Volume 2, Chapter 25: Half-Face Witch, Adamaria ④
Adamaria glared at Lambert who easily shook her meat feelers off. She looked at him like she just saw a monster.
In fact, she understood that fact far too well.
This man almost single-handedly smashed their main forces; he was a monster-like existence.
But she finally realized that knowing that fact alone was far from enough to stop the monster before her.
Because she realized that the man in front of her was more terrifying than a monster.
「THIS IS BAD! PROTECT ADAMARIA-SAMA!」
「We’ll stop him right there! Adamaria-sama, please tell Manzi-sama about this!」
Two of Adamaria’s subordinates stood before her, pointing their canes at Lambert.
Adamaria started to run, getting away from Lambert.
She finally realized a horrible fact.
The success of this operation was completely dependent on whether they could take out that armored swordsman or not.
Because if things continued like this, it was only a matter of time before that armored swordsman crushed their plans.
She needed to tell Manzi immediately.
Lambert readied his greatsword in silence.
「Don’t step any further. This is the limit of his range.」
The man who stood behind the two warned his comrades.
The two men nodded, still glaring at Lambert.
In the next moment, they saw Lambert right in front of them with his greatsword raised diagonally overhead.
They screamed at the top of their lungs, bravely facing Lambert’s incoming slash.
Lambert brandished his greatsword, bisecting the two mens’ upper bodies at once.
Their upper halves fluttered in the air for a moment before falling to the ground, shedding tons of blood where the greatsword cleaved them.
Adamaria’s last subordinate pointed his cane at Lambert with a trembling hand, retreating slowly due to fear.
「Ah… Ah…」
「What’s the matter? Aren’t you going to attack?」
There was still some distance between that man and Lambert.
It was an ideal range for a sorcerer.
His best shot to defeat Lambert would have been when the latter decapitated the other two.
And yet, the man missed such a precious chance.
But even when looking at this situation, he had a small chance to win against Lambert due to the distance between them.
At this distance, he would be able to unleash at least two spells if his opponent was a run-of-the-mill swordsman.
The man who realized that fact then regained his calmness.
He held his breath, running toward Lambert with his cane pointing toward the latter while trying to force himself to stay as calm as possible.
「U…UWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!」
The man threw away his cane and ran toward the direction, different from the one used by Adamaria.
‘That armored swordsman, he is definitely aiming for Adamaria-sama!!’
In the end, he chose to save his own life.
But it was by no means a cowardly method. After all, if he chose to run in the same direction as Adamaria, both of them would be slaughtered by Lambert.
He couldn’t win against Lambert. His two comrades who got slaughtered by Lambert in a flash were enough to prove that.
「How unsightly. Even though you’re the only one who has the luxury to choose how you want to die.」
Different from Adamaria’s case, Lambert noticed how that man showed his back—such hubris, what a disgrace.
Hearing those words, the man realized that the armored swordsman’s target was him. He screamed at the top of his lungs.
Lambert lifted his greatsword with one hand, manipulating it as if it was an extension of his own limb.
As he stretched out his arms, a large knife pierced through the heart of the fleeing man from behind. Then, it continued upward, severing other bones along the way.
He kicked the man as if he were nothing more than a piece of garbage and went to chase after Adamaria, the only one alive.
Adamaria’s tripped over her own feet and fell forward.
When she tried to find what tripped her, she found out that her knees were trembling uncontrollably.
She couldn’t move due to overwhelming fear.
「Fu-fufufu… to think that I… can still feel… a fear—as if I’m nothing more than a powerless girl.」
Adamaria muttered in self-derision.
She knew that she couldn’t escape from death. She had no time to fret over this little accident. No matter what she tried, there was no way to escape that swordsman.
Lambert’s footsteps got closer to Adamaria as the former readied his greatsword.
Unable to stand up due to fear, Adamaria pointed her cane toward Lambert, decided to fight till the end.
In the next moment, she realized that her field of view had flipped.
She felt scorching pain run through her arms as she saw her cane flying in midair. A moment later, she noticed that her arms were swept up by the scabbard.
And then, she heard a cracking sound from her arms. Lambert’s knee pinned down the joint of her arms.
It was obvious that the bones of her arms were smashed by that.
Following that, Lambert stabbed his greatsword right in front of Adamaria’s nose.
「It seems the one called Manzi is your leader. Are you going to tell this to… that Manzi-sama? It seems your insects aren’t that flexible, huh.」
「…Just kill me. Sorry but I’m not so weak as to tell you anything.」
Adamaria said this then hit Lambert’s arm with the right side of her face. It was as if she tried to peel off the grotesque skin of her right half.
「This is something that I got when I was caught by the kingdom’s inquisition team. I played dumb throughout their torture… till I finally managed to escape from them!」
The kingdom’s inquisition team was founded to exterminate sorcerers who tried to dabble in forbidden magic research. They were the bane of sorcerer organizations.
Using evil to fight evil, the team who moved with such contradictory principles was formed by a group of high-ranking sorcerers who answered to no one, not even the kingdom itself.
Although the information about the head of the inquisition was kept hidden, they were an organization that was shrouded in rumors. There was one that claimed they wrongly annihilated an entire territory and burnt it to the ground. Another professed that they researched eternal youth with the kingdom’s permission, and that the members of the inquisition were death-row inmates.
While the majority of their activities hadn’t been revealed, they were in a hostile relationship with 『Devil’s Piper』.
Anyone who was caught by them would never have the chance to come out alive even if it was proven later that the person was innocent.
But Adamaria received plenty enough training to endure torture in 『Devil’s Piper』.
She kept saying that she was only a pitiful civilian who happened to get dragged into the sorcerer’s mess. Finally, she got the cruel head inquisitor to let their guard down, finally escaping from their evil clutches.
Lambert then lifted his helmet as if to answer Adamaria’s remark.
「…EH?」
Hidden beneath that solemn metal helmet was an ominous skull.
It was an ominous light that threatened to burn everything. It shined brilliantly in its empty eyes’ socket.
That very light was cast down at Adamaria from above.
「I was always bad at delicate work even back when I was still alive. That’s why torture isn’t really my thing. It was Glyph’s specialty.」
Adamaria was dumbfounded, unable to make heads or tails of the scene she saw before her.
She couldn’t believe that there was an undead who retained their ego very clearly.
But one thing was clear.
After the undead before her exposed his true nature, there was no way he would show mercy to her. What awaited her was torture of pure violence, such unimaginable violence that would break her mind.
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