Chapter 10

Chapter 4 The Decisive Battle Luphrey, one of the third-rank Ender Knights, checked the thickly overgrown forest and narrowed his eyes. “So it wasn’t a trap…” “Thought for sure there’d be an ambush.” “The barrier isn’t functioning,” noted Senli indifferently. “Which means we have allies of our own.” She folded up the letter in her hand and placed it carefully in her pocket. It was a letter of invitation from an unknown sender, and it contained a map to Horos Kamen’s stronghold. Naturally, Luphrey had been suspicious. After coming this far, however, it wiped away the doubts he’d harbored. The Warding Morass spell strung over the forest was a powerful, indiscriminate one. It had none of the effects of a physical wall, but there was no better barrier for blocking a path. As long as the barrier was active, Senli’s group could have brought a thousand others into the forest with them, and they’d never reach their destination—even if it was a hundred meters in front of them. There was only one proper way to get through the barrier: to have someone who knew the way. If you had a guide, the barrier would lose its effectiveness. That was both Warding Morass’s weakness and the reason it was so powerful. And if there wasn’t at least one “guide” inside the barrier itself, the spell wouldn’t work. But the letter’s sender was someone working with the necromancer. Whoever they were, they knew they were currently being chased. They would be within a certain range of the barrier’s center, but it would have been nigh impossible to locate even a single guide in such a short period of time. They’d thought they’d have no choice but to physically blow away the entire forest. The one-week time limit Senli had given on Nevira’s suggestion was partly so they could search for a guide, but also so Senli could resolve herself. However, they no longer needed to use a trick that would create more casualties. The letter sent to Senli had been a simple map, but it had still fulfilled the role of a guide. Her group could feel the barrier cast on the forest tugging at them. And that meant their ally was on the inside—in the necromancer’s camp. Someone there understood. And that fact gave her strength. Senli Sylvis was calm as she faced a battle against a second-rank necromancer with powerful abilities right around the corner. She was unafraid. They were all fully geared up: white cloaks to dampen attacks, be they physical or magical; light armor of silver covering their vital points; amulets to defend them against curses and mental corruption. Even the female members’ skirts, which looked like normal cloth at a glance, were made of a special combat-use fiber. Polished and sharpened weapons at the ready, they glared into the deep forest. One of the Ender Knights—a blond woman named Thelma who used a bow—nocked an arrow, took aim in less than an instant, and fired. The arrow, silver to strike at the weakness of the undead, pierced the head of a black owl—a familiar—perched on a tree branch. “Be careful. Our opponent will have countless undead at his command.” “Heh. Senli, since when were you in a position to worry about us? We’ll give you all the backup you need, so you can just go in there, sword swinging like you always do.” Senli nodded and, as always, converted the blessing within her body into a more efficient form. Energy surged inside her slender figure, and she unsheathed the sacred-silver sword hanging at her waist. The positive energy to purify the darkness rose up around her in an explosion, flooding their surroundings with light. And then, Senli and the other Ender Knights began their assault toward Horos Kamen’s stronghold. The war had begun—a war between dark and light, between life and death, between positive and negative. Even from the mansion, I could tell—perhaps because I was an undead—that a huge power of light was approaching in the distance. But its size was incomparable to what I’d felt during our first encounter. The Ender Knights would not be the same as back then. They were coming to kill the lord—and me. But I wasn’t trembling. I was…prepared. No matter what I had to sacrifice, no matter what I had to suffer through, I would survive. The only problem…was the lord. His expression had yet to betray any fear, even as the immense radiant powers drew closer. Either it was the madness encapsulated within him—or he still had a chance to win even against that power. That was my only concern. The lord—my master, the one connected to me via magical means—needed to die at all costs. As long as he was alive, I wouldn’t even be able to eke out a life of freedom surviving on the run, in hiding, in fear. At his command, I followed him out of the mansion. The lord squinted against the sunlight, then raised the short staff in his hand and cried: “……Ah, ye grand incarnations of death, ye captive souls, now is the time to crawl out from the abyss and invite the living to their doom. Trample all that lives! Corpse Parade!” All of a sudden, countless animal corpses had gathered in the mansions’ large courtyard. Wolves and bears. Monkeys. Birds. Among them were ones I’d killed and the lord had turned into undead. Lou’s eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets—she had come with us—and she began breathing heavily. Her body was trembling, but her gaze was pinned to the innumerable flesh-beasts. The trees rustled eerily. Though the sun was out, it felt inexplicably like night had come. One of the nightwolf corpses waiting in front of me suddenly creaked, and its already brawny body expanded. Its fangs grew a size larger, and a bloodred light shone in its eyes. The transformation ended in seconds. I took a step back in spite of myself. The lord waved his staff like a conductor. As though in response, the beasts howled. An army of the dead. That was the term that occurred to me. I had thought it strange—how was he planning to exchange blows with the Ender Knights using only the undead he had currently serving him? He’d strengthen them. Necromancers couldn’t only resurrect corpses—they could make them more powerful, too! The undead resurrected by the lord transformed completely—into bigger, stronger, fiercer, and more profane creatures. The power I felt from their bodies was incomparable to what it had been moments ago. Blood and flesh sprayed, and a rotting odor drifted through our surroundings; maybe he’d put too much power into them. Beneath the sunlight raining down, the dark beasts made their bloodlust evident, as though they would devour that very light itself. Were these…a necromancer’s combat forces? There was no signal—in one breath, the beasts all charged toward the forest. They easily cleared the walls and disappeared into the forest’s dark overgrowth. Those that remained were only the skeleton knights, who had turned much more brutal through the lord’s incantation, and me, who had not changed. “They should at least buy time. My main spell will take a little while.” “You won’t strengthen me?” I asked. It was an incredible power. I would have liked to receive it, though only if I retained my sanity. The lord looked disapprovingly at me. “…They are sacrificial pawns. The power is too much, and it will ruin their bodies. I cannot destroy the vessel of the king of the dead.” I see… It didn’t seem like a great idea. Of course, if he could have strengthened me so easily, he would have done so long ago. There was still much to learn from the lord. Necromancers were unlawful beings. While it was pointless to consider the future in a situation such as this, gathering detailed information on necromancy without the lord would be backbreaking work. It was…very much a shame. “They—they underestimate me. Heh-heh-heh. They shall see. The ingredients are in order. I should thank Hak for that—ah yes, and after I kill the Knights and meet him again, I shall make him into a splendid undead!!” the lord shouted. The skeleton knights, changed into aberrations, waited for the lord’s instructions without moving a hairbreadth. The ingredients… That must have referred to those giant fangs he’d gotten from Hak. I never did find out what the fangs came from, but given how confident the lord seemed, they must have belonged to something incredible. “Lord, before the fight…would you lend me the Amulet of Shadow, the Cloak of Perpetual Night, and the billhook?” “Hmm…? Hrm…” “Nobody else is here to use them, right? I’ll…need them to fight.” This was a gamble. Especially crucial was the Amulet of Shadow. It could deceive even the eyes of the Ender Knights, presumably making it a significantly precious item. After this, I would absolutely need to have it in order to live a peaceful life on the run. At my proposal, the lord looked at me dubiously for just a moment but then clicked his tongue dramatically. “Fine,” he said. “They are in the desk in my laboratory. End—once you’ve retrieved them, return to me immediately. This is an order. I will be in the hall.” “Yeah, got it. Thank you,” I said with a smile before running off toward the laboratory by myself. It had been a little less than a year since receiving my new life. The mansion was quite familiar to me now, and I ran through it at full speed. Every last one of the skeleton knights constantly patrolling the halls was gone. The lord had probably assembled them all for battle. The laboratory wasn’t locked. This was the first time I’d gone in by myself. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a moment to spare. The lord’s laboratory was a mess. Strange potions, papers, spare staves, unidentifiable bones… Heaps of things I would’ve wanted to mess with, if I’d been able to sneak in here on my own. But I ignored them all and instead went to the lord’s desk to retrieve the items I was after. The Amulet of Shadow and the Cloak of Perpetual Night. Just when I finally removed the black-bladed billhook I was so familiar with using, my hands stopped. The cloak could reduce the effects of the sunlight. The Amulet of Shadow would hide my negative presence, and I needed it to survive. But the billhook—what about the billhook? He hadn’t given it to me when I went to town. It was clearly no ordinary weapon, easily cleaving through flesh and bone alike, never chipping no matter how many times I swung it. Was it…cursed? I’d used it many times before, so it would have doubtlessly had an effect on my body. Still…the Ender Knights would be able to sense negative energy. My hesitation lasted only a moment. To begin with, I didn’t actually plan on fighting, so I didn’t need a weapon. I wouldn’t be greedy. I had a trump card. One that would bring about an incredible effect, depending on when I used it. This entire time, I’d been watching carefully for the right place to play it. The fact that I hadn’t when I first attacked the lord, that I hadn’t needed to play it, had been a stroke of good luck for me. That trump card…was my living name. Naming something was an important act for a sorcerer. Sorcerers bound people with names, made contracts with spirits. So when the lord revived me, he had first given the name End to what should have been a blank slate. But I still remembered my name in life. And so, the commands the lord gave me fell into two categories: those that were able to force me to do things and those that weren’t. I’d always thought it strange, and it had taken a few days after my revival for me to hit upon the reason. I’d been called by a different name for a dozen-odd years before death, and I had vividly retained my memories from that time. I was not named End. Therefore, any orders he gave using the name End did not hold sway over me. Ever since then, I’d been purposely obeying every one of the lord’s orders. Despite his failure to christen me, I was still an undead created by his hand. If he didn’t include my name when he commanded me, I couldn’t disobey it. And if he’d ordered me to, he would have easily made me divulge what my name used to be. I’d been hiding it this whole time—all so that I could use it with lethal timing to betray the lord. And that time had come. The one who had called Senli, the one who had written the letter to her—that was me. I’d used the paper and pen Lou had gotten me as part of our deal… It had been a gamble. There’d been a chance I would be unable to make the deal with Lou, and she could have changed her mind partway through, too. And since I couldn’t give Senli the letter directly, it was possible it wouldn’t even get to her. Even if it did reach her, she might not have taken action right away. But my gamble had paid off. The letter had made it to Senli, and she’d immediately taken charge of her companions and come here to kill the lord. The lord’s ritual to create the king of the dead hadn’t been completed in time. I’d made two miscalculations. The first was expecting the first-rank knight to come with them, and the second was not knowing about the lord having several other cards to play. The bout wasn’t over yet. I had risked everything on Senli. If she lost here, I would be trapped by the lord once more, and he would never again allow me any freedom. All I could do now was pray. I threw on the Cloak of Perpetual Night and put on the Amulet of Shadow. After taking a deep breath—a holdover from my past life—I started running in the opposite direction of the hall, where the lord had said he’d be. As the undead nightbear swung its shaggy black front leg up and charged her, Senli used her blessing-imbued sword to cut it down in a single stroke. The army of the dead was like an avalanche. She suspected they were the pitiful ruins of the magical beasts that had originally inhabited this forest. Each individual creature’s abilities had been enhanced to the extreme. The skin on their front legs split apart when they swiped with their claws, and large drops of blood mixed with drool spattered from their wide-open mouths. They were like demons raised from hell as they continued their attack, destroying their own bodies in the process. And Senli knew why. It was all due to the detestable powers of necromancy. While they would have stopped normal mercenaries…they were not enough to stop the Ender Knights. The positive energy Senli and the others controlled—the power of their blessings—drove away the darkness. Imbued in a sword, this power was able to slice through the dark; imbued in armor, it would serve as a barrier to drive away death. Energize it, and your physical abilities would increase. That was how the Ender Knights could combat the kindred of the dark and the inhuman powers they wielded, while still being human. “Did you find the necromancer?!” “No! Damn—he can control this many undead from a distance?!” Her companions’ breath was ragged as they continued to kill the flesh-beasts endlessly assailing them. Light and dark. Positive and negative. They held the natural advantage. And so the necromancer thought to nullify quality with quantity. The undead, through their strengthening by the necromancer in exchange for the destruction of their souls, would gain an even deeper abyss. So deep that even the Ender Knights, who were used to purifying undead, were having just a little bit of trouble. Their master had been right—this necromancer seemed to be quite powerful. “Senli, should we pull back for now? These things will destroy themselves in time.” “We stay.” “Heh. I thought you’d say that! That’s why you’re a first-rank candidate!” Luphrey, who had worked up a light sweat, offered a deep grin at Senli’s immediate reply. Their reserves were still high, but she could tell her companions’ blessings were slowly but surely draining. The blessings possessed by the Ender Knights were great but by no means infinite. Should they exhaust them, it would take time to recover. And if they ran dry, they would have no way to protect themselves from the denizens of the dark. Senli had barely worked up a sweat, but Luphrey and the others only had a tenth of the blessing she did. The undead attacking them now were the minions. Senli pondered this as she purified a pack of wolves with the same ease as taking a breath: A second-rank necromancer was extremely close in existence to a king of darkness. She doubted this army of flesh-beasts was all he had. The Knights needed to conserve their power. Getting them home alive was part of Senli’s mission. “I’ll deal with them all at once.” “?! W-wait, Senli, they’re still—” “That’s what Master would do.” There was no hesitation. Gripping the sword made of a precious sacred-silver—a weapon given to her upon becoming a second-rank knight—Senli prayed. She stabbed the sword into the ground. Then she gathered all the blessings coming off her body into its tip and let it explode. It was one of the thirty-six blessing arts that a second-rank knight was expected to know. “Soul Release.” The pure positive energy became a glowing wind that dispersed into her surroundings. There was no destruction. An undead bear, about to swing its mighty arm down; a pack of undead wolves, lunging at their foes without regard for their comrades’ deaths; they all crumpled without a sound and turned into dust. The dead, on their incessant assault, didn’t even have time to scream. They faded away like they’d been illusions all along. Senli saw them off with an indescribable feeling of melancholy. Soul Release was the most basic of the arts. It was the power that made an Ender Knight what she was—the dispersed positive energy would fill up the abysses of all the undead, granting them repose. It was almost impossible to defend against, and when used on so many low-ranking undead, there was no stronger technique. Tranquility returned. The corrupted air was purified. Nevira put the mace he’d been swinging around onto his shoulder, giving an amused whistle. “Gotta hand it to a second-rank knight. That was a lot of undead to purify all at once.” “I felt we couldn’t exhaust ourselves just yet.” She pulled the sword out of the earth, squeezing her palm several times to check on the state of her body. Then she nodded without even batting an eye. Soul Release was powerful, but it was extremely exhausting compared to fighting with a blessing-imbued weapon since you expelled so much light power. Because of that, the Ender Knights learned techniques to handle weapons so that they could conserve their limited blessing. But Senli possessed the blessing reserves of a first-rank knight. Firing off all that power at once made her feel a minor sense of malaise, but that quickly disappeared, too. She could still fight. Her power hadn’t even been reduced by 10 percent. Her violet eyes stared into the forest. There were still souls who had been violated by darkness. She had to save them. “No issues. Our attack must have come as a surprise to Horos. We’ll end this before he can regroup.” Her comrades nodded at her words, their expressions serious. They found the mansion quickly. Ringed by a high fence, it sat quietly in the dense, thick forest, giving off a somehow eerie aura. After forcing the locked gate open, the Knights entered. Past the fence, in the courtyard, was a thick, lingering scent of death. But the only undead they sensed were inside the mansion. The flesh-beasts who had attacked them earlier had probably been allowed to roam free in this yard. Senli knit her well-proportioned eyebrows as the image of all those dead wolves running around the yard crossed her mind for a moment. Mighty sorcerers had powerful presences to match the massive strength they possessed. A subdued mana flowed from the mansion. And it was, without a doubt, one of the five most powerful out of all the opponents she’d fought in the past. He was here. She was positive. Horos Kamen was in that mansion. Even knowing that Senli and the other Ender Knights—his mortal enemies—had come, he awaited them in arrogance. “Ugh. Thought he’d flee if he knew we were coming. Pretty confident for a scared old necromancer who’s about to become a corpse himself.” Nevira gave another one of his wild-animal grins. But his face was a little paler than usual. He was on the verge of being swallowed up by the evil. “Scared?” Senli couldn’t help but blurt out. Nevira’s eyes widened for a moment, but he quickly clenched his teeth. He waggled his mace—its silver head was the only part of it that was blessed—and shouted gruffly, “…Who the hell do you think you’re talking to? I’m an Ender Knight, you know. And I’ve been one a lot longer than you, Senli. I fight opponents like this all the time. You just worry about yourself. Beating Horos’s tricks is your job!” “…Understood. Leave it to me.” “Honestly. I know this is just your personality, but would it kill you to have more respect for your seniors?” That much wouldn’t hinder her in battle, either. Nevira was right—all of Senli’s companions were hardened veterans with a lot of combat experience under Epe the Extinguisher. They might feel threatened by the necromancer’s power, but they would never flinch. Senli couldn’t feel any more undead outside the mansion. The ones they’d just dealt with had probably been the last. Horos intended to settle everything inside the mansion. Its doors were wide open—as though he was provoking them. Focusing her mind, she energized and converted the blessing flowing through her, raising her physical capabilities. Luphrey and the others were poised as well, absent of the tiredness she’d seen before, energizing their own powers in the same way. Just as necromancers were strengthened by death, those who belonged to the light had its protection. There was nothing to fear. And so, Senli and the other Ender Knights invaded the mansion. It had been a long, arduous journey. But the end was in sight at last. Fifty years had passed since Horos Kamen became a second-rank necromancer. His ultimate wish: producing the king of the dead. Through its birth Horos Kamen would become one of the most powerful beings in the world—a necromancer of the first rank. That the Ender Knights had launched an attack on him with perfect timing was certainly no coincidence. They could feel it unconsciously: the birth of the most powerful being, the king of darkness. And thus would they attempt to stop him at all costs. It was truly a stroke of good luck that he had acquired the outstanding specimen called End as the final piece of his research. His growth rate, his sheer caliber, stood atop everything else Horos had ever experienced in his long life as a necromancer. End had gone to get his equipment and had yet to return. What was keeping him…? Still, as his lord, the one who had birthed him, Horos could tell that he was nearby. End was a little too smart, which was the only thing that caused Horos worry, but he had given an order. Once End finished what he needed to do, he would return. Right now, Horos needed to think about how to defeat the Ender Knights. If he was to lose End at this stage, there was no telling how many more decades it would take to acquire another undead like him. First-rank knights were strong. Epe the Extinguisher was Horos’s mortal enemy. In the current situation, the man wasn’t an opponent he could handle; Horos had shelved bolstering his forces to focus on his research. But there was no need to worry. Epe wasn’t with them. Just once—he only needed to take them down once. Normally, he would have preferred to wait for the next rank mutation, but with End’s wits and intelligence, the ritual would succeed even though he was a ghoul. And if that ritual was a success, Horos would have no use for forests like this anymore. He made a shallow slice in the palm of his hand, then used his own blood to draw a magic circle. This would be a burden on Horos, a human, but the undead he’d sent out had been annihilated in short order. Epe was apparently not with them, but the enemy seemed stronger than he’d imagined. The Extinguisher must have taught his apprentices well. Horos Kamen would use everything he’d obtained thus far. This…must be my ultimate trial. He looked at his slave, who followed his instructions despite her fear. Preparations were complete. He didn’t need the help of a slave any longer. “Lou, you have a job to do as well…” “…?!” Under Horos’s gaze, Lou blanched and took a step back. Skinny, bony limbs and body. Her eyes were sunken, and her hair was unbrushed. Her clothing was in shambles, too. She was a truly minuscule existence, not rising even as high as a single skeleton. Above all, her eyes no longer held the motivation to live. One could call her the archetypical slave. And to that slave, for the first time, Horos offered a smile. “Even the frail have their…uses. The wellspring of their power is life itself—prayers and pride. Corrupt them, and they will weaken.” “Wh-what are you—?” Lou squeaked. Horos’s eyebrow twitched, but he collected himself and gave his command. “I do not recall granting permission to question me… But it matters not. This…is your last command, Lou. Lou Doles—go with the skeleton knights to intercept and attack the Ender Knights.” They walked through the dead quiet mansion, which was empty of any sign of the living. The narrow halls, illuminated by the floating holy light, were incredibly eerie. The presence of darkness was strong. The miasma was so thick it could choke someone, which alone would have stopped in their tracks any who weren’t accustomed to it. Horos Kamen was up to something. Was it a last, compelling, vain struggle—or was it something he’d prepared for a long time before this? Senli couldn’t figure which. But they’d been aware from the start: They were up against a sly old necromancer. Any evil sorcerer who had lived as long as he would have a few tricks up his sleeve. The miasma enveloping the entire mansion was slowly whittling away at the blessings clinging to Senli and the other knights, although it wasn’t enough to break through their skin. They were essentially inside the belly of the enemy now. It felt like the entire world had been covered in darkness. Senli’s senses already weren’t working properly. She could tell there were undead nearby, and she could make a decent guess at their direction, but she couldn’t tell how many meters ahead they were. She felt like she’d been blindfolded, and her ears had been plugged. The only things she could rely on in this situation were her five senses. She simply walked straight ahead toward the powerful darkness. There were several rooms along the way, but she couldn’t sense anything from inside them. Horos Kamen was their top priority. He was probably awaiting them in the deepest chamber. “Shit. Master Epe was right—this necromancer is a pain in the ass. I wonder… We might even see a vampire today.” “I…doubt that. There is a low chance a prudent, second-rank necromancer would use something as dangerous as a vampire… Though he might use a lesser one.” “…It …It was a joke, Senli. You’re too serious.” Nevira frowned and sighed at her. “But…well, if worse comes to worst, and a vampire does show up—we’d probably be better served retreating.” Vampires were a special kind of undead. They had numerous weaknesses—but extremely uncanny abilities to match. In addition to massive physical might, their superfast regenerative capabilities could perfectly restore their bodies even if most of it was lost. They had intelligence above and beyond what humans possessed—but the main thing that separated them from other undead was their high resistance toward magic. And because of that, necromancers didn’t casually employ vampires as their own underlings. Vampires had a high resistance to magic, including necromancy. Every once in a while, a vampire raised by a necromancer would kill their creator. Vampires looked down on humans for being weaker, and yet they envied humans because they lacked a vampire’s weaknesses. It was said a vampire with an extremely strong power of death could even ignore commands at times—the special right and privilege of the necromancer. Such monsters were not made for humans to control. Out of all the curses a necromancer created, vampires were the most harmful. Thus, wise necromancers who lived long didn’t create vampires. Those who did were either foolish third-rank necromancers who couldn’t tell that vampires were too much for them to handle—or first-rank ones who were confident in their ability to control such evolved beings. A vampire was monstrous enough to kill a third-rank knight one-on-one sometimes. If a single vampire showed up in a fight against a necromancer, you were better off withdrawing from battle to rethink your strategy. But the Knights didn’t need to worry. If Horos could control vampires, he would have been taking more of an offensive. Because those undead before were extremely weak to sunlight and required the right timing to use properly. Just then, Senli heard distant footsteps coming from somewhere. She stopped in place and looked up, pointing her sagacious eyes beyond the light. She wasn’t imagining things. “Wait… Something’s coming.” Luphrey and the others had already stopped as well. There were many sets of footsteps. Hard, clattering ones, along with metal scraping. Imagining the identity of those sounds, Senli gripped her sword tightly. And then they appeared down the hallway. Luphrey clicked his tongue. “…Scarecrimson knights?” “Lots of them.” The bone knights, splashed with crimson, rushed them, making shrill noises as they did so. There were too many to fit side by side in the narrow hallway. Scarecrimsons were skeletons imbued with dark blessings by a necromancer. These strengthened, coated skeletons were fearsome indeed—they possessed resistance to the blessings the Ender Knights wielded and would continue their unflinching assault even as they were purified. Nevertheless, if the Knights put all their strength into a Soul Release, it would pierce the dark blessings around the scarecrimsons and purify them. But it was clear the enemy was trying to exhaust Senli’s group. Watching the scarecrimson knights as they ran toward them through the passage, Nevira said in a growling, intimidating voice, “Hey, Senli. Don’t do it.” “…I know.” This still wasn’t the enemy’s main threat. Even Senli, with her powerful blessing, would exhaust herself if she tried to destroy the forces in front of them along with their dark blessings. They needed to take them out one by one to conserve their strength. And then they heard the sound of a door opening to the rear. From behind, countless more footsteps sounded. Thelma cried out. “…Argh! They’ve got us cornered!” “I couldn’t feel anything… Were they concealed with a barrier?!” A horde of scarecrimson knights appeared from a room Senli and the others had passed. Their bodies were protected by metal armor, and their hands by gauntlets, gripping swords and shields. There was a definite technique to the combination of cautiousness and energy within them, as well as the way they carried themselves. They’d probably been made from the bones of combat veterans. When Thelma had fired a silver arrow at one of their skulls, it had easily knocked the arrow out of the air with its sword. There would be differences between individuals, but how could he have gotten this many warriors’ bones…? “Be careful.” “I don’t need you to tell me that!” “Go!” Though they were protected by armor and bolstered by dark blessings, the enemies were still undead. One strike from the Knights’ blessing-infused weapons could purify them. At Senli’s command, her companions quickly spread out. Entrusting her comrades to the rear, Senli pointed her shining sword at the knights of bone charging at her from the front. A mace smashed through armor and bone alike, while blessed arrows aimed at the gaps in their suits of armor purified the wicked beings. Senli and the others specialized in fighting the denizens of the dark, but that didn’t mean they were unskilled at close-quarters combat. Though the scarecrimson knights were both powerful and skilled, they would never retreat. This weakness of theirs came from being controlled. Senli’s group currently had the advantage. None of them had sustained major wounds, and they’d already purified over twenty scarecrimson knights. The weapons their purified foes had been holding were scattered across the floor. “Damn, there’s too many! How long is this gonna go on?!” “Be quiet and strike them down!” However, even at that stage, it seemed as though the enemies’ numbers hadn’t decreased at all. The skeletal knights never slowed their assault. They trampled over their comrades’ weapons, crushing them, all while swinging their swords. One clean hit had enough force to possibly wound even an Ender Knight despite their strengthened physical abilities. The miasma was steadily whittling away their blessings. Exhaustion was creeping into the group’s expressions, with little stabs of distress crossing their minds. How large a force had their enemy assembled? Would it be better to return to town for now and regroup? Their undead enemies, meanwhile, had no such unease. “Don’t—rush things!” Luphrey shouted. “…!” Senli bit her lip. She’d been considering whether she ought to use Soul Release. She caught a downward-swinging blade on her silver sword, then used her blessing-enhanced leg strength to step in and push the enemy back. Her blade pierced its armor, and the scarecrimson knight’s insides turned to ash and crumbled away. Things were going downhill. Blessings didn’t last forever—and neither did stamina. Luphrey and the others were worried that Senli was exhausting herself. Senli, however, was more concerned about her companions’ stamina. There was no time to decide. The scarecrimson knights were nothing like the undead they’d fought in the forest. If she purified the entire force with Soul Release right now—how many more times could she use it? “I’m…fine. I still have strength left.” “…” Luphrey and the others didn’t respond. They were out of options. She hated to play into the enemy’s hands, but it wouldn’t be possible for a third-rank knight’s Soul Release to purify this many undead. Making up her mind, she parried the scarecrimson knight thrusting straight at her, then put the strength of her blessing into her sword. The instant before unleashing the energy, Senli caught sight of an unexpected figure. It was a girl crowded among the skeleton knights. She had a slave collar around her neck and was staring straight at the Ender Knights with a deathly pallor. The decision took an instant. Senli finished funneling the almost excessive energy into her sword, and then light exploded. “Soul Release!” A terribly empty weakness caused her hands to tremble. The excessive power packed within her blade turned into a dazzling radiance that shot down the narrow passage. When the light touched a scarecrimson knight, it instantly turned to dust. Even their blessings of darkness wouldn’t protect them from the tempest of light. The light disappeared. Armor and weapons clattered to the ground. Senli almost fell to her knees, but she tightened her core and withstood it. Then, she opened her violet eyes and inspected the situation, not letting her guard down. There had been a sickening number of scarecrimson knights before, and now not a single one remained. Only one, the girl Senli had seen right before unleashing her purifying light, stood amid the armaments that had lost their owners. Her right hand gripped a small knife, which looked incredibly unreliable compared to the scarecrimson knights’ weapons. Soul Release was an anti-undead technique. It wouldn’t hurt humans. Senli understood this, but she still let out a sigh of relief at the sight. Thank goodness… The girl looked several years younger than Senli. Her hair was black, and there was little color in her face. Her body was sickly thin—maybe she hadn’t been eating properly. If she was fighting alongside the undead, she must have been Horos Kamen’s slave. And then Senli’s eyes widened. She remembered that face. She had a memory of spotting her in the town and casting healing magic on her, since she’d looked unwell. The girl stood dumbstruck, her eyes darting back and forth. Senli inhaled deeply to steady her breath, which was on the verge of becoming ragged. The dark presence hadn’t disappeared. But that seemed to have been the end of the scarecrimson knights. She felt a heavy exhaustion settle over her. Not so much, though, that she wouldn’t be able to fight. The girl in front of her—her name was Lou, wasn’t it? “Dammit, Senli! That was overkill!” “It’s okay… Everything’s fine, now…” Lou wobbled uncertainly toward them. Fortunately, she didn’t seem injured. Senli spread her arms to embrace her. As soon as her hands were about to touch the girl’s bony shoulders, the small knife in the girl’s right hand suddenly leaped upward. The blade, its coloring as dull as its edge, was aimed at Senli. The strike was incredibly artless. It was slow, and the hand guiding it was shaking. To say nothing of Senli at full strength, even now that she had used her power and was utterly exhausted, she could easily take the attack. Her mind went blank for a moment, but her composure returned immediately. For someone who had hunted so many denizens of the dark, she was free to either dodge or take the amateurish strike. Even if she took it completely unarmed, it wouldn’t be possible for those tiny arms to deal a fatal blow to Senli, protected by her blessing as she was. She twisted her head and shifted herself out of the knife’s path. The blade passed right by her. And then—before Senli’s eyes, Lou flew backward. Her arms, which had tried to embrace Senli, whiffed through empty air. Something soft thumped down to the ground. Lou had fallen. In her chest was a single silver arrow. Thelma’s arrow. Drool mixed with blood fell from Lou’s colorless lips. Her limbs spasmed slightly. Senli froze briefly, and then she frantically ran over to the girl. But it was already clear that the wound was fatal. The girl’s life began to drain away. Senli could do nothing but watch over her. Thelma, her voice a mixture of anger and sadness, said, “I know how you feel… But she was a necromancer’s pawn. What were you thinking, letting your guard down to welcome her with open arms?” “Sigh… This time…Thelma is right. The girl may be a slave, she may look harmless, but who knows what she’s been trained to do? You should know that story as well as we do—the one about a knight who took pity on a prisoner of a necromancer, only to be devoured when the prisoner turned into a monster.” Luphrey’s words went in one ear and out the other. Senli understood what they meant, but they didn’t sink in. Senli lifted the girl’s skeletal body. It was impossibly light for a human. She recognized that necromancers walked an evil path, leaving tragedies in their wakes. As an Ender Knight, she’d seen many tragedies before. She couldn’t even count all the people she’d been unable to save. Nevira looked down at Lou, on the verge of death, with cold-blooded eyes. “Rescuing people isn’t our job,” he said. “Our job…is to destroy. To stop the tragedies before they happen.” “……” The Ender Knights were cruel. They fought demons, and kindness sometimes got in the way. Even if a first-rank knight had been here—even if it had been Epe, whose combat abilities far exceeded Senli’s—the outcome probably would have been the same.