to bring the Tainted back to normal.

“We need to find something to light up the surroundings!”

Evelyn quickly looked around and found a torch and the tools to light it in a packet the horse had apparently dropped.

She lit the flame and swung it into the air, causing the horde of vampire bats to scatter with an unearthly shriek.

Several of the knights who had been watching her actions lit their torches in unison.

But the light was not enough.

With a wound like that, even the strongest would not last long.

If it went on a rampage, it would be one thing to destroy Mors, but it would be another to lay waste to the town of Litchev.

To heal his wounds.

To save him, even if it meant trading her own life.

‘We need a bigger light, something powerful enough to oxidize Mors once and for all…’

It was just as she was thinking this that she looked at the battlefield where Kalian and Mors were tangled up and fighting to the death.

Beep─!

A pain like a thunderbolt struck her head. At the same time, a strange sound wave sharply pierced her eardrums.

“Would you sacrifice your life for him?”

The words were unintelligible, but the meaning was clear.

“Ugh!”

Deafened, Evelyn sank to her knees as her eardrums burned.

“Arghhhh!”

Then, as if a cold hand were cupping her brain, her head went numb, and a searing pain shot through her body like an electric current down her spine.

“Aaahhhh! Aaahhhh!”

At the same time, every cell in her body became acutely alert, as if she were awakening.

It wasn’t her will.

And Evelyn realized instinctively.

“Pray, foolish one.”

A light strong enough to extinguish Mors.

That she was the only one who could make it happen.