I burst through the window and then felt like I was floating in the air for a short while. I continued to fall, only slowly, and then landed on the roof of the corridor connecting the school building and the gymnasium. I ran along it and soon enough, I jumped down on the concrete ground and slammed the gym door open with a kick.
What I saw beyond the thick, wooden double doors made me click my tongue under my helm. There were lines of Draugrs. There weren’t just ten or twenty of them. With my luck, their numbers might even be in the triple digits.
And as soon as they caught sight of us, they formed proper ranks until there were walls of spears before us. It would seem they were done hiding their presence here.
“Layla!”
“[Flame Javelin]!”
Without delay, a spear of flames assaulted them. As the spear of flames hit and exploded on the center of the front-most row, I let go of my hold on Layla and held my sword. My right hand was tightly gripping the hilt while my left was near the guard. I then lowered my hips and assumed a low stance.
This isn’t the time to be holding back! I have to rush them as quickly as I can!!
And so, I activated Magic Power Discharge. A storm of magic power surged out of my body. It kicked up some dust but I immediately directed the raging storm at a concentrated point behind me, pushing me forward. Like that, I charged into the enemy lines with the fastest speed I could achieve.
I slashed down every enemy in my way, or rather, in my range of fire. As soon as the tip of my sword touched their decaying bodies, they exploded, with some bits reaching all the way up to the ceiling. There was also a shock wave produced from my swing, which was enough to shatter the glass windows and cause debris to fall in the first and second floors.
My charge ended at the center of the gymnasium. To cap it off, I swung downward with great force and made a crater.
Debris fell soon and I swung my sword to fend them off. As I did so though, I checked my surroundings. I had eliminated about 30 of them. Including the ones that Layla burned, our kill count was about 40. There were about 60 of them left. We were pressed for time, but there were still so many of them. Yet, it wasn’t like I could ignore them. I had to take them down, quickly.
“Laylaaa!”
“[Oh, Earth]!”
Layla tapped the earth with her staff. In the next moment, an earthen dragon with 3 heads—each with a neck as thick as a log—burst from the ground of pathway between the school building and the gymnasium. It then smashed the gymnasium’s walls and rushed inside.
It mowed down the enemies on the right side, so I focused my attention on the other. With my body clad in magic power, I halved 3 Draugrs in one swing. I then grabbed the spear of a Draugr that tried literally to cut in, and drove a knee into its belly. I unleashed some magic power at the same time, creating a hole at its torso.
I let go of the spear and dashed again. I slashed left and right, turning sharply every few meters so that I could target another group.
A few seconds later, I felt the floor beneath my left hand and the soles of both of my feet become scorching hot as I slid along, almost like it was melting. As I slowed down and looked around, I found that there were only 10 Draugrs remaining.
“Layla, you take care of the rest!”
“Yes!”
My destination was the door to the side of the gym’s stage. If I wasn’t mistaken, beyond that door was a gently sloping space where the folding chairs were kept. That space, at least some part of it, was what could be described as underground.
If so…!
I kicked the door open and was assaulted all at once by a foul stench of decay. I had thought my sense of smell had gone numb as early as when I was in the school building, but this stench, it felt like it might destroy my nose completely.
“Gah, ghh…!”
In a turn of events that I could perhaps describe as predictable, the bare concrete that should be seen in the floor and walls was replaced by a path that looked like it was dug or carved out of a rock wall. The folding chairs, the vaulting boxes, and whatever else that should have been in the storage space were nowhere to be seen.
Moreover, even someone like me could sense how much magic power was in here. This place was affected by the effects of the dungeon transformation process vastly so much more than anywhere else in the whole school.
A mage of some type must have been gathering the dungeon’s magic power here. Which would explain why the dungeon haven’t expanded much aboveground.
I had my sword at the ready and charged. I was leaving all precautions against surprise attacks up to my Magic Eye, yet no such thing came. Instead, bluish-white flames lit up on both my left and right, almost like I was being welcomed in. I found that ominous, of course, but I made no effort to slow down.
I had ran for what seemed to be only a few seconds over a few meters, yet I found myself struggling for air with each additional meter. My instincts were telling me that whatever creature lied ahead was truly frightening. Actually…this feeling was kind of like those times I faced off against that giant cow and that red-hot dragon.
Soon enough, I arrived at a long, rectangular room. On the walls, there were rows of flames lighting up the place. There were 2 of such rows: one at my eye level and another about 2 meters above it. We were supposedly in an underground environment, yet I could see clearly in here. Well, my vision was clear, but it was under an eerie shade.
Anyway, at the back of the room was something that looked like an altar. And on it were 5 corpses, each with a staff in their hands. They were steadfast and unbothered as they recited some inhuman chant.
Their robes, black as dusk, were decorated by gold and red gems. And peeking through their hoods and sleeves were bare bones. Some red light shone from within their dark eye sockets, and those lights were reflected eerily by the golden staves they held.
Each of these were called an Elder Lich. An Elder Lich was a higher-ranking variant of Liches. It had a rank of C+.
Despite the danger they posed, I couldn’t afford to keep my focus on them. I would have to observe them through my peripheral vision, much like the background.
For there was a threat standing in the middle of the room requiring me to do so.
Unconsciously, I pointed the tip of my blade toward the threat. I also gulped down so hard that I could hear it.
The threat had a muscular physique and stood at about two and a half meters tall. However, the dark-green complexion of its exposed limbs was anything but healthy. It was covered from its head to its knees by a rag-like robe. It held a sword in each hand, though each one was pointing downward rather limply.
And then, the backside of the rag-like robe gently rose up. Two additional arms pushed up from within the robe, as though it was trying to flaunt. These unusually long arms seemed to grow from the back portion of its shoulder blades. One of the extra hands held a spear while the other held an axe.
The reveal of the arms must have made the hood slip down to its shoulder, for its face was now exposed. It had 4 cloudy eyes that reflected nothing. It had a strangely developed jaw that protruded forward. It had no lips, and the teeth that were exposed would perhaps better be described as fangs. It also had no hair on the top of its head. So, while it had a lot of similarities with humans, it also was far from being one. It truly was more like a [demon].
While it wasn’t as well-spread, there were still legends about Draugrs where many of them combined to make a gigantic individual. Unfortunately, what used to be fairy tales thought of in ancient times were nowadays nothing less than ‘eyewitness reports of a monster that appeared in past’.
Which means, yeah, monsters that controlled corpses and corpse monsters with strong bodies that combined to get stronger, people in Northern Europe in ancient times probably saw those.
My gaze met with the demon’s, its eyes still reflecting nothing.
The one to move first…was me. Considering it was a higher-ranking Draugr, I deemed that it would be to my disadvantage if I let it get the initiative. At least, that was the excuse I used to justify the fear I felt as I slashed at the monster.
Propelled forward by my Magic Power Discharge, I crushed the bare ground as I stepped on it. Shooting out at over 200 kilometers per hour, I swung my zweihander with a force comparable to that of heavy machinery. Normally, a living creature on the receiving end of such a swing would be turned into nothing more than minced meat, but…
“…!”
With nothing more than a roaring sound and a shock wave, my swing was stopped head-on. The blade I swung from above to split the monster’s skull open was completely blocked by four weapons crossed in pairs.
Both our feet smashed the ground and sank into it. But in the next moment, my feet left the ground.
There was just such a large difference between our weights. Including my armor, I weighed about 200 kilograms, but the large and oddly dense demon before me was likely triple that. And the moment that weight difference became apparent, my Magic Eye activated to show me a vision of my leg being struck by the monster’s leg.
So, while drawing back my sword, I Discharged some magic power to boost me backward. I then bent my left leg as the enemy’s kick approached. Soon enough, my shin, covered by my boot, clashed against the demon’s whip-like leg.
I heard a creaking sound and I knew it was from my bones. I then soared through the air as though I was shot out of cannon. After bouncing once on the ground, my back was slammed against a wall.
“Kaa, aa…!?”
I felt all air being forced out of my lungs, and my vision flickered. However, in response to my Magic Eye’s vision of my impending doom, my reflex kicked in to get me to roll diagonally forward.
As I felt a horizontal line be engraved on the rock surface, I jumped away to put more distance between us.
The monster was both too quick and too strong. This kind of performance was clearly not normal. And if so, the cause for it was just as clear. The Elder Liches in the edge of my vision, it made sense to me that they were somehow enhancing the demon Draugr’s combat capabilities. So, if my theory was correct, then taking care of them first seemed to be the right course of action.
“Ghh!?”
Responding again to the vision given by my Magic Eye, I turned around and swung my sword. I managed to deflect an incoming spear, but that didn’t help with the swords coming from both left and right, almost like scissors looking to cut my head off.
Despite still feeling the impact from deflecting the spear, I threw my body backwards. And as I felt something hit the surface of my helm—and have sparks fly from it—I thrust my left hand behind me and used Magic Power Discharge to do a high-speed backflip. I landed on my knee and looked forward, but as soon as I did, a horizontally-swung axe came at me.
The attacks were coming at me without even giving me time to catch my breath. The four arms made it seem like I was facing four different warriors who had perfect coordination with one another.
While I was still reeling from having deflected the axe with the guard of my sword, the demon Draugr brought down its two swords upon me. I blocked those blows with the blade of my zweihander. As I boosted my swing through Magic Power Discharge, I lifted my sword up and deflected those blows too. But those weapons were immediately replaced by the axe, this time swinging down toward the crown of my head.
My Magic Eye foresaw it, so I was able to dodge beneath the axe and even slipped to the Draugr’s side. I quickly turned around and swung my sword at its defenseless back. It seemed defenseless at least. However, without so much as turning to face me, the Draugr intercepted my attack with its spear.
The spearhead and my sword blade clashed, producing a high-pitched sound and causing some sparks to fly. However, tearing through the lingering effects was a spinning slash attack from the two swords. I had a vision of both my arms being taken from me, so I promptly retreated.
But the Draugr still wouldn’t let up. It closed in right away and swung its axe down at me again. The edge of the axe gleamed dully, the old bloodstains seemingly declaring that the weapon had never let any criminal escape it from the beheading block.
“OOOOOooo!!”
Not that I would take that lying down, of course. I kicked the demon on its side, thus shifting the attack off course. I employed Magic Power Discharge too, hoping to send the Draugr flying, but my kick didn’t seem to work that well. It stumbled for a few steps, but then turned around as though nothing happened, just staring at me with its inhuman eyes.
…no, there’s no way that that didn’t hurt it. That had to have done something.
I was sure that I smashed its flesh, broke its rib cage, and inflicted damage onto its internal organs. I was sure of that, yet the thing was standing there as though my kick did nothing. I might not have a so-called soldier’s insight, but my enhanced eyesight made me fully confident of my assessment. And yet, there was still no visible change.
…for both to be true, my guess was that the Elder Liches somehow healed the Draugr. Which would make them a truly major pain in the neck.
In fact, even now, I could see the Elder Liches in the edge of my vision uttering some language I didn’t know. To a normal human, that might have sounded as nothing more than the unpleasant noise of bones hitting bones, but considering that these were undead mages, it made sense that they not only had spells under their repertoire that mended the undead but also specialized in it.
“Haa, fuuuu…..”
I tried to catch my breath under my helm. However, my heart still beat like crazy. It was so loud that my ears were even ringing.
I thought about escaping, but that seemed impossible. The moment I imagined doing so, I saw a vision of a spear and an axe digging deep into my body as soon as I stepped foot into the passageway.
But then, the question remained: what should I do? Should I ignore the demon Draugr and rush the Liches? That was impossible too. If I were to turn my back on it and fail to focus on blocking its attacks, I would be vulnerable to its weapons. Perhaps, I would even soon be much like it: just another of the dead.
I didn’t have enough options. Charging in by ourselves was proving to have been too reckless. And yet, had we not rushed here, the Draugrs in the gymnasium could have been used to make a second or maybe even third of these demonic Draugrs. The mere thought of it was enough to make me shudder.
I felt the sweat that had built up even under my gauntlet. This situation was bad enough without my grip loosening, so I tightened and readjusted my hold on my sword. For some reason, maybe because it saw what I was doing, the Draugr also readjusted its grip on its weapons.
At this point, my backup arrived.
“Master!”
Of course, it was none other than the magic user I most relied upon. Hearing her voice from behind, I raised my sword and took a stance.
Time for round 2! I’ll chop that head off in one swing!
“Layla, the enemy mages!”
“[Oh, Earth]!”
Swords made of rock emerged from the wall right after she said so, all pointed at the skeletal mages. There was a whole row of them in the blink of the eye, and in the next moment, the lusterless blades rushed the enemies much like seabirds swarming around fish.
Unfortunately, each of those blades were stopped by a wall of black light. That otherwordly thing was erected by the undead mages. Coupled with their Resistance stats, Layla’s magic simply dissolved before them.
“…! Fall back!”
Another vision came to me, so I called out to her whilst running toward her.
At almost the same time Layla jumped back, I slid in to take her place. But in the next moment, the demon Draugr was already upon me, its swords, spear, and axe all coming toward me. I used Magic Power Discharge to give my body a boost and then forced through a parry.
“[Oh, Earth]!”
As soon as I heard Layla shout so, the space above the altar where the Elder Liches were began to sparkle with magical light. And then, the ceiling itself came crashing down on them. However, even that was defended against. This time, the Liches did so by calling forth skeletal arms—each one about as thick as a log—from beneath their feet and had those arms link up to form a roof against the crashing ceiling.
Meanwhile, I swung my sword against the monster before me, but I was quickly pushed back.
What the heck, even with Layla added into the mix, I still can’t defeat them…!?
Our numbers wasn’t enough. Our power wasn’t enough. But above all, I wasn’t enough.
I could supplement my strength and speed with my Magic Power Discharge. And I could keep track of the enemies’ movement with my enhanced vision. I could even get a glimpse of the future.
Despite all that though, my mind couldn’t keep up with how fast my body was going; my body exerted so much power that I could launch myself high up in the air; and with the incessant warnings of my death, the line that separated what was real and what were my visions became incredibly blurred.
I once again deflected an attack from the two swords, but it came at the cost of a crack in my sword. I then sidestepped a spear attack, but not before my shoulder got gouged by it. I managed to block the axe attack, but an odd sound came from my arms as a result.
It was a relentless barrage of slashing, piercing, and even striking attacks. I was taking more damage than what my enhanced regeneration could handle.
This was very different from my fight with the Minotaur and that Fire Drake. This Draugr was only a little bit taller than the average person, plus it wielded multiple weapons. Even a whole squad fighting side by side would find this to be a difficult enemy. The combat speed required here far surpassed what was required for the Minotaur and the Fire Drake fights.
Unlike those powerful foes, this enemy was smaller. It was closer to my own size. Yet, here I was, being overwhelmed.
I wasn’t able to make use of my body’s full potential. More than anything else, that was the reason for me to be on the losing end.
Receiving that heavy blow, my sword was again cracked and chipped. Layla recognized the disadvantage I was in and erected layers of earthen walls between me and the Draugr. But the undead warrior easily tore down those walls with its axe and promptly chased after me.
I deflected its swords, dodged its spear, and then had my arms be flung upward by an axe swing. I then immediately saw a vision: a spear would be thrust and pierce my heart.
Unlike other times I saw a vision though, nothing I could do would make it in time. Not swinging my sword down in a counter, not pulling the grip back so I could block, not even hurling my body aside to dodge.
I was too slow to act. Too slow to choose how act. And when I finally moved to swing down my sword and have it be accelerated by Magic Power Discharge, that as well was too late.
So, much like in the vision, the spearhead dug into my surcoat, my chain mail, and eventually my chest. As I watched it unfold in a strange, frame-dropping kind of slow-motion…
“I won’t let you die, never!”
I felt like I heard her voice.
“Huh?”
The spear had definitely, undoubtedly pierced my chest, yet no blood flowed from it. Fragments of my surcoat and chain mail flew off, but nothing else.
Almost by reflex, I continued swinging down my sword. For some reason the Draugr was slow in reacting. And so, I managed to cut down both arms on the demon Draugr’s left side.
But as the decaying flesh and the weapons it held fell to the ground, I heard a different sound. It was the sound of a wooden stick hitting the stone ground.
“Ahh, AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!”
It was more through instinct, but I nonetheless understood what just happened.
Someone had protected me. At the cost of her own life.
Although I should have been overcome with an impossible to ignore sense of loss, my body kept on moving as though something had possessed me. As I glared the Draugr in the eye, I raised my sword. Meanwhile, the enemy drew back its spear and got ready to swing its remaining rusty sword.
It was then that I moved forward and slipped inside its arm’s length. Almost like a dragon trying to devour another, I circled around to its armless left side and swung my sword with all my might at the base of its neck. I managed to get my blade in, but I was immediately attacked by the spear aiming for my head.
Sparks flew as it made contact with my helmet. It hurt, enough to make me think my neck was broken. Despite the pain, I made sure to keep my still-open left-side vision on the undead. I put more weight on my sword and also boosted it with Magic Power Discharge.
The enemy’s sword was also biting into my side, but even then, my rage wasn’t abating. With a swordsmanship so accurate, so mechanical that it reminded me of the way she moved, I dug my sword deeper and deeper into the demon.
“OOOOOOHHH!!!”
With a beastial roar, I cleaved the monster from its neck to its side. There was no getting back up from that, even for an undead warrior. I hoped so, at least.
At that point, my zweihander had also reached its limit and broke around the ricasso part. I didn’t pay any mind though and charged on ahead. This fight wasn’t over yet, after all.
To avenge her(for you to survive), I(you) must carry on.
As such, I drew out my dagger and pointed it at one of the Elder Liches. Likely because I had cut down the demon Draugr, the Elder Liches had stopped doing support magic and shifted to summoning skeletal soldiers to act as their protectors.
They were too late in doing so though. I released the magic power swirling around my feet in time with my leap forward the necromancer. I also gave my arms a boost so I could instantly dispatch all the enemies in my way. Before I could get to the necromancer though, a black wall appeared before me.
Yeah, but so what?
Magic power burst from my right elbow and the tip of my dagger, allowing me to tear down the black wall in one blow.
My movement was sharper than ever before and my flow of magic power was the most optimized it has ever been. It was almost like there was somebody adjusting stuff inside me.
With the black wall down, the Elder Liches took a step back. But before it could do anything else, I used my left hand to smash the face of one of them. I then spun around with my blade as though I was in some sort of dance, cutting down the moving corpses in a flash.
The whole battle felt as long as a lifetime, but the end of it was all too quick and too anticlimactic. It felt like one wrong move would cost me everything, but just like that, it was over. I could tell right away that the magic power that had gathered in this place was dissipating alongside the defeat of the demon Draugr and the Elder Liches.
The dungeon overflow should subside now too.
“Ha, haaa…”
I had let go of my dagger. Blood was flowing from the wound I got when my helmet got struck through, and down the corner of my eye.
I turned to the spot where she last was. But all that was left there were her staff and wand. Those were the only signs that anybody was even there.
“Lay, la…”
I fell to my knees.
My wounds and any injury in my body were already in the process of healing. However, for all my healing abilities, it did nothing to soothe the pain of losing her.
She was gone. No one could be more sure of that fact than me. That didn’t mean I could accept it though.
“Layla…lay…la…”
She was dead. I had let her die. She died in my place.
I didn’t feel like I had any strength left in me to stand back up. And if so, I thought, it would be better if I just stayed like this…
<<Master. Master.>>
Ahh, it’s like I can still her voice. Like she’s just whispering in my ear. But even if I turn to look, I know Layla won’t be there.
<<Can you hear me? I’m speaking directly to your mind right now.>>
Am I just hallucinating? But her voice is awfully clear to be a hallucination though…
<<My body’s reconstruction will take some time, so I’m afraid this is the only way for us to communicate for now. Are you alright?>>
“Ahh, Layla…are you reaching out to me from the underworld…?”
<<No. If you will recall, I’m a Guardian Spirit. And as one, I can’t really truly die even if my body sustains fatal damage. I will simply return inside of you, Master, and after some time has passed, I will be resurrected.>>
“…you did say you can do that, didn’t you!?”
I stood back up all at once. I had genuinely forgotten that detail! I might know about that, sure, but the way my mind was at the moment, there was little chance I would remember that all by myself.
Look, the important thing here was that I could eventually see Layla again!!
“Layla! Are you safe? Are you unhurt!?”
<<Unhurt? I don—actually, yes, I am fine. In maybe 3 hours’ time, I will be able to materialize again.>>
“Got it. Then. Layla!”
<<Yes?>>
“Be ready for a mean scolding later, you hear!?”
<<Have I done something?>>
I could obviously see how her decision to sacrifice herself was the logically correct course of action, but this wasn’t about logic. I was talking about the emotional aspect of her decision.
After I clumsily sheathed my dagger, I picked up the staff and wand that she dropped and put those into my Item Bag. I also found another staff in this gym storeroom—which by the way, had reverted to its original appearance before I realized it.
My guess was that this shiny staff was the Item Drop of an Elder Lich. Either way, I took it as compensation for all that trouble.
<<Ahm, Master. I don’t know why you seem so angry, but for now, I think it’s better to reunite with Yukine and Reinforce. We need not hurry, especially as I think it’s unlikely that something else will happen, but the possibility of us meeting any surviving hostiles aren’t zero.>>
“…fine. Giving you a scolding might be overdoing it, but a debriefing later sounds about right.”
As I calmed emotions down a bit, I worked on repairing my helmet with my magic power.
To begin with, one reason for her to use that move was my own lack of ability. If I were just stronger, she wouldn’t have had to sacrifice herself. I knew I mustn’t avert my eyes from that fact.
This time… actually, this time too, I managed to survive due to some luck. But it wasn’t like miracles like this would keep happening forever. I needed to get stronger. So that she would never again need to use that move.
“Anyway…let’s make sure the idiots behind this mess get their just deserts.”
I was so tired, so I was basically dragging my feet across the busted up floor as I left the gym. And when I was outside, I looked up at the rear of the school building. It might be harsh of me, but at first glance, the school building made me think it was some kind of ruin.
There were more, so much more broken windows than intact ones. The walls had so much and so long lines of cracks. Here and there I could spot blood splatters. It probably had more impact than a poorly constructed haunted building. Well, it was actually one considering all the undead, so that impression was probably only natural.
But more importantly, beyond the armored Orcs that were shouting triumphantly on the school building’s rooftop, I could see the sky. It was clear, almost mockingly so. White clouds were drifting by, and the summer sun was shining down unobstructed.
Looking at that, it hit me that the rampage of those corpses were really at an end. Turning toward the direction of the sun, which had risen high in the sky without my notice, I let out a deep sigh.
“I’m so tired…”
Of all the times I had been caught up in a dungeon overflow, this was probably the most intense. As I thought to myself that I never wanted to do this kind of thing ever again, I started moving my leaden legs.
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[Spirit’s Devotion]: a Superpower that Guardian Spirits had, which allowed them to take on the injury that their master would otherwise receive. This effect isn’t activated automatically—the Guardian Spirit has sole discretion over its activation—but when the Guardian Spirit do choose to do so, it is possible for them to shoulder whatever level of injury.
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