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The initial strategy of ambushing the careless witch, cutting her throat, and then using “Will o’ Wisp” to drain her rampaging Life Force and Main Strength seemed to succeed at first glance. However, the momentary lapse in vigilance was something the entire party also experienced.

{KyyyyAaaaaake――!}

With an inarticulate scream, the witch had resurrected. Her skin was cold, her eyes devoid of pupils, and tentacles writhed like decorations from her back and neck. But resurrected she was.

Indeed, the monsters, momentarily confused due to the absence of a commanding entity, began moving again, albeit more violently, but with a certain pattern.

And that pattern was brutally simple.

“Uh, um. It seems like all the monsters outside are converging on the castle?” Hildegard said with a grimace.

“Fortunately, the residents seem to have completely lost interest. Good.”

Perhaps due to the simplified commands? The monsters converging on the Lord’s Keep had completely lost interest in Agnon’s residents, treating them like mere terrain as they surged toward the castle.

Sophia, nodding, continued as if it were obvious.

“Let’s lure them all here.”

Sophia calmly suggested drawing all the monsters in. Her words flowed so naturally and composedly that Hildegard and Conra instinctively agreed, only to realize a few seconds later that something was off.

“Wait, seriously?”

“You’re joking, right, Master?”

“Hmph, did it sound like a joke?”

Sophia, who had skillfully entangled the witch’s flailing tentacles into a tug-of-war rope using a technique akin to grafting, smiled faintly and retorted. Realizing she was serious, Conra adopted a resigned expression and stood by the window with his spear.

“I’ll handle the ones coming through the window.”

“Then I’ll take care of the entrance.”

As Conra, the spellcaster, took charge of the window, Hildegard naturally headed for the entrance. The situation was already becoming tense.

Fortunately, the resurrected witch was rampaging mindlessly, not casting any significant spells. While Sophia held the witch, Conra and Hildegard had to lure and exterminate as many monsters as possible.

Conra quickly inscribed Ogham and Rune Letters around the window and scattered alchemical reagents. He intended to set up spell traps to intercept enemies climbing through. As Conra chanted spells like humming a tune, thorny vines began to grow from the inscribed areas.

These vines were far from ordinary—thicker, longer, and tougher than any ivy, with thorns capable of injuring monsters. Moreover, the vines glowed with a faint purple alchemical light, a phenomenon of alchemy bridging the material and spiritual realms.

Sure enough, as monsters approached the window, the elongated vines lashed out like whips, grinding them down. Whether it was a flying chimera, a revenant scaling the walls, or a specter, none were spared.

With each *whoosh* and *splat*, multiple monsters were caught and shredded by the alchemical vines.

Hildegard was also hard at work at the entrance. She infused Light Power into the hallway walls to ward off wraiths and specters while expertly wielding her halberd to fend off chimeras and undead trying to breach the entrance.

“Light, heed me!”

[…!]

She also didn’t forget to occasionally unleash bursts of Light Bullets with the help of the spirit Ariel.

While Conra and Hildegard defended the interior, Sophia was buying time against the witch.

It wasn’t that she couldn’t kill the witch. Even resurrected, the witch was just a mindless monster driven by instinct and impulse—an easy kill for Sophia. But she refrained because it would be meaningless.

‘To complete a contract with a demon at the moment of death, what a cunning witch.’

Sophia clicked her tongue. The moment Sophia beheaded the witch, sensing her death, the witch completed a contract with a demon she had been delaying, offering her own life as a sacrifice.

Witches, though their bodies are human, have souls closer to demons. Resurrected by the contract’s power, the witch’s body had already transcended humanity, becoming that of a chimera undead.

‘But the contract isn’t fully executed yet.’

The contract between a witch and a demon typically involves the witch becoming the demon’s body, and the demon accepting the witch as a subordinate. Demons possess bodies, intellect, and spellcasting abilities beyond humans. Thus, for the contract to complete, not only the body but also the corresponding intellect must be restored.

However, the witch’s intellect, having faced death once, hadn’t yet recovered. This meant the witch hadn’t fully transformed into a demon. Since the contract wasn’t complete, killing her now would only result in her resurrection at no cost.

Repeated deaths would further delay the return of the witch’s intellect, leading to an endless war of attrition.

Thus, Sophia was waiting for the moment the witch’s intellect fully recovered.

“Gabrielle, be ready to move at any moment.”

While controlling the chimera undead’s movements with magical wrestling techniques, Sophia instructed Gabrielle. The moment the witch’s intellect returned and she became a full demon, Sophia intended to execute her without giving her a chance to act.

Witches and demons are unpredictable; the best way to deal with them is to kill them without hesitation, ignoring their tricks.

This had been Sophia’s unwavering principle since becoming a Nun Knight. Her mechanical approach to extermination earned her the nickname “Extermination Machine” among demons, but she didn’t care.

To Sophia, demons were pests to be exterminated on sight, and to demons, the Church was their sworn enemy, having deprived them of their rightful dominion over humans and driven them to the Demon Continent.

There was no room for pleasantries; upon meeting, it was kill or be killed.

Gradually, the witch’s attacks became more refined. As Sophia had anticipated, the witch’s demonic intellect was slowly recovering.

“Quite sharp now.”

Sophia admired as the elongated tentacles, sharp as blades, swept the area. She deflected them with her longsword, spinning it clockwise to control the flailing tentacles, then smashed a chandelier from the ceiling, wielding it like a flail to strike the witch.

As the witch was sent flying by the chandelier, Sophia immediately dashed toward her, intending to disorient her with a flurry of attacks upon her intellect’s return. However, Sophia underestimated the witch.

{――!!!}

A scream, different from the previous mindless shrieks, one filled with intellect. In a split second, Sophia’s brain processed its meaning, and she shouted.

“Brace for impact!”

Simultaneously, a spherical shockwave expanded from the crouching witch, and the Lord’s Keep, already strained from the earlier battles, began to collapse.

*Boom!* The shockwave and the crumbling Keep forced the Nun Knight party to react quickly.

Hildegard used her halberd to slice through falling debris and monsters, mitigating the impact of her fall. Conra extended vine whips to slow his descent, transforming into a werewolf at the last moment to land safely.

Sophia, flung by the shockwave, used the head of an unfortunate flying monster to rebound, then gracefully descended as if walking down a slope.

But her expression wasn’t as composed as her movements. Sophia urgently shouted.

“The witch!”

Hearing her, Conra turned to see Hildegard, enveloped in Light Power, charging at the witch.

{Foolish paladin! Your weapons cannot touch me!}

“Save your nonsense for your dreams! Try this!”

As Hildegard’s attack, wreathed in light, was blocked by a blood-red barrier and shadowy minions, the witch pointed at her, and dozens of tentacles sprouted from her back, each forming a spell circle.

Each circle radiated ominous energy, mixed with the eerie aura unique to demons. Hildegard was horrified.

“Crazy, what is that! Help, Ariel!”

As Hildegard called for Ariel, the spirit embraced her, causing Hildegard’s Light Power to surge, forming a shield-like barrier.

“That won’t be enough! I’m coming!”

Sophia shouted, leaping toward Hildegard’s left flank. Conra, moving like a salmon against a current, dashed to her right.

The dozens of tentacles completed their spell circles, unleashing a barrage of spellfire. The violent attacks tore through the air like a waterfall.

Sophia, arriving just in time, formed a mudra with her left hand, pulling it toward her body, while her right hand extended forward in a sword seal.

“Namah Samanta Buddha Namah! Om Dorodo Dimhi Swaha! (A barrier mantra to pacify the divine powers of the five directions.)”

As she chanted, Sophia felt an immense pressure on her fingers, threatening to break them. She successfully deployed the barrier just as the witch’s spellfire was unleashed.

Conra, slamming his spear into the ground, shouted.

“Viotaille Ai Zinas Ar Gah Treo! Mi A Shaosaint O Bagat Na Viotaili Oak! (Spirits of the elements guarding the directions, protect me from evil!)”

As he chanted, pentagrams and hexagrams appeared at his feet, expelling specific energies from the area.

Conra felt an overwhelming pressure crushing his expulsion barrier.

‘This spell power is terrifying.’

Conra, gripping his spear until his knuckles turned white, thought. Only the belt of a giant allowed him to endure; otherwise, he might have collapsed.

Meanwhile, Hildegard took a step forward. Spellfire, though powerful, often lacks staying power. She aimed to exploit the brief window between volleys.

As Hildegard charged through the spellfire, Sophia and Conra dropped their barriers and took cover behind her. The spellfire, now without a target, carved deep gouges into the ground.

Conra, spinning his spear like a windmill, shouted.

“Enamacha Eimhid Eigas Plendai! Keageil Mo Naimd (Spirits of plants and animals, bind my enemy)!”

Roots and vines sprouted from the ground, and bear- and monkey-like spirits appeared, latching onto the witch.

Sophia, activating her Dantian’s energy, Kundalini Chakra, the Mark of the Anointed, Gias Martial Arts, the legacy of chivalry, and the trials of heroes, sharpened her Ethereal Brain and bulked up her Ethereal Muscles, ready to deliver a decisive blow.

{But this time, I was faster!}

Unfortunately, the enemy had already prepared the next move. A sudden earthquake-like tremor shook the ground, disrupting the party’s footing, and a dark, wave-like energy surged from the witch, engulfing them.

 

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