Morfrey had not anticipated the battle collapsing in an instant. The whole thing took less than ten minutes from start to finish, so she had no time to withdraw at her leisure.
But it was fine. As long as she could escape back to Forgefire Capital, she could rely on the power of [Lust] to keep going.
"And where do you think you're running off to?"
The unfamiliar voice surfaced in her mind without warning. She whipped her head around. Up in the sky, No. 10, the Yellow Codex curled in its grip, was already about to catch up to her.
"Bretta, protect me!"
At her command, the Zafa Clan Leader, fleeing alongside her, flinched with a flash of fear in her eyes. Even so she steeled herself and raised her staff at No. 10.
Suddenly No. 10 fired a ball of light at her. Bretta's pupils shrank, and she hastily swapped the attack she was about to release for a shield. Only after doing so did she realize that what No. 10 had fired at her really was just an orange orb of a lighting spell.
At the same moment, No. 10's figure vanished from the sky and reappeared behind Bretta.
"A mage who can't keep calm is no different from trash."
Bretta spun around in a panic, but it was already too late.
The tentacle-blade slipped easily through the shield meant to guard against magic and severed the tendons in Bretta's hands and feet. She pitched face-first into the snow and curled up in agony.
No. 10 paid her no further mind and went on chasing the succubus.
"Useless thing!" Seeing that the Zafa Clan Leader could not even stall No. 10 for a moment, Morfrey cursed under her breath. She knew she would have to fight for her life.
A head-on fight was out of the question, of course. By now she knew well enough just how strong No. 10 was.
Her only option was [Charm], amplified by [Lust].
But Morfrey had not forgotten how it had ended when she once tried to charm Sigmund.
By now she had long since learned that it had been because of the Fungus Lord possessing Sigmund's body.
And launching a direct mental attack on the Mushroom Tribe was even more dangerous than that had been.
But at this point, she had no other choice.
Just as No. 10, lightning coiling all over its body, tried to half-electrocute her to death, Morfrey spun around, pink light blazing in both eyes.
On the sea of consciousness, the moment Morfrey landed on the patch of shallow water that represented No. 10, she dyed the surrounding water pink almost at once. But the water all around diluted the pink rapidly as it churned, and from afar great waves came rolling in.
[Charm], boosted by [Lust], still took hold. No. 10 felt its mind blur for a moment and could not sustain its magic.
The lightning vanished and the gale dispersed. Before No. 10 plummeted from the sky, it had just enough time to stuff the Yellow Codex into its own mushroom body.
Morfrey fared little better. She let out a scream, slammed into the ground, and rolled over several times.
Had she not been prepared and pulled out in time, she would not even have had the chance to scream.
And having truly witnessed that "sea," Morfrey was overwhelmed by boundless terror.
She could scarcely imagine how the Demon King had escaped from this monster's consciousness back then.
And just what was this monster?
"Get... get me out of here." Mustering all her strength to focus her mind, Morfrey had a few dwarven elites carry her swiftly away from the spot.
By the time No. 10 came to, Puchi were everywhere around it.
Apart from a few fast-footed dwarven elites, both legions had been captured entirely by the Puchi.
Unfortunately, of the dwarven leadership only Bretta was caught. Once No. 10 was no longer pinning him down, Badul actually managed to fight his way out.
On the bright side, all three battle golems were left behind. Just like that, more than half of the S-grade magic crystal Lin Jun had spent earlier came right back.
A pity that [Lust] got away.
The appearance of [Lust] answered the question that had been puzzling Lin Jun about the dwarves' collective madness.
That [Lust] would turn up in Morfrey, though, was something Lin Jun had not expected.
Lin Jun did know the Demon King had a means of transferring the Deadly Sins. He just hadn't thought the man would actually pull a Sin out of himself and install it on a subordinate.
Wasn't he afraid of losing it?
There was no telling what the Demon King was planning. But since [Lust] had been laid out right in front of him, there was no reason not to take it.
Lin Jun could choose not to absorb [Lust], but he would never let it return to the Demon King's hands.
"Keep after her. She's wounded, she can't get far." At Lin Jun's order, the Puchi pressed on toward the last of the routed army, even past the edge of the fungal mat.
But the chase did not last long.
Puchi. Puchi.
"Aah! No, save me, save me!!!"
Puchi. Puchi.
At the foot of the cliff, Morfrey clamped a hand over her mouth as the dwarf's screams above her gradually faded into the distance.
He had been found. She had not, yet.
She waited until the sound dissolved completely into the mountain wind, then carefully shifted her body and poked half her head out from the crevice in the rock.
Only after confirming no one was around did she slowly breathe out and begin moving along the rock face.
Right now, she was profoundly grateful that she had mastered all sorts of stealth and concealment skills.
For some reason those skills were useless within range of the fungal mat, but luckily there was no fungal mat nearby.
Not every Puchi had the all-around detection skills of a scout Puchi. Once away from the fungal mat, most ordinary Puchi could only search for people by sweeping the area inch by inch, which gave Morfrey room to hide.
Before becoming the Empire's chief intelligence officer, Morfrey had genuinely worked as a frontline spy.
Drawing on that experience, through no end of hardship, she finally felt her way to the nearest dwarven stronghold.
Having reached it, she was at least safe for the moment.
More fortunately still, Badul had also escaped to this same stronghold.
Morfrey sought him out at once. "Badul, the Puchi will catch up soon. You have to escort me back to Forgefire Capital and reorganize the army to hold off the Mushroom Fortress. With how well-fortified Forgefire Capital is..."
Clutching her still faintly throbbing head, she laid out the rest of the plan, her thoughts still on that terrifying Puchi, entirely failing to notice the strange look Badul was giving her.
[Mental Resistance LV10]
Badul's breathing grew heavy. Trembling, he gripped the handle of his axe and swung.
"Aah!" Half of Morfrey's shoulder was cleaved open at an angle, blood spraying. She staggered back with a scream, staring at Badul in disbelief. "You... how could you..."
Having swung once, Badul did not hesitate. He had already wound up the second blow and brought it chopping down at Morfrey.
At this life-or-death moment, blood spilling from her mouth, Morfrey gritted her teeth. Ignoring her wounds, she desperately gathered pink light into her pupils.
"Submit to m..."
Badul clenched his jaw shut. Shattered teeth and half his tongue flew out, and in that instant of clarity, the axe blade fell.
"Die!"
Morfrey's head flew off her neck at an angle, struck a stone block, bounced once, and rolled into a corner.
The pink glow in her eyes faded and her pupils slowly dilated, her face still frozen in a last expression of confusion and unwillingness.
Never had she imagined it. She had escaped even the Puchi's pursuit and reached the safety of the stronghold, so how could she die here? Die at the hands of a dwarf who, until moments ago, could not have stirred a ripple in the palm of her hand.
The axe blade bit deep into the ground. Badul, his mind badly wounded from forcing himself to resist, slumped to the floor in exhaustion, clutching his ceaselessly bleeding mouth. But he did not dare pass out. He had to go and stop this war that should never have happened, at once. He could not let any more dwarves die for the Empire's schemes.
(End of Chapter)
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