Chapter 190: 101. The Blackened Village -3 (Part Two)
Instead of a monster, a figure of a lovely maiden could be seen standing in the forest. She was truly beautiful. As a matter of fact, she was the most ideal version of a woman he had in his mind.
Not only that, she was completely naked to boot. With a gentle, inviting smile, she beckoned towards him.
His hair suddenly turned grey in an instant and his body began moving all on its own.
“Sir Himel? What are you doing…?”
Another knight next to Himel shifted his gaze over to the forest even before he could finish his question. The light in the eyes of the other knights also dulled and they began trudging towards the forest in slow gaits.
“What are you all doing?”
Charlotte asked the knights in alarm. However, none of them bothered to look back at her.
She reached out and grabbed one of them, but the knight angrily shook his hand free from her grasp. He even yanked his sword out and pointed it at her while crying out, “Do not stop me!”
“…?”
Charlotte frowned deeply at these strange behaviours coming from the escorting knights. Still feeling suspicious, she shifted her gaze towards the forest.
And it was at that exact moment that she got to see it.
The Seventh Imperial Prince was in the forest. While in his birthday suit, he was beckoning at her with a gentle smile on his face.
Charlotte became completely stupefied by that sight. Her head was getting foggy and confused at the same time. Something was trying to invade her mind right now.
Wasn’t this demonic energy?
It had to be a type of illusion magic.
She urgently pressed her temples, hard. While doing that, she calmly addressed the Seventh Imperial Prince inside the carriage. “Your highness?”
His voice came from inside the vehicle, “What’s up?”
Charlotte inwardly breathed a sigh of relief at his response. “The situation on the outside seems to have become somewhat precarious, sir.”
The Seventh Imperial Prince heard her calm voice and opened the carriage’s door. “How so?”
When she saw his face, a thought popped up in her mind.
‘I knew it. His highness would never make such a slimy face like that illusion.’
She expertly hid her inner thoughts and replied to him, “Your highness, another ‘you’ is currently standing over there.”
Charlotte pointed to the interior of the forest. By then, the escorting knights were already stepping into the darkness of the forest. And Barus, who belatedly poked his head outside, could only look on in shock.
The reason was that he managed to catch the sight of his knights dazedly wandering towards the gaps of the trees.
“O-oii! Where are you all going?!”
Barus hurriedly shouted at them. He jumped out of the carriage and hurriedly walked over in order to stop his knights, but instead, they threatened him back.
Charlotte grabbed the back of Barus’s collars and pulled him back to provide protection.
She spoke, “It’s illusion magic. It seems that every one of your escorts have fallen under the spell.”
The Imperial Prince watching this event unfold asked her. “Hang on. Did you say I was standing over there?”
When he stared straight at her, Charlotte couldn’t help but make a troubled face. Even if it was her, she couldn’t bring herself to say that yes, a naked version of him was standing over there and even tried to seduce her with a rather slimy expression.
So, she changed the subject. “Should I subdue the knights?”
With her skill set, it’d not be all that difficult to suppress them by tying up their arms and legs.
“If not…” Charlotte continued with her question while unsheathing her sword, “Should I eliminate the culprit instead?”
“Can you do it?”
“This is merely a low-ranked spell, your highness. Although the emitted demonic energy seems strong, the creature itself is definitely weak.”
Allen shifted his gaze and looked at the distant village. “You’re right. Judging by the standards of the zombies back then, the bastard must be a weakling. Hmm…”
He glanced back at her and asked, “Are you sure you can handle it?”
“If you give me your orders, then yes.”
She responded with a bow of her head.
“Alright, then. Get rid of the bastard.”
Charlotte nodded without hesitation. She walked towards where the knights had been lured into while gripping her unsheathed sword.
Allen watched her distancing back and muttered out softly, “I guess we should get ready too.”
Barus made a puzzled face at the boy Priest’s murmur. “What do you mean, sir?”
“Don’t you find it odd?” The Seventh Imperial Prince pointed in the direction where the knights had disappeared to. “Only the knights have been placed under the spell and lured away from here. What do you think is the reason for that?”
“…?”
“Actually, it’s pretty simple.”
A suspicious grin floated up on the Seventh Imperial Prince’s face.
“To eliminate us.”
It was at that exact moment.
Several undead creatures began appearing around the carriage. However, these things were different from the regular zombies. Not only were there ghouls and dullahans, even lycans were mixed in among the group.
Barus’s complexion paled instantly at this sight.
But Allen was simply shrugging his shoulders.
“See? I was right.”
**
The knights were currently swimming in a pleasant illusion. They reached out to touch the beautiful maiden.
However, she continuously evaded their attempts by shaking off their extended hands. She mumbled some words towards them.
-I’m afraid.
What she said prompted a confused tilting of heads from the knights, but they didn’t need long to understand what she meant.
They began removing their armaments. They threw away their weapons and took off their armour. Once they were finished with ridding themselves of protection, they reached out towards her again.
Finally, they caught her.
She felt so smooth and supple.
When they embraced her, her cool skin settled their nerves down even more.
“Oh, my dear lady. Can you tell me what your name is?”
The knights asked this question while raising their heads. And that was when they got to see the maiden’s face.
The face of the large maggot, that was.
…With a pair of protruding eyes and serrated teeth adorning its mouth.
This monster was none other than Baron Lava Labert.
He grinned with his hideous eyes. “Thanks for the meal.”
Those bizarre, monstrous-looking serrated fangs opened wide with a loud ‘splat!’ Disgusting saliva strands could be seen dangling and extending between the sharp fangs.
The knights’ expressions hardened at that sight.
But, just before Baron Lava could swallow up the head of a knight whole…
“So, it was you.”
The Vampire flinched in surprise and shifted his gaze back to the front.
Charlotte was slowly walking towards him with her sword drawn.
Only then did the knights regain their wits and began screaming at the top of their lungs while stumbling back ungainly. Some even plopped down on their butts.
“A-a monster! It’s a monster!”
Baron Lava sighed ruefully and locked his gaze at Charlotte. “Oh, so the illusion magic didn’t work on you, is that it? Looks like this little miss has a fairly tough mind.”
Even though he spoke in a sarcastic tone of voice, cold sweat had already begun trickling down his back. Which was understandable, considering that no human had ever withstood Baron Lava’s illusion magic until now.
“Such low-grade magic won’t work on me,” said Charlotte while pointing with her blade. She lowered her torso a little to get into an attack stance.
Baron Lava slowly rubbed his chin. “You’re not afraid even after taking a good look at me?”
The Theocratic Empire’s clerics should possess quite a lot of information on Vampires. Meaning, she should’ve realised by now that Lava was a ‘Progenitor’ just from how far removed he looked from a human being. Actually, anyone should be able to guess that from how monstrous his figure was.
Even then, the girl wasn’t scared at all.
“I’m sure you’ve realised by now that I’m a Progenitor?”
“Of course I can see that.”
Charlotte nodded; although faint, a thin smile could be spied on her near-expressionless face.
“And that’s why I have chosen to come here.”
A Vampire was standing right before her eyes. Not just any, but a Progenitor no less. In other words, it was a rare prey.
This would be her first solo battle against a Vampire since the encounter against the Count back in the Ronia fiefdom. She thought it’d be a wonderful opportunity to test her current strength.
Charlotte’s cold, sharp glare locked firmly on Baron Lava. “What is your rank?”
That question was meant to uncover the Vampire’s peerage.
Baron Lava slightly cowered back without even realising it because of Charlotte’s unwavering confidence. He began feeling nervous from the way she remained so unperturbed even in front of his presence.
“I-I’m a baron.”
Charlotte froze up a little at that reply. Her expression hardened as well.
Baron Lava smiled inwardly at that sight, feeling a little relieved now.
‘Damn it, I was nervous for no reason!’
As expected, the Paladin before his eyes seemed to have finally gotten terrified now. She probably thought that he was just a Progenitor Vampire without a peerage.
That’s right, this girl was simply bluffing all along!
That’s what Baron Lava thought.
Unfortunately for him…
“You were just a baron…”
He noticed the light gleaming in Charlotte’s eyes just then.
And that was the light of disappointment. Her disappointment at how ‘shabby’ her prey had turned out to be.
“I wanted to fight against a Count-class, at least…”
Charlotte injected divinity into her treasure sword. The aura of divine energy began gushing out from her entire figure. That powerful aura sent a deathly chill down Baron Lava’s maggot-like back.
“Still, you will surely prove to be useful in your own way.”
She approached Baron Lava step by step. On the other hand, the Vampire began stumbling back.
“You shall be made to confess in regards to what transpired in this village, and also the matters related to the one his highness has been searching for, the dragon slayer, Raiden.”
Baron Lava was taken over by terror and couldn’t even utter a single word out. Just staring at Charlotte’s figure stung and burned his eyes.
Only then did the Vampire finally realise the truth.
The truth that the prey being hunted down wasn’t the girl, but himself.
She finished the rest of her sentence. “…Even if that means your life must be forfeited.”
A massive amount of divinity enveloping the sword violently raged on.
< 101. The Blackened Village -3 (Part One and Two) > Fin.
