Ch.89Jealousy (4)

Boom—!

El Zeria’s red lightning and Khan’s black lightning streaked across the sky in an instant, striking Envy.

Unable to react properly, Envy and the skeletal remains vanished into the lightning.

Khan ignored the hydra that stretched its neck to block him and moved toward Envy.

Rumble…!

Khan traveled along the electric current where the lightning had struck, gathering the red and black lightning flowing on the ground into one hand to create a hammer.

A small hammer, made out of necessity because there wasn’t enough current to form an axe.

The lightning hammer, believable as Thor’s Mjolnir, was swung toward Envy with a thunderous roar.

Boom—!!

Crash—!!

Mjolnir swung like a thunderbolt. That single strike created a fissure in the ground, sending dirt flying and obscuring vision.

Not letting his guard down, Khan rolled on the ground, attempting to create a sinkhole in the area when—

Thwack—!

Ugh!?

A skeletal hand suddenly emerged. The bone hand struck Khan’s face, sending him flying far away.

Whoosh——!!

As several tons of weight floated through the air before crashing to the ground, Khan’s form was imprinted on the surface with a sound like dozens of fireballs exploding.

Having taken a direct hit from a strike that didn’t even trigger his demonic beast senses, Khan shook his head vigorously to regain his senses.

“Focus, Wrath! It’s approaching!”

“Khan!”

The Saintess’s warning. And Mary’s voice. Those two voices brought Khan back to his senses, and he moved along the ground.

Crash——!!

A fist struck the spot just as Khan burrowed into the ground.

After evading that attack, Khan immediately emerged from the ground and delivered an uppercut.

Crash——!!!

The uppercut accurately struck the head of the enormous unidentified entity, finally allowing him to confirm what it was.

A minotaur, almost exactly Khan’s size, stood there.

The minotaur made of human bones displayed a pure white form in stark contrast to Khan.

As if it were its trademark, a long, ponytail-like red mane hung from its head.

The minotaur’s knees were composed of countless human skulls, and its face was constructed using every possible elongated human bone.

And green flames rose from its eye sockets.

The pure white minotaur, composed of thousands or perhaps tens of thousands of bones, unlike ordinary skeletons, was not much smaller than Khan in size.

“Nostalgic, isn’t it? I modeled it after Dopl’s final form. Of course, her final form was human… but that would be too small to fight you. I named this one Transform.”

Just as he said, except for the color and flames, it was identical to the woman who had stopped me when I activated Wrath.

With those words, Envy created a wheelchair made of bones and sat down with a thud.

“But… why doesn’t your body grow larger, Wrath? Could it be… you can’t transform back into that form again?”

Envy asked, seemingly very curious. But there was no one to answer his question.

“Hmm… to have my attention stolen by Transform, a copy of Dopl that I created… I’m envious of my own underling…”

As he spoke, Khan and the pure white minotaur were engaged in what could be called a fierce battle.

Meanwhile, Envy waved the only arm of his body that could still move, preparing his next spell.

The green flames emanating from his hand began to drift through the air, as if to mesmerize people.

* * *

Whoosh——!!

A crimson hand swung its fist toward the pure white monster.

But the pure white monster removed the bones from the area where the punch was aimed, creating a void, and avoided the attack.

Crash—!

Then came the counter.

Transform burrowed into Khan’s chest, pushed him back with a shoulder tackle, and used its tail to wrap around Khan’s legs.

Scrape—

The tail was like a four-sided sword, with each segment resembling a blade, and green flames emerged from the joints of the tail.

Crack—!

The green flames were trying to demonstrate their powerful firepower, but Khan created a stone spear and cut off the creature’s tail.

The severed tail wriggled, trying to reconnect, but Khan was faster.

Crack—!

Wrapping lightning around his leg, he stomped down completely, shattering it. Unlike the jaw, the tail portion broke instantly.

Riding that momentum, Khan began to swing his lightning-wrapped fist.

Rumble—

With each swing, thunder echoed and black lightning spread from his fist.

As soon as Transform saw the black lightning wrapped around Khan’s arm, it retreated and changed its form.

Crackle…!!

Click, click, click..!!

Boom—!

“Khan!”

At that moment, Mary flew over and grabbed Khan’s mane.

“Phew, that woman calling herself a Saintess kept trying to stop me from coming. I’ll heal the open parts, so just hold still for a moment.”

“Mmmmm— (It’s dangerous, stay away.)”

“I know it’s dangerous, but… I have a bad feeling. Just… just let me stay with Khan for a little while.”

Mary’s arms trembled as she held onto Khan’s mane, and seeing her attitude as if she had received some kind of ominous prophecy, Khan nodded.

“Mmm— (Hold on tight.)”

“Okay!”

After finishing his conversation with Mary, Khan looked at the transformed creature, which had changed into the form of a knight holding shields in both hands.

Transform seemed to have given up on physical combat and was now just defending to buy time.

It strongly demonstrated its will to prevent interference with Envy, who was busy playing with green flames behind it.

When magic users take that long to prepare, it means they’re getting ready for one big attack.

Unable to tolerate such a sight, Khan gathered lightning in his legs.

To dash forward at once, ignoring the pure white Transform and charging ahead.

Rumble…!

Mary gripped my mane tightly as she heard the sound of thunder. And as Khan lifted his foot, he shot forward instantly.

Boom—!

The first step took him right in front of Transform, who was holding the shield.

The creature couldn’t even react properly, but as soon as it saw lightning gathering in Khan’s legs, it covered its front with the shield.

As if challenging Khan to break through if he could, Transform showed an iron wall stance.

Thinking it was an impenetrable defense, the creature maintained that stance as I took my second step.

Rumble…!!

And in my hand appeared a siege hammer.

This weapon, created by compressing and compressing stone to break through the creature’s defense in a single strike, was swung along with black lightning.

Crash!!

And, the collision.

The collision between the shield made of pure white bones and the siege hammer wrapped in black lightning. The winner was…

Crack—

The siege hammer wrapped in black lightning.

Rather than piercing the shield, it completely shattered it, creating a large crack in Transform’s body as well.

Crash—!!

As the siege hammer that had pierced Transform’s body exploded, Transform’s body shattered into pieces and scattered in all directions.

Now all that remained were the hydra and Envy.

But with the thought that if I could just take down Envy, the necromancer, this tiresome battle would soon end, I approached Envy.

Rumble…!

The third step. I instantly approached Envy and, without saying a word, swung my fist toward him.

Despite sitting in a bone wheelchair and being absorbed in playing with green flames, despite hearing my thunder, despite me swinging my fist right in front of him—

He paid no attention and just continued waving green flames in the air.

Toward such an Envy, Khan’s fist, wrapped in a stone gauntlet and black lightning, was swung.

Crash—!!

The ground cracked, unable to withstand Khan’s power, and an explosion erupted from Khan’s strike.

But Khan’s expression wasn’t good despite creating such a scene. Even though he had clearly hit Envy, it felt like hitting something incredibly hard.

The green flames floating in the air continued to assert their presence.

“Night of the Dead.”

Bang!

With those words, the green flames burst and began to obscure Uldur’s light that had been shining brilliantly in the sky.

* * *

“Uldur’s light…!!”

With that, all members of the order, including the Saintess, felt the light surrounding their bodies weakening.

The land declared as sacred ground also began to weaken as the light dimmed, and conversely, the power of the undead attacking the order strengthened.

“Aaaagh!”

“Aaaah!”

Screams abounded, and the members of the order who had been protected by the sacred ground gradually began to be pushed back.

“Don’t retreat! The Saintess and the Flock brothers will soon defeat Envy and capture Wrath too! Hold on a little longer!”

Archbishop Epha encouraged those forming the barrier, and Archbishop Pelosi commanded them, but…

It wasn’t easy.

Until just now, they had weakened their enemies with the sacred ground and strengthened themselves, but now they could no longer expect that.

Who knew how long those green flames would last.

Despite having defeated tens of thousands of undead, more undead still came.

Their numbers had decreased significantly, with Death Knights and Liches now appearing on the front lines, but the members of the order were also nearing their limit.

“Kyaaaah—!!”

“Urgh! Saintess!”

On top of that, the Saintess and Flock, who had been facing the hydra.

The two were being hopelessly pushed back by the hydra, which had become faster and stronger.

And the same was true for Khan.

Crack…!

The white shield began to push back the arm wrapped in lightning.

Crash—!

And that shield deflected Khan’s arm.

The shield that had deflected his arm gathered the surrounding scattered bones to recreate a body once more.

“Transform, created from the Cradle of the Dead, is invincible as long as its core isn’t damaged.”

Crash—!

With those words, the shield was swung. Khan changed his gauntlet into an axe and responded.

The shield, which bore the imprint of Khan’s fist, was now torn apart by the lightning-wrapped axe.

Despite being scorched by lightning, the green energy animating Transform’s body withstood the black lightning.

As a result, Transform’s arm split wide open like the parting of the Red Sea, avoiding the attack and counterattacking.

Crash—!!

Ugh!

“Haha, how is it? This is a skill I used even at the cost of sacrificing my body to take her legacy from you. Originally, I couldn’t even control that hydra, but I was able to by giving up half my body.”

Crash—!!

This time, the shield was raised to strike Khan’s chin, jerking his head back.

“Eek…”

“Hmm?”

At that moment, a very small scream reached Envy’s ears.

Realizing someone was there, Envy wrapped his wheelchair around his body like armor.

And controlling that armor, he moved his hand to use a wide-area technique.

“Bonenado, Hand of the Dead.”

With those words, unpurified bones formed a whirlwind that engulfed Khan, and a giant skeletal hand was summoned above Khan.

Khan tried to escape by backing away, but…

Grab.

Transform caught Khan, not caring that its own body was being torn apart.

Mmmmm—!

In response, Khan struck the creature’s elbow with a stone pillar from the ground, using the power of Earth to bend its arm, and escaped from the Bonenado.

“Kyaaaah!!”

“Mmm!? (Mary!?)”

But Mary, who had been enduring the Bonenado with her shield deployed, was caught by the Hand of the Dead and fell into Envy’s grasp.

“Hmm… I don’t know what this is, but… is it important to you? If so…”

Crunch…

“Mmmmm—! (Mary—!)”

Crack—!

The sound of a shield shattering. Mary’s screams couldn’t be heard, but…

Crack—!

Along with the sound of something shattering inside me, my vision turned red.

Reason disappeared far away, and instinct took over my body.

Roooooar———!!!!

[The seal of Wrath is released.]