Volume 2, Chapter 23: Half-Face Witch, Adamaria ①
After Lambert destroyed the death black crystal, the corpses of the 『Silver’s Will』’s members who had been turned into undead returned to being mere corpses.
Lambert shifted his glance to the corpse of the hooded man that fell on the ground, as if trying to protect the death black crystal.
Although the problem had been mostly solved, it was far from finished since he had yet to confirm the scale of the enemy due to them using the death black crystal.
Lambert shook his head.
「I should have tortured him for more information. Well, I guess I’ll save that for the next one.」
The earl’s private army raised a cheer of joy once they saw all the undead fall at once.
And there, the figure of Glasco, who used the last of his strength to stand, fell on his rear right where he stood.
Glasco was already at his limit after he received Mikaela’s stab.
But as the captain of the private army, there was no way he was going to fall at this point.
He kept standing on his own feet, fully motivated by Lambert’s encouragement.
But once the battle ended, he fell like a puppet with its strings cut.
Glasco’s subordinates quickly ran toward him, worrying about their captain’s condition.
「G-GLASCO-SAMA?!」
「U-Ugh… sorry, but I don’t think I can move anymore. We’ll focus on the evacuation of the civilians.」
Lambert looked at Glasco from the edge of his field of vision, but he then turned around without saying anything.
「Ah…! H-Hey, Big Armor! You… Just who in the world are you?! HEY!」
Glasco mustered his courage, shouting at Lambert, asking for the latter’s identity.
He reached his hand toward Lambert’s retreating back, tripping forward as he forced himself to stand with his current condition. But then, his subordinates supported his body.
「Lambert De La Croix. Captain Glasco, you’ve earned my respect for not yielding or retreating in such a situation.」
Lambert stopped his gait, turned around, and addressed Glasco with a proper position. Then, Lambert continued on toward the next area.
All the members of the private army with Glasco in the lead were fascinated by the huge back of the retreating Lambert, which looked even bigger in their eyes.
—
―At the same time, in a certain abandoned building in Barreira City.
A woman wearing jet-black robes and holding a shield, half of whose face was patched up, walked in.
Even though the left half of the woman’s face was well ordered, the skin on the right side of her face was bleary. She had even lost the eyelids on her right eye.
As if that wasn’t ugly enough, every single part of her face—her lips, nose, and eyes—was asymmetrical, making her face really eerie.
It was as if her face was created half-heartedly, making her look creepy.
Following behind the woman were two men who wore the same jet-black robes as her.
The name of the woman was Adamaria.
She was a magician who was feared as a half-faced witch.
Although she normally used bandages to hide her face, since she had no leeway to worry about her appearance today, she went on without putting on her bandages, showing off her grotesque face.
Adamaria was the number one subordinate of Manzi of the eight wisemen. Her main duty was assisting Manzi, who often went wild on his mission.
She was entrusted with that role thanks to her sharp mind and absolute loyalty to the organization.
Including Manzi, half of the members of the eight wisemen weren’t even the kind of people who could be reasoned with. In other words, they were no different from madmen.
For that very reason, there were many occasions during which Adamaria became the go-between for the organization and Manzi.
A giant rhinoceros beetle around the size of a child came slowly toward Adamaria.
There was a picture of a huge eye on its back, and its head was covered by countless human eyeballs.
Every single one of those eyeballs was moving on its own, as if they had minds of their own.
Adamaria raised her hand, touching the eye pattern on the beetle’s back.
「Now tell me.」
The back of the beetle shined as soon as Adamaria muttered those words, as if there was something that guided it. The light then flowed toward Adamaria from her arm.
This monster was a cursed object that was created by 『Devil’s Piper』 after many years of research and inhumane experiments.
Its official name was Cursed Demonic Insect. It was literally a lump of curses.
Cursed Demonic Insect had the ability to erase its presence while moving at fast speeds. It could also could recognize the mana of 『Devil’s Piper』’s members and transmit what it saw to the others.
In addition, its senses were top notch.
Although it was not like 『Devil’s Piper』 could use it as much as they would like, since the Cursed Demonic Insect would disappear once its mana diminished to a certain extent. It was an extremely convenient tool to grasp the situation during large scale operations like this one.
「…」
Adamaria shut her left eye, frowning as if digesting the information she just received.
And yet, the right side of her face didn’t even twitch.
The two men, Adamaria’s subordinates, were looking at their superior, waiting for her to tell them the current situation.
But Adamaria seemed to be reluctant to tell them about the information she got from the Cursed Demonic Insect.
The information she received from its mana was the scenery seen by the insect itself.
There, in its vision, was a big swordsman—clad in full-plate armor—slaughtering his way through the sea of undead and Manzi’s slain subordinates.
The undead of 『Silver’s Will』—a guild which put emphasis on skill—and the undead of 『Demon Ant’s Troops』 —with their overwhelming numbers that should have been key in their current mission—had already been annihilated by a single swordsman in full-plate armor.
No matter how much she thought about it, this situation was impossible.
「Monster…」
Adamaria muttered such words as the one who knew about that man in full-plate armor.
The scene she saw just now was too incredible.
After consulting with her subordinates, she made a modification to their plans. They decided to kill that man in full-plate armor first.
She wanted Manzi to make his move and subjugate the man in full-plate armor by himself, but with Manzi’s capricious nature, he would definitely prioritize his own plan over the organization.
His appearance might be that of an old man, but deep inside, he was a child.
Or rather, Adamaria felt that he was more like a toddler who was playing around, smashing a bug under his foot.
Manzi was an extremely selfish, cruel, and short-tempered man.
Even from Adamaria’s perspective, Manzi was extremely lacking in terms of mental growth for someone as old as him.
If she misspoke in front of Manzi, not even Adamaria’s numerous achievements for 『Devil’s Piper』 would save her from his wrath. He would gouge her brain out and turn her into his lab rat.
In fact, Adamaria has seen too many of Manzi’s subordinates who ended up with such a tragic end.
「It seems there’s been an unexpected factor ruining our plans. Prepare a trap while he’s still busy taking care of the undead, lead him to the trap, and kill him for sure.」
Adamaria spoke to her subordinates as she licked her lips.
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