Bab 53: You are naive. You’re human after all
"A lie? …Is it really a lie…"
With a smirk, the Red Queen lifted her cane and swung it with all her strength at the skeleton. A gruesome scream resounded, and the one called Albert wobbled and shook as he foamed.
"Gyaaa… aaa… gaga…"
"A lie! You said it's a lie! Hyah! Hahaha!"
"Aga…! Gaga…"
Albert lay on the ground, convulsing as he was struck all over his body.
"Ki… ll… kill…"
He let out a hiccup-like sound and shuddered as he emitted a faint voice. Then, as if by chance, he reached out towards Iberis and strained his voice as if appealing to her through his obscured eye sockets.
"Plea… se… kill… me… please…"
Seeing Iberis stiffened in a daze with her hand over her mouth, Jack, who was speechless at the sight of the scene, hurriedly caught her by the shoulders.
"Iberis, snap out of it!"
"No… that's not… t-that's not… it's too cruel… such thing… ah…"
Iberis was staring at Albert, shivering and trembling. The Red Queen raised her cane and thrust it at Albert's back. Another scream echoed, and the Nightmare laughed, as she sneered.
"Hihihi… he is asking to be killed? Your beloved Albert is asking for death, isn't he?"
"S-Stop it…" Iberis regained her senses there, turning pale and shouting at the Red Queen. "Stop! Don't do… any more horrible things to Albert…"
With a grin, the Red Queen eyed Iberis as if she were licking her.
"Please… please… please…" Trembling on her knees, Iberis said to the Red Queen. Her fluctuating legs distorted and disappeared as if they were going to burst. Even after witnessing her opponent utterly lose the will to fight, the Red Queen did not withdraw the staff she had stuck in Albert. Then she snorted, raised her foot, and stomped on his head.
"… Stoppppp!" Iberis exclaimed.
–She can't fight.
Jack, who was the first to recognize this, hastily caught up her small body with one hand. The swamp at the Red Queen's feet rose up and became like a gigantic serpent, blowing up and striking the place where the two had leaped back. The violet swamp pierced the ground in front of them, creating a massive hole with white smoke.
"Gu…!"
Before Jack could even grit his teeth and retreat, the spot where the serpent had pierced boiled over, forming yet another swamp. It rose, and the sludge snake raised its neck.
"Iberis! Concentrate your attention! Send out your Bandersnatch!"
Jack yelled at her, but Iberis just shuddered and clutched her head, seemingly unable to react. Once Jack had her down on the ground, he stood in front of her protectively and aimed his Dáinsleif at the swamp serpent.
What do I do…?
He forced his jumbled thoughts back to reality.
Whether the man that the Red Queen brought out of the swamp was still 'alive' or 'dead', he didn't know… It was highly possible that this was the man who was believed to have been killed protecting Iberis, Albert, if the sight before him was not a hallucination.
Iberis had mentioned that he was slaughtered before her eyes and that she herself had her legs shredded.
She can't fight.
She couldn't fight it.
Despicable…
He clenched his teeth firmly. The Nightmare had obviously known that Iberis was in this shelter. She knew and had made preparations.
To hunt efficiently.
Or to torture…
Grasping the Dáinsleif tightly, Jack sucked in a breath and let it out.
–I won't let you do so.
I won't allow that to happen.
I'll never let them suffer any further.
–I will not allow it.
He slumped down with his Dáinsleif at his side.
Then Jack quietly remarked. "Iberis, look at me over there."
The girl looked up at Jack with a face mangled by fear, despair, and tears.
"You and those you care for. I swear I'll save you and your loved ones. So…!"
The swamp serpent lifted its head and charged at Jack and Iberis. Jack wielded it in a wide horizontal sweep, scraping the ground with the tip of his long sword.
The swamp serpent was split in two from the body part, and instead of stopping there, the slash shot out towards the Red Queen. Not even a change in expression, the wicked Nightmare sank into the swamp. Passing over her head, the slash pierced the wall of the shelter, gouged out the barrier for several meters, and exploded with a burst of air. A whirlwind of smoke and air billowed out.
"Don't cry! I'll save you!"
With a tremendous amount of sweat, Jack shouted and rushed towards the swamp with his Dáinsleif.
"I see… it's the White Knight, 'the sword which severs all'. That's a tricky one to deal with…"
The Red Queen poked her head out of the swamp and muttered softly. Jack lifted his long sword and flung it at her, hoping to split the entire swamp in two.
"But you are naive. You're human after all."
The Red Queen grinned and raised her hand, snapping her fingers. There was a sharp pain in Jack's leg as he was about to swing the Dáinsleif down.
"Gu…"
He involuntarily halted his movement and dropped his sword. With a muffled sound, the Dáinsleif tumbled to the ground.
There was a horrific pain in his ankle. Looking back, Jack felt a chill run down his spine. Albert's body was hanging on to his leg as if it were entwined with his own. His teeth were jammed into his ankle.
"Aaa… gagaga…"
Grunting, Albert bit Jack's leg. The force was immense; his flesh was about to be shredded.
Jack attempted to shake it off, but "that" bit into his leg and intertwined with him with bone-crushing intensity. Unable to bear it, Jack fell to the ground but still reached for his Dáinsleif.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone