Episode 339 – Everfell (2)
Including the rcenaries who had rushed in following the intruder's cry, there were now about a hundred gathered in the reception room.
It was strange that around fifty who had been patrolling the mansion hadn’t shown up, but the captains focused on the intruders before them.
As the light from the staff turned their vision red, they quickly made their decision.
“Fire!!!”
“Kill the old man!”
The old man standing with a staff.
Veterans as they were, they imdiately recognized the aura he was emitting—just looking at him disturbed the mind and exuded malice.
“Don’t give the shaman any ti!”
A shaman.
Clearly a dark shaman at that.
Tuttutututu—!
Crossbows surrounding the reception room glowed with magical light and fired savagely.
These were magic crossbows, enchanted weapons Henry had spent a fortune acquiring, with spell-imbued bolts.
Monts later, the magical bolts struck Rengua.
Kwakwakwa-boom—!
A red blaze burst around him, causing a huge explosion centered on his position.
The room’s furnishings went up in flas, and the expensive marble flooring shattered—but Henry saw none of that.
At first, he was surprised by the power of the bolts, then he anticipated seeing the old man’s tattered corpse.
But instead—
“What is that…?”
Where the old man had stood was now a white cocoon.
It was ford of tangled thread, shielding the area around Rengua.
Just as the captains prepared to respond to this, a scream rang out from behind.
“Aaaagh, stay away!”
“Y-you… you died back then!”
So of the soldiers’ faces twisted in terror.
They scread at empty air, backed away with horror in their eyes—as if they were seeing sothing grotesque.
That was only the beginning.
More and more began succumbing to fear.
Sensing that sothing was off, the captains recalled the dark light from earlier.
“Get a grip! It’s a curse!”
“Pull back anyone affected!”
Their response was quick, but the cursed ones were quicker.
“Aaaagh! Damn it!”
“Stay away! I said stay away!”
The cursed ones desperately reloaded their crossbows.
The captains' unease surged—and beca reality.
Those under the curse turned their crossbows and fired wildly at their allies.
Their targets were the positions of friendly units—and the captains themselves.
“Y-you bastards…!”
With curses, the captains raised their shields.
Tuttutututung—!
Kwakwa-boom—!
“Gaaaaah!”
Those hit by the bolts scread and were thrown back—so killed instantly, others rolled across the floor, their bodies ablaze.
“Protect the Lord!”
Grinding their teeth, the captains cleared the way with their shields.
They hadn't expected an attack like this.
As more fell into the curse, the situation beca uncontrollable.
More than half of those with crossbows were in fear, shooting in all directions.
Eventually, allies began shooting allies.
Utter chaos.
Screams and explosions filled the reception room.
The only way to end this was to kill the dark shaman.
The captains exchanged glances and gathered the elite forces.
These elites hadn’t fallen under the curse.
Those who wielded aura had enough ntal resistance to withstand it.
“You spread out and stabilize the room!”
The 1- and 2-star fighters moved to subdue their cursed comrades.
“The rest, follow !”
A strike force made up of 3- and 4-star elites ford up and rushed toward the cocoon.
Two rcenary captains and twenty-five elite warriors.
Leaving only one captain behind to guard the Lord, the rest charged straight at the cocoon.
Their drawn swords glead with deadly energy.
“Cut him down!”
As their strikes rained on the white cocoon, it began tearing under the pressure—sothing even the magical bolts couldn’t do.
“We’ve got him! The shaman’s head is ours—”
Just as one captain lunged forward to finish Rengua with a blade—
Clang!
“Kuh! Watch out!”
Suddenly, black dolls leapt from behind the torn cocoon.
Their swords clashed with terrifying speed.
New enemies.
There weren’t just a few—dozens erged, all wearing dark red armor.
The rcenaries swore, blocking with shields or countering with swords.
As they clashed at close quarters, the rcenaries finally got a proper look at them.
All wore face-concealing helts, and through the gaps—
Glowing red eyes.
Clearly not human.
Clang! Clang-clang-clang!
Sparks flew from all directions.
Though it was a surprise attack, the elite rcenaries did not falter.
Their formation held firm. So took light wounds, but quickly fell back.
anwhile, the attackers were being stabbed or slamd into the ground.
In terms of power, the rcenaries held the advantage.
The captains thought as much—until they heard Rengua’s voice from behind the enemies.
“To gain the upper hand against Dead Knights—you must have spent a fortune on your defense.”
Walking out through the rising smoke, Rengua looked over the cursed rcenaries.
“Humans… they rely too much on what they see. Can’t distinguish truth from illusion.”
“What have you done to us?!”
“I simply showed you your deepest fear. A harmless illusion, nothing more.”
As he answered the captain, he glanced at Henry and grinned.
Feeling Rengua’s gaze, Henry instinctively hugged the gold chests tighter.
A primal reaction to fear.
Finally, face contorted in rage, he roared:
“Who the hell are you?!”
“Didn’t I say? I ca from the Castle.”
“Don’t give that crap! Captain! Bring his head, now!”
Though the captain didn’t answer, rcenaries were already moving to surround Rengua.
He chuckled as he looked around.
“Not my head—but I do have soone else’s.”
“...What??”
The Dead Knights stepped forward, facing the rcenaries again.
Only then did the rcenaries get a clearer look at them.
Their armor was streaked with blood.
Fresh droplets still dripped from their blades.
“That’s not our blood...”
There hadn’t been many casualties in the initial clash. For this much blood, dozens had to be dead.
Suddenly, a captain’s eye twitched.
The missing rcenaries from upstairs.
None had appeared since the battle started.
His gaze shifted to the shattered ceiling.
Could it be… they’d all been killed?
Then what about Young Master Windsor, whom they were guarding?
Thud, roll—
A severed head tumbled between the Dead Knights and stopped at Henry’s feet.
A familiar, distorted face, eyes wide open in death.
The mont he saw it, Henry’s eyes went wide.
“Wi… Windsor!!!”
A father's wail filled the room.
Pushing past the others, Henry collapsed before the severed head, howling.
Rengua smiled, satisfied.
“Ah… the negative surge of emotion. That kind of wailing is always music to my ears. Despair and rage… my favorites.”
“You bastard!!”
“Because those emotions give power.”
“Kill him! KILL HIM!!!”
Henry, clutching Windsor’s head, scread murderously at Rengua.
A howl laced with despair and fury.
Rengua bead and stepped back, while the rcenaries charged, snarling.
“Kill them all!”
Swords drawn, the rcenaries charged.
Only about twenty Dead Knights stood in their way.
They could handle that.
Upon impact, the captains took the lead.
All were long-ti 4-star elites.
One captain slashed off a Dead Knight’s helt and pierced his heart.
Instant kill.
As he pulled back his sword and turned to strike the next—
“...?!”
The knight whose heart he had pierced—suddenly locked eyes, lunged, and grabbed him.
Shocked, the captain flared his aura and shattered the knight’s limbs—but it didn’t matter.
The knight, seemingly immune to pain, threw his entire body around the captain’s legs, binding him.
“C-Captain!!!”
A subordinate scread.
Another knight charged forward—then stabbed his sword through his comrade’s back, impaling the captain’s chest.
With overwhelming pain and disbelief, the captain laughed bitterly.
“What the hell is this…”
Puuk! Puuk! Puuk!
Not stopping at once, the attacker repeatedly thrust the blade through his ally’s back, skewering the captain again and again.
Two, three, four tis.
“Kuhk!”
The captain coughed blood, his eyes going dull.
In his fading consciousness, he looked around.
The other captains were in similar situations.
The enemies used each other’s backs, heads, and shoulders to anchor and strike.
A suicidal, relentless assault.
Judging by the blood, they had to be human… but they didn’t act like it.
No one had ever fought an enemy like this.
If even captains couldn’t hold out—what of the subordinates?
“Gaaah!”
“These maniacs!”
Everyone was in disarray, overwheld by the sheer savagery.
As the head of another forr rival captain went flying, the last flicker of consciousness faded.
“...No...”
Henry watched the battle with despair in his eyes.
The reception room floor had turned into a lake of blood.
Limbs flew, blood sprayed—a massacre.
And the ones falling were only the rcenaries.
None of the enemy had died.
Henry felt sothing behind him.
Turning dazedly, he saw Rengua standing there.
“It must hurt so much.”
“Let take that away.”
The crystal in Rengua’s hand glowed red—and with a flash before Henry’s eyes, his pupils lost their light.
Staring blankly into space, he no longer saw the chests of gold or Windsor’s body.
His gaze drifted only to the void.
Then Rengua’s voice reached his ears.
“Bring the Kunta Soul-Binding Doll.”
At the command, Henry moved imdiately.
Leaving behind the screams of the dying, he climbed the stairs to the second floor.
Rengua and Azolett followed him.
Before ascending, Azolett glanced back.
She saw the few remaining rcenaries still struggling, surrounded by Dead Knights.
No more than ten left. They wouldn’t last long.
“What about those?”
“We’ll use their corpses to make more dolls.”
“Makes sense. The dolls took a beating. Not bad for re rcs.”
They hadn't needed to step in themselves, but the top rcenary companies of Aintrier had done serious damage to their dolls.
On the second floor, they were greeted by corridors covered in webbing.
Along the walls hung nurous cocoons—rcenaries, attendants, even guests.
Azolett had subdued them all, encased in silk.
Each cocoon was stained red—signs that Dead Knights had cut the captives into materials.
Total annihilation of everyone in the mansion except the reception room.
That had been Rengua’s request to Azolett.
The sa scene continued through the second, third, and fourth floors.
“Hm?”
Azolett narrowed her eyes and stopped.
“What is it?”
“Looks like one prey is still alive. Sothing’s stuck in the web.”
She muttered as she gazed toward the far end of the fourth floor.
“Did I miss soone?”
“Strange. I never miss a presence.”
She flicked her hand.
The rings on her fingers glowed black as she began moving toward the end of the corridor.
“I’ll finish this. You go on ahead.”
As Azolett vanished, Rengua followed Henry.
Eventually, they arrived at Henry’s private study.
Standing before a hidden vault, Rengua retrieved what he had co for:
The Kunta Soul-Binding Doll.
“Finally…”
He held the doll gently, caressing it for a long mont.
At last, he had all the materials for the ritual.
It had taken so long to get here—and alone, he never would’ve made it.
He had only moved according to the guidance of his master.
Now that everything was in place, he would return to Pri Root to begin the ritual.
A ceremony to resurrect the frozen heart of the Lord.
The long-awaited day was near.
The birth of a new Black Star.
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