Editing Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance:Volume17 Chapter2 (section)

===Part 7===

"Hey, do not retreat! Faltering will be a taint to honor of the glorious Knights of Saint Lugia!"

"B-But Lady Ineza, this spirit&mdash;gahhhhhh!"

A knight in elemental waffe armor was struck by a massive hammer, sending her flying spectacularly.

Falling headfirst into a sand dune, she stopped moving.

"...! Damn it, I can't believe... the best of the knights... all wiped out...?"

The knight dressed in vestments of red on a white background, Ineza Sandra, groaned. She was the commander of this expeditionary force.

All over this land of red sand were fallen knights of the Holy Kingdom. Any of them would be an elite templar knight heaped with respect and accolades back in their country.

Such an elite force of knights, yet they were no match at all here.

Looking down on the knights was a giant humanoid spirit with a head shaped like a crocodile's.

The spirit featured muscular limbs and eyes glowing red. Held in its hand was a giant hammer glowing with golden light.

Against a single spirit&mdash;

Tasked with finding the Tomb, the Knights of Saint Lugia were crushed, unable to put up any resistance.

This was a nightmare.

<&mdash;Art thou one who is worthy?>

The spirit's voice echoed all around, carried by the desert's dry wind.

Faced with the spirit asking ''for the third time''&mdash;

"...! What do you mean by worthy!? What the hell do you want!?"

Ineza shouted back in a rage.

The spirit stared at her with completely emotionless eyes.

<&mdash;Thou art unworthy of stepping foot into the Demon King's land. Leave now.>

A gale howled as the spirit swung the hammer at Ineza.

She frantically raised her elemental waffe, a holy spear, intending to block&mdash;

In that very instant before the hammer swung down...

A small figure rushed out in front of her.

"You would do best to value your own life more, Captain."

"...!"

A black-haired woman had blocked the spirit's hammer.

Instead of the holy vestments of the Saint Lugia Knights, she was wearing a healer's white robe.

The woman slightly lifted the small set of glasses perched on her nose and spoke.

"The Sphinx of the Demon King's Tomb is clearly beyond your ability."

"...! Dame Lurie&mdash;!"

Ineza angrily shouted the name of the woman who had saved her.

Military healer, Lurie Lizaldia&mdash;Former eighth of the Ordesian Empire's Numbers.

Especially adept in healing spells of spirit magic, she held the rank of "Holy Maiden."

Having betrayed her home country of Ordesia, she was now serving the Holy Kingdom of Lugia's Cardinal Millennia Sanctus as a guest general.

Earlier, Ineza had clearly ordered her to stand by in the sand dragon ship&mdash;

"Stand down, Dame Lurie. You are getting in the way of battle."

Making no effort to hide her scorn, Ineza spoke. In her eyes, this woman, who had betrayed her own country as one of Ordesia's Numbers, was completely untrustworthy.

Even though Lurie was Millennia's trusted subordinate, Ineza considered herself higher in rank, as the commander of this expeditionary force at least.

"There's no way I can just stand back. At this rate, you really are going to be wiped out."

Lurie shook her head, easily pushing aside the hammer with her demon sword.

The spirit hovered in the air, looking down at the new enemy. Then&mdash;

<&mdash;Thou art unworthy of stepping foot into the Demon King's land. Leave now.>

It repeated exactly what it had just said.

"Sorry, no can do."

Lurie shrugged and smiled ironically.

"After all, my master wishes to obtain what is inside the Tomb&mdash;"

<&mdash;Unworthy one, leave now!>

The spirit's eyes glowed red and a high-temperature beam shot out from the jewel on its forehead.

Within the blink of an eye, the spot where Lurie had been standing was surrounded by blazing flames.

"&mdash;Oh my, what a pain."

However, Lurie was no longer there.

With a flash of the sword, she swung her demon sword fluidly in midair. Completely incongruent with her rank of Holy Maiden, the demon sword was shrouded in ominous miasma.

"O king of soul-devouring demon swords, slaughter the enemy before me&mdash;Bloody Strike!"

The blood-colored blade glowed crimson&mdash;

Lurie Lizaldia's demon sword instantly sent the hammer flying together with the amputated arm holding it.

The severed arm rolled in the air while gradually turning into particles of light and disappearing.

However, the spirit made no change in expression and repeated itself.

<&mdash;Thou art unworthy of stepping foot into the Demon King's land. Leave now... Leave now... Leave now...>

The spirit's massive body gradually disappeared into the blowing sand and dust.

Lurie stabbed the demon sword into the ground by her foot.

There was not even a single drop of sweat on her forehead.

Ineza Sandra could not help but feel terrified.

It was hard to imagine this to be the power of a Holy Maiden specialized in the art of healing.

Lurie turned her head towards Ineza.

"That Sphinx is something like a hallucination generated by the Demon King's power. A guardian for selecting visitors to enter the Tomb. Sure enough, failing to obtain the Demon Slayer in Ordesia has serious consequences. If only I had that sacred sword, I'd be recognized as worthy, I suppose&mdash;"

"Dame Lurie..."

Ineza gulped and spoke.

"At this rate, the glorious Saint Lugia Knights will face total annihilation at the hands of these ''spirits''. You should retreat and contact the Kingdom."

Seven days had passed since this company of paladins were sent to Ghul-a-val.

Initially optimistic regarding this search mission for the Demon King's Tomb, they had encountered resistance from powerful archdemon-class spirits like the Sphinx just now.

Of course, these knights were the Holy Kingdom's elite and had previously completed quests to eliminate archdemon-class spirits in the past. In fact, they had defeated multiple instances of these guardian spirits.

However, the spirit kept reappearing no matter how many times they defeated it, attacking without regard for night or day.

This company, with fully twelve spirit knights, was reaching the brink of collapse.

"Indeed, the Tomb's Sphinx is quite a pain."

Lurie used a finger to lift her glasses.

Kneeling next to injured knights, she used spirit magic to heal them one after another.

"But retreat is not an option. Des Esseintes' orders are absolute."

"...! Are you telling us to face total annihilation just like that!?"

Confronted with the captain's emotional outburst, Lurie shook her head.

"I have already taken action and requested reinforcements from the Kingdom."

"Requested reinforcements?"

"Dame Millennia and Luminaris' Sacred Spirit Knights are heading here."

"Did you say the Sacred Spirit Knights?"

Ineza raised her eyebrows.

Indeed, Luminaris Saint Leisched hailed from a prestigious family at the city of Alexandria. Having fought her way to the Blade Dance finals before, she was the Holy Kingdom's most honored knight.

However, even if she brought her subordinates along as reinforcements, they would still be helpless against the infinitely spawning Sphinx spirits.

"Luminaris will bring ''that'' along. A chance for a field test too."

"...''That''?"

"Yes, if we blow away this entire desert, the troublesome guardians will all disappear, right?"

While healing the injured knights, Lurie smiled coldly.

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