A blade flashed above her head right when it was just about to fall into Julia’s neck.
“Get your hands off of her right now.”
The ghastly voice that scratched her eardrums had made her raise her head abruptly. At the end of the hallway, Kimaris was standing there with his eyes wide open. His eyes, which were scanning the silent space quietly, had been split long.
Kimaris’s body was all covered in black mist. A groan of astonishment erupted from those knights of Elgos who had been watching the scene.
“No way—Marquis Kimaris…!”
At his feet, Julia’s usual light dressing gown fluttered down. It was clear that he had been rushing after listening to the situation from Lerazier.
Amidst the thick mist, the only clear pair of eyes were staring at something as if they were possessed. Julia suddenly collapsed onto the floor with a blade aimed at her neck while her ankle appeared strangely twisted. As Kimaris looked through all of it one by one, the expression on his face gradually changed.
Along with a monstrous shape that would terrify everyone who had seen it.
“I’m sorry, Marquis, but you’d better not step out. Or else the key’s life will be gone.”
Julia’s hair was grabbed at once. Her body had been lifted upwards together with the pain as if her scalp were being ripped out. Her ankles instantly twitched when she had to step on the floor.
“Uuhk, ah…”
“I told you to let go of Julia.”
As he revealed that he was still suppressing his anger, Kimaris’s voice began to break off. At the same time, his body started to mutate all over. His short, wavy indigo hair grew long like a black horse’s mane and his shirt swelled tight with his underneath muscles that continued bulging wildly.
The process of transforming from one creature into another seemed to be too painful. The raw flesh was torn apart and a new body would emerge from the gap. The blood and flesh that burst out terribly were getting swallowed up by the newborn amidst the climax of joy. And in the end, the old body was eaten alive.
As she saw a demon had transformed for the first time ever, Julia covered her mouth in astonishment. However, for the knights who had fought a long war, it seemed to have a different meaning instead. They instantly tightened their grip on Julia as their body stiffened with much tension.
“If you kill us now, you won’t even know if the key will die with you. Marquis, no matter how fast you move, you still won’t be able to go faster than this sword that would start to thrust right in front of her.”
All at once, the men drew their weapons and aimed them straight at Julia. The razor-sharp metal eventually cut into her skin, but Julia couldn’t take her eyes off Kimaris at all.
A toppling pressure of wind swept through the whole hallway. The place where Kimaris had been standing until just now was now replaced with a huge monster that had already finished its complete transformation.
The upper body was that of a warrior with a helmet while the lower body had been just like a vicious warhorse. He was holding a spear and a shield in each hand and he seemed to be well over three meters tall as he stood on all fours. As Julia saw him in this form for the first time ever in her life, she could only blink her eyes blankly.
“Julia, close your eyes. It will only take a moment.”
Kimaris’s voice that was used as he spoke to her had been soft and kind as usual. It did not fit this whole murderous situation at all.
Still, Julia couldn’t take her eyes off Kimaris. She had a very uneasy feeling. And right at the moment when her eyes met with his, she realized that she was terrifyingly right.
“Mister Kimaris, no!”
“Damn it, kill the key! Now…!”
A ghastly blade flew straight for Julia’s life at a distance that she couldn’t possibly dodge at all.
The moment she instinctively looked away, Julia’s waist was snatched by a strong force. At the spot where she was being held, a thick gush of blood sprayed all over it.
In the blink of an eye, six knights who were rather close to a Sword Master’s level tumbled down. The spurt of blood began to flow through the cracks amidst their heavy armor. The men’s eyes appeared stunned, which seemed to express such an unbelievable horror.
Julia’s vision soon became dark. Kimaris carefully covered her eyes with the palm of his hand. He couldn’t even touch her properly for fear of hurting that fragile body of hers
“Don’t look at them. They don’t deserve your sympathy at all.”
Kimaris’s voice sounded kind at first, but when it was listened carefully, there had been this murderous intent seething inside. The anger that he felt was portrayed in just a single phrase.
Julia couldn’t answer easily. She was not worried about them and she should be asking if he had been okay instead. Nevertheless, her tongue was already twitching wildly in fear.
“Did, did you kill him?”
“…”
“You really killed them?”
The low echo of horse hooves reverberated through the hallway. The sound of which came from Kimaris, who was holding Julia firmly. He did not allow his master to look back at all. His palms were gently pressed up in touch with Julia’s back as he made her lean against his own chest.
The black eyes that peered from within the helmet slowly turned towards her.
“I only returned as much as you got hurt. Since my master had ordered me not to.”
“But the blood…”
“Rather than that, I had already prepared a route for Julia to escape. Bael’s gaze is all preoccupied now, so this will be an opportunity. Hurry on and run away with that human Sword Master.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’ll do my best to stop Bael right here. Things will be a little messy for a certain period of time, but after a while, you’ll definitely be able to quietly take root back in the Human Realm.”
Kimaris was being very careful with his steps. It was all because he had already noticed that every time his hoof were to take on a big step, Julia would immediately flinch as she got shocked by her fractured ankle.
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