But even if they knew an overwhelmingly powerful foe wanted to wipe them out, did the masses have the fortitude to endure two back-to-back wars? Especially if they heard their armies had been massacred without toppling their old enemies in the elf kingdom?
No Death’s lips curled in her usual smile—the one she used to hide her true feelings.
No joy here, no humor to be found—quite the opposite.
This smile was born from despair. At the scheme woven round, at the trap they’d stepped right into.
What do I do? Try and urge the soldiers to flee? Or run so that I might live?
She was the Theocracy’s strongest fighter, and her death would be a terrible blow. Running was probably wise.
No Death was too busy trying to figure out her best option to do much of anything else, and the girl must have read something into that.
“Er, um, you know?” she said. “Like I said, you can surrender. I-it’s not too late! I’d rather not kill you.”
That would let her bring back intel on their foes, so it wasn’t the worst idea. But—
“Can’t run, I can’t run!!”
“Huh?”
The girl looked baffled. As well she would. The girl had asked a question and—from the girl’s perspective—No Death’s answer was unrelated. But in her mind, it made perfect sense.
Yes. This was the only way.
If this was genuinely a Nation ploy, then there was only one way out of the trap.
Become the cornered beast, tear into this girl, and crush the Nation’s ploy right here.
The loss of a fighter this powerful would undoubtedly disrupt their plans.
Perhaps a horrible trap awaited them, but this was her chance to break them free of it. Only she had that opportunity.
Yeah, only I can save my country!
Did she owe them enough to risk her life? That was hard to answer. But every now and then, she’d met someone she liked. She’d lived long enough to lose most of them, but they’d loved this country, and that was worth betting her life on once.
Maybe it’ll be the death of me, but I’m gonna go for the kill. Nothing more, nothing less.
Her mind was made up.
She’d kept retreat in mind. But only because she’d wanted to move with the confidence that escape was always a viable option—not a narrow escape at the last second. The other part of it was that so far, she hadn’t seriously wanted this to end in death. Not because she had any hesitation about killing someone who might be her niece. She wouldn’t hesitate to clip arms and legs, hog-tie, or even kill a child this age if the need arose. But it was true she’d made her own survival her top priority.
No longer.
If she didn’t throw the dice now, when would she?
Tomorrow, things were only going to be worse.
“Go!” she yelled.
The Einherjar obeyed, lunging forward.
She did not need to speak aloud. She could order it around with her mind alone. Arguably, verbal commands were a mistake, warning her enemy. No Death knew that. She’d yelled anyway because she wanted to rouse her spirits and force herself to commit to this path of action.
She had the Einherjar take the elemental while she lunged at the girl.
But the elemental spread its arms, blocking the passage.
Fine, then.
She and her double would team up on this elemental and kill the girl afterward.
If this elemental had been stolen from the elf king, then defeating it would rob her of a symbol of royalty. That might at least slow the Nation’s plans.
Two scythes sliced away at the elemental.
Honestly, a bad foe for her—no blood, no critical points to hit.
Higher elementals heavily resisted physical attacks. Even the scythe No Death wielded could not one-shot them.
Not the sort of foe she wanted to go up against, but she didn’t exactly have time to grumble.
Since the elemental was blocking the hall, the girl’s attacks couldn’t reach her. Even if she used one of those scrolls, it would be hard for the spell to get through. What she had to worry about here was the girl casting that buff spell on the elemental.
With two of me, I’ve got the advantage. But nothing’s guaranteed. If I can’t get around it, I can’t stop her buffing it. Still…
Did the girl not know this would happen?
Something seemed off about it. But she couldn’t quite put a finger on what.
The elemental swung an arm like a brick mountain. She’d have loved to jump back but couldn’t afford the drop in DPS that hit-and-away tactics would bring. She hooked the incoming arm with her scythe, deflecting it. The earth elemental’s power was prodigious, but it wasn’t hard to adjust the course by applying force along the side. Still, this weapon wasn’t built for deflections; this was purely achievable by the core difference in their strength.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the Einherjar pull off the same trick.
It was weaker than her, so if it could do that, then this earth elemental was definitely not all that strong—like she’d thought.
But that didn’t make it weak.
A mere hero would likely be unable to dodge it and wind up crushed by its fists. Whether that proved fatal was another question, but they’d definitely be badly hurt.
The attack dealt with, No Death glanced past it, one eye on the girl. Right up against the elemental like this, any glance away was risky, but missing what the girl did was even worse.
She couldn’t believe her eyes.
Huh?
The girl had turned her back and was running off.
An adorable little trot but extremely fast.
She’d made a run for it.
“!!”
No Death worked it out.
She hadn’t summoned this earth elemental to counter the Einherjar.
She’d just wanted time to escape.
The girl’s act had obfuscated it, but she must have been on her last legs.
The girl had never intended to get in a fight to the death. That explained several of her choices.
Like when No Death had tried to get behind her, and she’d reacted impulsively—not because she was scared of being surrounded but because she wanted to keep her escape route open.
Her words and actions spoke to that.
“Shi—”
She had to choose the best of three options right now.
Chase the girl?
Fell this elemental?
Or run herself?
The third would be easy enough.
Outside the summoner’s field of view, the elemental could not receive any situational orders.
If it had been told to stand in this passage and kill anyone who tried to get through, then if No Death tried to run, it wouldn’t give chase. If it was told to kill the woman in front of it, then even if No Death ran for it, it would obediently follow after, attacking mindlessly.
But it would simply pursue relentlessly, not smart enough to try and get ahead of her.
And No Death was faster and nimbler. She’d win that race.
If she turned and ran off at top speed, the earth elemental would be left grasping in the dark for her.
But that was unacceptable. She had to reject the idea.
She could not afford to take her eyes off the greater potential threat—the Nation of Darkness’s plan.
So what about options one and two?
Following the girl was easier said than done. Even if they got this wall out of the way quickly, at the speed that girl was going, catching up would require a lot of luck. And she was likely headed straight for her reinforcements. The outcome of that fight was anyone’s guess.
In which case, option two might be best.
This threw her earlier commitment into the wind, and if this wasn’t the same elemental the elf king commanded, it would be a complete waste of time.
But given the risk and reward involved, it was her only real option.
The fish that got away was always bigger, but she had to be satisfied with what she’d caught.
No Death fixed her glare on the earth elemental—and, down the hall, saw the girl swing round to face them.
One last one-liner? She watched, keeping her eyes on the elemental—and the girl’s lips moved.
“Good, I saved enough mana.”
At this distance, she should never have heard it, but she had elf blood in her veins and high stats overall—she wasn’t sure if that helped, but she caught the hint of relief in the girl’s voice. But before she worked out what it meant, the girl raised the staff high.