Chapter 53 : Listen, The Dirge From The Deep Sea

One Day Earlier: The Plan

One day ago.

“The plan is set, everyone, any issues?”

The voice floating in the orb of light confirmed again.

The woman whose eye corners were covered with fish scales seemed slightly impatient with the repeated confirmation: “In short, it’s about making those humans, who deserve to die, fight among themselves, and incidentally killing anyone capable of commanding them, is that the gist?”

“Exactly, but don’t forget your ultimate goal,” the orb of light said.

“Understood, understood, it’s to make the strongest man in the whole city unable to cope before reinforcements arrive,” the woman replied.

A voice of approval came from the orb of light: “That’s right. An army without a commander is just a headless fly. He can only choose one of three things: stop you, defend the Lord’s Manor, or personally lead the army to resist the assault.”

“And no matter which one he chooses, you’ll have an opportunity to slip in,” the woman finished the sentence that the orb of light had not yet concluded.

“It’s we.”

Clash on the Front Line

Clang.

The two-meter-long greatsword and the completely disproportionate stiletto crashed together. The piercing metallic ringing seemed to tear the night and eardrums apart.

The man, kneeling on one knee, clutched his abdomen, watching Angus, who was blocking him, with disbelief.

“Lord… Lord Angus! Why did you… We… we were useless…”

“Don’t speak. Facing a High-Tier Demon, you did your best. Step back for now; leave this to me.”

The city guards and their commanders only knew how to protect the city. They had no experience fighting High-Tier Demons, nor could they. After discovering the nature of their potential enemy, Angus couldn’t utter a word of blame.

The woman before him was the sole culprit.

Angus leveled his greatsword. Although his tone was as frigid as ice, the rage burning in his bloodshot eyes seemed capable of incinerating everything in front of him.

“How moving. The mighty City Lord personally enters the fray, just to save a petty Garrison Commander?”

The Demon woman holding the stiletto, a Siren, had an expression of endless mockery. Her airy tone made it seem as though the soldiers and wanderers fighting around her had nothing to do with her.

“You have no right to speak here, Sea Hag,” Angus coldly rebuked. The greatsword, reflecting the moonlight, mirrored the woman’s smiling face.

“First Demon Race, then Sea Hag; you should properly remember the name of our Siren tribe, shouldn’t you?” The Siren frowned.

“A Demon is a Demon!”

“Forget it, say what you like. However, since you’ve appeared here, don’t think you can leave.”

The Siren spoke coldly, but what she raised was not the fish-fin-like stiletto in her hand, but her chin.

A sound unlike any creature’s cry, indescribable in words, issued from her slender throat, spreading through the night of Solus City like a ripple.

It was ethereal, melodious, and long, like the murmur of a giant whale, like the song of a seashell.

Many people heard that sound, yet everyone simultaneously shared the same thought.

In that moment, they stood in the deep sea, hearing a call from the abyss.

Boom.

Angus‘s greatsword raised up the earth and stone of the ground, forcibly interrupting the dirge.

“Enough! Don’t think you can tempt me!”

The Siren‘s flowing long dress made her glide through the air like a swimming fish, elegantly moving away from Angus‘s blade.

“Temptation. So that’s what you think,” she said.

“What else would I think?”

“Well, who knows?”

The Riot Signal

The Siren‘s voice spread throughout the city, and the wanderers hidden in the street corners instantly went berserk.

“The signal! It’s starting! It’s starting!”

The rats that should have been concealed in the darkness suddenly emitted squeaking cries. The rat catchers with their long spears would never miss this opportunity to capture these dark, filthy individuals in one fell swoop.

The already formed soldier squads launched a pursuit and blockade against these wanderers who had exposed their tails. Relying on their knowledge of the city, they forced the wanderers into a dead end within just a few minutes.

“This is my final warning! You have nowhere left to retreat! Drop your weapons! Surrender immediately!” The squad leader leading the soldiers pointed his spear tip at the wanderers, forcing them back a few steps.

Behind him were several soldiers almost blinded by anger. If the squad leader hadn’t given the order, they probably would have already stabbed their weapons through the enemy’s chests.

“Heh heh heh.” A wanderer let out a hoarse, sinister laugh: “You are the ones who have nowhere left to retreat!”

As if confirming the man’s words, a huge explosion accompanied by scorching heat attacked the squad leader from behind, followed by the rumbling sound of a collapsing wall.

“L-Leader! Our retreat route has been cut off!”

“How is that possible?!”

The squad leader suddenly turned his head to look in the direction they had come from. Rubble, broken tiles, and burning flames had already blocked their way out. In the ruins, the fragments of a wooden barrel were being completely consumed by the flames, bit by bit.

The man who had carried a large barrel of wine when he escorted the brawling prisoners back to jail during the day began to overlap with the face of the man who was now laughing sinisterly in front of him.

“It was you!” The squad leader bit his teeth tightly, his eyes blazing with fury.

He remembered that when he was escorting the brawling prisoners back, this very person had carried a large barrel of wine past him.

Although now he knew that it was not fine wine inside.

“It was you!” The squad leader gritted his teeth, his eyes splitting with rage.

“Heh heh, come on! Kill us!” The wanderer laughed even more wildly, brazenly exposing his chest in a challenging manner: “Anyway, you’re not the only ones trapped here!”

Explosions, flames, rubble… these signs of destruction, completely out of place with the harmonious daytime city, were like scars branded onto Solus City, tearing the entire city apart.

In the darkness, several groups of wanderers, as if to declare their existence to everyone, raised their torches and advanced toward the Lord’s Manor.

Outside the Lord’s Manor, the guarding soldiers looked tense, watching the scattered points of fire gather, constantly approaching like a tide about to crash onto the beach.

They knew the opposing force was a ragtag bunch, but seeing this rabble surge forward like locusts, the sickening abnormality still made their hands tremble slightly.

“Madmen, a bunch of madmen! They’re just openly marching right toward us?”

“Even if they sneaked into the city, so many people should have been discovered already. What is going on?”

“Don’t think about it anymore! They are coming! Be careful!”

The rioting wanderers quickened their pace and launched an attack on the main gate of the Lord’s Manor. The first one to bear the brunt was like a fly hitting a steel plate; he was instantly pierced by a soldier’s spear without causing any splash.

But this was just the first note of the prelude.

After that came the charge—a reckless yet fearless rush—like a rainstorm.

Klaus’s Last Chance

Klaus clearly heard the piercing high-pitched song that had awakened Lita.

The street, quiet in the early morning; the noisy theater in the afternoon; the remote residence at night. Every location Klaus chose was to keep Lita away from the crowds and create opportunities for them to be alone.

In addition to fostering a relationship with Lita and wearing down her vigilance, Klaus also had to complete the task Mel had given her.

Hold Lita back.

But after that sound that felt like it would sink her into the deep sea, Klaus knew something unimaginable was happening in the city. Even in this deep alley far from the main road, she could hear faint clamor.

But her chances were also slimmer.

Her plea couldn’t keep Lita; her strong liquor couldn’t make Lita drunk; and her sharp blade couldn’t easily pierce Lita‘s chest.

She had run out of options.

Ultimately, trying to assassinate a future Holy Knight was not something she could do.

There’s still a chance; there’s one last chance.

Klaus remembered the look Lita had given her today. Besides gratitude and pity, there was a third emotion she had seen countless times.

It was an expression of desire, the same as countless customers who came to the shop, a look that craved her body.

At this moment, she recalled what the Nightmare Demon had told her.

The body is a maiden’s strongest weapon.