TMLHGCFTV 53

Chapter 53

I wrapped my arms around his face, blocking his vision. His nose flared as he sniffed the air. Through the corner of my eye, I saw Seraphine slip inside and move beyond his line of sight.

“Hehehehe. I can’t remember the last time I smelled a lady like this. Haaah. Yes, yes. Women who become werewolves don’t smell like this.”

Every time his horrible breath brushed against me, I had to grit my teeth.

Don’t, Rosana. Don’t hit him.

I hadn’t even gotten the key yet.

Bartel was about one and a half times larger than the werewolves we’d encountered so far. On top of that, he was already an experienced hunter.

In other words, he wasn’t an opponent we could defeat easily.

If I made a mistake, we might fail to accomplish the reason we’d come here in the first place.

Bartel pushed me down onto the rug and sat on top of my stomach. His long claws traced down my cheek before lightly pulling apart the front of my dress. I could see his tongue flicking inside his grotesquely wide-open muzzle.

Ugh.

I forced myself to smile sweetly.

“You smell nice too, High Priest.”

I put as much soul into it as I possibly could.

The High Priest chuckled.

“You look even more wild and alluring lying there like this.”

I dare say that was a masterpiece of a line.

I reached a hand toward the High Priest, and he obediently bent closer to me.

I wrapped my arms around the back of his neck.

My fingertips caught on a chain.

“…Oh my.”

I giggled as seductively as I could.

Whether my acting was terrible or not, I was doing my best.

While he was distracted, I grabbed the necklace and yanked it backward.

The moment his upper body was pulled sharply back, I immediately rolled to the side.

“Ghk! Cough! You little bitch!”

But Seraphine was already behind him.

Her sword slashed diagonally from his back to his side.

“GRAAAAAH!”

Seraphine’s sword stabbed into his shoulder next.

In the meantime, I grabbed a sword as well.

Bartel twisted his body and swung his arm, knocking away the lamp.

The lamp flew into the wall, spilling oil as it crashed. The spilled oil caught fire on the piles of paper.

The room instantly lit up.

And in that sudden brightness, I clearly saw his face change.

His skin seemed to peel backward as his jaw elongated, his teeth spread apart, and the area beneath his cheekbones tore open.

His goatee was dragged inside and disappeared.

“Grrrrr…”

He had finally become a true beast.

His bright yellow eyes were still fixed on me.

Seraphine grabbed my wrist and ran outside with me, praising me as we went.

“That was the best acting I’ve ever seen!”

“I think so too!”

Because we’d accomplished our objective.

I fastened the key to the sanctuary tightly around my neck.

Seraphine and I grabbed the rug beneath him and yanked it hard. The sudden loss of balance sent him tumbling across the floor.

We had bought ourselves more time.

We ran for the door.

We had already confirmed that the stairs leading down were blocked, so the only place we could go was up.

At the end of the hallway was a trapdoor.

A ladder was hanging beneath the ceiling hatch.

“Sir! There’s a ladder!”

“You go first!”

I quickly grabbed the ladder and climbed.

The moment I pushed open the trapdoor, a cold wind struck my face.

The rooftop was brightly illuminated.

The moon hung in the center of the cloudless sky.

The roof gleamed silver, making it easy to see where I could place my feet.

As soon as I pulled myself up, I looked down.

The light beneath the ladder was flickering.

The fire that had started in the study must have spread into the hallway.

In that flickering light, I saw Seraphine backing away.

“Sir! Now!”

I reached out toward Seraphine.

Behind her, I saw the creature charging on all fours.

We grabbed each other’s hands and pulled together, hauling Seraphine up before quickly shutting the trapdoor.

The hatch rattled beneath our combined weight.

“Huff… huff…”

We barely had time to catch our breath before we fastened the latch.

But the moment we stood up, the wood shattered and the entire trapdoor was ripped upward.

“Grrrrr…”

I hadn’t realized how large he really was in the study because of the low ceiling.

But from up here, I could see that his shoulders were roughly one and a half times the width of a human’s.

He was bleeding, yet he didn’t seem to feel any pain.

“Sir, why won’t he die?”

“I don’t know.”

“Let’s split up!”

We scattered in opposite directions.

With the ridge of the roof between us, I ran to the left while Seraphine ran to the right.

The creature targeted Seraphine first and swung its long arm at her, but she nimbly dodged it.

The roof tilted beneath its weight.

Seraphine retreated toward the ridge to avoid the slope, but the creature followed closely behind, climbing up the incline.

The roof creaked under its unbearable weight.

“Sir! Stay on the ridge! Don’t come down!”

“What are you planning to do?!”

I stepped down from the ridge and onto the sloped section of the roof.

Then I shouted.

“Hey!”

The creature turned its head toward me.

“Over here, you perverted old bastard!”

The creature charged toward me.

It seemed completely oblivious to the fact that I was standing on the slope.

I quickly ran down the slope before rolling sideways.

The ground below was a lawn, so even if I fell down there, I probably wouldn’t die.

Probably?

At that moment, the roof could no longer withstand the creature’s weight.

It collapsed, and the beast began sliding downward.

“Sir Seraphine, now!”

Seraphine jumped down from the ridge.

As she descended the slope, she gripped her sword with both hands and brought it down with all her weight behind it.

I heard the creature’s neck crack.

But it swung its arm while its neck was twisted, knocking Seraphine off her feet.

“Sir!”

The creature pounced on her.

I jumped in without thinking.

Sliding down the slope, I drew the dagger from my right hand and drove it into the creature’s side.

“…Ah.”

Its bright yellow eyes turned toward me.

This time, I was the one who lost my footing.

The creature bared its teeth and lunged for the back of my neck.

I held the dagger upright and thrust my arm forward.

I shoved the dagger between its teeth, preventing its jaws from closing.

There was absolutely no way I was going to let it bite me!

I liked being human, thank you very much!

“Lady Rosana!”

“Cut it!”

Seraphine stared at me in shock as I shouted through gritted teeth.

From her perspective, I probably looked like I was about to be eaten alive.

“Seraphine!”

It was the first time I’d ever dropped the honorific when calling her.

Seraphine charged forward.

She put all her weight behind the trajectory of her sword as she thrust it forward.

She wasn’t particularly large, but in that moment, she looked enormous.

Slash!

The creature’s body rolled down beneath the roof.

The problem was that its severed head was still hanging from my arm.

“Let go, you bastard!”

I yanked my arm free and kicked its head downward.

Thud!

The head rolled into the courtyard below.

“Huff…”

I panted as I checked my arm.

Thankfully, there wasn’t a single wound on it.

Whew.

I thought I was going to die!

“Lady Rosana!”

Seraphine came running toward me.

Only after confirming that I was unharmed did she collapse onto the roof.

“…What a relief. Truly.”

I patted Seraphine’s shoulder and looked down.

The creature’s body and head lay separately on the courtyard floor.

Under the moonlight, I could see that its face had returned to that of a human.

Even that was disgusting.

But it was too soon to feel relieved.

Just because Bartel was dead didn’t mean the monsters he had created would disappear with him.

The battle in the courtyard was still raging.