“I made it in time, thankfully.”
Shary stood atop the orphanage’s rooftop and looked down on the courtyard. The snake’s severed, chopped-up head let out disgusting miasma as it vanished into thin air.
This place is dear to my lord.
She landed in the courtyard and gathered the gargoyle’s remains. With some glue, it could be restored to its rightful shape.
“What is the meaning of this? What is a shadow dweller assassin doing here?”
“…?!” Shary wheeled around, noticing a terrible presence surface behind her.
Crack, crack, crack…!
Countless cracks formed in the air, only to fully shatter—and from within it, a monster that looked like a giant frog emerged.
“…?!”
It was covered in a sleek film of mucus and let off a stench of decay. An air of death hung over it, spreading through the courtyard.
…An undead? Shary narrowed her eyes and swung her shadow whip.
“…Who are you?” she asked, lashing at the ground in intimidation.
If this figure could tell on sight that Shary was a shadow dweller, then they must be some demon from one thousand years ago.
“If you do not know my name, then I shall introduce myself…” The monster smiled in amusement, drops of saliva thick with decay dripping from its lips. “I am known as the Monster Duke, Ishrag Bolzaaza.”
“…The Monster Duke?!”
Shary had heard that name before—he was a general under one of the Dark Lords, Dizolf Zoa, the Lord of Rage. If this was actually Bolzaaza, then he was a high-ranking officer of the Dark Lords’ Armies who far outranked Shary.
However…
Just like the Six Heroes, he was made into a minion of the Voids.
Shary tightened her grip on her whip’s handle. Whenever the Voids launched a large-scale attack, they were led by a commanding specimen called a Void Lord.
So if I defeat the Monster Duke, this invasion might be stopped?
Even if the invasion itself didn’t end right here, defeating the commander would allow the situation to swing in mankind’s favor. Shary threw a glance at the orphanage behind her and shouted at the girl looking out the window.
“…Child, remain quiet and hide!”
“Y-yes!” The girl squeaked back and retreated into the window.
“The Monster Duke Bolzaaza…” Shary faced the frog-shaped monster and bowed respectfully. “This is my master’s domain. I ask that you leave.”
“Oh. For a maid, you have nerve…” Bolzaaza cackled and extended his prolonged tongue.
“…?!”
With the sound of a crack, he swung down his tongue.
Whooosh!
Shary hopped away, landing on the gate’s iron railing. She swung her whip, slashing at Bolzaaza’s head. However…
“Mm? That did nothing.” Bolzaaza calmly raised his head and glared at Shary.
“…!”
He swung his tongue again, tearing down the fence. As she jumped away, Shary flung shadow daggers in midair. The seven daggers gouged into Bolzaaza’s flabby stomach, sinking into his skin. Bits of decaying flesh splattered into the air, unleashing a rotting stench.
“Did that achieve anything?”
His rotten flesh bubbled up disgustingly, regenerating before long.
“…You’re undead, after all,” Shary whispered to herself, fixing her grip on her whip.
The Monster Duke wasn’t undead when he had been in the Lord of Rage’s service. Someone must have resurrected him as an Undead…
“Yes, indeed.” Bolzaaza approached her, his rotund form jiggling with each step. “I have transcended death, becoming an undead minion at the hand of the mighty Undead King, Leonis Death Magnus.”
“What…did you just say?” Shary raised her eyebrows, confused. “Perhaps I misheard you. I thought you just said the Undead King raised you…”
“Ho-ho, so you do know the names of the Dark Lords from a thousand years ago, shadow dweller.” Bolzaaza regarded her with a sticky smirk. “It was at the hand of that great one, the Undead King, that I was granted the power of undeath.”
“You’re lying…” Shary’s dusk-colored eyes glared at Bolzaaza. “It couldn’t have been my lord…the Undead King!”
“What?” Bolzaaza’s golden eyes widened.
“Assuming my lord’s name is a sin I cannot overlook!”
Shary bolted ahead.
“Haaaaaaaaaa!”
With all the might she could muster, she lashed the shadow whip at him repeatedly. Anyone who assumed her precious master’s name, whoever they may be, had to be punished.
“It doesn’t work, it’ll never work!” Bolzaaza laughed, even as the whip cut into his flesh.
“…!”
Whoever it was that had assumed her master’s name, controlled the power of death. And the fact remained that the Monster Duke was indeed undead, with all the benefits that came of it.
…This is tricky.
Shary was an assassin, and her methods were to hide in the shadows and slay her targets with one blow to the vitals. This made her an exceptionally poor choice against the undead, who could regenerate even if all their vitals were destroyed.
Lord Blackas could crush such an opponent with overwhelming strength, though…
Shary discarded her shadow whip and swooped into Bolzaaza’s flank. “In that case, I’ll just slice you up until you stay dead.”
She took two shadow daggers out of the sleeve of her maid’s uniform.
“Septentrion Assassination Technique—Phantasmal Shadow Blade!”
The shadow daggers danced through the air, carving into Bolzaaza’s corpulent flesh.
“Ku-ha-ha-ha! Didn’t I already tell you it’s pointless?!”
Bolzaaza extended his elongated tongue, sweeping it and mowing down trees. The trees crumbled to the ground with a thud, and a crack ran through the ground. However, Shary was nowhere to be seen. She traveled through Bolzaaza’s shadow, instantly emerging behind him.
“Haaaa!”
With shadow blades in both hands, she stabbed at his blind spot. But the next moment, eyeballs appeared in Bolzaaza’s back.
“…What?!”
And it wasn’t just eyeballs. Arms bubbled from his back, grabbing onto Shary’s petite figure.
“Kuh, nngh…!”
“You put up an amusing fight, shadow dweller!”
Saying this, he slammed her with full force into the ground.
“Kah, haa…!”
Shary got to her feet and prepared to plunge into the shadows, but Bolzaaza spewed out intense flames that extinguished all the surrounding shadows, cutting off her avenue of escape. He then swung his tongue down like a whip.
“Gah…!”
Shary’s body bounced against the ground.
“Come on, where’s all that outrage and pluck from earlier?!” Bolzaaza laughed, continually lashing down on her with his tongue.
…He’s…too strong…!
Even after being reduced to a Void, he was still a general under the Lord of Rage and was a major officer of the Dark Lords’ Armies that greatly outranked her. And now that he was undead, his power was even greater.
Bolzaaza coiled his long, extended tongue around Shary’s body.
“I won’t swallow you whole. I’ll take my time tasting and dissolving you.”
“My…lord…” Shary whispered.
But then—
Bwooosh!
Something came falling from the sky, shooting through the Monster Duke’s head. Shary was thrown to the ground, rolling in the soil for a moment.
“…Huh?” She looked up in shock, her eyes settling on crimson hair flowing in the wind.
Standing there was a girl, her hands on her waist and her golden eyes fixed on Shary.
“You there, Maid.”
“H-huh…?”
“Where’s Leo?” Veira Dragon Lord asked Shary, her voice casual and unconcerned.