Chapter 46 (1/2)

Ch. 46: Starting Battle

Shayna’s body floated above the altar, with the hem of her dress swaying.

Her shining golden hair that was full of youth earlier before, lost its glow and was now looked cold and lackl.u.s.ter.

Her half-opened eyes were vacant and unfocused, and from her small, weakly open mouth sounded an unpleasant moaning that would make one plug his or her ears.

White mist continued to seep out of her pale, sickly looking skin, and it flowed along Shayna’s body and onto the altar, then to the ground.

The object on her chest that had been releasing a blinding light was now emitting a faint, hazy glow, which gave Loren a bubbly sensation on his skin.

“Ahh…this, this is the work of my master…unmistakably, the true king of the dead…”

Shutel’s voice quivered, most likely due to her joy.

Since she was already undead, she couldn’t feel what Loren, who was still living, was feeling from Shayna.

“This is the worst. Yes, definitely the worst.”

As Lapis took a step back, like she was getting pushed back by Shayna’s presence, grinding her teeth, Shutel announced triumphantly with her voice still quivering from her joy.

“This is the end! The time has come, when everything will bow down to the great works of my master!”

“You’re making it sound like a single > is going to end the world…Well, if something like this is ma.s.s produced, maybe that might happen, but there is a flaw in your thinking.”

Shayna, who was now a No Life King, didn’t look like she was going to start moving anytime soon.

Lapis raised a finger and pointed it at Shutel while standing a few steps behind Loren, who had his great sword raised and facing Shayna despite being a.s.saulted by a chill that sent shivers down his spine.

“Flaw? What are you even…?”

“That’s!”

Lapis lowered her finger as she raised her voice and interrupted Shutel.

As Shutel stopped talking unthinkingly at Lapis’ loud voice, Lapis took the opening to point out the fact to her.

“The existence that appeared here is definitely a >. But about this >. Is this a being that is controllable in any way?”

“What?”

Looking at Shutel, who responded with confusion, Lapis became certain of one fact.

But it was a useless fact for them, and at the same time a very crucial problem for Shutel.

“Please don’t tell me that you summoned a > in an uncontrollable state.”

“T-that’s…No, but the > should only target living beings like you! I’m already undead so…”

“Oh ok. I got it. You’re a braindead idiot!”

Shutel’s face turned blank at Lapis’ sudden cursing, even forgetting to get mad.

Lapis then followed up in an even louder voice and pointed at Shayna.

“That over there is a >! It is the highest ranking undead that drags everything in this world into death and reigns over it as its king! There’s no way an undead with free will like you will be allowed to exist!”

“Whahh!?”

In dismay, Shutel took two, three steps back from the No Life King floating next to her and glanced up at Shayna.

Coincidently, her gaze met the hollow eyes of Shayna.

“Eeek!?”

Shutel let out a small cry.

She was an undead so she shouldn’t feel any fear, but her body was tense with definite fear and while she was frozen in place, Shayna slowly raised her hand towards her.

“Stop! I’m…”

She didn’t get the chance to finish her sentence.

As soon as Shayna’s attention focused on Shutel, something that looked like white flames erupted from Shutel’s feet and then engulfed her body.

When the flames disappeared, Shutel had a blank expression that was void of any will at all.

She was bowing down, as if she were a subject bowing before the authority of a king, and from her mouth was a growl that sounded nothing like words. The yellow fog around her body disappeared, and she stopped emitting it as well.

“Unbelievable. She drained the wight’s power and turned it into an ordinary zombie.”

“What can we even do about that thing…wait, does that mean I have to kill Shayna?”

Loren understood that his opponent was the highest ranking undead >.

But it still looked like Shayna, and when he asked himself if he could raise his sword against it, he was at a loss of words.

“If you could cut it down, I would like for you to do it, but our opponent is a > you know? It has multiple layers of magic and physical defenses and has a constant energy drain field around its body. If you can manage to kill it…uh, wait, umm?”

Lapis stopped talking and started thinking, but before she could finish, the zombie that was Shutel sensed them and climbed over the altar towards them.

In the situation that an enemy came towards them and was trying to grab onto them, Loren swung his great sword and cut it into two, slantwise from its shoulder.

“c.r.a.p! It faced this way!”

His action caught the attention of Shayna and her hollow gaze was now facing Loren, and raised her palm, as she did with Shutel moments before.

Loren guessed that if he got hit with the white flames, he would turn into a zombie as well, so he quickly dashed towards the side to dodge what was coming.

At the same time Lapis darted in the opposite direction of Loren to try to throw off Shayna’s aim.

“>”

White flames burst from the ground that Loren stood on a heartbeat before.

Seeing that the flames disappeared without catching Loren, Shayna, still above the altar, slowly turned and started chasing after Loren with her gaze.

Loren understood that as soon as he stopped the flames would come for him again, so he continued to run, stepping to the left and right, trying not to run in a straight line. Shayna seemed have found out Loren’s motive, as she moved her lips to form a different word.