Former General Is Undead Knight

Volume 3, Chapter 8: Temperature Ball’s Sorcerer②

「『Devil’s Piper』’s berserker… I won’t overlook the cruelty you’ve committed to my brethren and subordinates…」

The man glared at Lambert while chewing his lips in frustration.

「I’ve told you that I’m not their comrade ri-… Uh?」

Lambert turned around as he readied his greatsword.

A lightning bullet with purple-colored sparks was heading toward Lambert’s back.

He jumped to dodge it. The ground where that lightning bullet landed exploded, scattering sparks around.

「Um, nice dodge. It’ll be better if you die immediately though.」

The one who sent that attack was a tall and burly old man clad in ceremonial clothes, with thick white gloves covering his hands.

The most conspicuous thing about him was the cane in his hand that released golden light.

Four masked swordsmen clad in black robes lined up behind him.

They wore white masks with holes for the mouth and eyes; the only thing different about those masks was the fact that each one depicted an expression of joy, anger, grief, or comfort.

「I did hear the rumor that there were strange fellas loitering around the back alley for the last few days, but to think that I could find you this fast. I’m Gilldoum from 『Devil’s Piper』. It’s time to meet your maker, armored swordsman.」

As if to follow Gilldoum’s instruction, the four masked swordsmen drew their swords. Each of them used their own unique stance.

Lambert had no idea what that old man was talking about since he just arrived today.

Lambert guessed that the one that the old man was looking for might be the mithril swordsman. Lambert sent a glance at that mithril swordsman behind him before looking back at Gilldoum again.

「I hear that your organization has been moving in secret for a really long time. I never expected you to easily introduce yourself like that.」

「I find no problem with that because everyone who knows about me being a member of 『Devil’s Piper』 has already been killed by these hands.」

The old man then pointed his golden cane toward Lambert.

「O HEAT, DWELL IN MY HAND!」

A small ball of fire appeared in the old man’s other hand.

The ball of fire released sparks, split into two, and grew in size.

Gilldoum’s sorcery was the kind of sorcery that controlled the formation of gas ionization by using heat.

That alone placed Gilldoum as one of the strongest control-type sorcerers.

「T-That heat ball, Gilldoum?! No way, Gilldoum Janus in the flesh!!」

The mithril rapier swordsman who lost against Lambert was shouting in surprise.

「Your acquaintance?」

Lambert asked the swordsman as he pointed with his helmet toward the old man.

The man’s lips crooked upon hearing Lambert’s question.

The man seemed to have recovered after a big loss against Lambert a while ago, but upon seeing that 『Devil’s Piper』 was the one who ambushed them, he was finally convinced that Lambert was really not his enemy.

Thus, there was no reason to keep being hostile toward Lambert.

「…I know nothing about him. Gilldoum is simply one of the most famous alchemists in the kingdom who went missing. The reason I know his identity is because he’s one of only three users of ionization heat sorcery. Rather, why don’t you know about him?」

Gilldoum Janus.

Originally, he was a famous alchemist. However, he saw that conventional methods wouldn’t be able to allow him to witness the extremities of magic. Thus, he ended up joining 『Devil’s Piper』 after being charmed by the depth that one of the Eight Wisemen, 『Spinner of The Truth』, had reached which could only reached when one abandoned normal means.

「Just three? What about Telagoz?」

Telagoz was one of the alchemists of Makyuras Kingdom, the last remaining kingdom that participated in the Eight Countries Unification War.

He was a man who spent his whole life creating magic formulae and theory for heat ionization. Not only did he develop it till it was ready for real war, but he also went on creating training methods and even made systematic learning programs down to minute details.

Makyuras Kingdom’s sorcerers were feared as one out of 10 of them could use enigmatic magic. This fact was boosted even further by introducing heat ionization to the other country.

「The opponent this time is a bad match for us, armor man. He’s the user of heat ionization sorcerer which is hailed as the greatest rearguard in terms of firepower. He has four vanguard to protect him on top of that. Bring that child and get away from this place. One… no, I’ll buy three minutes for you to escape as far as possible from this place.」

The man stood up, rubbing his left hand and wielding his rapier again.

「It’s no—」

The man signaled with his finger toward Lambert, telling him to shut up before the latter managed to finish his words.

「It’s not in my nature to have a debt of gratitude. But please grant me a single, last wish. Once you escaped from this place, please find my subordinates who were hiding in this city, and work with them to apprehend Viscount Le Gael. They should be willing to lend an ear to you as long as you say that it’s from Kreuz, captain of 『Phoenix’s Eyes』 second division.」

The man, Kreuz, showed a daring smile as he spoke to Lambert.

Ever since the event in which 『Devil’s Piper』 almost destroy Barreira City, the royal family didn’t dare to neglect the matter about that organization anymore. They mobilized the inspection unit, 『Phoenix’s Eyes』 second division, to investigate the suspicious nobles around the kingdom.

「I see, best regards then.」

After he said so, Lambert gave the unconscious child to Kreuz.

Though Kreuz was dumbfounded, seeing Lambert gesturing with his arm as if to tell him to hurry up. He caught the child.

「No, I mean, I’m the one who gonna stop the—!」

Lambert gripped the hilt of his greatsword and rushed in toward Gilldoum.

The four masked swordsmen jumped in front of Lambert to protect Gilldoum.

The four moved around, surrounding Lambert from outside of his attack range and aiming at him with their swords of various lengths.

Beyond them, Gilldoum swung down his cane.

「Become cinder!」

At the same time, he unleashed two red balls covered in crackling lightning.

By the time Lambert faced the four swordsmen, he was already trapped inside a sorcerer’s favorite tactic.

The four swordsmen were berserkers made with organism sorcery, brainwashing sorcery, and drugs.

Responding against the four skilled and mindless swordsmen while coping with the plasma ball that fired from afar was impossible.

Even Kreuz, someone with long experience of fighting against many swordsmen, knew that the four swordsmen were not smallfry.

Their stances might look loose, but it made sense.

When it came to melee, they moved erratically while maintaining their formation to kill Lambert in a few moves.

「STOP! YOU MUST ESCAPE!」

Kreuz screamed toward Lambert.

The next moment, the four swordsmen slashed at Lambert, aiming for his torso and head.

Facing that, Lambert spun the greatsword in his hands at high speed.

The high-speed rotation of the sword created a gale and increased its sharpness to a whole new level. It was as if everything was going to be cut apart by that terrifying gale.

Kreuz, who had visual hallucinations of Lambert as a tornado, couldn’t help but rub his eyes.

Lambert, who crushed the vanguards in a single moment, then moved out to dodge the two red bullets.

Both Kreuz’s and Gilldoum’s eyes opened wide in shock upon seeing Lambert’s superhuman movement.

「I-Incredible…! If I can’t hit you with normal sorcery, then I have no choice but to use my precious treasure, Hound of Tindalos.」

Gilldoum, the rearguard sorcerer who lost his vanguard, showed a vexed look on his face.