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Volume 2 Chapter 4 Part 15

Rumors about the existence of a secret society formed entirely of Dark Mages have already began spreading across Elam, but thankfully none of the city’s authorities managed to figure out who any of Pandora’s members were just yet.

In fact, Yana does not know much about the organization either, and she did not have anyone that could be called her own minions, or anyone that she could give orders to.

Usually, when you recruited someone new to the organization, then that would mean that they would automatically become your minion, but the Vampire King was too much of an important figure to be treated as nothing more than Yana’s underling. Eventually she will have to introduce him to her superiors, and once that happens, he will definitely establish connections with the upper echelons of the organization, or maybe he is even going to be accepted into the very center of the organization?

Although her magical powers are highly prized and a definite asset that is worth having, Yana’s position in Pandora is little more than that of an agent. As a perpetrator of 「The Tragedy of the Grand Cathedral」, she is definitely going to be targeted and pursued by the Mages Association as well as by the White Witch and her followers. In the good old days, the Vampire King hid her in the Forest of Eternal Darkness, so he could live there quietly in peace, but now that the forest itself has become a battlefield, the Forest of Eternal Darkness was no longer a safe haven for her.

「First my man leaves me, now I am going to lose my house… ugh, this is just the worst! 」

When the Vampire King asked her to cooperate with him because he wanted to awaken the Demon Lord Yana was overjoyed beyond belief, but right now none of that joy was with her anymore. She just felt like she was deceived and robbed.

(I guess all that is left for me is to fight only when absolutely necessary and try to run away as quickly as possible.)

That is what Yana had decided to do in the end.

The only reason she was still in the forest anyway was so that she could kill that impertinent Mage girl with her own hands, and by the looks of it, the time for her to do that was growing near, since she could hear the sounds of battle coming from the village near the castle.

* * *

「Stay on the defensive! Hold out your positions until our allies come! 」

Theo was shouting words of encouragement to the soldiers, but it was clear that the situation was dire. Guided by the Will-o-the-wisps, they managed to successfully escape through the forest, only to find themselves stuck in a village close to the Vampire King’s castle, since the people who lived in this village were all undead who also used Arts. Fully armed, they surrounded Theo and the others. As for their numbers, no one knew exactly how many of them were there, but it must have been more than 200 people.

Such numbers were not to the point where they could strike fear into the heart of a common soldier, but each of them does have quite a few Arts inscribed on their bodies, and that alone is going to make dealing with them quite difficult, since there is no way that an ordinary foot soldier not empowered by the Banner from their Lord’s Crest could ever hope to best an Artis in combat. Aishela, Irvin and prince Milza should be able to fight them on a more equal footing, but that does not change the fact that ultimately, they were still being outnumbered.

Now that the undead of the village have completed the siege, they were about to attack Theo and his soldiers all at once.

「Can you not stop them with your magic? 」

Theo whispered to Siluca.

「If you do not care about the casualties among them, then I can try dealing with them with exploding flames or paralyzing them with electric shocks. 」

But even though she proposed these ideas, Siluca was certain that neither of them would be enough to deal with their enemies permanately, because one of the features of the undead is that they possess terrifyingly high vitality.

Even if their limbs were to be severed, they can just go and reattach them immediately, and even if their bodies were to sustain considerable damage, they would still be able to move and charge ahead without hesitation unless they would be thoroughly disintegrated. The only surefire way of stopping them from moving would be to either cut off their heads or crush them, but since Undead possess actual intelligence, it should be a given that they would do anything to avoid letting that happen at all costs.

「You could also try to build a wall of dirt between us and them to act as a shelter… but with how many of them there are here, they would just probably get over it after a while. 」

「Uhm, actually… 」

At that time, Priscilla shyly interrupted the conversation between Siluca and Theo.

「What is it? 」

Siluca casts a cold gaze at the priestess of the Order of the Crest

「No, I mean… if we just want to hold them at bay, then I think I shou;d be able to do it… 」

Priscilla did not meet Siluca’s eyes and said it to Theo instead.

「You can do that? How? 」

Theo was surprised.

「By using the power that has been bestowed upon me by The Only God of course! 」

「And do you really thing that this so-called power of yours is going to work? 」

Siluca was as strict with Priscilla as always, but this could not be helped since the Mages Association has always been at odds with the Order of the Crest. However, it was annoying for Theo to hear the two of them quarrel with each other like that, since they were now comrades fighting on the same side.

「If you can do that, then by all means, we will be in your debt if you can actually manage to pull that off. If you can buy us as much time as possible, then we should be able to hold out long enough for the reinforcements to arrive. 」

「Of course! I will give it my best! 」
Priscilla said cheerfully as she looked around at the undead.

「I will punish the Arts and their users in accordance to the law that The Only God has decreed! 」

Calling out as if she was preaching, Priscilla raised her right hand into the air. There was a Crest on it, and if her saving Aishela from a wound that would be otherwise fatal was any indication, then her Crest must actually be quite strong, but it would probably not be comparable to Theo’s in terms of strength or battle potential. When it comes to his current Crest though, who can say?

In the next moment, a stream of white light began to pour out of priscilla’s Crest.

「Ow, it hurts! 」

As soon as she was bathed in that light, Aishela let out a scream.

「It hurts, it hurts, it hurts! 」

That was what Irvin would probably be saying as well, but he remained silent, and the only indication that he was actually in pain just like Aishela was the twitching of the veins on his temples and the beads of sweat dripping down his face.

However, the undead that were bathed in that light also groaned as if they were in pain and they started retreating.

「What did you do? 」

Siluca glared at Priscilla while worrying about Aishela, who was crouching down while holding her arms together.

「This is a spell that creates light that causes extreme pain to anyone who is an Arts user. It is used mostly as a self-repentance tool for the Artists that regained their faith and joined the Order of the Crest, so that they would never forget their sins from the time before they were brought back on the path of righteousness. 」

Priscilla explained while continuing to emit light from the Crest on her hand.

(Inflicting pain upon those who use Arts to make them feel like carving them onto their bodies was a sin in the first place and making them hate Arts in general? What a scummy strategy.)

Siluca was stunned beyond belief. Priscilla said that this spell was a gift from God, but only devil incarnate could come up with such a wicked power.

「I don’t think I have committed any crimes, but… ow, owww! It still hurts like hell! 」

Aishela continued to writhe in pain.

「We are taught to endure pain, but this one is something else entirely. 」