Using information given to us by one of Fiona’s spies, we moved on to the next city.
“Looks like we actually made it in time,” I muttered to myself in the plains outside the city.
This city was larger than the last one, and its walls looked sturdy enough that most magic wouldn’t make a dent. That was why...
“They brought some high-quality undead for this one.” The tip of a mounted undead’s lance was already closing in right before my eyes.
Phase of earth: Tengu’s Beard. A thread of volcanic rock fiber was unleashed at lightning speed. Cracking through the air, it sent the heads of four mounted undead flying. Their horses continued to charge without their riders, so I swapped places with a hitogata behind them to get out of their way. The horses continued for a while, but once the headless corpses started toppling off their backs, they eventually faltered and came to a confused halt in front of the city.
“Their horses are still alive? Undead can even ride horses, huh?” I muttered as I watched them.
“Umm, Master Seika,” Yuki whispered into my ear. “They’re firing arrows at you.” As Yuki had said, bow-wielding undead at the center of their formation had unleashed a barrage of arrows.
“I know,” I said, turning away from the horses.
Phase of yang: Magnetic Force Cloud. Hitogata I had floating in the air created a powerful magnetic field. The magnetic field acted upon the incoming arrowheads, sending a small bolt of lightning through them. The metal struck by the lightning gained magnetism, causing it to be repelled by Magnetic Force Cloud. All the arrows flying toward me veered away and embedded into the ground.
“Their aim is pretty good,” I said, looking at the arrows around me. “Longbows require a significant degree of skill. I’m surprised undead have the dexterity for them.” Onmyoudou sorcery had necromancy techniques, but none that allowed corpses to be manipulated with such precision. Just like the mage undead from the other day, they seemed to be able to make use of the skills they’d had while alive. They might have been our enemy, but I was impressed by the necromancer.
The undead fired another volley of arrows, but I didn’t need to watch out for them anymore. Keeping Magnetic Force Cloud active, I floated new hitogata into the air. Just as I had the remaining undead in my sight and was about to deal with them in one fell swoop, the ground behind me erupted with a roar.
“Wha—?!” Turning around, I saw a wyrm rising out of the earth with a cloud of dust. I was taken aback. The wyrm appeared to be alive—it wasn’t a corpse. There was no reason for a wyrm to appear here, and since I hadn’t felt any energy, it likely hadn’t been summoned either. That could only mean there was a tamer among the undead forces.
“I guess if they can tame living horses, monsters aren’t that strange,” I muttered in exasperation. “It’s just anything goes at this point.”
The wyrm opened its massive maw and came crashing down on me from above. It wasn’t worth teleporting, so I simply dodged out of the way on my feet. Failing to bite me, the wyrm slammed headfirst into the ground and buried itself back into the earth.
“It’s pretty slow.” Despite its size, it seemed weaker than the rabbitfolk tamer’s wyrm that had attacked the academy, let alone the wyrm I had encountered in Rakana.
I then started racing through the horde of undead. They naturally attempted to surround me, but I weaved through them using a combination of martial arts and short-range teleportation.
“I’m not sure how wyrms locate prey on the surface, but this should make it difficult.” At the very least, it shouldn’t have been able to pinpoint me in a crowd of similarly sized humans.
A moment later, the earth erupted again, and several undead were sent toppling to the ground. The wyrm had guessed wrong and held two undead in its mouth.
“There you are.” I sent a hitogata flying over the undead and attached it to the wyrm.
Phase of yang: Faint Lightning. A lightning bolt was unleashed from the hitogata, electrocuting the wyrm and causing its outstretched body to spasm wildly. After convulsing several times, it fell sideways to the ground. The undead beneath it were crushed with a wet squelch.
“Whoops. That was a mistake,” I grumbled after teleporting back out of the undead army and observing their formation. The massive wyrm had thrown their ranks into chaos, spreading them out and making it harder to use Needle Mountain. I had taken care of one obstacle, but now dealing with the numerous soldiers was more troublesome.
“I should’ve dealt with the wyrm the moment it appeared,” I sighed. “Oh well, too late now.” I turned my gaze to the undead who had strayed from the group, intent on dealing with them from the outside in, when I suddenly felt a source of energy from the center of the horde.
“What is that?” I reflexively turned back to the mass of undead. The flow of energy continued. There was some kind of magic being used, yet nothing was happening. Scouring the area, I found the source—a robed undead had stopped next to the wyrm’s corpse. Then the wyrm slowly lifted its head.
“Huh?” I went wide-eyed. I was certain I had killed it. Even if there were undead capable of using healing magic, they wouldn’t be able to bring it back to life. There was only one possibility. “Necromancy?”
The wyrm that should have been dead was now active once more. It writhed grotesquely across the surface, crushing the surrounding undead soldiers as it rushed at me with its mouth agape.
Clicking my tongue, I grimaced and made a hand sign with both hands, pouring cursed energy into the hitogata I had surrounding the undead forces. A moment later, all the undead collapsed as though their strings had been cut. The countless undead soldiers, the robed undead, and even the wyrm ceased moving, returning to being ordinary corpses. Once I confirmed they were neutralized, I released my hand sign and dispelled the barrier.
“I’d wanted to avoid doing that if possible,” I murmured with a sigh.
“Very impressive,” said Ren, who had been seated on the city’s walls the whole time, observing the fight. “I think you could handle this all on your own.” I could hear a hint of shock mixed into his voice.