67: Chaos on school grounds

"Nelia… help me…"

"Huh? No way. This is… a trick."

Nelia turned pale like a ghost. The reason for that was because she saw her friend clear as daylight. Liz. Her childhood friend.

"She… can't be alive. This has to be a lie. It's like lady Yurishia said. Even if you use necromancy, a dead person can't talk."

"It's all thanks to His Majesty. I can give my corpses a portion of the personality and memories they had in life, so they’re capable of holding a conversation. It’s an original spell His Majesty developed. Necro Nova.”

As if peering through Liz's eyes, the muddy S class dimensional monster known as Murglais was watching the show from an unknown place. Normally, all necromancy was capable of reading the last thoughts of the deceased, or creating a corpse by injecting mana into the lingering regrets they left behind. 

Skilled practitioners could even reanimate corpses, but they would still be mindless. Their abilities would be inferior to their living versions, and as they were incapable of thought, the corpses would need to be controlled directly by the necromancer. Of course, a simple command like “Attack” didn’t require constant management, so a necromancer could set a horde of corpses on someone without having to micromanage them all.

But something like holding a full conversation like Liz demonstrated was impossible with just necromancy.

Necro Nova ripped out her victims’ memories and personalities from their souls, and implant them into their corpses.

"Nelia… Are you going to abandon me again?"

"Liz! Hang in there! I'm coming!"

Nelia dashed towards Liz. She didn't think of anything else. Her brain was telling her she can't abandon her a second time. The B class monsters saw this and dragged Liz away so that Nelia would follow.

"Nelia, don't!"

Leona's warning was ignored. Monsters stood in her way blocking her path.

"Move! Haaa!"

Leona's punches were devastating, but monsters pilled up. They even used corpses as cusions to reduce the impact. Sylvia and Shizu also had their hands full. Nelia was separated from the group.

------

"Boss, what are we doing here? The entrance to the dungeon is one floor below us."

"Try using your head for a bit. That's were all those monsters are coming from. We won't get there easy at all. Instead I have a better plan. Remember what Nelia told us? The floors are roughly about a meter thick. And that's a lot. We are going to crush this entire floor. It will fall and collapse the entrance to the dungeon."

"I see. Makes sense."

"Rising Crushing Fist should do the trick. Ready?"

"Yeah. Here…"

"What's wrong? Why did you stop midway?"

"I… I can vaguely feel Nelia's scent near."

What!? Although minotaurs don't have the strongest smell amongst demi-humans, it's still superior to a humans' or Mazoku. What the hell is that woman doing?

"It's… coming from the dungeon. If we collapse the floor now, she'll be trapped inside."

Darn it. What's in her head? I can't let the path open. But something really is off here. How the hell did she manage to get in with all the monsters coming from there? Something big is happening here. This attack is too well organized to be random. I could always enforce an order on her to come back. But she might not be allowed passage back. 

"Bessie. We're crushing the floor now."

"But what about Nelia?"

"Once the path is blocked I'll use my teleport ability. I'll go inside and search for her. But we really can't let their numbers to keep growing."

"Understood. Then here goes! HAAA!"

"DEYAAAA!"

We both slammed our fists onto to floor. The impact quickly created a powerful shockwave and cracks ran across the ground. We quickly jumped and grabbed on the chandeliers so we wouldn't get caught in the mess. The entire floor collapsed. Agonizing screams could be heard below. Whatever monsters were there at that time, they all got crushed. The entrance to the dungeon was sealed now perfectly.

"And for the finishing touch."

I let go and placed my hands on the rubble covering the entrance.

"[Petrify]!"

This will glue all rocks together so they can't dig their way out. One giant fused formation. 

"Okay. That takes care of that. Bessie go to the arena and help the others."

"But… boss, can you even reach Nelia on your own? Won't the monsters block you?"

"I'll use my invisibility cloak. Even if their senses are sharper they still rely on sight. I'll pass by most of them."

And maybe I'll find whoever is responsible for this.

"Now go. We can't waste time."

"Right."

------

"[Vortex Blast]!"

*Pant**pant*

Lumi-chan was heavily sweating and panting. As instructed she was doing her best to prevent the monsters from leaving the school grounds. She even created giant ice pillars around the school so that the monsters can't climb out or jump the wall. Only the main entrance was left intact to let the students evacuate. 

But such a thing was no easy feat. Lumiera's powers aren't infinite despite being a demi-goddess. The problem was that dimensional monsters were the ones trying to break through. She also had to adjust the output of her powers to not hurt nearby students. Since Yurishia hasn't ordered her to go all out, she didn't want to cause casualties. But that has made her tired.

"I can't… stop yet. Yuri-nee is counting on me. I can't… let her down. I can't fall either. That would only make her sad. [Vortex Blast]!"

A torrent of water was unleashed from Lumiera's tiny hands. But it wasn't strong enough to push back the dimensionals packed together.

"Kuh… I can't lose… I…"

"[Vortex Blast]!"

Another voice shouted. Suddenly another spell was fired and it merged together with Lumiera's attacks making it stronger. It blasted right through all of them.

"You're one of Yurishia's slaves, right? You look like you need rest. I can take over from here."

"Eh? You are… Dante?"

Lord Dante. The one rumored to be the strongest Mazoku in the school leaped from an ice pillar and landed in front of Lumiera.

"I never would have thought that you would go out of your way to help me."

"Don't be mistaken. I didn't save you. I was just preventing the monsters to escape. The teachers judgement is wrong. We need to prevent them from entering the city. I appreciate your assistance so far. But stand back now. I can handle it from here."

Dante placed his hand on the sword attached to his back and made a wide swing, cutting in half 3 dimensionals that jumped at him.

"Now come, fools. I shall send you all to hell."

"Wait! I'll help."

"I won't save if you get in trouble."

"That's fine. I won't get into any."

"Suit yourself. Just don't get in my way."