Chapter 65

Glasco blinked his blurred vision and reconfirmed the appearance of the large armored man who had suddenly appeared.

There was no mistaking him.

It was the wandering swordsman who had humiliated him multiple times, a terrifyingly strong warrior.

"Y-You..."

Glasco, with a weakened face, looked up at Lamber's massive figure.

His eyes were filled with uncontainable disgust.

Lamber's arm reached out toward Glasco.

Glasco, who had been brutally defeated by Lamber twice, tried to lean back with a twisted face.

But before Glasco could avoid it, Lamber's arm grabbed him, easily lifting the large Glasco with one arm and forcefully setting him on his feet.

"Ugh..."

In Glasco's staggering eyes, the mangled body of Baret, split in two, came into view again.

The opponent he had struggled against was now a silent lump of flesh.

(This heavy armor... I knew it was incredibly strong, but I didn't think it would be this much...!)

While fearing Lamber's overwhelming power, Glasco felt a sense of inadequacy in himself.

(What has this man come to say by deliberately waking me up? He must have come to insult me again, calling me useless. To be saved by such an arrogant wanderer, someone I aimed my sword at in a fit of passion... I would have been better off dead.)

Glasco tightened his arm.

"You seem to have a slightly better expression now. Perhaps you should retract your previous words."

Lamber's hand lightly touched Glasco's tensed shoulder.

"What...?"

Confused, Glasco listened as Lamber continued.

"You can still move. Hurry, give orders to the others. This isn't the end. The enemy's reach is still wide."

Even as he said this, Glasco had been stabbed in the abdomen.

It wasn't a fatal wound, but his consciousness was fading, and his vision was blurred. Standing was his limit.

"There's nothing I can do anymore..."

"There's no way that's true. The count's private soldiers all follow you, don't they? Even in a losing battle, they have great morale. You're going to continue fighting, right? Then the general must never fall. Your subordinates will be confused."

Lamber said this, then turned his back on Glasco and walked forward, readying his greatsword.

Glasco stared at Lamber's back in a daze for a moment.

But soon, Lamber's words returned to his mind, and he raised his sword high, shouting with all his might.

"I'm fine! I can still fight! You bastards! The enemy is a bit different, but there are only about twenty of them!"

Glasco's subordinates, scattered across the battlefield, let out war cries in response to his voice.

It was enough to restore their faltering momentum.

In front of Lamber stood Micaela, the female guild master of the "Will of Silver."

"Hah, hah, hah, hah!"

Her dull eyes were directed at Lamber.

"Did you think you could hide? Unfortunately, my eyes can track the flow of mana to a certain extent."

Lamber glared at the pile of corpses behind Micaela.

The pile stirred, and a plump man in a blood-stained robe emerged, holding a black crystal, the Death Black Crystal, which emitted a dark, sinister glow.

The man licked the blood from his cheek, which belonged to someone unknown.

"Step back, woman. Stay with my guard."

Micaela quickly took a step back, moving lightly to the man's side, her sword still pointed at Lamber.

The man stroked Micaela's hair, licked her cheek, and then shrugged and laughed.

His face, visible under the robe, was hideous, with ugly boils from his right temple to his lip.

"Hah, hah, hah, hah."

Despite her mad laughter, Micaela bent her back, drew her sword, and stopped in a perfect stance.

The man, despite being exposed, showed little sign of panic. He seemed to be at ease.

"This woman is quite useful. I was right to insist on taking charge of this area. After we escape and successfully crush Baraila, I'll keep her as my pet."

The man stroked Micaela's disheveled blonde hair.

Lamber kicked off the ground and approached Micaela.

"Great armor! Don't charge directly at Micaela in that stance!"

Glasco warned Lamber.

But Lamber did not stop his advance.

He moved after observing. A lightning-fast counterattack that maximized the speed of a thrust, a technique Micaela had developed in battle to ensure a critical hit before the opponent's sword could strike. It was highly effective but had a significant drawback: the user had to remain completely still, as any movement would create an opening.

The man's ease came from Micaela's undead abilities.

He had been watching Micaela's beauty and strength even before the investigation.

He knew about her ultimate technique, "Falling Moon."

"You seemed to be a good swordsman, but you were just a fool above the neck."

The man laughed.

Lamber raised his sword high against Micaela.

He entered Micaela's range, and she moved forward, flipping her wrist.

Her sword tip traced the shortest path toward Lamber.

The man smiled, his lips curling.

But in the next instant, Micaela was thrown backward, blood spraying from her body.

Her left arm was gone from the shoulder down. She hit the ground and spread her remaining right arm wide.

Her left arm, still gripping the sword, fell and rolled beside her.

Micaela convulsed violently but tried to raise her upper body.

But halfway through, her shoulder trembled, and she collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut, lying still.

Lamber's sweeping strike from the front was far faster than Micaela's "Falling Moon" thrust.

"Wh-What? This can't be! No human can move that fast..."

"Sorry, but I've been able to do this since before I died."

Lamber, having broken through the guard, stood before the man with his greatsword held diagonally downward.

The man let out a small scream and retreated.

Then, as if suddenly remembering, he held out the Death Black Crystal to Lamber.

"Here, this is it, right? You want this, don't you? I became Manji's subordinate purely by chance... Let me go, let me go..."

Lamber's sword, released in a sweeping motion, cleanly shattered the Death Black Crystal.

The man's head, on the extended path, burst like a rotten fruit, splattering to the ground.

The undead in the area trembled and collapsed to the ground.

Cheers rose from the private soldiers.

Lamber, noticing the rapid dissipation of the evil mana that had been permeating the area, sheathed his greatsword.