The Countess Lives Twice in the Apocalypse-Chapter 45: Forty-four

"If you don’t want to die, gather yourselves by the town’s hall." Jannah told the men, putting her arm down to her side.

She glanced at the map, seeing the five red dots run to the front gates.

She turned around, facing the corner where they will turn, and behold, the five men was carrying a mace, axe, and a sword.

"What—"

"W-W-What.."

They must have heard the commotion and immediately went to send back up to the others. Unfortunately, they were too late for the back ups.

Jannah locked eyes with the one who’s holding a mace, she smiled softly and actived her skill, "Petrify."

"Ack!" He let out a strained yell, alarming his friends as he dropped the mace by his newly-turned stone foot, cracking it to pieces. The man could feel the pulsing energy that enveloped him like a shroud, until it completely turned him into a stone.

"So?" Jannah gave them a bright smile, that didn’t quite reach her eyes, "Who’s next?"

"Don’t!"

"Don’t fight her!"

"She’s a monster!"

The men behind her screamed to their friends, their voices full of dread and fright as they warn them, frantically shaking their heads to tell them that they’re up against someone who’s out of their league.

"As if!" The one with the axe exclaimed, his face red from fury, "You’re letting a small girl like her intimidate you?! You’ve gone soft!"

"Like me?" Jannah questioned the man, intentionally raising her voice as she point a finger to herself, "They called me a witch, you know?"

"Who?!" The man with axe growled.

"For starters.." Jannah hummed out, placing a finger on her chin as she pretended to ponder about it, then her face brightened up, "Oh! Yes! The men that dragged the Duke inside the town’s hall!"

Hearing her answer, the men simultaneously have their eyes as wide as saucers.

"You.." The man with the axe hissed, "Huo is my brother!"

He let out a loud scream, charging towards her with the axe raised in the air. Again, it was a mistake. That certain move is only done by amateurs because it expose their blind spots.

"Well, whatever." Jannah brushed him off and stared straight into his eyes as she mutter the name of the skill, "Petrify."

Almost immediately, the man let out a strangled gasp as the transformation overtook him at an alarming speed, his arms and body turning to a hard, firm stone.

His face was frozen in an expression of shock and terror, his eyes wide and frozen.

Jannah hummed softly and stood before him, a satisfied smile on her lips as she inspected the body that turned into stone, a beautiful result of her skill.

"Now, allow me to repeat what I said earlier." She said, kicking the man that turned into stone down, making the cracks on his legs expand, crawling to his raised arm and the stone immediately crumbles down.

"Gather by the town hall, don’t do anything stupid and let my people tie you up." Jannah kicked a stone near her foot, hitting the three men who she didn’t turn into stone.

She glanced at the map, seeing the blue dots of her people and the Duke’s people moved inside the town’s hall.

"Don’t even try tricking them, I’ll know." The smile on her face looked angelic and sweet, the complete opposite of what came out of her mouth.

Her words was a threat. She just told them that she’ll find out if they tried to lie to them.

However, even with her honeyed smile and loving tone, the men didn’t move. They continued to stand there like some awestruck children who had seen their mother steal a candy from their secret stash.

"Petrify." She lifted her head, her eyes staring into the man’s eyes who was carrying a sword, turning him into a stone.

It was just one blink. One blink.

They blinked once, then found another one of their friends turned into a stone.

"What are you?!" The unarmed man screamed, frantic and panicking. He took a step back, his breathing ragged and heart pounding roughly inside his ribs.

Jannah observed the way the man’s face had gone completely white with shock as he had watched his friends turn into stones. His eyes kept looking back on forth to the stones and the severed men behind her.

The realization of the situation and the futility of their actions must have hit him like a sledgehammer.

Is he dying? Jannah thought as she tilt her head, watching the man clutched at his chest, gasping for breath as if an unbearable pain he had never felt before shot through his body.

He stumbled backwards, sinking to the ground as his heart began to beat erratically, a strange fluttering sensation taking over his chest.

"Help..!" The man’s face contorted in agony, trying to cry out for help, but his voice was nothing more than a strained and pained gasp.

He collapsed onto the ground, his body convulsing uncontrollably, Jannah knew that he was moments away from his impending death.

The Countess lets out a hum, finished with her task, walked over to the dying man, a beautiful, angelic smile on her face yet she looked cold and apathetic.

She looked down at him, her eyes betraying no emotion as she watched the last few shuddering breaths escape his lips, and so the man died, his end brought on by his own terror.

"I didn’t even plan on killing this bastard." Jannah frowned, kicking the man on the head, watching as the last bit of life escaped his eyes.

"Anyways." She brushed the incident off and turned to the remaining five men. Four from the [Punisher] skill and one from the five men who went to their spot for backup.

"Remember what I said earlier?" She asked them with a smile, they all nodded their heads, afraid to lose their life like the ones she just killed, "Yeah? Yeah. Good. Now, I want you guys to walk inside the town’s hall, call for Marco and Lucienta, then tell them to tie you up."

It took them a whole minute to comprehend what she said, but one tilt of her head was all it took for them to run past her.

"Ah, by the way." She called out to them over her shoulders, "Call for Jeriel and tell her to meet me down here, yes? Call the Duke and Kirie, too."

"U-Understood..!"

The response she got was shaky and full of panic. She can’t be choosy with her errand boys though, right?

She watched them run to the town’s hall using the system’s map. She walked past the bloody mess she made and walked over to the watch tower, keeping her eyes on the map just in case they try to run.

Their fright must have been a great deal because they followed her orders. They went straight to the town’s hall and saw six blue dots surround the five of them as soon as they went inside.

She slipped the bow over her head, pulling a shaft from her hip and pulled the nock through the bow, putting the end of the arrow to the string.

She stepped over to the dead man she left on the watch tower, she had let go of the arrow and stab the man on the head with the dagger she left on his neck before kicking him off.

She decided to kill some zombies while waiting for the Duke and her little sister, lessening the threat before they leave for Philipia.

...

...

"I swear that woman—"

"She’s a noble." Jeriel hissed and pressed the tip of her sword on the man’s neck, "One more insult and disrespect, I’ll kill you myself."

"O-O-Okay! Okay! Okay! Alright, okay?! The lady told us to come here!" He cried out, tears escaping his eyes when Jeriel digger the tip of her blade deeper into his skin, "Marco and Lucienta! She told me that Marco and Lucienta need to tie us up!"

"A-And Jeriel— eek! She told us to call for Kirie and the Duke, too!" Another man told them, backing to his friend and forcing himself to shrink just so he could get away from these people.

"The Countess called for us?" Duke Eulicies stared at the man.

He was quick to nod his head, frantically pouting a finger towards the door, "You need to h-hurry! Or else she will kill you or them, too!"

"Kill me?" Jeriel asked with a raised eyebrow, disbelief and amusement swirling in her ocean blue eye, "She won’t kill me. I’m her only sister. Her own blood."

Their eyes widened, as if something have clicked in their brains. They looked at Jeriel like she had grown two heads and was speaking in a foreign language.

"You.. You’re a sister of a witch..?" The man who has previously insulted the Countess asked, his eyes brimming with raw anger and despair, "Didn’t you know that she killed my friends?! Because of what?! Because of you?!"

"She did what?" Jeriel blinked, eyebrows furrowed as she took a step back from the man, "All I did was tell her how you guys locked your women and children in the basement, I didn’t do anything else."

"She killed my friends!" The man yelled and lunged forward, attacking her, however, he abruptly stopped in his tracks, his head falling over to the ground.

The people inside the room turned their heads to look at the person who had beheaded the man.

"The Countess called for us." Duke Eulicies smiled at them, "We can’t have her waiting."