Chapter 7
"Whoa, hey!?"
Yuurai instinctively tried to intercept using three Blade of Darkness spells. The Knight sliced through them with a sword.
(Wait, is Blade of Darkness weaker than I thought? Or is this one just insanely strong?)
The Knight relentlessly attacked Yuurai. With a single swing of the sword, Yuurai's right arm was cleanly severed.
(Oww! Got slashed again!)
Thanks to all the torture she had endured, losing an arm wasn't enough to make Yuurai flinch. Still, she wished she had some kind of super regeneration. Unfortunately, she didn't seem to be blessed with such a convenient trait.
While keeping her distance, Yuurai activated Pain Infliction (Pain) on the opponent.
"Gah!"
The Knight dropped to one knee. It looked like they had even coughed up blood.
(Huh? Pain Infliction is supposed to be a mental attack, not a physical one... Did the mental damage affect the body too...?)
She didn't know why. Still, the Knight had been successfully halted.
"You pierced through Anti-Magic armor and dealt damage!?"
"That Dark Lich really isn't just some Monster!"
"There's no longer any room for negotiation! Kill her!"
"Don't panic! The enemy is strong, but not unbeatable! Reinforcements will arrive soon!"
(Ah, great, now they're fully in combat mode... I didn't even want to fight...)
Yuurai fired Blade of Darkness at the Knights. But all of them were deflected by the armor.
(So that's Anti-Magic. Annoying. But Pain Infliction worked. That armor doesn't seem to have strong resistance to mental attacks. ...Or maybe Pain Infliction is just more powerful than Blade of Darkness?)
She activated Pain Infliction (Pain) on the first Knight who had charged in. Though the Knight swung their sword while coughing up blood, it lacked both force and sharpness, and Yuurai was able to dodge it.
Using the same method, she continued casting Pain Infliction (Pain) on the Knights attacking her one after another. Some tried long-range magic attacks, but those she blocked with Blade of Darkness.
Pain Infliction (Pain) could deal damage. Unfortunately, it didn't seem capable of finishing them off.
(Is Pain Infliction basically a torture spell? A spell that inflicts intense pain without killing... Twisted magic... Uro probably can't be used unless I'm in a Corruption state. Any other options?)
"Mental Corruption"
Upon activation, darkness spread out from Yuurai. It completely engulfed five Knights.
The Knights who had been targeting Yuurai suddenly froze.
And then—
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"
"Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"
"Stopppppppppppppppp!"
"Nooooooooooooooooooo!"
"Help meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"
They clutched their heads and began screaming. Yuurai didn't know what they were experiencing. She only knew it was a spell that engraved intense fear.
"......This might actually be pretty useful. At least it wears down their will to fight without hurting them physically."
Yuurai left the Knights alone for a bit and wrapped a fallen piece of clothing around her left arm to stop the bleeding.
"If only I had super regeneration... Guess I'll have to steal some kind of healing potion from somewhere... They have those, right? Oh, more enemies."
Just how many of these Knights were there? Dozens of reinforcements had arrived.
"Mental Corruption seems like an area-of-effect spell. It's perfect for weakening them without killing."
Yuurai used Mental Corruption to attack the newly gathered Knights.
Screams and groans echoed from both men and women.
"......Ugh, so loud. Torture isn't really my thing. But with my magic, this is probably the only way to stop them."
She lightly covered her ears and waited for about five minutes.
Believing she had completely broken their will to fight, Yuurai deactivated the spell.
The Knights collapsed and didn't move.
"Alright, suppression complete. No one's dead... right? Not that I'd know if they were."
Yuurai picked up her severed left arm and began searching for a store that might have magic potions.
That's when one of the Knights staggered to their feet. It was the female Knight who had first confronted her.
"Oh, you can still stand?"
"Y-You... Don't tell me you used that spell on the townspeople...!"
"I didn't. Torture's not my hobby. I'm pretty sure I didn't cause any unnecessary pain."
The Knight silently picked up her sword and tried to slash at Yuurai. But her initial ferocity was gone, and her movements were sluggish.
Even Yuurai, a total combat amateur, was able to close in and knock the Knight's arm away. The sword clattered to the ground with a dry sound.
"Just being able to stand is impressive. Everyone else is still down."
"I... won't forgive you..."
"......I don't even remember doing anything to you personally."
"Even if you didn't do anything to me... You hurt so many people..."
"Yeah, yeah. I told you, it was an accident, didn't I? So noisy. ......But I like your guts. And I'd like to thank you for slicing off my left arm. Let's run a little experiment."
"......Experiment, you say?"
"Marionette"
"Guh, gah!?"
"Hmm, hmm. It's harder than moving a corpse, but manipulating a weakened human isn't so bad."
The Knight could be moved exactly as Yuurai wished. She could make her walk or strike a bizarre pose.
"S-Stop it!"
"Nope. Come along now."
Yuurai took the Knight with her as she searched for a store with magic potions.
The Knight kept shouting something, but she couldn't break free from the Marionette spell.