459 Doubts, Accusation, and Argument
“After them! Don’t let those imperial bastards escape!”
“Wait! It’s dangerous to pursue the enemy through such a narrow passage!”
Astoria quickly warned the witches after the matriarch gave the order to hunt down every last surviving holy knight from the empire.
However, the battle witches did not heed her warning. In their excitement to slaughter the imperials, their ears turned deaf to Astoria’s words.
Although the supremacist witches had received some reformation due to Vaan’s existence, it didn’t change the fact that they found pleasure in defeating strong men. There was a sense of satisfaction in hunting down the enemy after crushing their spirits.
Nevertheless, they wouldn’t have enjoyed such an overwhelming if Aeliana’s antimagic spores didn’t heavily suppress the enemy’s fighting ability.
“Die! All of you, die for me!”
“Die, die, die! Hahaha, you’re dead!”
The battle witches pursued the retreating holy knights with manic excitement that seemed borderline crazy.
“Quickly retreat, everyone! They can’t pursue us forever… Once we get to the other side, we’ll have the support of the rest of the army!” Count Eldridge assured his holy knights as he violently coughed in the process.
However, the pain in his heart hurt more than his physical injuries.
Being forced to retreat in such a pathetic manner while abandoning his fallen knights after promising he would return with victory…
It was a stain on his honor.
“Arghhh—!”
Count Eldridge continued to hear his holy knights’ painful grunts and wails in the rear as they were struck by the pursuing battle witches’ ballistic spells. The situation was like something out of a nightmare. He wanted to stop listening, but he couldn’t.
Meanwhile, the holy knights that lost their mobility stayed behind to fight to the death.
The battle witches did not properly check the corpses as they rushed past the piles of fallen knights on the ground. As such, some surviving holy knights managed to take them by surprise, grabbing at their ankles with one hand and dealing lethal blows with the sword in their other hand.
“Dammit! Just drop dead already, you fucking bastard!” a battle witch cursed after getting stabbed in the heart.
The fatal injury made it impossible for her to use the mana utilization method.
Thus, she burned the holy knight’s face with a normal fire spell. The holy knight eventually died after the flames flooded inside the openings of his sallet helmet and scorched his whole head.
Not long after, the battle witch also dropped dead due to her fatal wound.
Several other battle witches also fell in similar manners due to their reckless pursuit and giving the enemy to catch them off-guard.
Boom! Boom!
At the same time, the other battle witches continued firing their ballistics spells through the secret passage. Many struck the back of the holy knights, while some also missed, hitting the walls and ceilings.
The secret passage rumbled with tremors as cracks spread until it eventually gave way, causing the entire underground passage to collapse.
It was unknown how many holy knights were trapped or crushed under the weight of the earth, but a few hundred battle witches were also caught in the
process.
Shortly after, Astoria glanced at the matriarchs’ blank looks.
Despite her repeated warnings, the matriarchs made no effort to stop the battle witches. As a result, what could have been a flawless victory was stained with some losses.
“Was it worth it?”
Facing Astoria’s question, the matriarchs couldn’t answer. They immediately felt ashamed. They had lost control of themselves and became drunk on their power and overwhelming advantage.
Nevertheless, the other witch armies awaiting the enemy at the other secret passages also successfully routed their opponents with overwhelming victories.
Some also lost control, and some didn’t.
Although Vaan had anticipated such possibilities, he made no effort to stop them from happening.
He had already provided them with overwhelming advantages to dominate their opponents. Thus, if they still incurred losses under such situations, they only have themselves to blame.
Furthermore, some people had to fall for others to learn and grow from them.
Kingdom of Verdant Woods, Emerald City
Underneath the holy tree, Queen Sybil paid Henrietta’s captivity location another visit to antagonize Henrietta and provoke some positive response from her.
“This is your last chance, Henrietta. The war between your kingdom and the Holy Knight Empire has already begun. If you don’t teach me the secret of your power, will let you rot here and die!”
“We’ve been over this many times, Sybil. I already said everything I needed to say. I will not repeat them again.”
Henrietta’s stance remained firm as ever, causing Sybil’s threats to become meaningless. There was nothing Sybil could say to make Henrietta cooperative.
However, Sybil was unwilling to back down and give up.
“Hmph! I’ll refuse to believe you don’t care about your kingdom at all! Just you wait! I will keep updating you on your kingdom’s terrible situation!” Sybil snorted gloomily, firmly believing the Kingdom of Black Rose was doomed without Henrietta.
However, they both knew Henrietta wasn’t going anywhere, no matter what she said. After all, if Henrietta were ever freed, Sybil would be the first to die by her hands.
Suddenly, Sybil’s portable communication crystal pinged with a call from Emperor Renardier. In that instant, her eyes brightened.
“Well, look who’s contacting me. This is just perfect timing. You hear the news from the emperor himself,” Sybil smirked.
Shortly after she accepted the call, a holographic image of Emperor Renardier immediately shone above her communication crystal.
However, she immediately frowned at Emperor Renardier’s following accusation.
“How dare you trick me, Queen Sybil. You better give me a good explanation for this!”
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Queen Sybil’s good mood disappeared instantly as she snapped back at Emperor Renardier’s blatant accusation coldly, causing the latter to also frown.
Shortly after Emperor Renardier recounted the situation and mentioned his doubts regarding the man he faced at Fort Whitebridge, Queen Sybil was even more enraged sheer ridiculousness of it.
“How dare you doubt my sincerity, even after told you the truth under the Oath of Magic. You can clearly see Henrietta held right here.”
“Then how do you explain that man’s power and fire ability?”
“How the fuck would I know? If you’re so great, go figure it out yourself! Or did that person’s flames fry your brains, Emperor Renardier? You’re barking up the wrong tree!”
“You might want to consider your words carefully before throwing out your next insult, Queen Sybil.”
Being forced to listen to Queen Sybil and Emperor Renardier arguing back and forth like they were about to have a fallout, Henrietta interrupted them with a yawn.
“Look here… If you fools hate each other so much, go and fight it out somewhere else. My ears are growing calluses listening to your boring drivels,” Henrietta said, but she actually found the situation quite fascinating.
Nevertheless, her remark quickly captured Queen Sybil and Emperor Renardier’s full attention.
“It seems you know what’s going on. How is he, Queen Henrietta?”
“You think I know? I also wished I knew! But even if I did, why should I tell any of you losers? If you’re not going to let me out, then get the hell out of my sight!”