Ending Maker Chapter 31
Ending Maker Chapter 31
Chapter 6 - Witch's Forest #4
A pure white cross blazed forth with light.
The skeleton leader, its ribs and even its spine shattered, crumpled to the ground. Yuder held his punching stance for a moment.
"Hoo...... hoo...... hoo......"
Holy Cross Thrust.
One of the techniques of the Divine Strike Fist, it was a straight punch that, as its name suggested, drove a cross-shaped holy fighting aura directly into the enemy.
"Haa...... ha......"
Yuder relaxed his stance and continued to pant heavily.
His body had improved through continuous level-ups, but techniques that used internal energy still placed a heavy burden on his body.
That was because many parts of not only his minor meridians but even his major meridians were still blocked or constricted.
'Still...... there's progress.'
It wasn't just the pure white ring of light surrounding his body.
The Divine Strike Fist and Holy Cross Thrust.
Yuder smiled in satisfaction as he watched the remnants of holy fighting aura scatter through the air, then turned toward Cordelia.
As expected, Cordelia's side also seemed to be nearly finished.
"Break off! Defend! Pierce the core!"
Cordelia barked out commands in rapid succession as she glided across the ground.
No, it wasn't ordinary movement. She slipped through the skeletons as if by magic, then swung Moonlight, which had a striking spell cast on it, and cleanly shattered their neck bones.
And with that, the formation itself was destroyed.
Because, just as Cordelia herself had said, she had pierced the core of the Guardian Annihilation Formation.
"Ohh! Ohhh!"
Lucas, who had perfectly understood Cordelia's commands and lured the skeletons toward himself, cheered with a beaming smile.
Already three skeletons had fallen to his sheathed sword strikes.
"Let's finish this!"
Cordelia laughed brightly and once again glided across the ground. She was so fast and smooth that she looked like a figure skater racing across ice.
'As expected of Yellow Storm.'
Instead of running over to help, Yuder let his arms hang and admired her.
Even her current movement alone was far from ordinary.
'She's moving across a Grease-covered floor while under Haste right now, isn't she?'
Normally, that would be impossible.
Grease was magic you cast to make people slip and fall, not magic you cast to use like an ice rink.
But Cordelia could do it.
'Sometimes she really is like a wild animal.'
Where Yuder thought and calculated his way through everything, Cordelia was the type to act on instinct.
That wondrous movement just now was surely also the result of acting on instinct rather than thought.
"Finish!"
Cordelia, who had been weaving through the skeletons as if dancing, swung Moonlight like a baseball bat, and a skeleton with its lumbar vertebrae shattered flipped over and collapsed.
"Ohh! Magnificent! Lady Cordelia!"
"Hehe, V!"
When Lucas expressed his admiration, Cordelia laughed and made a V sign, and Yuder suddenly remembered old times and gave a bitter smile.
'No wonder the guild leaders hated her.'
In large-scale battles where guilds clashed, Yellow Storm's existence was a disaster in and of itself.
'Damn it! I can't predict how she's going to move!'
That was only natural. Once Yellow Storm entered battle, she simply didn't think.
'Maybe she's a genius? Otherwise, how does she always show up at exactly the right moment?!'
No one could predict when, where, or what she would do, yet somehow Yellow Storm always appeared exactly when needed.
Striking the enemy's weak points was basic for her, and as she had just shown, she was also skilled at piercing the core of a formation and collapsing the enemy's entire formation.
Because of that, people who didn't know Yellow Storm well thought of her as something like a "genius tactician."
A master strategist who saw through the entire battlefield at a glance, like Zhuge Liang or Li Mu.
But Yuder knew the truth.
'It's just...... a feeling?'
Those were words spoken by Yellow Storm herself.
That was right.
Yellow Storm did not strike at the enemy's weak points through high-level tactical thinking.
'How should I put it? It's like I just get this feeling that that's what I should do?'
Literally a feeling.
A feeling that, for some unknown reason, she just had to do it that way.
At first, Yuder also thought Yellow Storm was lying. But after spending a long time as her rival, he eventually came to understand.
'It's instinct.'
Yellow Storm was a genius.
Not an intellectual genius, but a genius when it came to combat instincts.
She didn't calculate the ever-changing situation of the battlefield. She simply understood it instinctively.
And as a result, she knew.
What she had to do.
Where she had to attack.
And then there was one more talent added on top of that.
It was what truly cemented Yellow Storm's reputation as a "human storm"—a unique talent that even Yuder could not imitate.
'Absurd spatial awareness and multitasking.'
An ordinary max-level mage in Hero Legend 2 could usually control around twenty magic bullets at once, or as many as fifty at most.
But Yellow Storm was different.
'274.'
The highest record of magic bullets Yellow Storm had used simultaneously.
Advancing alone while controlling hundreds of magic bullets at once, she more than lived up to the name "human storm."
She swept hunting grounds that required a whole guild by herself, and she even smashed guilds single-handedly.
'Still, I'm number one.'
Yuder finished his thoughts with a grin, then looked forward again and saw Cordelia trotting over to Lucas and holding out her palm.
"High five!"
"Pardon?"
"High five!"
When Cordelia waved her hand again, Lucas blinked, then timidly raised his hand and clapped it against Cordelia's.
"Well done, as expected of Lucas. The sword prodigy. You're the best."
"Hm hm, Lady Cordelia was truly amazing as well. I was impressed all over again."
Lucas said, his cheeks slightly flushed.
It wasn't only Cordelia. The high five itself had made his heart race.
'There's a similar scene in The Heroic Legend of Biltbain too.'
Yuder nodded to himself, then approached the two excited teenagers who were bouncing around.
"It looks like things are mostly wrapped up."
"Oh, yes, it seems to have ended well...... Lord Yuder. Hohoho......"
As if coming to her senses upon seeing Yuder's face, Cordelia hastily pretended to be demure as she spoke.
At her suddenly changed manner of speech, Lucas chuckled, then deliberately averted his gaze as if pretending not to notice.
"Lord Lucas, are you hurt anywhere?"
"No, thanks to Lady Cordelia."
"It's a bit awkward to say this, but...... we were fortunate that our opponents were the Guardians of the Holy Cross."
At Yuder's words, Lucas blinked, then widened his eyes and asked.
"You mean the Guardians of the Holy Cross? The ones who protect the continent from the shadows?!"
"Yes, the clothes the skeletons are wearing also point to that...... and above all, their use of the Guardian Annihilation Formation is the proof."
Yuder answered calmly, then placed a hand on the shoulder of Cordelia, who had decided to keep her mouth firmly shut rather than rashly interject, and spoke.
"The Count Chase Household has some ties to the Guardians of the Holy Cross. Thanks to that, Lady Cordelia and I were able to learn about the Guardian Annihilation Formation."
"The Guardian Annihilation Formation......"
"Yes, it is the most basic formation used by the Guardians of the Holy Cross. It is not comparable to the Count Hraesvelgr Household's Holy King Cross Formation, but it is an extremely sturdy defensive formation. Isn't that right, Lady Cordelia?"
"Huh? Oh...... yes, that's right."
Cordelia nodded with an awkward smile.
She looked like a completely different person from the Cordelia who had been grinning brightly and swinging Moonlight.
"In any case...... judging from the circumstances, I suspect that a single squad of the Guardians was trapped inside the barrier and ended up becoming undead monsters like this."
"The Guardians became undead monsters...... could it be the power of the barrier?"
Lucas asked, looking slightly frightened, and Yuder slowly nodded.
"That is highly likely. But don't worry too much. Once we find the witch's seal and dispel the barrier, everything will be fine."
Yuder answered gently. Lucas nodded, his expression tense, then quickly put on a resolute look.
'I should handle this maturely too.'
Yuder seemed every bit as dependable as Sir Seorn, but when it came down to it, he was only one year older than Lucas.
Even to become a worthy rival, Lucas himself also needed to show a mature side.
But that was only for a moment.
Lucas suddenly furrowed his brow, then looked back at the destroyed skeletons and spoke.
"Lord Yuder, Lady Cordelia. This may be a somewhat unreasonable request, but...... there is something I would like to ask of you."
"What is it?"
"Could we bury them? If they were members of the Guardians of the Holy Cross, they were people who worked for the peace of the continent, so leaving them like this is a bit......"
For some reason, Cordelia also agreed with Lucas's words.
"With Dig magic, we can easily dig a pit...... how about making one large common grave?"
She was speaking to Lucas, but her gaze was directed at Yuder.
Yuder nodded.
"Let's do that. I also think it is not right for members of the Guardians of the Holy Cross to be left abandoned in a place like this."
"Lord Yuder, Lady Cordelia. Thank you so much."
Lucas beamed, then quickly sheathed his sword and began gathering the skeleton remains.
"I'll dig the ground."
Cordelia said briefly, then looked around, picked a suitable spot, and fired Dig spells in rapid succession.
About ten minutes later.
After burying the skeletons in one place, the group erected a tombstone using a broken sword of the Guardians of the Holy Cross and held a brief moment of silent prayer and remembrance.
"May the blessing of the Holy Spirit be with you."
It was the moment Yuder finished his silent prayer and murmured briefly.
"Ah......"
Lucas let out a sigh of wonder. Blue lights were rising from the grave of the Guardians of the Holy Cross like fireflies.
Cordelia spoke without realizing it.
"There are nine."
Clusters of light equal in number to the Guardians of the Holy Cross buried in the grave.
As if greeting them, the clusters of light circled in front of Yuder, Cordelia, and Lucas, then flew to one spot and circled again before scattering and disappearing.
"Ahh...... the members of the Guardians of the Holy Cross......"
As Lucas murmured with visible emotion, Yuder clenched his fist and shouted inwardly.
'Bingo!'
The event of fighting the Guardians of the Holy Cross who had become undead in the Witch's Forest did not exist in the original work, but there were quite a few events of a similar kind.
'Because it's a cliché for souls that have passed on to reveal the location of an important hidden item.'
In fact, if Lucas hadn't stepped up first, Yuder himself had been planning to suggest it.
'Cordelia probably had a similar thought.'
"It really worked out. It really worked out."
When Yuder looked at Cordelia, she spoke softly, her face flushed. The slight redness around her eyes made it clear she was genuinely relieved that things had ended well.
And that was only natural, because Cordelia had not made the grave out of calculation like Yuder.
In the game, they had just been skeletons, but this place was reality.
The Guardians of the Holy Cross had really existed, and they had wandered the Witch's Forest until they became undead monsters.
How could she not feel sorry for them?
"What a relief...... a relief......"
Because the souls of the Guardians of the Holy Cross had found rest.
Cordelia watched the scattering light with misty eyes. Yuder, suddenly feeling like the only bad guy there, cleared his throat.
"Hm hm."
"Huh? What? Are you not feeling well?"
"No, nothing. Just that you're kind and cute and lovely."
"What the hell is this crazy bastard talking about? Do you have a fever or something?"
Cordelia furrowed her brow, looking genuinely worried. Yuder shrugged and patted Lucas, who was still overcome with emotion, on the shoulder.
"Lord Lucas, it seems the members of the Guardians of the Holy Cross left us a final gift."
"A gift...... Ah! Indeed! They were telling us!"
Lucas's eyes widened in realization, and he immediately ran to the spot where the clusters of light had gathered.
It was beneath a large tree, and with its roots half exposed, it looked like a good place to hide something inside.
"Let's dig it up."
"Yes, Lord Yuder."
Thrilled by the storybook-hero turn of events, Lucas took the lead in digging. Before long, a well-sealed wooden box emerged.
Judging by the cross pattern carved on its surface, it was clearly an item belonging to the Guardians of the Holy Cross.
"Lord Lucas, why don't you open it?"
"Me?"
"Yes, it was Lord Lucas who suggested making the grave. Go ahead and open it."
At Cordelia's encouragement, Lucas's cheeks flushed before he nodded to the two of them.
"Then I will open it."
Well sealed or not, it was ultimately just a wooden box with a paper seal pasted over it.
He took out a knife, peeled off the paper seal, and opened the lid, revealing a parchment inscribed with an extremely complex magical formula.
"This is......"
"It's a magical formula used by the Guardians of the Holy Cross—an offensive formula for destroying demons. It seems they really did come here to defeat the demons sealing the witch's soul."
Lucas nodded seriously at Yuder's explanation, then looked at Cordelia and asked.
"Lady Cordelia, will you be able to use it?"
"Oh...... yes, probably."
Honestly, she wasn't confident, but since Yuder was there too, things would work out somehow.
"There's also a book on the Divine Strike Fist. Lord Lucas, may I take this one?"
"Of course. I use a sword, after all."
When Lucas readily agreed, Yuder smiled and took the martial arts manual. It wasn't a skill book like the ones obtained from dungeon books, but with the Heavenly Martial Body and Yuder's mind, it wouldn't take very long to learn.
"If the demonic energy is strong enough to create undead monsters, then it seems we are indeed heading in the right direction. If we go just a little further, we should be able to reach the center of the sealed area."
Just then, Lucas nodded at Yuder's explanation.
"Wait, wait a moment."
Cordelia suddenly spoke up, sprang to her feet, and began walking in one direction.
And Yuder could tell the reason.
'The witch's voice.'
Her soul, sealed at the center of the forest.
As if answering, Cordelia turned to look at Yuder. Her clear blue eyes shone as she nodded.
"I can hear a voice."
The witch's call.
Cordelia raised her hand and pointed beyond the fog.