CH 62

The time goes back to about two hours before Toto and the others arrived in Aries.

The news that the wall of the commoner’s district had been broken down and the Undead invaded was quickly conveyed to the king through the Knights, and then King Cornelius designated the halls of the royal castle as the evacuation site for the residents and instructed the Knights to help evacuate the residents.

「 We’re here to stop the Undead from advancing, just be patient until the rest of the squad can complete the evacuation of the residents, keep your spirits up! 」

「 「 Oooh! 」 」

Luttie and the other members of the 3rd Squad responded to the call of their Squad Leader, Eldgate, and firmly raised their weapons again.

As the convoy of residents began to move behind them, the gap in the wall gradually widened and a larger number of Undead flowed in, but the members of the Knights of the Order, as they should be called, struggled and barely managed to stop the Undead with their excellent coordination.

「 This resident is the last one in this place! 」

「 Copy that, we’ll fall back while fighting back. If anyone is injured, get them patched up while you can. 」

「 Yes sir! 」

A member of the evacuation team shouted, and Eldgate saw the situation and told the others.

However, Eldgate’s expression turned grim when he saw an approaching Undead, with a tail like a giant snake, bones like pure white armor and with four arms.

This is the first time he has seen an Undead like that.

「 Watch out, that white Undead, it’s clearly an A-ranked monster or higher! 」

Eldgate shouted and leapt in front of Undead, feeling that it would be too much for the rest of the squad to handle. He didn’t realize that this was his biggest error in judgment.

For example, the situation might have been different if there had already been a “battle” here, or if Eldgate had not stepped forward and immediately called for backup.

However, he was the first to move and went in front of the white Undead, Revenant.

「 Watch out! 」

A few tenths of a second later, as Eldgate readied his one-handed sword and shield, Revenant suddenly shot out a small knife-like needle from the palm of his hand that was about to pierce the knight’s brow, but then a spear extended from the side and flicked the stinger.

「 nah! Tha, that was clo―― 」

Before he could finish thanking Luttie for saving him by parring the needle with her spear, Revenant’s terrifyingly extended tail flicked Eldgate off.

With a thud that sounded like a heavy blunt object, Eldgate slammed into the wall of a remote house and stopped moving.

「 Captain!? Kuh! 」

「 Captain! Are you okay! 」

Luttie immediately ran over to Eldgate, while another member of the squad immediately jumped at Revenant, but the sword he swung in the air was easily knocked off course by one of his four arms and sent flying through the air.

「 Tsk! 」

With his sword out of his hand and all the scenery in slow motion, the jumping trooper prepared to die when his eyes met the bright red eyes of the undead.

「 Sei! 」

When Revenant’s arm tried to puncture the member knocked in the air, another member jumped in, using an exaggerated slash from behind.

This attacker was thrown away after getting struck by the tip of the tail, and the first knight to swing his sword was hit by one of the undead’s four arms as he landed and fell to the ground.

In the midst of all this, Luttie repeatedly slammed the pommel of her spear into the cobblestone ground, creating a loud noise.

「 Come this way, you monster! 」

She spun her spear to deflect the needle that was launched again in response to the sound, then turned her back and ran into the alley, disappearing from Revenant’s sight.

When the rest of the team realized that Luttie’s seemingly inexplicable actions were intended to prevent Revenant from finishing off anyone, they rushed after her.

「 We should call for backup!? 」

Immediately after entering the alley, one of the team members asked around, but before he had time to wait for an answer, Revenant arrived.

His tail, which apparently was long and difficult to move, was now much shorter, and he was chasing Luttie with the speed of a snake.

「 Damn, it’s faster than I expected! 」

Realizing that it was impossible to escape, one of the team members drew his sword, and the three others around him followed suit, drawing their swords and attempting to intercept Revenant, but Revenant noticed and shot a needle out of his hand.

「 Damn, but you can’t hit me by shooting like that…!? 」

The man who was the target of the needle read the trajectory of the needle coming from Revenant’s hand and quickly evaded it, but he was struck by the tail from his blind spot and fell to the side of the road. The other team members standing nearby were similarly knocked down all at once.

「 Kuh! Come this way! 」

Luttie turns around and hits the cobblestones with the pommel again.

(Like Captain Eldgate, I’m sure they aren’t dead yet if they were just hit with the tail, then I’ll draw them away!) 

There are still countless Undead in addition to Revenant, but Luttie has noticed that they are moving to follow the Revenant for some reason.

That’s why she has to pull Revenant to her endlessly and get away from the place where the troopers are lying down, Luttie thought.

She knocked back the incoming tail with her spear and avoided the flying needles with minimal movements.

The leader of the Knights of the Royal City of Aries, Vanil Mirth, was a genius, but Luttie was also a genius.

Luttie Esta Aries is a genius who “Observes” every movement.

She could see every move and thought of her opponent as if seeing through them. What move will they make next, under what circumstances are they likely to make that move, what are they aiming for now, and what will they do after making that move?

Swinging her spear based on what she observed, she was never hit by enemy attacks.

The only drawback is that――.

Luttie held her spear at a distance from the fallen troopers and confronted Revenant.

There were countless other Undead around, but they were all E or D rank monsters, and considering how slow they were moving, the only one Luttie needed to watch out for now was the Revenant, who was exuding an overwhelming presence in front of her.

She avoided the tail that flew from her blind spot by running forward, then thrust her spear into the bottom of its palm as if she had been aiming for it. She then leaped up with the spear stuck in that palm, making the needle shoot away from her.

「 guuh……will be king…… 」

Luttie was startled by the sudden voice, but as she backed away from it and landed on top of the tail, then jumped again and landed on the ground before the tail could move again, she convinced herself that the voice was just a distraction.

The Revenant’s long tail was swinging in all directions, even hitting the Undead that were swarming around it.

Luttie spins her spear, swings it, slams it, doing her best to withstand Revenant’s onslaught, while at the same time making the surrounding Undead disappear under Revenant’s attack.

Perhaps it was because they were Undead, but Revenant’s attacks were monotonous, and Luttie had already grasped the pattern completely. She had already figured out the pattern, which she thought of rules like “From this stance, after this attack, you should move like this.”

Having grasped the movement pattern, Luttie then used her good kinetic vision to spear the Undead’s head through the eye socket, which was supposed to be its weak point.

If Luttie had any flaws, it was her lack of actual combat experience and her knowledge of monsters.

For some Undead the head is not a clear weakness. For example, there is a monster called Dullahan, the Headless Knight, whose head is no longer a weakness because it has already been removed or vanished.

This is also the case with skeletons and other monsters whose heads don’t make much sense regarding their bodies.

And unfortunately, Revenant was a monster on that same side as those undead.

Luttie’s face contorted as she felt a terrible pain a little lower than her chest, a creeping, sickening pain, as if something had pierced her.

She looked down to see what was causing the pain and realized that there was a long rapier-like blade protruding from the base of Revenant’s snake-like tail and torso.

As soon as she understood it, the blood flowed back out of her mouth. She couldn’t breathe, and her body was getting stiff, making it hard to move.

Luttie failed to consider the possibility of a backhanded attack, something that any experienced fighter would be aware of.

The spear fell with a loud clang, and Luttie’s limbs hung down helplessly.