Chapter 1254: Subjugation Complete

One by one, we continued recruiting the Hero Zombies using Evil God’s Trust. The only ones left were Apollonius, Yuvel, and Oldona.

Apollonius seemed to be having fun in his duel with Sybilla, so we can save him for last.

『Guess we start with Yuvel and Oldona.』

Honestly, Yuvel didn’t seem to be taking the fight seriously. It’s as if he had no motivation. I remember him complaining that this wasn’t a job for a king, but he shouldn’t be able to ignore the orders of his summoner.

In which case, is there some reason for him not getting serious?

『Either way, Yuvel first!』

I activated Evil God’s Trust on Yuvel, but he simply brushed my attempt aside.

The man’s blue eyes glared in our direction.

「Finally our turn, huh. But I’ll have you know that I have no intention of serving a weakling.」

「Yeah, show us your strength!」

Yuvel slowly stepped forward while brandishing a massive sword even larger than himself. His light and graceful stride showed no signs of the sword’s weight.

It became clear just by watching his movements.

This guy was strong.

His strength was on a completely different level from the info my appraisal revealed. Well, considering how most of his accessories were imbued with mana, he probably had a magical tool for fooling appraisal.

Fran took a step back the moment Yuvel entered swinging range. Seeing that, Yuvel gave an impressed smile.

「At least you seem to have sharp eyes.」

「Uh-huh, she just read the distance perfectly.」

「Either way, it’s about time to start.」

「Hey, how about choosing a friend to join you? We can make it two-on-two.」

Just two-on-two…? We could always gang up on them with everyone aside from Sibylla since she’s busy. Even so, Oldona’s confident tone indicated that he knew Fran would take the challenge.

It seems he deduced that Fran would accept the provocation based on her personality.

「Then let me join her!」

「Amanda, thanks.」

「Leave it to me, Fran-chan!」

Fran and Amanda stood side by side with smiles. Being able to fight together like this was something they’ve always wanted to do.

And so, the two-on-two battle began. Seeing Yuvel’s clash with Fran only further proved his strength. He may have reached the level of Swordking.

What’s even more extraordinary was his sheer strength. He just pushed back Fran in a head-on clash. In other words, his swordsmanship was on par with Fran, and he exceeded her in strength. We didn’t seem to have much of an advantage speed-wise either.

He’s supposedly famous for annihilating a horde of 300,000 goblins, but wouldn’t that be nothing for a man of his caliber?

Fran seemed to be enjoying the fight. It’s been a while since we had an opponent who could keep up in a sword fight. The fact that Yuvel had yet to reveal everything at his disposal must be exciting as well.

I glanced to the side to find that Oldona was quite formidable as well. Despite being dressed like a mage, he managed to evade Amanda’s whip several times. That said, the man was by no means stronger than her.

Oldona was gradually pushed into a corner, before finally eating a direct hit. Following that, Amanda continued pummeling him without allowing any chance for a reversal. Moreover, she even had the leisure of supporting Fran.

「I give, I give! Any more and I might develop a weird kink for this stuff! So please, spare me!」

「Dammit Oldona! Stop giving up so easily!」

「He can’t beat Amanda.」

「So it seems… Tch!」

Yuvel got his leg caught by Amanda’s whip, and I slammed him with a series of spells. The force of the explosion broke Yuvel’s stance, leaving him wide open.

Finally, Fran delivered a powerful slash to sever Yuvel’s right arm, which flew off along with his greatsword.

「…I admit defeat.」

「Oh no, now you’ve lost too.」

「Because you gave up the second you got hit.」

「You can’t blame me for that. My opponent was pretty strong!」

Despite their banter, Yuvel and Oldona didn’t seem very upset. The event was practically a mock battle.

「Hehe, victory is ours!」

Meanwhile, Fran was pretty smug after winning the 2v2 match. She smiled up at Amanda, who had walked over to our side.

「Amanda, we won!」

「Of course! It’s only natural!」

Amanda was also all smiles, while patting Fran’s head at ultra-high speeds. So fast that it looked like her hair was about to catch fire. She’s gonna go bald if you continue like that, so stop!

「Oi, hurry up and do it.」

「Yeah, but make sure it doesn’t hurt too much!」

「You know we are no longer capable of feeling pain.」

「Come on, it’s just a figure of speech.」

Again, they didn’t seem to feel any frustration at losing. Both of them accepted my domination without resistance.

『Now the only one left is Apollonius…』

（Sibylla seems to be having fun.）

『Yeah.』

In front of us, the current Red Sword Captain and the former Red Sword Captain were having a cheerful duel while laughing.

「Hahaha! Old man! This kind of feeble fire can’t even scorch my skin! Maybe we can try grilling meat on it later!」

「Ridiculous! And I see you’re using some kinda fancy sword now!」

「This is the new relic created from a Dungeon Core! The relic of the Red Sword Knights!」

「Hoh? So that research bore fruit! Seems fine as long as it’s not bestowed by the king!」

「Hahaha! Of course! In the name of the Red Sword, we fight only for the people!」

「Indeed! In the name of the Red Sword!」

Wait, what are they talking about? Is the relic of the Red Sword Knight special somehow? Considering how Apollonius isn’t familiar with it, the relic may have been completed during Sibylla’s tenure as captain.

As much as I’d hate to interrupt their reunion, it’s about time to bring Apollonius under control.

「Sibylla! Time’s up!」

「Tch! Fine! Then let’s finish this! I’ll show you a glimpse of my sword’s power!」

「Bring it on!」

Sibylla imbued mana into the red sword in her hands. Then, the flow of mana reversed, as the sword granted Sibylla strength.

As a result, Sibylla underwent a transformation.

「Whoa? What the hell? That’s pretty amazing!」

「Right? See if you can block this!」

Her arm grew several times larger, and gained draconic features. It was as if Sibylla had transplanted a dragon’s arm onto herself.

She went on to slam her sword down on Apollonius with the mutated arm. Meanwhile, Apollonius attempted to block the hit with his halberd, but something offset his guard.

This was Sibylla’s tail. It wasn’t just her arm; the transformation apparently caused her to sprout a tail as well.

「Orah!」

「Gwoooh!」

Sibylla’s blow severed Apollonius’s right arm before blowing a massive crater into the earth. Apollonius collapsed on the spot, as the attack had also drained a massive amount of his mana.

It seems Sibylla had some sort of draining ability too.

「Hahaha! How do you like that!」

「Dammit! That sword is ridiculous!」

「Ahahaha!」

Well, at least that made him easier to control. Let’s get this over with.