It was a woman. 

A woman who appeared to have a robust physique landed in front of him and used a court sword to block his attack. Despite its antiquity and apparent rust, the court sword was formidable enough to fend off Vandread's spiritual weapon. 

For the time being, at least, it was as though the woman’s court sword was able to absorb the energy coming from Vandread’s spiritual sword as his thirst for masacre slowly faded away along with the depreciation of the radiant light surrounding his spiritual sword.

As soon as Vandread realized what the woman was capable of, he made an immediate move in the opposite direction by taking a few steps backward. He proceeded with extreme caution in order to forestall the possibility of the woman completely ingesting all of his spiritual energy.

However, before Vandread could even realize what was happening, the woman was already able to absorb sufficient amounts of spiritual energy from him. This was sufficient to cause him to gasp for air after he had taken retreat.

“Who are you?!” Vandread asked with rancor. The resentment and loathing that he harbored for the woman could be seen clearly in his eyes.

Vandread had a good view of the woman's entire body despite the distance between them.  She was dressed in dirty fabric that was held in place by a golden belt that was wrapped around her chest and hips. Her wrists and ankles were both adorned with woolen bangles to complete the look. 

Her hair, which was as black as midnight, was tucked behind her ears, and a wreath-like arrangement of ornaments made of topaz gemstones was placed around her forehead.

However, over and above the appearance that she wore, Vandread was able to make out the color of her almond-shaped eyes. It had a faint emerald hue to it, which stood out against her bronzed complexion. 

After some time had passed, the woman eventually asked, "Shouldn't I be the one to ask that question instead?" Her attention was also focused on Vandread the entire time. 

However, in contrast to the menacing aura that Vandread was exuding, the woman gave off the impression of being more composed.

The fact that she was simply exuding an aura of superiority may have been one of the contributing factors to Vandread's increased feelings of dread in response to the unexpected appearance of the woman. 

It was impossible to prevent, which was especially frustrating considering the fact that the earl had only just recently been able to regain some of his strength.

From what can be seen of their state right now, it would appear that Vandread was at a disadvantage due to the fact that his physical strength was not as stable as it once was.  

And judging by the spiritual energy that seemed to be emanating from the woman, it appeared as though she possessed a power that was comparable to or even greater than that of Vandread. 

If he made a single mistake, he knew that there was no way he could avoid being crushed to death just like the ogres that he had previously slaughtered.

“That’s not the answer I wish to hear.” Vandread told her instead.

The woman gave him a menacing look before turning away. The sensation of numbness spread rapidly throughout Vandread's limbs in an instant. From where he stood, it appeared as though his entire body had become rigid and he had lost control of his own body.

Vandread had a sense of bewilderment. He does not have any ideas or plans for how he could pull himself out of his current situation. If he still possessed the same amount of strength and power that he had in the past, then he wouldn't find himself in as much of a stressful situation as he is now.  

Unfortunately, he was unable to thaw out of his frozen state. He had no choice but to stood still and watch the woman to see what she would do next. 

The woman eventually uttered, "I suppose you must have been feeling the numbness throughout your entire body by now."

She was aware of everything that was occurring within Vandread's physical being. It should not come as a shock to Vandread because the woman was the one who made it possible for all of this to happen to him in the first place. He looked at the woman in front of him and realized she was to blame.

“It was you, isn’t it?” Vandread replied.

The woman's brows furrowed together and a look of bewilderment appeared on her face as she listened to what had been said. “Who? Me? Why would I do such a thing?”

"Isn't this something that you've done?"

"Oh, please, I don't engage in sleazy practices such as that," she said.

Vandread's current situation was causing him great distress. He was so weak that he could hardly move at all, and even the act of speaking seriously sapped his strength to an exhausting degree. Even though it was difficult for him, he managed to keep the conversation going with the woman.

“Then, if this wasn’t you, how come you are well aware of it?”

The woman has just turned her back on him while she puts a rubber gear on her hands. After that, she proceeded to walk across the field of the forest that was now covered by bloodstains and the remains of those ogres that Vandread had earlier slaughtered.

When the remaining ogres saw the woman enter the battlefield, the few that had survived the massive slaughter fled. It was almost as if the mere sight of her was enough to send those ogres running for cover when they saw her.

The woman took the heart of a freshly dead ogre and then went back to Vandread. She then went on her knees while her right hand was spread across the earth. 

And in that instance, she uttered, “Fauna ect summonuar” where a large mountain lion–its skin color almost camouflaged with the tree trunks if not for the stains left by the dead ogre blood–emerged to her side from the woods. 

“Watch closely.” She ordered Vandread to pay her some attention. It could be seen from Vandread that he doesn’t want to be ordered around, but it would seem his curiosity left him no other choice but to actually watch what the woman would do next.

As the woman successfully had Vandread’s attention, she then threw the heart from her hand towards the mountain lion and let it devour every piece of it. 

But as the mountain lion finally finished the treat, Vandread couldn’t help but feel disappointed at the scene the woman had just shown him. “Are you telling me that you wanted me to see how you feed your pets?”

“Pets?” The woman was a bit confused by what he had just told her. 

Eventually, Vandread later realized that such a term wasn’t something too common within the realm of Dizencia.  “A familiar.”

“Like a familiar.”

“Oh. This isn't a familiar of mine. Mine had wings and breathed fire. It soars the sky and lurks within the earth. Though it doesn’t matter, it wasn’t what I am after to tell you.”

Vandread was a little suspicious about the initial information that the woman had told him. If his presumption was correct, what the woman was referring to as her familiar was similar to a creature called the wyvern.

Apparently, it would seem as coincidence that during his recent raid prior to his wedding with Princess Camilla, he actually had slaughtered a wild wyvern. Its powers were so extreme that each time it breathed fire, an entire town burned down to ashes.

Eventually, the woman then came to utter, “I came around to warn you that slaughtering these creatures won’t grant you the freedom to absorb all of their abilities.” before she pointed her finger toward the mountain lion.

Vandread immediately had his eyes on the mountain lion. It was bellowing and roaring at the same time, while looking as if it was frozen from where he stood. And that was when Vandread pondered that what had happened with the mountain lion was similar to his situation.

One thing that still bothered him, though, was what could be the cause of how they both ended up in the same situation. He was sure that his whole body became frozen when the woman looked at him, but it was entirely different with the mountain lion since the woman never looked at it directly.

While Vandread remained confused with what he had just witnessed, the woman swiftly took the moment to tell him, “What you did was recklessly suicidal. Don’t you know that? And the outcome will be very dreadful.” 

The woman's words caused a sense of tremor to come over Vandread all of a sudden, and as a result, he was forced to ask himself, just how terrible was it that this woman was talking about?