Chapter: 366
“Pa-at—”
“…Ugh!”
Auria jumps through space, fleeing.
Yoon Si-woo swings his sword, trying to catch up.
The chase continues on and on.
Auria, able to cover hundreds of meters in an instant through teleportation.
Thus, it was almost impossible for Yoon Si-woo to catch up to her as she genuinely tried to escape.
It should have been physically impossible under ordinary circumstances.
“Wha…?!”
However, the longer the chase went on, the more Auria felt it.
“This guy is getting…!”
She felt Yoon Si-woo getting faster and faster.
But that was Auria’s misconception.
Yoon Si-woo’s speed hadn’t changed significantly from the beginning.
Yet, because the time it took to catch up was getting shorter, she felt that Yoon Si-woo was speeding up.
“…! Are you there?!”
The one who truly became faster was Yoon Si-woo’s perception.
The Holy Sword of the Indian was enhancing his instincts when activated.
Along with that, the combat experience he had built up while fighting against Sloth and Gluttony, the witches.
The newly awakened superhuman battle sense was telling him.
It was the subtle distortion of space that occurred when Auria decided to teleport to her destination.
It was akin to glimpsing a few seconds into the future.
With that foresight, Yoon Si-woo leaps toward her.
Before Auria even completes her teleportation, he’s already at the place she intended to go.
Under normal circumstances, catching up to that speed of thought was impossible.
However, the brief moment of delay caused by the interference of magic made the impossible possible.
“…Gah! Gotcha!”
Finally, Auria, having completed her teleport, and Yoon Si-woo, who had already jumped into that spot seconds earlier, arrive at the same place simultaneously.
As she saw Yoon Si-woo swinging his sword right in front of her, shock flooded Auria’s expression.
For Auria, it was a life-or-death crisis.
At the same time, for Yoon Si-woo, it was a prime opportunity that might never come again.
But then…
“…What’s that?!”
At that moment, something caught Yoon Si-woo’s attention, causing his sword to shake just a bit.
And that slight tremor became a route of escape for Auria.
“…Ahh!!”
With a thud, Yoon Si-woo’s sword plunged into Auria’s collarbone.
However, Auria was already gone from that spot.
All that remained was one arm, falling without its owner.
“I’ll spare you one arm…!”
Just like a lizard shedding its tail, Auria escaped, sacrificing her arm.
Only then did she realize what had caused the gap that had just appeared between her and Yoon Si-woo.
“…Huh, was it because of that?”
A translucent spell, a girl with wings of flame flying in from beyond the cage.
For whatever reason, that presence must have been what created the tremor just now.
What a coincidence, what luck.
“Aha! I don’t know why, but thanks! I owe you my life…!”
Auria couldn’t help but burst out laughing, expressing her gratitude to the girl who appeared just in time.
That gratitude wasn’t simply for avoiding death.
Thanks to her appearance, Auria had realized the clue to turn the situation around.
“That girl just came in from the outside! Even if I block those going out, I can’t prevent those coming in! The structure is exactly the same as my barrier!”
Auria was able to grasp that fact because of the girl who flew in from outside.
And the fact that the structure was completely identical meant that the way to break it could be the same.
“The simplest way to dismantle a barrier! That’s to eliminate the initiator!”
With that, Auria turned her head toward where Dwight was, the one who unleashed the cage.
“If I kill you, this cage will vanish!”
As those words left her mouth, the barrier at Dwight’s position disappeared.
Exposing Dwight, who was trapped by the greedy beasts’ barrier, and the heroes protecting him.
Seeing the glaring look from Auria, Dwight mumbled softly.
“…Guess I’ve been found out.”
Indeed, the spell that mimicked the barrier must be undone upon the death of its initiator.
One might say he could just escape, but to maintain magic, he was unable to step outside the spot where he initiated it.
“…I was hoping you wouldn’t notice.”
Dwight murmured, his expression hardening.
“Damn it, block the witch’s approach!”
“Protect Dwight!”
The heroes surrounding him tried to shield him by blocking Auria and launching attacks to prevent her from approaching.
But to Auria, who could close the distance in an instant, such resistance was futile.
“I’m here to kill…!”
Auria appears before the heroes who blocked her way, having jumped through space.
Though her mind screamed to move to Dwight right away, the distance limited her, and she had no time to spare.
Even now, the Beasts of Greed were charging toward her like moths to a flame to halt Yoon Si-woo, giving her barely a few seconds.
It might be quicker to deal with this directly.
With her decision swiftly made, Auria’s hand shot towards the neck of the hero standing beside her wielding a sword.
“Mind stepping aside? I don’t have time!”
And silently, the upper part of the hero’s neck vanished as Auria’s hand made contact.
Until now, Auria hadn’t developed direct offensive methods, citing lack of interest.
However, she had just devised a new technique, teleporting only the upper part of the hero’s neck as she realized it was possible to teleport just parts of the body.
“Ugh…!”
“Noo!!”
Even though they may not be as battle-skilled as other witches, a witch is still a witch.
With her superior physical abilities, Auria swiftly decimated the necks of all the heroes guarding Dwight, leaving only him.
Dwight stared down at the corpses of the fallen heroes with a grave expression.
At this rate, he too would be facing death, just like them.
But Dwight chose to maintain the magic until the end.
It was the least he could do for those who sacrificed their lives to protect him.
“It’s my victory…!!”
And just as Auria lunged at Dwight to deliver the finishing blow…
Flap—!
Suddenly, an obstruction intervened.
“You are…?”
“S, Scarlet?!”
What flew in to block the path between Dwight and Auria was a girl draped in wings of flame.
“What’s this? Trying to obstruct me?”
Though she had been somewhat of a benefactor creating an opening for Yoon Si-woo earlier, if she was obstructing Auria, there would be no forgiveness.
“If you’re trying to stop me, you’ll have to die…!”
As Auria locked eyes with the girl blocking her path, she boldly reached out her hand.
Auria knew she was a formidable witch who had defeated Sloth and Gluttony, but fear was nowhere to be found in her hand.
The gray, faded eyes.
Auria understood better than anyone that the presence before her was akin to an empty shell with little substance left.
Even if the flaming wings that appeared to be demonic were desperately emitting their flames to protect their master, it was still insufficient to stop Auria.
In any case, whether she got burned or not, if she could clear the way and kill Dwight to dispel the cage, it would be her victory.
Thus, Auria grasped for the girl’s neck without a care for the flames scorching her flesh.
Just as she was about to activate her power to sever the girl’s head…
“—Huh, huh?!”
An overwhelming sensation of weakness enveloped Auria.
Her ability wouldn’t trigger.
No, it felt as though all the strength within her had drained away.
Could it be that this girl before her possessed the ability to burn away her magic?
Auria momentarily fell into confusion due to this anomaly.
However, it wasn’t long before she instinctively realized that it wasn’t the girl’s power causing this.
“…Is this, a contract?”
A witch loses all her power when she breaks a contract.
This was the price of violating a pact.
But why, what contract did I violate to deserve this…
As confusion swirled within her, a past contract suddenly popped into Auria’s mind.
The one she made with Beatrice, the Witch of Sloth.
“Hmmm, a red-haired girl who isn’t human, huh. Got it! I promise not to lay a hand on her before you do! After all, you won’t trust me just because I say so; let’s make a contract.”
That pact was to not lay a “hand” on the girl before her, ahead of Beatrice.
Beatrice may have died, but the contract they made remained in effect.
Auria looked down at her hand, grasping the girl’s neck, and let out a hollow laugh.
Oh no, I did it without even realizing, laid a hand on her.
And that meant that Beatrice that good-for-nothing…
“After fighting until the end, you never lifted a finger against her…”
That’s how much she treasured her.
What in the world was her relation to this girl?
With a sense of betrayal washing over her, Auria couldn’t help but laugh helplessly.
In that moment, for some reason, she recalled a remark Beatrice made just before her death.
“…You think the world will flow entirely according to your wishes, huh? If you let your guard down like that, you’ll get hit hard someday.”
“…Well, turns out I really did get hit hard.”
Auria chuckled softly as she murmured.
And then, Yoon Si-woo’s sword rammed into the completely powerless witch’s body.
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