Chapter 83

"Sir Brod! You have to take Sir Joachim and all the other soldiers to a safer location!"

Even knights with high resistance fell ill to Ms. Bargot's blood. If ordinary soldiers merely made contact with Ms. Bargot's fluids, they would die instantly. It would be especially fatal to Joachim who was frail in the first place.

"Yes, sir," Brod quickly carried Joachim on his back.

"We have to save the knights who collapsed—!"

"Sir, it's already too late!"

As Joachim saw the knights who were on the ground become completely still, he bit his lips.

"...Ms...Bargot...!" A dying voice cried out to Ms. Bargot. Shalom, who was on the ground after getting attacked by Zich, also got some of Ms. Bargot's blood on him.

Despite his half-transformed state, he also couldn't fight off Ms. Bargot's disease and had rashes all over his skin. He stared incessantly at Ms. Bargot. It was hard to tell if his eyes were filled with worry or grudge. No one could tell what was reflected in his eyes. However, before people could even guess what it could be, his head lost strength and dropped to the floor.

After being consumed by guilt, Ms. Bargot had played Shalom. It was a pathetic end for someone who committed murder against countless innocent people. However, there was not a single person who cared about his death. Everyone around him had already forgotten him—even Ms. Bargot, whom he had called out to in his last moments.

"Get all the regular soldiers out of the castle immediately! The knights will fight off Ms. Bargot. Make sure to never touch her blood or any other fluids!" After Joachim loudly shouted this order, he escaped from the prayer room. The soldiers and knights who were gathered outside the door began moving.

'He's really an impressive guy.'

Joachim calmed himself down quickly and made the most rational decision for his subordinates. Even though he no longer had the strength as he did when he was the 'Vampire', he was still an impressive person.

Zich called out to Hans who was next to him. "Hans."

"Yes, sir!"

Fortunately, Hans had been a step away from the other knights and had not been splattered by Ms. Bargot's blood.

"Unless you are given a separate order, just step back and help out the knights a bit. If you try to fight Ms. Bargot with your current skill level, you will die pointlessly."

"I understand, sir!" At Zich's order, Hans moved further away from Ms. Bargot.

[I see that Sir Joachim left. How about it? I also have no intention to stay any longer in the Dracul estate. Why don't we head off to our own paths now?]

A knight shouted, "Shut up! How can we let a witch like you go!"

[But clingy men are not my style.]

Whish!

She moved her hand. As if to slap the knight, her palms swept past him with a terrifying sound. Just the sound of her palms moving inspired sweat to drip down people's backs. However, the knights did not waver and moved closer to Ms. Bargot. Zich also put himself between them and wielded his sword. However, they had no choice but to halt the momentum of their attacks. If they wanted to knock her down, they had to stab her with a sword, but if they did, blood would spurt out. And her blood gave mysterious diseases to everyone who came into contact with it.

Ms. Bargot fully utilized that to her advantage. If she got injured on her arm, she would wield her arms even more widely, and she would spit at them every few minutes. But most of all, she possessed enormous physical strength.

'This would be so much easier with a magician.'

Zich clicked his tongue and stepped one step closer than the rest of the knights.

[Oh my! Would you also be taking care of me?]

"How can I not? Especially when we were in such a passionate relationship." Zich aimed his sword.

[Fufufu! Thinking back on it, I think you were a good escort despite your cold personality. Then shall I turn up the heat?]

Ms. Bargot raised her hand. Her sharp nails shone.

Rip! Riip!

It all happened in a matter of seconds. Ms. Bargot scratched herself, and a terrible wound appeared on her body. Blood flowed out like a fountain.

"Damn it!" The knights quickly tried to move back. With Ms. Bargot's movement, blood droplets flew across the air. It was as if blood was raining down on them.

'Man, she's making things so complicated.' Zich poured a large amount of mana into his sword. As if he was knocking on the air with his sword, he slightly hit the air above him a few times. In a matter of seconds, the mana from the end of his sword let out a burst of mana into the air.

Explode!

As if the air had been hit by a hammer, a shockwave exploded in the air. All the blood droplets in the air flew to a corner of the wall.

[...I thought of this when you survived a surprise attack in the village, but your fighting abilities really are impressive.]

Since the shockwave was not directed at her, Ms. Bargot did not even feel the slightest bit of pain. Zich's technique had been aimed at the blood droplets and not at her.

"I'm confident that there is no one above me in skills at least."

[How trustworthy. But all you did so far was push away a blood storm. I can make something like that as many times as I want.]

True to her words, blood flowed out of Ms. Bargot's body and soaked the whole floor. Her wound was now almost completely healed, but the amount of blood she let out was already an overflowing amount.

"You really are a troublesome opponent."

This was the truth, even Zich might get infected if he made contact with her blood.

"But it's annoying to see you act like you've already won."

Zich infused more mana into his sword. But this time, he didn't concentrate the mana into one part of his sword or strengthen his sword by infusing mana to the entire sword. Without any sort of precision, he forcefully injected mana inside the sword. However, the force of his sword was extremely strong.

Zing!

The sword rang. It sounded almost as if it was ferociously roaring to pay back all the times it was mocked.

Hissss!

The sword turned red, and the air around it slightly wavered.

Thud!

Zich pushed off from his feet and lunged towards Ms. Bargot. She reached out her hands at him.

Whish!

Zich easily evaded her attack. Even though her physical prowess were extremely frightening, she had never received formal training and was full of openings. Her tough skin was now right in front of him. His eyes landed on one area of her body. It was the wound on her body that had not completely healed yet. The wound was now as small as a fingertip, but that was enough for Zich.

Push!

Zich smoothly pushed his sword. Normally, blood would have spurt out of her wound and erupted all around her. But shockingly, no blood came out of her wound. Only the smell of burnt smoke spread all around.

[Urghhhhh!]

Ms. Bargot screamed out loud. She squirmed like she couldn't stand the pain, and Zich pulled out his sword. However, the sword had already cut through her deeply.

<Ugh! Urgh!>

"How is it, miss?" Zich asked sweetly while watching Ms. Bargot clutch her wounded areas. "I'm sure you feel like your wounds are burning."

It was a skill that heated the sword's body by rubbing it roughly with mana and creating friction. Zich had a simple name for the skill: 'Scorching Sword.'

'Since it affects the sword's durability, I didn't really want to use it.'

But it had a definite effect. Blood didn't spurt out of her wounds and seemed to have burned the disease on the inside.

'It also slowed down her regeneration.'

It was the most effective attack to use on Ms. Bargot. Zich continued to attack. He avoided her hard skin and targeted the already open wounds with slow regeneration.

[Kuh!]

Ms. Bargot tried to inflict wounds on her own body and spray her blood; but as soon as her fingernails reached her skin, Zich's sword blew her way.

[Kuahhhh!]

As Zich's attacks sliced pieces of her body, she felt an immeasurable amount of pain. And whenever he stuck his sword into Ms. Bargot's wounds, the sword's heat traveled to her insides through mana. Ms. Bargot could not harm herself as the wounds she had purposefully created turned into her weakness.

The knights who had been watching her from behind also began to help Zich. Since they couldn't attack without splashing blood, they helped by blocking Ms. Bargot's attacks or protecting Zich.

[Kuuuah!]

Another deep wound formed in Ms. Bargot's abdomen. The smell of gas and meat reeked out of the wound this time, and Ms. Bargot realized that she could really die this time. She felt a great sense of danger.

[I-In a place like this...?] She gritted her teeth. [Do you think that I would die in a place like this!] Her characteristic, composed way of speaking disappeared. She stretched her mouth wide and bit into her own arm.

Chomp!

Her powerful teeth easily crushed her hard skin. Blood, incomparable to the amount from before, poured out, but Ms. Bargot didn't loosen her jaws and bit even harder into her arm.

Craaack!

With a terrifying din, Ms. Bargot's arm was perfectly severed from her body. Then, she grabbed onto her severed arm and flung it around.

"A-Avoid it!" The knights withdrew and shouted in horror. Blood poured out from her arm like a fountain and fell like rain. Even Zich had to increase his distance.

<Kuah!>

While shrieking, she threw her arm at Zich, and to avoid it, Zich made a large leap to the side.

Crash!

Ms. Bargot turned her back. Then, she dashed forward and slammed her shoulder on a nearby wall.

Crash!

The thick wall broke down powerlessly, and the downtown area came into view through the hole that formed from the impact. Ms. Bargot jumped down the hole.

'Is she escaping?'

Zich hurriedly followed her and shouted to the knights, "I will hold her, so all of you tell Sir Joachim immediately that Ms. Bargot escaped! If she heads to the downtown area, there will be a lot more damage!"

"Y-Yes, sir!"

"Hans! You follow Sir Brod. Follow his orders!"

"Yes, sir!"

The knights scrambled to get out of the entrance; they also knew what would happen if Ms. Bargot—who could be called the breeding ground for epidemics— went outside of the castle. Hans also followed them and ran outside.

Plop!

Zich jumped down from the hole. The place he landed on looked like the castle's gardens.

'This is actually preferable.'

It was more comfortable to battle in a wide area than inside the castle where there were many barriers.

'Here, I can just strike any skill without a second thought.'

If he thought of it like this, it was actually better that Ms. Bargot had escaped.

'Still, I can't let her go outside of the castle.'

If Zich let her outside, the damages she would cause were unthinkable. Then, suddenly, Zich smirked.

'I can't believe I'm trying to reduce people's sufferings right now.'

He wondered what the Demon Lord, Zich Moore, from before the regression would think if he saw Zich's current self. Perhaps he would mock him, click his tongue, or give off a bloodthirst. But it didn't matter. Regardless of how he used to be, this was the present now.

'Even my past self can't dictate how I will live!'

Crash!

After pouring an immense amount of mana to his legs, Zich quickly dashed towards Ms. Bargot. The speed at which she escaped was incredibly fast, but he caught up to her before she got away from the castle. It was fortunate that the castle's premises stretched far and wide.

[Daaamn it!]

Formalities were non-existent now. While letting out a string of aggressive curses, Ms. Bargot waved her remaining arm.

"That way of speaking fits your current appearance! Truthfully, I thought it was disgusting how you kept maintaining elegant speech even after your appearance changed like a monster!" Zich also dropped his formalities and swung his sword.

After she lost her arm, Ms. Bargot had lost one of her means to attack and struggled to maintain balance. Thus, for Zich, Ms. Bargot's attacks were very easy to evade.

Claaang!

His sword and hands shot forth. A rough sound rang out. Zich didn't engage in a battle of pure strength and only used attacks that could distort her momentum.

Wobble!

As her large body began to sway, Zich aimed the area where her arms had been severed. His sword was already exuding out steaming heat.

Slice!

[Ah!]

Ms. Bargot groaned in pain. She tried her hardest to finish off Zich, but the more she tried, she got tangled up in his movements even more. The difference between their fighting experiences was astronomical.

[Kuu!]

Perhaps, she judged that she couldn't succeed no matter what. She turned her back again.

'Is she planning to just make a run for it?' Zich clicked his tongue like he thought it was pathetic. 'Does she think I will just watch her leave?'

There were already many cuts all over her body, and Zich no longer needed to go through the trouble of trying to pierce through her hard skin. 'She's too dangerous—for me to keep her alive to get information. I should end it here.' Zich filled his sword with mana. Since there wasn't anybody near him, he thought he would blow his opponent away with a huge attack.

Crash!

Red pillars of light shot up. They contained a great amount of heat and scattered their brilliant light to its surroundings and shot forward toward Ms. Bargot.

Bam!

It wasn't rough or loud—the sound of the blows calmly resonated and Ms. Bargot's upper body disappeared entirely. As if the pillars of light weren't satisfied with just that, they blew up all the ornaments in the garden and vanished into the faraway sky. The force was eye-opening, to say the least.

Ms. Bargot's lower body, which had lost its top, staggered a couple of steps and collapsed to the ground. Its wounded areas were charred completely black that not even blood dripped out of them. And that was the end of 'Greta Bargot'—the one who used the Dracul estate as her personal experiment site and playground.

Zich's target, Ms. Bargot, was dead, but he didn't let his guard down. Instead, he heightened his senses even more. The final blow which had killed Ms. Bargot wasn't Zich's work.

"Who is it?"