Chapter 55 - Witch's Forest (2)

Delicate features and a voluptuous figure. Add a sweet, lilting voice to the mix, and Elisa had the sort of looks most men would readily find attractive.

At least, she had until a second ago.

"L-Lady Elisa!"

As Hans C's eyes went wide, the slender woman, roughly 160 centimeters tall, collapsed to the ground.

THUD.

A caved-in temple. An eyeball bulging far out of its socket. Crimson blood spurting like a water pistol from where her ear canal should have been.

The beautiful Elisa was no more.

"Wh-what the hell have you done...!"

Seeing her mangled state, Hans C cried out in shock.

"Why! Why did you hurt Lady Elisa! What did we ever do to you...!"

Right, they hadn't actually done anything yet.

So I gave him a brief answer.

"Ah, sorry. It was an accident."

The mace was heavy, and my hand had slipped. Really. So...

"Why don't you come a little closer? Let's discuss compensation for my mistake."

"Y-you crazy bastard!"

So that wasn't going to work. Well, I supposed he did have a brain.

As if sensing his fate, Hans C fell into a panic.

"N-no... We're all going to die..."

"Good. So you understand."

I didn't bother denying it anymore.

Except...

"Because of these c-crazy bastards..."

My smile at the terrified Hans C faded as I sensed something off that was difficult to describe. Studying him more closely, I realized it was where he was looking.

'Why is he looking somewhere else in terror instead of at us?'

Naturally, I turned to follow his gaze. At the end of it lay the former Elisa—a tragic woman who had lost the beauty she'd possessed in life and become a cold corpse.

But had she somehow sensed me looking?

"Krrk, krk, krrrk..."

Elisa, who should have long since returned to her god's embrace, began convulsing and making bizarre noises. Her limbs jerked and bent violently, as though she'd touched a live wire, reminding me of the joint-twisting dances of zombies in movies.

'Fuck, what the hell is this now?'

I couldn't understand it. When I'd smashed her head, I'd distinctly felt that telltale sensation of a one-shot kill.

So why was she still alive and twitching? And making those creepy noises?

"Krk, krrrk, kreeek!"

"B-Bjorn? What's going on?"

Don't ask me, you damn dwarf. I'm scared shitless too.

I'd fucked up plenty of people since waking up in this body, but I swore on the ancestral spirits, this was the first time I'd seen one dance like that after becoming a corpse.

Still...

GRIND.

This habit of clenching my jaw when I was nervous was proof that my body belonged to a fearless barbarian.

"... I'll take care of it."

"Take care of it?"

Instead of answering, I dashed forward and brought my mace down. My target: Elisa's face.

THWACK!

Her skull, incomparably softer than a deathfiend's, caved in once more. The dwarf nearly fainted.

"M-mutilating a corpse! Even if they are plunderers—!"

It was wrong? What was I supposed to do about it?

"I was too scared. I had no choice."

"What? That's hardly something a frightened person would—"

I cut him off with my answer. I didn't know why I kept having to explain this to different people.

"The best defense is a good offense."

Damn right it was.

If something scared you, you beat it to pieces. Mercilessly fuck up your enemies to protect yourself.

That was the barbarian way.

'Ah, now I get it.'

That was why Aynar had been afraid of banshees. You couldn't beat spirit-type monsters to pieces. You needed magical damage, not physical damage.

With that fresh realization, I checked on the former Elisa again, then clicked my tongue bitterly.

"Damn it, she's still dancing..."

Even with her face completely caved in now, Elisa kept twisting her joints in that horrifying display.

Did we need magical damage after all?

"Dwalki! Use magic!"

"But..."

But, my ass. There was no point asking nicely with people like him. They only listened when you got forceful.

"Do it now!"

At my shout, Dwalki began chanting a spell.

And at that moment...

"I-I can't die!"

Hans C turned and ran.

It was pointless. Before he'd managed even a few steps, Rotmiller's crossbow bolt struck him in the back.

THUNK!

Hans C crumpled pitifully, still facing away. Watching his miserable end, I muttered a few words.

"Fucking idiot."

See? If he hadn't handed over his armor, he could've easily taken one bolt.

A weak brain really did make the body suffer.

Then I turned to the last one remaining, the spearman Tayson, and asked,

"Aren't you going to run?"

"There's no point."

His eyes and tone suggested he'd already resigned himself to everything. Yet my warrior's blood detected something strangely off in his voice, just as it had with Hans C.

That was when it happened.

WHOOOOSH!

Black radiance suddenly poured from Hans C's body. To be honest, I was scared shitless and hastily hid behind Dwalki, but nothing else happened.

The light streamed out for about five seconds, then vanished. Only then did I straighten from my crouch to look ahead.

"The fuck?"

I had no idea what bizarre phenomenon this was, but after emitting that light, Hans C's body had turned into something like a mummy. Every drop of moisture was gone, leaving his flesh shriveled and utterly lifeless.

Naturally, everyone's eyes turned to Rotmiller, who'd fired the crossbow.

"Rotmiller, what in the world did you..."

"I-I didn't do anything! I swear!"

I know, old man.

This probably had to do with the former Elisa too. After all, we hadn't done anything to Tayson over there, yet he'd ended up in the same state.

Dwalki the mage hastily offered his assessment.

"The life force drained from those two was absorbed into that woman's body!"

Hmm, so that was roughly how it worked.

I'd played enough games to have a general idea of what type of enemy this was. I also had one particular possibility in mind.

"Krrk, krk, krrrk..."

Soon, Elisa rose to her feet, still doing her joint-twisting dance. Her face remained half-pulverized.

Then her mouth opened.

"How. Did. You. Know?"

"Know what?"

"That. We. Were. Enemies."

"Oh, that."

Scared shitless, I struggled to sound nonchalant.

"You fuckers all stink of rot."

Had that answer satisfied her? Apparently so, judging by how loudly Half-Head Elisa was laughing with her skull half smashed in.

"Kee. Hee. Hee. Hee. Hee. Hee. Hee!!!"

Fuck, why couldn't anything in my life ever go smoothly?

"..."

The situation resembled our fight with the Corpse Golem. Everyone had frozen at the unreal sight, so, just as I had then, I shouted to snap my stunned teammates out of it.

"Everyone, get a grip!!"

One wrong move and we'd all be fucking dead.

* * *

I'd played [Dungeon and Stone] for ten years. It wasn't a popular game, but I still prided myself on knowing everything there was to know about it.

And that wasn't actually an empty boast.

"Kee. Hee. Hee. Hee. Hee. Hee. Hee!!!"

"Wh-what's happening? How could a dead person..."

A corpse had come back to life. But according to my knowledge, this couldn't be a miracle performed by Leatlas, goddess of exploration.

Whatever her followers might get up to, Leatlas herself was a good-aligned deity.

I briefly stated the conclusion I'd reached.

"She's a priest of Carui."

A priest of Carui, the god of darkness. A sort of hidden class you could only choose if you started as a human and advanced to the priest class.

Its strength lay in being able to use both Divine Power and dark spells, but the penalties were just as severe.

"A priest of Carui!"

"That woman was a servant of that evil god!"

Once you advanced to a priest of Carui, you'd be dragged off to the execution grounds the moment your class was exposed. As a result, you had to build your team by making evil-aligned NPCs your thralls, and you also needed to offer living sacrifices periodically to maintain your class.

'That explains the plundering too. The Labyrinth would be the safest place to find sacrifices.'

That explained most of what had happened. But one question remained.

Why us? Why had they been so persistent in targeting us?

Not that we had time to dwell on that.

"Because of, you, I lost, valuable, thralls."

Had she finished digesting all the life force she'd absorbed from Hans C and Tayson? Elisa, who had regained some of her original appearance, looked at me as she spoke.

Her speech seemed to have improved too, perhaps because her pulverized brain had healed. In other words, her intelligence was back.

But...

'What the hell is this crazy bitch talking about?'

I supposed intelligence and character really were separate things.

I gave her a short reply.

"Blaming other people even in a situation like this? Your parents clearly didn't raise you properly."

"... Wh-at?"

It was entirely this woman's fault that Hans and Tayson had met such gruesome ends at a young age. None of this would've happened if she'd just accepted her fate with her head smashed in.

I steeled my resolve.

"I'll avenge Hans and Tayson."

And take every last piece of equipment and valuable she owned.

Well, it wouldn't be easy. But when had my life ever been easy?

* * *

「Elisa Vehench has cast [Death's Calling].」

"L-look over there!"

The dwarf pointed in horror. In that direction, the mummified Hans C and Tayson were slowly rising to their feet.

Having played as a priest of Carui a few times, I wasn't surprised.

'Death's Calling.'

The class's most basic and essential skill. Normally, it only summoned undead monsters, but using corpses as a medium allowed you to command stronger minions.

Those eyes, utterly devoid of reason, were proof.

"Grrrr..."

Before long, Hans and Tayson—"Hanson" for short—finished their class change into undead and rolled their eyes back as they faced us.

And then...

"Destroy, my enemies, my servants!"

At Elisa's command, they charged us.

CRASH!

The battle began in earnest as Hanson's charge collided with the shield wall the dwarf and I had formed.

「Leor Wuerv Dwalki has cast the grade-8 attack spell [Ice Spear].」

「Misha Karlstein has used [Enhancement].」

「The effect of the next Active Skill used increases in proportion to Magic Power.」

「Misha Karlstein has used [Poisoning].」

While we took a beating up front, Misha and Dwalki worked hard to dish out damage, but none of their attacks had any real effect.

Strength beyond human limits. Physical Resistance so high that even a blow from my mace didn't leave a scratch. On top of that, becoming undead had granted them resistance to poison and cold.

This was a bad matchup.

CRASH! FWOOSH!

Of course, Rotmiller, who had plenty of experience fighting undead, used his firebombs liberally, but...

"What a, pointless effort!"

「Elisa Vehench has cast [Fire of the Dead].」

Black flames flickered in midair, then began absorbing every fire nearby.

'Damn it.'

Things had gotten complicated. Fire, the next best thing against undead after Divine Power, wasn't working.

'Do we have no choice but to destroy the core?'

Undead wouldn't die as long as their cores remained intact, even if their entire bodies were hacked to pieces. For reference, a skeleton's core was hidden between its ribs, while a deathfiend's was its brain.

Then what about these two, reborn through the dark god's power?

The answer was simple.

"Misha, can you kill that woman?"

Summoned creatures usually had their core in their summoner. In other words, if we could just kill Elisa, Hanson could find the light and return to a real god's embrace.

"Hmm..."

"You don't have to kill her. Even wounding her would make things much better."

"I'll try, nyah."

Misha nodded, then immediately stepped on my shoulder and leaped high into the air, hurtling toward Elisa. Her movements were agile and supple enough to put an elf to shame.

But her opponent wasn't about to go down helplessly.

「Elisa Vehench has summoned [Shadow Guards].」

Shadowy soldiers rose from the ground and formed an unbroken barrier around Elisa. Even for Misha, breaking through them and taking Elisa's head looked unlikely to happen quickly.

But...

'There's no reason we can't drag this out.'

It might've been different if Hanson had weapons in their hands. But we'd already confiscated those, so the newly undead Hanson weren't much of a threat.

In fact, the dwarf and I could hold them off as long as we wanted by ourselves.

Having reached that conclusion, I reassigned our people.

"Dwalki, Rotmiller, you two help Misha."

"But..."

"It's fine. The two of us will manage here."

"All right! We're counting on you!"

Once Dwalki and Rotmiller joined in, the tide slowly began to turn. Of course, the Shadow Guards regenerated as soon as they were destroyed, and Elisa apparently still had enough power to hurl all sorts of curses at us, but...

"Looks like she's running out of steam! Keep it up!"

At a certain point, the number of endlessly summoned Shadow Guards began to drop noticeably. Even serving an evil god didn't give her an unlimited source of power.

Had she not expected things to turn out like this?

"You, damned, bastards...!"

Forced onto the defensive, Elisa began trembling with agitation. But she apparently retained enough reason to think of survival, because she gritted her teeth and muttered quietly,

"I will, not forget, this humiliation..."

After roughly twenty minutes of whittling down the Shadow Guards, fewer than five remained. Realizing what she intended, I shouted urgently.

"What? Fuck, no!"

We'd almost finished her off! Where did she think she was running?

I shoved aside Hanson, who had clung to us throughout the battle, and dashed forward with all my strength.

But...

「Elisa Vehench has cast [Spirit Form].」

Elisa's body turned translucent and floated into the air. She swept her gaze over us once.

"You will, never, return, alive."

Then she flew off into the distance and vanished into the darkness.

WHOOOOSH!

Left staring helplessly after her, like a dog watching the chicken it had chased fly out of reach, I heaved a deep sigh.