The Strange Balance
“Whoa! Master! You made that, right? What is it? Mine don’t explode like that! Teach me how to make ones that do!”
“Yeah, no.”
“Aww, why not! Those are way more convenient! Throw and boom! Hee-hee. But that guy... didn’t die, huh?”
Camilla eyed the exploding greatsword with envy.
She even seemed a bit surprised watching Petra, the holy knight.
Camilla had been too focused on finding the Life Vessel to grasp the full situation.
“Theo-nim did heal her, but... I’m not sure how she’ll turn out.”
“Huh? Why? Wait, why would Master heal some half-undead human like that?”
“Well, you see...”
Lena began explaining to Camilla.
Meanwhile, Petra started hunting down the remaining undead one by one, crushing them barehanded.
Her battle wasn’t over yet.
“Kuh-huh, kill... all of you... die... ku-huh-huh!”
Petra’s voice dripped with madness.
As if she felt no joy from toppling the lich, no satisfaction from successful revenge.
She simply bared her sharp fangs at the enemy.
“Hey, that bitch dares...”
Camilla reacted first to the hostility.
Petra’s eyes locked onto our group.
In that instant.
“Lena-unnie! She’s targeting Master! Shoot her! I can’t block her alone! That crazy bitch dares!”
A purple human cannonball charged straight at us.
Petra barreled toward me in a straight line.
“Filthy things, I’ll rip you all to shreds! Kee-hee-hee!”
Like a beast spewing pure hatred, she closed the distance in an instant.
Thwoooong—
Shweeeee—
Lena fired her long-range sniping Sunogi without hesitation.
Petra was my minion now, but she had no connection to Lena or Camilla.
The two showed no mercy.
But the Last Magic Armor’s performance—or rather, Petra’s skill wearing it—was formidable.
The purple Last Magic Armor gleamed.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwang!
The purple trajectory halted briefly.
The sniping arrow from the Sunogi sparked flames in a gruesome display, but it failed to pierce.
‘Catch... that?’
Crack—
The sound of the arrow shaft snapping.
Petra had caught the sniping arrow in her hand.
An arrow with enough impact to launch a charging warhorse knight into the air.
She caught it.
Before my surprise could fade.
Darkness rippled in Petra’s blind spot.
Screee—
A black scythe aimed for Petra’s neck.
Camilla’s shadow-forged scythe.
Sparks flew.
Instead of offering her neck, Petra thrust out her shoulder to block, then seized Camilla’s head in turn.
“Ugh... you undead bitch!”
“Die... huh?”
“Me? Why? I don’t wanna die! The half-undead human’s the one who should!”
Even with her head gripped, Camilla taunted on.
Such provocation meant nothing to Petra now.
Crack—
Petra squeezed her grip.
As if crushing an undead’s skull.
But the Camilla in Petra’s hand simply scattered like mist.
“You’re the one dying!”
Camilla reappeared a beat earlier behind Petra’s back.
What Petra held was merely Camilla’s shadow.
She’d lured carelessness to exploit the opening.
Stab-stab-stab-stab-stab—
Camilla drove black shadow blades into the faint seams of the Last Magic Armor.
All five at once.
Yet Petra didn’t fall.
“Typical half-undead nonsense...”
Shweeeee—
In Camilla’s defenseless moment, Lena’s arrow flew again.
This one aimed squarely at Petra’s head.
Flash—
Petra retreated to dodge.
Camilla, refusing to yield ground, pressed her lethal assault into the gap.
Their biting exchange continued.
No room to intervene amid the flurry of blows.
‘If Petra had a weapon... that would’ve been dangerous.’
Good thing the greatsword had exploded, leaving her empty-handed.
Had Petra wielded that greatsword, it could’ve gone south.
Minion Petra's Madness Level has risen abnormally.
The Last Magic Armor amplifies Petra's madness.
Petra's reason is paralyzed.
The Last Magic Armor further amplifies combat power.
I couldn’t just watch any longer.
The longer the fight dragged, the worse for us.
The Last Magic Armor grew stronger over time.
“Master! Lena-unnie! Run! I can’t hold her much longer!”
Camilla was being pushed back.
Even with Lena creating openings, Petra was gaining the upper hand.
“Filthy... filthy things! Trying to defile the Apostle! You need purification. Everything needs it! Die and be purified! I’ll tear you all apart!”
“Petra! Snap out of it! You’re going to abandon your comrades like this?!”
“Com... rades? Ahh... they’re dead. All dead! I’ll kill them all! Kraaah!”
Petra let out a bizarre cry.
Even as she lunged to kill me, her ravings showed her mind was in peril.
Then the messages appeared.
The minion system had activated.
Master Theo's command is strongly conveyed to the minion.
Minion Protection Protocol activated.
Attempting forced calming of Minion Petra.
Petra’s movements stuttered.
A fleeting hesitation.
Lena and Camilla wouldn’t miss it.
Shweeeee—
“Die, you bitch! Just drop dead!”
But Petra dodged the arrow and seized Camilla’s neck at the same time.
Her speed had increased.
“Let go! Let go of me! Master! Run... away!”
This wasn’t Camilla’s shadow.
“Petra! Snap out of it!”
My final attempt.
My spell prep was complete too.
If Petra wouldn’t come to her senses, I had no choice.
I couldn’t let Camilla die to save Petra.
“Kuh... my, my head... cough!”
Petra reacted to my voice.
She clutched her head.
Camilla slipped free from her grasp.
I stopped Camilla as she poised to strike again.
“Camilla! Back off!”
“B-but...”
“She’s reacting. Just... wait a little.”
Camilla’s face soured, but she melted into the shadows obediently.
At the same time, she wove black shadow threads around the kneeling, head-clutching Petra.
Ready to slit her throat at the flick of a finger.
“A-Apostle?”
Contrary to Camilla’s worries, the system’s effect was clear.
Petra’s pupils trembled.
The madness-clouded glare began to clear.
“Coming to your senses? Is your faith so weak it shakes from some armor? Get a grip!”
I taunted the still-dazed Petra to test her.
To see if she’d lose reason again.
“F-Forgive me, O Apostle. I have shown disgrace.”
I sighed in relief at Petra’s words.
But it wasn’t over.
Petra’s body was still mid-undead transformation.
I needed to assess.
Minion Petra has stabilized.
Blessed Vitality, Undead Death Mana, and the Last Magic Armor's Madness have reached a standoff.
Undead Transformation Progress: 49%
The message was hopeful.
Undead progress hadn’t advanced even during the lich fight.
It held steady.
‘Never imagined this...’
From the message, it seemed the Last Magic Armor’s effect.
Or a fluke.
The Last Magic Armor brimmed with murderous madness and self-repaired on the wearer’s vitality—an aberrant suit.
A mass of contradictions itself.
But those contradictions had saved Petra.
‘Blessed vitality checks the undead death mana, and the armor’s aura joins in...’
Death mana had been devouring vitality.
Then madness crashed in.
Vitality ignored it, drawing on stronger death mana instead.
Plus, the Last Magic Armor tapped vitality when it brimmed.
Thanks to the armor, Petra’s body had struck a bizarre balance.
A three-way standoff.
None could fully dominate—a strange equilibrium.
‘Handling the armor’s madness is a whole other issue, though...’
She might lose it occasionally.
But the minion system was there.
I had to trust it.
“The lich...”
“Smashed. No, you smashed it.”
“That... really happened? Not a dream? I really... with my own hands, that vile lich!”
Petra finally seemed to grasp the situation.
She remembered the battle itself.
Camilla, judging things calm, slunk from the shadows with a grumble.
“Hmph, Master! Kill her! We don’t need undead! Right, Lena-unnie?”
“Quit whining and come here. Time for potions.”
“Waaah, Lena-unnie, you gotta take my side! What if she flips out again?”
Camilla meant well, worrying for me.
But Petra was no ordinary foe either.
“Worry not, little one. Faith conquers mere madness.”
“L-Little one? Master! Look at her! She’s still nuts! Calling me little? Tch, how am I little? If it’s too much trouble, I’ll kill her for you!”
“Speak not irreverently to the Apostle. There’s no order to greeting Goddess Seras.”
“Apostle? What’s that? No apostle here! Just Master and Lena-unnie!”
“Tsk tsk, sin of blindness before your eyes, little one.”
Camilla silently forged a scythe from the shadows at Petra’s words.
I couldn’t let it escalate.
“Both of you, stop. Camilla, no more kill talk. Petra, drop the apostle nonsense.”
Stepping in ended their bickering.
But the vibe suggested another round someday.
‘Loyalty off the charts causing clashes?’
Both exceeded 50 loyalty easily.
Lena was normal.
Over 50 was abnormal.
Maybe they recognized kindred spirits.
‘Like... tribal hatred?’
I couldn’t help a chuckle.
How’d we end up here?
“Ow ow ow! Lena-unnie, gently! It hurts!”
“Hmm, I concur with the little one, Lena. Half-undead I may be... but your potions sting.”
“Why’s Lena-unnie ‘Lena’ and I’m ‘little one’? Huh? Want me to send you to Seras?”
“Both of you, quiet! Adults can’t handle this? Just endure it!”
Even tending wounds, they squabbled.
Fortunately, Lena managed them well.
At least Petra’s balance with the armor allowed some healing.
Watching her, I wondered why the holy knights came here.
“Petra, why’d the holy knights come here? After Magrid’s Legacy like the lich?”
Petra’s face darkened.
She weighed whether to speak.
But decided quickly.
“No secrets from the Apostle. Truth is, we sought a technique.”
“Technique? Holy knights after tech? From Magrid’s Legacy?”
“A special one. Recorded as possible only by Magrid’s legendary artisans.”
A technique only Magrid could achieve.
Intriguing as a crafter.
But her next words made me doubt my ears.
“The technique to repair the holy sword—the church’s broken holy sword.”
“...What broke? The holy sword?”
“Yes, the holy sword. It is broken.”
I’d heard a church secret I shouldn’t have.