City of Witches Chapter 268

"What's going on?"

Siwoo stood dumbfounded in the middle of the tunnel.

That is... in the middle of a tunnel that had strangely widened.

This was unexpected.

The Enemy Knight, who had appeared with a terrifying aura after swatting two Witches like bugs, and the Master, who had single-handedly taken down hundreds of White Knights, had vanished as if they were lies.

He was left all alone.

"This is..."

Dangerous.

He didn't know the exact cause that had separated them, but being thrown alone into the heart of the enemy's lair was enough to trigger a sense of crisis.

Escape was possible.

Through training with Eloa, Siwoo had strengthened his body while also continuously maintaining and improving the Coordinate Teleportation Formula.

To simplify the procedure of the existing Coordinate Teleportation Formula:

'Establish current location' -> 'Establish destination location' -> 'Calculate distance and warp'...

Many steps were omitted, but it roughly felt like that.

The Coordinate Teleportation Formula was such a complex and precise Magic Formula that it required a high degree of concentration and magic power control.

Therefore, if sufficient time for full concentration wasn't granted, the casting time itself became extremely long.

In fact, most of the time, he couldn't use it to escape during actual combat.

To improve this weakness, Siwoo went through an optimization process to shorten the aforementioned three-step procedure.

Namely, he always roughly pre-inputs the coordinates of his current location while moving.

The destination is set randomly, but applying the condition 'limited to ground level' reduces calculation time and aims for a safe escape.

Unless there was a barrier like Ea's water bottle that completely blocked teleportation, he had secured the conditions to escape outside in a fairly short time.

The Terror Calamity caused by the Cowardly Witch.

Siwoo had decided not to be a bystander to this situation.

He vowed that even the smallest power could help, that he wouldn't just stand by and watch.

In that sense, now was the perfect timing to escape.

An enemy far beyond Siwoo's ability to handle had already appeared, and there was plenty of time to run away.

Moreover, due to some unknown effect, he was completely separated from Eloa.

"Bloom."

Without hesitation, Siwoo began the calculation for the Coordinate Teleportation Formula.

After the tunnel suddenly widened, the surrounding magic power had changed.

Strictly speaking, it was trying to suppress the flow of magic power like a powerful jamming signal, but it wasn't significant enough to worry about.

By inputting that interfering factor into the variable section and adjusting it appropriately, a passage to escape this ant hole was completed in an instant.

Then.

-KWAGWAGWAGWANG!

A sound rang out.

Like the sound heard before the Enemy Knight appeared, a vibration so immense it seemed to transmit across the hundreds of meters of open space.

It was a terrifying sound, enough to be certain of its source.

Over there, a fierce battle between Eloa and the Enemy Knight must be unfolding.

He guessed the effect covering this area was caused by the Enemy Knight.

If so, he was probably treated as a 'nuisance' or 'someone in the way' and simply moved to another location.

"Is this right?"

He had heard from Eloa what kind of being the Enemy Knight was.

Since it was the Cowardly Witch's greatest Combat Power, sharing information beforehand was natural.

According to her explanation, the Enemy Knight was a powerful foe who had made Eloa flee seven times in the past.

One could retort, what kind of powerful foe is someone who fought seven times and was driven off all seven times...?

In fact, Siwoo had thought that too.

But now, having closely witnessed Eloa seriously engaged in combat, his feelings had changed.

That overwhelming power and force, which made one think 'it's fortunate they're not an enemy' after seeing just one strike—that being had faced it head-on seven times and still found a way to survive.

Something Siwoo wouldn't have lasted a second against.

And that Enemy Knight was now even stronger.

He couldn't even begin to guess to what extent, but something bothered him.

Siwoo removed the Gauntlet from his left hand.

On the back of his hand was engraved Eloah's Contract, shaped like an hourglass.

The Magic Eloa had transferred to him after the attack by the drowned Witch.

According to her, it was said to activate a defensive spell when he was in crisis.

One of twelve Contracts.

It was clear that Eloa, of the 23rd hierarchy, had transferred one-twelfth of her power to Siwoo.

It was impossible to calculate the relationship between Magic and Hierarchy with a simple arithmetic formula, so the exact cost wasn't certain, but...

-KWAAANG!

The tremendous roar repeated several times in the distance.

This meant the battle was still ongoing.

In other words, Eloa still hadn't subdued the Enemy Knight and was continuing the fierce fight.

Would it be okay to just let go and run away?

Was it right to leave Eloa, who seemed to be struggling against a vicious-looking Enemy Knight because she wasn't at her full strength due to him?

Strictly speaking, it was Eloa who had held him back from leaving.

Because Periwinkle's divination had predicted extremely ominous misfortune.

But Siwoo also didn't want to do nothing and just watch.

Ultimately, it was the result of everyone's choices.

The responsibility lay with both sides.

At least, Siwoo thought so.

"With this..."

Siwoo looked at the four-leaf clover Periwinkle had given him.

According to Periwinkle's additional explanation, it was a kind of talisman that would definitely allow one to avoid a death fate once.

Additionally, Siwoo had the music box.

If he raised it to maximum intensity and infiltrated, he might at least be able to glimpse the state of the battle.

For Siwoo, it was hard to imagine, but if the Master was struggling, wasn't there a way to cancel the Contract and return it?

Even if a crisis came, there were things he had to do.

Siwoo steeled his resolve and took a step towards the battlefield from which the sounds were coming.

The Enemy Knight, appearing with a fully awakened Red Branch and a staggering twelve hundred White Knights.

Eloa was, as Siwoo expected, struggling intensely, one hardship after another.

The white spears held by the White Knights resonated with the Red Branch, heavily suppressing the surroundings.

Could it be expressed as a wide-area debuff?

It had been a hindrance even when facing a group of White Knights before, but with this many gathered at once, the effect was much more palpable.

It was like swinging a sword underwater, hindering body movement.

That said, Eloa wasn't being driven into a corner one-sidedly.

"Haaaap!"

With a clear shout, the Contract Sword swung with all her might simultaneously cleaved through dozens of White Knights.After witnessing the destroyed White Knights rise once more, Eloa, who had opened her eleventh Contract, was cutting down dozens of White Knights at a time with a single swing of her sword.

She had already cut down around a thousand, yet the distance between her and the Enemy Knight watching the fierce battle from afar showed no sign of closing.

And for good reason—while Eloa advanced, cutting down White Knights, those that had already fallen and turned to wreckage were rising again, leveling their spears.

"Grrk!"

Eloa simultaneously parried the spears thrusting at her from all sixteen directions.

Striking her surroundings with the back of her empty hand, a group of White Knights shattered and flew away as if a claymore had exploded.

However, even Eloa couldn't completely ignore the White Knights clinging to her like a swarm of termites.

Even if the Enemy Knight employed a troublesome tactic of accumulating pressure by merely clashing weapons, Eloa could handle it.

The combat experience honed through hunting was no trivial thing.

Dozens of viable strategies to attempt immediately came to mind.

She was confident that at least one of them would surely be effective.

But just as Eloa knew the Enemy Knight well, the Enemy Knight also knew Eloa well.

After their earlier probing skirmish, unable to guarantee a perfect chance of victory, the Enemy Knight targeted Eloa's weaknesses.

Those weaknesses were two.

One.

Fundamentally, Eloa's Contract can be cast against a single opponent.

Therefore, while Eloa shows overwhelming strength in one-on-one combat, her innate magic is somewhat lacking when it comes to one-against-many battles.

Two.

Eloa is weak in wars of attrition.

The total amount of magic power she can store in her Brand is less than that of a typical Witch.

Furthermore, in the process of modifying all her Magic into combat-oriented forms, the optimization broke down, resulting in high consumption rates.

Now, with all her currently held Contracts open, that consumption has reached its maximum, to the point she can feel the magic power draining away with every swing of her sword.

Of course, no matter how much Eloa appears somewhat weak against one-to-many, it's only 'somewhat' weak.

If a ragtag bunch tried to hold her back, they'd merely be lining up scarecrows to be swept away by her single stroke.

However, the White Knights, cloned from the Enemy Knight as their origin, were sufficiently powerful.

The spears thrust by such White Knights, disregarding their own lives, made it impossible for even Eloa to ignore them and advance.

Even if she cut them down, they would quickly rise again and rejoin the battlefield.

In that sense, using the White Knights as a shield and pushing forward was an excellent move.

To advance ten steps, she had to cut down ten times that number of enemies.

As a result, Eloa's once-pristine clothes were torn in places, and her luscious pink-blonde hair was soaked with sweat, looking as if water had been poured over it.

Not everything was going as planned, but there was at least one consolation.

Siwoo would be safe.

Even after some time had passed, there was no reaction from the Guardian's Contract.

If he had faced any danger, it would have activated like the Autonomous Defense and notified Eloa.

He probably took refuge in a safe place as soon as he fell.

That alone was a tremendous relief.

"Hoo..."

In the blink of an eye, Eloa swung her sword again, repelling the attacks from around ten White Knights.

Now was the time to make a choice.

To flee as is.

Or to fight to the death.

The Enemy Knight and White Knights gathered here were likely all the Combat Power the Cowardly Witch could mobilize.

In other words, if she could eliminate them, the forces threatening Seoul would disappear.

Her remaining magic power was also nearing its end.

Even so, she currently had enough strength left to shake off pursuit and escape with her life.

However, doing so would require at least a week of recuperation and magic power recovery for Eloa to regain a level where she could exert her full power again.

Meaning, while she could save her life, she would be unable to prevent the calamity approaching in the future.

But if she continued this fierce battle any longer, if the Enemy Knight, who had been merely observing, joined the fray in earnest, there would be no room for escape.

Only one of two outcomes would remain: die or kill.

-Gavakkkkk——!

The Enemy Knight's roar echoed.

The White Knights raising their spears charged at Eloa in unison, and simultaneously, the Enemy Knight flew forth, cleaving through that white wave.

Even if the distance was great, in a duel transcending human limits, it was as good as point-blank.

The time Eloa spent lost in thought probably didn't even last five seconds.

But in that brief, split moment, many thoughts arose.

Eloa recalled her own death.

The image of herself, having fought with all her might yet ultimately failing to defeat the Enemy Knight and suffering a miserable defeat.

She was afraid.

She wanted to run away.

Every single time she had been forced to dance on the blade's edge between life and death until now.

There had never been a single instance where she wasn't afraid.

"Raphi..."

Raphi's words about wanting to protect innocent people.

The straightforward conviction of her beloved disciple, which Eloa, in life, had never once affirmed.

The foolish teacher, belatedly, held her final words close like a blade.

"Siwoo..."

If she had known it might be their last meeting, she would have praised his growth to the fullest.

She would have shown more openly how much she cherished him.

Eloa deeply regretted that.

As if time, which had stopped, began to flow again, the sound of trampling footsteps from all sides pierced Eloa's ears.

Eloa gripped her sword hilt as if to shatter it.

"Come slowly."

All the magic power remaining in her Brand transformed into strength, imbuing her limbs.

Pouring out even the strength she had reserved for escape without reserve, Eloa flashed her cherry-blossom-colored eyes and glared at her enemy.

Today, Eloah Tiferet would either die here.

Or survive and seize victory.

"I will not run away."