Damon walked through the air as if treading on solid ground and sat down in the chair. Then, leisurely looking down below, he continued speaking.
“Originally, I intended to teach you a harsh lesson. So that you would never again dare to intrude upon this place.”
“If that is the case, there is no need for you to trouble yourself. Now that we know the gap in strength is so vast, we will never come here again. I swear it on my honor.”
Kasim tried his utmost to placate him. But Damon did not seem particularly convinced.
“In any case, once you have suffered a full week of torment, any thought of coming here again will vanish completely. Before that, I would like to know who you people are and what your purpose is.”
Yuliana, whose hand Kasim had released, immediately shouted.
“We are an order of righteous knights who came to capture an evil villain like you. Evil must surely—mph.”
Her words were cut off once again by Kasim’s hand, which hurriedly clamped over her mouth. Watching them, Damon burst into a hearty laugh.
“Keh-heh-heh. What a truly reckless, impudent little girl who cannot tell front from back. Well, you are right. In truth, I am originally an evil and cruel villain beyond measure.”
At those words, Kasim and Mitchell’s faces turned deathly dark. With their lives in the hands of a black magician, Yuliana had finally gone and caused trouble. Kasim’s face, in particular, was too dreadful to look at. He growled at Yuliana with eyes that looked ready to devour her.
“You damned… If you want to live, shut your mouth and stay still.”
Having been roundly cursed, Yuliana’s eyes flared with fury. If she could simply sit still after being insulted, she would not be Yuliana.
But since her mouth was firmly covered, Yuliana could not say a single word. She could only glare at Kasim with a face full of anger. Damon watched that sight closely.
‘She really does look like Daphne. If she weren’t angry, I wouldn’t be able to tell them apart at all.’
Of course, he had never once seen Daphne angry. As he thought of Daphne, a sorrowful emotion once again surged through Damon’s mind. Just thinking of Daphne, who would be turned to stone, made his heart ache.
Because of that, Damon stared at Yuliana’s face for a long while with a vacant expression. As if he were thinking of nothing at all. Seeing that, a strange light appeared on Mitchell’s face.
Stealthily approaching Yuliana, Mitchell whispered in her ear in a low voice.
“Judging by the situation, it seems he has been thoroughly bewitched by your beauty.”
Hearing those words, Yuliana shuddered. To think that this hateful, evil black magician, disgusting just to look at, was harboring lustful intentions toward her…
It was a misunderstanding of the highest order, but Yuliana believed it to be true. After all, one could tell just from the way he was staring so intently at her face. As if to make matters worse, Mitchell poured oil onto the blazing fire.
“All our lives are in that man’s hands. So I’m sorry, but you’ll have to save us. What will you do? We can’t all be massacred here, can we?”
As soon as he finished speaking, Yuliana shot Mitchell a burning glare. His words were no different from saying they should sell her off to save the others’ lives. If she could, she wanted to heap curses upon him at once.
But with her mouth covered, she could not do that either. Kasim, who had somehow heard his words, was equally dumbfounded.
“Then are you saying you intend to hand over the princess you serve to a black magician and have only us flee like this?”
“N-no, that’s not what I mean… Only if we survive first can we rescue Yuliana later, can we not?”
Watching Mitchell stammer out excuses, Kasim removed the hand covering Yuliana’s mouth. A cold air lingered on his face.
“You may be able to do that, but I cannot. Whether I like her or not, she is my employer. In other words, she is someone I must protect even at the cost of my life.”
Finally freed, Yuliana sent Kasim a grateful look, then without warning slapped Mitchell across the cheek.
Smack.
Mitchell, struck squarely across the face, clutched his cheek and staggered backward. Watching that, Kasim wore an extremely satisfied expression. There was no way he could have liked Mitchell, who usually behaved arrogantly.
Yuliana approached with a venomous expression, grabbed Mitchell by the collar, and snarled.
“You bastard. The moment we return, I’m going to tell your father every last detail of this…”
At those words, Mitchell’s face turned ashen. His father, Hailes, truly had a fiery temper, and if this became known, he would instantly be beaten half to death. Of course, that was only something to consider under the assumption that they escaped this place.
Having completed her revenge(?), Yuliana looked up at Damon with a triumphant expression.
“Hmph. At least you have eyes, for what it’s worth… But it’s useless. I would rather die than fawn over you…”
Coming back to his senses, Damon smiled bitterly. This was a misunderstanding if ever there was one. As he hesitated over how to respond, Kasim’s spirited voice suddenly rang out.
“Though we lacked strength and have ended up captured by you, I have no regrets. Though I am not a knight, I am a man who values honor. Know this: you will not be able to lay a hand on her before killing me.”
Kasim, standing in front of Yuliana with both fists clenched, radiated unfiltered manly spirit. His mercenaries also hurriedly came over and surrounded Yuliana.
An attitude that showed no regard for their own lives. Birds of a feather flock together; even the mercenaries under him were coming to resemble Kasim’s character.
Watching that sight, Damon was so dumbfounded that words failed him. Of course, he had a perfectly prepared solution for such a case.
“I suppose I should make them a little more obedient first. Winslot.”
Since their minds were connected, Winslot could understand Damon’s command with only a thought. Having grasped Damon’s intention, Winslot threw aside his battle axe and approached the mercenaries.
All while swinging the head in his left hand like a blackjack. (Black Jack: an extremely simple weapon made by putting sand or stones into a sock. A very useful weapon for striking the back of an opponent’s head and knocking them unconscious.)
“Kraaaah.”
The mercenaries’ eyes went wide at the sight of a corpse(?) charging at them using its head as a weapon. Of course, the experienced Kasim knew exactly what the opponent was.
“Be careful. That thing is an undead monster called a Dullahan. It possesses monstrous strength, so do not underestimate it. When I give the signal, we rush in all at once and pin it down. Understood?”
At Kasim’s warning, the mercenaries immediately answered.
“Yes.”
“Good. Then wait for my signal.”
The mercenaries stared at the approaching Winslot, tense to the utmost. They were waiting for Kasim’s signal. At last, Kasim gave the order to attack.
“Now.”
No sooner had the words fallen than the mercenaries charged in like a pack. Their calculation was that if eight men in total piled on top of it, even if it was undead, it would be unable to move.
But that was clearly a miscalculation. Though he had become undead, Winslot had been a mercenary of considerable skill in life, and the techniques he had learned then were manifesting almost instinctively.
Moreover, considering that he was an undead with defensive power that would not budge under ordinary blows, this was already a decided battle.
Thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack.
The mercenaries struck in the face by Winslot’s swinging head collapsed unconscious on the spot, spraying nosebleeds everywhere.
A Dullahan’s head possessed tremendous hardness. One could tell just from the fact that it was used in place of a shield during battle. Even swords could not cut into it, so how great must the shock have been when they took it with their bare faces?
In an instant, the mercenaries were annihilated, and only their leader, Kasim, remained. As if proving that all his years as a mercenary had not been for nothing, Kasim barely managed to dodge Winslot’s strike. Spotting an opening, Kasim drove his steel-like fist mercilessly into Winslot’s abdomen.
Thud.
But the groan came from his own mouth instead.
“Keuk.”
Feeling as if he had struck a tree trunk, Kasim grabbed his fist and grimaced fiercely. He had only heard rumors about Dullahans and had never actually faced one. Thus Kasim had never dreamed their bodies would be this hard.
The Dullahan turned lightly, as if asking what mosquito had bitten him, and swung the head. Kasim threw himself aside and avoided it, but unfortunately, Winslot’s reflexes far surpassed his own.
It was good that he ducked low and avoided the head, but he had not anticipated the kick that followed at all.
Thwack.
Kasim, kicked squarely in the face, fainted and toppled backward. Seeing him sprawled out completely in the shape of a great “X,” it seemed unlikely he would be getting up for a while.
With the last shield gone, Yuliana could only tremble like an aspen leaf. It was understandable, since she had been left alone before a horrifying Dullahan just to look at. Having removed all obstacles, Winslot lumbered toward Yuliana. At that moment, something dug into Winslot’s back.
“Hiyaah!”
Along with a resounding shout came a dull impact.
Thud.
At the same time, Winslot’s sturdy body staggered. Seeing it sway as though drunk, it seemed to have taken a considerable blow. Looking closely, a battle axe was deeply embedded in Winslot’s back. It was the very battle axe Winslot had thrown aside. Watching the Dullahan stagger backward, Mitchell let out a strange laugh.
“Heh-heh-heh. How does that taste, you bastard?”
While Kasim and the mercenaries had been taking the blows with their bodies, Mitchell had crept over and picked up the battle axe the Dullahan had thrown away.
“I did it.”
Only after taking up a weapon did Mitchell regain his courage. He had already reached a level where he could use mana, and with a weapon in hand, there was no need to be afraid of something like a Dullahan.
After filling the axe to the brim with mana, Mitchell attacked Winslot, who had been about to approach Yuliana.
The attack struck true, and the Dullahan suffered a wound so severe that it almost seemed unable to fight. Watching that, Damon frowned.
“To think you could injure Winslot. You were fairly skilled after all. It is not particularly easy to pierce a Dullahan’s body. And judging by the way you launch surprise attacks, you seem quite far from fair and honorable…”
At the insulting words, Mitchell’s face flushed red. Who would feel good upon hearing that they were not fair and honorable? Without realizing it, Mitchell shouted.
“Are you not equally cowardly for firing Magic Missiles from afar without warning?”
“You fool… I am a magician. And on top of that, I am an evil and despicable villain, so there is no need for me to care about methods or means.”
At Damon’s sly retort, Mitchell was rendered utterly speechless. When the man himself claimed to be a villain, what more could he say? Turning his head, Damon drew dark mana up from his dantian. Then he focused it toward Winslot, who was still staggering as though drunk. The dark magical power crossed the air and was sucked into Winslot’s body.
“Kraaaaaah.”
As the source of life was injected into him, Winslot raised both arms and let out a strange cry. Turning his right hand back to pull the battle axe embedded in his back free, Winslot looked full of vitality, as if he had been revived. His staggering appearance had vanished without a trace.
Sssssss.
A green aura gathered around the long gash carved into his back, and it began to heal at a rapid pace.
A Dullahan was, by nature, an undead monster given life by injecting dark magical power into a dead corpse. Therefore, as long as it was filled with dark magical power, the regeneration of its body took place in the blink of an eye.
Winslot glared fiercely at Mitchell as if he had never been wounded. If one did not feel chilled by that sight, one could not be human… Mitchell retreated one step with a pale face. Into his ears came a declaration that seemed to have been uttered by the necromancer.
“I accept your challenge. If you are confident in your swordsmanship, try fighting my Dullahan.”
“With my bare hands?”
“I will return your weapon and armor.”
As soon as Damon finished speaking, something heavy fell beside Mitchell. It was the helmet and armor Mitchell had been wearing when he entered the cave. Immediately afterward, his sword fell as well, still sheathed.
Clang.
Only after grasping the sword he had inherited from his father did Mitchell regain his courage. Silently, he began putting on his armor. After first putting on his gauntlets and greaves, Mitchell pulled tight the leather straps of his breastplate. It was unsightly, dented from being battered by Magic Missiles, but it would still help with defense in its own way.
“I’ll help.”
Perhaps equally desperate, Yuliana also lent a hand.