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“Hehehe… kuhihi! Kihihi… ihihihi! Ah! Aah!!”

A blade flashed, cutting through the darkness of the forest. One slash, then a second, then a third. The greatsword, shaped more like a massive cleaver, was swung in rapid succession. Each blow was sharp and heavy. Yet Kyle Irvine deflected them one after another with his knight sword, which was wrapped in a blue, holy aura.

Then Kyle drew a single streak of blue light through the darkness with his sword. The brown-skinned woman dodged it, leaping backward. But blood sprayed violently from the wound carved into her side. Looking closer, numerous cuts covered various parts of her brown skin, and blood dripped from all over her body.

The brown-skinned woman… Joel… had flushed cheeks. Every so often, a sultry breath escaped her lips, and with lustrous, moist eyes, she stared heatedly at Kyle, who stood at the tip of her sword. Kyle held his sword beside the right side of his face, its tip pointed directly at Joel. Without giving him a moment’s respite, Joel lunged forward at a speed impossible for an ordinary person to follow. Kyle knocked aside Joel’s sharply descending greatsword with the flat of his knight sword, then immediately followed through, slashing across her chest with the tip of his blade. As fresh blood sprayed through the air, Joel let out a shrill cry of delight. But immediately afterward, Joel’s figure seemed to blur and vanish. At the same time, Kyle’s figure also blurred and disappeared. The next instant, a spray of blood filled the air.

“Argh.”

With a scream, Joel reappeared, her body arching backward as a large diagonal slash had been carved across her back. Behind her stood Kyle, his knight sword raised after completing the upward slash. Kyle immediately returned to his stance, but his expression was grim as he breathed heavily.

“Ah… ahi… kihi! Good… Good! You’re pretty damn good yourself! Hihi!! More… let’s do more!!”
“…Personally, I’d rather get this over with already.”

The sound of blades cutting through the air and clashing together echoed through the forest, accompanied by Joel’s strangely sensual laughter reverberating between the trees.

A moment later, a massive black shadow approached from directly beside them. Howard swung his enormous black greatsword in a full horizontal arc, cleaving it aside. The enormous skull of a black ancient dragon, longer than a tall human, was sent flying sideways with tremendous force. Howard then shouted toward the rear.

“Conrad! It’s coming your way!!”
“Damn it! This thing just won’t end! How many times do I have to knock this oversized freak around?!”

Conrad slipped past the undead Howard had knocked away and charged forward, catching the assault of another undead with his battle axe and sending it flying backward.

“Ghh!!”

Tony Easton narrowly avoided the gigantic tail of an undead creature that came rushing toward him like a black wall. At the same time, he raised his kite shield and blocked the various rocks and stones that the tail had sent flying. The force nearly knocked him off his feet, but he managed to withstand it by the narrowest margin. He immediately recovered his stance and prepared himself for the next attack.

This battle had already been going on for more than an hour. The problem was that their opponents were simply far too tough. If they could land one powerful blow and break through even one section of the enemy’s formation, they should be able to turn the tide of the battle. They weren’t exactly holding back, either, but even when they managed to inflict wounds, the undead repaired them almost before their eyes. It was becoming utterly exhausting.

(Tony and Kyle may be reaching their limits soon.) Howard thought as he glanced toward the two of them.

“My lord, it is indeed those chains. They are using them to transmit the miasma they have drawn up.”
“Hmph. So it really is something like that.”
“Tch! Using such a damn underhanded trick!”

On the other side of the massive undead creatures, a woman wrapped in chains wore a faint smile. The chain-wrapped woman… Marina… allowed the chains around her body to sway gently through the air, as though they were a flowing veil. Several of the chains extending from Marina were connected directly to the gigantic undead creatures as well.

“It appears that the woman is drawing miasma up from deep beneath the earth and sending it to the skeletons through those chains.”

Gilbert’s magical sigil, embedded in his eyepatch, glowed brightly. As though he had finally managed to see what was happening, he reported the flow of magical energy he had detected to Howard.

At present, Howard and his companions had been completely separated from the main force of the knights. Three enormous undead creatures known as Dark Scale Dinosaurs surrounded them, maintaining a fixed distance as though deliberately keeping them in check. Whenever Howard’s group attempted to evade them and move forward, the creatures repositioned themselves to block their path. Whenever they tried to attack, the three worked together to block or evade their strikes.

Their opponents constantly adjusted the distance between them by just enough to make the battle incredibly frustrating and difficult. In a sense, it was no different from the undead that had attacked this place at the beginning. They were simply trying to pin Howard’s group down here. Behind the gigantic black undead creatures, Marina remained motionless, a faint smile on her lips as she silently watched Howard and the others.

“What is it, Howard? Running out of breath?”
“Don’t be ridiculous! You’re the one whose footing is getting unsteady!”
“Hah! I’m just storing up a little strength! Who the hell do you think I am?!”
“Ha! Then let’s finish this soon, shall we?!”
“You bet!!”

Howard’s class, the Warlord, increased the morale and combat ability of the entire unit simply by having him present. Although he had retired from active duty, Conrad still possessed the class Hercules Lord, which enhanced the attack power of the knights fighting alongside him. A major reason the knights had been able to fight so effectively against the enormous horde of undead was the presence of these two men.

And now, Howard and Conrad were preparing to use one of their unique skills. The Mana within Howard and Conrad began to churn, growing increasingly dense.

But then, with a roaring sound, a fireball came hurtling toward them. Tony Easton instinctively raised his kite shield and caught it head-on. The fireballs continued to slam into him one after another, each impact striking him through the shield with the force of repeated blows from a gigantic hammer. Tony clenched his back teeth and endured, letting out small groans as he resisted the barrage. But eventually, the force of the fireballs overwhelmed him, and he was blown away. Tony’s body, engulfed in flames, crashed into the rocky surface and tumbled across the ground.

“Gaaaaah!!”
“TONYYYY!!”

Kyle turned around and shouted toward Tony. Tony rolled across the ground, smoke slowly rising from his body. Eventually, he began to slowly pull himself upright. Seeing that, Kyle let out a relieved breath.

“Damn it! Where did that come from?!”

While keeping Joel in check, Kyle cautiously scanned his surroundings. Then, from within the darkness, a woman wearing a black nightdress emerged as though she were materializing from the shadows themselves. The woman… Electra… kept her right hand extended, the one that had fired the fireballs, while she ran her tongue along her left hand, which was stained with blood up to the wrist.

“…! W-Whose blood is that?!”

Kyle’s eyes widened when he noticed the blood covering Electra’s hand. Electra narrowed her eyes and gave Kyle an exaggerated shrug.

“Y-You!”

Electra smiled at Kyle as he glared at her, lowered her right hand, and turned toward Joel, who was nearby.

“Oh? Joel, you know, I had my eye on that gentleman over there.”
“Hehehe, really?! This guy’s pretty tough too. I’m having a great time.”
“Wasn’t your target over there instead? Why don’t you leave this one to me?”
“Huh? You can’t do that, Electra! I was playing with him first! It’s not fair to steal him away! Let me have more fun!!”

Joel furrowed her brows, wearing an expression much like a child whose favorite toy had been taken away. Electra let out a long, exasperated sigh.

“…Very well. I’m sorry, Joel. You may do as you please with this gentleman.”
“Really?! Yes!! Hehehe!”
“However…”

Saying that, Electra moved behind Joel.

“…You will make it up to me later, won’t you?”

Electra slowly ran a finger along the wound opened across Joel’s back. Joel arched her back and cried out loudly, her body trembling. Then she turned her head to look back at Electra and gave a small nod with moist eyes. Seeing that, Electra narrowed her eyes in satisfaction. She affectionately stroked Joel’s cheek with one long finger before disappearing back into the darkness.

As soon as Electra vanished, Joel immediately brought her greatsword up to her mouth. With the corners of her lips curling upward, she ran her tongue along the blade. And then…

“Hehe… come on! Let’s have even more fun!!”

With that, Joel raised her greatsword and charged toward Kyle.

◇

A black, enormous dragon skull that Howard had knocked upward with his Grand Divider came crashing down behind him as a fireball emerged from the darkness and attacked. Several fireballs came rushing toward him at high speed. Howard casually evaded them without even looking behind him. The fireballs he dodged struck the gigantic undead made of black bones, whose jaw had just been knocked upward, sending its massive body flying.

With light shining in his gray eyes, Howard turned around and sliced apart the final incoming fireball, dispersing the fire magic. Then, with the same motion, he swung his blade through the darkness beyond it. A hard, metallic sound rang out as five red, knife-like claws caught Howard’s slash.

“Huh?!”

The black nightdress-clad woman who had emerged from the darkness… Electra… let out a strained groan and leapt backward. Howard immediately stepped forward after her, closing the distance in a single stride and thrusting another blow toward her. The devastating strike of his greatsword, wrapped in concentrated magical power and powerful enough to distort even the surrounding air, did more than merely knock aside the red claws attempting to block it. It shattered them completely.