Chapter 82 – #19_The Uninvited Guest (3)
#80
1.
A swaying black ribbon.
A ribbon as full of malice as its color wrapped around Siwoo.
It looked like a net catching a fleeing bird.
Watching the ribbons successively block the door of the reception room, Siwoo instinctively gauged the rules.
Magic is a precise discipline.
Whatever its purpose, even if it’s an attack spell designed to carve up a human body, there are rules and laws.
What Siwoo read was the wave felt the moment magic was released.
The wave descending sequentially from top to bottom meant that this ribbon would block the door from top to bottom.
“Shit!”
Siwoo lowered his body and slid like a runner attempting a base touch.
A close call.
He succeeded in a dramatic escape, watching the ribbon pass over his forehead.
He hurriedly got up and looked back to see a wall of ribbons tightly wrapped around the door.
If he had hesitated or been even a little late, he would have been caught without a chance.
A witch mad with magic.
A banished one famous for being without blood or tears.
He didn’t know what would happen the moment he was caught.
Siwoo immediately ran out of the room via the central staircase.
After all, it was impossible to escape from a witch without using magic.
And on Siwoo’s bed, there was a bottle of high-grade magic potion and ten bottles of concentrated magic potion given by the twins.
Honestly, it was hard to expect to outrun that wicked witch using the water lizard walk, but it would be slightly more efficient than running barefoot, wouldn’t it?
That banished one wouldn’t imagine that a mere slave could use magic.
If he could take advantage of that carelessness and succeed in activating the music box, he might at least have enough time to call for help.
“Why now of all times…!”
If the banished one had come to find Amelia, it certainly wouldn’t be for good intentions.
Besides, she already had a history of instigating Amelia’s kidnapping.
If only he had encountered her before Amelia ran out, he would have watched an awesome magic battle fantasy and clapped from the sidelines.
Even if he didn’t know how strong Aea was, Amelia was also a witch with a knack for magic.
“I’m screwed… I’m screwed…!”
Siwoo, panting, rummaged under the bed.
He could hear footsteps slowly approaching from afar.
As expected, there was no sign of haste.
Like a cat playing with its cornered prey, she was leisurely enjoying her time of amusement.
He almost turned the bed upside down, taking out the items inside.
Since the twins had given him so many things, he couldn’t take everything, so he first grabbed the cloak with the great magic spell inscribed on it, the music box, and the magic potion.
Then, the curtains fluttered like a billowing skirt in the wind.
Had he left the window open?
He didn’t have time to dwell on the vague question.
“Ta-da!”
“Assistant! I came to see you secretly again today!”
There was no one else who could have popped in through the window at night.
It was the twins, who had been thinking of enjoying a secret rendezvous tonight, just like the last time they had secretly dragged Siwoo out.
Siwoo felt dizzy.
It was like escaping a fire in an apartment in the middle of the night and remembering the cat he had forgotten.
Why did they have to come tonight of all nights?
The twins might have just wanted to play with Siwoo without any sense of alarm, but the situation was unfortunately the worst of the worst.
“Odile, Odette, listen carefully. We’re screwed. I was the only one who was going to be screwed, but it seems like we’re all screwed now? Let’s run away quickly.”
“W-what? Did the professor catch us?”
“We even turned on the music box properly…?”
“It’s not that…!”
It would have been better if Amelia had caught them.
It wasn’t uncommon for a banished one to kill an apprentice witch and take their ‘vessel’.
At this rate, even the innocent twins would get caught up in it.
The twins were also confused by Siwoo’s reaction.
Even though it was a somewhat reckless illegal intrusion, his expression and tone made it feel like a tiger was chasing them from behind.
“What’s wrong?”
“Now is not the time to explain! We have to escape through the window!”
Even with the brief delay of being flustered and not knowing what to do, Aea quickly caught up with Siwoo.
Her back was still rippling with strands of ribbon like wings.
“Is there a need to run away? I just want to talk a little… How disappointing?”
Aea’s pupils narrowed slightly as she entered the room with a humming tune.
What her eyes caught were two apprentice witches who were clearly ‘young’ at first glance.
Her lips, stretched like rotten cheese, formed a crescent at the unexpected windfall.
Aea smacked her lips as if she had found a delicious dessert at a 1+2 promotional event.
“Have I been living a good life lately? I was just going to taste one slave, but now there are even apprentice witches?”
Siwoo’s face turned pale.
A witch he had never seen before.
And the magic on her back seemed full of malice.
In Gehenna, killing between witches is strictly prohibited.
Only then did Odile and Odette realize the seriousness of the situation.
“Could it be… a banished one…?”
“That’s right~”
There was no context.
A single black ribbon that had coiled once in the air surged forward as if it were a greeting.
There was no time to see and react.
Siwoo had instinctively raised his cloak in front of him because he sensed the danger, not because he had visually identified anything.
-Bang!
And then a loud noise erupted.
The defensive formation spread out beyond the cloak.
The dense magic formation, which was three layers thick, was shattered in a single blow.
The cloak was literally torn to shreds.
Through the remnants of the magic formation scattered like shards of glass, Aea’s face, wearing a sneer, could be seen.
“Is that what you trusted to run away this far?”
As if amused by the mouse’s struggle, Aea smiled sweetly, and dozens of ribbons vibrated with a buzzing sound, responding to her emotions.
“I’ll stop her! Assistant and… Kyaa!”
“Stop her my ass! Run!”
Siwoo grabbed Odile, who was bravely trying to block Aea, and Odette, who was trembling, by their sides and threw himself out the window.
The transcendent power that awakens in desperate moments made it possible.
Even in the midst of the chaos, the twins used levitation magic to land softly on the ground.
“W-what are you doing! We can just divide the roles like last time! I’ll buy time!”
“How can we stop a monster like that! It’s best to run away together for now!”
Siwoo, calming down the energetic Odile, drank one of the magic potions and looked up at the window.
There, Aea, with no sign of haste, was looking down at the three people who had escaped.
“Was it Shin Siwoo?”
Even though there was quite a distance, and Aea was speaking in a soft voice, it could be heard clearly right next to him.
She probably gave her voice directionality to make it audible only to Siwoo.
“Stop your futile resistance and hand over the apprentice witches. Then I’ll give you the utmost pleasure. You know you can’t escape anyway… right?”
And Siwoo saw it.
A translucent thin membrane that he couldn’t see inside the mansion, enveloping the entire area.
The shape, resembling a water bottle, encompassed the entire mansion.
“I’m sorry, but I’ll think about it while running away.”
Siwoo put the twins under his arms like before.
Magic flowing through his whole body.
Because a man’s body cannot contain magic, the magic that was being consumed too quickly was wrapped around his legs.
“Oh my?”
Aea’s eyes widened at the sight of Siwoo using magic.
There was no more time to hesitate.
Siwoo’s body, exploding all his magic for escape in an instant, disappeared from Aea’s sight at the speed of the wind.
2.
“Assistant…! Put us down now!”
“We can run too!”
Siwoo moved as far away from the mansion as possible and hid in the garden.
He had a small hope that the maze of flower vines that grew up to his height would divert Aea’s attention for a while.
Of course, it was only a faint hope that was as good as nothing.
Siwoo, soaked in sweat, put the twins down.
He stopped here without hiding deeper because this was where the boundary of the translucent membrane met.
“What is that? Is she a banished one?”
“Yes, and it’s the same situation as at Latifundium. Is there any way to contact the outside?”
Siwoo asked Odile and broke off a nearby branch, bringing it to the boundary.
There was no way they would have put up this kind of barrier for no reason.
He needed to check what kind of effect it had.
-Fzzzz…
And immediately, the branch melted away.
Like metal coming into contact with a highly corrosive acid, an unidentified liquid dripped from the end of the branch.
What would have happened if he had run without checking and bumped into this barrier?
Siwoo felt a chill run down his spine.
“I guess… we can’t just get out.”
“Are we trapped again?”
This whole situation was similar to the situation where they were chased by the homunculus in Latifundium.
The difference was that a pursuer far more dangerous than the homunculus was following them.
“Yes, so about contacting…”
“Is this as far as you could get? You wasted 10 seconds.”
Siwoo’s stiff neck turned rigidly towards the source of the sound.
Aea could be seen standing on the thin vines as if she were walking on a sturdy brick wall.
The angle showed her panties clearly under her fluttering dress.
“You dirty turncoat! Do you know who our master is?”
“Of course, I know. Aren’t you the arrogant twins who always interfered with my work, the brats of Jemena?”
Aea, with a cold face, stepped down, stepping on the ribbons that were arranged like stairs in the air.
Even while watching her slowly approach, neither the twins nor Siwoo could do anything.
The murderous intent that was felt like a breath, even without having to say it.
The sadistic smile and the nonchalant tone made the fear too great to ignore.
“But do you know that we witches, who you call banished ones, are more skilled than anything else in barrier magic that cuts off the outside?”
Banished ones.
Among them, witches who harm other witches or kill apprentice witches are called ‘public enemies’ and become targets of all witch hunts.
The reason why Aea, who is known for being vicious, can walk around in the modern world so casually is because she can use barrier magic comparable to the ‘music box’.
“You’re already in my water bottle. It means you’re prey in my mouth, and I just have to think about how to chew and taste you. If you’re suspicious, why don’t you shout and call out your master’s name?”
Even Odile, who was usually bold and energetic, swallowed her breath and grabbed Siwoo’s sleeve the moment Aea’s piercing gaze turned towards her.
It was already clear that the banished one’s words were not an exaggeration.
Even though she had deployed such a large-scale barrier, no witches could be seen around.
That meant that this barrier not only acted as an inescapable wall but also as a cradle that swallowed all the commotion inside.
That was why she was committing such atrocities in the middle of Gehenna, where witches were swarming.
“Which one is the older sister and which one is the younger sister?”
Odile hesitated at the sudden question.
But she composed herself and stepped forward with a trembling voice.
“I, I’m the older sister.”
Odile made a cold judgment.
The level of Aea’s magic, which could be felt at a glance, was not something that could be overcome with momentary wit or skill.
She had shattered a top-grade protective coat with a single blow without even trying.
Moreover, there were still dozens of ribbons that had created that attack.
“I’ll make you an offer. You’re much more talented than your lacking younger sister… If you need a vessel, take mine and let the others go.”
“Sister…! What are you saying!”
If there was still room for negotiation and someone could sacrifice themselves to escape, she was willing to step forward.
Aea, smiling as if she was intrigued by Odile’s appearance, spoke smoothly, rolling her tongue.
“That’s a good idea? I’m also annoyed by catching little kids who jump around. It’s hard to catch ants without killing them, right?”
Aea, nodding readily, gave a cruel smile.
“Then, how about you listen to my offer?”
