What Are You Saying?
Theo’s shadow greatsword exploded, and the eyeball undead’s flesh burst like fireworks, raining down in chunks.
The dual magic of purification and flame worked even on special entities.
Still, the sight made him frown.
Your Hunter level has increased.
You have acquired 5 points.
Remaining points: 24
The Ring of Purification has been destroyed.
Crack.
“Effect’s worn off, huh?”
Theo pulled a fresh Ring of Purification from his pack and slipped it on, then checked his body.
The level-up was encouraging.
But every joint creaked and his muscles ached.
He had trained, yet he was still far from enough.
“At least it worked. I was worried it wouldn’t.”
He replayed the fight quickly in his mind.
Plenty to reflect on.
The biggest problem was fighting too emotionally.
“Using my body still isn’t feasible. Moving like this after just that much effort…”
It was unsatisfying.
Compared to his hunter days, his movements were sorely lacking.
Still, he felt he would improve with time.
“Theo-nim! Potion! Here’s a potion!”
Lena came running with recovery potions.
Every single one was high-grade.
She started splashing them over the acid burns covering his body.
Even with the Steel Skin potion, the damage remained.
The acid was vicious.
“High-grade… You don’t even hesitate to use them.”
“Why would I hesitate? Your body getting hurt is far more wasteful!”
“Well, you’re not wrong. I can always make more potions.”
Good thing he had learned the recipe from Stein.
Stein never actually taught him, but that was beside the point.
Sizzle—
The potion soaked into the wounds and began closing them rapidly.
Since the acid exposure was recent, recovery was still possible.
“The holy knight…”
He wasn’t sure about her condition.
Theo approached carefully, keeping his guard up in case the undead transformation had finished.
“Name.”
He asked lightly.
Yet something was clearly wrong with the holy knight.
Moreover—
“She was a woman?”
He hadn’t noticed because of her hoarse voice and middle-aged manner of speech.
Gender didn’t matter, but her expression was the real problem.
She looked completely entranced.
“Lena…”
Theo signaled her with his eyes.
They might have to put an arrow through the woman’s head.
A clean death was better than suffering.
But then—
“Pe… tra. I am Petra. O holy Apostle of light.”
“What the hell is she saying? Is she hallucinating?”
“Her mind seems to be drifting… but at least she hasn’t turned undead yet!”
Lena was right.
The woman had given her name.
She still had enough presence of mind to answer.
That meant there was hope.
Theo began pouring high-grade potions over her.
He even cast Touch of Purification and Resonance of Antidote directly, tending to Petra’s wounds with magic.
“Theo-nim! I’ll check if there’s anything useful on the corpse.”
While he treated the knight, Lena quickly began sorting through the eyeball undead’s remains.
In the meantime, Theo bandaged Petra’s wounds and performed emergency first aid.
It reminded him of when he first met Lena.
“Lena was cured, but… I can’t guarantee the same for Petra.”
As he focused on treating her, a new message appeared.
The system seemed to have grown stronger.
Minion Petra’s information has been updated.
Wound treatment progress: 72%
Undead transformation in progress: 46%
Minion Petra’s loyalty has increased by +1.
Minion Petra’s loyalty has exceeded a certain threshold.
The loyalty increase is unusually rapid.
Minion Petra has come to blindly trust the target.
Minion Loyalty
1. Lena: 14
2. Camilla (Obsession): 52
3. Petra (Blind Faith): 56
4. Unregistered [Hunter Points]
“Why is she like this too? Is there a bug in the system?”
After Camilla’s obsession came Petra’s blind faith.
And all he had done was pour potions on her.
He had no idea what triggered such extreme loyalty.
But that wasn’t the urgent problem right now.
Petra’s symptoms were severe.
The undead transformation wasn’t stopping.
The more he treated her, the worse the side effects became.
Minion Petra’s information has been updated.
Wound treatment progress: 70%
Undead transformation in progress: 47%
“The more I purify her… the wounds won’t close. The treatment progress is dropping? And the undead progress is rising?”
It seemed to be a side effect of the undead transformation.
He couldn’t continue treatment like this.
It was beyond his abilities.
Unless some renowned high priest showed up.
“O Apostle… I am… khh! Already satisfied.”
Even high-grade potions couldn’t heal her wounds.
The outcome was clear.
She was slowly walking toward death.
Whether death or the undead transformation came first, neither was good.
Both Theo and Petra herself understood that.
Yet Petra wore an ecstatic expression and muttered nonsense.
This was not normal.
“Just one sword… that is all I need, O Apostle.”
With great effort, Petra forced herself upright.
Even while limping, she stood, walked, and knelt on one knee before him.
“What are you doing? Get a hold of yourself!”
She didn’t seem fully conscious, but her next words proved otherwise.
“My body is already too late. You must know that as well, Apostle, but…”
Petra paused to catch her breath.
Her voice was rough, as if blood was rising in her throat.
“My comrades… my order members… are in the hands of those filthy creatures. Please grant them eternal rest… with my own hands, kuhk!”
She coughed up blood before finishing.
But her eyes were alive.
Red and bloodshot, they looked only toward one place beyond death.
His heart raced, but he hated that look.
It was the steady gaze of someone who had already accepted death.
“This is annoying.”
Facing those eyes brought back memories of his hunter days.
Hunters who smiled and accepted death even while knowing it was meaningless.
Because of those meaningless deaths, he had lived.
Humanity’s final defensive line had held for five more years.
Petra’s eyes held the same look as those hunters back then.
“This sucks.”
The situation was messed up.
He had thought something like this might happen.
Seeing Petra calmly accept death made irritation surge for no reason.
And another message appeared.
The Lich has begun moving on the third underground floor.
Massive undead movement detected.
Minion Camilla has begun searching for the Life Vessel.
Movement information has been updated on the map.
More detailed information can be obtained by adding Soul Tracking Dolls and Information Gathering Dolls.
Minion Petra undead transformation progress: 49%
Even now, Petra’s transformation continued.
There was no time.
The Lich had started moving.
He had to choose.
“At the very least… I should let her fight.”
He wanted to grant Petra’s final wish.
To die fighting.
To die as a human.
If that was what she wanted, prosthetics wouldn’t be enough.
“I might have to risk my life too… but what choice do I have? I’ll have to accept that much.”
According to the system, Petra was his minion.
So he could trust the system.
Just as he made his decision, Lena also began preparing.
She had gathered several items from the eyeball undead’s corpse.
Lena never disappointed him.
◈ Crystallized unstable optic nerve mana
◈ Tissue mixed with acid and necromantic mana
◈ Core containing condensed undead abilities
Without reading them in detail, he could tell these materials would produce something interesting.
While organizing the items, Lena quickly prepared for battle.
Seeing her calm demeanor helped steady his own heart.
She was the one who kept him grounded in moments like this.
He had almost repeated the mistake of acting on emotion.
“The choice is hers, so there’s nothing for me to worry about.”
He organized his thoughts and pulled an item from the depths of his spatial pack.
Perhaps this item could fulfill Petra’s wish.
No— it would definitely fulfill it.
The problem was what came after.
“O Apostle… th-this is?”
“See for yourself.”
“Letters… appearing before my eyes… Ahh! O my Apostle! Such a blessing for someone as unworthy as me!”
Minion Petra’s loyalty has increased by +1.
He shared the message with Petra.
The rapid loyalty increase was a problem, but a minor one right now.
Petra read the effects of the Last Magic Armor.
She showed no hesitation.
“Thank you, O Apostle! For granting me this opportunity… Ahh! O Seras!”
He still didn’t understand why she kept calling him Apostle or invoking Seras.
But that wasn’t important.
He asked directly.
“Will you wear it? I can’t guarantee what happens afterward.”
“If this is the opportunity given to me, then yes! I must wear it!”
“Umm… Theo-nim, will this be okay?”
Lena voiced her unease.
Petra, still coughing blood, glared at her with fierce eyes.
“How insolent! You frail wench! How dare you look upon the glorious opportunity granted by the Apostle with eyes of doubt! Step back, unbeliever!”
Petra’s energy exploded.
At least she still had strength left.
But the hierarchy needed to be corrected.
“Petra, shut up. Don’t speak to Lena like that. And don’t call anyone an unbeliever in front of me. Got it?”
“My apologies. From your perspective, everyone is merely a slave to unbelief… I was short-sighted, O Apostle.”
“No, that’s not what I meant.”
Before he could say more, Petra bowed respectfully to Lena.
What happened to the woman who had just been coughing blood while calling her an unbeliever?
“You have walked alongside the Apostle longer than I and overcome hardships. I failed to recognize your noble stature. Please forgive this lowly one, Lady Lena.”
Lena glanced at Theo.
He only shrugged.
Petra’s personality seemed to swing between extremes.
Despite his unease, he equipped the Last Magic Armor on her.
There was nothing to equip.
The armor moved on its own, wrapping around Petra’s body the moment it touched her.
Clack-clack-clack—
In that instant, the Last Magic Armor engulfed Petra, covering her entire body.
It tightened and adjusted its size automatically.
A highly desirable function.
At that moment—
Inventor’s Insight has been activated.
Auto-size adjustment function discovered.
The mana circuit of the auto-size adjustment function has been diagrammed.
“Diagram of the mana circuit?”
The system’s strengthening seemed to have added convenience features.
This would further reduce crafting time and increase stability.
Then, the moment Petra finished equipping the armor, another message appeared.
Minion Petra has acquired the title ‘Holy Knight Who Rejected Death.’
“A title? Minions can get titles too?”
Just as he was about to check the unexpected message—
“Who dares—!”
The Lich revealed itself.
It seemed quite enraged upon seeing the remains of the eyeball undead.
At the same time, the passage on the second floor was packed with undead.
“T-Theo-nim…”
Lena’s voice trembled at the sheer number.
But mana exploded beside her.
A violet bullet—no, a shell—shot toward the undead and exploded.
“I’ll kill them… Every last one of them!”
Petra, now wearing the Last Magic Armor, charged the moment she saw the undead.
A knight without a sword, bare-handed.
The problem was that Petra began tearing the undead apart with her bare hands.
Clad in the Last Magic Armor, she literally started ripping the undead to pieces with her hands.