Chapter 108 - The Rhine Kingdom’s Peril 4 (1/2)
A woman with grayish brown hair looked into her hand mirror, which reflected a frown.
Her name was Catherine.
She was an executive of the Witch Cult who had infiltrated Erutonia with Anais under the orders of Aleister.
“What is the problem, Lady Catherine?”
“The man named Gwak Seyoung is dead. Killed by the King of the Rhine Kingdom.”
“Then what should we do about the sacrifices for the summoning?”
“We have no choice but to get them ourselves. They say that the security at Landium is extremely strict these days.”
An alliance of pirates known as the Sea Serpent's Fury, was guarding the Ernox Bay and preventing the Witch Cult to set foot on land.
There were a few members who luckily managed to infiltrate, but they weren’t numerous enough to pursue their own missions.
So Catherine paused for a moment and changed her horse’s direction towards a nearby town.
“It won’t be too late to get rid of Lee Jaesung later. Right now, we need to prioritize the summoning of the demonic beast Charybdis.”
“Great timing. The Kingdom’s army has been bothering us lately.”
They had been avoiding conflict during this mission to reach their destination as fast as possible.
In truth, although the army troops greatly outnumbered them, they wouldn’t find it easy to defeat Catherine and Anais, since those two were able to use the power of Sloth by contracting with Priscilla.
“As long as we kill the commander first, we can easily annihilate them all. No matter how well the current king has trained the military, an army without a commander is like a snake without its head.”
Catherine was familiar with the tactics used by the kingdom’s forces, because she was a competent commander of the Holy Apherian Imperial Army before joining the Witch Cult.
Therefore, she had the confidence to break through the gaps in their formations and bring back the neck of the enemy faction’s commander.
'I won't go down as easily as Amy.'
Kriemhild’s death was a big reason behind Amy’s helplessness against Woohyuk. He could easily kill her because she could no longer use the power of Envy.
Of course, another decisive factor was that she was forced to accelerate her plans and act recklessly because of the unexpected intervention by Woohyuk.
As Catherine steeled her heart, a dark wind blew out of nowhere and a black shadow appeared from nothingness.
“Oh my. You seem to be preparing a very dangerous scheme.”
It was Loengreen.
Catherine and Anais’s eyes widened in surprise by the sudden appearance.
”A, A demon?!”
“Are you here to disrupt our plans?”
They had heard that demons, like humans, frequently engaged in territorial disputes.
Loengreen smiled gracefully as the two stared in all seriousness.
“Well, you can think of it that way. People like you who interfere with my love are definitely an enemy to me.”
To Loengreen, Woohyuk was a being that held great value to him.
So even though he hadn’t gotten requested by Woohyuk specifically, he decided to intervene of his own free will.
However, he had obviously hidden his lover, Mikaelovich, safely in a cave.
“I don't know how strong you are, but we won’t step back. If we do so, we will be severely punished by Priscilla, the Witch of Sloth.”
“I am not telling you to retreat. As long as you two are alive, you'll definitely bother us again.”
Loengreen opened his golden eyes as dark green hair fluttered in the wind.
The air around them suddenly decreased to freezing temperatures.
Catherine instinctively gulped in fear a momentarily.
‘A, a high-ranking demon…’
He was different from the 72 Demon Kings she had met so far.
His rank was most probably quite high amongst them.
As Catherine was contemplating what to do, Anais shouted with a venomous face.
“Do you think I’m going to let you kill me? Turner, get that guy already!”
“…Krrrr.”
Turner flashed red eyes and rushed to Loengreen.
Loengreen smirked when he saw the long nails filled with demonic energy on the tip of Turner’s fingers.
“Hoh, are you imitating the Werewolf's ability? Maybe that’s the reason why, but your movements are similar to his as well.”
It was Aleister Crowley who had given Turner this ability.
He was quite the mysterious person, one of the people who couldn’t be understood through common sense Loengreen had met.
Loengreen narrowed his eyes as if he had noticed Aleister’s handiwork.
Clang!
The purple nails hit the intangible protective barrier and sparked.
But that's the extent of it.
Turner, who simply relied only on external abilities, could not be a worthy opponent for Loengreen.
“Get lost!”
As Turner struggled, Anais, who was watching from behind, sent out nine monsters at once.
Catherine summoned a jet-black twin sword and leapt into the air, as if there was nothing else she could do.
“It’s all useless, everyone.”
With a cold tone, Loen Green vanished.
Afterwards, a single shadow ran like the wind and faced the three enemies at the same time.
“Urgh!”
“Agh!”
“Krrrr!”
When Loengreen's onslaught began, large and small wounds formed on the bodies of the three demonic people.
But that was the extent of it.
Even Loengreen could not inflict a decisive blow on them, because his magic had yet to fully recover.
“I've become so weak. To think that I’m struggling with an easy battle like this.”
Loengreen reappeared and spoke coldly.
He had paused his barrage of attacks as he thought it would be difficult to defeat them all at this pace.
However, there was no sign of impatience in his eyes.
Anais, gasping for breath, frowned as she saw his relaxed attitude.
“Don’t look down on us! You can’t even rival Lady Priscilla!”
Lilith's Witches of Seven Deadly Sins were treated as equals to the 72 Demon Kings in the demon realm.
While there were differences in rank depending on individual abilities, it was clear that Priscilla was stronger than Loengreen.
“Are you discussing the dignity of the master you serve? Well, I am a subject of Demon King Agares...”
“A-Agares?!”
Demon King Agares, the 2nd ranking demon king.
Lilith was the only witch stronger than her.
Catherine opened her mouth in amazement while Anais stood speechless and blanked for a moment.