Translator: Silver  Editor: Namorax

「Liberating Rione」Part 2

Rione’s crumbling walls were no longer capable of serving their function .

Suddenly, a horde of undead was spewed from one of the ma.s.sive holes in the wall, paying the mountain of rubble in their path no heed as they advanced .

Although they weren’t marching like a human army, they weren’t mindlessly charging ahead as they’d been doing .

Two figures were leading the pack of undead…… the pair distinctly different from those following in their wake .

One was a small boy, probably the boy Goemon had mentioned .

Innocence remained in the boy’s delicate features, his cold eyes and straight hair drawing attention to his face .

It was possible he was apart of the priesthood, given the white robes he wore . Dressed in those decorative robes, the boy wouldn’t be out of place in a local choir .

The person beside the boy was wearing luxurious canonical robes .

Even though I couldn’t see his face, given the elaborately designed staff the man carried, it was clear as day that he was a high ranking member of the church .

The white veil attached to his headpiece completely hid the man’s face . The act of concealing his face give the man an eerie atmosphere .

The pair leading the undead both wore a necklaces engraved with the Hiruku’s “Holy Seal”, marking them as the church’s administrators .

Clearly, they were high ranking individuals of the Hiruku Theocracy .

The distance between the pair and us steadily decreased, yet neither their horde or any of us did anything rash, as open hostility would destroy any chance for negotiations . Only when we could hear each other did they halt their advance .

For a while, only the sound of rustling gra.s.s could be heard .

As we evaluated our enemies, our enemies evaluated us .

After a few moments of silence, the veiled man was the first to speak up .

“……I never imagined you’d try to capture the city with such a small force . ”

Although his voice was flat, and without any intonations, his genuine surprise was clearly transmitted .

I stared back at him when I felt his gaze from behind his veil .

“So, you’re the knight who defeated our Palermo? I must admit, battling another player without using soldiers seems like it’ll be fun . Shall we introduce ourselves?”

After one-sidedly dominating the conversation, the veiled man raised his staff into the sky and invoked a powerful spell .

“Come forth denizen of the underworld, 【Skeletal Balaam】!”

A ma.s.sive, ink-black cloud instantaneously formed in response to the man’s chant, and from the blood-red magical aura churning within the clouds emerged a fifteen-meter tall, demonic creature .

Though I’ve never actually seen a demon, there was no other way to the describe the beast in front of me .

A human skull mask sat comfortably between the creature’s ram horns and murderous intent emanated from his four blood red pupils .

Even though it had the appearance of a hominid, its body was covered in thick black hair, its limbs were skeletal, and both gray wings and a serpentine tail sprung from its back .

The skeletal demon raised the large swords it carried in both hands and unleashed an eerie war cry before leaping at Williahsfim behind us .

Williahsfim lept into the air in response and caught the skeletal demon’s swords with his forelegs, simultaneously using his long tail like a whip to deliver a blow to the demon’s torso .

Although the dragon king’s ma.s.s and power should’ve sent the demon flying, it managed to open its wing and regain its posture in a matter of seconds .

As the kaiju battle took place above, the boy standing next to the veiled priest stepped forward .

“My name is Tismo Gala . I’m one of the seven cardinals of Hiruku…… bestowed the name Temperantia . Here I come, nee-sans!”

The young boy named Tismo revealed himself as a cardinal to Ariane and Chiome, wearing  a creepy smile on his face, right before his head became engorged and split open like a sea anemone .

Then his body swelled and changed as well, both if his arms transforming into long, flesh-colored tentacles, with his now ma.s.sive body being supported by six legs .

The creature wasn’t a young boy anymore, it now resembled a carnivorous plant more than anything .

The earth trembled as the monster changed forward and stretched its tentacles towards Ariane and Chiome, but the pair managed to dodge the attack .

From what I could see, the tentacles were rather fast, but it’s lower body dragged behind, so the monster had a lousy affinity with quick and evasive opposites .

The veiled main raised his staff and invoked another spell .

“I’ll teach you how necromancers fight against warriors .  【Necro Resonance】!”

When the veiled man cast the spell, a black aura engulfed the thousands of undead behind him . The up-to-this-point silent undead unleashed a cacophony of animalistic shouts as they absorbed the aura into themselves .

The threat they now posed was palpable, as every undead soldier and chimera roared and their eyes started shining a bright crimson color .

The veiled man’s magic had merely buffed the stats of the undead .

However, it was a devastating spell when tallied to over a hundred thousand soldiers .

A spell such as that would’ve had a limited effect in the game, but that wasn’t the feeling I got seeing the change brought about in the undead .

“Reflect upon your naivety for trying to capture an enemy base without bringing along any soldier units . ”

The man spoke in a pleased tone, and, as if had been a signal, the undead surged towards our position like a tidal wave .

“Kaa! 【Flying Dragon Slash】!”

I cut down a couple dozen undead soldiers and a few chimeras before leaping back to put some distance between them and me, but the swarm persisted .

Another 【Flying Dragon Slash】 cut down the enemies to my left, as I fended off those to my left with my shield and continued to fall back .

The tsunami of undead prevented me from unleashing any flashy moves, it was all I could do to fend them off with my 【Sacred Lightning Sword】and 【Flying Dragon Slash】 combination .

The tsunami of undead prevented me from unleashing any flashy moves, it was all I could do to fend them off with my 【Sacred Lightning Sword】and 【Flying Dragon Slash】 combination .

While I was leaping back whenever I created an opening, the distance was immediately filled covered again before I had a chance to capitalize on the opportunity .

Even though my arms didn’t stop moving, I focused my attention on the veiled man .

I could’ve left this place with transfer magic, but the undead would undoubtedly interfere with Ariane and Chiome battle .

…… Taking out the enemy’s head first was the best option .

The only reason I was keeping up this slash and retreat play was that I needed to put enough distance between the horde and Ariane and Chiome .

The veiled man seemed to enjoy watching my desperate struggle .

However, he couldn’t afford to be so careless──

“【Dimensional Step】!”

Just before the undead horde overwhelmed me, I invoked my short range transfer magic and appeared at the veiled man’s side .

“Uh!?”

The genuine shock transmitted from behind his vail indicated that my surprise attack worked .

I couldn’t help but chuckle as the undead stumbled over each other, now that their target disappeared, but I swung my 『Holy Thunder Sword』at the veiled man’s head .

Gyin!!

Sparks flew as the man blocked my slash with his staff . However, the veiled man clicked his tongue because, even though he’d blocked my attack, I still managed to push him back .

The 『Holy Thunder Sword』 was a mythical grade weapon, so that staff must’ve been well-made to block it without being damaged .

I acknowledged the man as a trickily opponent, but he seemed more upset than anything .

“You can use magic even though you’re a warrior!? f.u.c.k, did they implement the magic warrior cla.s.s without me knowing it?!”

“You can use magic even though you’re a warrior!? f.u.c.k, did they implement the magic warrior cla.s.s without me knowing it?!”

The veiled man paused for a moment to let out a stream of curses before invoking a new spell .

“【Evil Thorne】!”

After the spell was cast, three semi-transparent, rotten heads appeared on the tip of the veiled man’s staff before launching themselves at me .

I unintentionally stopped moving and was left dumbfounded when I felt no resistance at all when the heads vanished after I cut them down .

It didn’t seem like a spell I needed to worry about, yet even after he regained his footing, my opponent continued to cast the same spell .

However, I ignored the heads and charged forward with my shield in front of me, using my lighting blade’s long reach to strike at the veiled man .

“!?”

When the tip of my sword managed to cut through his veil, the man reflexively pulled back until he was just outside my range .

In spite of myself, my legs froze up when I caught a glimpse of the man’s face .

That brief moment of hesitation allowed a black sphere to swallow the formerly veiled man, only for him to emerge from another sphere a vast distance away from where he’d just been .

He was also capable of using short-range transfer magic .

In my attempt to catch up to him using 【Dimensional Step】, we wound up pinging in and out of existence all across the battlefield . However, the man used several spider chimeras as a obstacle to aid in his escape .

After dealing with the nuisances, I scanned the area for the man, but he had skillfully hidden among his undead .

“I can’t weed the guy out without a bird’s eye view of the battlefield……”

I cursed the undead blocking my line of sight and even unleashed a few 【Flying Dragon Slash】in my frustration .

I pushed my spatial awareness to its limits as I retreated from the undead, but developments in Williahsfim’s battle drew my attention towards the sky .