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Chapter 211 ~ Downfall of Castle and Country

“Tell me about this potion! Who did you get it from?!”

The red-haired female adventurer, with eyes glazed over, responded calmly, contrasting Shalltear’s agitated state. 

“A man in black robe gave it to me at the inn.”

Shalltear looked at her confusedly for a moment. 

What about it? 

The female warrior’s answer seemed to leave that unsaid… and Shalltear’s body froze over. 

“...No way… no, this can’t be… but… where… in which city is this inn?”

“It was an inn located in E-Rantel.”

A gasp of shock escaped her lips as she felt the world spin. This was because she had a rough idea of who the black-robed man actually was.

If her guess was correct, that only raised more questions. Why did this woman have this potion? That person would not give out potions for no reason.

“Could it be…”

Had that person given the female warrior an order? Or perhaps he had given it to her in order to strengthen their good relations?

Shalltear recalled the figure of the absolute ruler of the Great Tomb of Nazarick. The unease she felt at possibly having ruined one of her master’s plans filled her with limitless frustration.

“Why did you come here? What was your objective?”

Shalltear was no longer in the mood to dance around the topic. She had to find out as much as possible, and so she stared at the female warrior with eyes that were now bloodshot for a completely different reason.

“Yes… Our job is to protect the city, so we came to investigate when we heard there was a bandits' nest nearby. In the end, we found something strange, so we split up our team. Our party was responsible for a reconnaissance in force, which brought us here.”

“You split your team?”

“Yes. We didn’t know how many bandits were present, so we decided to split up and draw the enemy into a trapped area the other party was setting up.”

“So there’s another team…” 

Shalltear muttered, then clicked her tongue as she realized that this meant more trouble for her. 

“Then, how many of you came here?”

“There were seven people including me, and then—”

“Hm? Wait, seven people? Not six?”

Shalltear counted the corpses around them. Three warriors, one mage, one cleric — and this woman. The numbers did not add up.

The female warrior’s answer to Shalltear’s doubt-filled gaze was direct and to the point.

“Yes, there was also a ranger. He said that he would hurry back to E-Rantel for help if an emergency occurred.”

“Say what…?”

The arcane magic caster’s voice had been very loud — loud enough that everyone in the depression could hear him.

“Kuh!”

Eyes wide open, Shalltear charged up the sides of the lowlands, faster than the wind. She leapt over the edge and looked around, but even her dark vision capable eyes could not penetrate the depths of the forest, and though she listened carefully, she could only hear the wind blowing on the grass and trees.

Shalltear did not possess any detection abilities or divination magic. Under these circumstances, finding a single person in the entire forest would probably be impossible.

“Son of a bitch!” 

He had escaped; she had been too careless. Shalltear ground her teeth as she realized that she had let two of her prey slip away.

“Familiars!”

Shadows wavered into existence near her feet. The shapes of a number of wolves appeared, their fur black as night ans their eyes radiated with a malevolent crimson glow. 

They were Vampire Wolves, simple level 7 monsters summoned by one of Shalltear’s skills called [Household Summons], which allowed her to call forth various monsters. 

The wolves were the ones best suited for tracking and pursuit. 

“Hunt down and kill everyone in the forest!”

Upon hearing the shouted order, the ten Vampire Wolves surged into the woods as one.

“Ahhhh! Yuuji-sama… Will he be disappointed in me…?”

Shalltear muttered so softly that nobody could hear, grabbing her head in agonized thought.

“If only I didn’t have this [Blood Frenzy]... no, saying that would be disrespectful to my creator, Peroroncino-sama. But if only I could control this [Blood Frenzy]…”

The disappointed visage that would appear in Yuuji’s countenance in her imagination filled her mind with agony and twisted her heart. 

But… It was too late for any regrets, and no matter how she dealt with this woman, it seemed a scolding would be inevitable. The question now was how to minimize the damage which had been done.

“Worse” was still better than the “worst”.

Shalltear thought and thought, until it seemed smoke would start to come out of her ears, before coming to a conclusion.

Rather than killing her, letting her live gave her more options. She could not take back the fact that she had killed her, but sparing her allowed room for the situation to play out.

That was what Shalltear had decided. Or rather, this was how desperately she was trying to delude herself.

“What is your name?”

“Britta.”

“Got it… I’ll remember it!”

Shalltear ordered the girl called Britta to stay where she was, then brought

her two Vampire Bride servants some distance away.

“In any case, let’s recover everything here and then retreat right away–”

Just then, she felt an imaginary thread that symbolized her connection with her familiars snap. 

It did not feel like the disappearance was of magical banishment. That would feel like the thread suddenly dissipating in the wind. 

No… her connection was snapped. It felt like the discorporation of being killed. 

“Follow me after you take care of that woman! Get the marker ready!”

Having made a decision, Shalltear paused only to snap off a terse command before sprinting out at lightning speeds.

--------------------------------X--------------------------------

Although she was forced to slow down in the forest, as long as her targets were human beings, they could not escape from Shalltear’s clutches, even when mounted.

She burst from the forest, to the last known position of her familiars. There were twelve people before her.

Each person was attired in a full equipment which varied between each of them.

Their gear was not simple and functional, but as decorative and unique as her own equipment. They looked quite potent at a glance. Of course, Shalltear did not have any skills to discern the power of magic items, so she had to go by her gut, but she felt that their magic items might be of legendary class or above.

There was a look of shock, both on their expressions and hers. 

Doubts appeared in Shalltear’s head, given that she had no idea where these people hailed from. These twelve people seemed completely different from the others that Shalltear had seen in this world. It was the difference between a lion and a mouse.

Shalltear considered the twelve men and women, and her gaze finally rested on one of them. A man who stood at the forefront.

That man… is he strong?

Shalltear was surprised and had no levels in dedicated warrior classes, so her assessment of her opposition’s strength told her that he was not only stronger than the Vampire Brides she had brought along, but stronger still than Solution, the Pleiades battle maid.

Shalltear took a closer look at the man.

The gear he wore seemed to have been designed for use by a man, which was why she had pegged him as a male, but he seemed quite androgynous in appearance.

His hair was black and long, almost reaching the ground, while his keen eyes had red pupils which regarded Shalltear with caution. He carried a plain looking spear which seemed incongruous with the rest of his equipment.

“—Use it.”

The man issued a clear, crisp command — like the surface of a frozen lake — and panic broke out in the rest of the party. Shalltear had no idea what those words meant. 

However, she imagined that whatever was being used was powerful, possibly enough to rival Shalltear’s sole divine-class item.

The others sprang into action in response to the command, but Shalltear paid them no heed. There was only one person who stood out in her reckoning; the others did not seem like much of a threat.

The group’s formation was centered around a woman in a strange dress. It had a high-necked collar, with two long slits on either side, so it was probably some sort of ladies’ full length dress. 

It was silver in color, with a five-clawed dragon picked out in gold thread along its surface.

In Yuuji’s world, this sort of dress would be called a qipao.

However, the woman wearing it was very old, her face was full of wrinkles, and her exposed legs looked like burdocks or dried potatoes. That dress was thoroughly unsuitable for her and frankly speaking, it made onlookers frown. Shalltear even went so far as to avert her eyes.

It was then that she felt it… 

A sensation that made her… shivered. 

This was the first time that Shalltear — a Guardian, one of the highest ranking entities in the Great Tomb of Nazarick — had ever shivered. 

Shalltear’s eyes turned, intending to seize the old lady her instincts were warning her about.

That human had to die at all costs.

The spear-wielding man rushed at her just as she realized this and was about to make her move.

“Get lost!”

Shalltear batted him aside with all her might. However, when subjected to a strike that would pulverize a weak human being, the man was simply knocked back and did not perish on the spot. In addition, his will to fight was still intact despite being blown away.

Shalltear cast a spell, centered on the old lady.

“[Mass Hold Species]!”

She wanted to capture several people. This was because she had a premonition that capturing these people would not only make up for her previous errors, but earn her praise.

But in that moment, as she thought that, Shalltear’s mind suddenly turned white.

A searing white. 

It felt as though part of her thought processes were gone, because she could not comprehend what was happening. And then, when she realized what had happened, Shalltear was shaken to the core, fear filling her undead heart.

This was mind control.

As an undead being, she should have had complete immunity to mind controlling items, yet her will was still being dominated. She desperately tried to engrave hatred and anger on her gradually-whitening consciousness, and as her mind pondered countless variations of the worst-case scenario—

With the worst being… turning against her most beloved one…

“AAAAAAHHHHHHHH—!”

She wailed, tears of blood flowing down the corners of her crimson eyes, as she struggled to fight back against the dominating force which was corrupting her, a Guardian of the Great Tomb of Nazarick.

But in the next moment, the light that sought to corrode her mind suddenly dissipated. 

A look of shock appeared on Shalltear’s expression, as well as all of their expressions. 

The searing white that encroached upon her mind disappeared, along with the agonizing pain…

Shalltear had no idea what had just happened… But, she didn’t let it hold her surprise for long. 

Having regained the full faculties of her mind back, Shalltear instantly used a class skill to create a [Purifying Javelin]. It was a gigantic lance of the holy element, and despite her own evil alignment, it could still cause massive damage to her foes. 

The most important thing was that she could spend MP to imbue it with perfect accuracy and tracking ability.

As she marshaled her utmost opposition, Shalltear glared at the user of the technique, the old lady who was planning to defile her. To take her away from her beloved… 

She did not take the man who held the large, mirror-like shield standing between her and the old lady into consideration.

And then — she threw.

She used that skill of hers to the full extent of its power, striking an augmented blow.

The strike flashed by in a streak of light and struck the old lady after penetrating the body of the man in front of her and the shield he was holding.

She saw the panicked group and the two of them coughing up blood in agony.

And just as she was about to finish the job and kill every single one of them here, a voice from above stopped her. 

“Shalltear. Stand down.”

All eyes looked upon the skies and saw a figure with six pairs of jet-black feathered wings.

“Fallen Angel”

That was the term that came to the minds of the mortals who witnessed his figure from the ground.