Tamaki had finally succeeded in capturing a skeleton, completing the mission. All that remained was to eliminate the rest of the enemies.
“Flame Javelin!” Rushia unleashed a spear of fire.
“White Cannon!” Kayla struck with a beam of white light, turning skeletons to dust.
Meanwhile, Arisu darted around like a whirlwind, her spear felling bones with every thrust. During the fray, Arisu and Shiki leveled up, but opted to save their skill points for later.
Arisu’s level reached 51—her Spearmanship and Healing Magic were both at Rank 9—while Shiki hit Level 18, her Reconnaissance was still at 7 and her Throwing at 3.
Carrying the disabled skeleton, we made our way to the grounds of a nearby school, where a handful of men and women awaited us in the center of the field.
“Are these your colleagues, Mr. Wan?” I asked.
“Yes, that’s correct,” Wan replied. “Ah, Kei-san, this job’s for you.”
A petite woman in her late twenties, sporting round, black-rimmed glasses and a red kimono, stepped forward. She clutched a long staff, and she was dragging her feet in hesitation as she came toward us.
“If you can’t do it, I doubt anyone else can. We’re counting on you,” Wan told the rather unassuming woman.
“Um… And the catalyst would be…?”
“Tamaki.”
“Right here, Kazu-san!”
Our lovable klutz, her blond hair bouncing cheerfully, brought the skeleton over to Kei. Despite lacking limbs, the skeleton was still clattering its teeth aggressively. But caught firmly in Tamaki’s grasp, it could do nothing.
“What… what is this?”
“It’s the catalyst! I caught it!”
The petite woman flinched back from the thrashing skeleton. Fair enough, I thought; a raging skeleton should scare anyone. To me, the scene was just funny, but maybe that was a bad thing. Maybe it meant we’d grown too desensitized.
“I’ve got it pinned, so no worries! Although I have no idea what you’re going to do with it.”
“Um… Is it safe to touch?”
“Absolutely, go ahead.”
Kei hesitantly touched the skeleton’s spine, which twitched in response.
“Eek!”
“Oh, come on, be still,” Tamaki said, smacking the skeleton’s forehead. Of course, the skeleton kept writhing.
Then, an idea dawned on me.
“Arisu, try using Holy Circle.”
“Okay!”
Holy Circle, a rank 2 Healing spell, creates a pure barrier. It also has a slight calming effect on the undead—which, until now, had never sounded very useful.
A faint white circle of light formed around the skeleton, which soon stopped moving and slumped lifelessly.
Hey, we can’t have it completely disintegrate on us…
“What a splendid barrier. With this, maybe…”
Kei cautiously approached the immobilized skeleton and touched its shoulder. This time, the skeleton remained still.
“Here I go.”
With resonance in her voice and determination in her fist, Kei began to sing. It sounded like a flowing recitation of a Japanese poem—ah, this must be the incantation of a spell, I realized.
Curious, I activated Mana Vision. Immediately, my field of vision was awash in red light. I was seeing a vast quantity of magical power, and it was centered on Kei and the skeleton.
Then, as the incantation reached its climax, the magic around the skeleton intensified into a towering pillar, piercing the sky and scattering red light in every direction.
Silence returned to the area, but it was a much more profound silence than before—an eerie quiet in which not even the chirping of birds could be heard. The first to sense something amiss was me, using Mana Vision.
Overhead, dark light was converging on us from every direction.
“Everyone, get away from the skeleton!”
Almost simultaneously with my shout, the black brilliance was absorbed by the skeleton, which then exploded with a deafening sound.
Instinct kicked in as Tamaki shielded Kei, taking the brunt of the blast with her back. The rest of us, who were slightly further away, ducked low to withstand the shockwave. Screams erupted all around us.
I looked toward the epicenter of the explosion, dreading what I might find there. Sure enough, within the smoke of the blast, something was stirring.
It was the catalyst skeleton, now enveloped in a black mist, slowly rising off the ground. Deep within the skull, a pair of eyes glowed red.
A chill ran down my spine as those eyes found mine. “You are…?” I muttered. I half-rose, glaring not just at the skeleton, but at the entity it seemed to be concealing.
Around me, only Arisu, Rushia, and Kayla were managing to get up. Tamaki was writhing in pain on the ground, still clutching Kei. Although Kei’s torso had been protected in Tamaki’s embrace, the woman’s limbs were twisted in unnatural directions, and she was sinking into a red sea of blood. It looked like a few others, including Mr. Wan, had also sustained serious injuries. Fortunately, Shiki was slightly removed from the epicenter and remained completely unharmed.
This was a critical situation. Left unattended, the civilians could potentially die. But there wasn’t time for Arisu to administer healing. A ranged heal wouldn’t even reach them.
The real problem, however, was the skeleton that had been on the brink of death and was now levitating before us. And it was obviously much more than a skeleton now. Likely, that black light had found its way back to us through detection magic. Being familiar with similar spells, I could understand.
“Possession,” I muttered to myself. The skeleton before us was possessed by its summoner, which meant…
“You’re the Ghost King Diasnexus, aren’t you?”
“Indeed,” the skeleton replied, with a laugh that sent shivers down my spine. The surrounding area was shrouded in a black miasma… Ah, I can see it because I’m using Mana Vision!
“Arisu! Hit that skeleton with holy magic!”
“Right! Holy Ray!”
A white beam shot from Arisu’s arm, piercing through the possessed skeleton. The bones disintegrated from the impact, the black aura dissipating…
“We’ve found him! We’ve found him!”
A chilling, sinister voice echoed from nowhere. “You need not search for me! Wait in fear!” The words were followed by a mocking laugh that was at once irritating and terrifying, slowly fading until silence once again overtook the street.
As if released from paralysis, everyone began to move. The sounds of pain and screams came back in a rush.
“To think our attempt to locate him through detection magic would lead to him tracing us instead,” I said, shaking my head. “What a hassle.”
“Arisu, Rushia! Deal with everyone’s injuries; start with the civilians!”
“Got it.”
I summoned Heavenly Turtle Nahan and Divine Winged Apostle Penusa to assist with the healing. Penusa, while not as proficient as Nahan in healing magic, was still a capable practitioner. Against Diasnexus, she could be our trump card.
Wan was already staggering to his feet, coordinating with his comrades on the phone. I overheard that a fast-moving object was approaching from the north, and skeletons were emerging from multiple locations, rushing toward our position. The town was in chaos, ravaged by the marauding skeletons. It seemed that evacuating residents in such a short time was only feasible for this immediate area.
“It sounds like the skeletons are trying to surround this school,” Mr. Wan informed us.
“How long until Diasnexus gets here?”
“About ten minutes.”
“Got it. Everyone else should evacuate by then. Shiki, Tamaki, I’m counting on you two to protect them.” Shiki would utilize her scouting skills to locate the skeletons while Tamaki crushed the approaching enemies. This duo seemed able to handle them without issue, and Tamaki’s physical attacks would likely be less effective against Diasnexus himself anyway.
“Kazu…”
“Everyone’s safety is in your hands, Tamaki. Protect Shiki especially.”
“Okay, got it! Leave it to me!”
As soon as they were finished being healed, Wan’s companions got up, and Shiki and Tamaki ran off with them in tow. I just hoped they would be able to break through the siege without too much delay…
“It would be good if everyone could stay safe,” Mr. Wan remarked.
“Hold on, Mr. Wan, why are you still here? You should be going somewhere safe, too,” I said.
“One of us needs to stay as a point of contact, right?”
But what’s coming is one of the Four Heavenly Kings!
Not that he would understand the gravity of that…
“Please, at least find somewhere to hide and, whatever you do, don’t get yourself killed.”
“I’ll try my best to stay out of harm’s way.”
With that, the elder briskly made his way to an empty school building. I wondered if he’d be all right, but now wasn’t the time to worry about others.
I looked over my companions—Arisu, Kayla, and Rushia, along with Heavenly Turtle Nahan and Divine Winged Apostle Penusa. Then, I decided to summon Phantom Wolf King Sha-Lau as well.
All right, I thought with grim satisfaction. This is the lineup for the final battle against the Ghost King Diasnexus.