Chapter 55 : She Leaked
===A Certain Undead With Communication Disorder===
「HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!」
The female Holy Knight’s spear struck the jet-black vortex.
The blinding light from the spear scattered some densely packed mana in the vortex.
「!!!」
But that scattered mana was only a fraction of the whole.
Moreover, the chipped part was quickly restored by the mana around it.
And as if reacting to that attack, a jet-black stream flowed out at once from the vortex and formed into some sort of monster.
「「「GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!」」」
Every single one of them was huge.
Their aim was clearly to eliminate us. It was as if the vortex itself was alive.
「Be careful! They’re coming!」
「Fireball x10」
I fired 10 fireballs at once.
Although I sealed this one when we fought in the forest to avoid setting the forest ablaze, it was probably fine to use this magic in this place.
None of those fireballs missed their target. They set ablaze whatever they impacted, creating blazing fire pillars as they baked their targets to ashes.
「…HOT?! HEY, DON’T USE THAT MAGIC INDOORS AGAIN, EVER!」
「M-My bad…」
…Oops, I forgot that there was a normal human beside me.
Although the heat had no effect on me, it seemed that the hot wind alone was enough to scald the female Holy Knight’s skin.
But that was the only magic I could use…
Oh forget it, I should just use my bare hands next time.
After the fire died out, the monsters had already been reduced to ashes.
「Those powerful-looking monsters… in just a moment.」
The female Holy Knight has this dumbfounded look on her face.
At that moment, the second wave of monsters had already formed.
Moreover, it seemed these new monsters had resistance toward magic and fire.
They were clearly created to counter my fireball.
Yeah, this vortex was alive after all.
Well, it was not like I could use fireballs anymore.
Thus, I fought the approaching monsters with nothing but my punch.
「I’ll fight too!」
I exterminated the monsters who appeared from the vortex along with the female Holy Knight, one by one.
Yup, this vortex learned the behavior of its opponent after all. The moment it saw that we couldn’t be defeated with small fry, it summoned a giant monster this time.
A giant disaster-class monster, Atlas.
But I dispatched that one with a single punch. Next, it created formless monsters that had their own wills such as liquid metal and black mist.
They were extremely troublesome monsters since neither magical nor physical attacks worked on them.
However, they had fatal weaknesses.
My intuition told me that I could use wind magic to scatter the black smoke and cooling magic to freeze the liquid metal.
「EH! Even if you say that such a variety of attacks is…」
「It’s troublesome. Well, shall we try to see how much I can do?」
I leaped toward the black mist monster, punching it with everything I had.
The shockwave created from my punch annihilated the black mist monster in just a moment.
Thus, I punched the liquid metal next.
Its liquid body popped out and vanished.
「…What a nonsensical power.」
「What’s next?」
「You, why are you looking as if you’re enjoying this?」
When she told me about how I look like a kid who couldn’t wait to see what kind of monster was gonna come out from the vortex next…
BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!
Something like black mist came out of it.
Just when I thought it was a black mist monster like the one before… I realized again after taking a closer look that it was actually an aggregate of numerous tiny monsters.
「And, I feel like I’ve heard this annoying buzzing sound somewhere before…」
「No way…」
Correct, it was not mist.
There were countless mosquitoes.
BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!
And that seemingly endless number of mosquitoes rushed toward us.
I swung my fist like what I did so far.
But my fist couldn’t do a shi*t against those numerous tiny targets.
Well their tiny size aside, even if the blast from my punch killed some of them, it just eliminated a tiny fraction of them.
And they were coiling around my body.
And then, all of them sucked my blood at once―was what they expected. But since I was undead, I pretty much had no blood. Even without that, it was not like they could pierce my skin.
「「「…?」」」
I could see it with my enhanced vision—all those mosquitoes were tilting their heads since they couldn’t suck my blood no matter what.
「S-STOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP?!」
On the other hand, the female Holy Knight was running for her life.
She might turn into a mummy in just a few seconds if that many mosquitoes sucked her blood at once.
「Well, I guess I’ve got no choice.」
I decided to unleash my suppressed mana.
「「「~??!」」」
All those mosquitoes were knocked down at once as soon as they were exposed to my unleashed mana as if every single one got their head smacked with a steel mace.
The floor turned black at once due to their sheer number.
「…T-This, magical power is…」
Even the female Holy Knight who was running around from the mosquitoes just a while ago fell on her knees, unable to stand due to the sheer pressure of my unleashed mana. She wasn’t knocked out though.
…This was the main reason why I wanted to avoid using this trick.
Despite having established proper communication with me, she might have gotten scared of me after this.
Well, she was a woman after all. Deep down, she must be afraid of an undead like me.
「I-I see now… so this is your true strength…」
「M-My bad…」
「Uhm? Why are you apologizing to me? You just saved my life.」
I almost couldn’t believe my ears the moment I heard those words.
「You’re not… afraid of me?」
「Afraid of you? I’M ALWAYS AFRAID OF YOU. But if you really wanted to kill me, I might’ve long since met our God. I’ve just come to terms with your imbalanced power and personality. That’s what is preventing me from running for my life.」
She replied with a slight smile on her face upon hearing my timid question.
S-So cool… She was manlier than me, a real man.
Hearing her say so, I felt ashamed of myself who was afraid to be denied by others.
「Rather than worrying about me, we should take a look at what’s coming out next!」
When I turned around to see the vortex again after she reminded me of that fact, what appeared next was a new, angry monster.
「Kuh… just what should I…」
Even the female Holy Knight started to get impatient due to her slowly depleting stamina and the seemingly never-ending fight.
「At this rate, there’s no stopping this vortex. But even my holy spear can only leave a shallow chip on its surface… In addition, physical attacks don’t seem to work on it either…」
Sure enough, it looked like my brute power wouldn’t work on it.
At that moment, I got a flash of inspiration.
「Then, how about drilling my mana into it?」
「Ma… na?」
「There’s a saying, hand for hand, teeth for teeth, mana for mana, right?」
Thus, I unleashed my mana for the second time, focusing it on my right fist.
I kicked the ground beneath me, jumping toward the center of the vortex while killing the incorrigible monster who stood in my way with my shoulder tackle.
「HA.」
KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
The ground split open along with a thunderous explosion when I punched the center of the vortex, creating a giant crater as if a meteor had just fallen there
Spiderweb-like cracks traveled on the floor, continuing to the wall. The part that was already on the verge of crumbling before we came had finally collapsed for real.
The vortex of mana dispersed in a single blow.
There wasn’t even a trace of it left.
…Whoops, I added a bit too much strength.
I turned around in hurry, seeing the female Holy Knight sitting on the cracked floor with a dumbfounded look on her face.
「…Are you okay?」
「Y-Y-Yesh.」
Thank God.
Her voice trembled a bit, but just as she said, she wasn’t scared of me.
◇◇◇
=== A Certain Female Holy Knight===
WAIT, WAIT WAIT WAIT, THAT WAS… FRICKING SCARY, RIGHT?!
I almost screamed at the top of my lungs.
Somehow, I managed to suppress my urge at the last minute to keep my pride as a Holy Knight.
The vortex of mana had completely vanished, replaced with a giant crater on the floor, the place where that undead punched before.
What a… terrifying mana explosion.
I didn’t even feel this scared when I was gazed at by the two Dragon Emperors back then.
A great-disaster-class being.
The young man before me was worthy of that title.
Although it was just an indirect hit, the blast from his mana-imbued punch alone was enough to make me weak in the knees, unable to stand anymore.
On the contrary… that… was… lea— Wait, I should stop that dangerous thought. It must be sweat. Yeah, I was not leaking.
Heck, what was I even thinking about in this kind of situation?
The reason why I and others could approach him without fear was simply that he concealed the true amount of his mana without letting it leak.
「…Are you okay?」
「Y-Y-Yesh.」
And yet, it was impossible for me to hate him when I knew that he was a good guy.
I desperately kept my cool facade.
Honestly, I was wondering whether it was okay for me to bring this white-haired man back to our holy country.
My heart started to feel such doubt.