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nCh. 46: Starting Battle

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

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

nHer 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.

nWhite 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.

nThe 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.

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

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

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

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

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nAs 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.

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

n“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.”

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

nLapis 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.

n“Flaw? What are you even…?”

n“That’s!”

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

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

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

n“What?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

n“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!”

n“Whahh!?”

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

nCoincidently, her gaze met the hollow eyes of Shayna.

n“Eeek!?”

nShutel let out a small cry.

nShe 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.

n“Stop! I’m…”

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

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

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

nShe 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.

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

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

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

nBut 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.

n“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?”

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

nIn 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.

n“c.r.a.p! It faced this way!”

nHis 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.

nLoren 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.

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

n“>”

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

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

nLoren 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.

n“>”

nShe lightly waved her hand and flames erupted from it, flying towards Loren in the shape of a fan.

nLoren dodged it by leaping backwards in a hurry, but by doing so he lost all the distance he had slowly been gaining on her.

n“I can’t get close! Being able to cut her down or not isn’t even the problem here!”

n“Don’t you have any knives left!?”

n“I used them all up on the zombies!”

n“Nuuu…Lost ones, return to where you belong. >”

nLapis groaned and then used an exorcism spell. Shayna’s body glowed for a moment, but immediately disappeared, and it didn’t look like she took any damage at all. She didn’t even try to face Lapis, but instead was focused on Loren, who was zig zagging his way towards her.

n“Of course, it would get resisted…It didn’t even tickle her.”

n“Maybe you don’t have enough faith!?”

n“If there’s a priest who could exorcise a >, bring one here right now!”

nAs soon as Lapis shouted, she dove away, and white flames erupted where she had stood.

nShayna wasn’t looking at Lapis, but she knew she was there.

nShe tried to attack Lapis when she was caught off guard, so she pulled a feint, looking at Loren while attacking her, but Lapis wasn’t an ordinary being either.

n“Stones of red, strike the enemy >”

nThe spell that Lapis used while dodging shot four bullets made of fire from her fingers, and all of them hit Shayna in the face.

nIt was an attack that would’ve seriously injured a person, but when the flames cleared, Lapis saw that it didn’t even leave a burn on Shayna’s face and growled.

n“I guess an elementary cla.s.s spell won’t even leave a mark.”

nAs Lapis muttered under her breath, Shayna looked away from Loren and faced her, finally acknowledging that she was an obstacle.

nAs Shayna slowly raised her palm towards Lapis, Lapis stood still and looked straight back at her with a sly smile.

n“Are you sure? That it’s okay to look away from him?”

nThe moment that her attention moved away from him.

nThere was no way Loren would miss such an opportunity.

nShayna was in the middle of launching an attack on Lapis as well, so he dashed straight towards her, knowing that this was his only chance to close in.

n“You can hate me for this!”

nLoren brought his great sword down from over his head, straight onto Shayna’s forehead, but the blade couldn’t capture her.

nIt was because Shayna sensed Loren’s attack and leaped down from the altar, whilst casting > at Lapis. Loren’s attack caught the hem of her dress and crashed down onto the altar, destroying it.

n“Lapis!”

nLoren continued with a scooping stroke from under, but Shayna dodged it again.

nBut Loren was determined to stick close to her and went in for another strike, but he saw Lapis being engulfed in white flames, and shouted in surprise.

n“I’m fine! One hit won’t do anything to me.”

nWhen the flames died, although she was breathing heavily, Lapis wasn’t turned into an undead.

nIt was an attack that even a wight succ.u.mbed to, but if she was able to withstand it, didn’t that mean Lapis was tougher than a wight? The thought crossed through Loren’s mind for a moment, but his body was still moving to keep within attacking range of Shayna, launching strike after strike with his great sword.

n“Loren be careful! What she’s using isn’t magic so there’s no need for her to chant spells! The attacks will come suddenly!”

n“Isn’t that impossible to be careful of?”

nCurrently Shayna was raising her palm before she attacked, but according to Lapis that wasn’t a necessary action, so if she stopped doing that, there was no way for Loren to know that an attack was coming.

nRather than that, Loren thought bitterly.

nIt was hard to believe that Shayna had battle experience, but Loren was astonished at the fact that she evaded all his blows.

nHe guessed that since she was a > her physical abilities would be considerable, but her dodging his every attack whilst floating made it feel like he was fighting against smoke or a heat haze, and although he was keeping her down, Loren felt panic slowly rising inside.

n“Loren! Aim here!”

nLapis’ voice reached his ears.

nWhile continuing his attack, Loren faced Lapis and saw that she was pointing at her chest.

n“The place where it’s glowing! Normal > don’t have anything like that! I’m not sure what will happen, but it’s worth a shot!”

nIt was where the > had been.

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nAlthough it was feeble, there was a light coming from Shayna’s chest, and Loren wondered whether he should do as Lapis said, but when the No Life King heard what Lapis said, it reflexively covered its chest with its hand. Seeing that, Loren decided what to do.

n“You’ve seen a regular > before…? Well, seems that Lapis is right and aiming for it is worth a shot.”

nOf course, there was no response from the No Life King.

nInstead, still covering the glowing part with its arm, faced Loren with its hollow gaze and let out a sharp screech.

nIt was loud enough to make Loren want to cover his ears, but if he did it would mean that he would have to stop attacking and would give the No Life King an opening to recover.

nLoren decided that he should endure it and keep attacking, but then he felt a strange sensation in his arms and legs, making them heavy and sluggish, slowing him down and slowing his attacks as well.

n“Loren! The > strengthened its energy drain! If we don’t hurry it will overcome the protection that I cast on you!”

n“So, we’re running out of time…”

nHe had to strike the chest of an opponent that he couldn’t even land a single blow on until now, so Loren didn’t have time to consider his options.

nHe decided that he didn’t care if he blacked out later, and he heard a click in the corner of his mind, like a piece fitting into place.

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