For Sale. Fallen Lady. Never Used.

“Everyone, get ready with your magic. It would be even better if we sprinkled some Undead Assimilation Potion.”

Creak.

A hand with nothing but white bones sticking out emerged from the ground.

It was the welcoming hand of the dead.

By now, the cultists, who were busy fueling their own inferiority complexes and proving their faith, must have noticed our presence.

“Shield!”

“Shield, Invisible Guardian!”

Carla and Elisha quickly cast their shields first.

Since I was already wearing several defensive magical items, instead of casting a shield myself, I pulled out a sky-blue potion from my inventory.

Right around when the skeletons had fully emerged, I sprinkled an Undead Assimilation Potion on each of our heads.

Then, I took out another bottle and asked Iona.

“Should I sprinkle some on you, Professor?”

“No! No! I’m a vampire, so the effects are a bit lost on me!”

“Ah.”

Right. Vampires weren’t exactly a common race. Being classified as undead and dealing with blood meant they were overflowing with vitality.

Iona smiled wickedly at the skeletons beginning to stand up.

“And there’s no need to confuse the senses!”

Iona raised one hand and chanted a short spell.

“As much as I weep blood, let my enemies pour out their lives. Blood Rain!”

Snap!

The moment she snapped her fingers.

Out of nowhere, blood started to rain down from the sky, targeting everywhere but where we were. And then…

Bubble, bubble.

The skeletons began to melt away from where the blood droplets touched.

-Grooo….

-Click, clack….

-Keeeuk….

The undead, having risen just a short while ago, sat back down and sank into the dirt.

It wasn’t elemental magic, but her main skill, blood magic.

Considering that Iona, a high-level magician, chanted even briefly, it must be a mid-level magic spell.

In just a few seconds, the surrounding undead were cleanly swept away.

Iona proudly puffed out her rather impressive chest towards us, who awkwardly lowered our staffs.

“Ahem! Ahem! Now do you see what Professor Iona is capable of? Don’t worry too much, and just stick close and follow! I’ll send a few your way later to deal with! They won’t count towards your grade, but I’ll be watching, so do your best to take them down!”

Iona, with her index fingers at her eyes, made a stern face in jest.

We smiled at her antics and braced ourselves.

“Understood. Then we’ll be counting on you to lead.”

“Uh…?”

Iona hesitated for a moment, but upon seeing our well-practiced triangular formation, her bloody eyes widened.

“Excellent! Excellent! Then let’s start now! We just need to go down to the basement of the cabin, right?”

“Well… that’s true, but seeing the Professor’s firepower, it seems unnecessary to go down through a trap-laden passage. We could set something up from our side to prevent them from escaping…”

Recalling the structure of the underground facility known among users as the cabin branch, I tapped the ground with my foot, estimating a suitable spot.

“Professor Iona, could you collapse this area, please?”

“Sure, sure. That’s doable, but… where exactly is this?”

“If my calculations are correct, we should be able to reach the local branch leader’s office in one go.”

“Ah? Ah? Then we might be able to retrieve some documents or something before they can dispose of or smuggle them out?”

“Exactly. As for the collapsing ceiling… we can just lift it with magic later.”

Iona’s face, previously full of mischief, now carried a hint of chillness as it turned grim.

“Alright. Everyone, step back behind me.”

Following Iona’s instructions to move back, she first cast a barrier around the only exit, the cabin.

Muttering something under her breath, she soon wrapped the entire cabin in a dark red barrier.

“The Curtain of Vampirism…”

Carla murmured in admiration as she observed this.

I knew what the Curtain of Vampirism was too. If a vampire saw a player as an easy target, they would first spread this magic to block the escape route.

Its effect was simple—a basic function of physical and magical blocking.

However, it was terrifying because it had the additional effect of absorbing the life force of surrounding enemies to strengthen itself.

Without a powerful attack or if the caster’s ability doesn’t surpass it, one would likely end up unable to break the barrier and dry out.

Well, there were some tricks to easily counter it… but I doubt these cultists would know that.

Having blocked our retreat, Iona extended her hands towards the spot I had indicated earlier.

“Piercing Thorn Spear. Blood Covenant. Sprouting Vines. Let no one escape from my harpoon… Bloody Thorn Spear.”

This time, perhaps to increase the power, Iona chanted the spell methodically while conjuring a magic circle in front of her palm.

The bloody magic circle spun rapidly, sketching an unknown script in its own system.

The magic circle shone brightly, and from its center, thorn vines made of dark red blood spurted out.

Crack.

The vine, bristling with sharp thorn-like blades, quickly burrowed into the ground.

Soon, the ground was lifted whole.

The divided thorns held the soil like roots, maintaining its shape without collapsing.

Iona, as if opening a lid, lifted not just the covering dirt but also the ceiling of the underground structure.

Without hesitation, she leaped inside, so I peeked inside.

“Aaaah!”

Thorns from another vine that had burrowed inside impaled a cultist’s limbs, pinning him to the wall.

The cultist was in their usual drab black robe.

However, the symbol embroidered with golden thread on his chest, a bulging eye, was striking.

Found them.

That was a symbol only high-ranking members of the Cardinal of Intolerance could use.

And this place. The rank of the head of this cabin branch was that of a bishop.

Iona, having subdued the branch head in one fell swoop, casually sat down in a large chair and waved at us.

“It’s okay! It’s okay! Come on down!”

“Uh… yes.”

Although it was my idea, I jumped down into the hole, wondering if it was supposed to be this easy.

Carla and Elisha seemed to share my sentiment; their expressions were a bit perplexed.

The branch head, impaled by thorns and pinned to the wall like an insect specimen, bulged his eyes the moment he saw my face.

“You…! You damned spawn have joined hands with that madwoman to thwart our grand endeavor!”

At the same time, his eyes started to twinkle with a sinister light.

So, I immediately blinded him.

“Light!”

“Argh!”

The branch head tried to force his eyes open but ultimately couldn’t resist the physiological reaction and closed them.

“The nerve. Trying to use your evil eye on me…”

Crack!

“Aaaahhhhhhh!!”

“…Um, yeah.”

Before I could finish my sentence, the divided thorns pierced both of his eyes, blinding him.

Iona, the owner of the thorns, gave me a wink as if to say well done, then immediately kicked the branch head’s shin with a serious face.

Thud!

“Urgh…!”

“You. You dare to glare at my student like that? It seems like you don’t understand the situation… From now on, you’ll spill everything you know.”

“Heh… cough. The Cardinal of Intolerance watches over this place with a biased eye. You won’t hear anything from me… Aaaahhh!”

The thorns that crushed his eyes wriggled, injecting something into the inside of the branch head.

He started foaming at the mouth and then stopped talking.

Iona tapped the shin she had hit earlier with a look so sharp it seemed it could cut, chillingly cold.

“That’s for me to decide. Not you or your god. I, Iona Francheska, will decide. Got it?”

“Y-you madwoman…”

Though he was cursing Iona, his voice had noticeably less bite than before.

Why was Iona so intimidating when faced with a cultist right in front of her?

In H&A, Iona rarely showed her fighting seriously, so I didn’t realize…

This is what it felt like.

My admiration and bewilderment were short-lived as Iona, returning from her cruel vampire charisma to her usual goofiness, pointed towards the office door with a giggle.

“Student Yandel! Student Yandel! The earlier scream will bring other cultists here! While I interrogate this one, could you take care of the intruders?”

“Grr… Okay, leave it to me.”

She must have planned this from the start.

With the Curtain of Vampirism blocking our retreat, all the remaining cultists and monsters would rush towards us.

But this was a small branch in the mountains.

Even if they come in large numbers, they’d be at most lay followers or low-level undead.

That would be manageable.

Maybe I’d even finish cleaning up before Iona’s interrogation was over.

I stepped forward towards the door and said,

“Elisha, you stay by my side and prevent them from approaching. Carla, I’ll leave the heavy hitting to you in the meantime.”

“Sure. I’ll take this opportunity to show you that I haven’t just been idling around.”

“You can count on me, Master! Thanks to you, I’ve become a bit stronger than before!”

I smiled warmly at their reliable responses, and I gathered my magic.

“Frozen chill. Soaring spear. Pierce through, Ice Spear.”

Ssshhh!

The sharp ice that formed at the tip of my staff was launched towards the door.

Crack!

“Aaaahhhhh!”

The sound of wood breaking was followed by a high-pitched scream.

The signal that the cultist subjugation had begun.

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