An Unforeseen Variable?
It didn’t take long for the empty wasteland to become completely overrun with the undead.
I had no idea where on earth they had stockpiled so many of them, but the undead creeping out from the village of the Glorified Hoof tribe like a foul, muddy deluge were packed so densely that the desert sand was entirely hidden beneath their rotting mass.
"Gwoook, gwoook...!"
"Kreeeeyik!"
"Graaaargh..."
And they weren’t just humanoid, either.
Every manner of beast and monster was mixed into the horde, churning like an ocean of rotting sewage that produced sickening ripples and optical illusions as it rolled forward. Their eyes burned with a vivid, eerie gleam even as their decomposed bodies staggered and jerked. On top of that, the stench rolling off them was rancid enough to make a person dry-heave on the spot.
"To react like this the moment they spot us..."
"Doesn't look like there's any room for conversation or negotiation."
Seeing the party snap immediately into combat stances, I raised a hand to draw their attention.
"Just giving you a heads-up: I don't intend to use my rings for a while. Keep that in mind when you fight."
Right now, my right chest bore a shamanic ritual tattoo that looked like a gaping black hole. If I killed anything in this state, it would be treated as a 'hunt,' and its power and abilities would be absorbed into me. Once engraved, the tattoo couldn't be altered or removed. If I wanted to get the most mileage out of it, I needed to hunt something worthwhile, not waste it on trash-tier undead like these.
I hadn't decided what to hunt yet... but since I was doing this, I might as well bag something seriously strong.
"Understood."
"Fighting without the rings' power... That might be a bit troublesome."
"Mmm... Then Master-ya, stay in the very back. Don't go sticking your neck out."
"We'll need to assign personnel specifically for rear guard duty."
The moment I declared I wouldn't use the rings, I could practically see the gears turning at full tilt inside Muriel, Rebecca, Cacciola, and Nemeth's heads. Up until now, I had always stepped forward to deal damage first whenever a battle began, so maybe they had grown a bit reliant on how convenient and overpowered it was.
"Rings? What rings?"
Tsarkhella tilted her head in confusion. Even though she had been on the receiving end of them once, she had no clue it was the work of the Absolute Ring set.
I let out a smirk and gave a sly shrug.
"Just something I have."
"What? We're already keeping secrets from each other as husband and wife?"
"..."
I turned away, ignoring words that weren't even worth a response, which made Tsarkhella pout her lips in protest.
Slash!
Meanwhile, those at the front had already engaged.
Every time trails of vivid aura sliced through the empty air, whole swathes of the lumbering undead were cleanly severed and collapsed to the ground.
"...They're ridiculously weak."
Compared to the special undead deployed by high demon Cambello, which had nearly brought down the Duke's Castle in the past, calling these things 'undead' felt downright embarrassing. Sluggish movements, completely predictable attacks, rock-bottom intelligence, fragile defense... Aside from their overwhelming numbers, even I could probably put up a decent fight against them.
"Hmm..."
My eyes narrowed as I watched the undead scatter like falling autumn leaves. I couldn't tell whether the mastermind wasn't a high demon, simply lacked finesse in dark magic, or was merely sending them out as scouts... But whatever the case, I was certain that something serious enough for Kubel to deliver a divine oracle couldn't possibly end with just this.
Was it a trap? Or...
"Bwahahaha! At last, our turn has come! Warriors! Carve a path through them!"
"Wooooooh!!"
"Scatter their blood and flesh! Burn your lives to prove your strength!"
"Lord Kubel! Remember the name of your warrior!"
Just then, the barbarian warriors who had been following behind charged straight through the undead horde like an unstoppable storm.
And then—
Boom, ba-boom! Craaaash!
The exploding corpses mixed among the horde began detonating in a spectacular chain reaction. There was no scorching heat or raging fire, but seeing tainted flesh, bone, and blood shower in every direction, it might have been even more hazardous than mere flames.
Such cheap tricks wouldn't do much against Master-rank combatants anyway, but should I call it fortunate that the barbarians took the brunt of it instead?
"...Hey, Tsarkhella. Are they going to be all right?"
"Huh? Ahh~ well, shouldn't they be fine? Explosions like that won't even scratch their hides... Besides, our people don't flinch at petty contamination or disease."
"..."
Well, if their chieftain said so, then I guess they were fine.
I half-closed my eyes and watched the barbarians' mounted charge. The undead were being helplessly, utterly crushed without putting up a shred of resistance. Slammed down under immense weight, pulverized beneath galloping hooves, hacked to pieces by axes and blades... At this point, it felt less like a battle and more like some raucous game.
"Graaaargh...!"
"Kreee! Kreeeyik!"
A horde of undead large enough to blanket the entire wasteland was being wiped away like pencil marks under an eraser. It was an oddly cathartic sight. From an aerial view, it probably looked like a pitch-black canvas being bleached clean.
"They sure fight with gusto..."
"Heheh. Right? Pretty neat, isn't it? You could be like that too if you became a barbarian warrior, you know!"
"Yeah, pass."
"Why?! What's wrong with being a barbarian warrior! Isn't it cool?!"
"It's exhilarating to watch, but I'm not really keen on becoming like that myself."
I had no intention whatsoever of training hard enough to reach that level in the first place. Why the hell would I bother building up the body of 'Stanashila Aljen'? Not only did I detest putting in that kind of effort, but the thought that I'd just be doing a favor for 'Stanashila Aljen' felt downright repulsive.
"Hmph! Once you become my husband, you'll have to train your body with me anyway! You'd better brace yourself!"
"Haha, right..."
I shook my head with a dry chuckle, having grown thoroughly used to her antics by now.
Just then, Cecilia, who had been fidgeting and anxiously gauging my mood, scampered over and tugged at the hem of my coat.
"What is it?"
"U-Um... Lord Aljen. Shouldn't I step in?"
"...Aha. Itching to go at it after seeing all these undead?"
"Ugh, you don't have to put it like that... but yes. I want to purify those impure abominations and grant peace to the souls of the wronged. May I?"
As she asked, Cecilia’s eyes twinkled like morning stars, her breath was shallow, and her cheeks were flushed crimson. It was as if she was bursting at the seams, completely unable to contain her urge to unleash holy power.
A slight prickle of discord ran through me. Of course, with so many undead swarming together, it made sense that a saintess would itch to unleash holy power... But still, something felt off.
"You look like a bloodthirsty fiend smacking her lips."
"Wh-What?! How can you say that?! I'm speaking with purely noble intentions!!"
"Heh. In any case, you want to fight too, right?"
"Yes...!"
"Hmm..."
I patted Cecilia on the head while surveying the battlefield. The tide was still overwhelmingly in our favor.
"I don't really think there's any need for you to step up, though."
"B-But..."
"And wouldn't eradicating and purifying a horde that big drain a massive amount of your divine power?"
"I-It'll be fine! Returning low-tier undead back to ordinary corpses doesn't take that much holy power!"
"Mmm..."
To be sure, for a high-level saintess, sweeping away such low-tier undead would be no more exhausting than a post-dinner stroll. The problem was that Cecilia wasn't quite at that level yet.
"Lord Aljen... please?"
"...Fine, whatever. It should be fine."
Even so, it wasn't as if she'd collapse from exhaustion. She might spend some holy power, but with our party's current combat strength, we could manage even if a Demon King-tier threat showed up.
That subtle sense of dissonance still nagged at the back of my mind, but ironically, that was precisely why I decided to permit it. Because somehow, my gut told me this was the path that needed to be taken.
"Really?!"
"Just don't go burning through too much of your divinity."
"Yes! Leave it to me!"
Wearing a confident beam, Cecilia stepped forward, grasped the necklace-shaped legendary artifact, the Holy Divinity of Early Dawn, and drew a brief breath.
"O Goddess. Grant rest unto the defiled."
A short prayer. Yet its aftermath flooded the entire wasteland with blinding light.
"Graaargh...?"
"Kyaaak...!"
Caught defenseless in that sacred brilliance, the undead couldn't even manage a dying shriek before crumbling to ash.
"Oh..."
Corpses though they were, watching things that had possessed form and motion instantly disintegrate into heaps of fine powder was an unreal sight to behold firsthand.
"Huh? W-What...?"
As I watched the spectacle with easy satisfaction, a sudden cry of confusion made me whip my head around.
"Cecilia?"
"L-Lord Aljen... S-Something is strange—urgh?!"
Fwaaaaah!
The divine power surging from her body flared with terrifying intensity. Yet looking at Cecilia’s face, it was plainly obvious this wasn't intentional.
"Graaaaaargh...!"
"Kyahhhk!"
Thanks to the surge, the ranks of the undead thinned at an even more ferocious pace, but that was hardly what mattered right now.
"Cecilia! What's happening?"
Staying as calm as possible, I pushed through the dazzling light and grabbed her by the shoulder.
"Kh-kgh...! Lord Aljen...! S-Something, some unknown force is siphoning my divine power!"
"What? What do you mean?"
"Th-This is... divinity? Over there... in the village... there's divinity...?!"
"Cecilia. Calm down and explain. What is going on?"
"Ah, aah... divinity... an exalted divinity... O Goddess..."
As if realizing something monumental, Cecilia trembled violently, muttered beneath her breath, and then suddenly went stiff before slumping limp. I swiftly caught her collapsing frame. A scowl crossed my face at the blistering heat radiating from her skin.
"What in the world..."
Awooooooooooo—!!
Right at that moment, an abrupt wolf's howl tore across the sky, shaking the wasteland to its foundation.
It was categorically not the roar of an ordinary beast. The sheer resonance felt heavy enough to crush mind and flesh alike, but more than that, the vast divinity, exalted stature, and ominous, chilling demonic qi woven into the sound sent an instinctual shiver down my spine.
It was so potent that even the fiercely spirited barbarian warriors fell from their mounts or turned deathly pale. That alone said everything.
"...Tsk!!"
I clicked my tongue, wiping away the blood dripping from my eyes and nose.
I had heard that howl before. It bore an uncanny resemblance to the wolf's howling I had heard back when we cleared Hegellina Krenkel's laboratory. Except this time, the resonance was deeply sinister and bleak.
"Lord Aljen. Are you unharmed?"
"Ah, Muriel. Yeah. I'm fine for now. Whew... More importantly, looks like an unexpected variable has cropped up."
"Yes. It would appear so."
"There's definitely a high demon, or maybe something even beyond that, lingering here... but what Cecilia said bugs me. Divinity, of all things..."
I bared my teeth as I watched the grotesque, alien forms of countless barbarian warriors beginning to pour out from the Glorified Hoof village in the distance. Perhaps this was the real reason Kubel had intervened with an oracle in the first place.
"Let's see it for ourselves. Whatever the hell is waiting for us."
As I raised my hand, the party's attention snapped toward me in unison.
"Prepare for battle."
At that low, resolute command, the air of bewilderment vanished, transformed in an instant.