CHAPTER 42: FINAL STRUGGLE [3]

Purr!

The black horse with flashing red eyes became blurred every time it moved.

It was a defining characteristic of a ghost horse—one that could not be injured by normal attacks.

Its skin was so pale it wasn’t even white. Shiny silver hair. Black pupils filling its eyeballs, and a torn mouth.

The knight who stopped in front of me—or, more precisely, the head he was holding in his hand—moved its mouth.

"D’admhaigh mé tú, ach níor mhionnaigh mé go foirmiúil fós."

Since Asmodeus wasn’t here, I had no idea what he was saying.

Once again, her absence felt immense.

Aside from sheer military power, she was a multi-talented person who even had the ability to translate. Just to be clear, I definitely didn’t think of her as a convenient translator or anything.

Never.

"Ní iarrfaidh mé ach bhfabhar amháin ort."

Fortunately, he didn’t seem to show any hostility.

There was nothing worse than summoning someone and then having them turn into an enemy.

Although we couldn’t communicate, his will was conveyed directly to me—perhaps thanks to him responding to the summons.

At that moment, Eden, covered in blood, shouted in a voice filled with pain and anger. The cut must have been quite deep, as blood was dripping from his side.

"Captain! What happened? That monster is definitely the Dullahan we met! No way... did the leader summon that monster? The only method the leader mentioned was to summon a Dullahan or something!"

"Okay."

"Shit! I believed you even though I thought you were crazy! No matter how powerful the Dullahan is, do you think it’ll work against Evil? She hasn’t just entered awakening—she’s even sprouted wings! If things continue like this, test or not, everyone will be wiped out!"

His voice was still full of frustration, but he seemed far more exhausted than before.

That was because Evil was awakening at this very moment, growing stronger as time passed.

Just surviving this long against such a monster was already an incredible feat.

Eden’s condition was such that it wouldn’t be surprising if he collapsed at any moment. But I wasn’t worried at all.

Because I was certain he would never die here.

It was Eden who had kept his true identity completely hidden until the end.

There was no way he would just blindly follow my request without any plan or purpose. There must be a way for him to survive. Just as I was hiding my own trump card, he too must be hiding his until the very end.

The power he had shown already surpassed that of a freshman, but it was clear that even this wasn’t his full strength.

Obviously, I didn’t know for sure...

"Ugh!"

With a painful groan, Eden, who had been floating in the air, was thrown down and slammed into the ground.

He hit so hard that even after landing, his body continued to roll across the floor, unable to resist the force.

Fortunately, he seemed to be alive, but his left ankle had completely twisted, and his right arm hung limp and useless.

"... ... ."

I made eye contact with him. His eyes were full of resentment, but he didn’t even seem to have the strength to speak.

’Hmm... uh... that... I’m sorry...’

I suspected that what I had believed earlier might have been purely my imagination, but I decided to think about those little things later.

The obsessed madwoman was staring at me again and smiling.

When I thought about it, it seemed she had been specifically targeting me from the beginning. Even though she had lost her reason, she seemed to clearly remember her grudge against me.

"Eui-ido? Is that a religion? What’s so bad about it? It’s not in the family, so it’s a religion."

Huh!

Her wings flapped. They were black wings reminiscent of a raven’s, only many times larger. As she looked at me, the corners of her mouth stretched up toward her ears. This wasn’t a figure of speech—it literally reached her ears. Then, words poured out of her mouth at an incredible speed.

"You were wrong. Die. You are bad. Die. Yes, you were wrong. Die. You are bad. You were wrong. You are bad. You were wrong. Yes? Is bad. Die. You were wrong. Die. You are bad. You were wrong. You’re so bad. Die. You die bad. That’s right. Die. You were wrong. Yes, die. It’s bad. You died wrong. You did it. You are bad. You were wrong. You are bad. You were wrong. You are bad. You were wrong. You are bad. You were wrong. You are bad. You were wrong. You are bad. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die."

It was a horrifying sight that made the hairs on my entire body stand on end.

But what was even scarier was that the woman who had been in front of me just a moment ago had vanished.

"――!"

Clang!

Sparks flew before my eyes along with a sharp metallic sound.

A black blade with a sinister aura was blocking my path.

"Chun annihilate naimhde a sheasann ar an mbealach. Cloífidh mé le d’orduithe."

I realized too late what had happened.

In that brief moment, the Dullahan had deflected Evil’s sword—it was called a sword, but it looked more like a rib—that had been aimed at my chest.

It was shocking.

The fact that all of this had happened before I even realized it.

’As expected, only the minimum amount of force was used at that time. Seeing that this level of power can be generated even though it’s a temporary contract... my guess may be right.’

Currently, my body was in a state where complex strengthening magic consisting of multiple spells overlapped. In terms of pure physical ability, I was not inferior to a 5-star knight.

But despite that, it was difficult to even follow him with my eyes, let alone react