In stark contrast with the confused yelling coming from the humans, the elven soldiers
pumped their fists excitedly and cheered.
Even Fangas, who'd somehow managed to remain standing, was laughing raucously.
Once the soldiers had composed themselves, they readjusted their gear and ventured
a look over the wall at the massive dust cloud beyond. What they saw left them
speechless.
A massive crater sat in the middle of the river, slowly filling with water. In time, there
would be a new lake, interrupting the Wiel's meandering journey.
Beyond the river, the undead appeared to have been reduced by at least half their
original strength, thanks to the Dragon Lord's powerful blast.
The margrave could barely comprehend the sight in front of him.
The stone bridge that had once taken thousands of travelers over the river was now a
pile of rubble. The only hints that it had ever existed were the sturdy foundations
connected to the shore.
In contrast to the shocked silence of everyone else around the fort, Fangas didn't show
a hint of surprise at the results of the attack. He rested his mammoth hammer on his
shoulder as he surveyed the scene.
"You got 'em, Felfi! Knocked 'em flat on their asses with just one blow! The rest should
be easy pickings."
Since the enemy was incapable of feeling fear—or any emotion at all, for that matter—
they simply continued their march down the hill and through the devastation. With
their numbers greatly reduced, the sight of the marching undead was now more
bewildering than intimidating. If anything, it was a somewhat pitiful sight.
Fangas lifted his war hammer into the air and shouted for all the soldiers to hear.
"It's about time we return these dead bodies to the earth and free their spirits once
and for all! This world has no place for the dead!"
The soldiers, human and elf alike, raised their weapons as well and cheered.
"The great Dragon Lord has tipped the scales in our favor!" Fangas continued. "But
that doesn't mean we can let our guard down just yet! I want you to chase down and
kill every last one of these soldiers until peace once again returns to these lands!
Soldiers of Canada, focus on the spider monsters! The rest of you, take to the tree line
and rout the enemy!"
Even with a majority of the invaders killed, there were still tens of thousands of
undead to contend with. This was no time to relax.
After using all her power on that one attack, Felfi Visrotte would have to sit out the
rest of the battle. However, she'd managed to completely turn the tide of battle and
give the mud-covered soldiers a chance at winning the unwinnable.
The elven archers standing watch began taking aim at the man-spiders, while the
others split into squads and rushed out of the fort to begin the grueling task of closequarters combat.
While the elves were accustomed to operating in small groups and adjusting tactics
on the fly, the humans struggled with this type of combat. The soldiers of Brahniey
watched as the elves engaged the enemy and waited passively for their own orders.
Margrave Brahniey began barking commands. "Execute the plan like we discussed! I
want the cavalry out first to take care of the armored soldiers. Leave the spider
monsters to the elves! Watch their backs and provide whatever support you can!
Those in the fort, prepare stones to drop on anything that tries to penetrate these
walls!"
The soldiers rushed to their stations. Meanwhile, Sekt and the knights of the Rhoden
Kingdom were already flying out the front gate.
His mounted soldiers, numbering nearly 1,000 strong, rode in one long line and tore
straight into the oncoming undead. Those who happened near man-spiders thrust
their long spears into the monsters as they passed. It was like watching a snake slither
across the battlefield.
At the head of this impressive charge was Prince Sekt himself, with several of his
personal guards following close behind.
Margrave Brahniey watched, impressed, and let out a sigh of longing as he looked
down at his wrinkled hands.
"Ah, the vigor of youth. Alas, my days of leading from the front lines are long behind me."
Brahniey thought of his secretary and his beloved family back home.
While he'd found himself completely bewildered at the terrifying sight of the enemy,
Prince Sekt had carried his knights straight into battle without a second thought. That
was the kind of leadership they needed right now.
A smile spread across Brahniey's face as he recalled the old days when he, too, had led
the charge with sword held high. It might pain him to admit it, but those days had
passed.
Shaking his head, he looked over to Fangas, a man who almost certainly understood
the ache of being away from the battlefield.
But the high elder was nowhere to be seen. After checking the watchtower, Brahniey
finally gave up and looked out the window again to check on the battle. He spotted an
old man standing, eyes closed, directly in Prince Sekt's path.
Prince Sekt also took notice of the figure. Dressed in elaborate robes, the old man
easily stood out from all the other undead soldiers.
Though dressed like a priest, the old man was a hulking figure covered in muscles.
Despite his wrinkled brow and wispy white hair, he looked like he could give even
Fangas a run for his money.
The most noteworthy thing about the old man, however, was the massive sword he
wore on his back. It was nearly as long as he was tall.
He stood completely still on the frenzied battlefield, though his face trembled with
barely contained rage, evident even though his eyes were closed. A cold sweat broke
out on the back of Sekt's neck as a deep foreboding overtook him.
"Well, well! I hope you're proud of yourselves! You will all suffer heinous deaths for
causing me to lose His Holiness's troops!"
The man's voice boomed, his words somehow rising above the thundering hooves to
reach everyone on the battlefield. Prince Sekt felt the sinister sound vibrate through
his body.
The old man's torso twitched, and his muscles began growing even larger, his clothes
tearing at the seams. Faces with bloodred eyes grew from his shoulders. He reached
back and unsheathed his sword, holding it at the ready.
Prince Sekt ordered his men to split around the old man, creating two large snakes
that writhed across the battlefield.
The old man lunged, swinging his massive sword straight toward the prince.
At the front of the formation, Sekt was far closer to the man than he would have liked.
He dug his heels into his horse's sides to urge it out of the way.
A moment later, he was thrown from the saddle.
"Nngh?! Gwwaaaaugh!"
Sekt landed on his back with a heavy thud, all of the air knocked out of his lungs. A
dull pain began spreading throughout his body. He caught sight of what had once been
his horse, toppled onto its side, blood gushing out onto the ground. Had he paused just
a moment longer, he would have met the same fate.
He looked up to see the old man advancing on him, ignoring the rest of the Rhoden army.
"Swordplay really isn't my specialty, y'know. But here goes."
Prince Sekt lurched to his feet, dragging his sleeve across his face to clear the blood
from his mouth. He drew his elegantly decorated blade.
Though both of his legs seemed to be working fine, the same could only be said for
one of his arms. The pain in his chest was so intense that he could barely breathe.
If the old man launched another strike, Sekt knew he'd meet the same fate as his horse.
Yet he still managed to summon a smile.
The old man's mouth—now a long, monstrous gash—contorted at the prince's defiance.
He swung his sword high above his head, the sky rumbling in response.
"You dare raise your sword against me, you disgusting little wretch?"
He spat the words as he swung his sword down toward the injured prince. Sekt
brought up his own blade in a feeble attempt to parry.
Before the old man could land his blow, however, two Rhoden knights came rushing
in on horseback, aiming their spears at the monster.
"Prince Sekt, get out of here!"
"Leave him to us!"
The old man changed the direction of his attack, his blade effortlessly cleaving the men
in two, sending blood and organs splattering across the battlefield. All Prince Sekt
could do was gape at the loss of his soldiers.
The bloodred eyes on the faces sticking out of the man's body snapped open, fixated
on something rushing in from behind.
Sekt only noticed the newcomer when they landed on the ground in front of him, their
war hammer slamming into the ground with explosive force.
"Seems like you managed to find the leader of these monsters, huh, kid?"
The muscles bulging under Fangas's amethyst skin glistened in the sunlight as he fixed
his golden eyes on the old man in front of him. His whole body was tense, ready for a
fight.
The old man's forehead creased at the dark elf's unwelcomed interference.
"You dare call His Holiness's followers monsters? That's rich, coming from a longeared lizard descendant. I suppose I should be impressed that you let the humans take
the brunt of the assault though."
The old man took the hilt of his sword in both hands and pointed it at Fangas.
"I, Cardinal Augrent Iyla Patientia, will rid this world of your filthy kind. You should be
grateful for His Holiness's benevolence."
Before he'd even finished speaking, Cardinal Augrent swung his sword at the high
elder. Fangas deflected the blade with his war hammer and lunged for the cardinal's
stomach.
The war hammer connected with an awful clang, knocking the cardinal back, though
he didn't seem to suffer any sort of injury. On the contrary, this only enraged Cardinal
Augrent further.
Fangas hefted his hammer, searching for an explanation as to why his attack hadn't
done more damage. It was a solid hit, and he knew it.
"Cardinal, you say? So, the Holy Hilk Kingdom really is run by monsters."
The truth strained credulity. Between his ability to wield such a massive sword and
the faces protruding from his skin, this musclebound abomination now bore only a
passing resemblance to a human.
Despite his long life and vast experience, Fangas had never encountered a creature so
wholly consumed by the contamination of death. He also knew that allowing such a
creature to continue existing would be harmful for humans and elves alike.
Fangas would destroy the cardinal here and how.
He lowered his war hammer and lunged, this time swinging toward the cardinal's
torso in an upward slash. However, Augrent caught the blow with his sword and
knocked the dark elf back.
The two men exchanged blows, the air itself echoing sympathetically with each clash.
The sheer strength brought to bear here was far beyond what most humans could ever
hope to achieve.
Knowing that he would be of little use in this battle, Prince Sekt allowed two of his
soldiers to carry him away. Even as he retreated, however, he couldn't tear his eyes off
the fight.
Cardinal Augrent only grew angrier as the battle raged, becoming more reckless in his
attacks.
"I'll rip you apart, you insolent barbarian!"
Fangas deflected another blow, and Augrent lifted his blade high over his head. Four
sharpened tentacles tore out of the cardinal's body and shot toward the dark elf.
Fangas narrowly managed to dodge this unexpected attack, though he opened himself
up to Augrent's blade in the process.
"Looks like we're a match in close quarters combat."
The dark elf didn't appear too concerned. In fact, he seemed to be enjoying himself.
"Piercing Earth Fang!" Fangas summoned his spirit energy and launched an attack of
his own.
Gigantic spears of stone jutted out of the ground and shot straight toward the cardinal's
back. Augrent's bloodred eyes went wide in surprise as the stone pierced his body and
jutted out of his stomach.
He shot a hate-filled look in Fangas's direction.
"Ah, yes. I've heard your kind are known for using spirit magic. Alas, it will take a lot
more than that to do me in." A sly grin crept across the cardinal's face.
Since the spears piercing Augrent's stomach clearly hadn't made much of an impact,
Fangas launched another spirit magic attack.
"Great earth, heed my call! Use thy power to consume and punish our enemies!"
Jagged rocks burst forth in a circle around Augrent's feet and stabbed into him. The
cardinal hung there, skewered in place.
"Grooooooooaaaaaawwwwl!"
Augrent thrashed about in an attempt to break free of the rocks pinning him in place.
Fangas hefted his war hammer and swung it with all his might, connecting with the
cardinal's chin and twisting his head back at an unnatural angle.
"You… f-f-filthy heathen!"
Any normal living being would certainly have been dead at this point, but somehow
the cardinal continued to live, radiating hatred.
But this was of little concern to Fangas, who merely scowled in annoyance.
"You sure are a durable one, aren't you? I guess you don't plan on going down easy. But
I'm going to put an end to you once and for all."
He gripped his war hammer in both hands and closed his eyes.
"Pull this bringer of death deep into the bowels of the earth to embrace his eternal
slumber!"
Fangas's forehead creases deepened as he chanted, focusing all of his energy on this
final attack. Augrent writhed and screamed in the face of such powerful spirit magic.
He lost control over all the souls he'd consumed over the years as they ripped free
from his body.
Earth and stone rose around Fangas and formed a gigantic boulder above Augrent's
head. Light poured out from within, each ray that struck the cardinal's body causing
him to thrash even harder. His eyes remained fixed on Fangas.
Augrent opened his mouth, as if to say something, but before he could speak, the gigantic
mass of stone plummeted to the ground, smashing through the cardinal's body in the
process.
Fangas smirked at the sight of the immense boulder sticking out of the earth.
"Such a beautiful grave. A shame it has to be wasted on the likes of you. I hope you
appreciate it."
He then glanced around the battlefield to see how the rest of the fight was shaping up.
Felfi Visrotte was now on the ground, using her long tail and its razor-sharp tip to chop
down legions of undead, while Prince Sekt's Rhoden knights, the elven squads, and
the human foot soldiers were all wrapping up their own battles.
Fangas looked down at his war hammer.
"Sorry, old friend. Looks like you didn't get a chance to show off what you can do."
He let out a sigh and turned his gaze back to the battles raging around him, searching
for an enemy.
"Looks like everyone pretty much has it handled. Now our fate is in your hands."
Fangas turned north, facing the Sobir Mountains and the Delfrent Kingdom. Ariane
and Arc were heading there now.
***
Lione, the capital of the Delfrent Kingdom, stood out amid the vast plains. Smoke hung
low over the city.
Chiyome watched intently, the ears atop her head twitching as she wrinkled her nose.
"The stench of death emanates from the city. I can smell it from here."
The other Jinshin clan members sitting behind her made similar faces.
"I'd be surprised if anyone's still alive down there. The city is practically consumed by
the contamination. I've never seen anything like it."
Ariane crossed her arms at Chiyome's dark words.
A warm gust of wind blew past us, throwing Ariane's snow-white hair all over the place.
She scowled and shook her head, as if this would turn away the wind.
Dillan, leader of the forces on the Delfrent front, spoke up. "Now that everything's in
place, I think it's time we put our plan into motion."
We were stationed just outside the vast forest that ran along the base of the mountains
to the southwest of Lione.
Situated at the border separating the Holy Hilk Kingdom from the Delfrent Kingdom,
this would normally be a terrible location to station an army, due to the risk of a pincer
attack. But under the current circumstances, it was the ideal spot to watch our
enemy's movements and launch a strike.
Thanks to Goemon's report, we were able to estimate just how far the enemy was
scouting, and from what directions they were preparing to meet an attack. They'd
neglected to consider an attack from the forest.
While the elves and the Jinshin clan were particularly gifted in the art of war, it was
hard to imagine that our combined force of 5,000 could stand any significant chance
against the 100,000 troops within the city. Hit-and-run tactics wouldn't have an
impact.
To improve our odds, we'd taken advantage of the elves' spirit magic to build a series
of ditches, berms, and defensive barriers around our position. Through these would
likely prove ineffective against the highly mobile man-spiders, they should at least
slow the undead foot soldiers.
The fact that we'd been able to get so much done in such a short period spoke to the
elves' and Jinshin clan's skills.
A voice called out to Dillan from deep within the forest. "Is it time for me to start?"
A four-meter-tall humanoid figure with the head of a dragon stepped from the trees.
It was Villiers Fim, waiting patiently for his moment in the battle.
Though nowhere near as large as Felfi Visrotte, Villiers Fim was still an impressive
thirty meters long in his Dragon Lord form.
I'd originally expected him to balk at the request to join our fight, but much to my
surprise, he'd responded with an eager smile. I figured this was largely due to his
respect for Felfi Visrotte.
"I guess I'll be joining you."
Finished with my tree felling duties, I hefted my Holy Thunder Sword of Caladbolg and
shot a sidelong glance at Ariane and Chiyome.
The four of us would be heading out to Lione where the undead had dug themselves
in, to try and draw them out.
"Kyii!"
"Are you sure you want to come, Ponta? It's gonna be dangerous."
"Kyii!"
Apparently, Ponta's mind was set. That made us a party of five, then.
My gear consisted of the Holy Thunder Sword of Caladbolg and the Holy Shield of
Teutates, as well as a waterskin full of spring water, just in case I needed it.
That should be more than enough to see the battle through, even if things got ugly.
By the time Ariane and Chiyome finished looking over their own gear, Villiers Fim had
transformed back into his Dragon Lord form. Covered entirely in blue scales, he had
four long, black horns jutting from his head, and four large wings extending from his
back.
He would serve as the foundation for our assault, using his devastating area-of-effect
attacks. Of course, I could also use my Paladin abilities as I had back in Saureah, but I
wanted to avoid that, if possible.
"If you're ready, then let's get going."
Villiers Fim began flapping his wings, kicking up a powerful blast of wind as he lifted
his giant body off the ground.
No matter how many times I witnessed this, it still amazed me to see these immense
creatures airborne.
I reached up and grabbed onto one of Villiers Fim's hind legs, with Ponta wrapped
tightly around my neck. Ariane, taken by surprise at our haphazard manner of climbing
aboard, quickly grabbed on as well. Last was Chiyome, who effortlessly grabbed the
leg opposite ours.
Once we were all on, Villiers Fim headed toward Lione. He was flying so low that I
could watch the earth pass below me, making me feel both exhilarated and lightheaded with the thrill of how fast we were going.
I'd always been a bit of an adrenaline junkie, but not everyone shared my excitement.
Ariane's face was turning increasingly pale.
"You're going too faaaaaaaaaaaaaaast!"
She clung to the Dragon Lord and kicked her legs desperately to find purchase. It was
rare to see Ariane so terrified, or hear her scream like that.
Chiyome, on the other hand, was completely unreadable. Her tail was stiff, and she had
a tense expression on her face, but I had no idea what she was thinking.
"Kyii! Kyiiiii!"
Much like when we'd ridden on Felfi Visrotte's back, Ponta was simply having a great
time.
As for why this trip was so much more heart-racing than the last, it was because
Villiers Fim didn't like the idea of people riding on his back. But riding him was the
only option. If I used short-distance teleportation, it would take ten times as long to
reach our destination.
The city of Lione came into view at last.
The surrounding wall, which had once provided protection from outside forces, had
been breached in multiple places. Through these holes, I could see ruined buildings
within, still burning. It reminded me a lot of Tagent, back on the southern continent.
I couldn't help but wonder if some of the black husks lying by the breached walls had
once been citizens here.
"I've never seen anything like this."
Villiers Fim dropped lower, barely skimming the earth now, and clasped his claws
around a man-spider that had noticed us. With one simple motion, he tore it to shreds.
The man-spiders might have presented a challenge to humans, but they were no
match for a Dragon Lord.
The closer we got to Lione, the more man-spiders and undead soldiers we began
seeing, though these were easily dispatched by the Dragon Lord's long, powerful tail.
Once we arrived at the outer wall, Villiers Fim pulled up and slowly circled the city,
drawing the attention of the undead inside. Ultimately, our goal was to get them to
follow us to where Goemon and Dillan's forces were waiting.
However, if we were to draw out all of the undead at once, I doubted we'd be able to
fend them off, not with the haphazard defenses we'd put into place.
To avoid that possibility, we would first lead the undead to a large plain and let loose
with a powerful area-of-effect attack to wipe out as many of them as we could. Then it
would be up to our forces standing by to take out the remains.
To make sure the undead within the city didn't simply ignore us, we needed to destroy
those lurking outside the walls first. That's why we were here.
I felt a little bad for dragging Ariane into this. She looked absolutely miserable. Once
she had her feet on the ground again, though, I was certain she'd be back to normal.
I tapped Villiers Fim's leg to give him the signal.
"Let us down here and then continue with the rest of the plan!"
"Leave it to me."
After completing a full circle around the capital, the Dragon Lord dropped close
enough to the earth that his tail was practically touching the ground. We shot along at
high speed through an empty field on the northeast side of the city. Villiers Fim
reached down and dug his front claws into the ground to slow us, ripping two massive
channels into the soft dirt.
By some strange happenstance, we managed to stop right next to a pair of undead
soldiers. Without a second thought, I unsheathed my Holy Thunder Sword of Caladbolg
and struck them down.
"Well, that was a pretty cool landing, if I do say so myself. Whaddya think, Ponta?"
"Kyii?" Ponta popped its head up from my shoulder and shot me a puzzled glance.
In my mind, I fancied myself a bipedal killing machine that had launched into its job
as soon as its transport landed. But apparently, Ponta didn't share my romanticism.
I watched Chiyome do a flip through air and land effortlessly on the ground. She made
the move look so easy, but I knew it would end in tragedy if I were to try.
Only when Villiers Fim had come to a complete stop did Ariane release her death grip
on his leg. As soon as she was on solid ground, she slumped to her knees, shaking
slightly. Fortunately, there were no enemies near her, so she could take a moment to
collect herself.
But I needed to get to clearing out my own sector.
"Holy Thunder Sword of Caladbolg!"
A surge of purple electricity ran up the masterfully crafted weapon. Blue bolts appeared
as well, as a blade of light grew out of it, doubling in size.
The air itself began humming as I swung the glowing sword.
The first enemy to challenge me was one I'd become quite familiar with fighting: a manspider wielding several club-like weapons. I decided to take it out with a different
technique.
"Wyvern Slash!"
Though the enemy was still a fair distance away, due to the added length of my blade,
the slash chopped right through the man-spider… and several undead soldiers standing
behind it.
The attack had never done anything like that in the game, but now that I knew about
it, I figured it could come in handy when facing multiple opponents. It was like a more
powerful version of Ponta's grass-cutting wind bursts.
"Kyi kyiiii! Kyi!"
Ponta cheered me on excitedly and wagged its tail, even imitating me by sending out
several of its own air bursts. I had to admit, Ponta had gotten quite a bit better at this
since we'd started training at the shrine, but it still wouldn't be of much use against
the enemies here.
I glanced over at Chiyome to find her taking down one undead soldier after another.
Ariane was finally back on her feet too. I watched as she severed the humanoid upper
torsos from a man-spider's body and then used her spirt magic to engulf the creature
in flames, leaving nothing but charred remains.
Her shoulders were moving up and down in short, controlled breaths, her gaze fixed
on her next victim. She seemed to have gotten over the trauma of flying.
Villiers Fim continued making lazy circles around Lione, occasionally diving close to
the ground to attack clumps of undead and rip them to shreds, like an eagle pouncing
on rabbits.
Unfortunately, we weren't making any noticeable progress, not with the sheer number
of troops the undead could bring to bear.
While there were certainly plenty of undead out here beyond the city walls, I knew the
numbers within the city limits were far, far greater.
I stole a glance at the top of Lione's defensive wall as I chopped my way through hordes
of undead. There was still no sign of anything like the young boy who'd chased after
Goemon and his comrades.
From the way Goemon had described the sequence of events, there was no way it had
been a normal boy. He had to be someone high up within the church, but other than
that, I had no guesses as to who he might have been.
Once we finished clearing out the undead lurking around the city's perimeter, I turned
my attention back to the capital. It was oddly quiet.
Ariane stepped up beside me. She seemed to share my concerns.
"That's strange, isn't it? I can still sense the contamination inundating the city, and yet
they don't seem to be sending anyone out after us. Think they saw through our plan?"
Chiyome yanked her blade out of an undead soldier and walked over to join us. She
tilted her head back and sniffed loudly, raising a suspicious eyebrow.
"The rotting scent is still strong too, so they must still be in there. But still…"
Before I had a chance to ask what she'd picked up on, a powerful gust of wind blew up
from behind us, followed by a strong thud that reverberated through the ground. I
turned to find Villiers Fim, his wings neatly folded and a concerned expression on his
face.
"The forces in the city have formed up and are about to depart."
I looked through one of the massive breaches in Lione's wall. Beyond the mountains
of crushed bricks and mortar, I could see dark shadows swarming.
The undead were coming.
Though they weren't as organized as the columns preferred by human armies, they
were moving with more cohesion than usual. Something told me that the two figures
leading this unholy force were the reason for this.
One of them was a young boy, likely the one Goemon had seen. His hair was trimmed
short, just below the ears, and he had a captivating gaze. His face had all the makings
of a future heartbreaker, though he still possessed a certain childishness.
His plain white robes were like those worn by members of the priesthood, but given
his age, I had a hard time not seeing him as a choirboy.
Even these fine clothes, however, looked like rags compared to those of the man
standing next to him.
The man held a scepter carved with intricate patterns—a symbol of his status. Due to
the elaborate mitre he wore atop his head, and the thin veil hanging beneath it, it was
impossible to see the man's face. Something about his appearance—or lack thereof—
filled me with dread.
Hanging from the necks of these two figures were necklaces bearing the symbol of the
Hilk religion. It was a pretty safe bet that they were both high-ranking members of the
church.
They marched ahead of their endless army of undead and came to a halt as soon as we
were all within earshot of each other. The only sound was that of the wind rustling
through the grass at our feet.
The veiled man broke the silence. "I didn't expect you to attack with so few people."
His voice was flat and even. I could feel his eyes on me through the veil, and I returned
his gaze, to the extent that I could.
"So, you're the silver knight who killed Palurumo, I take it? How interesting… A player
who chooses to live on the front lines, foregoing the use of standard tactics. I have to
say, it's an honor to finally meet you. Allow me to offer you a little bit of hospitality."
The veiled man raised his hands to the sky and let go of the scepter. I watched it float
into the air and spin in a circle as he began chanting.
"Hell King Balam, hear me now! I summon you forth from the underworld!"
A large, black shadow, so dark it seemed to consume all light around it, appeared
behind the veiled man. Runes the color of blood snaked across its surface. Moments
later, a gargantuan skeleton, around fifteen meters tall, yanked itself out of the shadow.
Though I'd never actually seen a demon from hell before, this was pretty much exactly
how I would have imagined it.
Two enormous, ram-like horns stuck out of a human skull with four eye sockets,
behind which blazed a red flame that seemed to emanate hatred.
Though its body was mostly human in appearance, its torso was covered in matted
black hair, while its arms and legs were nothing but bone. From its back extended a
pair of charcoal gray wings and a long tail. In one hand, it clutched a large scimitar. It
was quite a sight to behold.
The so-called Hell King Balam stretched out its wings with an ominous clack and
launched itself at Villiers Fim.
The Dragon Lord responded by darting into the air and catching the blade with his
massive claws. He swung his tail like a whip, landing a blow on Balam's torso and
throwing it back.
With several powerful thrusts of its wings, the Hell King hovered in midair.
While this battle was being waged above us, the young boy spoke up.
"I am Tismo Ghoula, though you beautiful ladies may call me by my cardinal name,
Temprantia."
He shot a charming grin toward Ariane and Chiyome. Then his head began ballooning
outward, growing larger and larger until it finally split open, looking like an oversized
anemone. The rest of his body followed suit, his arms stretching into tendrils as
several more appendages popped out of his lower torso until he was supported by six
thick legs.
Gone was the charming young boy, replaced with a grotesque monster that brought to
mind a Venus flytrap.
His six legs hammered into the ground as he barreled forward, whipping a tendril
toward Ariane and Chiyome, though they easily dodged it, putting some distance
between themselves and this new enemy.
From what I could tell, the boy could move his tendrils at great speed, though he was
actually quite slow on his legs. For agile fighters like Ariane and Chiyome, I didn't think
this would present much of a problem.
The veiled man raised his scepter again and invoked another spell. "Let me show you
what a Magus can do against a Knight! Nether Resonance!"
Another dark shadow appeared, this time beneath the undead army. The eyes of the
unmoving soldiers and man-spiders began glowing bright red, and they let out low,
bestial cries. As best as I could tell, the spell he'd just cast had powered up his entire
army.
Powers similar to this existed in the game, but their area of effect was usually quite
limited, and they didn't work on the undead.
The veiled man seemed to be taking pleasure in my reaction. "Coming out here alone
was quite reckless."
With a wave of his hand, the legions of undead swarmed forth.
"Wyvern Slash!"
I sent out a blast of energy and chopped through the first man-spider and a dozen or
so undead soldiers. This gave me some room, but more kept coming, encircling me.
I unleashed another Wyvern Slash on the soldiers to my right while I used my shield
to bash away more on my left, desperately trying to clear a space.
Running low on options, and with waves of undead crashing into me, I used my Holy
Thunder Sword of Caladbolg skill and launched a massive Wyvern Slash.
I backed up with each strike to try and put some distance between myself and my
opponents, but I knew I couldn't keep going like this forever.
As I battled the undead, I glanced over at the veiled man. For a moment, it felt as if our
eyes met.
I could have used teleportation magic to get out of there, but that would have left
Ariane and Chiyome alone to face Tismo.
The fastest way out of this would be to cut off the head of the serpent, so to speak.
I jumped back again to put even more distance between myself and the tsunami of
undead, using Wyvern Slash after Wyvern Slash to keep them at bay, while trying to
draw them away from Ariane and Chiyome.
The veiled man seemed to enjoy watching this battle unfold. But I was about to put an
end to all that.
"Dimensional Step!"
I drew the undead army as far away as I could, then used my short-distance teleportation
to appear next to the veiled figure.
"Wha?!"
As I'd hoped, this seemed to catch him completely off guard. I smirked to myself as I
watched the undead in the distance frantically looking for me. Then I once again used
my Holy Thunder Sword of Caladbolg skill to send lightning forking down the blade.
With a powerful swing, I brought the sword down on the veiled man.
CLANG!
A shower of sparks erupted as he swung his scepter up to block my attack, though it
still managed to knock him back.
I was impressed. There were few weapons out there that could block the Holy
Thunder Sword of Caladbolg. The veiled man seemed even more shaken than I was,
though I wasn't about to let my guard down.
"A fighter capable of using magic?! My word! I didn't expect you to be a Paladin."
I tried to land another blow, but he managed to cast a spell before I was able to.
"Evil Thorn!"
Three translucent beings resembling half-rotted corpses appeared out of the tip of his
scepter, clacking their jaws ravenously as they advanced on me. I raised my lightning
blade to meet them. My sword went right through them, and they vanished in a puff
of smoke.
The spell itself didn't pose much of a danger to me, but the veiled man seemed pleased
with the results and tried it once more.
This time, I decided to run through the ghastly figures with my shield before launching
another strike at the veiled figure.
"Aaugh!"
He shouted in surprise and darted back, barely managing to avoid the tip of my blade.
The edge of my sword caught his veil and tore the fabric off.
What was underneath stopped me in my tracks.
An instant later, a black sphere enveloped the once-veiled man and he teleported away.
Apparently, he could also use short-distance teleportation magic.
Before I could teleport after him, I noticed several undead closing in on me from all
sides. After dispatching them with my sword, and narrowly dodging a blow from a
man-spider, I used Dimension Step to get away.
I looked around frantically for the man, but he seemed to have slipped away into the
vast hordes of undead.
"There's no way I can spot him from down here."
Everywhere I looked, all I saw were undead. I kept sending Wyvern Slashes into them,
but it was about as effective as sprinkling water on a hot stone.
Once I'd managed to clear a bit of space around me, I turned my gaze skyward.
Villiers Fim was still battling the Hell King Balam, but he didn't seem to be having too
much difficulty.
Balam would occasionally spit a massive fireball at the Dragon Lord, but Villiers Fim
would catch it with a magic-fueled tornado and launch it into the undead soldiers
below, incinerating them instantly. Judging by the number of undead bodies littering
the battlefield, I got the impression that Villiers Fim was trying to provoke Balam into
launching more of these attacks at him.
The Dragon Lord whipped his massive tail out, landing a heavy blow on the Hell King's
arm and sending his scimitar flying down into the crowd, chopping a man-spider clean
in two. The blade evaporated in a puff of oily gray smoke.
Balam looked down, exposing himself to another wind attack from Villiers Fim. The
tornado chopped Balam's tail and one of his wings clean off.
"Hmph, I hardly even worked up a sweat."
The Dragon Lord grabbed Balam's head and threw him to the ground with tremendous
force. The Hell King crashed into the undead soldiers below, sending bodies flying
every which way.
Balam tried flapping his remaining wing a few times, but he couldn't make it back into
the air. If he were to continue facing Villiers Fim like this, he'd be done for.
I checked in on Ariane and Chiyome and, fortunately, it looked like they had their own
battle pretty well wrapped up.
To make up for his slow speed, Cardinal Tismo had focused on using the tendrils
sprouting from his body to try and smash the two women while simultaneously
blasting acid from the tendrils growing out of his head.
Unfortunately for him, Ariane and Chiyome were too good at reading his movements
and easily dodged all of his attacks. In between, they darted in to land blows of their
own.
By the time I started watching, he'd already lost one of the large tendrils that had once
been his arm and was using the other to try and chase down Ariane. Chiyome came in
from behind and, using her spirit magic, launched a water spear right through his
stomach, temporarily stopping his pursuit.
Ariane wasn't about to let an opportunity like that go to waste. After deftly dodging
the tendril, she chopped it clean off as it swung past her.
Tismo's body began to shudder, and an ominous moan rose from the anemone-like
object growing out of his head.
Ariane and Chiyome stood at the ready, waiting for him to make his next move. Before
their very eyes, new tendrils began growing out of the stumps. In a matter of seconds,
it was like he'd never lost them at all, though the injury to his stomach remained. My
guess was that he could only regenerate the tendrils.
Ariane and Chiyome picked up on this too, and immediately changed their tactics.
Ariane moved to flank him, while Chiyome faced him head-on, attracting all of his
attention.
As Ariane got close, Tismo spewed acid out of his head to keep her away. She dodged
these attacks and scored another few hits onto his body.
Meanwhile, the cardinal continued pursuing Chiyome, following her every movement,
just as she'd hoped. She jumped to the side, causing the tendrils to cross over one
another. Summoning a water spear, she stabbed straight through where the tendrils
overlapped, pinning them to the earth. To make sure they were good and stuck, she
repeated the process two more times.
Ariane closed in again, this time with her sword engulfed in flames, and thrust the
blade deep into Tismo's stomach. He let loose a horrible, inhuman scream.
It was unlikely that a simple blow like that would prove fatal to such a large creature,
but it was clear that, one way or another, Tismo wasn't leaving this battle alive. Ariane
and Chiyome were just too good.
I turned my attention back to the undead hordes and discovered a man-spider lunging
at me. Using Dimensional Step a few times, I managed to put a fair bit of distance
between myself and the soldiers.
I took up a position away from Villiers Fim, Ariane, and Chiyome to try and find the
veiled man again, keeping an eye out for any undead that happened to get close.
I thought back on the first thing the veiled man had said to me: "So, you're the silver
knight who killed Palurumo, I take it?"
The logical conclusion was that Palurumo worked for him. And since Palurumo served
directly below the ruler of the Holy Hilk Kingdom, that could only mean that the veiled
man was the pontiff himself.
I never would have expected to run across him here on the battlefield, but the more I
thought about it, the more it made sense. He was the one, after all, who'd used his dark
magic to create the undead in the first place.
Something else the pontiff said had also caught my interest. I hadn't had much time to
dwell on it, since we were in the middle of combat, but now that I had a moment to
myself, I was able to think about it more.
If my hunch was correct, then that meant defeating the pontiff might be out of the
question.
After cutting away his veil, I'd caught a quick glimpse of the pontiff's face… or rather,
where his face should have been. In its place was a skull, with a deep red flame burning
behind the empty eye sockets. Almost the same as what was under my own helmet.
We were a lot more similar than I cared to admit.
The next time we met, I wanted to ask him one simple question: Why was he doing
this?
I looked around at all the undead and figured it was finally time I did something about
them.
"I figured it'd come down to this, even if I'd been hoping to avoid it."
I picked Ponta up off my neck.
"Listen, buddy, can you stay out of the way for a bit? This next attack's gonna be kinda
powerful, and I'm worried about you."
"Kyiiiii!" Ponta took off into the sky, looking like dandelion fluff adrift on the wind.
I took a deep breath and prepared to execute my next spell.
"Open the doors of heaven and send Archangel Savior Uriel down to me!"
A moment later, I felt as if nearly all of my magic power had been sucked out of my
body as twin halos of light appeared at my feet. Stone pillars began shooting out of the
ground to form a wall of sorts.
The undead closest to me were torn to shreds, one after another, as circles of light
appeared at their feet, purifying them and turning their bodies into sparks that shot
into the sky.
A golden pillar so bright that I had to avert my eyes jutted up from the ground, and I
could hear voices singing hymns in perfect harmony. An immense figure stepped off
the pillar, standing around five meters tall—the same height as the Executioner,
Archangel Michael.
In contrast with the absolutely flawless golden armor worn by Michael the Executioner,
Uriel the Savior was covered in heavily battered golden armor, like something a battleseasoned knight would wear. This matched the unadorned helmet on his head and the
mammoth war hammer at his back, the latter of which was somehow longer than he
was tall.
Six glorious wings made of beautiful, shining feathers graced his back.
This was one of my four Paladin skills, Archangel Savior Uriel.
The angel of legend tilted his head back and looked up at the sky before letting out an
ear-splitting howl. The soundwave kicked up all the undead on the plain like dust in a
wind storm. They, too, turned to light and disappeared in bright flashes.
It was truly a sight to behold.
The stone wall that had surrounded us had faded, and once again I was granted an
unobstructed view of the battlefield.
Uriel shrank to around two meters and clung tightly to my back.
"Aaaaaaaaaauuuuuuuuuuuugggh!!!"
Out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of Ponta looping around in the air overhead,
looking down at me with great concern.
Just like last time, I couldn't help but scream as the immense force enveloped my body.
No matter how many times I experienced this, there was no way I could get used to it.
All I could do was grit my teeth and try to hang on to my sanity.
I squeezed my hand into a fist and pressed down hard on my thigh as I pushed myself
back to my feet.
My breath came heavy under the pressure of the mythical creature. I watched in
silence as the surviving undead continued their relentless advance.
The entire undead army was descending on me this time around, so I wouldn't need
to worry about executing any large-scale attacks like I had back in Saureah.
If I played my cards right, I could take them all out in one go, then disable the Paladin
skill.
I took several deep breaths to focus, then I felt Uriel's massive wings flap behind me,
lifting me high into the air.
Villiers Fim, realizing what was about to happen, discarded Balam's corpse and
swooped down to grab Ariane and Chiyome before flying high into the air.
"Kyii!" Ponta also seemed to understand that something big was up, and it swooped
down to land atop my helmet.
The Paladin skills were such that they would pretty much annihilate anything within
a given area. I did my best to place myself somewhere that would provide the
maximum impact with as little collateral damage as possible, but I'd never actually
used this skill before so I couldn't be sure.
I called out the attack. "Meteor Ray Destruction!"
Uriel screamed to the heavens and hefted his massive hammer. Massive blasts of light
shot out from the clouds, tracing lines across the sky before slamming into the ground
with such incredible force that it sent the undead soldiers flying.
Over and over, each ray hit the ground and exploded into a bright flash of light.
Just when I thought the aerial bombardment was over, another, larger object appeared
in the sky. It was an enormous mass of burning rock, so large that it almost looked like
a small hill ripped from the countryside. At the moment of collision, my vision went
white.
The next thing I knew, a powerful shockwave rolled past me, followed by scorching
heat and a rush of sand and stones.
I coughed hard, struggling to breathe.
"Well, that was far more powerful than the Archangel Michael. They really should
banish that kind of magic."
I waved the dust away from my face as Uriel clung to my back. I had to squint to see
anything.
"Kyiii! Kiiiiii!"
Ponta did its part by using its feather-duster-like tail to keep the dust away from my
helmet, though this also blew dust up its nose, sending the poor thing into a sneezing
fit, which it immediately followed with a bout of self-grooming.
Mericfully, a breeze swept in and carried away much of the dust, and I finally got a
clear look at the damage.
Where an army of undead had once stood was now a massive crater of scorched earth.
"The meteor did that much damage?"
I could hardly believe my eyes at the show of immense power, or rather, wanton
destruction before me. Looking out over the ravaged plains, I could only spot a few
clusters of undead. In fact, it looked like the only survivors were the man-spiders;
none of the undead infantry were still standing. If this was all that was left, I didn't see
a need for calling in the reinforcements.
However, I couldn't help but notice that the veiled man was suspiciously absent. I was
confident that he hadn't died in the blast, especially considering that he could teleport.
Between when I summoned the attack and the impact itself, he would have had more
than enough time to get away.
Something told me that the next time the pontiff and I met, it would be in Fehrbio
Alsus, the capital of the Holy Hilk Kingdom.
I turned my gaze west, but the Rutios Mountains formed an impenetrable wall,
blocking my view of the holy lands.