Former General Is Undead Knight

Volume 3, Chapter 38: Re?Laughing Clown②

Lambert, who stood behind Le Look, swung down his greatsword.

「Urgh…」

Le Look jumped forward, twisting her body in midair as she swung her arm that was holding the portal scissors to take on Lambert’s swing.

「Your sword, I’ve seen it before…!」

Against the greatsword that mowed down toward her, Le Look’s petite frame leapt to the side as she spun.

From Kreuz and Co.’s perspective, it looked as if she could jump twice or change direction in the air.

In fact, Le Look pushed her hand on the flat side of the greatsword to dodge the incoming slash.

‘I dodged it…! It’s faster than anything that I’ve ever seen, but… I managed to dodge it!’

Le Look’s stiff expression under her mask loosened a little bit.

While in midair, she threw the portal scissors with one hand to aim for Lambert’s back, using the recoil to open even more distance.

After her body spun once on top of the floor, she landed on her knee.

Le Look was the weakest of the Eight Wisemen of 『Devil’s Piper』.

There was nothing special about her achievements or research results, and she had no significant contributions to the organization.

Even her sorcery was inferior compared to that of the other Eight Wisemen.

Even if she was fully prepared, she couldn’t take on the entire city like Manzi.

The reason why she could become one of the bigshots of 『Devil’s Piper』 was purely due to her monster-like immortality and overwhelming combat abilities.

‘…The portal scissors have left my hand, will dance in the air, and attack that armored swordsman from behind… Now, I need to create a pincer attack with another spirit to keep him busy and use that chance to escape!’

She was convinced that it was possible since she managed to dodge Lambert’s first attack.

Accomplishing such a feat was by no means a simple matter. Le Look’s overwhelming combat sense, agility, and flexibility were the result of long and arduous hard work.

And yet, even Le Look knew that she couldn’t hurt Lambert while dodging his attacks.

When Le Look was trying to stand up, Lambert had already arrived right before her.

「…EH?」

The knee strike, in which he put the entire weight of super heavy Organ armor, nailed straight into Le Look’s abdomen.

The armor sunk deep into her stomach.

「ARGH!」

Her ribcage and spine broke immediately. Her internal organs also ruptured due to that attack.

And just like that, Le Look petite’s frame was sent flying by Lambert’s knee strike, crashing into the wall.

The tremor in the passage was a testament to the power in Lambert’s knee strike.

The portal scissors that were chasing after Lambert’s back had been destroyed by his greatsword. The fragments of the two blades danced in the air.

Lambert’s current priority was to kill Le Look, who might have escaped at any given moment.

「N-not yet… I’m… not done yet!」

Le Look tried desperately to raise her arm.

But then, her arm fell lifelessly like a puppet that got its string cut when she barely managed to raise her arm at shoulder height.

Despite her immortal body, the damage she received this time was simply too great.

「I-I, the immortal 『Laughing Clown』…won’t die in such place… I won’t die… until I destroy the church… and bring forth despair to this kingdom…!」

The blood that kept flowing out of her mouth was dyeing her clown attire in red.

「Immortality comes in various forms. Many alchemists are aiming for immortality, but no one has come close to achieving that. As far as I know, even the monsters who come very close to that concept have already been slain by my sword.」

「Don’t speak as if you know everything, you monsteeeeeeeeeeer!」

Le Look shouted at Lambert.

Lambert swung his sword to the side, severing Le Look’s body that slid down slowly from the floor.

A puddle of blood was forming on the floor where Le Look’s lower half fell. As for her upper half, it fell right beside Lambert’s greatsword.

「She really is dead this time…」

One of the soldiers muttered with a dumbfounded face.

He, who witnessed Le Look’s immortality for the first time, still had a hard time believing that she survived even after receiving such a powerful knee strike.

「A-A-A…!」

And yet, Le Look had survived that blow.

Despite shedding a crazy amount of blood, she was desperately trying to crawl toward Lambert with her trembling hands.

But then, as if showing that she had used up her strength, her body jerked once and stopped moving forever.

The crying mask that covered Le Look’s face slid off, revealing the face beneath that mask.

Her eyelids were peeled off, and there were dark red specks on her eyes. Her face was covered with stitch markings, her tongue was crooked, and the tip of her tongue was split, indicating that it was cut with an unsharpened tool.

「Torture scars… eh.」

Kreuz, who was looking at Le Look by Lambert’s side, frowned as he saw her face.

「Though she is a monster of her own… These scars are too much. The culprits are probably those from the church.」

「…They’re old scars. They might’ve used healing spells on her after they tortured her, and she gained a near-immortal and youthful body as a result of them forcibly prolonging her life with alchemy. Decades ago, this fella probably wasn’t a monster.」

「That means…」

Kreuz hestitated to continue.

His subordinates’ faces stiffened the moment they understood the meaning behind Lambert’s remark.

Supposing that his remark was correct, it meant that Le Look was captured by the church at a tender age and then experienced torture that constantly drove her to the verge of death.

「Though this kind of treatment wasn’t rare in Regios Kingdom back then, they seem to continue that even in this peaceful era. But that’s not a reason for me to overlook their outrageous acts of targeting the weak citizens. I won’t be able to avenge your grudge. But rest assured, I’ll shoulder that grudge… So rest in peace. I’ll be there after I take care of my business.」

Lambert picked up the crying mask that fell to the ground and gently placed it to cover Le Look’s face again.

He walked in silence for a few seconds and then stopped as he spoke to Kreuz and Co. without turning around to see them.

「This isn’t the place to stop. We still have to find the surviving sorcerers. Besides that, we must dispose of the research, regroup with our comrades to share the information, and let the royal family know of the situation. We definitely cannot delay this matter any longer.」

「O-okay.」

Kreuz and his subordinates followed Lambert from behind.

Although Lambert cast a glance for a moment toward Le Look before he departed, he didn’t spend more than one second before he moved forward.

「…I guess I can’t delay the matter of investigating the church anymore.」

He muttered this as he departed.