How a Reincarnated Warlock Lives – Chapter 73

Chapter 73: Encounter (1)

The surroundings were still quiet. It was a stillness that went beyond peacefulness.

It was the middle of the day in a city where winter was ending and the warmth of spring could be felt, but there were no sounds of people talking, no animals crying, and no birds chirping.

We moved a little further inside, not letting our guard down. After passing the main street, we saw a street lined with various shops and houses.

Still, there was no sign of life.

It wasn’t that everyone had left the city due to the conflicts stemming from the kingdom’s turmoil.

Because all sorts of things were neatly placed in the shops and buildings. There were even uncollected laundry fluttering on poles in the yards of houses.

Things that would not have been left behind if the citizens had chosen to migrate after feeling threatened.

“Something must have happened.”

Lephra muttered without lowering her sword. There were no traces of battle, like bloodstains, but it was clear that something had happened here.

“There are no signs of resistance. It doesn’t seem like they were attacked and kidnapped like the villages on the mountainside.”

Jerit said cautiously, looking around.

Swoosh, swoosh.

It was at that moment that a faint sound was heard. A sound so small that we would have missed it if it hadn’t been for the deathly silent surroundings.

Hiss.

“Yes, Jerit.”

I opened my mouth, looking ahead with a calm face.

Swoosh, swoosh. Ominous sounds began to be heard from all directions.

“……Damn it.”

Lephra, who sensed something was wrong a step later than me, muttered a curse and gripped her two swords tightly.

Hiss. Hiss. The ominous cries of reptiles could be heard clearly from all directions.

“You’re right, the city people weren’t kidnapped. Rather……”

I saw Jerit bite his lip, as if he was the last one to notice their approach. I raised my right hand, drawing Holy Power, and uttered the last words.

“It looks like they were all eaten.”

🔹🔹🔹

In the middle of the city.

Hundreds, thousands of yellow eyes slowly revealed themselves. Between the cracks in the shadowed walls, between the fissures in the ground. From inside the dark buildings where no presence could be felt.

Hiss!

The long bodies of the snakes that crawled out into the sunlight, flicking their long tongues, were as thick as logs. Big enough to swallow not only small livestock, but also large ones like humans, cows, and horses.

Several times larger than the species known to be several meters in size, which naturally live in the Southern Great Forest. They were clearly artificially created.

The sight of hundreds, thousands of such creatures crawling out from all directions was like something out of a terrible dream.

Yes, it looks like something out of a nightmare.

Seeing the snakes crawling out from all directions, I chuckled and raised my hand. Nightmares by my standards were quite different from those of ordinary people.

“Uh, uh……!”

I saw Jerit’s body stiffen as he faced the yellow eyes of the large snake that approached him, flicking its tongue from all directions.

It wasn’t a phenomenon caused by simple fear, but by the evil magic embedded in the snake.

The Saikan magic embedded in the snake’s eyes. That was why the villagers were all eaten without much resistance.

But of course, it didn’t work on me.

Before Jerit’s stiff body could lose its balance and stagger.

Flash!

The spell, materialized in an instant, radiated light and shot up from my hand.

Rapid spell formation, activation, and implementation.

The waves emanating from the star-shaped form, connected by several simple lines, shining brilliantly in the air, dispersed the Saikan energy that was pervading the surroundings.

Hiss!

The oppressive energy that had been constricting the body disappeared as if it had been washed away in an instant.

“Warding Star……!”

Lephra shouted in a voice filled with admiration, looking at the huge star, several meters in size, floating in the air and radiating light.

Next to her, Jerit, freed from paralysis, was seen startled as if he had been splashed with cold water, grabbing his sword.

Kyaaaak!

At the same time, I saw the snakes, which had been slowly approaching, as if they sensed danger, baring their sharp fangs and rapidly closing the distance towards us.

I glanced at Jerit and Lephra. They were quite skilled, but their combat abilities were not suitable for a situation like this.

Because long swords were not very effective weapons against hundreds, thousands of snakes crawling low on the ground.

As if realizing this, Lephra was seen biting her lip slightly. An expression that was prepared for a rather inefficient battle. It was a look that didn’t even consider running away as an option in the first place.

“……”

I turned my gaze away from her and raised my hand.

Sweep.

As the pattern on my wrist glowed brightly, the air around me began to shimmer. Whoosh. The flames, heating the surroundings, spread out in a fan shape in an instant.

After all, there’s nothing like a blazing fire to cover the surroundings for a round-up.

And, to lure out the bastards hiding behind it.

Kieeeeek!

A scream mixed with pain. Perhaps because of its large size, its cry was several times louder than that of ordinary snakes. However, the snakes, sensitive to temperature, collapsed in the blazing flames without being able to properly counterattack or escape.

Sizzle.

Where the white-mixed red flames swept through, snakes with large bodies, big enough to swallow an adult male in one gulp, were lying around, charred black.

“Oh……!”

Jerit’s cry of admiration rose along with the smoke.

But I looked calmly at the few snakes that had not been touched by the flames, escaping back into the darkness of the building cracks.

There was no need to bother chasing those disgusting creatures.

“That’s a new type of Holy Spell I’ve never seen before. The young lad is quite something.”

A sudden, unfamiliar voice. Startled, Jerit and Lephra quickly looked around and shouted.

“Who’s there!”

I slowly raised my head.

On the roof of the building in front. A man with a face as pale as if flour had been spread on it was standing there, looking down at us.

“Beautiful and fresh prey. I’ll have a proper feast for the first time in a long time.”

A forked tongue licking thin lips with almost no blood in them. Vertically slit pupils. And the familiar form of demonic energy emanating from him.

He was definitely from a Catacomb.

“A wicked snake worshiper from the Modesta Catacomb. Looks like you’ve got two of them now.”

“……!”

The man’s chattering mouth closed at my words that pinpointed his identity.

I twisted my lips into a smile and slowly continued.

“I was wondering when you’d crawl out, but you’re not very patient.”

The man narrowed his snake-like eyes and looked down at the fire that had slightly spread to the roof beneath his feet.

Fizzle.

The man lightly swung his arm, and the small embers that had spread to the building’s pillars died out feebly.

“……Hesterica’s intelligence network is quite something too. I’ll have to be more careful next time.”

“Next time?”

I chuckled at his words and drew my sword. There is no next time for a heretic facing an Inquisitor.

As the Holy Power gathered in my hand dyed the sword with a transparent white light, the man’s body began to be covered in black energy.

I didn’t start another fire. Using the flames created by Kamuron’s Bracelet against a powerful single enemy is inefficient. It would be more effective to directly swing the sword or use the Holy Power consumed as its fuel to directly cast Holy Spells.

Hiss!

As I drew my sword, the man swung his arm, and the black trajectory that followed his hand flew towards me, bending in an instant. And the snakes that had escaped earlier began to rush towards us again from all directions.

“Luciel! Watch out─”

Before Lephra’s cry, who quickly detected the man’s attack, could finish.

Clang!

The man’s surprise attack, blocked by the Holy Spell, Gabras’ Silver Shield, disappeared.

The magic, which had become several times clearer after receiving Holy Power directly from the Saintess, blocked the black mage’s attack without any difficulty.

“……!”

The man’s eyes were filled with shock as his surprise attack was thwarted. It seemed that he was quite surprised that I had cast an effective defensive spell in such a short time, not just simply detecting the attack like Lephra.

“If you don’t intend to come down.”

As I blocked the man’s attack, I quickly launched myself into the air. I felt a light yet powerful force from my muscles, strengthened by Holy Power.

“I’ll go up.”

Whoosh!

The chains of light sprouted as I launched myself into the air. In an instant, I landed on the roof where the man was standing. I swung the sword that had been naturally pulled back as I ran, as if thrusting it forward.

An attack made simultaneously with defense. It was literally in the blink of a eye.

Movement and magic executed without a single flaw. It was a seemingly simple charge, but it was a feat that could not be easily imitated unless one was proficient in both magic and physical arts.

However, the black mage also seemed to have quite a bit of combat experience, as he didn’t just stand still and watch my attack.

Crack!

After quickly regaining his composure, the black mage chanted a defensive spell, and a black barrier appeared in front of him. However, unlike how I had easily blocked his attack, the barrier he cast was half-split by the silver sword imbued with Holy Power.

Sizzle!

Although I couldn’t take his head off because the black barrier absorbed most of the impact, a red line appeared on the black mage’s pale face where the sword grazed past.

“Ugh……!”

The man, who stepped back in a hurry, looked around. Below, Lephra and Jerit were already slaughtering the large snakes.

Click.

The black mage hurriedly took something out of his pocket and bit it. At the same time, his body began to be covered in black scales.

Of course, I wasn’t going to just stand there and watch.

Boom!

Three spears of light, created in an instant, tore apart the remaining barrier of the man. At the same time, the sword I swung for the second time fell precisely towards the man’s neck.

“Kyaaaak!”

A painful scream erupted from the man’s mouth as he barely managed to twist his body out of the way with movements unbefitting a black mage, as if he had gained the reflexes of a beast.

Whoosh.

Red blood gushed out from the man as he rolled and fell to the ground, clutching his half-severed neck.

The man, who staggered and landed on the ground, was seen desperately trying to escape. He’s putting up a fight until the very end.

Tap.

I lightly descended under the roof and hesitated for a moment as I was about to raise my sword to finish off the black mage.

Thud. The black mage’s body, which was trying to escape into the narrow alleyway while bleeding profusely, collapsed.

And stepping on the corpse of the fallen black mage, two people, a man and a woman, walked out from the dark shadows between the buildings.

It didn’t really matter that I had been robbed of the final blow. I couldn’t absorb demonic energy in this situation anyway.

“Ah.”

I lowered my sword, looking at the two men and a woman who were slowly walking towards me after finishing off the black mage.

They were familiar faces.

A slender woman with long, red hair reaching her waist. And a taciturn-looking man shrouded in shadows.

The figures from the Black Dawn Society who had followed me after sensing the black magic I had used earlier.

Marchena and Kazan.

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