Enchanting

“Hmm…?”

Initially, seeing her blown kiss, I was still wondering what act this was, but my confusion didn’t last long before a sharp pain shot through my head.

“Ugh…”

Is it a mental attack?

This is bad. I don’t have an affinity for light magic, so I can’t defend against mental attacks at all.

If it’s so unbearable for me, with my high magic power, Young Miss must be even more severely injured!

I quickly grabbed Young Miss’s hand, trying to lead her out of the alley.

“Young Miss, let’s go quickly… We’ll find the town guards to deal with her later…”

But just then, something strange happened.

“Snap!”

A sharp pain shot through the back of my hand.

Looking again, Young Miss expressionlessly slapped my hand away.

…Am I dreaming?

Young Miss would slap my hand away? How could I have such a dream?

But the burning sensation on the back of my hand, and Young Miss’s hollow and cold gaze, were all telling me that this was all real.

…Why is this happening?

No… I should have realized it earlier.

Since the opponent is a succubus, it should be normal for her to use mind-controlling magic. The blown kiss was probably the signal for charm, right?

But the opponent was female, and her targets were always male, plus I knew that Vladimir needed to perform preparatory actions to manipulate humans, which made me subconsciously think she couldn’t just charm us casually.

…Although human knowledge of demons is indeed lacking, it’s also true that I was careless.

The pain in my heart was far more agonizing than the physical pain.

I failed Young Miss!

“Hehe~ Since you disturbed this concubine’s ‘dining,’ isn’t it reasonable and justifiable for this concubine to take your prey?”

Seeing my troubled expression, Lilith chuckled.

“Let this concubine teach you what ‘dining etiquette’ is!”

At Lilith’s command, Young Miss raised her sword and lunged into my arms.

A swift vertical slash descended. Without time to think, I immediately drew two short swords and blocked in a cross.

“Clang!”

“Ugh!”

…So heavy!

I was no match for Young Miss in terms of strength. I could only use magic to kick up dust to obscure her vision, forcing her to retreat.

…Although I’ve never won against Young Miss in a sword fight, that was always under the condition of restricted magic. If my magic is included, the outcome is uncertain.

That being said, I also didn’t want to hurt Young Miss, so I could only purely defend, trying to find a weakness in Young Miss to incapacitate her without harming her.

But Young Miss’s attacks were absolutely impenetrable… Without using lethal magic, I couldn’t think of how to subdue her.

It might be a bit late to say this now, but… did Young Miss get a cheat code!?

There’s a reason she was chosen as one of the mid-to-late game bosses!

“Hehe~! What a good show!”

Lilith was still smiling, giving off an urge to just go up and punch her.

But I was completely tied up here…

“But just watching the show is meaningless~ This concubine wants you to remember with your body that disturbing others’ ‘dining’ is bad behavior~”

Saying this, she again placed her finger on her lips.

Is she going to…?!

“Uma~”

“…Ugh!”

The sharp pain in my brain caused my body to freeze for an instant.

And in that instant, my weapon was disarmed by Young Miss, followed by a cut that was about to take off my arm…

Ice shield… No, with Young Miss’s strength, an ice shield would be shattered directly, wouldn’t it? Then an earth shield…

However, just as I was about to conjure an earth barrier, the sword blade abruptly stopped in mid-air.

Looking up, Young Miss stood frozen, a conflicted and pained expression on her face.

“No… can’t… hurt Ailen…”

“…Hmm? Why can she defy this concubine’s instructions?”

Even Lilith, standing by, looked puzzled.

Could it be… that Young Miss’s mental strength broke through her control!?

I immediately grabbed Young Miss’s shoulders, staring directly into her eyes, which now held a hint of life.

“Young Miss! Snap out of it!!!”

“Crack!”

I seemed to hear something shatter.

Immediately after, Young Miss collapsed into my arms, one hand covering her face, an expression of disbelief on her features.

“Why… why would I attack Ailen…?”

“Young Miss! You’re finally back to normal!”

It wasn’t just Young Miss who found it unbelievable.

“What!? How could this concubine’s charm fail!? Isn’t this concubine’s charm magic supposed to be stronger?”

Lilith dropped her previous composed expression, her face filled with unconcealed astonishment.

“…No! It didn’t fail, it was overwritten!”

Speaking words I didn’t understand, Lilith glared fiercely at me.

“Who exactly are you!”

Hearing this, I shrugged helplessly.

“Even if you ask me, I can only answer that I am just an ordinary maid.”

Honestly, I don’t know why it worked either.

I was just trying it out, thinking if it didn’t work, I’d find a way to slightly freeze Young Miss to limit her movement… I never expected it to actually work.

It must have been all Young Miss’s effort.

“With such power, how can you be ordinary! To override this concubine’s charm, only a higher-tier…”

“…Unforgivable.”

Suddenly, a killing intent capable of freezing the surrounding air to a halt erupted from my embrace.

Coming back to my senses, the Young Miss in my arms had vanished.

Looking again, she had already rushed in front of Lilith at some unknown point.

“…What!?”

Lilith was clearly startled.

She was about to manipulate the men to protect herself, but found she couldn’t keep up, so she quickly changed her action, placing her hand before her mouth.

But… having fallen for that trick before, Young Miss clearly wouldn’t give her another chance.

Hand raised, sword fell!

“Slash!”

Lilith could no longer use her charm… If you ask why, her right arm had already separated from her body.

“Aghhh!!”

Dark purple viscous liquid gushed from the severed arm, and Lilith let out a gut-wrenching scream.

“You… you dare…”

Lilith’s eyes bulged, bloodshot, her current appearance no longer having any semblance of beauty.

She once again manipulated the men she had charmed, attempting to attack Young Miss.

But how could I let her succeed?

Two stone walls erected, easily separating them.

At the same time, Young Miss brandished her long sword.

In the blink of an eye, all of Lilith’s limbs were no longer hers.

“Ahhhhh!!!”

Lilith was still screaming, but Young Miss directly shoved her long sword into her mouth, stopping her cries.

“Honestly, I really want to dismember you right now and send you straight to hell, but you’re still useful, perhaps some information can be extracted… As for torture, that’s for the specialized interrogators.”

With that, Young Miss pulled the sword from Lilith’s mouth and sharply questioned her:

“Before that, I want to ask you, how much do you know about Vladimir?”

“Lord Vladimir…? This concubine isn’t very clear…”

“Hmm?”

Young Miss glared at her.

“Eeek… This concubine truly doesn’t know! There isn’t much interaction between demons, and this concubine’s rank is too far below his. We usually only gather when the Demon King is present… But the Demon King was already vanquished by the hero!”

It seemed she really didn’t know anything useful…

But all of this should still be left to the professional intelligence interrogators to judge.

“You, you talk too much.”

However, just as we were about to retrieve Lilith, my body shivered again.

I quickly pulled Young Miss away, and then a tall woman with red skin and long horns on her forehead suddenly landed.

“The Demon King dislikes fools who leak information.”

“Pffft!”

She instantly pierced through Lilith’s chest, and just like that, ripped out her heart alive.

“…!”

Lilith stared in shock at the person behind her, but before she could utter a single word, she had already breathed her last.

“Who are you!?”

Young Miss and I, meanwhile, brandished our weapons, vigilantly staring at the dangerous red-skinned woman.

But the woman merely glanced at us, then, without a word, leaped.

That single leap sent her over ten meters high, directly onto a nearby building, and in a flash, she was gone.

“…”

Young Miss and I exchanged glances, then looked at Lilith’s lifeless body on the ground.

“…Let’s call the guards first and transfer all the victims to the nearest hospital.”