Chapter 55: The Witch's Forest (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 55: The Witch's Forest (2)
With an innocent look, a voluptuous body, and a sweet voice to boot, Elisa had an appearance that most men would readily enjoy. Or she did, until one second ago.
"L-Lady Elisa!"
Hans C's eyes widened just as the slender woman of about five-two collapsed to the ground.
Slump.
Her temple was dented, her eyes popped out theatrically, and crimson blood shot out like a water gun from where her ear canal should have been. Pretty-faced Elisa was now gone.
"You, w-what did you do?!" Hans C, witnessing her misfortune, shouted in shock. "Why?! Why did you harm Lady Elisa!? What did we do to you?!"
True, you haven't done anything yet.
"Ah, sorry. It was a mistake," I answered. My hand slipped because the mace was heavy. Truly. "Why don't you come closer for a moment? To talk about compensation for my mistake."
"Y-You crazy bastard!"
Well, that didn't work. To be fair, he had a brain, too. As soon as he sensed the fate that awaited him, Hans C fell into a state of panic. "Ah, no... w-we're all going to die..."
I no longer bothered denying it. "I'm glad you're aware."
"B-Because of these crazy assholes..."
Except, as I was smiling at Hans C's terror, I sensed a disparity that was hard to describe. Wondering what it was, I carefully analyzed the feeling and realized it was caused by the direction of the man's gaze.
He's not looking at us. Why, is he afraid of something else?
I instinctively moved my head to follow Hans C's gaze. At the end of it was the late Elisa, a woman who had tragically lost her beauty and had become a cold corpse.
But it seemed she sensed my gaze on her.
"Gigig, gigi, gigig..." Elisa, who should have already returned to her maker's embrace, started to convulse and spit out strange noises. Her limbs flailed and bent like she was being electrocuted. It was reminiscent of a dance performed by zombies in a movie.
What the fuck is this now?
I couldn't understand what was going on at all. When I smacked her in the head, I definitely felt the unique sensation of a one-shot kill jolt up my arm. Why was she still alive and wriggling and making those creepy noises?
"Gigit, gigigit, gig!"
"B-Bjorn? What is happening?"
Don't ask me, you dwarf, I'm fucking scared too.
I had killed many people since waking up in this body, but I'd swear on my ancestors themselves that I'd never seen a corpse dance like that before.
Crunch!
However, this habit of clenching my jaw when I was nervous was a reminder that my body belonged to a brave barbarian. "...I will resolve this."
"Resolve it?"
Instead of answering, I sprinted forward and slammed my mace down. The target was Elisa's face.
Smack!
Her skull, which was far softer than a death fiend's, once again caved in, which almost made Hikurod pass out.
"M-Mutilating a corpse? Even if these people are plunderers, that's—!"
What, it was immoral? So what? "I was so scared I couldn't help it."
"What? Is that something a scared person would do—?"
I cut him off. I didn't know why I had to explain this to people over and over again. "The best defense is a good offense." Of course it was. I was scared, so I destroyed it. To protect oneself, one must mutilate the enemy without mercy. That was the barbarian way.
Now I get it.
That was why Ainar had been afraid of the banshees—because spirit-type monsters could not be beaten up. They required magical damage, not physical.
Having come to this new realization, I looked at the late Elisa again and tutted bitterly. "Damn, still dancing, huh?" Even though her entire face was caved in now, Elisa continued to crack her joints and perform a creepy dance. Did this call for a magical solution? "Dwalkie! Use magic!"
"But—"
"Hurry up!" No buts. There was no need to play nice with kids like this. They only listened to firm commands. As soon as I yelled at him, Dwalkie began to chant a spell.
Right at that moment, Hans C turned his back on us and started running away. "I-I can't die!"
It was a stupid thing to do. Before he could run even a few steps, the crossbow bolt Brown fired hit his back.
Stab!
With his back turned, Hans C collapsed in a miserable heap. As I watched his tragic end, I muttered, "Fucking idiot." If he hadn't given us his armor, he would've been able to withstand a single arrow. Low intelligence always brought about suffering.
Soon, I shifted my gaze and looked at our last remaining enemy, the spearman, Irita. "Aren't you running away?" I asked.
"I know it's pointless." His eyes and voice implied he had already given up. However, my warrior blood sensed something strange in that voice, just like in Hans C's. And it was at that moment—
Shaaaaa!
Suddenly, a black glow burst from Hans C's body. To be honest, I was scared shitless, so I quickly hid behind Dwalkie, but nothing special happened after that. The light radiated for about five seconds before disappearing, after which I straightened up my crouched form and looked in front of me.
"Damn?"
I didn't know what kind of bizarre combo this was, but by the time the light show died out, Hans C's body had been transformed into a mummy. Any and all moisture was gone, leaving a dry, lifeless corpse. Everyone's eyes instinctively turned to Brown, who had shot the arrow.
"Rotmiller, what did you...?" Hikurod asked.
"I-I didn't do anything! Really!"
I know, old man.
This had to have something to do with (the late) Elisa as well. We hadn't even done anything to Irita, and he already looked the same as Hans C.
Dwalkie, our wizard, hastily offered his interpretation. "The life force that was extracted from those two was absorbed into the body of that woman over there!"
Huh, was that how it was? Having played games for so long, I now had a sense of what was going on, and I had a guess.
"Gigig, gigi, gigig..."
Soon, Elisa danced with her joints and got up from the ground. Her face was still half-squashed, but her mouth opened regardless.
"How...did...you...know?"
"What?"
"That...we are...a foe."
"Oh, that." I was petrified, but I answered anyway, pretending to be calm. "All motherfuckers smell like garbage." Was that a satisfactory answer? I thought it was, seeing as how Elisa and her half-destroyed head laughed out loud at it.
I cut him off. I didn't know why I had to explain this to people over and over again. "The best defense is a good offense." Of course it was. I was scared, so I destroyed it. To protect oneself, one must mutilate the enemy without mercy. That was the barbarian way.
Now I get it.
That was why Ainar had been afraid of the banshees—because spirit-type monsters could not be beaten up. They required magical damage, not physical.
Having come to this new realization, I looked at the late Elisa again and tutted bitterly. "Damn, still dancing, huh?" Even though her entire face was caved in now, Elisa continued to crack her joints and perform a creepy dance. Did this call for a magical solution? "Dwalkie! Use magic!"
"But—"
"Hurry up!" No buts. There was no need to play nice with kids like this. They only listened to firm commands. As soon as I yelled at him, Dwalkie began to chant a spell.
Right at that moment, Hans C turned his back on us and started running away. "I-I can't die!"
It was a stupid thing to do. Before he could run even a few steps, the crossbow bolt Brown fired hit his back.
Stab!
With his back turned, Hans C collapsed in a miserable heap. As I watched his tragic end, I muttered, "Fucking idiot." If he hadn't given us his armor, he would've been able to withstand a single arrow. Low intelligence always brought about suffering.
Soon, I shifted my gaze and looked at our last remaining enemy, the spearman, Irita. "Aren't you running away?" I asked.
"I know it's pointless." His eyes and voice implied he had already given up. However, my warrior blood sensed something strange in that voice, just like in Hans C's. And it was at that moment—
Shaaaaa!
Suddenly, a black glow burst from Hans C's body. To be honest, I was scared shitless, so I quickly hid behind Dwalkie, but nothing special happened after that. The light radiated for about five seconds before disappearing, after which I straightened up my crouched form and looked in front of me.
"Damn?"
I didn't know what kind of bizarre combo this was, but by the time the light show died out, Hans C's body had been transformed into a mummy. Any and all moisture was gone, leaving a dry, lifeless corpse. Everyone's eyes instinctively turned to Brown, who had shot the arrow.
"Rotmiller, what did you...?" Hikurod asked.
"I-I didn't do anything! Really!"
I know, old man.
This had to have something to do with (the late) Elisa as well. We hadn't even done anything to Irita, and he already looked the same as Hans C.
Dwalkie, our wizard, hastily offered his interpretation. "The life force that was extracted from those two was absorbed into the body of that woman over there!"
Huh, was that how it was? Having played games for so long, I now had a sense of what was going on, and I had a guess.
"Gigig, gigi, gigig..."
Soon, Elisa danced with her joints and got up from the ground. Her face was still half-squashed, but her mouth opened regardless.
"How...did...you...know?"
"What?"
"That...we are...a foe."
"Oh, that." I was petrified, but I answered anyway, pretending to be calm. "All motherfuckers smell like garbage." Was that a satisfactory answer? I thought it was, seeing as how Elisa and her half-destroyed head laughed out loud at it.
"Ki, hee, hee, hee!"
Shit, why was my life always uphill climb after uphill climb? This was just like the corpse golem battle. Everyone in our team froze at the unbelievable scene unfolding before us, and I woke them up by shouting at them just like last time.
"Everyone, wake up! Otherwise, we are all going to die!"
I had been playing Dungeon and Stone for ten years. It wasn't a popular game, but I was proud to say that there wasn't anything about it that I didn't know, and I was sure about that.
"Ki, hee, hee, hee!"
"W-What happened? Why is a dead person..."
The corpse had revived. To my knowledge, this was not likely to be a miracle performed by the god of exploration, Reatlas. No matter what the people who served him did, Reatlas was a good-natured god. I arrived at a conclusion based on everything I had inferred so far.
"She is a priestess of Karui."
A priestess of the dark god Karui.
"Priest of Karui" was a hidden class that could only be selected when you started as a human and became a priest. It came with the advantage of your character being able to use holy power and dark spells at the same time, but the penalty for that was just as huge.
"A priestess of Karui!"
"That woman serves the evil god Karui?!"
As a priest of Karui, the moment others found out about your class, you were dragged to prison. Therefore, it was necessary to form a team of only malicious NPCs you had made your minions, and it was also necessary to periodically offer live sacrifices to maintain your position.
That's probably why she's a plunderer. Finding a sacrifice inside the labyrinth is the safest option.
This explained most of what had happened. However, one question remained: why did it have to be us? Why had they hounded us so persistently? But there was no time to question things like that.
"Because of you...I lost...my precious...underlings."
Was it because she had absorbed all of Hans C and Irita's life forces? Elisa's appearance returned almost to normal again as she stared at me. Her crushed brain seemed to have been restored because her speech was better than before, too. In other words, her intelligence was back.
However, were intelligence and a good personality two separate things?
What is this bitch talking about?
"If you're blaming other people even in a situation like this," I bluntly replied, "you must not have gotten a proper education at home."
"...What?"
It was all her fault that Hans and Irita had died in such a tragic way at such a young age. If she had accepted her fate in her crushed-skull state, this wouldn't have happened.
Soon, I made up my mind. "I will avenge Hans and Irita."
And I will take all the equipment and valuables they have, too, although it won't be easy.
But when was my life ever easy?
[Elisa Behenk has cast Call of Death.]
"L-Look, over there!" Hikurod cried out and pointed at something. When I looked, the mummified Hans C and Irita were slowly getting up.
If she were a priest of Karui, I was not surprised. I'd also played one a few times. Call of Death was the most fundamental skill of that class. At first, it only summoned undead monsters, but using a corpse as a medium allowed you to manipulate stronger minions. The way their eyes lacked any sense of awareness was proof of that.
"Ki, hee, hee, hee!"
Shit, why was my life always uphill climb after uphill climb? This was just like the corpse golem battle. Everyone in our team froze at the unbelievable scene unfolding before us, and I woke them up by shouting at them just like last time.
"Everyone, wake up! Otherwise, we are all going to die!"
I had been playing Dungeon and Stone for ten years. It wasn't a popular game, but I was proud to say that there wasn't anything about it that I didn't know, and I was sure about that.
"Ki, hee, hee, hee!"
"W-What happened? Why is a dead person..."
The corpse had revived. To my knowledge, this was not likely to be a miracle performed by the god of exploration, Reatlas. No matter what the people who served him did, Reatlas was a good-natured god. I arrived at a conclusion based on everything I had inferred so far.
"She is a priestess of Karui."
A priestess of the dark god Karui.
"Priest of Karui" was a hidden class that could only be selected when you started as a human and became a priest. It came with the advantage of your character being able to use holy power and dark spells at the same time, but the penalty for that was just as huge.
"A priestess of Karui!"
"That woman serves the evil god Karui?!"
As a priest of Karui, the moment others found out about your class, you were dragged to prison. Therefore, it was necessary to form a team of only malicious NPCs you had made your minions, and it was also necessary to periodically offer live sacrifices to maintain your position.
That's probably why she's a plunderer. Finding a sacrifice inside the labyrinth is the safest option.
This explained most of what had happened. However, one question remained: why did it have to be us? Why had they hounded us so persistently? But there was no time to question things like that.
"Because of you...I lost...my precious...underlings."
Was it because she had absorbed all of Hans C and Irita's life forces? Elisa's appearance returned almost to normal again as she stared at me. Her crushed brain seemed to have been restored because her speech was better than before, too. In other words, her intelligence was back.
However, were intelligence and a good personality two separate things?
What is this bitch talking about?
"If you're blaming other people even in a situation like this," I bluntly replied, "you must not have gotten a proper education at home."
"...What?"
It was all her fault that Hans and Irita had died in such a tragic way at such a young age. If she had accepted her fate in her crushed-skull state, this wouldn't have happened.
Soon, I made up my mind. "I will avenge Hans and Irita."
And I will take all the equipment and valuables they have, too, although it won't be easy.
But when was my life ever easy?
[Elisa Behenk has cast Call of Death.]
"L-Look, over there!" Hikurod cried out and pointed at something. When I looked, the mummified Hans C and Irita were slowly getting up.
If she were a priest of Karui, I was not surprised. I'd also played one a few times. Call of Death was the most fundamental skill of that class. At first, it only summoned undead monsters, but using a corpse as a medium allowed you to manipulate stronger minions. The way their eyes lacked any sense of awareness was proof of that.
"Grrrrr..."
Before long, Hanson—short for Hans and Taison—transformed into undead and set their sights on us.
"Destroy the enemies, my servants!" At Elisa's command, they charged.
Bam!
The battle officially began when Hanson collided with the shield wall that Hikurod and I formed.
[Riol Warb Dwalkie has cast the rank-eight spell, Ice Lance.]
[Missha Karlstein has cast Enhance. The effect of any active skills increases in proportion to the user's Soul Power.]
[Missha Karlstein has cast Toxin Bestow.]
While we were taking a pounding from the front, Missha and Dwalkie worked to deal some damage, but there were no hits. With strength that exceeded that of regular humans and a high level of physical resistance, not even a mace could leave a scratch on them, not to mention that they turned into the undead and had gained resistance to poison and cold damage. This wouldn't be a good match for us.
Shatter! Whoosh!
Of course, Brown, who had experience fighting the undead, used his Molotov cocktails generously.
"How foolish!"
[Elisa Behenk has cast Fire of the Dead.]
Black flames flickered to life in the air and began to absorb all the surrounding fire.
God damn it.
This situation was turning into even more of a headache. The sacred power of fire, which was the undead's opposing attribute, was not working.
Do we have no other choice but to break through their cores?
The undead could not die while their core was still intact, even if their entire body got cut up. A skeleton's core was hidden between the ribs, and a death fiend's core was in the brain. So what about these guys, who had been brought back to life by the power of a dark god? The answer was simple.
"Missha, can you kill that woman?"
The core of a summoned was usually inside the summoner. In other words, if Elisa were killed, Hanson could also find the light and return to the bosom of the true god.
"Mm..."
"You don't have to kill it. Just doing some damage would make things a lot easier."
After a moment, Missha nodded. "I'll trrry." Immediately, she stepped off my shoulder, leaped high into the air, and flew at Elisa. The move was agile and flexible enough to outshine an elf. However, our opponent was not someone it would work on.
[Elisa Behenk has summoned a Shadow Guard.]
Shadowy soldiers rose from the ground and surrounded Elisa without leaving any openings. Even Missha wouldn't be able to break through that barricade and cut off Elisa's head any time soon.
However, there is no reason not to play the long game.
It was not like Hanson had weapons in their hands. Since we had already confiscated their weapons earlier, they were not a threat even in undead form. Hikurod and I could drag this out for as long as we wanted.
After making my decision, I redistributed our manpower. "Dwalkie, Brown, you two help Missha."
"But—"
"It's okay. The two of us will do whatever we can to hold the fort here."
"All right! Then I'll leave it to you!"
As soon as Dwalkie and Brown joined in, the tide slowly began to turn.
Of course, the Shadow Guards regenerated as soon as they were destroyed, and they even had the free time to throw various curses at us, but at a certain point, the large number of summoned Shadow Guards significantly decreased.
"Looks like she's slowly running out of steam! Stay strong!"
Even though she worshiped an evil god, there was a limit to Elisa's power. Perhaps she hadn't expected to end up in this situation.
"Damn... you... all!" Finding herself forced to play defense apparently startled Elisa, and she started shaking in anger. She seemed to still have a survival instinct, though, because she clenched her jaw and quietly muttered, "I will not forget... this humiliation..."
The number of Shadow Guards had decreased over twenty minutes, leaving fewer than five. Realizing what she was about to do, I loudly blurted, "What? Fuck, no!"
We're so close to catching you, where are you going?!
I pushed aside Hanson, who had been on me the entire battle, and ran at her with all my might.
[Elisa Behenk has cast Spiritization.]
Soon, Elisa's body turned translucent and floated into the air. In that state, she paused to look around at us. "You will never... return... alive." Then she flew into the darkness in the distance.
Whiiip!
I let out a big sigh as I looked out in that direction like a dog who had just been chasing a chicken. "Fuck..."
The boss monster we were so close to taking down had escaped, armed with a grudge against us.
"Grrrrr..."
Before long, Hanson—short for Hans and Taison—transformed into undead and set their sights on us.
"Destroy the enemies, my servants!" At Elisa's command, they charged.
Bam!
The battle officially began when Hanson collided with the shield wall that Hikurod and I formed.
[Riol Warb Dwalkie has cast the rank-eight spell, Ice Lance.]
[Missha Karlstein has cast Enhance. The effect of any active skills increases in proportion to the user's Soul Power.]
[Missha Karlstein has cast Toxin Bestow.]
While we were taking a pounding from the front, Missha and Dwalkie worked to deal some damage, but there were no hits. With strength that exceeded that of regular humans and a high level of physical resistance, not even a mace could leave a scratch on them, not to mention that they turned into the undead and had gained resistance to poison and cold damage. This wouldn't be a good match for us.
Shatter! Whoosh!
Of course, Brown, who had experience fighting the undead, used his Molotov cocktails generously.
"How foolish!"
[Elisa Behenk has cast Fire of the Dead.]
Black flames flickered to life in the air and began to absorb all the surrounding fire.
God damn it.
This situation was turning into even more of a headache. The sacred power of fire, which was the undead's opposing attribute, was not working.
Do we have no other choice but to break through their cores?
The undead could not die while their core was still intact, even if their entire body got cut up. A skeleton's core was hidden between the ribs, and a death fiend's core was in the brain. So what about these guys, who had been brought back to life by the power of a dark god? The answer was simple.
"Missha, can you kill that woman?"
The core of a summoned was usually inside the summoner. In other words, if Elisa were killed, Hanson could also find the light and return to the bosom of the true god.
"Mm..."
"You don't have to kill it. Just doing some damage would make things a lot easier."
After a moment, Missha nodded. "I'll trrry." Immediately, she stepped off my shoulder, leaped high into the air, and flew at Elisa. The move was agile and flexible enough to outshine an elf. However, our opponent was not someone it would work on.
[Elisa Behenk has summoned a Shadow Guard.]
Shadowy soldiers rose from the ground and surrounded Elisa without leaving any openings. Even Missha wouldn't be able to break through that barricade and cut off Elisa's head any time soon.
However, there is no reason not to play the long game.
It was not like Hanson had weapons in their hands. Since we had already confiscated their weapons earlier, they were not a threat even in undead form. Hikurod and I could drag this out for as long as we wanted.
After making my decision, I redistributed our manpower. "Dwalkie, Brown, you two help Missha."
"But—"
"It's okay. The two of us will do whatever we can to hold the fort here."
"All right! Then I'll leave it to you!"
As soon as Dwalkie and Brown joined in, the tide slowly began to turn.
Of course, the Shadow Guards regenerated as soon as they were destroyed, and they even had the free time to throw various curses at us, but at a certain point, the large number of summoned Shadow Guards significantly decreased.
"Looks like she's slowly running out of steam! Stay strong!"
Even though she worshiped an evil god, there was a limit to Elisa's power. Perhaps she hadn't expected to end up in this situation.
"Damn... you... all!" Finding herself forced to play defense apparently startled Elisa, and she started shaking in anger. She seemed to still have a survival instinct, though, because she clenched her jaw and quietly muttered, "I will not forget... this humiliation..."
The number of Shadow Guards had decreased over twenty minutes, leaving fewer than five. Realizing what she was about to do, I loudly blurted, "What? Fuck, no!"
We're so close to catching you, where are you going?!
I pushed aside Hanson, who had been on me the entire battle, and ran at her with all my might.
[Elisa Behenk has cast Spiritization.]
Soon, Elisa's body turned translucent and floated into the air. In that state, she paused to look around at us. "You will never... return... alive." Then she flew into the darkness in the distance.
Whiiip!
I let out a big sigh as I looked out in that direction like a dog who had just been chasing a chicken. "Fuck..."
The boss monster we were so close to taking down had escaped, armed with a grudge against us.