Six people from the second division of 『Phoenix’s Eyes』, including Kreuz—who got separated from Lambert due to the collapse of the passage—were walking inside another passageway of the underground research facility.
「Don’t let your guard down… Stay vigilant till the end. Fortunately, almost all of the bigshots have been killed by that armored swordsman, but… We mustn’t let our guard down since some wicked sorcerers might be hiding somewhere. If we end up meeting sorcerer like the Halmein siblings of 『God’s Hand』 or Thulenigo with her aging sorcery… We have to attack them without giving them the time to prepare.」
Although the incident caused by the Halmein siblings had been hidden by the church, the kingdom and the church were chasing after the siblings, who had been labeled as top priority.
Though the danger level of criminals was denoted by using the same classification as monsters, theHamelin siblings ranked third from below. They were more dangerous than ogres.
There was a requirement for someone to be certified as ogre-rank. They had to have the ability to fight five or more top-tier warriors.
In all honesty, such a feat would be impossible for a normal human.
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Whether their combat abilities or their train of thought, they were usually more like monsters than humans.
Since Thulenigo never appeared in public, both the kingdom and Kreuz had no idea about her abilities.
But according to Kreuz’s evaluation, Thulenigo’s strength should be one rank above the Halmein siblings—that was troll-rank.
They were definitely not the kind of opponent that they could fight from the front. Thus, unable to fight the Halmein siblings properly, Kreuz understood just how desperate they were without Lambert.
Thus, he prioritized his group to move carefully with regrouping with Lambert as their top priority. And in case they met an enemy along the way, they would attack first, covering the gap of the two sides’ abilities with superior numbers.
That was Kreuz’s plan.
「…I joined the kingdom army since I wanted to hunt down the Halmein siblings—to stop them from repeating the same tragedy. And yet, to think that the strength of the sorcerers from 『Devil’s Piper』 would be so terrifying.」
Kreuz muttered such a soliloquy.
The sorcerers of 『Devil’s Piper』 aside, an existence like Lambert—who could easily overwhelm those already overpowered sorcerers and slay them with ease—crushed his confidence.
「…Someday, I’ll catch up to him—even if it just by a single step.」
「But making that person a goal sounded impossible… right?」
His subordinate, Frey, unknowingly replied to Kreuz’s soliloquy.
「Well, that’s true, but… The feeling of wanting to catch up to him alone is enough. Apparently, both the kingdom and I are too naive. There’s no soldier in the kingdom who can single-handedly fight the high-rank sorcerers of 『Devil’s Piper』. Yeah, no one.」
Hearing that judgment, a heavy air enveloped the six people.
Kreuz, who noticed that he just demoralized his subordinates, coughed to clear his throat.
「…But don’t let that dampen your spirit. It’s not like dozens of sorcerers like Thulenigo can be found so easily. On the other hand, if 『Devil’s Piper』 had gathered many sorcerers of her level, they might’ve already moved to overthrow this kingdom. The reason why there are so many of them in this place is simply because this is their research facility. I have to say that their strength did exceed my expectations, which means that we must reevaluate the danger level of 『Devil’s Piper』. But losing many excellent sorcerers at once during this raid should give a serious blow to their manpower.」
Kreuz showed a smiling expression toward his subordinate.
「…You’re right, Kreuz-sama.」
「Research facilities are important for sorcerers! Killing one of those people alone is enough to save hundreds, if not thousands of lifes! Even if we must die to kill them, we have to make sure that we can at least drag them a—!」
The smile on Kreuz’s face when he looked at his subordinate who spoke in high spirits suddenly stiffened.
「NOEL, GET AWAY FROM THAT PLACE!」
The soldier named Noel kicked the ground and somehow got away from where he stood.
He landed with his hands, and when he turned around to see what happened…
He discovered a pair of giant scissors almost as tall as an adult piercing the place where he stood a moment ago.
Each of the scissors’ blades had three eyes that moved around and round as if to see the surroundings.
「T-that was a close call… And what the heck is THAT THING?」
「Spirit of hell! The culprit is above us!」
Kreuz was looking at the female clown wearing a mask with a teardrop standing on the ceiling—one of the Eight Wisemen, Le Look Le Look of 『Laughing Clown』.
She was looking at Kreuz’s party, holding a short cane in her hand.
「The heck, that armoured brother isn’t with you. C’mon, don’t be surprised, will ya? I’ve been hiding in this place all along to launch an ambush. Oh well, I guess you guys got lucky since I was in a bit of a hurry.」
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Kreuz kicked the floor, stepped on the wall to jump, and sent a thrust with his rapier even before Le Look managed to finish her remark.
Le Look threw her head back to dodge the incoming thrust, kicking the ceiling at the same time and lastly landing on the ground.
「…What are you doing? I told you guys that I’d let you off just this once since I was in a hurry, right?」
「We should be the ones saying that. Not that we, 『Phoenix’s Eyes』, will overlook evil heretics like you.」
Kreuz declared this as he pointed his rapier toward Le Look.
His subordinates were also lining up to surround Le Look, attacking her from her blind spot.
「It seems you fools have lost your minds, eh!」
Le Look jumped up and somersaulted twice in the air, escaping from Kreuz and Co.’s simultaneous attacks.
She then used the cane in her hand to parry the sword that was coming from her blindspot without even having to turn around, raised her leg, and unleashed a roundhouse kick toward one of the soldiers.
She used her cane to parry the incoming strikes, sending her opponent flying by kicking their jaw with her toe.
「DAMMIT! SHE’S WAY TOO FAST AND NIMBLE!」
「But… AN OPENING!」
Le Look’s body spun in midair, and then she landed right on top of a brandished sword with one of her feet, accurately piercing a soldier in the temple with each step.
The two soldiers collapsed on the spot and passed out immediately.
「Urgh…」
Kreuz confirmed that his comrades had been defeated from the corner of his eyes.
They had been prepared for this.
And yet, even with six of them working together to surpress the other party in close combat, half of them had been incapacitated in no time.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, not even Kreuz could follow or see through Le Look’s bizzare and fast movements.
「Yup, three people left…」
Le Look stowed away her cane, went to the place where the giant scissors pierced the ground, and pulled them out of the ground.
「AHAHAHAHA, I’M NOT IN THE WRONG HERE SINCE THEY’RE THE ONES WHO STARTED THE FIGHT! EVEN THOUGH I PLANNED TO OVERLOOK THEM, THEY CAME LIKE FOOLS WITHOUT EVEN KNOWING THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN OUR STRENGTHS! THIS IS MY LAST OFFER. I’LL CONSIDER SPARING YOUR SORRY LIVES IF YOU BEG AND CRY FOR FORGIVENESS. STILL WANT TO FIGHT ME?」
「DON’T SCREW WITH US!」
Kreuz retreated a half step, suddenly charging toward Le Look from the front and unleashing a stabbing attack with his rapier.
「My ba~d.」
Le Look retreated a little bit with the portal scissors in her hands, laughing mockingly at Kreuz.
In Kreuz’s opinion, it looked like Le Look was worrying about her weapons.
But Kreuz’s rapier suddenly severed right in the middle and fell to the floor.
「WHA—!」
Krez and Co. couldn’t see the moment when Le Look severed Kreuz’s rapier.
Maybe, Le Look had already used a portal scissor to sever Kreuz’s rapier the moment she pulled the portal scissor.
It was a movement with godlike speed.
Too fast for even their trained eyes to see.
And then, they heard a sound akin to a giant lump of metal coming toward their place resounding in the passage.
Le Look raised her vigilance upon hearing that sound. She felt uneasy and decided to make some distance between her and Kreuz, readying her portal scissors.
「Good job keeping her here. Things would’ve gotten really messy if even one of them got away.」
Before anyone noticed it, Lambert was standing behind Le Look with his greatsword raised high in the air.
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