Chapter 128: Morgue of the Headless Prince (part seven)
I immediately launched the boots by stomping the ground with my soles and put some distance between me and Lièvre.
I hopped around using Leap so as to secure Tirnanog as a shield.
It’s quite impossible for me to keep up with that speed.
“Aah, jeez. This is troublesome. I’m in a hurry……but I need two more people no matter what, so I guess in a sense this is convenient for me.”
The monstro in the form of Lièvre propped her right cheek with her hand, her eyebrows were furrowed.
Missing two more people.
The number of the missing girls is ten.
Adding Chloe and I, it will be exactly twelve.
That means, the kidnapping case that Palug has been following was also the work of this vampire.
“Are you the culprit of the recent case of girl abduction?”
“Yes, that’s right. I was doing my best, but I’m having some trouble during work lately. That’s why I think it’s best to use you. But—haah.”
After a loud sigh, Lièvre looked at us with troubled scarlet eyes.
I felt shivers running down my spine.
“Isn’t this such a difficult service? I’m worried about whether I can capture you both without killing.”
Lièvre spoke of such disturbing topic with a tone as if having a small chat.
“Even though, if possible, I wanted to strike at the timing when both of you were off guard……”
Instead of replying, I took out the wand of Crystal Cluster out of the glove of storing and instantly created and shot a huge crystal spear.
However, by the time it landed, Lièvre had already disappeared into the darkness.
After losing its target, the crystal spear only ended up gouging the surface of the wall at the back.
Something dispersed—something like a black mist squirmed and turned into dozens, no, hundreds of animals.
Those were bats.
Lots of bats gathered near the ceiling and took the form of a person again.
“As expected, I can’t use ordinary method, huh.”
While throwing such words carelessly, Lièvre pushed the ceiling lightly and on the next moment, she suddenly appeared in front of me.
Facing that unavoidable speed, blood drained from my face quickly.
『I won’t let you!』
Tirnanog swung his log-like forelimb with a speed that doesn’t match his large body.
He easily sent Lièvre flying.
The woman’s slender body was thrown into the air.
“See, even if I aim for you who seems fragile, that golem is an obstacle……this is truly troublesome.”
Lièvre corrected her posture mid-air, kicked the wall on the other side to absorb the shock and landed on the stone floor.
Although her left arm, which was hit by Tirnanog’s attack, was broken, Lièvre seemed to be unaware of that fact.
Her broken left arm swelled out from the area around her elbow as if boiling and deformed into something warped.
It looked just like the head of a black beast without ears or eyes.
It is said that the vampires in this world use human souls that have been incorporated into the physical mutation.
Those, are those the souls of the killed and captured victims?
“The One who covets death.”
At that time, Chloe’s voice resounded in the ruins.
At some point, she had come forward between me and Lièvre unnoticed.
She lowered her sword languidly, without putting herself on guard.
She approached Lièvre in a relaxed manner.
“Year 1091, in the northern part of Lucanrant. The inhabitants of seventy-two villages in the mountainous area separated by snow had disappeared. This was the first confirmed case.”
Chloe continued as if she was reading the material.
“In the south-east part of Lucanrant 1292. Out of the fifteen ships that departed from a port town, fourteen vessels had disappeared along with crew and cargo. One crew member, who remained in the last ship which arrived at the destination, escaped by attacking the four swordsmen who had been interrogating them and went missing. In 1466, the magic tower near the Lucanrant-Hafan border disappeared. In 1649, all residents of the Fort City in the northern part of Hafan disappeared overnight.”
I realized now.
Perhaps this is the information that was written in that red-leather diary.
“In 1789, twelve girls in a village in the vicinity of Lindis disappeared. Around that time, one nun who was in charge of the village disappeared. At midnight, the figure of a nun who was bathed in blood all over her body was seen wandering about, and became one of the Seven Wonders transmitted in the academy, she was the prototype of the Bloody Saint.”
The distance between Chloe and Lièvre shrank.
Lièvre did not change her posture in particular against the approaching Chloe.
“There is a record of those who had survived fighting against the nun who had become a vampire. It is said that there is an infinitely-expanded space inside her body, and that there is no limit on the amount that she can prey on. It is presumed that it is the same individual as the executor of the past large-scale disappearance cases from the point of being good at tactics that seeks asylum by concealing their true nature and making-use of their predatory ability. However, the survivor who gave the report disappeared after two months—the vampire in these cases, was it you……?”
At the same time as asking the question, Chloe slashed Lièvre diagonally.
Pitch black liquid flowed from the slashed part.
“Fufu, how embarrassing. The one who was lurking as a nun ninety-seven years ago, that was me.”
Lièvre’s cheeks turned red as she laughed.
When Chloe slashed her again, the black beast in Lièvre’s left hand received the sword with its maw.
With a creaking noise, the stone floor under Lièvre’s foot broke.
“And, the decree that was given by the Lunatic King to those who covet death, is it really to recapture the Cursed Wolf?”
“My, my, so I got exposed, huh.”
“That’s because you’ve attacked all the travel routes. Well then—seven years ago, you, were you the one who caused Claude Lucanrant to become obsessed with the Golden Wolf and drove him mad?”
“Oh my, who is this Claude you’re talking about?”
More weight was put on Lièvre’s broken shoulder as the snowsilver blade bit into her neck.
But she still maintained the smile on her face.
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