༺ Familiar Gaze ༻
As I fell from the sky, I was momentarily lost in thought.
This damned Ruellyn.
He had assured me that everything would be fine for a few months, but did this look like a fine situation?
Thinking about it now, he only said Ella would be okay, he never said anything about the undead not going wild at the border.
This is why it’s hard to trust a mage’s words. They always tend to leave out one or two crucial details.
Enough with the distractions, it was time to focus on the situation on the ground.
An enormous horde of undead was attacking the city. The city walls had held up so far, but how much longer could they last against the undead army equipped with siege weapons?
Based on past experience, it was unlikely to hold up beyond the day. This was the case even though the city of Shubaltsheim had many capable fighters befitting its name as the city of adventurers.
The enemy was innumerable and never tired, unlike humans who no matter how strong, could not fight all day. It was fortunate in misfortune that I arrived before the city fell.
Whether the swarm of undead on the ground noticed me falling from the sky or not, I could see the Corpse Cannon on the non-operational airship turning towards me.
Boom! Bang-!
In an instant, about ten shells were flying through the air. Most of them would have missed if I’d stayed still, but I knew a few would hit me directly.
I hesitated whether to draw my spear, but in the end, I refrained. I’d already attracted quite some attention by jumping off the deck. Ajetus would stand out too much in front of the students who were watching.
Instead, I chose a different method.
Without hesitation, I reached out towards the incoming shells.
The shells were incredibly hard, made up of firm bone and rock-like flesh, and almost the size of a human body because they were made by tightly compressing a corpse. If they hit correctly, they had enough power to crumple even an armored knight.
Instead of blocking it head-on, I lightly placed my hand on its side. Then, with a slight push while spinning my body in the air, the shell easily changed its course and flew back in the direction it came from, at a speed far greater than when it was fired.
Fwoosh-! Crash!!
Three Corpse Cannons that were hit directly by their own shells collapsed in an instant.
Boom! Bang-!
The undead horde kept shooting shells without tiring, and I kept sending them back into the air using the “Fourfold Skyrending Strike” and “Harmonious Merge Blossom” techniques.
After repeating this a few times, more than a dozen Corpse Cannons were stopped. That was close to half of them.
It would have been quite a shock and cause for fear for a regular army, but the undead horde neither had emotions to feel such a thing nor the reason to comprehend it.
However, seeming to have recognized that their shells were ineffective, they stopped firing the Corpse Cannons.
Looks like my fun with this will be limited from now on.
In the air, I forcefully moved my arms and legs, propelling myself forward. Then, I descended like a projectile toward the area where the most undead were gathered. The faster I fell, the more I could feel the chilly wind rushing towards me from all sides.
I wrapped myself in the wind, spinning in circles as I fell. Just before hitting the ground, I flipped my body, which was falling headfirst, 180 degrees, and crashed feet first into the ground.
Crash―!!!
A massive shockwave shook the ground within a radius of tens of meters, sweeping away all the surrounding undead.
The ground split in all directions as if there was an earthquake, and dust filled the air like a dense fog.
The battlefield surroundings fell eerily silent due to the sudden, massive explosion.
The undead, unsure whether the sudden explosion was from a friend or foe.
And the horde of undead, quietly waiting for the dust to settle.
“Phew….”
Slowly, I rose from the center of the deep crater.
Indeed, having fallen from that height without using magic and with just my bare body, it was natural that my joints here and there were creaking and protesting in pain.
But the pain was a sign that my body was recovering. After a few deep breaths, my legs were fine again, and I pushed against the ground.
I slapped the head of the first zombie that came into view through the dust. Maybe I used too much force because the rotten head of the zombie flew off in one piece.
The sound of gurgling from rotten vocal cords, the clattering of stark white jawbones filled the surroundings.
“Grrrr-!”
“Clack! Clack!”
I dusted off the rotten blood on my fist and said in a low voice,
“Noisy bastards. Come at me.”
Starting with those words, I ripped, crushed, and burst every undead that rushed at me.
Just like the war several years ago, everything in my sight was an enemy, so there was no need for differentiation.
I advanced without any hindrance. Swinging my arm, bending my knee, and with each step I took, I shoved, slammed, and slapped the undead, and a mechanical slaughter ensued.
There was no need to draw a spear. They were just common low-ranking undead. Occasionally, I saw intermediate undead like ghouls or skeleton warriors, but they were just sturdier zombies and skeletons, and they died fairly under my fist.
However, no matter how many of these things you kill, it’s useless.
Based on my experience, there surely is one. A commander-class entity commanding such a large force.
The most annoying thing about the undead is that they act in groups, but if you catch the commander, these creatures are just a large mob. And typically, the commander is well-protected in the safest center.
While searching for a target with such thoughts in mind, I noticed a conspicuous figure.
A knight ostentatiously riding a horse and clad in armor, overseeing the battlefield.
It was a high-ranking undead, a Death Knight.
The Death Knight, with his sword acting as if it were a baton, commanded in the demon’s tongue and pointed the tip of his sword towards me.
“Kill him-!”
At his command, the undead corps charged all at once. The problem was that specters and ghosts, which are difficult to deal with without magic, were also coming in droves from wherever they were hiding.
Faced with the onslaught, I was momentarily lost in thought. With my dark mana unusable, should I draw my spear, or should I ignore the horde and quickly retreat to target only the commander?
At that moment, suddenly a bolt of lightning struck from the sky.
Crash!!
“Kiiyaaah―!!”
The lightning struck the specter accurately. The specter, hit by the lightning, disintegrated, leaving only a handful of ash.
That was just the beginning. Soon, thunder roared in the dry sky, and bolts of lightning poured down all around.
Crash! Crash!!
As the lightning rained down, it precisely struck the specters and ghosts that were hovering nearby. As far as I knew, there was only one person who could do something like this now.
When I looked up, as expected, I could see Oznia standing on the deck of the airship.
She was emitting violet currents from her whole body, spewing out lightning. The casting speed and accuracy of her relentless attacks were impressive, even to me.
“Instructor Eon!”
Next to such an Oznia, Titania raised both of her hands. Of course, she wasn’t trying to greet calmly in this situation.
A cluster of green light brilliantly shone from her hands. At the same time, the ground rose by itself where the Death Knight was standing.
Heeek!!
“Cough-!”
Caught off guard by the sudden movement of the ground, the ghost horse raised its forelegs in surprise, and the Death Knight, though bewildered, gripped the reins hard to avoid falling off the horse.
That was an opportunity not to be missed.
I put strength into my legs and kicked the ground with all my might. The surrounding scenery sped past dizzyingly fast.
The only thing visible in front of my eyes was the Death Knight’s dark skull.
Crack!!
My blood-soaked fist tore through the air and struck the Death Knight’s face. The sturdy magical helmet crumpled like a scrap of paper, and the skull inside was shattered into small pieces.
The Death Knight, who had been commanding tens of thousands of undead, thus lost his head and toppled powerlessly from his horse. That was the end.
“Grrr…!”
“Scatter! Scatter!”
The undead corps, having lost their commander, halted their offensive and began to retreat from the outskirts of the city.
As the undead army began their retreat, a huge cheer erupted from the city, which had barely withstood the attack, and could be heard all the way here.
“Wooooah―!!!”
“We’re alive! We’re still alive!!”
“He’s a hero! A hero who came to save us!”
“Thank you! Thank you!!”
The cheer filling the city was made up of countless people’s voices, but my sharp hearing picked out a few voices among them. They were voices steeped in the relief of those who had barely survived in despair.
Despite this, my expression was much sterner than before the battle began.
Undead that lose their commander usually turn into a wild pack moving instinctively. But these creatures had begun to retreat instead.
The undead were still moving systematically, even though their commander was dead.
That meant that someone was still commanding them from somewhere.
At that moment, I sensed a piercing gaze cutting through in my direction.
Reflexively, I turned my head to verify the direction from which the gaze came.
There, a pair of giant eyes, reminiscent of a demon horse and adorned with wings, were staring intently at me.
Through the eyes of the demon horse, I felt a gaze very familiar to me.
That gaze was telling me something.
That it was not over yet.
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