Chapter 200

Chapter 200

"It's a Black Mage!"

"Hii, hiiiek...!"

The Black Mage hiding inside the wall began to run away.

He had prepared an escape route for situations like this. However.

Poof-!

He couldn't avoid Otone's sword piercing through the wall.

'If possible, I wanted to capture him alive and extract information.'

The locations of the other Black Mages, their plans, the weaknesses of the skeletons, the magic circle of the Legion Commander, and so on.

But she couldn't let go of someone who had prepared an escape route in advance.

'Well, whatever. I can just ask the next one.'

Thud!

Otone kicked the wall with her foot. The wall collapsed with ease, almost ridiculously.

"Creating a fake wall and hiding behind it... We'll have to redo the search from the beginning."

Otone divided the team into two.

One team to conduct an additional search of the spaces they had passed, and the team she belonged to would continue searching the other rooms inside the palace.

It was at that moment.

Sizzle-.

"Huh?"

The Black Mage, who had been stabbed in the stomach and died instantly.

His body melted away in an instant, leaving only bones.

And then.

Creak- Creak creak-!

It stood up on two feet. Burning with dark purple light in its eye sockets.

"..."

Otone and the others couldn't help but be dumbfounded.

And that dumbfoundedness soon turned into astonishment.

Because they witnessed an unbelievable sight.

The Black Mage who had turned into a skeleton raised his hand to the sky and spewed out mana.

Then.

Creak- Creak creak-!

Crack crack crack!

Skeletons rose up from various places.

"Even... outside the building... they're rising."

"...Ha!"

Only a hollow laugh escaped.

It was already surprising that the Black Mage had turned into a skeleton in an instant, but to think he could also resurrect other skeletons.

'Does that mean they can use any power they had when they were alive...!'

It was an absurd ability.

Otone swung her sword and crushed the skeleton Black Mage's head. And very finely at that.

However.

Creak- Creak creak.

The finely crushed skull bones trembled and moved little by little.

It was clearly trying to reattach the skull bones.

"...Who's coating their weapon with holy power potion right now?"

"Here."

She deeply stabbed the skeleton's head with a spear coated in holy power potion.

Only then did the skeleton completely stop moving.

'Does that mean only holy power can grant complete death...?'

Otone checked her waist.

Out of the twenty holy power potions she had been given, only eight remained.

The others were probably in a similar situation as her.

'...We should have used them sparingly. We should have only used them when it was important!'

As long as there were skeletons that could use the power of Black Mages, they would continue to resurrect other skeletons.

In addition to this, let's assume for a moment.

'What if the Black Mage skeletons can resurrect other Black Mage skeletons?'

An endless loop of resurrection and death would be complete.

The subjugation force, the Black Mages, and those who had already become skeletons.

They would live a life trapped in an endless cycle, never able to escape.

'No, perhaps all living beings in this world would end up like that.'

As her thoughts reached that point, a cold sweat ran down Otone's back.

"We need to inform them of this fact. And..."

The Otone team had been moving away from the skeletons while carrying out their mission of killing Black Mages from the middle.

Then what about the people who had been fighting the skeletons from the beginning until now?

The number of holy power potions would be running low.

Otone's decision was quick. She put six holy power potions into a spatial pocket.

"Everyone, keep only two holy power potions each and put the rest in here."

Holy power potions that might become a lifeline in the latter half of the battle.

Otone was essentially telling them to give up their lifeline.

However, no one objected.

The spatial pocket was filled with holy power potions. Over thirty, a reassuring number just to look at.

"I'm dividing the team into two. Inform the battlefield of this fact right now! Tell them to use the holy power potions only when killing Black Mage skeletons if possible!"

*

"Asteon!"

"Haaaaah!"

Boom-!!

Asteon's knees slightly buckled.

'Damn it! Even though I deflected it with the shield, to have this much destructive power...'

But more than that, it was because Asteon was exhausted.

The number of times he had blocked the skeletal knight's charge had already exceeded twenty.

The skeletal knight who charged while riding a skeletal horse.

Asteon was the only one in the subjugation force who could block it.

"Haha! Then are you saying I'll lose to you?"

"Isn't that obvious?"

At that, Asteon chuckled.

"You're right, I can't die. I can't suffer the humiliation of dying to you."

Clack clack clack-.

A skeletal knight rose.

They had crushed its head, but it only slowed down its recovery. They also couldn't completely kill it.

"What? Why is that thing coming back to life? Didn't you spray holy power potion on it?"

"Do you think I have any left?"

"Then you should have at least spit on it!"

"Do you think my saliva is holy water or something? Only a saint can do that!"

"Then you should become a saint! No, since you're a man, a holy man?"

"What the hell are you talking about, you crazy bastard!"

While Asteon and Kiel were bickering, the skeletal knight had long mounted the skeletal horse.

"It's coming! Block it!"

"You block it this time! Why do I always have to block it!"

Kiel thought.

He was the crazy one for following to save this guy.

It was the moment the skeletal knight began to charge.

Pow-!

The skeletal knight fell off the horse. There was a large hole in its skull.

Asteon and Kiel could tell.

An arrow. And the result created by an arrow filled with mana at that.

And the person who shot that arrow was.

"Did everyone wait long?"

Edwin, known as the Black Archer of Violeta.

Asteon and Kiel, who discovered him, burst into joyful cheers.

"As expected of Edwin! You came to save us!"

"Huh? No? I'm also trapped, you know?"

...?

Edwin, what the hell are you talking about?

"...Why? Then why did you do the stupid thing of breaking through the encirclement and coming in?"

"You two looked like you were having fun. I hurried over to play with you. Sorry, I'm late, aren't I?"

Edwin scratching his head as if apologizing for being late to play.

Asteon and Kiel shouted in unison.

"You crazy bastaaaaaard-!"

But they didn't even have time to scold Edwin.

Because the skeletal knights kept rising.

'Damn it! There are too many skeletal knights we've killed around here!'

If they had holy power potions, they could have granted them rest, but it was impossible without them.

It meant they would continue to repeat resurrection and charging.

"Edwin! The holy power potions..."

"I drank them! They're good for the body!"

"...You $%&^!!"

Kiel, a man known for his manners in noble circles.

But at this moment, he couldn't help but curse. And a curse that couldn't even be expressed in words!

But even in a moment like this, the body was honest.

It was when they were preparing for the skeletal knight's charge, with Asteon at the forefront.

Someone appeared next to the skeletal knight. It was a middle-aged woman in a maid uniform.

Pow!!

The skeletal horse's body bent like a bow at her fist. At the same time.

Crack-!

The swung sword cleanly split the skeletal knight's head in half.

The skeletal knight's head turned to powder and scattered.

It was proof that the weapon had been coated with holy power potion.

Kiel knew who those people were.

The person wearing the maid uniform was Lucia's nanny, and...

"Is everyone okay? Anyone hurt?"

The person who split the skeletal knight's head was Lucia's friend and a former retired war hero.

Sylvia.

Asteon muttered blankly.

"I'm quite injured. Especially here, on my sturdy thighs."

"Oh my! What were you doing without even applying a potion? What if you get scarred..."

Sylvia quickly took out a potion and sprayed it on Asteon's thighs. And carefully rubbing it, she said.

"Fighting until you got this injured... You three are all brave. Really amazing."

"..."

"All three of you rest for a bit. I'll go clean up the surroundings and come back."

Sylvia ran and swung her sword.

The heads of the skeletal knights wriggling to resurrect turned to dust and disappeared with the wind.

"..."

Asteon, Kiel, and Edwin. The three of them could feel it.

The warm 'inclusiveness' of a married woman.

Asteon muttered with a slightly flushed face.

"Kiel."

"...What is it now?"

"I think I might have opened my eyes to something new. Perhaps a married woman... is a lovely being who embraces all the pain in this world."

Kiel thought.

He wished this crazy bastard would become a skeleton soon.

--TL Notes--

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