Chapter 348 The
entrance opened and what Eliza faced was not inside a cave but a pure white plain.
The world was covered with pure white snow from the sky, and on the ground there was only one rock and an arctic white owl resting its wings on it.
“Your companion is right.”
But even if the owl said it, there was nothing strange about it. It was common for witches to use their familiars.
“This cave is a shapeless space from the beginning. But because it is nothing, it can be anything.”
Seeing the owl smiling like a human, Eliza aimed her rapier at it.
“Lewis’ familiar… are you our enemy?”
However, Shoichi, who recognized the ability of the owl through his inner eye, shook his head. Judging from the owl’s amount of mana, it was just a simple chore familiar. In terms of mana alone, it was less than a second-class monster.
“No, I am the guide. It only opens the way, but you have no power to do any harm.”
“…road? Enough riddles, so let’s make it easy.”
Eliza couldn’t stand it and spewed out mana, but the owl didn’t even react.
“Yes, that’s right. road. Aren’t you here to break the barrier?”
The owl resting its wings rose from the rock. As the white wings flapped, the feathers fluttered in all directions and the owl turned into a boy with white hair.
“It is not a mystery. Louis doesn’t like riddles.”
Lewis’s familiar, the boy with white hair, smiled at the two hunters, who were mere intruders.
“You have chosen the lunar path. Wasn’t it kindly written? The most outstanding… Take the path of the moon. The party expected the device maintaining the barrier to be an artifact, but that was wrong.”
The boy explained as a guide.
“This space is the path you must walk and the ordeal itself. Of course, it is one of the important devices forming the barrier.”
What is this space and what path do you have to walk?
“Of course, the one at the end of the road is the literal words engraved by Louise… our master. The most outstanding person Louis-sama has ever met.”
The guide put his hand on the rock.
“You will meet him through the Moon Path.”
Hwaaak!
The boy’s body turned into a black wave and ascended to heaven, and a beautiful moon shone in the darkened night sky.
Utopia.
Golden waves rippled in the blue night sea. What remains in the quiet desolation is the same single rock as in the beginning.
If there were any differences, the first was the changed scenery and the second was that the person sitting on the rock was not an owl, but a knight wearing black protective gear.
“The greatest person Louis ever met…?”
Shoichi expressed his doubts, and Eliza, realizing who the knight in front of her was, spat out words in a sigh.
“…Don’t you know who defeated the demon witches?”
If you did research on witches, how would you forget a name you’d seen many times in the Tower’s records?
In a war situation where humans were at a disadvantage, the knight achieved victory by single-handedly cutting down enemies of the Empire, including witches and demons.
“The strength estimated through the records of the tower is level 7…” The
best knight in the empire and a disciple of the Holy King, his symbol is black armor. The people of the empire praised him with their mouths as they saw him wearing black armor and going on an expedition to the demons.
“A knight of destruction.”
Of course, the one sitting on the rock wasn’t really a knight of perdition. It’s just an imitation that Lewis implemented as a barrier. So, if you defeat it from this side, the barrier will be canceled immediately after the spell is destroyed.
Knock-
The knight of destruction raised his iron-clad body. The golden waves surrounding the night sea were evidence of the passing away of the divine king, and meant that the knight of destruction was at its peak.
“Everything is unknown.”
A nervous Shoichi muttered.
How strong is the 7th grade sub?
With a fighting power of 6th grade, wouldn’t the two of them have enough potential?
However, the moment the Knight of Annihilation drew out the sword, Eliza felt it.
‘That’s… dangerous.’
Saaa –
The knight’s sword was imbued with cold air from Lewis’ magic. It was an ability that the original did not have, and it was proof that Lewis had used all means.
‘Stupid association guys!’
Lewis has evolved.
Lewis now is not 6th grade, but maybe stronger than he was in his prime. If you want to increase your odds even a little bit, you have to attack first before the Knight of Destruction can exert its power.
“Now!”
“Okay pincers!”
Eliza’s straight-stretched rapier created a silver tail and rushed like meteors, and Shoichi’s sword cut through the blind spots that the Knight of Destruction had the most difficulty to block.
Wedge-!
Awesome!
This is an amazing pincer attack created by two hunters in a split second.
Poo-!
The rapier pierced the armor and blood splattered from the body, and Shoichi’s sword pierced the thick torso, but the Knight of Annihilation did not escape.
Rather, he drew a half moon by swinging a huge sword with a rapier and a sword stuck in his body.
Booung-!
“Quit!”
“Ugh!”
Eliza and Shoichi, who retreated with tremendous reaction speed, avoided being cut in two, but the problem was Louis’ coldness in the sword.
The ice shards splashed with the sword began to freeze as soon as they touched the skin. It reacted quickly, like poison seeping into the body.
Seeing Eliza’s legs froze all of a sudden, Shouichi stretched out his hand and shouted.
“Eliza!”
Louise’s coldness instantly turned Eliza into an ice statue. Shoichi blew mana to resist, but the cold that started from his legs and creeped up made even Shoichi’s body freeze.
slam!
With the sound of the rough waves, the beautiful night sea like the ebb tide began to flow out. In a world where the moon and sky set and a blizzard raged like the first time, the boy sat on a rock and chanted.
“You have failed to pass the lunar path. Even though both of you are frozen, can you hear my voice? Hehe, even though I can’t move my body, my mind is intact… Luis-sama’s coldness is truly cruel.”
The boy, who had returned to the form of an owl, sat on the head of Eliza, who had become an ice statue, and expressed his regret.
“Road to the Moon is a masterpiece Louis made. Aden… It’s an ordeal prepared for that silver-haired monster… But the invaders this time are too weak.”
His master, Lewis, was more prepared and stronger than before, but the challengers were too weak compared to the previous Aden.
“If the length of the month that recruited the most outstanding people is this long… the other side will be the same.”
The captain is like this, but is there a great talent on the other side? The Familiar, who had turned into an owl, lay on Adela’s head and yawned droopingly with her wings resting.
“Stupid humans to come here on their own to die… The day when Louise-sama truly manifests itself is not far off.”
* * *
She shuddered the moment she first saw Adela, who had grown through the crystal ball, with silver hair and red eyes.
“…Ah, it’s not too late.”
Louis trembled with his pale hands together as he gazed at Adela in the crystal ball.
Louis recalled the moment he was trapped in the sealing stone with the fruit he had been waiting for so long in front of his eyes.
[This… it can’t be sealed!]
Louis already knew the fear of hunters in this world. Having a higher level of intelligence than other bosses, she also knew that she had to hide from the hunters in order to reign fear and rule the world.
But for that to happen, a premise was required. In order to hide her identity and permeate human society, she must abandon the body of Lewis, the Witch of Winter.
“I wanted so much…”
From then on, all of Louis’ actions were part of the plan. Hiding herself, she searched for her bowl and, after a long time, saw little Adela.
It was fate that Louise, the Witch of Winter, met Adela. Adela had an excellent aptitude for the cold, and her pale skin and red eyes looked just like her before she was chosen as a ‘witch’.
To Lewis, Adela was better than any bowl, a seed he never wanted to miss.
“My vessel.”
That’s why Lewis spread a barrier like a fortress in Volterra and gnawed at the human spirit. Adela, exhausted from the cold and hunger and having lost her parents, shed tears of loneliness, but Louis shuddered.
[Just a little more… Just a little more!]
Adela lost her mind and ego due to despair and loneliness, and it started to ripen like the only fruit Louis wanted so much.
Now Lewis could get the fruit simply by reaching out. All you had to do was put the ripe fruit in your mouth and swallow it.
But was it too greedy?
Lewis’s plans were disrupted by an entity.
[…It’s too late.]
Aden, the silver wind, a legendary hunter and Adela’s grandfather.
[I know. Even though you have rather advanced knowledge that you are not a simple monster, you have done something irreversible… to those who are most important to me… with your greed.] After Aden’s words, a silver wind blew
. And everything was over. Without knowing what had happened with the bright light, Louis was trapped in the sealing stone.
A bowl that’s right for you.
They missed the ripe fruit just one step ahead.
Slowly-
Louis carefully swiped down Adela’s figure inside the crystal ball with her pale, long fingers, as if it were a treasure.
Then, with her face close to the crystal ball, she whispered in a calm voice like a lullaby to a child.
“This time, I will never… let go of you.”
