Chapter 233: Sleeping Beauty’s Nightmare

Lamia lay sleeping on her stomach on the bed, her consciousness peacefully immersed in a cradle of darkness. During her slumber, the Blessing of Rebirth would gradually adjust this body, using accelerated metabolism to renew it from the inside out, thereby reducing the erosion caused by the Cursed Blood parasitizing deep within her body.

Using a Third-Tier Witch’s ability to summon Magical Beasts with bodily tissue as a medium, several strands of her red hair gathered together and transformed into several small red snakes, keeping watch for her in different directions.

These small Magical Beasts had no ability to think, but they still retained biological instincts. The moment they sensed a threat, they would react and awaken Lamia.

The small snakes vaguely sensed that people had appeared nearby, but they did not clearly perceive any threat, and continued flicking their tongues while occasionally turning toward different directions.

However, at that very moment, the remnants of Cursed Blood parasitizing deep within Lamia’s body suddenly reacted.

As the Cursed Blood activated, that strange aura immediately surged into Lamia’s consciousness, peeling through layers as it invaded the depths of her memories and connected with the person in her memories who was the source of that aura.

A familiar figure intruded into Lamia’s peaceful dream, a blond girl with an indifferent gaze whose face closely resembled Lamia’s.

Alice, the Eternal Maiden, Queen of the Witches, and also the person Lamia feared most……

“Elder Sister!?”

A tremendous shudder exploded through her body, and the sleeping Lamia abruptly opened her eyes.

“Archbishop Kulik……”

At this moment, Leon, on the other side of the barrier, saw signs of movement from the figure and had just been about to remind Archbishop Kulik beside him. At that moment, Archbishop Kulik had just turned around, intending to call someone over to bring what he needed.

However, before he could finish speaking, the figure suddenly sprang up from the bed, and at the same time, the bed let out a tremendous crash as though it were on the verge of breaking apart.

Through the gauze curtains, Leon saw the dark silhouette surge upward like a dancing dragon-serpent. The upper half was the figure of a seductive woman, while the lower half was that of a thick, enormous python.

Before he could react, a thick snake tail suddenly whipped over, piercing through the gauze curtain and striking the quartz barrier like a whip. Brilliant patterns intertwined across the red snake scales.

The instant the gauze curtain was swept aside, Leon caught sight of flying red hair through the opening.

With a thunderous bang, spiderweb-like cracks suddenly appeared across the exceptionally sturdy quartz barrier where the snake tail had struck it, after which the tail rapidly withdrew.

Archbishop Kulik and Leon, who had been standing before the barrier, instinctively retreated. If that strike had landed on a human body, there was no telling how many bones it would have broken.

A shrill hiss rang out from the other side of the barrier, as though some mysterious creature were attempting to intimidate them.

At the same time, they both saw the half-human, half-serpent figure behind the gauze curtains seemingly coil its serpentine lower body and raise its upper body into a stance toward them, as if confronting them.

“This is bad, Lamia has lost control!” Archbishop Kulik shouted, “Emergency situation!”

At the same time, he reacted extremely quickly and activated his Blessing. The cracks that had appeared across the transparent quartz barrier suddenly began repairing themselves.

Lost control? Leon was momentarily bewildered.

He and Archbishop Kulik had done absolutely nothing after entering. Even their voices had been kept low. How had Lamia suddenly awakened and lost control?

The maids busy outside instantly stopped what they were doing and rushed in with practiced coordination. Leon could tell that most of the maids here were actually well-trained female knights. Some drew guns and daggers, while others took out instruments such as bells and short flutes.

Leon could tell that all these instruments had been made from Magical Beast Materials using Witch techniques. The tones they produced naturally carried an effect similar to the special cries of Magical Beasts and could induce resonance in Magical Beasts.

Weiss had once made a flute for Rena to use, which could work together with Rena’s ability to amplify her control over Magical Beasts.

Combined with what Weiss had said about Lamia being awakened using sounds from special instruments, it seemed that Lamia, while asleep or in a state of losing control, became somewhat similar to a Magical Beast, and these instruments could calm her emotions to a certain extent.

At this moment, a woman’s voice suddenly came from within the gauze curtains: “Who’s outside!?”

Archbishop Kulik and the maids all stopped moving, then exchanged looks with one another. When Lamia lost control, she normally should not have been capable of conversation.

“Madam, are you all right?” Archbishop Kulik asked tentatively.

“Who’s outside?” Lamia merely repeated in a lowered voice.

“It’s me, Kulik. I hope you still remember me.” Archbishop Kulik replied. As the person in charge, he actually did not often come personally to check on Lamia’s condition. Usually, someone else handled the errands in between.

Lamia moved, seemingly drawing somewhat closer. Leon watched the figure behind the gauze curtains, which visibly grew somewhat larger.

Then a slit opened in the middle of the gauze curtains, and a long-haired woman poked her head out from within, narrowing a pair of golden eyes as she warily surveyed everyone present.

Her fiery red hair hung loose, cascading smoothly like a waterfall until it nearly dragged along the floor. On her fair face, faint patterns of red snake scales could be seen around the corners of her eyes and across her cheeks. Her golden eyes emitted a brilliant glow, like two flames flickering within their sockets. Her pupils were long, narrow, and vertical like a snake’s, carrying an unusually bewitching quality.

At this moment, she warily examined everyone on the other side of the quartz barrier. Fine beads of cold sweat covered her forehead, and she looked as though she were facing a formidable enemy.

Her gaze swept across everyone present in turn: Kulik, and the maids who had worked here for a long time. Every one of them was a familiar face.

Except for one person.

“Who’s that unfamiliar face?” Lamia carefully scrutinized Leon.

“Just an attendant I brought with me today.” Because others were present, Archbishop Kulik could only introduce Leon this way.

“Mm……” Lamia stared fixedly at Leon, examining him from head to toe.

“Greetings, Madam.” Leon felt somewhat nervous under her stare. Lamia’s pair of golden Magical Beast eyes carried a peculiar forcefulness that reminded him of the Drake he had encountered in the Arend Island Labyrinth.

Lamia ignored Leon’s greeting and continued carefully examining him.

He was a man who looked completely ordinary, and there did not seem to be anything strange about him, yet for some reason, Lamia simply could not shake a sense of unease about him, as though the figure of the girl from her nightmare just now had overlapped with him.

No, how could that be possible? What similarity was there between them at all?

Lamia took a deep breath and finally calmed down, realizing that she truly had simply been disoriented from sleep just now.

“Madam, are you experiencing any physical discomfort?” Archbishop Kulik asked.

It seemed Lamia had not gone berserk from being awakened improperly as she had in the past, but her reaction just now had still been quite unnatural.

He also had to pay attention to Lamia’s physical condition. The Church would not allow anything to happen to Lamia while she was being held here.

“I’m fine. I just had a nightmare.” Lamia let out a breath.

It had been a very long time since she last had a nightmare like that, and it was even rarer for one to leave her mind completely blank and make her overreact like this.

“Are you truly all right?” Archbishop Kulik cautiously confirmed.

“I was just groggy from sleep. Don’t make such a fuss.” After relaxing, Lamia’s expression suddenly became weary again, “I haven’t slept enough, so I’m still a little tired. It’s been a while since you visited, Kulik. What is it?”

“If you don’t mind, may we take ten minutes of your time to talk?” Archbishop Kulik requested.

Leon noticed that Archbishop Kulik was extremely careful with his wording when speaking to Lamia, while Lamia’s responses were exceedingly casual. There was absolutely no indication that this was a relationship between a supervisor and a prisoner.

Ultimately, rather than calling this place a cell, it would be more accurate to call it a mansion built underground. If not for the enormous transparent barrier confining Lamia within this room, she would have looked no different from someone living in her own home.

Faced with Archbishop Kulik’s request, Lamia seemed to consider it for two seconds before finally responding in a somewhat languid tone: “Fine. You all go outside. I’ll change clothes first.”

After saying that, Lamia withdrew behind the gauze curtains again. Archbishop Kulik then waved a hand and temporarily led everyone out of the room, leaving only one maid behind.

After a short while, the maid walked out of the room and said to Archbishop Kulik: “Sir, Madam Lamia says you may enter now.”

Archbishop Kulik and Leon entered the room again. On the other side of the transparent barrier, the gauze curtains had already been drawn open.

Lamia had now returned to human form. She wore a black formal dress embroidered with golden patterns, and her red hair had been simply arranged, falling to her waist.

Leon raised his head together with Archbishop Kulik and looked up at Lamia in surprise.

Two point one meters…… no, she should have been around two point three meters tall.

He had no choice but to look up, because Lamia was simply far too tall. Even though Weiss had mentioned it to him beforehand, her height still exceeded his expectations somewhat.

Just now, Lamia had been hidden behind the gauze curtains, while her lower body had also transformed into a coiled serpentine form beneath her, so he had not been able to fully estimate her size.

Only after seeing her with his own eyes did Leon realize that Lamia could absolutely be called a giant.

At this moment, Lamia looked much calmer than before. The wariness from earlier was gone from her expression, and she even seemed somewhat listless. After returning to human form, her eyes no longer emitted the golden glow they had before, instead appearing as a somewhat dim amber color.

Leon then looked at the room behind Lamia. The room was enormous and lavishly furnished. It had everything one could need: a wardrobe, bookshelves, a desk, a dressing table, a full-length mirror, and all manner of other furniture. The luxurious solid-wood bed had now collapsed in the middle because when Lamia had startled awake from her nightmare and transformed into a Magical Beast, she had broken the bedframe.

“My bed needs replacing. Arrange it quickly. I’ll still need to sleep later.” Lamia said to Archbishop Kulik with her eyes half-open.

“I’ve already had someone arrange it. Thank you for being willing to spare some time to meet us.” Archbishop Kulik replied respectfully.

“Us?” Lamia paid a little more attention to Leon when she heard that, looking at him twice more, “Does this attendant of yours also need to be present?”