Still, Klaus didn't even want to meet this creature. If one had to present a suitable parallel, the creature was strength incarnate. However, it was not the stench that nauseated Klaus before. Nay, it was the mixture of both heat and the stench itself that hung in the air.
Where were they coming from?
Looking around, Klaus noticed the apparent hole on the first floor upstairs. Even an idiot could tell that a Draugr had destroyed the wall to access the hidden room. The Draugr must be quite intelligent to be able to discern the possibility of a hidden room in the first place. Or perhaps it was the vile creature's intuition.
Thinking about it made the human gulp his own saliva. Brynhildr had mentioned that Draugrs in the upper echelon were far more intelligent than their "weaker" brothers and sisters. But could the strongest of the Draugrs had intelligence which surpassed that of humans?
He didn't know. The boy had but the faintest desire to know about such a trivial thing.
At that moment, he merely wanted to escape, but escape was such an impossible task with the toxic atmosphere harassing his every sense. So, should he eliminate the source of such stench right then and there?
The answer was apparent to only himself.
"...I can't."
If the creature's aura was enough to shackle his legs like so, then what hope he had in defeating it? Nay, his chance was nil at best.
"We meet again, my one and only 'partner'."
A voice so melodic and entrancing graced the human's ears without warning, and he stood still for a few moments just from hearing it.
In the next moment, a burst of lurid white flame shot out from the hole before Klaus and vanished just as quickly. Standing in front of him with a white "blade" in hand was a blond girl with young features. Her torn white dress did nothing to taint the beauty that was the ephemeral girl.
"..." She turned around to face Klaus and narrowed her blue eyes. "...Are you here to challenge me once more?"
"...Huh?"
He was so absorbed in what was happening that he forgot the girl speaking to him was the Keeper. The one who protected his Crown from Draugrs.
"I'm afraid you come at the wrong time. As you can see, I'm in no shape to fight you right now."
The girl had lost an arm, and there were multiple wounds covering her entire body. The state that she was in elicited quite a response from Klaus that he took a few steps back in disbelief. How did this happen? How could she be so calm despite the injuries on her body?
From what he could and still remember, this girl had defeated him with only one attack the first time they met. If she was injured like so, then her opponent must have overwhelmed her.
His gaze locked onto the white flaming blade. This weapon could've been the cause of the sultry atmosphere surrounding him. Still, the scorching heat he'd felt before had long gone. The only possible reason as to why this happened was because the Keeper had calibrated her weapon to his favor.
"I can see it in your eyes," said the Keeper with a knowing tone. "You think a Draugr had got the better of me. That may be so, since I underestimated my opponent the first few minutes we fought."
"..." Klaus opened his mouth to say something, but no words came out.
"Though, I can't say I have the situation under control. The Draugr's ability, Faust, grants it insurmountable strength the longer it fights. By now, I'm afraid that creature is about as strong as a B-rank Draugr. It is regrettable that I didn't end the fight when I still could."
The Keeper bit her lip as she recounted the moments before she leaped out of the hidden room.
The white flames she conjured to burn the wretched creature had taken one of its arms in one fell swoop. Perhaps the feat was achievable because her undoing the restraint of her Oubliette caught it off guard. That question remained unanswered since she couldn't see the creature's face in the slightest.
She swung her blade, and it elongated into a whip made only from the flames most known to burn sinners. Her attack scorched the marble floor and turned a chunk of it into pitiable dust. Seeing that, the knight Draugr refrained from launching a counterattack until the moment it saw an opening.
The Keeper's Oubliette was the white flames and nothing else. She commanded such fearsome power without hesitation, as if she wasn't afraid to be consumed by that very power. While this may be the case, there was a time lag between each attack since she shaped the flames into a whip.
Once the whip elongated, she had to make a pulling gesture to retract the flames and condense it into its original shape. The whole sequence took five seconds at the very least, and this fact brought the Draugr nothing but joy and excitement.
The Keeper wielded such a terrifying power, yet she couldn't use it to obliterate her opponent with a single strike. For the Draugr, such power would be an excellent addition to its arsenal of Oubliettes that it'd stolen from the Keepers it'd defeated in the past.
And so, it sneered behind its helmet and spoke the one word that brought chills down the Keeper's spine. The word being uttered was filled with utter malice and contempt that she felt fear for the first time since she was born.
"Oubliette," muttered the Draugr. "Balsamo."
Claiming a Crown meant taking a Keeper's power for oneself.
And for the knight Draugr, it had certainly taken a few Oubliette—power exclusive to the Keepers—for its own sinful uses.
"!" The Keeper twisted one leg to evade her foe's attack with no knowledge of its nature. Would the Oubliette be a sharp blade, or an ear-splitting roar of lightning bolt, or hellfire akin to her own Oubliette?