Ball of the Witch and the Beast – Part 04
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Translator: Kell
The priest struggled desperately, but he could not move. Letting out a strained gasp, he managed to bear the pain and screamed back at me.
“Its body is too long! It was aiming at me—Aaaah!”
There was a dull crack as a bone in the priest’s body was crushed. He coughed up blood and choked on it. The shattered bone must have struck his stomach.
“Damn. It hurts just looking at you. Hang in there, priest! As long as you don’t die, you’ll be fine. Magic can heal your wounds!”
“That’s easier said… than done! And this thing’s… trying to take me… hostage…”
I was impressed that he could still talk. Apparently, he was using his staff to prevent his lungs and heart from being crushed.
However, if his neck was twisted off while he was stuck, that would be the end of him. The fact that it wasn’t doing that indicated that the priest was right.
It’s not killing him instantly, but instead weakens him and keeps him captive. It might have lost its sense of self, but it still retained its wisdom. That’s why Beastfallen that had lost their minds were an annoying bunch.
“Now I cannot use Magic to blow it to smithereens,” Zero said. “Killing the priest with it is going to cause a lot of problems in the future. I could put it to sleep, but I could also revert it back.”
“Revert what back?”
“Go grab its upper body and hold on to it.”
Instead of answering my question, Zero gave me a very simple, yet quite difficult, order.
“I don’t mind, but what are you up to?”
“I will let you know. Now go.” She slapped me on the back.
We had no time to argue, so I quietly followed her order.
The snake’s head was a little lower than before, since it had to use its body to constrict the priest.
Using the snake’s torso as a foothold, I ran up, stuck my claws into its scales, and clung tight to its upper body. The creature opened its large mouth and lunged at my shoulder, but I managed to avoid its bite.
“What now?!” I asked.
“That was faster than I thought. Give me some time. I am still preparing it.”
“What?! Fuck that! I’m actually gonna die here! If not me, then the priest!”
“Calm down. I am giving it my all. I do not want you to die, and I am quite fond of the priest—”
“Just hurry up already!”
“It is done!”
I had no idea what exactly was done, but the moment Zero gave me the go, a black pattern suddenly appeared on my sword. It freaked me out so much that I almost dropped it, but I managed to regain my grip.
“Use that to pierce the snake’s heart! Your sword will penetrate its scales!”
“H-How dare you cast some weird spell on my sword! You could’ve told me the plan!”
I thrust my sword into the snake’s heart. Given my weird position, however, I couldn’t put a lot of power into it. Besides, I was dealing with a flexible snake that could reduce any sort of impact.
Normally the snake’s scales would block my weapon, but as Zero said, the sword pierced the snake’s heart with ease. It felt like stabbing through a gaping hole. There was no resistance.
A pulsating heart was dangling from my sword’s tip.
The snake let out an ear-splitting shriek. It shook its head wildly, writhing, throwing me and the priest down to the floor.
“What’s going on?! How could it move when it doesn’t have a heart?!”
“That is the heart of a beast,” Zero said in a calm tone. “Losing it will turn it back into a human being.”
“Wh-What?!”
She pulled the dark-red heart from the sword and crushed it ruthlessly.
What happened next was shocking. The giant snake’s body suddenly turned pale and crumbled into pieces like burned-out firewood. The wind blowing in through the broken window blew the ashes away, revealing a human being.
A live one.
“You kill your Beastfallen self. Then you’ll be born as a human.”
The words of the former Beastfallen came to mind. If he was stabbed in the heart, I could understand why he thought he was tricked.
As I approached the human trembling and writhing on the floor like a maggot, my eyes widened. “A woman?”
Squirming in the pile of ashes was a slender woman of about twenty. There was fear and confusion on her face, and the pupils in her wide-open eyes were dilated. She tried to stand up and failed. It was as if she didn’t know how to walk. She kept producing inhuman moans.
Then I heard clapping. I lifted my head to see the guests watching us through the doorway. The sparse applause grew louder, eventually filling the hall.
“Splendid! They vanquished the terrifying monster so easily!”
“I expected no less from Lady Albus’s guards. They’re a reliable bunch!”
“The monster turned into a human in an instant. I was worried there for a moment, but that was a wonderful piece of entertainment.”
The guests’ voices were tinged with fear, excitement at the aftermath of a battle, and sincere admiration.
The governor clearly managed to fool them. There was no assassination attempt, only a show.
“So that’s why you didn’t kill it,” I said.
Zero shrugged. “For the sake of the lass’s honor, we cannot show these people a brutal scene.”
In some ways, a naked woman writhing in the middle of a hall seemed more objectionable than a corpse. The fact that they were applauding made it all the more creepy.
Sharing the same sentiment, Zero walked over to the woman curled up in the ashes and gently touched her to put her to sleep. I pulled a sheet off an overturned table and put it over the woman’s body.
I looked around the hall and saw the priest with his back against a pillar, clutching his chest in pain.
“He survived, huh? Tough guy.”
“He almost broke his neck when he fell, but Rat summoned a swarm of her friends to catch him,” Zero said. “He did not suffer any injury from the fall.”
“Squirt did? She didn’t have to do that.”
I turned my attention to the guests, looking for Lily, when my eyes met with a hard-faced Albus. The governor was standing right behind her, whispering something to her ears.
Albus’s mouth tightened. “Good work,” she said, giving us a pat on the back.
Given her position, she had no other choice but to do that. I wasn’t too happy about it, but I gave a slight bow in response.
Zero, however, looked at Albus with cold eyes, then suddenly averted her gaze and walked out through the broken window.
“H-Hey!” I called.
“I need to check something. I think it would be best if you did not come.”
Now I really had to go.
After leaving the priest with the people who had gathered to clean up, I followed Zero outside. Following the snake’s trail, we headed underground.
“Is this the dungeon where the snake was locked up?”
“Yes. It seems that Thirteen’s old chamber has been converted into a dungeon. They probably had no other options, since I blew the place up with my Magic.”
A year ago, Thirteenth lived in the basement of the castle that was accessible inside the castle walls. Since it was originally a dungeon, you could say that they simply reverted it back.
As we walked around the back of the castle, I saw that part of the wall had broken, and what must have been a wooden door was scattered in pieces.
“I guess this is what happens when a big guy like that crawls out of a narrow entrance.”
“If anything, I am surprised they managed to imprison it. They could have simply killed it, or at least turn it back into a human being before locking her up in the dungeon.”
“I was wondering the same thing. Why did they lock her up as a Beastfallen?”
Zero came to a halt. “You will probably be hurt,” she said.
“What?”
“You might start to fear and hate witches again like before. So I do not want you to see what is up ahead.” Zero looked up at me with an unusually sorrowful expression.
Even I could tell that she was telling me to turn back. But it wasn’t an order; it was more of a plea.
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