Former General Is Undead Knight - Act 4-30 - Rose of Subkingdom⑥

「Are you sure about this? Your forte is large-scale brainwashing, right? You’re the one who turned our believers into soldiers to attack us. It seems you really are underestimating me for coming alone without a vanguard.」

「I alone am plenty enough. The reason they’re aiming for you guys isn’t to exhaust your stamina; it’s to force you to split from your group. As for Zebedai, the others will take care of him.」

The 『Rose of Subkingdom』 replied to Simon’s question with a monotonous voice.

Hearing that, Simon scorned her.

「In short…you think that you can defeat me in one-on-one combat. The matter about you using some sort of shady spell aside, it seems you’re quite confident in yourself. Is that a spell of the Yutelbe tribe?」

The lips of the『Rose of Subkingdom』 warped in anger the moment that question came out of Simon’s mouth.

「As expected, the cardinal didn’t say anything in that regard, but…I guess I hit the bull’s eyes.」

The Yutelbe tribe existed during the Eight Countries Unification War era. They were natives to the Aunz kingdom.

They were the tribe who could manipulate one’s emotion by infusing mana into sound vibrations. Their target wouldn’t even realize that they were being manipulated.

Originally, the Etelbe tribe was composed of nomads who loved to travel freely while playing the guqin.

But then, an influential figure who set his eyes on their unique sorcery tried to use them to control the will of the citizens and the soldiers.

And then, when the Aunz kingdom was defeated in the war, all members of their tribe were executed, accused as sorcerers who used large-scale brainwashing spells.

「I don’t know whether my tribe is directly descendent or simply those l who inherited their arts, but one thing is sure: I regard myself as a member of the Yutelbe tribe. I got caught by the inquisition squad before and managed to survive.」

The alteration of intention by sound was the act of using the mana in one’s body to turn it into vibrations and deliver it right into their target’s ears.

But then, knowing that meant Simon had already dealt with it.

Moreover, although SImon had no idea from where his opponent obtained the brainwashing spell of the Yutelbe tribe, he knew that it took a while for the spell to take shape.

In the first place, thanks to his years of training, he built a resistance against this kind of spell.

「That kind of spell won’t work on me.」

「…Naturally, I won’t use that in a fight against you. The Yutelbe tribe isn’t known just for manipulating emotion using sound.」

Right at that moment, the 『Rose of Subkingdom』 started plucking the strings of the guqin in her hand.

It was a simple and relaxing melody that invited one into the land of sweet dreams.

Even Simon’s hand stopped moving for a moment due to the effect of the melody.

That was just how comfortable the tone was.

But he got a grip on himself in the next moment, and the palm that thrust forward before lowered as he took a stance.

「…Though I’ve cast aside my hobby, I know just how valuable this melody is. It truly saddens me to see such a melody used for this kind of purpose. It will be a really good thing if you’re just a mere artist.」

「Heed my call and come from the subkingdom, Prison of Vine, Alraune.」

A huge magic circle appeared on the floor as soon as she finished her aria.

And then, that region of the underground passage, the wall, and the floor were covered in numerous writhing vines.

The vines under 『Rose of Subkingdom』’s feet swelled and took the shape of a woman with green skin.

Even though they were called spirits, due to the difference in laws between their world and this world, their forms transformed once they were summoned to this world.

The spirit of the subkingdom fundamentally hated humans.

Even if a high-ranking sorcerer managed to communicate with them, they wouldn’t respond to the sorcerer’s summoning.

But the only exception to that was the sound of the guqin played by those of the Yutelbe tribe. That was why the members of the tribe could summon them within reach of their guqin’s sound.

「…I see, that’s a large-scale one for sure. A true member of the Yutelbe tribe is truly a match made in heaven with the spirits of the subkingdom. We should’ve already destroyed them, but there was a survivor of that tribe, huh.」

According to Simon’s perception, the area around twenty heins was covered by vines.

Each vine was moving to catch Simon’s body.

His feet then stamped on the floor, kicking the incoming vines. He flew around between the floor and ceiling, continuously moving in order to prevent the vines from catching him.

‘Its range is wide, and each vine moves at high speed. And this is coming from the spirit tamed only with sound. But…her weak point was exposed the moment she said that her aim was to separate me from my subordinates.’

Simon mixed feints in his movement, using the unexpected situation to create an opening in the vines’ movement.

Just like that, he took quite a lot of detours, not wasting a single moment to unleash his palm strike on the 『Rose of Subkingdom』’s exposed back.

Alraune, who stood by the side of their summoner, noticed the incoming attack in time and parried the fist with both hands, sending Simon’s body into the air.

The vines surrounded Simon from four sides. Alas, Simon twisted his body to dodge the first vine; he kicked the vine to change his direction in midair, landed on the ground, and dodged another attack.

「Your summon spell is powerful, but it’s far from enough to catch me. On top of that…you have to keep playing your qugin while standing still to maintain your summon. Your summon spell has too many openings. It might be effective against a single opponent, but it’s useless against me, who can dodge all of your attacks. Give up and die.」

「No… This is the end. I’ve completed my preparations.」

After saying that, the tone she used flipped 180.

Although the tone was serene yet majestic at the same time, the discord mixed intentionally amongst the tone raised anxiety among those who heard it.

Simon exploited the gap between his opponent’s vine attacks, trying to get close to her while moving around at high speed inside the passage.

The speed of the vines couldn’t catch up with Simon’s high-speed combat style.

The one that Simon paid attention to was Alraune, who protected their summoner.

Moreover, having predicted the next attack, Simon was confident that he could land his deadly palm strike on the head of the 『Rose of Subkingdom』.

「Hear my voice and heed my call, Ruler of the Subkingdom, Oberon.」

The world around Simon suddenly vanished as soon as she finished her call.

The dark passage vanished, replaced with a vast prairie.

Simon turned around in a hurry and landed on the ground upon seeing such an unexpected situation.

「What…kind of place is this?」

The sky was dyed pink. In faraway places stood mountains that glowed in various colors.

Upon looking around, he realized that he was surrounded by a lot of flowers of random colors.

There was a flower with a huge mouth. Another was covered with vines which had a lot of eyes on it.

In short, it was a bizarre world.

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