<Lumen Dominic>

Current grade: A-grade

Maximum awakening grade: S-grade

Position: Dealer

Equipment: Fine Longsword (A), Advanced Armor (A)

Favorability and Loyalty: 5/100

‘I didn’t expect loyalty to be only 5. Isn’t that just nothing? Well, first of all, it’s my knight. We can raise it up little by little.’

That would do. No need to fret, for now, he had to focus on attacking the witch right in front of his nose.

“Keep your ears open and focus, Luman. If you’re lucky, you’ll be able to hear some very terrifying noises.”

Unlike the subjugation of the undead monster army, which was more like a tutorial, the witch they would be dealing with this time would never go easy on them. Of course, the tutorial wasn’t easy either.

Cadel clenched and opened his fists with a serious expression on his face.

* * *

“Huuuu…….”

Mary crouched down and trembled. No matter how much she held her breath, a whining sound followed her trembling lips.

Crunch. Crack.

With her head resting on her lap, she tried to avoid looking behind her.

A bloody smell stung her nose. After-images of bright red limbs torn off in front of her eyes. Even more horrifying than that was the constant sound of the monster eating.

‘When the brothers are all eaten, the next one is…….’

Even though she knew it was her turn, her legs couldn’t move.

From the moment she woke up in a completely different place after losing consciousness due to being engulfed in black flames, she was surprisingly drained of her energy. Now she was engulfed in fear and couldn’t even get up.

Mary curled up to the fullest, shedding tears as they were. As if her existence would disappear if she did so.

‘It’s terrible. She was really a witch. Everyone was eaten by that witch!’

If she had known it would be like this, she would have left her father’s belongings behind. She would never have gone out to look for it in the middle of the night.

A belated regret came over her. And as if laughing at Mary, the ‘witch’ behind her opened her mouth.

“That’s nice. If you’d been screaming, I would’ve ripped you off first.”

The ‘witch’ smiled as she tucked her long black hair behind her ears. She was a beautiful woman with pale skin. Her slender appearance under the moonlight was beautiful enough to grasp anyone’s attention, but the movement of the red mass dangling down her chin or the blood on her mouth was so hideous that it instantly covered her beauty.

She wiped her mouth with the back of her white hand and threw the forearm she was holding onto the floor. It was a forearm where only a small portion of the flesh had been eaten away. Mary’s shoulders shook greatly at the muddy sound of the flesh falling off.

The witch got up quietly and approached Mary, who was trembling like an aspen tree. Maybe it was because she felt the death that was right in front of her. She wondered where her courage had risen, Mary shouted in a voice full of resentment.

“Why are you eating Depollo’s believers? You’re not a monster, you’re a demon. Why do you have to cannibalize?”

She shouted loudly but still did not raise her head. Perhaps it was funny, the witch smiled and put her hand on Mary’s shoulder. At her cold touch, Mary almost fell to the floor and sobbed.

“The great work has begun, child.”

“Hic hic…… No…….”

“I’m just trying to signal the beginning.”

The witch gently stroked Mary’s shoulder as she sobbed and whimpered. However, unlike her affectionate touch, only the deep hatred and deep anger that had accumulated over the years remained in her jet-black eyes looking down at Mary. A clear trail of blood ran down her slender fingers as they slid down Mary’s rounded shoulders.

“To the vilest people, in the most brutal way.”

Whispering in Mary’s ear, she slowly opened her mouth. The moment when her reddish fangs, soaked in blood, were revealed, and at the moment of her near death, Mary let out a choked scream.

“……?”

The witch’s open jaw faltered and stopped moving. She quickly snatched Mary by the back and leaped backward.

Swoosh!

At the same time, a scarlet sword energy radiated from the darkness and grazed the place where they were.

“The meal that you never ordered has arrived.”

Cadel’s gaze reached the unconscious female believer and the witch holding her like a sack. Beneath the witch were bits and pieces of human limbs and flesh, and the head that had been sloppily torn off. Seeing the remnants of the viscera spilled out, he instantly felt sick. As he held his breath for a while to suppress nausea, he heard the witch’s bewitching laughter.

“I’m full, but……. There’s always room for dessert. I’ll welcome you.”

“You’re the witch that triggered the summoning trap.”

Van growled and straightened his greatsword. Then, like his reddened eyes, his bright red aura overflowed and he was ready to unleash the new sword technique.

The witch alternately looked at Van and the greatsword. Her expression was relaxed, but her eyes were busy moving to gauge his capabilities.

‘Did he notice the summoning magic? He’s a kid who knows quite a bit about magic.’

No, that guy was a bodybuilder just by looking at it. Rather, there was a high probability that the insincere human next to him was a magician.

Van and Cadel were the only ones who showed up before her. Therefore, the witch naturally concluded that Cadel would be the human who dealt with magic. It was the right decision.

“Hand her over.”

“Suddenly popping out and claiming ownership of someone else’s prey? Do you think I will hand her over?”

“I didn’t expect that we could communicate.”

Van fired his sword energy again. The red sword energy aimed at the top of the witch’s head, avoiding the female believer below her. It was as fast as the wind, but the witch did not dodge, and she instead swung her hand once in front of her.

A thick shadow bloomed in the air following the trajectory of her fingertips. The shapeless, flowing shadow engulfed the sword energy like it was nothing. The sword energy consumed by the shadow evaporated without touching the witch’s hair. Van’s eyebrows twitched.

“Did you think your attack would work? It’s ridiculous.”

The witch openly sneered and snorted at Van. It was an obvious provocation, but instead of falling for it, Van winked at Cadel. Only then did Cadel swallow the nausea that had risen up his throat and spoke quietly.

“You don’t have to go all out. You know that, right? Attracting attention is the top priority. Let’s distract her as much as possible.”

Cadel flexed his fingertips with force. Then a fist-sized fireball rose in the palm of his hand. The presence of fire was evident in the forest where the moonlight was everything. Immediately, the corner of the witch’s mouth, which found Cadel’s flame, rose significantly.

As expected, that one was a magician. A human who could see through the summoning magic must be quite capable. Things had become interesting. Was it firepower enough to burn the forest? No, he didn’t want to force himself from the beginning by destroying the same human land. The range would be small, but each shot would be a powerful fire magic.

The witch guessed so and gathered the magic of darkness. She, too, did not want to lose her comfortable place, which had been her long-awaited chance. First of all, defense. Their goal was clear anyway, so she decided to minimize the damage by putting the woman in front.

A barrier of shadow in preparation for Cadel’s magic blocked her front. At the same time, red fireball flew toward her.

‘It’s all as expected. Let’s see how good you are―’

But at that moment, the witch, who was putting up the front barrier to gauge Cadel’s magic skills, shook her eyes slightly.

“This narrow barrier is ridiculous.”

It wasn’t just the fireball that attacked her. Van threw himself at almost the same speed as the fireball. He came right in front of her without a trace and swung the massive greatsword without hesitation.

Clang!

The power of the fireball that bounced off the barrier was so ticklish that it was insignificant. It was a waste of the barrier created just for this attack. However, it was difficult to block Van’s heavy blow. The sharpened greatsword dug halfway through the barrier and hummed menacingly.

‘Did he deliberately fire a weak fireball……. He was playing a trick!’

The witch hurriedly abandoned the barrier and stepped back. At the same time, she didn’t forget to shoot a black sphere at Van, but Van cut the sphere very simply.

The attacks did not stop. As soon as the distance widened, Van immediately flew his sword energy. Cadel’s poor fireball also flew in from all sides to check the witch’s actions. No matter how weak the fireball was, a flame was a flame. If she got hit, she would get a nasty burn.

The witch flexibly twisted her body to avoid the fireball and immediately created a barrier to block the sword. A flamboyant movement that did not allow even a single gap. It was a connection of movements that even felt relaxed. However, her expression was contorted as if she was not satisfied with the situation at all.

‘How dare a human being do this? If only this body was perfect……!’

Although it was a diversified attack, the power of the fireball was ridiculously weak. At first, she was angry because she wondered if he dared to tease this body, but she didn’t think so. If it had been a skilled magician, it would have been so strong that even light flames could not be ignored. This was the best thing he could do.

She found that human interesting at first as he saw through the identity of the summoning magic, but the skill was boring. So she decided to ignore that magician. As long as she deal with the annoying swordman right in front of her, tonight’s battle, as usual, would leave no trace.

The witch’s eyes flashed with a darker light. She raised Mary, who she had been holding all along with one hand, like a shield over her head, and spread the other hand in Van’s direction. The pitch-black mana was round enough to look like a hole on her white palm.

Van ran straight out, keeping an eye on the hole that was aimed at him. The greatsword, ready to swing at any time, vibrated threateningly. Along with the condensed sword energy, Cadel’s urgent cry was heard from behind.

“Duck!”