episode_0049

Yeah. It certainly was a feat worth boasting about.

Look at the results achieved by the decoy tactics using fake abyssal priests and exploiting the ignorance of adventurers, all orchestrated by Bluffing.

Most of the priests had their throats cut in the initial surprise attack, leaving them desolately slain.

Scattered about, tending to the injured adventurers, they were caught off guard and unable to even respond to the sudden betrayal.

“Don’t you dare come near me! I’ll kill you!”

Amidst the chaotic melee where it was impossible to distinguish friend from foe, the adventurers, without discrimination, suffered devastating losses.

“What? Kill? You’re the traitor! You’re the one who betrayed us!”

“That’s nonsense, coming from you—”

“Or else cry! Cry to prove your innocence!”

“What are you saying, you crazy bastard!”

Even those who managed to survive were engulfed in panic, pointing their swords at each other, shouting accusations.

“For heaven’s sake, what a ridiculous situation…!”

The ruins turned into a sea of blood in an instant. Those left were no more than a handful.

It was a catastrophe so severe that it rendered the recent victory meaningless.

“Do you hear that? The dogs cornered in fear are howling. Trembling with fear, barking wildly. Isn’t it amusing just to listen?”

The villain, the abyssal priest Hug Kaspal, taunted the collapsed adventurers and priests, relentlessly sending forth grayish orbs amidst the chaos.

“Proudly boasting as if—!”

I struggled, zigzagging to evade his magic, desperately attempting to close the distance.

A fight against a mage is a fight for distance. Victory or defeat hinged on whether I could get within striking distance of the sword.

However, this was by no means an easy task. Against an abyssal priest who had transcended the limits of a mere mage, unlike an ordinary sorcerer.

“Ugh…!”

Throwing myself forward, I rolled on the ground to avoid the exploding spell aimed at my head, then sprang up, shaking off the grip of death.

Raising my head to glare at him, once again, clusters of pale white bombs rained down.

Five, seven, nine, eleven explosions.

The thunderous roar echoed endlessly.

The onslaught showed no sign of abating.

The number of spells cast by the Abyss Priest varies according to the amount of sacrifice offered.

It seemed like the learned mages could understand why Abyss worshipers engaged in such fanatical behavior.

With no need to rely on spellbooks, their hands were free, and the frequency of spellcasting and the potency of available magic increased beyond their own capabilities.

To those mages who felt limited by their own abilities, the fall into an Abyss Priest seemed as sweet as an oasis in the desert.

“Every time I face such people, I can’t help but be amazed. How ridiculous the actions of the ignorant are.”

Perhaps this old man was no different.

Having reached an age where death was imminent and seeing no hope of reaching greater heights, he despaired and threw himself into the Abyss.

What a foolish thing to do.

“Is that the path chosen with your precious intellect, spending a lifetime as a fugitive trembling in fear? Isn’t that just dementia?”

Chasing after the Abyss Priests wreaking havoc with magic, he spat out contempt mixed with ridicule.

“The fact that you lured the paladins here and caused division is because you feared them, didn’t you? If the paladins had remained, someone like you would have been caught and killed in no time!”

Watching the braggart who had created a field of corpses, it seemed necessary to say something to ease the mind.

“Hmm, sharp wit… Yes, they may be foolish, but they are fearsome beings.”

The Abyss Priest nodded readily, raising his left arm behind his shoulder.

“It’s not even easy to buy time with these nuisances.”

And then.

“Ahhhh….”

A horde of undead emerged from behind him.

Skull-faced monsters, with their skulls fully exposed, advanced in front of the Abyss Priest, blocking my path.

“No, endless undead…”

I glared at the newly arrived revenants with a contorted face.

The undead horde that had appeared didn’t seem to be of a considerable number, as if it were their last resort left by the Abyss Priest. At most, there were about twenty of them.

Although the undead at the forefront seemed somewhat formidable, if our forces were at full strength, we could have easily pushed them back and still had numbers left.

…It might be somewhat challenging now that I’m the only one fighting.

“However, it seems like this should be enough to deal with you, miss. Don’t bother me anymore; just dance with these things to your heart’s content.”

“Ugh…!”

The undead horde approached me with eyes filled with malice, obscuring the Abyss Priest from my sight.

“You’re just showing off, but in the end, are you going to hide behind the undead again?”

“I told you. My body is too old for battle.”

Only a voice responded to my words.

“If you’re old, you should just go lie in a coffin.”

I pulled my greatsword to my side, aiming at the lead of the undead horde.

“Your parents, your children—they’ve already done so. Why won’t you?”

In my hometown, such stale taunts were as good as casual greetings.

“Don’t endure pitifully just because you’re old. Go lie in a coffin and visit your family!”

“…There’s no order in lying in a coffin. Death doesn’t discriminate by age.”

Perhaps it was an effective taunt in this world, as Hugo’s response was filled with clear displeasure.

“Still, you don’t need to worry about lying in a coffin, miss. Even in death, you’ll walk for a long time. You should thank me.”

As he spoke, the approaching undead horde suddenly increased their speed and charged towards me.

“Gelda! Amy! Friede! Are you still far away?!”

I charged towards the undead horde, shouting my party members’ names loudly.

“What are you doing? Why haven’t you joined us yet?” I asked, frustrated.

“Are you calling for your comrades? Do you think the lady still has companions?”

“She does.”

Without hesitation, I swung my unsheathed greatsword.

I couldn’t turn around to check on their condition, but I believed they would be safe anyway.

“Why don’t you go and check? They might already be dead.”

The Abyss Priest taunted me with a sneer.

“Like your parents?”

I turned halfway, dodging the axe swung by the ghoul’s revenant, and taunted back in the same mocking tone.

It was a mockery so close to the truth.

A cat trapped in a box cannot be known to be alive or dead until it is taken out, but the existence of this guy’s parents could be plainly known without opening the lid.

One cannot act like an orphan if they are not truly one.

“….”

Seemingly having no retort, he bit down on his lips that had been good at mocking.

A satisfying response. It was almost regrettable that his face was obscured by the undead horde.

◆◆

The hasty provocation did have its effect, albeit only providing me with a small satisfaction within my mind. My situation remained unchanged.

Of course. Playing with words and killing enemies is a privilege reserved for spellcasters. As a warrior, to kill an enemy, I had to wield a sword, not a tongue.

“Haaah!”

Thus, I ceased the conversation with the Abyss Priest and unleashed my battle cry, engaging in a melee with the undead horde.

There was never any room to spare attention for conversation.

To fight fifteen enemies alone, I had to concentrate all my mind and senses on combat, reducing their numbers in the most efficient way possible.

“Grrraaah!”

Sharpening my nerves to anticipate incoming spells, I constantly dodged the swinging axe of the ghoul’s revenant.

“Hah!”

Whenever there was an opening to swing my sword, I cut and thrust at the other revenants, focusing on weakening the weaker ones first. That was the rule of melee combat.

Targeting the ghoul’s revenant was something to be postponed until the end.

“Grrraaah!”

“Don’t falter!”

Parrying spear strikes with my armor and countering with my sword, I shattered rotten shinbones with kicks and crushed skulls with my fists.

After all the battles and training, did I finally start to catch up with the strength of Brünhilde? My body moved better than expected.

By the time I had taken down about seven of them,

“Hey, Hilde! Sorry for being late…!”

Freida, who had finally joined us, swiftly took down two Revenants with a single strike and leaped to my side.

“I’m sorry. We were a little late because we had to safely get Amy out.”

“Sorry for being late. Suddenly we were swinging swords at each other, and I couldn’t find a way out on my own.”

Gerda and Amy also approached me after taking down one Revenant each.

I wondered why they were so late, but it seems they were delayed in rescuing Amy, who was about to be overwhelmed in the melee.

Well, with fellow adventurers attacking each other fiercely, it wouldn’t have been easy for Gerda and Freida to break through.

“Forget the apologies, just take care of these for now! I’ll deal with the Abyss Priest…!”

I passed the remaining undead to my party members and quickly scanned the surroundings to find the trail of the Abyss Priest.

The remaining Revenants consisted of one large one and three smaller ones. After taking down this many, the old man couldn’t hide his body anymore…

“What? Where did that guy go?”

…He could hide his body.

I quickly turned my head to look around, but all I could see were fallen bodies and trees. The robed old man was nowhere to be found.

“Did he escape…?”

“No! Look over there!”

Gerda, who had split open the head of a Revenant with her sword, pointed towards the ruins with her left hand.

“No, when did he get over there…!”

That’s right.

Hugo Casval, the Abyss Priest, had somehow reached the vicinity of the ruins while I was fighting the Revenant horde.

No wonder no spells came flying at me; he must have been running towards the ruins, covering my eyes from the undead…!

Instead of heading straight for the front of the ruins, he seemed to have veered off to the side rather than taking a direct path to avoid the group coming towards me.

“What is he trying to do now…!”

As I urgently turned my body to run towards the ruins,

“Mors!”

[Before the wall of ruins, an elderly man reached out his right hand over a puddle of blood that had soaked the ground and shouted.]

Death does not come twice.

“We cast aside. It does not come again.”

We will abandon our hearts to reach eternity.

“The heart will reach into eternity!”

The incantation of the sorcerers who had mastered the art, as Amy had told me.

The two uttered sentences, like spitting out blood, turned into a spell imbued with immense power and reverberated.

And then.

Gurgle gurgle gurgle…!

In the next moment, blood overflowing throughout the ruins surged and bubbled, stirring up commotion.