Chapter 357 - Isolation (4)

Orculus, the most notorious criminal organization of them all. And four members with considerable reputations even within its ranks.

Perhaps that was why this felt so strange. It made the difference between then and now all the more tangible.

"Schuitz, what will you do?"

What else was there to do?

There had been only three of them in the battle in the second-floor Goblin Forest. Over a thousand explorers had fought and laid down their lives to face those three.

But...

"We'll have to fight. At least until the spell is ready."

It wasn't as hopeless as it had been back then. In fact, my first thought was that with our current lineup, we stood a chance.

And...

"Is that so? Understood."

Judging by Amelia's reaction, I wasn't the only one who thought so. And Erwin didn't look as though she'd wanted to run in the first place.

"... Aveth Necrapethor."

The moment the Corpse Collector appeared in the distance, killing intent began spilling from Erwin. I considered warning her, but...

'There's no need.'

This was better than being scared, at any rate. Besides, she wasn't rushing out or attacking first, so she didn't seem to have lost her reason.

"What are you doing? You stopped chanting."

If she could tell Raven, who had frozen in a daze, to resume chanting the teleportation spell, she seemed to remember what I'd said about survival coming first...

Somehow... I felt proud of her.

"Oh... R-right."

Raven, who hadn't reacted for quite some time after saying something about my back, came to her senses and returned to her task. Apparently, she'd decided this wasn't the time to resolve her suspicions about me.

'Tsk. She must have figured it out, right?'

Even as I worried about what complications this might cause later, part of me wondered if there was still a chance. Hadn't that Corpse Collector bastard over there called me Mr. Knockoff?

"Psh-sh-sh! Aren't you staring a little too hard, Miss Elf? Even I'm starting to feel uncomfortable."

"..."

"Hmm, more importantly, I'm quite surprised! I heard you recently borrowed a great deal of money from your people... To think you spent it making a knockoff like that!"

Even after seeing [Gigantification], he hadn't connected me to Bjorn Jandel. Well, he was probably certain I was dead. Erwin's madness was so famous that the idea she'd made a fake must have seemed more plausible.

'I wish Raven would think that too...'

Ah, whatever. If I'd been found out, I'd been found out. Surely she wouldn't insist she couldn't betray the royal family and report everything after I'd just put my body on the line to save her life?

I decided to stop dwelling on it there. The other side didn't seem inclined to give us any more time anyway.

"Necrapethor, isn't that woman over there chanting Mass Teleportation?"

Their dark mage had noticed our insurance policy.

"Psh-sh-sh! Then we'd best hurry and begin. A dance of blood, bone, and screams—"

"Ugh, seriously, can't you stop talking like that already? You suddenly picked up this weird habit, and now whenever we go on an expedition, the first thing you do is put on a mask..."

"Um... Miss Vivian, doing this with other people watching is a little..."

"I'm telling you to stop because other people are watching! Honestly, you're perfectly normal back home, so why is it whenever you go outside..."

"... It's a hobby. A hobby."

The Screaming Witch's scolding bought us a little time, but not much.

"Both of you, stop it and get to work."

The Lighthouse Keeper, a huge man shrouded in a robe, cut their conversation short, and the atmosphere naturally grew heavy.

Whew. Was that the end of filling our teleport gauge for free?

"How much longer until you can use the teleportation spell?"

"... It'll take at least ten minutes. The mana dispersed when the spell formula unraveled earlier."

"And can you cast other spells while chanting?"

"Yes. High-level spells are out of the question, but I can provide help when needed."

Okay, that was one less worry.

"Focus on completing the spell for now, but provide support as the situation demands."

"Yes, understo... Wait, why are you the one giving orders?"

A little late to be asking that now.

"What a pointless question. Does that matter right now?"

I swiftly sidestepped the issue and continued giving orders.

"Erwin, Emily. You two focus on defense for now as well. Getting the spell ready comes first."

"Yes."

Surprisingly, Erwin agreed without a moment's hesitation, while Amelia asked a question.

"... Wouldn't it be better to abandon the spell and join forces to fight them?"

She certainly had a point. But...

"We don't know when someone besides those four might show up."

We couldn't ignore the possibility of reinforcements. Even without any, I was reluctant to settle things here. We had a good chance of winning, but it would be a hard fight, with a strong possibility that one of us would be injured or killed.

"... That's true too. All right. We'll do it your way."

Apparently satisfied with my explanation, Amelia said nothing more. Well, more accurately, perhaps she no longer had the luxury.

["GRRRAAAAGH!"]

The legions of corpses surrounding us charged all at once, and the battle began.

* * *

The basic situation was simple. The corpse legions rushed in from all directions, and we held them off in a defensive formation.

The problem, however...

["GRRRAAAAGH!"]

...was that the corpses we'd been bursting apart with a single hit had become far more dangerous.

「Lilanne Vivian has cast rank-five dark magic [Wrath of the Dead].」

「Lilanne Vivian has cast rank-four dark magic [Dark Baptism].」

A dark mage and a necromancer. The combination was so powerful that I'd once favored it myself. Dark magic offered a wealth of highly efficient buffs for the undead. You could say they had excellent synergy.

「Lilanne Vivian has cast rank-four dark magic [Lantern of the Underworld].」

Whew. Of course she'd use that too. No way would she leave that spell out of this combination.

WHOOOOM!

The moment a black flame rose into the sky, the corpses we'd worked so hard to smash regenerated and stood back up.

And amid all that...

「Lilanne Vivian has summoned [Erimianne, Queen of Pain].」

A wraith pierced by thousands of thorns flew overhead, screaming. It was the signature summon that had earned the dark mage Lilanne Vivian the epithet Screaming Witch.

If I remembered its effect correctly...

「The character's Pain Tolerance decreases by -200.」

Amplified pain. And...

「When a target who has heard the scream takes damage, a set amount of the summoner's dark mana is restored.」

Replenishment of mana, a mage's most important resource.

'Well, we just have to be careful not to get hurt.'

Still, it wasn't that troublesome a summon when we were fighting as a small elite group like this.

However...

「Lilanne Vivian has cast rank-three dark magic [Voodoo Doll].」

「The Precision of curse-type spells targeting the character increases to 100%, and their power increases significantly.」

Having finished her basic preparations, from buffing the corpse legions to calling forth her signature summon, the Screaming Witch began casting spells in earnest.

「[Greater Decay] is in effect.」

「The rate at which injuries heal decreases significantly.」

「[Lethargy] is in effect.」

「Strength decreases significantly.」

「[Unseen Threat] is in effect.」

「The probability of failing to detect enemy attacks increases...」

Seriously, why was she only cursing me? It reminded me of Elisa, that priest of Carui, and I felt like I was about to get PTSD.

But what could I do? I'd have to give it my all, even if that meant screaming my lungs out instead of calling the ancestral god's name.

"Aaaaaaagh!"

I swung my hammer with a battle cry. That was about all a warrior could do in a situation like this.

CRUNCH!

I devoted every action to protecting my companions and left the ranged attacks to Erwin. Fortunately, she delivered more than enough to justify that investment.

「Erwin Fornacci de Tersia has cast [Elemental Synthesis].」

Sniping shots to keep the enemy in check, immense power condensed into each arrow.

「Erwin Fornacci de Tersia has cast [Rapid Fire].」

A rain of arrows pouring from the sky.

And...

「Erwin Fornacci de Tersia summons [Dicloe, Spirit King of Darkness].」

Even the Spirit King of Darkness that had earned Erwin the epithet Blood Spirit Marquis.

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!

The Spirit King remained summoned for only about five seconds, but in that brief span, half the vast corpse legions were annihilated. Yes, literally annihilated. Even [Lantern of the Underworld] couldn't revive corpses that had vanished without a trace.

"N-no! Do you have any idea what it took to collect those...?!"

Such overwhelming violence that even the Corpse Collector offered glowing praise.

But summoning the Spirit King had drained Erwin's nature power. She could still use her various skills fueled by Magic Power, but she could no longer make use of spirits.

"... Good work."

"It was... nothing."

Erwin had effectively spent her trump card, but the situation wasn't too bad. The huge gap in the oncoming corpse legions gave us much more breathing room.

Unfortunately, that respite didn't last long.

"Schuitz, he's coming."

"I'll take him. You two fall back."

The Blood Knight, who had stayed in the rear for a while even after the battle began, returned to the field after receiving healing from the Lighthouse Keeper.

'They said he was a support-type supernatural ability user. So he has healing skills too.'

That was a real shame. Erwin's [Rupture] had blown his entire left arm off just a few minutes ago, and he'd already recovered? Even if you reattached an injury like that with a top-tier potion, lingering aftereffects should leave the arm unusable for quite some—

SLASH!

Huh?

"Ghh!"

He aimed for a gap in my armor again. I'd intended to tank it with my body and counterattack, but I froze instead. With my Pain Tolerance down by a full 200, it was only natural for even a small wound to hurt badly, but...

"Now, you can be cut."

The wound was much deeper than before. Yet there was relatively little bleeding, and I smelled burning.

What was causing it? The answer wasn't hard to find.

'That's not Aura.'

His sword was still covered in red energy, but it was different from the Aura he'd used earlier. It radiated heat intense enough to reach me through the air.

'Ha. Got yourself a fire enchantment in the meantime?'

That had to be the Lighthouse Keeper's work. Seeing that Aura hadn't harmed me much while magic had wrecked me, he'd likely converted the Blood Knight's basic attacks into magic damage.

'Clever bastard.'

Of course, even if the damage had changed to fire, the fixed factors of a bladed weapon and a slashing attack remained unchanged. It wasn't more than I could withstand. The fight had simply gotten a little harder.

'I can hold out just fine against this.'

As expected, a contest of strength followed. There were moments that sent chills down my spine, but ultimately, time passed without either side scoring any meaningful gains.

And then...

"I-it's ready!"

At last, Raven completed Mass Teleportation. We could now end this battle and escape whenever we wanted.

Okay, our insurance policy was in place.

"Don't use it yet. Wait."

"What?"

What did she mean, what? We'd spent all this time getting beaten up. How was I supposed to sleep if we left like this?

We might be leaving, but I had to take at least one of them down first.

'Now, who should it be?'

It didn't take much thought to choose my first target.

"Guys! Their spell is ready!"

The dark mage was flying on a broomstick, so she was out.

"Vivian! Do something! If we let them leave, I'll be the only one suffering enormous losses!"

The Corpse Collector bastard had high Agility and even an invincibility skill, so he'd be hard to catch.

WHOOSH!

The same went for the Blood Knight, who was swinging his sword right in front of me. How was I supposed to catch him alone when he'd slipped away like an eel even with four of us on him? Unless I faced him one-on-one in a sealed room, it would be difficult.

And so...

"... We will meet again someday."

I grinned at the Blood Knight, who spoke as though our escape was already a foregone conclusion.

Had anyone said we were just going to leave?

'Yeah, he's definitely the best choice.'

The Lighthouse Keeper. Name unknown. Notable for being one of Noark's few support-type supernatural ability users.

And...

'Accessories tend to be expensive.'

He had all ten fingers decked out with rings.