The Nightmare's Blade Awakens in the Witch's Shadow
The young boy, no more than five years old in appearance, stood before the crystal sphere.
―Touch this for me.
The boy’s fingers, thin as fern fronds, wrapped around the crystal.
Flash! A blinding flash of light erupted.
A crack spider-webbed across the surface.
―You! The child who will inherit the vision of the Solar Eclipse!
Solar Eclipse.
One of the three great witch organizations of the Enras Continent, known for gathering all wisdom and mystery.
Among them, the Eclipse Order held the most knowledge and power.
Lineage transmission.
Only one Eclipse Witch could exist at a time.
So when an Eclipse Witch died, the successor would automatically inherit her power and knowledge.
Thus the boy had devoted himself to study and training to claim the name of the Eclipse.
Time flew by.
The boy had grown.
His red hair now reached his waist, and his body…
“Ugh…”
He had grown so much he looked almost burdened.
―I’m sorry. For placing such a heavy burden upon you.
The ancient Eclipse Witch, her lifespan at an end, eventually breathed her last.
The woman received the mantle of duty and power.
Then the scene shifted.
“Huh?”
A burning witch organization came into view.
A woman clad head to toe in blood-red armor.
Around her stood countless witches wearing pointed hats.
―The Eclipse Order is far too dangerous.
―She possesses an overwhelming power that no single person should wield.
―Her arrogance ends today.
The witches feared the Eclipse Witch.
Because one person held such formidable power.
They feared she would interfere with their operations and burned with jealousy.
Therefore, the perfect time had arrived to eliminate the thorn in their side.
The woman understood this truth as well.
―Even in death, I will not go alone.
Her words were no boast.
The mother organization of the witches, boasting over a thousand years of history, had been wiped out in a single magical strike.
The unique technique — the vision of the Eclipse, a style freely woven by witches — was the foundation.
The result of a single person’s creation, yet it felt utterly impossible.
―It was you who started this.
The woman gritted her teeth and began rearranging her mana.
A power so immense it caused dizziness swirled within her.
The mana accumulated across generations of the Eclipse Order pulsed like a living thing.
Other witches’ faces paled instantly.
―T-this can’t be…
―You’re using such overwhelming power alone?
―Are you willing to die together?!
The woman’s lips curled into a mocking smile.
―Let’s all die together.
A white radiance struck the retina.
“Hieeek!”
I jolted awake with a pathetic scream from the shock.
[What is the matter?!]
―I had a nightmare.
[Hmph. You’ve been having those often of late.]
Indeed.
After enduring Ingrid’s past life in dreams, I never imagined I would relive Isra’s history as well.
There was even a slight difference in the dream content.
Isra the knight could never show her face.
She always wore her full armor.
Although I knew it was not full plate mail but lighter plate armor suited to her slender build, her face remained hidden beneath the helmet.
On the other hand, Ingrid…
Hmm.
Cough.
Anyway, her appearance from life was clear in my memory.
[Are you truly all right?]
―Yes.
[Your complexion appears overly flushed.]
―I’ve only just woken up, that’s all.
It was truly fortunate that Ingrid had not been taken out yet.
Wait.
While gazing upon Isra’s form, an idea suddenly struck me.
“Knight, what is the similarity rate right now?”
[92%]
“If I compare her appearance and physique from life with her current specs, how different will it be?”
[This body is better than before, but it is still trash.]
Her sharp words were not entirely false.
Thinking back to the feats I had witnessed in the dream, she was not wrong.
But the core of it was different.
The similarity rate was not about performance, but how faithfully the living appearance and physique matched.
Thanks to the vision I had just seen, Ingrid’s form was burned into my memory.
If I could align her body proportions as closely as possible, her specs might rise as well.
“It’s worth trying.”
[Oh? A new inspiration has surfaced?]
“Whether it succeeds or not, I have to try.”
If the plan went smoothly, I would be able to raise the power of my subordinates once more.
[Hurry up and do it!]
“There’s something I need to do first.”
[Leave it to me. I will accomplish anything.]
“No. Only I can do this.”
After saying that, I lay back down on the bed.
“I’ll sleep for now.”
[What will you do if the inspiration disappears while I sleep?]
“It’s already four in the morning.”
Inspiration or not, I was exhausted.
I’d sleep for now and tackle it tomorrow.
Before I knew it, hours had passed.
I woke to morning light.
“Haaam…”
Rubbing my eyes, I immediately summoned Ingrid.
[Are you going to manifest my appearance?]
―Yes. If it feels bad, I won’t do it.
[The Lord is making this possible. It is an honor! Why would I refuse?]
The first step passed without a hitch.
[This is impossible, Lord!]
I thought she would say that.
[I, Isra, am the Lord’s first aide! The order must be correct!]
She had a point.
But the most important thing was something she didn’t know.
“Your face, knight.”
[Hmph?!]
“I don’t know what it looked like.”
She always wore armor, after all.
Even searching the past, I couldn’t uncover Isra’s complete appearance.
I couldn’t create her likeness from life even if I wanted to.
[Offering a similar image as before…!]
“It’s not my own face.”
Even if I matched eyes, nose, and mouth one by one, there would be limits to recreating Isra’s living appearance.
[Tch.]
“Let’s try again next time.”
[This time, I have no choice but to yield to the witch.]
Isra trembled violently.
Was it that infuriating?
[Oho ho ho!]
On the contrary, Ingrid was in high spirits.
They attached meaning to the order gap so much.
While amusingly watching their reactions, before heading to the workshop I stopped by the Hunter Market to browse materials.
“There might be something useful here.”
Replicating the body structure from the dream.
Any material could produce a sufficient shape.
But I wanted to find parts that blended well with magic.
Whoosh!
I activated the Spirit Eye and slowly scanned.
Thanks to it, I found several usable materials.
◈ Mana +4%
◈ Mana +6%
◈ Agility +6%
◈ Water Resistance Lv 5
Perfect.
I had found the core materials.
I bought more materials and headed to the workshop.
[What will you use the slime mucilage for, my lord?]
―Ingrid’s body.
The Ingrid from the dream was nothing like a trained warrior.
A soft body could not be reproduced with ordinary corpse flesh.
That was why I thought of deep slime mucilage.
Slime mucilage was acidic.
If I fed monster parts to soften it, and then configured it as part of the body…
“As long as it can be fixed, it should give a similar feeling to a human.”
It was hard to be 100% certain.
After five years of experiments, this was the first time I had attempted such a bizarre task.
It was fine.
I had brought plenty of materials.
Slosh.
When the dead monster flesh was submerged in deep slime mucilage, it bubbled.
[It will all dissolve.]
“Wait.”
After adding more, it refused to dissolve at all.
The mucilage had hardened into a solid.
Putting too much caused digestive failure.
“On the contrary, that’s better.”
By adjusting the flesh amount appropriately, it might even solidify to a soft level.
After several experiments, the texture felt somewhat similar to human flesh.
This worked.
There was enough mucilage and monster flesh.
“Ingrid. Surgery time.”
[Please take care of me.]
Ingrid lay sprawled on the wide desk.
There was little room to adjust the bones.
I had designed her skeleton while making the Skeleton Mage, referencing her story as much as possible.
Recalling the memories, I made slight corrections.
I carefully rewove the wooden branch from the item she had been attached to, Empty Spirit’s Staff.
Thud!
I filled the space with slime mucilage containing flesh.
[The feeling is a bit strange.]
“Hold still a little longer.”
[Hahaha! As a knight, I endured pain.]
Enduring pain was not exactly a knightly virtue.
[The mucilage does not feel like a body at all.]
“Wait a moment.”
[Energy Circuit Establishment]
I filled the empty space and connected it to the energy circuit with the bones.
[It feels not bad?]
“It will be better once the surgery is complete.”
At first it was easy.
With only the bones left, I attached the mucilage as if covering them and connected the energy circuit.
But after one frame was set.
The difficulty skyrocketed the moment I stacked the mucilage on top.
Connecting the bones and mucilage was simple.
But adding extra energy circuits to layer the mucilage on top of each other was not easy at all.
“Huuu…”
Another problem was…
Reproducing the exact shape from the dream was a bit…
Umm.
[Lord!]
“What?”
[There is not enough flesh here. Please add more.]
Ah.
Ugh.
Using as blurry a vision as possible, I filled in the specific areas.
The shape came out roughly.
Since it lacked vitality, it looked like a mannequin.
[It seems a bit exaggerated.]
“No?”
[Body Processing]
After fixing the first shape, I embedded [Obon’s Body Hair] of a similar color in place of hair one by one.
Finally, I connected [Skin of the Fearful Pigma].
I attached it to the mucilage and meticulously stitched it.
[You do it so well, yet you created a zombie face like this?]
What do you mean?
Ah.
“Orc head?”
[Do you know how much frustration I felt when I possessed that ugly body?]
“When creating the zombie, I didn’t care about the appearance.”
Performance was most important.
So long as the face looked a bit monstrous, it was fine.
Monsters would probably be happy seeing the molten orc face and die of joy.
“Ugh… It’s hard.”
After spreading the mucilage over the bones and stitching the monster skin one layer at a time, the sound of my stomach growling echoed as I worked without pause.
“It’s already dinner time?”
[What are you saying? It is already midnight.]
I thought it was evening because it was dark outside, but it wasn’t.
[PM – 11:47]
It was already past midnight?
Ah.
I should order something for late-night snack.
I ordered chicken through the delivery app and stood before Ingrid.
“Ready?”
[Yes, Lord.]
Whether I succeeded or not would also decide the late-night snack.
Success meant a celebration.
Failure meant… well, a consolation snack.
“Open your eyes.”
-[success rate]% HP
-[failure rate]% HP
[Body Creation]
Thud!
My mana seeped in through the additional energy circuits I had opened.
Like blood circulating through the entire body, the mana that had permeated the bones, mucilage, and skin went round and round, making Ingrid’s whole form spin several times.
[Aaaah!!]
Letting out a thought somewhere between ecstasy and scream, Ingrid’s body shot upright.