“Aaaghhh!!!”
The stench of blood and death was so acrid that Liliana’s nose had gone numb. She could barely smell anything at all. Swiftly, she deployed a magic barrier behind her group without even uttering an incantation in her head. She had never tried the spell before, but the threat of dying had pushed her ability to its extreme.
Marianne let out a short shriek. She had started to turn around, then thought better of it, fixing her gaze forward with newfound resolve. Her lips were pursed, and her face remained pale. She knew that if she dwelled on the dreadful sight behind her, terror would sink its claws in for good.
In mere moments, Liliana sensed two people vanish behind her. The escorts had slipped outside the barrier, and the monsters had snapped them up, moving even faster than the books claimed. Was the crunching sound the escorts’ jaws—or their skulls? Liliana forced the thought from her mind, unconsciously clutching her chest. At some point, fear had given way to frustration.
“Petra. Take care of Marianne.”
“What?!” the mage shouted, eyes peeled.
Marianne was none the wiser about Liliana’s telepathy—or her magical expertise in general. Taking advantage of that, Liliana used illusion magic to create a copy of herself while making her real self disappear. Illusion spells were usually considered dark magic, but she had repurposed hers as wind magic to keep the mana cost low.
“Escape with my look-alike. I’ll catch up with you later. Let’s regroup at the church.”
Every town had a church, each warded against monsters. If Petra and Marianne could reach it, they would likely hold out until the holy mages arrived from Hudore.
From her student’s words alone, Petra knew there was no point in arguing. She briefly nodded and ran ahead, the handmaiden following close behind.
Liliana came to a halt, still concealed. She looked around and glared fiercely at the monsters closing in. Her legs trembled—but from anticipation, not fear. She had never felt anything like it before. Yet even as her body shook, her thoughts remained crystal clear.
Monsters weren’t all that different from humans in composition. Their flesh was mostly protein, sugar, fat, and nucleic acid, and it smelled no better than a person’s when ignited by magic. What Liliana couldn’t grasp, however, was the theory behind the light spell capable of purging an entire group of monsters at once. Not even her knowledge from her past life offered an explanation.
Without understanding the spell, she couldn’t activate it without an incantation, full or shortened. She might attempt it, but failing could injure her—and in her current situation, she couldn’t take any chances.
“I call upon the powers of exorcism that holy light may shine upon the impure, purging them now and forevermore.”
In response to her incantation—taken from a spellbook on expert-level light magic—Liliana’s entire body surged with heat. She had never felt so much mana coursing through her. Her head spun violently, and it was all she could do to stay upright.
This is the highest-level light magic spell capable of exorcising monsters. It’s said that only a handful of holy mages serving Hudore can wield it, but it seems to be working for me anyway.
A sigil of pure white light appeared around Liliana. Dazzling radiance spread instantly, scattering luminous particles in every direction. Even monsters brushed by the light vanished, their bodies dissolving outward from the point of contact. The miasma around her was cleansed as well.
Three qualities were required of a holy mage: an enormous reserve of mana, resistance to light magic, and a mind capable of withstanding purification magic. Lacking any one of these traits made exorcism impossible. Even officially recognized holy mages had to be in perfect physical and mental health to wield it—and even then, they had to work together. The spell was so powerful that attempting to cast it alone was said to risk obliterating the caster’s mind.
Even knowing the stakes, Liliana hadn’t hesitated. Between dying from a miscast spell or being torn apart by monsters, the choice was obvious. She had never been good at judging right from wrong, but that was precisely why she had always chosen her words to match the image of an ideal noble. Abandoning the people and running away to save herself had never been an option.
By the time her surroundings were clear of monsters, Liliana was exhausted. Her breathing was ragged, and sweat trickled down her forehead. Yet she didn’t stop. In the sky above, black mist still stretched over the far end of the town and beyond. Running all the way there would waste time and energy she didn’t have, so she used teleportation magic instead.
Beneath the dark cloud, the roads were painted scarlet with blood, teeming with the corpses of people, dogs, and monsters alike. The first two were grim enough, but the monsters’ remains were actively dangerous; the miasma they produced rendered towns dysfunctional, which was why monsters had to be purified shortly after being slain.
Of course, the abominations lying dead in the streets were only a fraction of those in town. Many more still ran rampant, and the eerie absence of screams was anything but a good sign.
I should conserve my energy for exorcism magic. Purification magic wouldn’t demand as much mana, but using it now seems unwise; I need to get rid of the monsters first.
Monsters still thrived in the parts of town thickest with miasma. Liliana narrowed her eyes, intent on vanquishing them all. She had two more areas to clear.