The Witch Cultist
—Rem knowing nothing about the Sanctuary was unexpected.
But considering it's something related to the Witch, and Rem harbored deep hatred toward the Witch Cult back then, it's not completely incomprehensible.
Still, Beatrice doesn't intend to explain either... What should I do now?
Subaru sighed after sitting and thinking for half a day without finding a solution.
"Lord Natsuki Subaru, do you wish to go to the Sanctuary?" Suddenly, a shadow blocked Subaru's line of sight. The tall demi-human maid Frederica stood before him, asking the question.
"You know where the Sanctuary is?" Subaru asked casually.
"The Sanctuary is deep within the Cremaldy Forest of Lost Paths. Lord Roswaal said that if you wished to go, I should give you this. The Sanctuary is a perfect refuge. This is the key to enter it." As Frederica spoke, she handed him a blue crystal necklace.
"Cremaldy Forest of Lost Paths, huh..." Subaru was a little surprised but still took the necklace. Looking up at the sky, he judged it to be around 3 PM. With Patrasche's speed, it would take only tens of minutes to reach the forest. Subaru instantly made his decision and stood up.
"Do you plan to go now, Lord Natsuki Subaru? That forest becomes very dangerous at night. It would be better to depart tomorrow."
Subaru halted at the voice behind him. He knew his own strength well, and considering the time required for investigation, it might indeed stretch into the night.
"This necklace—is it only usable by one person? Or can it allow a group to enter the Sanctuary?" He asked while shaking the necklace.
"There's no limit on the number of people."
"I see. Thanks." Subaru nodded.
—If it's dangerous at night, then of course there's some danger during the day too. And if there's danger, he might as well bring Brian and his team along.
Having decided, Subaru headed to the center of the courtyard.
.
.
.
The next day, Subaru and his party left the mansion. To avoid the dangers of night, they didn't bring much—just lunch.
Subaru was accompanied by Brian's six-man team.
Though small in number, the team's composition was well-rounded: thief, tank, warrior, mage, healer, and archer.
"Oh oh, I see the flat—" Before Subaru could finish, a violent gust of wind shoved his words back down his throat.
Patrasche had suddenly stopped, which caused Subaru's divine protection to fail temporarily.
Thanks to his training, he instinctively tightened his thighs and lowered his posture, preventing himself from being thrown off by inertia.
Subaru trusted Patrasche deeply, and without hesitation, he drew the sword at his waist. As he looked up, he saw a familiar figure in a black robe floating in midair.
"Witch Cult!?" Subaru shouted reflexively and immediately thrust his sword forward without hesitation.
But his opponent was no ordinary grunt.
Even midair, and even while swinging his blade, the cultist used a short dagger in his left hand to block Subaru's attack. Subaru quickly followed up with an upward slash that broke the cultist's solid defense.
No commands were needed—Subaru's best partner, Patrasche, seized the moment.
She lunged with all her might, her hard, scale-covered head slamming into the wide-open midsection of the Witch Cultist.
"~~"
A great splash of blood dyed the cultist's hood red. He flew back at high speed and collapsed, motionless.
"Well done." Subaru patted Patrasche's head with relief and urgently scanned his surroundings.
Clearly, not every ground dragon was Patrasche.
At a glance, three ground dragons had already become headless corpses.
One of their riders, a mage, was dead.
The archer was soaked in blood on one side.
A Witch Cultist had been counter-killed near the thief.
Brian had also slain one himself.
In that extremely brief clash, the remaining Witch Cultists grouped together. Seven black-robed figures stared coldly at them. Then Subaru saw something familiar—black invisible hands extended from the person in the center. Even though there were only two, Subaru broke into a cold sweat.
"Be careful." A single invisible hand swept across. Though slower and weaker than what Subaru had faced before, he quickly shouted a warning.
"Cyril, smoke!" Brian, at the front, had sensed the danger.
He shouted, and the thief threw out several black orbs that exploded into smoke, covering the battlefield.
Then, invisible forces slashed through the fog, cutting it apart. Seeing the clear trajectory, the four ground dragons braced and leapt high to avoid the 'whip.'
"In front of an enemy with ranged attacks, jumping into the air where you can't move is just stupid." Subaru remembered Reinhard's teachings as he emerged from the fog and saw the Witch Cultist chanting magic. Then the sensation of the Witch Cultist dying to him and Patrasche hit him like a wave.
The looming danger paralyzed Subaru's mind.
—No time to dodge.
Am I... going to die?
A powerful force from below flung Subaru into the air—Patrasche had thrown him.
Thanks to training, he rolled midair and landed on his feet. Turning back, he saw the charred corpse of a dragon.
"Don't zone out—tell me where the attacks are coming from." Snapped back to reality, Subaru fought down his grief and observed the situation.
The battle wasn't over. Except for the archer, who was wounded and protecting the healer, the remaining battle-hardened mercenaries had sacrificed their mounts to survive and launched a fierce counterattack.
A flying axe accurately split a Witch Cultist's skull, while poisoned arrows hit their mark.
Now the numbers were even. Brian, who had roused Subaru, had already reached the front lines.
"Right and above—two invisible hands in total!" Subaru shouted.
Brian took a deep breath.
Between Subaru's warning and the divine protection's instinct, he narrowly dodged the invisible hands, then slashed.
A Cultist's broken sword and body were both cut in half. Brian dodged again, then countered—his blade struck the invisible hand directly.
"~~"
Brian clicked his tongue in annoyance and charged like a bullet. He kicked up the earth, appearing in an instant before the Witch Cultist using those powers.
The cultist panicked and tried to retract the unseen hands—but it was already too late.
Three slashes struck at the same time.
Three bloody gashes burst open.
One final vertical cut split the still-falling body in two.
Without hesitating, the ever-cautious Brian leapt back and hurled a fire magic stone at the corpse—just to be sure.