For a long time, Dead Apostles viewed humans as food, killing and consuming them at will. But today, this dynamic is reversed. Like livestock turning on their predators, humans bared their fangs against the Dead Apostles, launching a slaughter in the lair of the Dead Apostle of the Lake, Louvre.
There is no exaggeration, it is a genuine massacre!
Combatant Machine Kirie, with its metallic body, unafraid of injury and lacking blood, led the charge. Whether facing Dead Apostles, familiars, or traps, she always started with a three-hit combo—Bullet Storm, Flamethrower, and Lightning Flash—followed by a barrage of attacks. Knowing her lack of combat experience, she abandoned finesse for straightforward and brutal firepower.
As the saying goes, no problem can't be solved with enough firepower, and if there is, it just means there wasn't enough firepower. This perfectly describes Kirie's combat style.
When firepower was insufficient, Kirie would immediately retreat, letting Lorelei take the lead.
The Barthomeloi family, with their extensive history of hunting Dead Apostles, had accumulated vast experience, and Lorelei, inheriting the family's magic crests, was arguably the best at combating Dead Apostles in the Mage's Association.
No matter how powerful the Dead Apostle was or how bizarre their attacks were, nothing could stop her.
For long-range combat, she had her versatile vacuum magecraft.
For close combat, she wielded the ancient Barthomeloi Combat Arts, which predated the Dead Apostles.
Against curses, Lorelei's coat, a family heirloom woven with mithril threads and blessed with holy protection, rendered her nearly immune to curses, even those from Ortenrosse, let alone these lower Dead Apostles.
The so-called living corpses are the stage before becoming Dead Apostles. When a human is bitten by a vampire, they don't immediately transform into a Dead Apostle but must go through a lengthy process.
Normally, a human bitten by a vampire dies. If the Dead Apostle leaves some of their blood in the body, the killed human won't die outright. After a few years in the grave, with their brain decayed and their soul still anchored to the body, they turn into a ghoul.
Ghouls need to consume other corpses' flesh to repair their decayed bodies over the years, eventually becoming living corpses.
After several years, these living corpses regain their human knowledge, transforming into true vampires, thus becoming Dead Apostles.
The probability of a person turning into a ghoul after being bitten is 1%, and the probability of a ghoul becoming a living corpse and then a Dead Apostle is also 1%. Therefore, the chance of a human becoming a Dead Apostle after being bitten is only one in ten thousand.
However, this probability is not absolute. Some ancient dead apostle species have methods or abilities to increase this rate, and some humans possess the potential to skip these steps and become dead apostles immediately. Magi fall into this special category, where the higher their abilities, the shorter the transformation process and the higher the probability. The White Wing Lord pursued Shinji precisely because he was certain he could turn Shinji into a Dead Apostle, prompting this group of fearsome women to seek revenge.
Among these women, the most dazzling was Lorelei, who had killed the most Dead Apostles, though that didn't mean the others performed poorly.
Fujino's Mystic Eyes of Distortion ranked highest among Mystic Eyes, operated silently and unpredictably. Regardless of resilience or hardness, those she targeted inevitably twisted into grotesque shapes.
With reliable teammates, Fujino fought more freely, sometimes twisting enemies into balls or contorting their limbs and organs to create openings for her allies.
As the battle progressed, no enemy dared to enter Fujino's line of sight.
However, Fujino was not a Hyuuga, and her Mystic Eyes of Distortion were not Byakugan, unable to observe 360 degrees without blind spots. Some Dead Apostles used special abilities or tools to attack her from behind.
Fujino was prepared for this. She had trained in Scáthach's "Women's Self-Defense Arts" for five years. Although not yet on the level of experts like Shinji or Lorelei, she was no easy target for typical Dead Apostles. For instance, she could hold her ground for a few moves against the two Dead Apostles who had ambushed Kirie earlier, long enough to use her Mystic Eyes to kill them.
This method allowed Fujino to thwart several ambushes. The only shortcoming of this approach—weak long-range defense—was compensated for by her two steadfast companions.
Sakura and Touko, two female magus who specialize in Rune Magic, advance and retreat together, outlining runes, composing spell scores, and chanting spells in unison.
Although joint magecraft does exist in magical theory, it requires the practitioners to intertwine their magic circuits. Only magus with a high degree of trust and understanding, like Sakura and Touko, can achieve this.
Azure runes flow—Advanced Summoning Magecraft: Ice Spirits.
Crimson Flames Rage—Advanced Elemental Magecraft: Blaze Tempest.
A divine aura surges—Advanced Elemental Magecraft: Holy Flame Lance.
Shadows flicker, monsters emerge, dark swords swirl—Advanced Shadow Magecraft: Shadow Apostles, Advanced Shadow Magecraft: Nocturnal Blade.
...
With their combined efforts, ancient lost magecrafts resurface, wreaking havoc on the castle and dealing significant damage to the Dead Apostles gathered under the banner of the Dead Apostle of the Lake.
"Rainbow Missiles!" Seven-colored projectiles sequentially shoot from Touko's hand, turning an approaching female Dead Apostle into a sieve.
Ahead of the team, Lorelei, who happened to turn back, utters a number, "Forty-one."
This is the count of Dead Apostles they have exterminated so far.
At this moment, they are inside the main hall of the castle, the most heavily guarded area.
In Lorelei's words, things are finally getting interesting here, although it's not intense combat yet, at least it's not boring.
The girl, who eagerly anticipates Louvre's appearance, swings her whip, ready to use the common Wind Blossom to shred the barely alive female Dead Apostle into pieces.
"-Huh?"
The Queen's whip hesitates for a moment. She senses a powerful magic emanating from above the castle. It's another dead apostle, similar to the one before her but stronger.
"Save... save me, Father...!"
In an instant, Lorelei consents to the Dead Apostle's escape.
Although on the brink of death, being a centuries-old Dead Apostle, she still has some explosive power left.
"How rude, trying to escape from me."
Despite showing a hint of annoyance, Lorelei refrains from pursuing it on her own and instead asks the commander who also senses the magic.
"Miss Touko, what should we do?"
"That should be Louvre's hiding place."
The oldest woman in the team, carrying an oversized suitcase with one hand and removing her glasses with the other, emits an imposing chill that blankets the entire castle.