A New Weapon
by Afuhfuihgs
I had subdued the undead, but I still hadn’t received the signal from Ellie that it was okay to kill it. As the undead resisted violently, Estelle skillfully wielded her dagger, severing the tendons in its arms and legs.
“Kkeuaaaak!”
Screaming in agony, the undead collapsed to the floor, grinding its teeth as it shouted.
“Do you even know who I am?!”
Estelle, with her foot on the undead’s back, wiped the blood from her dagger and spoke with disappointment.
“What’s with that ugly reaction?”
It was a stark contrast to the undead’s previously perfect aristocratic demeanor. This must be its true form. I didn’t let my guard down and asked Estelle.
“Estelle, it might try to kill itself with magic, so please control its mana.”
“I’ll be watching it so it can’t even twitch a finger.”
The undead glared at me with a distorted face full of displeasure and anger. Its grayish-white eyes gleamed like glass beads. As I stared into those eyes, I suddenly felt a strange sense of unease.
The undead’s gaze was directed at me, but it wasn’t looking at me. Turning my head over my shoulder, I immediately spun around and swung my spear.
Kwang!
The Shadow Spear collided with the forefoot of a monster made of bones. The monster bones, which had been preserved like decorations on the wall, glowed with a faint red light and came to life, attacking us.
This wasn’t my first time fighting skeletons. The first time was when I met the twin spear-wielders, Gall and Galle, who blocked my path in the temple.
Back then, I was able to defeat them easily using the power of the Spear of Destruction, but now I no longer have the Spear of Destruction. In that case, I have no choice but to break the bones themselves with the Shadow Spear.
Just as I was about to put strength into the hand gripping the spear shaft and step forward, Estelle shouted.
“Ross!”
Turning around at Estelle’s panicked voice, I saw that the skeletal remains of monsters decorating the ceiling and walls of the study were approaching us.
Evading the monster in front of me as it swung its forefoot again, I shouted.
“Leave it to me and protect the undead!”
“Okay!”
Multi-person battles are my specialty. After all, I obtained the Shadow Spear for the purpose of dealing with multiple opponents.
Retreating, I recalled the spatial coordinates I had recognized and created a dimensional passage.
Changing the spear’s shape into a large club suitable for striking bones, I immediately poured a barrage of attacks into the dimensional entrance I had created in front of me.
Peok-! Peok-! Peok-!
The skulls of the approaching monsters literally shattered, and the bones that had maintained the monsters’ forms tumbled across the floor of the study. The winged monster that had been flying through the air crashed down, knocking over several bookshelves in the study, as its lumbar vertebrae shattered.
There are still many of the decorated monster bones, but it’s not difficult to defeat them all. I didn’t feel any sense of danger at all.
As if practicing spear techniques alone, I simply repeated the action of bringing the spear down towards the dimensional entrance from that spot.
Thanks to recognizing the spatial coordinates of the entire study, I was able to defeat the enemies rushing in from one spot simply by finely adjusting the position of the dimensional exit.
Peoeok-!
I crushed the skull of the last moving skeleton, collected my spear while catching my slightly quickened breath. Turning towards Estelle, I saw the undead, who had been subdued and was lying on the floor, staring at me with a dumbfounded expression.
“How… how could this be….”
It seemed it hadn’t expected its resistance to end so easily. As I shrugged as if it was nothing, Estelle, who was crushing the undead’s back, laughed out loud.
“You thought you could threaten us with mere skeleton monsters?”
As Estelle spoke as if it were an idiot, the undead suddenly burst into laughter. Revealing its pure white teeth, the undead erased its expression and completely changed the atmosphere.
“No, that’s impossible.”
“…!”
The moment those words ended, the undead’s body bounced off the floor. Estelle, who had been riding on the undead’s back, twisted her body in mid-air and landed safely on the floor.
As I gave her a look to see if she was okay, Estelle spoke with an incomprehensible expression.
“I was definitely blocking the use of mana―”
Estelle stopped speaking. She had realized the change in the undead. Estelle’s purple eyes looked at me with a face full of bewilderment.
“How can an undead possess the power of Chaos…?”
I don’t know either. The undead and the cult aren’t connected in the novel. However, the undead floating in the air naturally reminded me of the memory of fighting Dwinn.
Black mana flowed endlessly from the undead’s body, and as a result, the surrounding space itself wavered, and the spatial coordinates I had recognized disappeared as if collapsing.
────!
As if a heart was beating, the entire castle vibrated around the undead.
The undead, having regenerated its severed wrist, moved its regenerated hand back and forth, saying.
“The skeletons were merely a distraction.”
The undead charged towards Estelle. It was fast, but not at a speed I couldn’t react to.
However….
Kwaang-!
Estelle didn’t block the undead’s charge, and collided with it as it was, her body flying backward and collapsing along with the bookshelf.
“…Estelle!”
I, who had naturally expected her to react, panicked and rushed towards the undead, who was approaching to finish Estelle off.
Evading my attack, the undead retreated and retrieved its sword, which had been rolling on the floor. I fixed my gaze on it, in case it might commit suicide, and asked behind me.
“Estelle, are you okay?”
“Eung… sorry.”
Estelle, who answered with a somehow weak voice, got up from her spot and said in a small voice that only I could hear.
“The clan’s restriction has been activated on the undead.”
“…!”
Estelle’s clan has a restriction that prevents them from directly opposing the cult. They cannot harm any of the cult’s executives or followers. And that restriction has been activated on the undead.
That means the undead and the cult have joined hands, or the undead has become a follower. Whatever the case, Estelle can no longer fight.
And it seemed the undead had noticed that fact as well. It seemed to have felt a sense of unease after seeing Estelle take its charge defenselessly.
The undead gave a nasty smile. It was a vile face, as if it had grasped the opponent’s weakness.
“That bitch can’t resist this power?”
The undead let out a vulgar laugh and fixed its grayish-white eyes on Estelle.
“Hehehe, damn it. I was trying not to use this power as much as possible because I didn’t know what kind of impact it would have on me… how dare you give me such humiliation?”
In a madman’s guise, with no trace of the aristocrat to be seen, the undead let out a frenzy-filled scream.
“I’ll kill that bitch who can’t do anything right in front of your eyes!”
“Estelle, run away!”
The undead charged. I heard the sound of Estelle turning around and running away after hearing my shout.
“You bitch, where do you think you’re going!”
Since I couldn’t use space magic, I had no choice but to fight back. The undead’s sword, shimmering with black mana, collided with my spear.
Kaang-!
The spear shaft was pushed back greatly. The undead’s strength and speed had increased several times compared to before. Perhaps it felt that itself, the undead contorted its face fiercely and swung its sword greatly.
Kwaang-!
With the impact, a part of the spear blade shattered. While I briefly retreated to absorb the impact, the undead chased after Estelle, who was running away.
Noticing that, I urgently threw the Shadow Spear towards the undead’s back.
The black mana shimmering around the undead struck down the flying Shadow Spear as if it had a physical form.
Maintaining its speed, the undead approached Estelle from behind. Estelle, who had unknowingly turned around, made eye contact with the undead.
“…!”
“Die, you filthy bitch!”
The undead’s sword fell towards Estelle’s head. Estelle, who was watching the falling sword without being able to offer any resistance, closed her eyes without realizing it.
“…?”
She didn’t feel any pain. There was no noise either. Wondering if she had died instantly without feeling anything, Estelle cautiously opened her closed eyes and was startled to see the sword stopped as if blocked by something invisible in front of her head, and stepped back.
“What… is this.”
Distorting its face as if it couldn’t understand, the undead swung its sword at Estelle again, but again, something invisible blocked the sword.
“….”
“….”
Watching the two people staring blankly at each other with eyes that couldn’t understand each other, I let out a sigh of relief. As soon as I saw the undead block the Shadow Spear, I urgently took out the Spear of Resolution I had obtained from Cormo from my spatial storage.
From the moment I first held the Spear of Resolution in my hand, I had naturally realized how I could use its abilities. Using the abilities of the Spear of Resolution was not a difficult task.
The [Battlefield] ability of the Spear of Resolution is for a true one-on-one duel where no one can interfere, and it continues until the victory or defeat is decided.
I immediately set the targets of the [Battlefield] to be me and the undead. Therefore, the undead could not attack Estelle, who was not a party to the duel.
To feel the sensation of the spear I was using for the first time, I briefly swung it into the air to gauge the extent of the battlefield’s boundary.
About half of the study. Perhaps because I frequently use space magic, it wasn’t difficult to quickly recognize the surrounding environment.
Having finished preparing to fight, I spoke to the undead, who was blankly staring at Estelle.
“Your opponent is me. I think I said that before.”
I looked out the window. There’s still no signal. Then….
The undead, shimmering with black mana, slowly turned to look at me.
Looking at that face full of anger, I provoked it, speaking with an arrogant voice and a laugh.
“I am your death.”
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