Ch.247247. Peter and the New Moon (3)

Upon encountering them, Peter inwardly felt that their chances of victory were slim.

The two zombie ogres that the Skeleton Necromancer had as guards were already mid-tier undead, and the Skeleton Necromancer himself was a mage stronger than Peter, who had only recently awakened his aura.

So even if the zombie ogres were deployed as a distraction, it would be difficult to defeat the Skeleton Necromancer once he started casting spells. Worse yet, the enemy forces included Tomb Guards and various spectral undead as well.

In terms of combat power, the other side was at least three times stronger.

But… that didn’t mean they could simply give up on life.

[Kekeke… Human, if you come out now, I’ll specially make you into an undead that retains its consciousness. Ah, of course, you’ll have to kill that ugly god’s slave with your own hands… hehehe.]

Especially when faced with a Skeleton Necromancer openly mocking them like that, no person would quietly submit to death at the hands of someone making such remarks.

“Laila, I’m counting on you.”

“…Okay.”

As Peter began warming up by circulating the aura within his body and quietly spoke to Laila, she seemed to offer a silent prayer to Devona, the goddess of life whom she served—

“—《Turn Undead》!!”

Just as before, she activated the miracle of exorcism through prayer while simultaneously releasing holy radiance from the tip of her staff.

Of course, the effect of this miracle was pathetically weak compared to what she had cast on the previous undead horde.

The 7th-rank Tomb Guards merely received moderate holy damage and became rigid, while the undead that fell were only miscellaneous ones or spectral undead vulnerable to exorcism.

The mid-tier zombie ogres and the Skeleton Necromancer weren’t even staggered, let alone banished, only receiving slight holy damage that made them react irritably to the stinging sensation.

So one might wonder what meaning this miracle had at all, but…

“《Summon Lesser Angel》!! Peter, now!!”

“—Right!”

In fact, neutralizing all the enemy forces below mid-tier with a single miracle was significant enough. Thanks to this, while Peter charged directly toward the ogres—Lisa used a summoning spell.

What appeared were two 7th-rank common Angels.

These angels, positioned at the lowest rank, took the form of holy warriors wearing full plate armor with angelic wings, and began dispatching the stiffened undead (Tomb Guards) with swords and maces imbued with holy power.

“—Hup!!”

Meanwhile, Peter charged forward with his sword wrapped in flickering aura and swung it forcefully at a zombie ogre.

“…Uuurgh?”

Ogres were never known for high intelligence to begin with, and becoming zombies had made them even duller. Taking advantage of this, Peter threw a dagger to distract its gaze while approaching from the ogre’s blind spot—

—Slash!!

He immediately sliced upward, severing one of the ogre’s wrists and dropping it, then continued his attack while the creature was still disoriented.

He cut through the tough hide to split open the belly, exposing the rotting entrails, then used his small frame to pass between its legs and sever the tendons in both ankles.

Thud!!

A zombie ogre, considered the ultimate tank among undead, wouldn’t fall from just this, but the key was that this ogre was now face-down on the ground, temporarily immobilized.

Moreover, the Skeleton Necromancer’s situation wasn’t looking good either.

[B-Block it!]

In this space permeated with holy power that acted like poison to the undead, the necromancer saw the ogre zombie’s wounds and desperately ordered the other zombie ogre to act.

With his necromancy magic sputtering and failing due to the holy interference, unable to heal the ogre zombie’s wounds—he finally decided to cast an attack spell.

“KUOOOOO—!!”

“…Ugh!”

Just as the priestess was struggling to hold back the wild undead, and the warrior was desperately dealing with the recklessly charging ogre zombie.

The spell the Skeleton Necromancer was preparing was ‘Lightning Bolt.’

A 3rd-level elemental spell that summons a streak of blue lightning from the fingertips to shock enemies—simple but extremely difficult to dodge and capable of penetrating everything in a straight line.

Since undead monsters generally have considerable resistance to electrical damage, he planned to use this to his advantage by attacking both the ogre zombie and the warrior simultaneously.

As blue sparks began crackling at his fingertips, Laila, belatedly noticing the Skeleton Necromancer’s actions, tried to cast a spell to interrupt him… but it was too late.

Before Laila could even begin preparing her spell, he had already completed his preparations, and the Skeleton Necromancer began chanting his spell with an evil laugh…

“《Lightning Bo—(Lightning Bo—”

“—That’s far enough, you vile fiend!!!”

At that moment, something black suddenly rushed in and ambushed the Skeleton Necromancer.

“…Huh?”

“…Eh?”

While Peter and Laila were bewildered by this sudden turn of events, the black figure struck the necromancer with something in its hand, sending him flying.

“…?!!”

Only then could they make out the appearance of the being that had ambushed the Skeleton Necromancer.

Wielding a halberd so large it seemed doubtful it could be wielded with one hand, and wearing black armor that was strangely spiky with bat-like wings… it looked like a warrior, but…

“…Is that also an undead?”

“Could it be… the one we’ve only heard about?”

Looking at the warrior who had appeared with the ambush, the two could easily guess the identity of the figure before them.

The powerful necromantic energy characteristic of undead, the bat wings that appeared to be a cape but were actually extensions growing from its back, and even the aura with a bloodred tinge clinging to the halberd.

The identity of the being they were now facing was… probably a vampire.

A powerful undead with a particularly unique ecology, starting from at least mid-tier.

Moreover, one that had enough strength to crush a 5th-rank mage with a single blow, even if it was a surprise attack—at least a 4th-rank vampire.

As the two remained tense…

“…Hmm? Oh! Boy, step back!”

When the vampire shouted this, a perplexed Peter retreated from his fight with the zombie ogre, and the vampire pointed the halberd at the zombie ogre and cast a spell.

“《Fireball》!!”

A basketball-sized fireball launched from the tip of the halberd quickly reached the zombie ogre and exploded, completely incinerating the undead, which was particularly vulnerable to fire.

Being able to cast magic powerful enough to reduce an ogre zombie to ashes in an instant, while also being a mid-tier warrior who could use aura… this naturally put the two young people on guard.

But was the vampire deliberately ignoring this fact, or simply too oblivious to notice?

The vampire approached the two who maintained their vigilance, removed its helmet to reveal a face that seemed androgynous but could be identified as female, and then—

“Boy, girl! Fear not! I, Isabelle, Magic Knight of the great Rom Empire, am a warrior who fights for justice!”

At this nonsensical declaration made with such confidence, Peter and Laila had the same thought.

‘Ah, a crazy vampire.’

Not only was she claiming to be a knight of a nation that had been extinct for hundreds of years, but one could tell from the female vampire Isabelle’s eyes.

In those clear, bright eyes, there was a subtle madness lurking.

Considering the common belief that long-lived vampires often go insane in some way, this self-proclaimed knight of justice was probably the result of such madness.

However, the two could only take comfort in the fact that Vampire Isabelle seemed too self-absorbed to pose a threat to them.

Meanwhile, in the Divine Realm of Vengeance…

‘…Who is that one?’

Ma-Duke, the god of vengeance, blood, and vampires, couldn’t hide his bewilderment at the sudden appearance of this vampire who had intruded upon the scene he was watching.