CH 510

Inside the basement of the Marschel family’s residence, the battle taking place was about to reach its climax.

The robed figures, the shadows of the Church of Holy Light, were fighting against Vihera as if they all shared the same mind. Even so, although they could act as one entity, Vihera just cut the heads, bodies, and limbs of each individual with the claws that extended from her hands.

That said, those torn apart by her claws and killed instantly could be considered lucky.

Those who had their torso’s torn into by Vihera’s physical strength had their ribs crushed and internal organs injured by their own bones before they started to vomit blood. Some were even killed by Vihera crushing their skulls.

Compared to Vihera’s overwhelmingly superior position, Nakuto and Byune were forced into a tough fight against the dolls.

As a thief who wasn’t good at head on combat to begin with, Nakuto had no choice but to play a supporting role for Byune, who did have good combat skills.

In that situation, the battle progressed while maintaining a delicate balance. But, after Rei had blown Oricule over to where the dolls were, the battle situation had gradually turned in favour of the dolls.

All because of Oricule’s words that were close to ridiculing the technology Pree had used to create the dolls.

For the dolls, who held absolute loyalty to Pree, who was their creator, it was absolutely unacceptable for Pree’s ability to be questioned because of their actions.

As a result, the dolls’ attacks had intensified leaving Nakuto in a situation where he was only surviving due to Byune’s support instead of him supporting Byune.

「Mm!」

Along with Byune’s cry, several needles pierced a doll which was about to jump at Nakuto’s head from above, nailing it to the ceiling.

The fact that the two thieves were having such a hard time was not just due to the dolls’ strong fighting spirit, but also because of their many special abilities.

Because they were dolls, they had no living signs, and at the same time, their attacks carried no murderous intent. From the perspective of Byune and Nakuto, who usually sensed enemy movements with their senses as a thief, these were extremely incompatible enemies.

The dolls’ ability to walk along the walls and ceiling were also perfect for catching them by surprise, which was another reason why the two were struggling.

「I-I’m sorry. ……Damn it, if Essetus was here, I could have managed to deal with these dolls, but……woah-!」

Hearing the sound of something flying towards him, Nakuto swung his dagger at it.

A metallic clang echoed out as a dagger fell to the ground.

「Phew-!」

Nakuto threw out his dagger towards the ceiling to his right, behind him.

It was a spur of the moment decision as his dagger pierced a doll on the ceiling, nailing its right arm.

Immediately realising his mistake, Nakuto reached out for the dagger that had fallen to the floor after he blocked it earlier.

However, there was no way the other dolls would let him do that easily. They all rushed towards Nakuto with weapons at the ready, leaving nothing behind.

「Mm!」

Numerous needles shot out towards the dolls, as if each one had their own will, piercing the dolls and stopping them one after another.

However, needles were still only needles. If they had been daggers, it would have been a different story, but a single needle wasn’t enough to completely halt a doll, only hinder their movements for several seconds.

The dolls headed for Nakuto with needles stuck in their bodies.

With flowing movements, Nakuto picked up the dagger and immediately deflected a long sword that was swung at him……but the next moment, a spear was thrust towards him.

I can’t dodge it. While realising that instinctively, Nakuto tried to twist his body around……

「Flying Slash!」

As Rei’s shout echoed out, several dolls that had been about to attack Nakuto were sliced apart.

What just happened? Although he hadn’t yet realised, he instinctively knew his life had been saved and leapt back, landing next to Byune.

「Phew……this is getting tough.」

While muttering to himself, Nakuto wiped away the sweat overflowing from his forehead due to the previous series of events.

As if to show off the Marschel family residence, the temperature inside the basement was comfortable despite it being midsummer. Even so, Nakuto was pouring with sweat from the near death situation.

(Until I rescue Tivia……I can’t die in a place like this!)

Muttering in his mind, he onced again challenged the dolls to fight together with Byune.

「Huh, ignoring me in your current situation and helping your comrades? I guess that is the right choice, considering I’m like this.」

Oricule glanced over himself.

His leather armour had been slashed and torn in several places. Even if it was a magic armour with higher defensive power than normal, it had already been damaged multiple times.

No, rather, it was only because of Oricule……as well as the armour he wore, that he had managed to get away with just this much. If it had been someone else, they would have already been torn apart by the Death Scythe.

「Is this the end of your struggle? I’m sorry, but there’s a lot I would like to ask you about these matters. I might cut off one or two of your limbs, but I won’t kill you, so you don’t need to worry.」

「……Those aren’t reassuring words. In that case, I’ll have to stick it out a little longer. If I can hold out until the forces that went to the Silva family return, it will be my win.」

Oricule said that with a small smile as he held his rapier in his right hand and his sword breaker in his left.

Even in such a disadvantageous situation, he wouldn’t give up.

Rei’s expression tightened slightly at those words, which couldn’t have been spoken by one who only gave orders from above without knowing the actual situation, but by someone who had been on the battlefield many times.

It wasn’t because of the aura Oricule had around him. Rather, it was the will inside his body that made Rei realise this was the decisive moment.

(He won’t give up even at such an overwhelming disadvantage? Does he still have a trick up his sleeves like the sword breaker? No, if he had such a thing, he would have used it long ago……)

While thinking to himself, Rei readied the Death Scythe as he glanced behind Oricule to the magic circle on the ground.

Tivia was still lying there with no signs of waking up. With so many fierce fights going on around her, it was clearly strange that the leader of a well known adventurer party wouldn’t notice.

(Does that magic circle have some sort of effect……wait.)

The thoughts in his mind stopped halfway.

He felt that the colour of Tivia’s skin had paled compared to when he had first seen her lying there.

Furthermore, as if to further Rei’s bad premonition, the magic circle around her was also faintly glowing.

「……I see, so there was a reason for buying time.」

Even though he was an enemy, Rei still took Oricule’s explanations honestly.

Oricule seemed to have noticed Rei’s realisation as he spoke with a small smile on his lips.

「Oh, you seem to have noticed. To be honest, I don’t feel comfortable with the idea of letting people die for nothing, but don’t tell the owner of this place I said that.」

Despite saying that, Oricule showed no reluctance in his expression.

From Oricule’s point of view, he felt that if a death was beneficial to him, or the Church of Holy Light, he would welcome it. But, he had no intention of helping to kill a complete stranger, much to the displeasure of Pree, his collaborator.

Maybe it would have been a different matter if the one being sacrificed was a believer of the Church of Holy Light.

「She will also know the mercy of the Goddess of Holy Light in the afterlife. Unfortunately, it seems she could not chose the path of faith in this life, but that sin will eventually be washed away.」

「Tivia!?」

Although he probably couldn’t hear Oricule’s words, Nakuto’s voice still rang out from where he was fighting against the dolls with Byune.

Even while fighting, Nakuto continued to check on Tivia.

Even if he couldn’t pull her out due to the magic circle’s effect, he could still keep an eye on her in case anything happened.

And now, such an event was happening.

He saw the same things Rei had seen earlier, Tivia’s paling complexion and the glowing magic circle.

「Damn it, out of the way!」

The dolls stood in Nakuto’s path as he charged towards the magic circle.

Even though they had already defeated nearly 20 dolls, they still continued to appear out of nowhere. As a result, no matter how many they destroyed, they couldn’t break out of the current situation.

「Mm!」

Byune no longer held any needles in her hands. Considering Byune’s fighting style, which was focused on her small size and fast speed, no matter how thin they were, there was no way she could carry a large number of metal needles around with her.

Byune was currently holding two daggers as she swung both to fight the dolls.

However, as all her projectiles had been used up, the fight between Byune and the dolls had gradually turned into a defensive one.

In such a situation, Nakuto’s move towards the magic circle broke the current balance.

Nakuto probably had no intention of doing that himself, but the sacrificial magic circle had been made by Pree, the creator of the dolls. The dolls would absolutely not allow him to do anything to it.

「As if we’d let you! Stop him!」

Hearing the voice of the leading doll, the other dolls all readied their weapons……

Slash-!

But the next moment, several of them were slashed apart and blown away.

「Oh, it’s a pity you were all focused on one person like that. What do you think? Won’t you play with me as well? Even if I look like this now, I did play with dolls as a child.」

With those words, blades were swung again.

Falling from above……the blades that were created with magic power pierced the head of a 30cm doll before lifting it up.

The person who did that was, of course, Vihera.

「I-Impossible……you still……」

The doll that had been pierced sputtered out, but Vihera just turned it to face the place she had been fighting at earlier.

Over there, all 20 robed figures were lying on the ground, either unconscious or dead.

「There was certainly something worth seeing with regards to their cooperation. ……Well, I wonder if these dolls can entertain me……what do you think-!」

With those words, her claws sliced apart the doll’s head completely.

Stepping on the remains of the now silent doll, she glanced over at the ones left.

「You……we’ll never forgive you!」

Her act must have angered the dolls.

From the dolls’ point of view, their bodies had been created by Pree. Trampling over them was something unacceptable.

The dolls harboured immense hatred in their bodies, but they still didn’t give off any murderous intent as they attacked Vihera.

「I’ve seen them attack Rei, and they’ve been fighting Byune and the others for a while as well. It really is good for ambushing, attacking without any murderous intent, but once you see them……they’re not that hard to deal with!」

She swung her claws, fists, elbows, knees, and feet around.

Vihera fought as her thin, dancer like clothes fluttered about.

……No, depending on how you looked at it, it could be fair to say that she was dancing. It was a performance that could be called a dance of death, as she evaded, deflected, or blocked the dolls’ attacks without them ever touching her.

Her attacks in this state were also deadly to the dolls around her.

Vihera glanced over towards Nakuto.

Nakuto had been distracted by Vihera’s movements, but immediately understood the meaning of her glance.

In other words, he had to do something about the magic circle right away.

He wasn’t a mage, but even so, he had no choice but to do what he could, as he was the only one free.

With that determination, he stepped inside the magic circle. But, as he did that, he was struck by lightning. Unable to make a sound, he collapsed straight to the floor.

「Oh my, it seems like you haven’t been able to secure the materials yet.」

A voice was heard from the door Oricule and the others had come through, rather than the door Rei’s group had come from.

Gathering everyone’s gazes, a middle aged woman with gems all over her body entered with several dolls following her.