Chapter 14: Death’s New Master

Stealing someone else’s summons.

If they were of similar levels, it would be difficult to do, but on the other hand, if the difference in level was too great, it wouldn’t be that difficult.

The level of the Death Knights they summoned was 20-30, and even considering the multiple buffs applied, it wouldn’t be more than the mid-30s.

On the other hand, Lucy’s brainwashing skill was a level 100 illusion magic that had been strengthened up to the 7th tree (skill tree), so it wasn’t a big deal to take the initiative from a lower-level summon.

The Death Knight, who had completely completed the brainwashing, no longer listened to the apostles’ orders and turned his back on Lucy.

Now, there were only three apostles left.

They looked at Lucy like death row inmates awaiting execution.

Perhaps because their trump card had been taken away, they all seemed to have lost their fighting spirit.

The next action they showed was extremely natural.

“Ha… I surrender.

If you just let me go, I’ll give you everything you want!”

One of the apostles, who was quick to act, began to beg for his life, his eyes growing even larger, filled with earnestness.

Lucy looked down at them at their cries for mercy.

It is a virtue to show mercy to an opponent who has already admitted defeat, but the situation is a little different now.

The missing trucks I saw before coming down here had many children in them.

The reason for the kidnapping is still unknown, but the thick smell of death wafting from the passageway could be used to infer what had happened to the missing children.

Child kidnappers and murderers.

Was it really necessary to ask for mercy from these people?

At least Lucy thought there was no need.

Finally, she gave the Death Knight her first order.

“Kill everyone except one.”

Upon hearing the order, the Death Knight approached the men one by one, making a heavy iron sound.

The apostles, who had sensed that there would be no mercy, began to fire magic indiscriminately, half-maddened.

[Magic Skill. Fireball]

[Magic Skill. Lightning]

[Magic Skill. Ice Pick]

It was a desperate struggle driven by evil, but it was all futile resistance.

The magic they fired indiscriminately was all bounced off by the ‘magic resistance’ they had placed on the Death Knight.

Soon, when they had exhausted all their remaining magic power, a huge pitch-black sword was waiting for them.

With each swing, blood would be smeared on the wall and a final scream would ring out.

After two sword swings, only one person survived.

Lucy approached him, took off her mask, and cast an illusion.

“Whether you have any companions, where they are, what rituals you’re going to perform here, tell me everything without fail.”

“Ah…!!”

Blareuk-!

The moment the man under the illusion tried to call out the information, a blue flame shot out from his body, and he burned to death.

It was the first time she had seen this magic, but judging from the situation, she deduced that it was a ‘curse magic’ that had been placed to block information.

In the end, Lucy, who had not heard the information, could only make a sad expression.

What on earth are their intentions?

The location, the number of missing people, something felt off.

‘We’ll find out if we go forward.

Even if we didn’t know the whole story of the incident, it didn’t change the fact that the people here were not our enemies.

Lucy gave the Death Knight the next order without hesitation, ‘Find the enemy somewhere here.’

Following the order, the Death Knight began to run to find the enemy somewhere in the underground passage.

After entering the underground passage for about 20 minutes, we were finally able to reach an unknown space at the end of the passage.

The circular room had an eerie atmosphere.

The dull walls and traces of rituals left here and there matched the image of a ‘necromancer’s stronghold’ at first glance.

There were two men there.

One was using fire magic to burn a pile of paper, and the other was sitting on a chair, urging them to continue their work.

Judging from the fact that the ritual tools were organized, it seemed like they were going to clean up and run away.

As she took a step closer to them, the man sitting on the chair noticed Lucy and jumped up from his seat.

A black-haired man.

The man was nearly 190cm tall and had heavy muscles that were visible through his robe.

He glared at Lucy with a menacing glare.

At the same time, he squinted at the Death Knight behind her.

“The fact that you’re here means that all of my subordinates are dead.”

“Exactly.”

“Tch, you filthy bastards, so who are you? Reveal your identity.”

“Someone who is an adventurer as a hobby.”

“An adventurer..?”

Upon hearing those words, the man’s gaze immediately turned to the pendant hanging around her neck.

A wooden pendant symbolizing an apprentice adventurer.

Upon seeing it, the man stared at Lucy with suspicious eyes.

Despite having defeated his subordinates alone, she had not a single wound on her body, and she was even serving as a Death Knight.

Judging from the skills she had shown right away, it was clear that she was at least Silver-level skilled.

“A guy pretending to be an adventurer.”

“Hmm?”

“So what’s your purpose in coming here?”

“You know the girl I kidnapped here about 30 minutes ago, I came to get her.”

“What.. you said?”

The man who heard the purpose of the intrusion opened his eyes wide, and then, after a moment, his forehead became red with blood vessels and he began to scream.

“The reason you interrupted our noble ritual!

Was it just to save one little brat!?”

A man who was sharpening his teeth.

There is no such thing as a perfect match for a perfect match.

That is what he said to the person who kidnapped her and came to get her back.

It seemed unnecessary to continue the conversation.

The man was the same, as he was pulling out the axe on his waist with a relaxed expression.

Lucy looked at him tentatively.

He didn’t seem to have any special items, and from the way he was talking, he seemed stronger than the men just now.

Let’s first gauge his strength.

With that in mind, she gave the Death Knight the order to charge.

The Death Knight roared and charged.

The man didn’t show any sign of retreating, and he took a stance to face it.

He raised his axe with one hand and cast a self-buff magic with the other.

[Magic Buff. Warrior’s Heart]

A red aura circulated around the man’s body after receiving the buff, and his physical abilities were activated by a huge amount.

In that state, he met the Death Knight’s sword strike head-on, and with a loud noise of sparks, the man and Death Knight were pushed back.

Their strength was equal.

However, in terms of agility and skill, the man seemed to have the upper hand.

He quickly approached again, caught the Death Knight’s blind spot, and launched a series of strikes.

“Battle Skill. Infinite Slash!”

Due to the effect of the skill, the attack speed began to increase with each swing of the axe.

The Death Knight could only react to the attacks up to the third slash, and after that, he had no choice but to absorb the pouring slashes with his armor.

Kang.

Kang.

Kang.

Kang.

Lucy was leisurely observing the battle between the man and the Death Knight with her arms folded.

From what she had seen, the man’s class was ‘Magic Warrior’, and judging by the power of his skills, his level was around 40.

In the end, he was only a little stronger than the Death Knight, but in any case, it wasn’t at a level where he had to be wary.

Even while thinking such thoughts, the man continued to press the Death Knight.

When he finally allowed the 56th slash, the Death Knight disappeared, emitting black smoke.

“Whew… It was quite strong, but this is it.”

He was certain of his victory.

This was because he had been under the delusion that ‘a summoner who loses his summons is powerless.’

Seeing the man who was so confident in such delusion, Lucy couldn’t help but laugh.

Soon after, she let out a short snort, and the man narrowed his brows.

“Are you crazy? What’s so funny?”

“Excuse me, it’s just a little… amusing to see someone who thinks they’re strong.”

“To me, it looks like you’re just trying to buy time because you’re cornered, but do you have any allies?”

Before she could even say ‘There’s no such thing,’ the man ran toward Lucy.

Lucy, who was tired of this situation, shouted a command with a lukewarm look in her eyes, filled with the power of her words.

“Stop.”

“!!”

The man, restrained by the power of words, stood still and trembled.

“Kneel.”

The man immediately knelt down.

His twisted eyes clearly showed his humiliation.

“T… What is this… Why is my body acting on its own..”

“It must be because of the difference in levels.”

“How dare you… kill me!”

“I’ll get to the point.

Tell me the truth about who you are and the ritual you performed here.

Depending on what you say, I may not kill you and hand you over to the guards.”

Lucy first tried to get him to reveal information with her words, because if she used an illusion like she did just now, she might commit suicide again.

The man glared at her, as if he had no intention of telling her anything.

Just as she was about to give up on getting information, the sound of a flute began to be heard from one side again.

It was the apostle who had been with the man just a moment ago.

He was casting an illusion with the flute he had taken out of his bosom.

“Illusions don’t work on me anyway..”

Lucy stopped talking mid-sentence.

The opponent was not trying to cast an illusion on him.

The iron bars were in one place.

The children who were sleeping inside heard the sound of the flute and came out.

There were seven boys and girls, demon children, and among them was the old man’s granddaughter.

The children all had unfocused eyes and were holding daggers, and soon they began to hold the daggers in their hands to their own necks.

“Don’t move! The moment you start talking nonsense, the children will die!”

“This is a hostage situation, it’s a headache.”

“Shut up! First, release the priest, quickly!”

“Tsk.”

Suddenly, it was a hostage situation.

Lucy first untied the man called the priest as he demanded.

Once the restraints were released, he grabbed his neck and got up from his seat, his bloodshot eyes filled with murderous intent.

“Good job, Okeris.”

“This is all thanks to the priest’s advance notice.”

“Heh, you heard me, kid!

If you want to save the children, don’t move from now on.”

“Understood, do whatever you want.”

Lucy took on an extremely obedient attitude.

She raised both arms in the air, strongly expressing her lack of will to fight.

The man smirked and approached Lucy cautiously.

A girl who didn’t resist.

Something seemed suspicious, but she was certain that if not now, she would never win.

He enchanted his axe with ‘Additional Toxicity Enchantment’ and brought the axe down towards the non-resisting girl.

Boom!

The pure white girl, who had her shoulder cut, fell to the ground, bleeding.

Feeling that that wasn’t enough, the man sat on the girl and started chopping her up with the axe.

Boom.

Boom.

Boom.

Boom.

He brought the axe down again and again, until blood spurted out from the wounds and his body was covered in blood.

When she looked so miserable that she couldn’t possibly survive, the man finally stopped chopping and let out a gasp.

“Whew…”

He killed her.

The man, who had killed countless people like this, was convinced of that.

Then, a familiar voice came to his ear.

“Jeh.. Saa.. Jaang-nim… How.. Gulp..!”

The voice of his subordinate, why was it coming from below him?

He could only figure it out after rubbing his eyes several times.

“Why are you, Okeris..?”

The one he was stabbing was not Lucy, but his subordinate, Okeris.