Chapter 67

Lambert destroyed the Death Black Crystal, and the adventurers who had been undead due to the guild "Silver Will" returned to mere corpses and fell into a deep sleep. Lambert turned his gaze to the corpse of the man who had been guarding the Death Black Crystal at his feet.

For now, the situation was under control, but he had no idea how many more Death Black Crystals were controlling the undead. Lambert shook his head.

"I should have tortured him to get information. I need to find the next one quickly."

As the undead fell into a deep sleep, the private army members cheered. Grasco, who had been pushing himself to the limit, collapsed on the spot. Grasco had already reached his limit when he was pierced by Micaela.

However, as the captain, he couldn't collapse during the battle. Encouraged by Lambert, he had managed to stand firm. But now that his duty was done, the tension finally snapped.

Grasco's subordinates rushed to his side in a panic.

"Grasco-sama!?"

"Ugh, ugh... I'm sorry, but I can't move anymore. I leave the guidance of the evacuation to you."

Lambert glanced at Grasco but said nothing and immediately turned away.

"Ah! Hey, Heavy Armor! Kisaa... Who the hell are you, huh! Hey!"

Grasco strained to call out to Lambert's back. He tried to stand up, but lost his balance and leaned forward, being supported by his subordinates.

"I'm Lambert D'Acroix. Private Army Captain Grasco, you're not just a boring man."

Lambert stopped, but without turning around, he said this and continued forward. Grasco and the other members of the private army were simply mesmerized by the overwhelming presence of Lambert's heavy armor.

---

At the same time, in a certain ruin within the city of Baraila, a woman wearing a pitch-black robe was walking. Her face had a vertical seam, and the left side was well-formed, while the right side lacked an eyelid and had rotting skin. Additionally, her mouth and eyes were clearly asymmetrical, making her face look eerie. The well-formed left side only made her look even more unsettling.

The woman's name was Adamaria, a feared sorceress known as the "Half-Faced Witch." She usually hid her face with bandages, but now, with no citizens around to react to her grotesque right side, she left it exposed.

Adamaria was the top subordinate of the Wise One Manji, and her main role was to assist him, who tended to go berserk when excited. She was intelligent and highly trusted within the organization. Half of the Wise Ones, including Manji, lacked a proper sense of humanity and could not be reasoned with. Therefore, Adamaria often acted as an intermediary for communication with Manji.

A giant beetle, about the size of a child, approached Adamaria. Its back had a pattern resembling large eyes, and its head was covered with numerous human eyeballs. The eyeballs were irregularly oriented in various directions. Adamaria placed her hand over the pattern of eyeballs on the beetle's back.

"Teach me."

As Adamaria whispered, the beetle's back glowed, and the light flowed into her arm.

This creature was a cursed object created through extensive magical research by the "Pied Piper Demons." It was officially named the "Cursed Worm" and was a being made of curses.

The Cursed Worm could move quickly and stealthily, and it could relay what it saw to the members of the "Pied Piper Demons" through mana. It also had high sensory abilities. When its mana ran low, it would silently disappear, so the "Pied Piper Demons" couldn't use it indefinitely. However, it was invaluable for quickly grasping large-scale events.

"......"

Adamaria closed her left eye and furrowed her brow in thought. Her right side, however, remained completely still.

Her two subordinates, who were also sorcerers, looked to her for information. But Adamaria was struggling with how to convey the information she had received from the Cursed Worm.

The information she had received from the Cursed Worm was visual data. It showed a heavily armored swordsman cutting down a large group of undead and brutally slaughtering Manji's subordinates who had the Death Black Crystal. The undead of the adventurer guild "Army of Demon Ants," which relied on numbers, and the undead of "Silver Will," which focused on quality, had already been almost completely destroyed by the heavily armored swordsman, who was essentially alone. It was impossible. No matter how one looked at it, it was an impossible situation.

"Monster..."

Adamaria muttered, knowing the existence of the heavily armored man. He was far beyond the norm. Before even consulting her subordinates, she had already decided to drastically change the plan and resolve to defeat the heavily armored man.

She wanted Manji to take direct action to eliminate the heavily armored man, but Manji was whimsical and prioritized his own interests over the organization. He looked like an old man, but his personality was that of a child. More like an infant who enjoyed crushing bugs. Adamaria considered him capricious, cruel, short-sighted, and selfish. From her perspective, Manji lacked the mental growth necessary for a human being.

Moreover, if she said the wrong thing to Manji, even Adamaria, who had contributed significantly to the "Pied Piper Demons," could end up with her brain pickled and displayed on a desk. She had seen this happen to Manji's subordinates many times.

"It seems an uncertain element has appeared. Let's take advantage of their distraction with the undead and set a trap to eliminate him for sure."

Adamaria said this to her subordinates and licked her lips.