Witch Taming System-Chapter 59: Nyarlathotep [2]

Dua took that first step.

The arm could be reattached later. That much wasn’t the problem. But still, it was irritating. She hadn’t expected the Death Knight to cut him down just like that.

If the angle was just slightly off from what it should have been. If he hadn’t moved at that exact second, then it wouldn’t have been his arm lying there.

It would have been his life.

And so, Dua snapped her fingers.

———!

The sound that followed was immediate. Metal grinded as it was forced inward, flesh dragged along with it. The Death Knight’s body compressed under the pressure, packing itself tightly.

Burst——!

Then the metal collapsed in on itself, giving way all at once. Dua let out a breath and turned her head.

What she saw instead made her pause.

"...."

The male witch was gone.

There was no delay after that. Every sense in her body reacted at once.

"...."

Dua shifted into a fighting stance. Her grip tightened around her staff as crimson ribbons began to writhe around her, circling like a panacea meant to protect and restrain at the same time.

"...!"

Something moved.

A streak of darkness cut across her peripheral vision, fast enough that it barely registered before it was already there.

"Ah—"

Bang——!

The impact landed before she could even register its presence. Even with the crimson ribbons wrapping around her body, reinforcing her defense, they shattered on contact near instantaneously.

The force carried through without slowing, sending her flying high into the air as if she weighed nothing.

But Dua didn’t let up. Mid-flight, she manifested her broomstick, using it as a foothold before immediately looking down to identify what had struck her.

Below, a figure stood, looking up at her.

Clad in dark armor that was difficult to perceive, its outline blurred by something that emitted from it like ghastly substances leaking from its body. Its entire form gave off the impression that it existed and didn’t at the same time.

But Dua knew.

That was the male witch.

And yet, something about it was wrong.

There were only a few things in this world that could make Dua feel fear. One was the current Grand Witch, Cyrene.

That alone said enough about the entity below her.

"O-Outer God...!"

Outer Gods.

The presence, the mana radiating from the male witch, carried that same disturbance.

How wouldn’t she recognize it?

It was an Outer God that had taken the life of her master, the one who had taught her Death Magic.

Hence, there was only one thing left to do.

Survive.

Dua immediately reconsidered everything. A century spent in hiding within Mount Kratoa, performing rituals and sacrifices almost every day, all of it built up to this point, only for her to abandon it in the end.

Even so, as long as she could live to see another day, it wasn’t over. She had already waited a century. Waiting for another wouldn’t change anything.

And so, Dua immediately turned tail.

———!

But the moment she did, it was already there.

The Outer God had appeared right in front of her. There was no movement she could trace. One instant, it had been below her, and the next, it was here, suspended in the air at the same height as her.

Crackle——!

Dua reacted immediately. The crimson ribbons lashed out toward it while at the same time forcing her body downward, creating distance in a single motion.

She widened the gap even further, pushing herself further away. As long as she remained in the air, she would have the advantage.

There were things to remember about Outer Gods.

First, in a realm like this, they could never manifest completely.

As long as they were bound by the laws of this world, their true forms remained constrained and unable to fully emerge.

Even so, that did not make them any less dangerous. If anything, even in that restricted state, they were still far beyond what witches could handle.

Truthfully, Dua didn’t want to fight him. But she was left with no choice.

She moved immediately. Crimson ribbons manifested and began to rotate around her, spreading outward as magic circles formed one after another.

Her mind ran through the calculations roughly before, all of a sudden, a burst of crimson light shot straight toward the Outer God.

The figure was slowly descending. At this height, with no foothold to anchor itself, it was bound to fall. It seemed to be an Outer God incapable of flight.

It was then.

For a brief moment, everything seemed to stop. Her spell shattered mid-flight, breaking apart as if it had ever possessed a tangible form to begin with.

Crackle——!

It fractured like glass, something that shouldn’t have been possible, yet it happened all the same. Even Dua couldn’t make sense of it.

The next instant, it was already in front of her.

The Outer God was there, close enough that there was no distance left to react. In its hand was a large, ghastly blade, something her eyes struggled to process.

Her vision blurred the moment she tried to focus on it, as if it wasn’t meant to be seen, as if she wasn’t meant to perceive it at all.

"No!"

Bang——!

The blade came down instantly. The impact drove Dua straight into the solid ground, her body thrown through the air before crashing down.

"Ukh...!"

The pain followed, spreading through her faster than she could even process what had happened.

By the time the dust settled, she forced her head up, her eyes wide in terror as they locked onto the figure looming before her.

The ghastly blade was already there, pointed straight into her chest.

"What... are you...!"

Dua reached out slowly, as if her body had yet to catch up to what had just been done to it.

That was when she realized.

"...."

Her arm was gone.

Just like what she had done to him, it had been cleanly severed.

"What are you—!"

There were no pretenses.

Slash——!

Lancel’s blade passed through her, cutting cleanly as her body split in half.