We rushed into the final attack. If this failed, we would hardly get out of here alive.
The queen no longer attacked me with both blades simultaneously. She must have understood the trick with the magnets, but even so, I could block her.
I dodged the right blade while Ragni tried to seize the left one. Both of my swords were charged, but I couldn't magnetize one blade, nor could I magnetize both. I needed another anchor. And then it hit me; the walls here were made of the same mythril as the entire mine. Maneuvering, I parried the left blade with my left sword and plunged the right one into the wall, and the charge spread through the metal surface, sticking the blade to it firmly. At the same time, Ragni managed to grasp the second blade with both hands, like catching a slippery fish. The claw wildly thrashed, trying to break free from the dragoness's hold, but she clung to it with her claws.
"Leira, Algo, don't let me down!"
Algo rushed forward again, and the smaller blades emerged from the queen's body once more.
"What should I do? I don't know how to magnetize them simultaneously!" Anxious thoughts flitted through Leira's mind. "But I must save him; it's all I want!"
"Focus, Leira. If you're creating lightning, you're also creating two poles in your body. Try to direct them forward for an attack, and they'll transmit different charges." Suddenly, a calm voice of Katrina echoed in Leira's mind.
"I understand!"
Leira extended the index fingers of both hands forward, and small sparks began to fly off them, but only from one hand, yellow sparks flew off, and from the other, blue ones. Two small lightning bolts broke away from her hands and precisely hit the smaller blades. For a moment, a couple of electric discharges ran between them, and they joined together under the influence of an unknown force.
Pushing off from the blades, Algo beheaded the monster with a single powerful blow.
"Damn. Get back quickly!"
Algo quickly jumped back, and soon the Queen descended into madness. Without a head, she continued to live, driven by the desire to kill intruders.
In her madness, she swung her blades in all directions, and at this rate, she could bring the ceiling down. We had to stop her.
"Damn it, Algo, I always have to finish everything myself."
Gathering all the remaining lightning mana from Leira's spell and what I could muster myself, I leaped forward, crouching close to the ground.
Devoid of the ability to sense the surrounding world, the Queen struck randomly, making her attacks unpredictable but also creating several blind spots in her defense.
She was striking at a height near a person's chest, so by leaning as low as possible to the ground, I slipped under her blades and precisely severed them at the elbow joint. The short blades couldn't reach me where I aimed. With one precise strike, I cut the nerve cluster in the Queen's abdomen, putting an end to this arduous battle.
"Hey!! Krito!! You could have defeated the Queen yourself with such speed, why did you pressure Leira?" Algo was indignant at what he saw.
"What? I had to clean up after you, and you're still dissatisfied? When she had a head, it would have been much harder for me to get close to her like that," I turned to Leira. "And besides, if she can't be relied upon for such a simple task, why do we have her in the guild?"
"Allow me to remind you that I'm not part of the guild, let alone YOURS!" The noblewoman pointed her finger at me threateningly with each letter of the last word.
"Well, well. It won't be for long. After all, we fulfilled the contract... on our side," my lips curled into a nasty smirk.
"Ha!" Leira recalled the terms of the deal.
"Hey, you there! Did you forget someone?" Ragni pointed upwards, where Rizel was supposed to be fighting the pursuing guards.
"Damn, you're right. Ragni, burn the Queen's body, and we'll take the trophies and hurry to help," I ordered.
"You mean you didn't just want to take the head?" Ragni asked.
"One head is good, but with the arms, it's even better. I really liked the material of these blades; I think they'll come in handy in the future."
Algo stuffed the head into a bag, I took the blades, and Ragni set the room on fire. Then we rushed upstairs.
"I don't like the smell in that room, and I can hardly hear any movement," Ragni looked concerned.
We found ourselves in the room with the eggs again, but strangely, they were not visible. Or rather, the entire room darkened and even seemed to shrink. In the center of the room, on a rock, sat a figure in a black cloak, digging into the ground with the pointed end of a staff.
"Are you okay?" I asked, looking around. "And what happened here?"
The girl stood up from the rock and turned towards us, her face beaming with joy.
"Master Krito, Master Krito! I dealt with all of them, can you imagine? I did it!"
She was exulting, but doubts crept into my soul. How could she deal with twenty healthy monsters so quickly and without a scratch?
I ignited a small light and tossed it into the air before it vanished, illuminating a horrifying scene: the room didn't shrink, but along the walls lay scattered pieces of rotting flesh, the remains of the attackers were spread across the room's walls, eggshells dangled from the ceiling, and the mithril armors of the creatures, which seemed so invulnerable, rusted intensely in the corners of the room. This spectacle triggered a wave of nausea, and the overwhelming stench of decomposing bodies only intensified the atmosphere.
"What a horror," Leira's words aptly described the situation.
"I'm sorry; I didn't want you to see me like this, and I was afraid of hurting you," Rizel tried to justify herself in a timid voice. "You see, this magic... it's..."
"A necrotic explosion?" I interrupted; it seemed I had read about it.
"You know about it?" the shinigami was surprised.
"Yes, I read about this magic in a book. A wave of decay that engulfs everything around... it's scarier than any acid."
"Yes, it's truly revolting magic," Rizel guiltily lowered her head.
Leira felt ashamed of her earlier words, but apologizing would only worsen the situation.
"That's amazing!" my words shocked everyone around. "I read that only the strongest necromancers could cast this spell over such a large radius, and you managed to defeat so many enemies with it. I'm very glad that our guild has gained such a powerful mage."
"Thank you, Master Krito," the necromancer still didn't lift her head, but I'm sure she blushed from the unexpected praise.
"We'll definitely have a few sparring matches when we return home. But now it's time to report the mission's completion. Looks like we've wiped out all the monsters."
When Rizel raised her head, there was a faint smile on her face.
On the way back, I noticed one tunnel that differed from the rest. It looked like the other passages, dug by underground monsters, but inside, there were supports holding up the ceiling.
"Grain, can you tell me what's there?"
"Up ahead is a large room, much bigger than the Queen's chambers, but there's no other exit. I don't know what it's used for."
We had to escort the rescued people to the surface, but this place didn't let me rest.
"You guys go up, and I'll explore a bit more here."
"Wait, I'll go with you," Leira also became interested in the cave.
"Lady Leeri, I won't leave you alone."
I inspected the group of people following us.
"Ragni, Rizel, escort the people to the surface; we'll catch up with you."
After splitting up, we entered the room. Inside was a large circular chamber with scorched walls. It seemed a fierce battle had taken place here. Charred remains of shelves and tables were scattered along the walls, and at the far end were the skeletons of empty cages.
"Leira, did your father conduct any research here?"
"No, he would have told me. Besides, he couldn't have conducted them here; this place is too far from the mine. The monsters wouldn't allow anyone to settle here."
"It seems to be someone's laboratory. Maybe his."
I pointed to the charred skeleton lying against the wall. The clothing had completely rotted away, but on the chest, one could make out a gilded amulet with three red stones.
"I think I know him," Algo leaned over the body. "This amulet belonged to a strange mercenary, one of those whom the Count hired to clear the mine."
"The ones who never returned?"
"Yes, now I remember too. I've seen this amulet before," Leira reached out to touch the ornament, but it crumbled in her hands, not spared by the fire. "Back then, I wondered why such a seemingly valuable amulet was worn by mercenaries dressed so poorly."
"It seems they were not ordinary mercenaries, but we won't find anything else here. Let's go back."
Algo and Leira headed toward the exit, and I took one last glance at the skeleton. In its hand, a torch was clutched, while the other hand seemed to be reaching for something. I gently pressed the stone indicated by the skeleton's hand, and a small hidden door opened. Inside was a little book, spared from the fire. Judging by the entries, it was a diary belonging to the deceased. Just in case, I hid the book so that the noblewoman wouldn't notice it. Perhaps the owner of the diary was one of her relatives.