15 – Recipe(5)

“Gather everyone and form ranks!”

Commander Popper called the knights who were busy riding and resting.

At Popper’s roaring cry, the knights hurriedly gathered their weapons and formed formation.

Popper was raising his sword toward the sky.

This implied that it was not simply to fall into the outskirts of the town to build a defensive line.

The knights saw his appearance and intuition.

The battle is right in front of you.

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Joyce also felt strongly about this and burned her will to fight.

He checked where Silverin’s apprentice was.

I found Silverine riding a horse behind the ranks of the knights, but I couldn’t find her apprentice.

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Joyce thought it was better.

If her apprentice doesn’t intervene, she will definitely stand out in this battle.

Berelman, Popper’s lieutenant and Joyce’s senior, sneaked up to him and said,

“Joyce will be at the head of the ranks.”

“All right.”

This was a case of pushing his back to the fullest in the front line.

All the knights hurriedly mounted their horses. And immediately began to move hastily along with Popper. The place I arrived at was a two-story red-walled house.

Following Popper’s orders, the unit split in two and the 2nd Division set out to lay siege to the building. Knights surrounded the mansion grounds and plugged all the holes through which they could escape.

The 1st division was formed as an infiltrator.

“Search the inside of the building thoroughly and prepare for a ghoul attack!”

The knights stood in two lines, kicked down the gate, and rushed into the garden of the mansion.

“Wait! I hear a sound from inside the mansion!”

All the knights stopped moving and listened to the sound.

Cooung- Tak Tak Tak Tak

Loud footsteps could be heard from inside the mansion. And the sound gradually rushed to the front door.

bang!

I pushed the front door of the mansion as if I was about to break it, and a ghoul jumped out.

“It’s a ghoul!”

All of the knights drew their swords and entered a battle posture.

The ghoul, despite seeing the knights’ encirclement, rushed at the exit to the village with fierce momentum.

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Joyce stepped forward reliably.

“I will handle it.”

Hearing his cry, the other knights hesitated for a moment, then slowly stepped aside to avoid getting in his way.

In the blink of an eye, a one-on-one confrontation was created.

The ghoul was covered in blood all over and was in an extremely agitated state. Ghouls have a tendency to flee when outnumbered. But now, it was rampaging to the point of ignoring its nature.

It looked like he had done something again.

‘Did there be another victim in the meantime?’

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Joyce clenched her teeth.

As Joyce stood in front of the ghoul, blocking its path, the ghoul attacked him without hesitation.

The ghoul kicked off the ground and slashed its claws from above Joyce’s head.

Kang!

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Joyce raised the knife to her forehead and blocked the ghoul’s claws.

However, Joyce’s upper body was unbalanced thanks to the weight in the air, which was pressed down with great force. He quickly corrected his step foot and established his center.

He parried Gool’s attack, but received a tremendous shock to his wrists and shoulders.

“Keugh.”

The nails and the sword continued to struggle.

However, he could never overcome the ghoul in terms of brute strength.

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Joyce was in a situation where she was out of her power.

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Joyce twisted the blade slightly and pulled away slightly, slicing the ghoul’s wrist.

Chew!

Blood gushed out.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t cut off my wrist, but I still managed to cause bleeding.

Aww!

The ghoul screamed and took a step back. Blood flowed from his wrists and soaked the floor.

I ate one room.

For a while to be proud.

The ghoul became more agitated and jabbed its claws at Joyce at random.

Kang!

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Joyce took the random attacks calmly.

Aiming at Joyce’s chest, the rushing claws pushed his sword back with devastating force and struck.

Because the ghouls were cornered, they were attacking with all their might.

This time, Joyce took a big step back.

His hard steel breastplate was torn like paper. Fortunately, there were no direct blows to the body.

“Damn it.”

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Joyce took a deep breath and focused on the ghoul’s movements.

After reading the trajectory of the ghoul’s attack, he boldly raised his blade to counter it.

Chew!

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Joyce’s blade squeezed between the ghoul’s fingers and tore his hand in half lengthwise.

As the attack went in, Joyce pushed on without giving him a chance to back down.

I sliced off the ghoul’s shoulder blades and inserted the knife into the ghoul’s collarbone.

He shouted as the ghoul struggled with one arm, unable to move.

“Now!”

At that moment, the knights around Joyce rushed right in and thrust their swords through the ghoul’s back.

With an unpleasant flesh-piercing sound, the ghoul’s struggling arm gave way and fell.

When the knights pulled out all their swords, Gueul fell to the floor.

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Joyce caught her breath.

I almost suffered serious injuries, but I managed to subdue the ghoul single-handedly.

I glanced back to receive the next order. Popper, who was watching the situation solemnly on horseback, met his eyes. He looked at Joyce and nodded wordlessly.

Beside Popper, Silverin was also riding. She too was watching the situation with a calm expression.

Silverin’s disciple is nowhere to be seen.

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Joyce snorted inwardly.

Didn’t he even think of facing a ghoul from afar? In this situation, what is more important than ghouls, why are they not there? He was more cowardly than he thought.

Popper immediately gives the order.

“Enter the mansion and find the ghoul!”

The knights go straight into the mansion. Again, Joyce was in the lead. They scattered in order and searched the rooms on the first and second floors.

One knight shouts.

“At the end of the corridor there is a passage to the basement!”

This was followed by reports that there was nothing on the first and second floors.

Volk, the leader of the infiltration team, gave the order to assemble at the entrance to the basement stairs.

Leaving behind the knights huddled in the narrow hallway on the first floor, Joyce stepped forward and spoke.

“I will enter first.”

When Joyce tried to enter the basement as if being chased from the front, the leader stopped him.

“I am too ambitious.”

Volk stared intently at the three fingernail marks on Joyce’s breastplate.

No matter how good Joyce was, he was still the youngest and far less experienced than the other knights. It’s easy to get upset if you only get ahead of yourself.

He was already almost mortally wounded even under favorable conditions.

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Joyce sensed Volk’s intentions and bowed her head.

“It is difficult to wield a knife in a confined space. Refrain from forcibly engaging in unfavorable circumstances.”

“I will keep that in mind.”

“great.”

Two knights with torches rushed into the mansion. When sight was secured, Volk gave instructions.

“You may go down now. Safety comes first, so retreat if you feel outnumbered. There’s no need to overdo it since Sylverin-nim is looking after you.”

“All right.”

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Joyce took the torch and headed down the stairs. Volk also caught up with Joyce to cover him.

At the bottom of the stairs, a black liquid pooled like a puddle.

Seeing this, Volk shouted.

“Blossom. Be careful not to slip because there is blood in it.”

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Joyce studied the pool of blood carefully. There are no signs of dryness at all. Joyce narrowed her brow.

The viscosity is light, as if it had just flowed out. I mean, something happened a while ago. It was now certain that it was the blood of a new victim.

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Joyce ran against the current to see where the blood came from.

At the end of the hallway in the basement, blood gushed under the slightly open iron door.

“This way.”

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Joyce gripped the knife tightly.

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Joyce cautiously approached the iron door and opened it slowly.

Something leaning against the iron gate falls and touches his feet.

The first thing that greeted Joyce was the corpse of a ghoul whose upper body had been cut in half.

“… … !”

When I put the torch in, the view of the cellar caught my eye.

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Joyce was momentarily speechless in shock.

The knights follow. And when they faced the view of the cellar, they also made the same stunned expressions as Joyce.

They couldn’t speak for a while.

Dozens of ghoul corpses strewn about.

All of them wriggling, causing post-mortem rigidity as if they had been cut off some time ago.

And one person who turned his head toward the knights at the center. He stood there, covered in blood from head to toe, with a weary face.

I couldn’t recognize who it was because my face was all covered in blood.

“You are here early.”

It was only when he heard the voice that a flashing existence came to Joyce’s mind as if he had been electrocuted. It was Silverin’s disciple, Damien.

With countless ghouls at his feet, his sword is already in its scabbard.

That meant that the situation was already over.

Does that mean that he had to deal with so many ghouls alone?

And without a single wound?

It’s nonsense.

All the knights facing this must have the same idea.

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Joyce’s hands were weak, and she almost dropped the sword she was holding.

Damian glances at the stiff knights as if time has stopped. As if their bewildered expressions were incomprehensible.

This monster had no real awareness of what he had done.

It was only then that Joyce realized.

Silverin didn’t have to drop by the knights’ territory to explore his talents.

She had the most obvious talent in her hands.

Most of the knights took the reputation and discernment of the Archmage and Professor Eternia too lightly.

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Joyce closed her eyes.

It must be because Wiesel was confined in a well and did not see the wide world.

Damian, with an ignorant face, implanted the ‘talent gap’ in the minds of the arrogant knights.

A knight with a torch stood in a daze with his mouth open, then suddenly came to his senses as if something had come to mind.

“… See the situation… I will report and come back!”