65 Episode 7: Attack ③ (1/2)

If Senri Sylvis had one mistake, it would be that he had never fought with the weak.

In the Knights of the End, each knight of the first rank acts in a group of several.

The people Senri had fought with before had been his fellow Knights of the Order, not to mention his mentor Epe's power, and his seniors Lefley and Nevira, who were both physically and mentally powerful warriors who could control their blessings at will (though not as well as Senri).

The next person I worked with was End.

End was a sick man, and had no experience or knowledge of combat. At the same time, however, End had high qualities as an undead and a strong spirit.

Senri was dismayed by his sometimes carefree nature, but End's situation was not something that could be overcome by an ordinary mind.

He was resurrected by an evil necromancer, kept his memory even after being dominated, didn't whine a single word while being solarized by the Knight of the End, and even endured to the limit the blood-sucking urge that everyone can't help but go crazy for.

His victory over Arbatos is also a marvel.

The power of Arbatos was powerful even in Senri's eyes, and he was used to fighting the undead. Even though he was born as an Ancestor, he was not a match for a low-level vampire.

He was still inexperienced in battle, but perhaps when that was filled in, End would be transformed. The Ends are so strong that they may become unmanageable for Senri in the near future.

Compared to them, the mercenaries Senri led this time were far too weak.

They must have been trained in combat. They must have experience. They have the strength to fight demons to some extent. But even so, his strength is not at the level to fight the Dark Family.

Senri realized this when he left the herd of beasts to the mercenaries and launched a series of attacks on the demons flying in the dark night sky.

He had the upper hand until halfway through. The female demon was a powerful demoness, but Senri would not be defeated in a head-on collision.

The demon was not the same as the undead, so he couldn't just pour his blessing into it and purify it to zero, but the power of light was still one of its weaknesses.

Demons can fly, but even Senri can fly. The demon must have realized its disadvantage after the first attack, because it stayed on the run the whole time, and Senri caught up with it.

Senri had the upper hand from start to finish. Senri was unharmed, and the demon's body was in shambles, barely able to block the barrage of light.

The situation changed when the demon used a certain spell in desperation.

Demons are good at magic. What the demoness used was not an offensive spell.

A spell only for the weak-minded. It was a charm spell to hypnotize and manipulate the target.

It was a spell that the Knights of the End would certainly not be subjected to. That's why Senri underestimated its danger.

It was a miscalculation. Mental pollution spells can be cast out of fear or agitation.

A spell cast from the sky fell on one of the mercenaries who had been reluctantly fighting the beast. In an instant, the man, who had lost all color in his eyes, became a pawn of the demon and attacked the comrade who had fought with him just a few moments before.

Fear is contagious. In particular, being attacked by someone who had been your companion just a few moments ago is a strong fear for even relatively mentally strong mercenaries who have fought before. The demise knight who fights demons is trained for such a situation, but a mere mercenary cannot withstand it.

I'm not going to stand by and watch you get beaten up. Senri was forced to stop his pursuit and rescue his comrades.

The spell of widespread enchantment is quite weak for a mind-contaminating spell. A strong jolt would bring it back to life, but in an unrestrained fight, it would die before it could.

Wake your comrades, ward off the beast, prevent the she-devil's attack spell from falling from the sky.

What matters is lives. We need to minimize casualties.

If the demon's spell was too powerful for Senri to prevent, he would have sacrificed himself and focused on the attack. But those attacks were enough for Senri to handle, even if it took some effort.

If she had had another companion who was not mesmerized, the end would have been easy.

The battle dragged on. The demon did not choose to retreat.

But the advantage still went to Senri's side. The more times a spell is cast, the less effective it becomes. If the demon's pack of beasts could be annihilated, Senri would be able to devote his efforts to destroying the demon again.

It was just then that he heard a wolf howl from behind him.

Not just any wolf's. It was a demonic one, one that Senri had heard many times during his time as a Knight of the End.

Werewolves have a habit of howling. The woman's expression, which had been pained but hadn't let up on the attack, twisted in surprise as Senri's blood changed color.

Something must have happened. The female demon, who had not shown any sign of retreating until then, flew up in a great leap. But I can't chase it.

The herd of beasts, now greatly reduced in number, attacked all at once.

When she had managed to kill them all, the female demon had disappeared into the night sky.

§§

Returning to the camp site, Senri saw the devastation.

The bodies of several mercenaries lying around, the strong smell of blood, the frightened and pale merchants.

But the werewolf's power is powerful.

Created by the curse of the King of Beasts, the werewolf is demonic. In terms of pure combat ability, they surpassed even the female demon Senri had just faced.

If it was one of them, it would not be able to do this much damage.

I can't see the enemy. No sign of Baron ...... End either.

And without changing his expression, Senri accepted that the worst had happened.

That werewolf's howl was a signal to retreat. The reason Senri had left End at the camp was partly because he had no fighting ability in dog form, but also to protect him in case of emergency.

The Dark Ones have their own affinities. If the opponent was a werewolf, the vampire would be overwhelmingly superior.

As a demon, a werewolf is lower than a vampire. The werewolf's fur, which has strong resistance to all but silver weapons, cannot be used against the vampire's attacks.

It's a curse. A werewolf is a being created to be a servant of vampires.

Wolves have their place. But if they chose to retreat, that means they did.

But it also meant that End had made a hard choice.

The friends Senri had brought back were rushing to their side. No one was killed or seriously injured in the battle that Senri had led.