Chapter 193 – #42_The White Knight
#191
One.
No matter how bright the sun is, there are always shadows in the jungle.
In this respect, the city center was like a jungle.
Even in the city center overflowing with CCTVs and black boxes, there are bound to be shady places.
The now-abandoned drainage tunnel, which was laid underground for a long time in Seoul, was one such place.
It used to serve as a passageway to collect rainwater from the area and send it to the Han River to prevent flooding of the city due to typhoons, etc.
Of course, this old drainage tunnel is also a public facility under the management of City Hall.
However, with a little bit of trickery with magic, it could be made into a blind spot that no one is looking for and even forgotten that it exists.
– Again and again
45M underground.
The huge concrete wall with a diameter of over 10 meters greatly reflected even the sound of heels.
On the walls, worn-out non-woven fabrics are tattered, and the entire tunnel filled with rainwater gives off a terrible fishy smell.
Della Radcliffe was walking through it, relying on a single decorative light.
-Kwagwagwagwa!
A typhoon is raging on the ground, so rainwater must be gathering like a waterfall from drainage ditches that are still functioning in places.
As soon as Della turned the corner and entered the large, dark cavity, she frowned at the loud sound of water in the distance.
No, it wasn’t just the noise that made her frown.
“Ha…..”
She threw her proud red hair behind her and crossed her arms in displeasure.
It was because of the bloody smell that emanated from the stench mixed with the stench.
Add a few decorative lights and the whole cavity lights up brightly.
In the center of the cavity, which exists in the form of a cylinder, is a large altar.
On top of it, people are lying idly staring at the ceiling as if their souls have been stolen.
“This is why I didn’t want to come… But it’s still the same. Paula Xochitl.”
Above it, a witch crouched over her body, expressionlessly playing with her dagger.
With the precision of a skilled surgeon, he is pulling out her heart, slicing open her chest and severing her ribs.
Paula Xochitl, a cowardly witch with half her face crushed, silently raised her gaze and looked at Della.
“…Long time no see, Della.”
But even for a moment, Paula silently moved her knife.
When one heart is removed, the next heart is pulled out, and when that heart is removed, another heart is pulled out in an instant.
It took less than 10 minutes for the 32 men and women lying on the altar to pass away.
Della waited without drying it or putting her words on it.
Human sacrifice and human experimentation were taken for granted by witches until Duke Keter created Gehenna and made a fuss about it.
“Are you still experimenting?”
“Because I have only this left.”
Paola beckoned and the air opened.
A part of the body of the homunculus that had been hiding in the pocket dimension protruded out and snatched the debris left on the altar.
The sound of something being eaten greedily can be heard.
“So why did you call me to such a dirty place?”
“We’re friends, but can’t we see their faces after a long time?”
“Because I know she wouldn’t have called for that reason.”
Haha!”
Paola smiled, distorting the normal side of her face.
It was a smile so bizarre that it was hard to believe it was a smile.
Her gritty laugh stopped and Paola welcomed her old friend with open arms.
“Welcome to the temporary workshop. There are no fancy desserts or fragrant tea.”
Della’s nose twisted.
“So what is going on? Even if you call me normally, you don’t answer.”
“It’s just to warn you.”
“Warning?”
Paola snapped her fingers when Della was puzzled by the question.
Immediately, the common space was torn apart, and a homunculus, tightly bound by chains, emerged.
-Kurrrrrr…
Huge red armor over 2M.
A red spear that seemed to be enough for 5M.
15 pairs of eyes.
The appearance of the homunculus wriggling wildly around her, like a praying mantis tied to a spider’s web trying to escape, was something Dela was familiar with.
“…A red knight?”
“Yes, as you can see, we haven’t completely subdued it yet. Amazing kid He’s so weak that even if I gift him 50 hearts, he won’t even look at me.”
As Paola snaps her fingers again, the space that had been lifted like her curtain closes.
Her magnetism magic is to cast a homunculus.
Most of the homunculus can’t resist just meeting Paola’s eyes.
“As expected, children who have lived for a long time have strong egos. Because it never calms down.”
“Isn’t that why you called me? It’s what you always do.”
The behaviors he has observed so far are routine enough to call Della to ‘warn’ them.
That fact made Della feel a bit uneasy.
“Did you see the spear that child was holding?”
“A red eggplant?”
“Yes, if you use the ‘distortion’ contained in the red branch, you may be able to twist cause and effect. Miracles that ordinary magic cannot perform are not dreams.”
“So?”
Della calmly listened to what Paola had to say.
“But I can’t tame this guy with the methods I’ve been using. Even if I forcibly took that red branch and handled it, it would be worse than that child.”
“I guess so.”
Paola smiled in front of Della, who could not hide her shyness and agreed.
An obsession bordering on madness flowed from one eye bent like a crescent moon.
“So I’m going to try something I haven’t tried before. You might get caught up in it too, so it’s best to leave here for the time being. This is my warning.”
When Della saw her old friend, she always felt uneasy about her.
It’s not just because Paola is public.
No matter what others pointed at, Della remembered Paola, who was kinder than anyone else.
If there was one thing she lacked in her, it was just a little bit of courage.
It just wasn’t enough.
Della hesitated before opening her mouth.
“Isn’t it time to quit now? It’s funny that I say this, but sometimes you have to give up.”
At the same time, a deadly gaze flies into her chest.
Paola, who had just been laughing excitedly, was glaring at Della with a terrifying expression, as if turning her palm upside down.
Still, Della didn’t stop talking.
Even if it is too late for her to turn around, it is painful to see her best friend suffering in her agony as she commits meaningless atonement.
“Paola, there is no magic that can bring the dead back to life. Even the Witch of Creation is impossible. Even if you use distortion, it will be the same.”
“I don’t need your honest advice. Shut up if you don’t want to die.”
“I have no intention of fighting. It’s just… Ha… I’m sorry.”
Della obediently apologized to Paola, who reacted as sharp as a knife.
She didn’t come here anyway to quarrel with her.
After Della apologized, Paola stopped taking issue with her remarks.
“Keep talking. Then what the hell are you trying to do?”
“That…..”
Paola’s lips were soft.
Della, prepared not to be surprised by anything, slowly opened her mouth.
She looked at Paola with her trembling eyes.
“If you do that… Duke Keter will move.”
“That’s good too.”
“That’s not good either, but if she moves, no matter how you…”
Die
Della swallowed her words behind her back.
Paola would know.
Did she find a place to die?
Or is it the last struggle to put an end to the painful atonement of over a hundred years?
Della couldn’t answer any of them.
“I won’t dry it. But don’t think that she will tune in. First of all, he is the Baron of Gehenna.”
“I’m just telling you to be careful not to get caught up in it. Because we are friends.”
The word friend is deeply embedded in her heart.
Short thoughts.
Maybe this is the last thing Della can see of Paola.
On top of Paola’s ruined appearance, she could see the flashbacks of Paola’s quarreling with her while going to Trinity Academy together.
“Whoa…”
As Della kicked the ground with the heel of her shoe, relays stretched out around her with the barrier behind her.
Paola watched it with her blank eyes.
As if he had no idea what Della was up to.
Paola would know.
Della learned that she would not be able to use large-scale magic until the relay ceremony was completely spread.
Paola, however, thought of her Della as her friend, and therefore did not expect that she would suddenly reveal her enmity.
“Are you going to do it?”
-Kurrure
– Kikik… Kikkik…
Belatedly, the space rips behind Paola.
In the pocket dimension, which seemed to be enough for dozens, I could hear the ripping noises and murmurs of monsters.
It was a spectacle worthy of the name of a witch with a natural life.
“If this is the last time, I will at least finish it with my own hands.”
What Paola was trying to do was neither magic research nor anything else.
It’s just her last struggle to make an innocent human her companion.
I don’t know if it’s a necessary sacrifice for research, but that’s just a massacre.
If you’re going to be brutally murdered at the hands of Duke Keter anyway, let’s at least hold a funeral with these hands.
“……..”
Upon reading Della’s determination, Paola looked both shocked and deeply depressed.
“You don’t understand me either.”
“I do this because I understand.”
“I don’t really want to hear it.”
Paola bit her lip and turned around behind her.
At the same time, one by one, the homunculus she has tamed begin to crawl out.
“Burn up.”
Della’s hair fluttered and the red magic reflection light began to color the surroundings like lava.
Della is already in perfect condition.
Moreover, such a narrow closed room gave Della her geographical advantage in dealing with flames.
-Kieheek!
-Kikiiik!
A monster that looks like a corpse, a monster that looks like an octopus, a monster that looks like a wild dog, a monster that looks like Siamese twins, etc. Each tried to respond to Della with various magic, but it was futile.
The waves of red lotus, which exceeded tens of millions of degrees, burned all enemies in the way to a handful of ashes.
Della, who had already perfectly activated the deployment ceremony, continued to use large-scale magic without losing a breath.
In fact, not even 1/10 of his magic power was used up.
The flow of the battle, the location of the battlefield, and the compatibility of the two were all giving Della a smile.
The homunculus, which numbered more than a dozen, burned or melted away.
Paola watched in silence without a hint of regret.
“Why is it that only chaff is paid?”
Still, Della frowned.
Since earlier, there has been nothing that has more than 10 eyes.
Paola must have known better than anyone else that no matter how much she was strengthened, she couldn’t hold Della’s ankles with that level of chores.
“I was waiting for you.”
“What?”
“The completion of my toy soldiers.”
Della noticed then.
The heart I just pulled out and placed side by side on my altar is gone.
“You will have fun too.”
At the same time as Paola’s broken laugh, which seemed to be in desperation, there was the sound of metal clashing.
An armor-type homunculus began to walk out of the twisted open space.
The armor had exactly the same appearance as the red knight, except that the whole body was white.
That number was exactly the same as the number of people Della had just sacrificed.
“Research on the ‘cloning’ of the homunculus was completed a while ago. As you said, it means there is no need for chaff, because as long as the strongest one is left, it can be sacrificed and cloned in any number.”
Della didn’t feel very threatened.
A copy?
What does that mean?
Whether you made 00 or 1,000, it’s enough to burn them all.
“Burn up.”
With Della’s voiceless gesture, another spark covered her armor.
If you think that the material can withstand metal, you are mistaken.
There was no metal that Della’s fire could not melt.
She thought
However, the white knights do not budge even though they are covered with fire.
Like a well-trained soldierheheld a large shield in one hand and stood as a wall blocking the flames.
“What…..?”
“The cloned children are much weaker than their mothers, but they emulate the attributes of the homunculus they became mothers anyway. Did you know that the red knight has the ‘Guardian of Distortion’ drawn from the red branch?”
As Paola said, Della’s flames could not even reach the shield.
Like plasma trapped in a tokamak, it swirls in place and then exhausts her magical power and disappears.
As Della’s flames subside, her white knights aim their spears at Della in perfect order.
“I’m sorry it turned out like this, Della. I thought of you as a friend.”
Paola turned her back, and the white knights charged Della in unison.
RIP Della.