“Everyone…!?”
Iris (René), who had ventured out into the woods herself to hide the bodies behind her, froze when she saw the impossible.
There they were, three members of the “Dragon’s Throat” group that she had left behind on the other side of the country, back in the Earl Keely’s territory.
Benedict, a fighter. A Kobold, his muscular upper body was covered in fur and his head was that of a dog. His helmet also had pointy ears. He wore mithril armor and carried a greatsword with a tip like a head-cutting axe. He was a dependable leader who led the group of people who had one or two unique qualities.
Hugh was a tank. He always wore heavy armor, saying that it was for physical training. He was small for a tank, but on the other hand, he could move, and he had saved the party many times by using his two-hand spike shields for protection and his accurate striking. He was skilled in worldly affairs and was the party’s negotiator.
Diana was a priestess. Although she called herself Priestess, she was skilled in fighting and could easily kick a few zakos to death with her steel-plated boots. She wore a modified priest’s robe woven with mithril fibers and… now carried a silver whip connected with a silver accessory she always wore, instead of her usual silver staff. She was a drunkard and a slacker, but she was caring and merciful, especially to Iris, whom she treated like a mother.
She thought she would never see them again.
But here they were.
The three of them looked at Iris (René) with strange expressions, confused or alarmed.
Diana quickly held her chest to stifle pain.
“It hurts…! Iris! You used magic that no one should ever use!? How many people have you killed with what magic!? And that was just a few minutes ago!?”
“Eh…!?”
Iris’s (René’s) heart skipped a beat. Like a child who has been caught in a prank.
“What’s the big deal? You’ve been moving all over the place, even in the city! We’ve been running around all over the place thanks to you! Since when did you become such a fool with your magical powers!”
“Wait, wait! How did you find me?”
–Yes, yes, I must clarify that first and foremost.
Iris (René) tried to calm her own confusion and clung to ‘what she must do now’.
Diana peeled off her robe to reveal a bloodstained mark.
“It’s called the Injunction Stigma. It can find out if someone has been killed by evil or devious techniques or power. Moreover, if you put a drop of blood from such a victim, … it can be used as a detection method to hunt down … the evil person even to the ends of the earth.”
«Pain Whip» and «Death Cloud» are classified in the genre of curse magic. They are a major system of techniques that distort the nature of life, the soul, and other aspects of the world as it is supposed to be. Ordinary people cannot use this kind of magic. They cannot master it unless they distort their own way of being by some means.
On the other hand, for René, an Undead, it was an ordinary technique and one of the easiest to use. In fact, curse magic was considered by adventurers to be the exclusive domain of the undead.
“We unearthed a body in the snow… That white bruise looks just like the remains of «Pain Whip». There’s something in those woods, too. You look like you came out of there. What did you do?”
This time, Iris’s (René’s) blood froze.
After destroying the Night Pythons’ caravan of runaways, Iris (René) covered her tracks. She had been so careful in case the “Dragon’s Throat” might come after her.
She did not expect them to find out, find out that Iris (René) had done it, and even use it as material for tracking her down.
Iris (René) didn’t know about such magic. She didn’t know that Diana was capable of such a thing.
“Oh, I… I…”
“[Enhancement Stigma・Double] [Healing Stigma・Double] [Sensory Stigma] [Reflex Stigma] [Magic Power Stigma] [Weapon Stigma] [Shield Stigma] [Pain Blocking Stigma]…Tenfold Activation!!”
Diana activated magic that she had never heard of.
Diana’s entire body emitted a bluish-white light in the form of some kind of pattern.
Next, an enormous amount of magical power swirled and billowed up from Diana.
Swirling trails were drilled into the surrounding snow.
The air surrounding Diana was so pure that it made her want to vomit. Diana radiated a strong sense of intimidation that would make one involuntarily avert one’s eyes if one were careless.
A power that can only be described as extraordinary resided in Diana. Iris (René) understood that.
–This is … a power that can annihilate … me …!!
With the instincts of the Undead, Iris (René) sensed it.
‘This is bad’, she thought.
“You… who are you? Are you really Iris? Or did I not know the real Iris?”
Diana, transformed into divinity, pointed her silver whip at Iris (René).
The eyes of Diana, glowing pale in the aftermath of the magic, had a seriousness in them that would not allow even the slightest deception.
“No choice, I guess…”
Iris (René) realized that she had long been cornered, and her stomach clenched.
Iris (René) pressed her thumb to her neck and made a “decapitation” gesture.
It was only a gesture. But as her finger moved, blood spurted from her neck.
“Wha…!?”
The three people watching the scene looked astonished.
Iris’s (René) head snapped straight off and rolled off the top of her body. Her vision whirls around, but Iris (René) grabbed herself by the hair and caught her own head.
Her body transformed. A little shorter, a little thinner. Her blonde hair, which had been gently wavy, became shiny silver. Her wisteria-colored eyes must have turned silver, too, although she could not tell.
Blood flowed backward and gushed out from the section of the neck where she had been cut.
It flowed slowly, floated in the air, and formed a cursed red blade. The object looked like a giant ruby carved into a sword shape.
Then, showing a bit of mischievousness, René drew a rose emblem on the hem of her outfit with the surplus blood.
“Silver hair, silver eyes, and… a rose of fresh blood!”
“No way! No way!”
Rene could do this with anyone if she just possessed them and took over.
However, if it is a girl of the same age, she can maximize the magical power of her soul, and when the time comes, she can transform her body into an undead one and fight.
“‘Rose Princess of Hellrage’…!!”
The three of them were all puzzled when they saw René in her Dullahan form.
“Then where is Iris?”
“She was here a moment ago.”
René tapped her flat chest with the hand that held her sword.
“I possessed Iris. The soul has been dormant in the body for a long time… Now I’ve remade this body as an Undead. She’s dead. Iris is.”
Before the words were finished.
Benedict’s eyes flashed.
“Youuuuu!!”
“No, Benedict! It’s impossible!!”
Benedict charged forward, his hand on his greatsword.
But now that she had taken the form of a Dullahan, who was skilled in hand-to-hand combat, Benedict, a heavy fighter, was rushing forward at a speed that looked like a fly could be stopped.
René stepped forward herself and swung the red blade again and again like a dance.
“Gah…!”
A flash of scarlet sliced through Benedict, armor and all.
The shredded armor peeled off, and then Benedict fell with a thud.
The blood that flowed from Benedict, who no longer moved, stained the white snow red.
— I can kill, you know. It seems my heart has turned into a monster, too.
René looked down at Benedict and was relieved. Is … it really relief?
She knew Benedict was a good guy. She borrowed Iris’s position and lived with him for a short time, liked him, and thought he was someone she could rely on.
But now, not even a single wad of guilt existed in René for killing Benedict. Her sword never dulled.
“Benedict!”
“Calm down, Hugh. Fortunately, Wesala is just around the corner. We can revive him if we bring him to the temple.”
Hugh was about to jump forward himself, but Diana stopped him.
High-ranking priests can use resurrection magic.
However, unless the success rate is increased with various expensive catalysts, it rarely succeeds, and the success rate declines at an accelerated rate the worse the condition of the corpse or the more time that passes after death. The problem of time was particularly serious, as adventurers usually die in the deepest part of a dungeon, and even if their companions survived and brought the corpse back to revive it, it may be too late to recover it.
This situation of dying so close to the city was a blessing in disguise for Benedict. However, in order to bring the corpse back, the two of them had to fight off the most powerful Undead.
Incidentally, since the corpse was not only damaged but also turned into an Undead, it was probably impossible to revive Iris even if René’s soul was extinguished by some means. It was only natural that Benedict was furious.
“What is going on? She cut through his armor like it was butter.”
“That sword is probably magical. Armor is useless. Take it off.”
“Really?”
At Diana’s instruction, Hugh threw down his shields, put his hands behind his back, and fiddled with something.
The heavy armor came off easily like some kind of practical joke, and a thin macho body appeared from under it.
Hugh’s armor was sturdy, but it had been crafted so that it could be removed in an instant by following a specific procedure. It was a feature for just such a case.
“I’m back to being a Thief.”
Pulling out his combat knife, Hugh laughed in a disturbing manner.
Hugh was originally a thief. However, he had switched to being a tank because of the lack of opportunities to explore dungeons and to take advantage of the party’s two magicians to protect the vanguard (especially Iris).
Even a cursed blade, which cannot be defended against, does no damage if it does not hit. He believed that a lighter style, which emphasized evasion, would be more effective.
“Rose Princess. What have you done with Iris’s body, … or will you do with it?”
Diana asked as if giving an ultimatum.
“To put it bluntly,… is going to destroy this country from now on. I’ve just been crushing Night Pythons because that’s what I needed to do.”
“I see. I guess if I told you to stop, you wouldn’t.”
“Leave it to someone else to get angry at the unreasonable… Those were your words. But if this “Rose Princess of Hellrage” forgets to take revenge, who will take her place? Who will judge them? I will return the pain and despair with plenty of interest. I will not go to the other side in peace.”
“Hmmm. Iris was no longer Iris at that time, after all.”
Diana shook her head in exhaustion or anguish.
Then she looked up and swung her silver whip.
The whip was so long and sharp that it betrayed its unreliable appearance and blew through the air next to René like a spear.
“‘Revenge is the torment of keeping oneself imprisoned in a prison of bitterness.’ That’s what the old poet who went crazy and hanged himself said.”
The whip swung and flew straight up.
But just like that, the aftermath of the energy gouged the snow deeply, forming a small half pipe in a straight line from Diana.
“I can’t leave a pretty girl like you alone like that. It’s selfish of me, but I’m going to stop you. Don’t you dare underestimate me, princess.”
Sponsored Content
