91. Raid

91. Raid

As we made our way to the Magical Artifacts department building, the source of the explosions, the blasts continued without pause.

I saw security guards, professors, and even some students joining forces to stop the monster, but it didn’t seem very effective. In fact, seeing them all being blown away in different directions by the shockwaves made me feel uneasy.

Such explosions could easily be stopped with a punch. I wondered if everyone simply didn’t know how to block explosions.

As I was pondering this, Claire, whom I was holding by the hand, asked.

“What are you thinking about?”

“Nothing much.”

More importantly, something seemed to be flying towards us from over there.

“Kyaaak-!”

I caught a girl who had been blown all the way here by the shockwave of an explosion. She looked bewildered, as if she had expected to hit the ground hard. When the impact didn’t come as expected, the girl slowly opened her eyes and looked at me.

“Hello?”

“Kyaaaaaaaak?!”

The girl screamed twice as loud when she saw my face. At the sound that made my eardrums ache, I folded my wolf ears and asked the girl.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes? Yes?! Yes!!!”

“Get away to safety. This place looks dangerous.”

I advised her, looking down at her with her very expressive face. It was fortunate that I caught her; otherwise, she might have been seriously injured.

I know from experience how painful it is to scrape your skin when you hit the ground. It’s very painful.

“B-but, as a noble, I should set an example and fight….”

“It’s okay, I’ll handle it.”

Perhaps due to the aftermath of the fight, her heart was beating rapidly. She must have been very nervous. I put her down on the ground, gently stroked her head, and said.

“Go to a safe place.”

“Still….”

I don’t know if she didn’t trust me or if her sense of responsibility was overriding, but she showed no sign of listening to me.

In the end, I had no choice but to kiss her passionately.

We weren’t particularly close, but I judged that this might make her listen to me a little better. After a while, I pulled my tongue out, and the girl looked dazed, unable to follow the situation, and let out a sound.

“Uh, uh-huh…?”

“Listen to me. Okay? Get to safety.”

“Ehe….”

Leaving the dazed girl behind, I picked up Claire and started running towards the building again. For some reason, Claire, whom I was holding, had a sulky expression.

“Claire?”

“Yes.”

“Why the long face?”

“….”

In response to my question, Claire seemed to ponder what to say, mumbling with her mouth, and then whispered to me in a voice barely audible.

“… Do it to me too.”

“Huh?”

“Me, to me too! Do it….”

What was she asking me to do?

I twitched my ears and pondered. Thanks to Freya, I had learned various common sense things, but it was still not easy to infer words from context.

“Do what?”

“Th-that…!”

“Claire?”

“… Kiss.”

“Yes?”

“Eeeek…!”

Claire started hitting her chest in frustration. Of course, Claire had a small chest fitting her small body, so it felt more like hitting a cliff than a chest.

Naturally, I didn’t say that out loud. Claire eventually shouted at me.

“Kiss!!! Do it for me!!!”

Claire shouted so loud that the sky seemed to fall. As a result, most of the other people passing by looked in our direction, and Claire, conscious of the many gazes, blushed as if embarrassed.

Eventually, she covered her face with her hands and lowered her head. I forcibly lifted Claire’s head.

“Claire.”

“Uh, yes?”

Why was she blushing so much about kissing another girl? She should have just said confidently that she wanted to.

I kissed her.

——

“Kyaak!”

After cheering Claire up, we finally arrived at the Magical Artifacts department building. We would have arrived earlier, but we were delayed by various things.

The building had completely blown away, leaving only the foundation indicating its former existence. In front of it were a few adults presumed to be security guards and professors, and a crying student whose graduation project had been destroyed. And….

“P-please save me!”

A pink-haired girl was pinned under an unknown skeleton.

Her height was probably average, her chest and hips were large, giving her a captivating yet cute and lively impression….

“I’m telling you to save me!!”

Only then did I come to my senses and assess the situation.

Several professors were bleeding from their wounds, and a skeleton in rags was confronting them.

Curiously, the skeleton held a pure white sword in its hand, and the girl’s chest was being crushed under the skeleton’s foot. The way her large breasts were pressed and deformed by the pressure was quite a sight.

The professors sighed in relief when they saw me. They seemed to think that the situation would change now that I had arrived.

“Ha! You think the situation will change just because a mere wolf has arrived! I am! None other than! A Death Knight! Even if another weak girl comes, nothing will change!”

The skeleton, or rather, the skeleton, shouted, emitting a dark aura from its body. The irritating sound, like scraping metal plates, bothered my ears.

I folded my ears and frowned. My beastman’s superior hearing felt like a disadvantage at times like these.

“You!! Are you perhaps thinking of me as!! Just a mere skeleton!!!”

The skeleton shouted, pointing at me. I didn’t know how, but it was as if he could read my thoughts.

“I am not just a skeleton! I am the pinnacle of the undead! An insult to God!! The legend that all skeletons aspire to be!!! A Death Knight!!!!”

The skeleton shouted, striking a cool pose with his sword. Due to his violent movements, the pink-haired girl pinned beneath him let out a groan.

Although the skeleton’s voice was terrible, I appreciated his overflowing confidence and applauded him heartily.

Clap, clap.

He then let out a snort of excitement-or rather, a feeling like it-and continued speaking. He didn’t forget to strike a cool pose.

“I am the 4721st skeleton created by ‘that person’! Although I was almost forgotten by my master and left to rot beneath the dungeon, I finally succeeded in awakening when the seal was broken! And I coincidentally obtained this sword!”

The skeleton said, raising the pure white sword high into the sky. Although the pure white sword, enveloped in black evil energy, looked somewhat unbalanced, I didn’t say anything.

The skeleton continued.

“A pure white magic sword imbued with the power of extreme ice! I, who was a weak skeleton, became the great Death Knight by taking this sword!! Even adapting to the sword’s immense power was a struggle, but now I’ve adapted!”

Kua-wang-!

As the skeleton swung his sword towards the sky, a massive force exploded, splitting the clouds in half. Although it was more of an energy discharge than a sword strike due to his lack of control, its power was commendable.

Snow fluttered down from the parted sky. I opened my mouth to catch it, and it was surprisingly ordinary snow.

By the way, it’s strange, but I have a sword that looks similar.

A pure white sword without a single speck of dirt… doesn’t it look very similar to the sword I lost? I thought about that fact and then realized something astonishing.

“Wait, that sword…!”

“Skadi, that sword…!”

“It seems like it was made by the same person who made my sword!”

Claire, hearing my realization, closed her mouth with a look of exasperation for some reason. The pink-haired girl shouted from under the skeleton.

“Stop chattering and save me already!!!”

“You foolish whore!! Do you think the situation will change just because a frail girl has arrived!! Hahaha! Hey! You there, white-haired wolf!!”

“Me?”

“Yes!! You pleased me, so I will generously spare your life! I am very capricious, so leave this place before my mood changes!”

The skeleton pointed at me and said. Now that I noticed, a red glint flashed from within the skeleton’s eye sockets. It was an appearance that stimulated a man’s heart.

Cool.

I immediately punched the skeleton’s head, shattering it.

“There. Can you get up?”

I pushed the shattered skeleton aside and helped the pink-haired girl up, asking if she was alright. The girl trembled, then pointed behind me and screamed.

“Behind!!! Behind!!!!!!”

“Yes?”

I followed her finger and looked behind me. The skeleton, which should have turned to dust, reassembled itself with a clatter, surrounded by black energy, and stood up again.

The skeleton trembled with uncontrollable rage, its red eyes glowing. The creepy voice, like scraping metal plates, echoed again.

“Y-you…! How dare you ignore my mercy-“

I immediately smashed the skeleton’s head.