That stone door from before must’ve been some grotesque creation left behind by an unknown entity. Just looking at it had made her lose control of her mind, nearly plunging her into a blood-soaked hell where she would become one of the man-eating monsters.
But before they’d arrived, the Hawk-Beaked Man had stared at it for who knew how long and still kept his wits about him. Anyone with that kind of mental fortitude was no ordinary person.
If he saw through her identity and spread the word, the Liya persona she’d worked so hard to maintain could come crashing down overnight.
Worse yet, the Hawk-Beaked Man might use it to blackmail her, forcing this Saintess of the Church to do all sorts of things that went against her will and benefited him.
That was absolutely unacceptable!
Boom—
Another violent impact rang out behind them as the crystal giant and Carlisle clashed once more.
This round, though, was no contest. Unable to cast complex spells, Carlisle was quickly defeated. The giant’s ferocious crystal fist came at him, and one punch sent him flying.
Sherry was unlucky enough to get caught up in it. The pit was cramped, and Carlisle landed right in the path she was taking to escape. Before she could turn around and dodge, a swift figure that had lost its balance came hurtling straight at her, slamming her into the wall and knocking her to the ground.
The two impacts hadn’t done much damage to her body, but her bottom and back hurt badly. Tears welled in her eyes, ran down her cheeks, and dripped onto the pale green crystal floor.
Carlisle, sprawled on top of her, was just as uninjured. The Knights of the Round Table were far stronger than ordinary people, and the force of the giant’s punch hadn’t posed much of a lethal threat to him.
More importantly, Sherry’s soft body had broken his fall.
He lifted his dazed head from her delicate body. Perhaps it was just his imagination, but the girl’s chest seemed to be glowing with a milky-white light.
Feeling the warmth of her breath, he followed the deepest desire in his heart, reached out, and took hold of that white glow.
It felt unusually soft. His mind was a fog, and he couldn’t think of where he’d felt anything like it before. But instinct told him that the white glow was a sword hilt, and that he could pull it out of the girl’s body.
“What the hell are you doing, you pervert?! You’re trying to grope me at a time like this?!”
The delicate body beneath him squirmed. Carlisle ignored it, pushed himself upright, and sat on the girl’s stomach, both hands tugging at the white glow in her chest.
At first, Sherry thought he was trying some new trick to grope her. But as his bizarre movements became clearer, she realized the guy had simply been poisoned out of his mind!
His restless hand first brushed over her chest by accident, then inexplicably pressed against it. His fingers curled as if gripping something, and he leaned back as though straining with all his might.
He’d only taken a poison that made him lose his strength. How had he ended up acting like a drunk, going completely crazy?!
Pinned beneath Carlisle, Sherry rocked from side to side, trying to throw off the boy straddling her, even as he nodded off. But it didn’t do any good. No matter how weak Carlisle was, his body weight alone was enough to keep her from moving.
For the first time, Sherry wished she could build up her muscles!
Boom—
The crystal giant came charging around the corner at full speed and crashed into the stone wall. The crystals embedded in it shattered, and clouds of dust rained down, mingling with the muddy, foul-smelling miasma.
The enemy was so close. Tension swallowed the girl whole.
Damn it, Carlisle! Why are you going crazy now?!
Unable to break free of Carlisle’s grip, the despair in the girl’s eyes grew with every step the giant took closer. With her life on the line, she could no longer even feel the pain in her bottom.
And just as things reached their most desperate, the magic inside her suddenly began to stir. It flowed with her blood, gathering in her chest.
Carlisle raised his hand. A visible white light was wrenched from the girl’s chest.
Once the white glow left Sherry’s body, its brightness quickly faded, revealing its true form—a strange-looking knight’s sword.
The knight’s sword was made of magic. Its violent power briefly brought Carlisle back to his senses, while the girl lay on the ground, deathly pale and gasping for breath.
The magic inside her had been mysteriously drained in an instant. Sherry’s eyes widened, but she no longer even had the strength to speak.
To Sherry, having Carlisle pull this knight’s sword out of her chest felt like being gang-raped by eighteen burly men. Beneath the limp exhaustion, though, there was a faint, twisted sense of satisfaction—as if some missing piece of her had been forcefully filled back in.
“What did you do… I…” She forced out a few words with all her strength, then spotted a fist the size of a sandbag behind Carlisle!
It was too late to warn him. All she could do was pray that a Knight of the Round Table could withstand it. Otherwise, she’d be smashed into a meat pancake!
She didn’t know whether Carlisle would be in trouble, but she was definitely doomed. She was so weak she couldn’t even cast a spell, let alone withstand a punch from the crystal giant!
Her body was frail. A Knight of the Round Table might survive a punch from the giant, but if she took one, they’d be mourning her on this day next year!
As if he’d heard her prayer, Carlisle turned around with the sword in hand.
Clang—
Crystal met steel. He didn’t budge an inch, and the giant couldn’t advance a single step.
The knight’s sword could only keep him clear-headed for a short time, and it couldn’t restore his strength. So Carlisle chose to kill the crystal giant quickly.
He gripped the hilt with both hands, raised the knight’s sword high, then brought it down in a swift slash!
The Witch’s surging magic burst from the blade. In the direction of its strike, the solid ground, the mighty crystal giant, and even the red spell that had created the giant were all cleaved in two.
After Carlisle finished that strike, the knight’s sword vanished into thin air.
With the threat to her life gone, her tension gradually eased. The pain in her butt became noticeable again, and with her magic still completely depleted, it hurt far worse than before.
The crystal giant’s destruction didn’t mean they were completely safe. The real enemy they had to deal with was the Hawk-Beaked Man hiding in the shadows.
Sherry knew that all too well. But she was too weak to move, so she could only lie on the ground, helpless at anyone’s mercy.
Fortunately, Carlisle had regained some of his senses and already thought through what to do next. He hauled the girl up from the ground, then stumbled through an incantation and used a spell to send them both out of the sewer.
For some reason, the Hawk-Beaked Man didn’t pursue them. That was a good thing, at least.
Once they were out of the sewer, Carlisle carried Sherry and ran in one direction for a while, just to be safe. Only then did he collapse in a small grove near the lake.
