Chapter 267: Waterway Tunnel (3)

1.

Eloa raised her sword, glaring at the Red Knight.

The creature was doing the same, letting out an ominous 'smile'.

Originally, it only had thirty eyes, but thanks to the Cowardly witches, it had forty now.

The same number of eyes as the Homunculus who once caused the worst disaster in history had, the Homunculus who was dubbed as the strongest.

'Jormungandr', the Homunculus that took the form of a giant snake, the one which was killed by Duchess Keter after it successfully ate up three kingdoms, eight big cities, countless villages and seventy eight witches in the past.

Back then, Gehenna's system was just being established.

Considering that the average rank of witches back in the day was around 15th, it was understandable that as many as seventy eight of them fell in battle against the monstrosity.

However, that fact shouldn't be used to underestimate Jormungandr, and by extension, the Red Knight, which now possessed the same number of eyes as it did.

Of course, just as a witch's strength couldn't be fully measured by rank, a Homunculus' full strength also couldn't be fully measured by the number of its eyes.

However, the Red Knight specifically was a Homunculus which possessed rich experience when it came to fighting against witches.

It was not due negligence that Eloa still failed to kill it despite being able to defeat it seven times.

The Red Knight was a strong enough foe to go toe-to-toe with her when it came to pure martial skills. This was also why it always managed to spare some strength to get away from her when things went south for it.

"..."

"..."

Eloa calmly faced it, trying to assess its newfound strength.

The Red Knight, huh...?

It was common sense that the power of a Homunculus depended on what exactly was it guarding.

For example, even a weak Homunculus would become tricky to deal with if it was holding the 'Egg of Gnosis', because that meant the Homunculus would be equipped with some kind of self-essence magic.

With that in mind, since the Red Knight was holding the Red Branch, it was categorized among the stronger Homunculus by default.

Red Branch itself was a spear that possessed the ability to twist concepts and laws.

Not only that, it could also deploy a distortion field that could impair all kinds of magic and weaken spirit bodies.

It could also manipulate the reality of the object it touched.

The magic that the Red Knight could utilize from the Red Branch alone was already trickier to deal with compared to most combat witches'.

This was part of the reason why Eloa always failed to kill it even back when the difference between their power was significant.

But now, she sensed something different from the red spear after not seeing it for a little while...

Just from the mana it exuded alone, it was already on a different level compared to the last time she saw it.

It was denser and it gave her a deep sense of unease.

This implied that the Red Knight wasn't the only thing that the Cowardly Witch buffed, but the Red Branch itself as well.

Meanwhile, I...

To deal with all the White Knights on her way here, she had expended 30% of her mana.

Because she was using one of her available twelve covenants on Siwoo, she could only use eleven of them at once.

If this was the first time they fight, it wouldn't be a problem.

But, this was a foe she had faced a few times before. Facing an enemy that was familiar with her technique while she herself wasn't in perfect condition... Even if she was being optimistic, she couldn't guarantee a victory.

She had triumphed over countless Homunculi in the past, but this time, she felt a great sense of danger that she hadn't felt in a long time.

"Stay back. Get ready to escape."

Eloa pushed Siwoo back and brandished her sword.

"Hereby, I declare a covenant."

With that, two of the three remaining covenants were activated.

The Red Knight was probably the Cowardly Witch's strongest weapon.

It wasn't an opponent Eloa could fight half-heartedly, but if she utilized all her strength here, she wouldn't have many options against whatever it was that would come out next.

The ninth covenant, to reestablish the concept of her own body.

In order to minimize the effect of the Red Branch's distortion, she reestablished her existence over the world itself.

With this, she wouldn't need to be afraid of getting caught in its barrier or getting her mana distorted by it.

The tenth covenant, to consume half of her mana and exchange it with strength.

The Red Knight wasn't the only force the Cowardly Witch had left.

There were still over 600 White Knights and though she wasn't as formidable in a direct fight, she still had to face the Cowardly Witch herself as well.

If she were to expand more mana than this, she'd be helpless against what came next.

Eleven of the twelve letters engraved on the Sword of Covenant glowed and a strong mana wave scattered around her.

-Clank!

The one who made a move first was the Red Knight.

It threw the witches' corpses in its hand, all while gliding forward to stab Eloa.

At first glance, its movement seemed more simple and less powerful than that of the White Knights'.

It didn't make a loud sound as it cut through the air and the force it seemed to exude was unremarkable.

But that was far from the truth.

Just like how deep rivers looked relatively stable and one would only know how strong the flow of stream it had if one were to dip their body inside...

The tip of its spear suddenly passed through Eloa's defensive stance, rushing toward her heart.

"Haah!"

She rotated her body halfway and struck the tip of the spear.

No, it was more like she tried to swat it away.

But an unexpected outcome happened, both the tips of their weapons met each other in the air.

The strength she utilized wasn't enough.

She didn't expect that the Red Knight had grown this much more powerful than before.

-Clang! Tang!

But this mistake didn't discourage her at all, instead she moved her body to wrestle the creature with her sword.

Her movements were so natural, giving one the impression that this was what she was aiming for from the very beginning.

'Binding', a technique to block an enemy's attack and pulling them towards oneself.

'Winding', a technique that utilized the enemy's opening to turn and twist their weapon around and neutralize them.

In a broader sense, since the techniques involved revolved around those two techniques, similar to wrestling, it was technically the correct term to call it 'sword wrestling.'

To do it, one had to predict the opponent's movements and rhythm by detecting the changes in pressure and force that was being transmitted in their weapon.

Then, one had to calculate how much speed and strength was needed to knock the enemy's weapon away and inflict a fatal wound on them.

-Clang! Tang, tang!

The red spear and the white sword clashed, producing a sound that was similar to a cracking tough walnut.

Like two dragons fighting with their lives, the sword and spear clashed wildly, letting out fierce sparks of mana each time they made contact.

Neither of them showed any opening.

In terms of pure power, the Red Knight overwhelmed Eloa, but she made up for it with her more precise techniques.

-Clang, clang!

For several seconds, this situation continued.

It was Eloa who broke the deadlock first.

Using a forceful strike, she tried to swat away the Red Knight's spear.

Both weapons, coming from opposite directions, clashed violently in the air.

From this clash, a huge shockwave was created, Eloa's bangs fluttered due to the wind.

-Baaang!

"Ugh!"

She let out a bewildered groan.

Even if there was a gap between their power, their difference in skill was quite significant.

Originally, she was trying to overpower the Red Knight's spear before sending a clean stab to its heart.

But, at that moment, the 'Red Branch' did its job.

-Bang!

Eloa, who managed to swat the spear away, felt her stomach twisted.

She didn't get hit directly or anything.

And the impact wasn't so intense that she couldn't withstand it, so it wasn't a problem for her.

It was the fact that the impact was caused by the Red Branch's distortion which was the problem.

Whenever their weapons touched, she would feel the impact in her stomach, shaking her insides.

This was the reason why even though she was confident in her close quarter combat skills, she avoided coming up too close with the Red Knight.

She repeatedly swung her sword, swallowing her saliva as she did.

Each time, a shockwave spread through her entire body, coming from the tip of her sword down to the tip of her toe.

As if her cochlea was shaken, her sense of balance became ruined, her vision also turned blurry, as if she was being submerged in water.

Her previously steady breathing became erratic, so did her heartbeat.

At first, this just caused her to feel nauseous, but as the fight went on, the nauseous feelings started to turn into pain.

-Woooong!

At that moment, a spear swing came toward her head.

She avoided it by leaning her head back.

But, the moment the spear blade passed over her head, a red barrier formed, twisting the trajectory of the spear to follow after her head.

She desperately turned her body around to avoid it, sacrificing her center of gravity in the process.

Sadly, that wasn't enough. Another red barrier was formed, now twisting the spear's trajectory toward her shoulder, inducing so much pain that made her feel like her insides were being torn apart.

"Ugg—!"

She endured the pain that almost made her lose consciousness and kicked off the ground.

As she distanced herself, she inspected the wound she had just received.

"Haah...haah...!"

The wound itself was very shallow.

It felt like her arm was ripped off, but the wound was only a scratch.

However, this finding was enough to keep her on her toes.

She had strengthened her body with several covenants and re-established her existence so she could handle the distortion better.

Her body became significantly more durable, both magically and physically, turning her into a walking fortress.

Yet, she got shaken off really badly by the barrier that her enemy formed in haste just now.

In hindsight, it was weird for her to be affected this badly by that barrier.

She was familiar with it because it was the same thing that she had faced time and time again, but it never made her feel anything other than dizziness on the same level of seasickness.

This meant that she couldn't afford to exchange bouts with the spear again, or else she'd be shaken off again.

"Phew..."

It turned out that this rematch with the Red Knight was more difficult than she had expected.

All of her magic and techniques were centered around close quarter combat.

Which meant, the Red Branch completely countered her since just being near it could already hurt her.

Eloa took a deep breath to compose herself.

Her mind, which had been disturbed due to her agitation, turned calm like still water.

Being all agitated wouldn't help her situation.

What she needed to do was to assess the situation calmly and make her move accordingly.

To make less contact with the opponent's weapon, like it or not, she'd have to use her feet more.

Instead of standing her ground, she should move forward when she had to and pull back when she had to.

The question here was, should she use up her remaining covenant?

Was it the right move if she were to use up all her mana to deal with the enemy in front of her?

Meanwhile, even though it had the initiative, the Red Knight did not press on the attack on her.

Instead, it stayed in its place, raised its spear up high, and began to scream.

"D—D—Drivat—!"

This scene left her dumbstruck.

Because from the dark space beneath the red helmet, a voice that sounded similar to that of a human's language came out.

Homunculi that lived for a long time usually developed a clear sense of self.

However, for a Homunculus to utter something that wasn't an incomprehensible cry, it was unprecedented.

"Drivat—! Lajak—-!"

It said something in an unknown language, the words accompanied by a muffled sound.

No, it could be that it was singing.

With that, a bright red barrier stretched out from the Red Branch, along with the sound of scraping steel.

At first, she thought that this was another one of its attacks, but she quickly realized that the barrier stretched out in a wide area, striking various places except where she was standing.

"This—!"

Eloa looked around.

The space around her was distorted.

It was as if reality itself was being eroded.

Though this was the place that connected five tunnels, it was still located underground, so there wasn't that much space for them to move around.

However, it had changed into an enormous area, as if it was an image refracted by a lens.

The strange thing here was the fact that she couldn't even tell when exactly did this happen.

It was as if the place looked exactly like this since the very beginning, she just blinked and the change had already happened.

She looked around the waterway that had now become as spacious as a football field.

"—Yatholot!"

At that moment, the Red Knight struck the floor with its spear.

Then, the barrier that enveloped the place disappeared.

Silence quickly followed.

"Siwoo..."

A sudden silence was always accompanied by an ominous outcome.

By instinct, Eloa glanced behind to look for Siwoo, who was preparing for his escape with Dimension Shift.

Whatever it was that was about to happen, she wanted him to get away first.

But he wasn't there.

Considering that she didn't sense any magic being deployed, it meant that he was still around.

When she was struck by panic, another abnormality occurred in front of her eyes.

The White Knights she had already taken down...

Even those who had been reduced to rubbles and pieces, all of them began to reassemble and regenerate themselves.

-Kak...kak...kakakak...!

The Red Knight let out an unpleasant noise again, as if it was laughing.

Red Branch's ability, 'distortion'.

It was strong enough to distort the rules of heaven and went against the laws it set.

This was why the Cowardly Witch sacrificed thousands of humans and five witches for, to bring it to its fullest potential.

The strange phenomenon that clearly surpassed cause and effect revived all the White Knights that had fallen.

Hundreds of White Knights also poured out from all five tunnels almost immediately.

Clank clank clank clank clank clank.

Clank clank clank clank clank clank.

Clank clank clank clank clank clank.

Clank clank clank clank clank clank.

Clank clank clank clank clank clank.

Sounds of metal boots hitting the solid ground reverberated through the air.

Accompanied by the deafening noise, almost all of Xochitl's White Knight gathered in one place.

With a single purpose, to hunt Eloa Tiphereth.

Eloa reminiscing about Ravi.