Translator: Silver? Editor: Namorax

「Liberating Rione」Part 2

Rione’s crumbling walls were no longer capable of serving their function.

Suddenly, a horde of undead was spewed from one of the massive holes in the wall, paying the mountain of rubble in their path no heed as they advanced.

Although they weren’t marching like a human army, they weren’t mindlessly charging ahead as they’d been doing.

Two figures were leading the pack of undead.... the pair distinctly different from those following in their wake.

One was a small boy, probably the boy Goemon had mentioned.

Innocence remained in the boy’s delicate features, his cold eyes and straight hair drawing attention to his face.

It was possible he was apart of the priesthood, given the white robes he wore. Dressed in those decorative robes, the boy wouldn’t be out of place in a local choir.

The person beside the boy was wearing luxurious canonical robes.

Even though I couldn’t see his face, given the elaborately designed staff the man carried, it was clear as day that he was a high ranking member of the church.

The white veil attached to his headpiece completely hid the man’s face. The act of concealing his face give the man an eerie atmosphere.

The pair leading the undead both wore a necklaces engraved with the Hiruku’s “Holy Seal”, marking them as the church’s administrators.

Clearly, they were high ranking individuals of the Hiruku Theocracy.

The distance between the pair and us steadily decreased, yet neither their horde or any of us did anything rash, as open hostility would destroy any chance for negotiations. Only when we could hear each other did they halt their advance.

For a while, only the sound of rustling grass could be heard.

As we evaluated our enemies, our enemies evaluated us.

After a few moments of silence, the veiled man was the first to speak up.

“....I never imagined you’d try to capture the city with such a small force.”

Although his voice was flat, and without any intonations, his genuine surprise was clearly transmitted.

I stared back at him when I felt his gaze from behind his veil.

“So, you’re the knight who defeated our Palermo? I must admit, battling another player without using soldiers seems like it’ll be fun. Shall we introduce ourselves?”

After one-sidedly dominating the conversation, the veiled man raised his staff into the sky and invoked a powerful spell.

“Come forth denizen of the underworld, 【Skeletal Balaam】!”

A massive, ink-black cloud instantaneously formed in response to the man’s chant, and from the blood-red magical aura churning within the clouds emerged a fifteen-meter tall, demonic creature.

Though I’ve never actually seen a demon, there was no other way to the describe the beast in front of me.

A human skull mask sat comfortably between the creature’s ram horns and murderous intent emanated from his four blood red pupils.

Even though it had the appearance of a hominid, its body was covered in thick black hair, its limbs were skeletal, and both gray wings and a serpentine tail sprung from its back.

The skeletal demon raised the large swords it carried in both hands and unleashed an eerie war cry before leaping at Williahsfim behind us.

Williahsfim lept into the air in response and caught the skeletal demon’s swords with his forelegs, simultaneously using his long tail like a whip to deliver a blow to the demon’s torso.

Although the dragon king’s mass and power should’ve sent the demon flying, it managed to open its wing and regain its posture in a matter of seconds.

As the kaiju battle took place above, the boy standing next to the veiled priest stepped forward.

“My name is Tismo Gala. I’m one of the seven cardinals of Hiruku.... bestowed the name Temperantia. Here I come, nee-sans!”

The young boy named Tismo revealed himself as a cardinal to Ariane and Chiome, wearing ?a creepy smile on his face, right before his head became engorged and split open like a sea anemone.

Then his body swelled and changed as well, both if his arms transforming into long, flesh-colored tentacles, with his now massive body being supported by six legs.

The creature wasn’t a young boy anymore, it now resembled a carnivorous plant more than anything.

The earth trembled as the monster changed forward and stretched its tentacles towards Ariane and Chiome, but the pair managed to dodge the attack.

From what I could see, the tentacles were rather fast, but it’s lower body dragged behind, so the monster had a lousy affinity with quick and evasive opposites.

The veiled main raised his staff and invoked another spell.

“I’ll teach you how necromancers fight against warriors. ?【Necro Resonance】!”

When the veiled man cast the spell, a black aura engulfed the thousands of undead behind him. The up-to-this-point silent undead unleashed a cacophony of animalistic shouts as they absorbed the aura into themselves.

The threat they now posed was palpable, as every undead soldier and chimera roared and their eyes started shining a bright crimson color.

The veiled man’s magic had merely buffed the stats of the undead.

However, it was a devastating spell when tallied to over a hundred thousand soldiers.

A spell such as that would’ve had a limited effect in the game, but that wasn’t the feeling I got seeing the change brought about in the undead.

“Reflect upon your naivety for trying to capture an enemy base without bringing along any soldier units.”

The man spoke in a pleased tone, and, as if had been a signal, the undead surged towards our position like a tidal wave.

“Kaa! 【Flying Dragon Slash】!”

I cut down a couple dozen undead soldiers and a few chimeras before leaping back to put some distance between them and me, but the swarm persisted.

Another 【Flying Dragon Slash】 cut down the enemies to my left, as I fended off those to my left with my shield and continued to fall back.

The tsunami of undead prevented me from unleashing any flashy moves, it was all I could do to fend them off with my 【Sacred Lightning Sword】and 【Flying Dragon Slash】 combination.

While I was leaping back whenever I created an opening, the distance was immediately filled covered again before I had a chance to capitalize on the opportunity.

Even though my arms didn’t stop moving, I focused my attention on the veiled man.

I could’ve left this place with transfer magic, but the undead would undoubtedly interfere with Ariane and Chiome battle.

.... Taking out the enemy’s head first was the best option.

The only reason I was keeping up this slash and retreat play was that I needed to put enough distance between the horde and Ariane and Chiome.

The veiled man seemed to enjoy watching my desperate struggle.

However, he couldn’t afford to be so careless──

“【Dimensional Step】!”

Just before the undead horde overwhelmed me, I invoked my short range transfer magic and appeared at the veiled man’s side.

“Uh!?”

The genuine shock transmitted from behind his vail indicated that my surprise attack worked.

I couldn’t help but chuckle as the undead stumbled over each other, now that their target disappeared, but I swung my 『Holy Thunder Sword』at the veiled man’s head.

Gyin!!

Sparks flew as the man blocked my slash with his staff. However, the veiled man clicked his tongue because, even though he’d blocked my attack, I still managed to push him back.

The 『Holy Thunder Sword』 was a mythical grade weapon, so that staff must’ve been well-made to block it without being damaged.

I acknowledged the man as a trickily opponent, but he seemed more upset than anything.

“You can use magic even though you’re a warrior!? Fuck, did they implement the magic warrior class without me knowing it?!”

The veiled man paused for a moment to let out a stream of curses before invoking a new spell.

“【Evil Thorne】!”

After the spell was cast, three semi-transparent, rotten heads appeared on the tip of the veiled man’s staff before launching themselves at me.

I unintentionally stopped moving and was left dumbfounded when I felt no resistance at all when the heads vanished after I cut them down.

It didn’t seem like a spell I needed to worry about, yet even after he regained his footing, my opponent continued to cast the same spell.

However, I ignored the heads and charged forward with my shield in front of me, using my lighting blade’s long reach to strike at the veiled man.

“!?”

When the tip of my sword managed to cut through his veil, the man reflexively pulled back until he was just outside my range.

In spite of myself, my legs froze up when I caught a glimpse of the man’s face.

That brief moment of hesitation allowed a black sphere to swallow the formerly veiled man, only for him to emerge from another sphere a vast distance away from where he’d just been.

He was also capable of using short-range transfer magic.

In my attempt to catch up to him using 【Dimensional Step】, we wound up pinging in and out of existence all across the battlefield. However, the man used several spider chimeras as a obstacle to aid in his escape.

After dealing with the nuisances, I scanned the area for the man, but he had skillfully hidden among his undead.

“I can’t weed the guy out without a bird’s eye view of the battlefield....”

I cursed the undead blocking my line of sight and even unleashed a few 【Flying Dragon Slash】in my frustration.

I pushed my spatial awareness to its limits as I retreated from the undead, but developments in Williahsfim’s battle drew my attention towards the sky.