X
Join our Discord server and get release updates for every novel you follow.
Join the ServerThe guards advanced with their spears, striking Jeanne Decker’s back, which was only clad in her night-suit.
However, the spears failed to penetrate, producing a clang against her cloth armor as if striking heavy plate.
Jeanne Decker whirled around, slashing one guard’s forearm, forcing them to drop their weapon, before kicking them to the ground.
The remaining five guards lay sprawled around her. These were merely ordinary armed men, possessing no special powers.
Though they had received some training and were reasonably skilled, they were utterly helpless against Jeanne Decker’s nearly impenetrable, enhanced resilience.
Having routed the guards in the courtyard and outside the gate, she charged directly towards the grand staircase leading to the second floor.
A battle cry suddenly descended.
Jeanne Decker flinched, looking up to see a hulking figure leap directly from above the staircase, raising a broad-bladed greatsword to cleave down upon her.
Banta, the barbarian bodyguard, executed a full-force leaping strike from above. The impact from the height differential, combined with his immense brute strength, created a momentum that seemed poised to split Jeanne Decker entirely in half, starting from her crown.
Yet, a Holy Shield manifested above Jeanne Decker’s head. With a resounding clang, the greatsword struck the ethereal shield, unable to advance even an inch.
Not only that, but a scorching white flame erupted across the shield’s surface; Jeanne Decker had instantly summoned heavenly fire onto her Holy Shield!
The greatsword’s blade, pressed against the Holy Shield, immediately glowed cherry-red. Banta felt a wave of heat surge towards him, his armor rapidly beginning to melt.
Before the surging heavenly fire could engulf him, Banta leaped upwards, propelling himself almost to the grand hall’s ceiling. He twisted his body in mid-air, soaring over Jeanne Decker’s head, and landed with an agility unimaginable for his seemingly massive physique, assuming a fighting stance.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve faced a Paladin. Let’s have some fun!” Banta stretched his neck and shoulders, radiating an eager fighting spirit.
Jeanne Decker offered no reply, calmly observing his movements.
Indeed, a Sixth-tier opponent would not be so easily defeated.
Banta gripped his greatsword tightly and roared. Beneath his armor, his muscles visibly swelled.
Ninth-tier ‘Warrior’—Flesh Enhancement!
He charged at Jeanne Decker once more, his momentum far more ferocious than his previous leaping strike.
Jeanne Decker swung her longsword, and heavenly fire manifested along its trajectory, showering towards her foe.
However, Banta had executed a sidestep the moment she began her swing, altering his path and dodging the dangerous sparks. As he landed from the sidestep, he launched into a powerful forward leap, instantly closing the distance between them.
The ‘Warrior’ class blessing not only enhanced physical strength but also accelerated the blessed one’s reaction speed.
In a blink, Jeanne Decker entered Banta’s sword range. He immediately swung his greatsword, its blade wreathed in a crimson aura of bloodlust, leaving a red afterimage in its wake.
Eighth-tier ‘Champion’—Master of Arms!
Sixth-tier ‘Berserker’—Bloodlust Blade!
Jeanne Decker had no time to discern Banta’s sword movements, making it impossible to summon her Holy Shield in the path of the attack.
Fortunately, her Divine Protection manifested in more than one form.
Sixth-tier ‘Silver Guard’—Divine Protection: Holy Armor!
Armor forged from holy light materialized around her, enveloping her entirely without any blind spots.
With a thunderous crash, Banta’s full-power strike, his greatsword reinforced by bloodlust, slammed into the Holy Armor. Jeanne Decker was sent flying sideways, smashing into the corner of a pillar.
Jeanne Decker immediately rose, a sudden chill running down her spine.
She had encountered ‘Berserkers’ before, but only from a distance. These barbarian raiders were typically chieftain-level entities.
Ordinary knights were powerless against such monsters. She had personally witnessed a Berserker relentlessly cut down five knights on the battlefield, an unstoppable force, until Duke Alençon himself intervened.
Only by engaging in a one-on-one duel could one truly grasp the immense pressure these foes exerted.
“Unscathed? You’re quite tough, Paladin. A decent punching bag, it seems,” Banta taunted arrogantly. “Let me see what you’ve got. Can you even wound me before I chop you into mincemeat?”
Jeanne Decker did not take the bait. To engage this brute in a head-on confrontation would be a death sentence.
The Warrior class certainly excelled in direct, desperate combat, but wounding a Paladin of the same tier was not so simple.
Her mission was not to defeat this bodyguard but to draw him out and hold him. If Alice Liddell’s assassination succeeded, their task would be complete.
She merely needed to focus on defense, passively enduring his attacks.
Jeanne Decker calmly reset her stance, her gaze fixed on the barbarian.
However, at that very moment, a colossal crash, like a collapsing wall, suddenly echoed from deep within the house.
Banta froze for a moment, then quickly spun his head to look towards the second-floor corridor.
The sound had come from Duke Bedford’s study on the second floor!
Jeanne Decker was also somewhat surprised, as an assassination should not have caused such a massive disturbance.
‘Could it be, just as Alice Liddell had suggested earlier…’
Banta glanced back at Jeanne Decker, suddenly realizing he had fallen for a feint.
As he prepared to turn and rush upstairs, Jeanne Decker seized the moment of his distraction, conjuring a blinding flash of light that stole his vision.
Then, Jeanne Decker charged at Banta, sword in hand.
‘She absolutely could not allow this barbarian bodyguard to return there, or Alice Liddell’s situation would become even more perilous!’
‘Alice Liddell had encountered an unexpected complication. Now, her only chance to help Alice Liddell was to defeat this barbarian!’
****
Meanwhile, in Duke Bedford’s study.
Alice Liddell stood at the study doorway, panting heavily, her heart still pounding.
Just moments ago, she had narrowly avoided serious injury.
“Who are you, to have crafted such an impressive disguise?” Duke Bedford leaned on his cane, his voice ancient. “It seems my head has finally become a target.”
Standing before the Duke was a horrifying monster.
It was a bloated corpse, nearly three meters tall, appearing as if a larger skeleton had been pieced together from countless bones, then piled with excessive decaying flesh, and finally draped in stitched human skin.
Even more unsettling, this abomination was capable of movement.
All of this had transpired in the instant Alice Liddell decisively launched her sneak attack on Duke Bedford. The monster had suddenly burst through the study’s bookshelves, emerging from a hidden room behind them to protect the Duke.
Had Alice Liddell not been prepared for the unexpected, and felt the pain of an attack a step too soon, she surely would have taken the full force of the monster’s blow.
“How fortunate, then, that this old man is a coward who fears death,” Duke Bedford remarked, a strange, eerie glow flickering in his eyes.
Alice Liddell vaguely perceived several blurry humanoid phantoms coalescing around the Duke’s body. They floated and drifted, emitting cries of anger and torment.
Alice Liddell quickly recognized these entities. These were… malevolent spirits left behind by the deceased!
And the ability to command such spirits… belonged to the ‘Necromancer’ class!
You’ve got to see this next! Eat Me, Sweetie will keep you on the edge of your seat. Start reading today!
Read : Eat Me, Sweetie
