Volume 2, Chapter 34: Earl Mansion’s Raid⑨
「I-IMPOSSIBLE, DEFEATING DULLAHAN IN A SWORD FIGHT IS IMPOSSIBLE! ABSOLUTELY IMPOSSIBLE! THERE’S NO WAY DULLAHAN, THE PERFECT SPIRIT SWORDSMAN, WOULD LOSE TO A MERE HUMAN WHOSE MOVEMENT IS LIMITED BY THEIR HEAVY FLESH!」
Manzi retreated while shouting those words.
His gait stopped when his back hit the wall.
As his knees trembled in fear, he collapsed on the floor.
And then, when he raised his face…
Lambert’s figure was reflected in Manzi’s eyes.
「My bad, I’m no longer human. Well it doesn’t feel that much different aside from the fact I rarely feel tired」
The tall man clad in full-plate armor with a blazing fire on his back was just like the reincarnation of the devil himself.
「H-Heed my call, come from the abyss, Tower of Bone Babel Turn Hollow!」
Guiref’s Grimoire shone with the ominous color of mana again along with Manzi’s chant.
A triangular white pyramid appeared by piercing the floor beneath Lambert’s feet.
Lambert retreated and created some distance from that place.
Pushing up the triangular pyramid till it pierced the ceiling was a white pillar around three hein tall.
Such a performance shook the room. Cracks appeared in the floor due to the appearance of the pillar, and rubble fell from the broken ceiling.
Moreover, the wall behind Manzi had already been destroyed.
Manzi’s figure was also pressed by another white pillar, which came from outside the mansion.
「Trying to escape again, huh… But that’s out of the question. First, let’s deal with the problem in front of me.」
Upon closer inspection, one could see that the pillar was formed from numerous white bones.
There were skulls lined up at fixed intervals on the surface of the pillar with their empty eyes sockets facing toward the outside.
「It came out here, huh. The first of Guiref’s 13 spirits, Bone Babel…」
Tower of Bone Babel Turn Hollow was just like Dullahan, one of Hades’ spirits contracted with Guiref.
But different from Dullahan, it didn’t move freely after being summoned.
During the Eight Countries Unification War, this was Guiref’s favorite means of surprise attack by summoning it freely at will.
Since it was the first of Guiref’s 13 spirits, it was the weakest one amongst his arsenal.
But it was by no means a useless spirit.
Rather, Guiref turned it into his most reliable sword and shield by summoning it at will.
Lambert readied his greatsword.
「…Yeah, Guiref’s curse is not a joke after all. Since he used fire a while ago, I thought that he couldn’t use Bone Babel for some reason, but… As expected, it’s hard to utilize Bone Babel properly in this limited combat environment.」
Several Bone Babels were summoned to assist Manzi’s escape.
Guiref excelled in psychological warfare; he could think several steps ahead in just a moment, mixing in feints or traps in his attacks. Every single action would buy him time to possibly turn the tables.
He could even toy around with the famous hero of the Eight Countries Unification War by using Bone Babel.
Almost all of Lambert’s direct subordinates were consigned to oblivion when facing Guiref’s Bone Babel.
With a calm and serene mind, Lambert put more power into the grip of his greatsword.
His action was only natural since Guiref was one of the top 10 sorcerers at the end of the Eight Countries Unification War. That was why making the full use of his gigantic mana tank was possible for him.
Such an action was impossible for Manzi no matter how much he resummoned the Bone Babel.
As if ignoring Lambert’s cautiousness, Bone Babel dimmed and then vanished from where it stood, leaving a hole in the ceiling.
「…Uhm?」
That vanishing figure played in slow motion in Lambert’s eyes.
Lambert noticed that the reason for Bone Babel’s disappearance was not because it was unsummoned and sent back to the spirit world with magic. It was simply because Manzi clumsily cut the supply of mana that maintained its form.
And then, as if to confirm that…
Manzi had used Bone Babel, the vital point of Guiref tactic, just to escape from a mere predicament.
Lambert then looked down from the hole in the wall.
The lined up buildings in Barreira City looked so small when he overlooked them from the third floor of Earl Mondo’s mansion.
And then, his eyes finally caught Manzi’s bloodstained figure straddling the back of a strange-looking horse. Its normal-shaped head aside, there was a human face sticking out from the front torso of the horse.
The third eye on its head made that horse even more creepy for anyone who wasn’t used to it.
It was the third of Guiref’s 13 spirit horses with two heads, Troy.
「Don’t think you can escape from me!」
Lambert was about to jump down from the third floor of the mansion, but he turned around when he heard the『Dancing Sword』 adventurers scream.
Behind him, the 『Dancing Sword』 adventurers and Robin Hood were still fighting against the enhanced undead.
The battlefield, the office of Earl Mondo, had already been heavily damaged due to Bone Babel, and Manzi’s fire spell had already set the mansion on fire. It was only a matter of time until the fire burnt down the mansion.
Enhanced undead could fight in their top condition no matter how many wounds their bodies sustained or how much time had passed. They were proven to be too much of an enemy for first-class adventurers.
A prolonged fight would only give advantage to the enhanced undead, who had unlimited stamina.
‘At this rate, they won’t hold out too long, but… There’s no way I can miss this chance to destroy Guiref’s Grimoire once and for all. Maybe Manzi is still holding back. Postponing going after him will only give him the chance to summon a higher-ranked spirit. If he summoned the 13th one, I won’t have a chance to defeat him since I have no reliable subordinates like back then…’
Even veteran of hundreds of battles like Lambert couldn’t help but shudder when he recalled his battle against Guiref.
The 13th of Guiref’s thirteen spirits was a true monster, the embodiment of hell itself. Even their contractor, Guiref, couldn’t control them.
Even with the cooperation of his subordinates from back then, Lambert couldn’t beat the 13th from the front.
That was why he couldn’t give Manzi the chance to summon that worst spirit.
But if he chose to pursue Manzi, everyone in the office would surely get killed by the enhanced undead.
One of the adventurers looked at Lambert from over his shoulder upon seeing the latter’s hesitation.
「Go chase after that creepy old man! Leave this place to me!」
The one who spoke to him was a slender man with graceful, green-colored noble attire, Robin Hood.
The undead Eunos rushed toward Robin Hood who dared to look away from his opponent in the middle of combat.
「AHaHaHaHAhHAhAhA! Robin Hood, YoU’RE GoINg To Die too! YoU’ll ReuNIte WiTH YoUR BeLOVed SubORdinaTEs IN HEll, YOU KNOW? AhaHAhAhAHaHA!」
Arrows pierced Eunos’ cheek, chest, and thigh as he moved through the air.
Eunos landed on the floor to kill the momentum of the arrows.
He stretched his arms to increase the range of his attack as he rushed toward Robin Hood.
Robin Hood dodged the attack by turning to the back even though doing so would disturb his stance.
「WhAt’S tHE MaTTer. CaN yOU EvEn Aim ProPErLY? AhAhaHAhaHahAHaHAHA!」
The returning slash brushed against Robin Hood’s forehead.
A small bloody line formed on Robin Hood’s well-ordered face.
「AhAHAhAHAHAHAHA! AhA—」
One arrow pierced Eunos’ forehead from out of nowhere.
Eunos’ head broke from the impact of the arrow fired from point-blank range, blowing him back.
Eunos’ body crumpled on the ground.
「Leave these guys to me.」
Robin Hood spoke to Lambert while adjusting his ragged breathing.
Eunos’ body rose one more time, still with an arrow pierced through his forehead.
「YoU HurT Me, RoBIn HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOd!」
Lambert jumped down in silence from the hole in the wall.
The combination of Lambert’s tall frame and the weight of the Organ itself accelerated his fall from the third floor of Earl Mondo’s mansion.
Along with a thunderous noise, the ground where Lambert landed caved in due to the impact of his fall, forming a pair of footprints.
He quickly pulled his foot out of the ground and wasted no time to go after Manzi.
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