Volume 2, Chapter 17: Deadman Walking’s Parade②
Currently, Lambert was confronting 12 people in the basement of a certain magic tool shop in the slums of Barreira City.
「What bad luck. Speak your business for suddenly intruding on our dark guild… 『Dark Night’s Clock Tower』’s base? …Or so you expect me to say, hu~h. I’m actually the one who led you here. Are you the rumored dude who’s been sniffing around like a dog?」
The man who spoke was in his forties. It seemed he was the oldest of the 12 mages in that place.
That man’s most notable traits were his sanpaku eyes and the tattoo carved on his face.
There was also a metal piercing at the tip of his tongue.
His name was Nidvahl, otherwise known as Nidvahl of Poisonous Serpent.
He was the guild master of 『Dark Night’s Clock Tower』 and on the Regios Kingdom’s most-wanted list.
「There’s a woman who is clinging to you, right? The one who asked you to kill 『Dark Night’s Clock Tower』, the one who killed her lover. Unfortunately for you, she is my woman. She is quite beautiful, right? It’s really amusing seeing you bite the bait so easily like that.」
The other magicians laughed as they heard Nidvahl’s words.
「This armored dude has become a trapped rat.」
「As expected of Nidvahl-sama! Going on the offense as soon as you know that this guy has been looking around for you.」
「How about you let me see how you beg for your life? If it’s interesting, this Nidvahl-sama might spare your life, you know?」
After looking around in silence for a while, Lambert’s answer was… a heavy sigh filled with disappointment.
「I tried to come with some expectations, but… as expected, nothing but smallfry, huh. What a waste of my precious time.」
The magicians who surrounded Lambert began pointing their canes at Lambert upon seeing him drop his shoulders and press a hand on his helmet.
「Don’t kill him. Make him spit out what bastard sent him to sniff around us like that!」
As if on cue, barrage of fire bullets shot at Lambert.
In the next moment, Lambert’s figure—which should have been lying unconscious—was already somewhere else entirely.
「…EH?」
Lambert simply slipped past, gliding right through the barrage of fire bullets, as if his agility wasn’t affected by his heavy armor at all.
In front of Lambert’s god-like speed, those fire bullets were even slower than snails.
Vanish, appear, vanish, and then appear once again. Even though Lambert’s figure could be seen, his movements were too fast for Nidvahl and Co. to follow, resulting in his figure vanishing and appearing repeatedly before their very eyes.
His figure suddenly appeared in front of one of the magicians circling him.
「Ah…」
The moment said magician noticed Lambert’s figure, Lambert’s greatsword had already beheaded him, sending his body flying back and striking the wall behind.
Lambert wasted no time in beheading the next magician beside the previous one.
Immediately, he then moved to his next target.
「S-STOP! STOOOOP!」
One magician pointed his cane at Lambert.
Even though he tried to raise his hand to fire his fire bullets at Lambert, the pressure exerted by Lambert’s head-on attack rendered the magician immobile.
As a result, he was beheaded by Lambert, almost without putting up any resistance.
Lambert ran in a circle, beheading one magician after another.
He did so until only Nidvahl remained of the 12.
「D-Don’t get full of yourself! Come, Poisonous Serpent!」
Three bright red snakes came out from Nidvahl’s cane and fired toward Lambert.
Although they were fake snakes made with mana, those snakes would keep moving as if they had wills of their own until the caster ran out of mana.
That was why they could move in midair, dodging attacks and pursuing their target.
And not just anyone could kill or dodge three of those snakes in close combat.
On top of that, those snakes had poison that could rob their target consciousness with a single graze of their fangs.
Their fangs aside, even a graze of their scales was enough to cause total paralysis, rendering the target a sitting duck.
They were truly a troublesome projectile weapon.
It was the magic that became Nidvahl’s second name.
Troublesome—only if the other party wasn’t Lambert, of course.
Lambert circled around the snakes as his greatsword drew a circle, beheading the three snakes at once.
Even though those kinds of attacks wouldn’t be able to penetrate his Organ, Lambert had an unusual attachment for his armor, which was only bestowed upon the Four Demon Generals. For this reason, he didn’t want it to be smeared with filthy snake’s poison.
「W-WAIT A MINUTE! I-I’M A MEMBER OF 『SLAUGHTERER CIRCUS TROUPE』, YOU KNOW? KILLING ME MEANS YOU MAKE AN ENEMY OF THEM! WHEN THAT HAPPENS, YOU’LL LIVE YOUR LIFE IN THE DARKNESS, FEARING THEM AT EVERY CORNER! YOU WON’T EVEN BE ABLE TO SLE—」
「My bad, I have no need for sleep anymore, though.」
In the first place, Lambert had already killed one of 『Slaughterer Circus Troupe』’s sub-masters just the other day.
If they really wanted to kill him, they would have done so long ago.
Using that kind of threat now of all times was literally useless against Lambert.
Lambert threw his sword, which then stabbed right into Nidvahl’s chest and nailed him right on the wall.
Nidvahl’s body hung loosely in the air. When Lambert pulled out his sword from the wall, Nidvahl’s body fell on the ground just like that.
After looking at the face of the deceased Nidvahl, Lambert heaved a sigh and shook his head.
「…Another miss.」
Lambert was doing his own individual investigation surrounding 『Devil’s Piper』.
If 『Devil’s Piper』 really planned to attack Barreira City, then they might have already slipped into the city.
Since he knew that it was already too late to stop them, Lambert changed his method and started with raiding the conspicuous gathering places of magicians.
Lambert resheathed his greatsword and left 『Dark Night’s Clock Tower』.
After walking for a while, he noticed the figure of a beggar wearing dirty clothes with numerous patches.
Although their existence wasn’t a rare sight in the slums, he felt a flash of killing intent from said beggar.
When Lambert stopped in his tracks, the beggar quickly rose to his feet and ran away from Lambert.
Seeing that figure, Lambert was convinced.
…The fact that the one who disguised himself as a beggar was none other than the God of War, Robin Hood, himself.
He met Lambert by accident when he was walking in Barreira City in disguise and escaped immediately, since he knew that he couldn’t deceive Lambert with his poor disguise.
Lambert was also chasing after Robin Hood.
「My bad, but give that horse to me.」
Robin Hood kicked the man who was leading a horse, quickly riding on its back. He kicked the sides of the horse with his feet, forcing it into a run.
The people who blocked his way opened a path in a hurry so that they wouldn’t get involved themselves.
‘I somehow managed to get away from him. As much as I want to die, I still have something to do… but, I’ll be too conspicuous if I’m running on the highway with a horse. Let’s find a more suitable place to get down…’
The moment he slowed down, he heard a cheer and shriek come from behind.
It was a hoof-like sound, similar to that of a horse but not quite, coming from behind.
Robin Hood felt a terrifying killing intent. He then turned around, thinking that action should be impossible.
And then, he saw a giant man in full-plate armor running at the same speed as the horse.
「…Such a bad joke.」
Robin Hood abandoned his disguise as he increased the speed of the horse again, turning around after he readied the bow and arrow hidden beneath the patched cloak.
And then, he fired his arrow toward Lambert who was pursuing him.
Lambert struck down the arrow without even showing any hestitation.
Yes, he didn’t even show any sign of stopping.
Robin Hood’s face paled upon seeing that.
The reason was because the one who chased after him just showed an almost impossible feat.
‘DAMMIT… I SHOULD BE ABLE TO GET AWAY IF I BRING SERAPH WITH ME!’
Lambert didn’t show any sign of slowing down, even after they exited the slums.
He ran as if he couldn’t feel fatigue.
From there, the pedestrians increased in number.
Seeing that there was nothing he could do in that situation, Robin Hood leaped from the back of his horse, landing perfectly on the ground after turning around a few times in midair.
He then entered a narrow alley to escape from Lambert’s pursuit.
And just when he ran beside the nearest large building, his feet halted.
「…?」
Even Lambert, who chased after Robin Hood, felt confused by the sudden action.
Because doing what he did right now would just increase the probability of Lambert catching up with him.
Robin Hood showed his ability to make snap decisions by escaping as soon as he thought that his identity might be discovered by Lambert, hijacking a horse, and riding—and yet, that very same man suddenly stopped for seemingly no reason.
The gates of the building which became Robin Hood’s destination were suddenly kicked open from the inside.
…Which was then followed by a mass of frenzied adventurers pouring out from the inside.
Those adventurers seemed quite strange. It looked as if they were sleepwalking with their mouths open and drool dripping from their mouths.
Despite all of those strange signs, they were walking in a synchronized albeit stiff manner.
In addition, one could barely feel life force from them.
‘The looks on their faces… and they’re walking… No way, large-scale necromancy?!’
Lambert’s hesitation disappeared; he knew that someone downtown was using large-scale necromancy.
『Devil’s Piper』had made its move.
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