The Way to Prove It (9)

"...A rival player."

I didn’t even need to look at the quest that had just appeared to know it. By instinct alone, I was certain the enemy—who showed open hostility toward Lena and the rest of my forces—was the same kind of being as I was.

And once again, I was the one who had been challenged first. In PvP, the moment I refused, it would be no different from losing.

"No, but why is it always the other side that starts first...? No, I guess that makes sense."

"Indeed. Each sovereign has a different nature, and that is all it amounts to. You can easily obtain and raise troops loyal only to you, but the larger they grow, the harder it becomes to hide what they are."

I felt a flicker of grievance, but Agares wasn’t wrong. It was simply the price of my strength.

"Now then, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠make your choice. The opponent controlling that unidentified monster already knows some of your information, and they’re after Lena."

It was the most desperate kind of moment—the hideous creature sewn together from corpses was already clashing with Lena, and as always, the choice had been handed to me.

Should I let Lena keep fighting, or order her to retreat? The enemy who had attacked first must have done so because they were confident in their own strength.

So what I needed now was information. I needed to know what kind of power they possessed, and what purpose lay behind this attack on Lena.

At moments like this, the ability that had been steadily upgraded and invested in paid off in a major way: Insight. Literally, the power to see through things.

Now that I had information about the nature of the enemy’s power, I could decide what to do with it.

[3. Hold and counterattack]

"Your choice is correct. But carrying it out is the job of your apostle. Can she do it?"

Agares said my decision was the right one. But as he’d said, the one who had to carry it out was my unit on the screen.

"...Lena will. No matter what it takes."

I gave a bitter smile. I didn’t worry about the others, but especially not Lena. She would truly do whatever it took. She would obey my order, no matter the cost.

Her faith in me was almost unnerving in its purity. To be honest, it was the first time in my life anyone had trusted me like that, so I trusted her back.

"Lena’s mana is going berserk. She’s sensed your intent."

And just as I expected, Lena threw everything she had into carrying out my command.

***

"Ah, ahhh!"

Her limbs trembled. Her muscles spasmed as though they might burst at any moment, mana pounding wildly through her body.

And yet Lena gritted her teeth until they bled and forced herself to endure the enemy’s attack by sheer force.

He trusted me and left this to me.

The moment there was a brief opening, Lena swung the spear in her hand and drew it across the enemy’s body. But the corpse golem, whose mana was surging even more violently than hers, deflected the blow and charged at her again like a mad thing.

So I absolutely have to...

Lena snapped her black eyes wide, red pupils glinting fiercely, and watched as the minions that had lunged in her place were cut to pieces by the enemy’s brutal sword strike and dropped lifeless to the ground. Then she leaped into the air.

It was a chance bought by sacrificing every other soldier. She had to survive, hold on, and win. Lena believed that was her duty—her reason for existing.

"That damned insect... looks like she still wants to fight. Kill her no matter what!"

Watching the scene, the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠skeleton controlling the corpse golem clicked its tongue in frustration, irritated that it had failed to catch Lena in one blow, and drove the golem harder.

But Lena, with both feet planted firmly against the ground-facing enemy, kept leaping in, dodging at the last second, and deliberately dragged out the fight as though she were struggling just to buy time.

"Tch... this is wasting even more time, but there’s no helping it."

At last, the skeleton, now desperate, made its gamble. It drove the corpse golem and forced the already-rampaging mana to explode all at once.

"Kyaaah!"

Lena had braced herself for a piercing wound, but the thick arm that had wrapped around the shaft of her spear suddenly swelled and burst apart. She was caught in the explosion and swept up in it.

"Hurry! Finish her off, now!"

The skeleton lashed the collapsing corpse golem into attacking Lena, who had been sent crashing to the ground.

"Ghk..."

The golem thundered forward and trampled Lena’s back as she struggled on the ground, forcing open her shell and tearing away the transparent, paper-thin wings that had been neatly folded beneath it.

Her body could barely feel pain, but the shock was real. Lena’s eyes flew wide as she trembled at the sensation of one of her own organs being ripped away wholesale.

"Kill her!"

Convinced Lena could no longer escape, the corpse golem picked up the sword in its remaining hand and aimed for her neck.

And at that instant, the order to kill her enemy fell upon her.

The situation was the worst possible. But she had been given a command, and it was her duty to carry it out. The method was something she had to figure out herself.

Spear.

Without the slightest hesitation, she stored her spear back inside her body. It was now the single remaining tentacle in her form, with the rest of them having withered away. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠That one tentacle, free to move through her body’s interior, pierced out through a place other than the hand she usually used.

"Krrk..."

The corpse golem failed to avoid the spear that burst through Lena’s back. The instant its neck was pierced, the golem’s body began collapsing rapidly from the shock, and the greatsword it had used to butcher cattle was never swung; instead, it slipped from its grasp and thudded uselessly into the side of her neck.

I... I did it.

Lena smiled faintly, spitting up dark blood. Though she had suffered injuries so severe she could no longer move, she had completed the mission she had been given.

That was enough, she thought.

"Ah."

But then, Lena failed to notice the presence approaching from behind her, a bloodied axe raised high.

"Leaving one body behind was the decisive move."

The skeleton, focusing every ounce of its mind on controlling the last surviving zombie, grinned as it looked at Lena’s ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠severed head rolling across the ground with a horrible sound.

"R-really, was that enough?"

Baron Bauts wiped the sweat from his brow and nervously watched the skeleton’s mood. The skeleton had gone berserk, and he had spent all his energy coming up with excuses to keep the others from entering this place.

"Of course. That Black Beetle they called so infamous, the Black Wasp, is dead now! Hah! I really do have foresight, don’t I? I should even save a replay of this..."

Whether the baron watched him anxiously or not, the skeleton burst into delighted laughter. By its calculations, it had eliminated one of the enemy’s key units and was now certain of victory.

"Then why isn’t the quest over?"

"How foolish. Check again. Did you truly kill your enemy?"

But soon the laughter stopped, and the voice audible only to the skeleton rebuked it instead. Only then did the skeleton panic and lean back toward the crystal ball to inspect the scene again.

"W-what is this?"

"What is it!?"

And immediately afterward, the skeleton froze solid. The baron could only fidget behind it, too afraid to come any closer.

"You’ve suffered a nasty fate, Lena."

Inside the crystal ball, beside the zombie holding the axe, a golden-haired woman appeared, her giant butterfly wings fluttering as she used the tentacles rising from the ground to carefully lift Lena’s severed face.

"You can tell, can’t you? Just how furious—and how sad—he is."

Karin said it while looking down at Lena’s head cradled in her arms. Lena’s colorless face had its eyes shut as though dead, but in truth she was still alive.

That was how tenacious Ascalas’s life force was.

"For now, this will have to do."

Karin pried open Lena’s mouth and delivered the essence she carried within her, feeding it into her through her own tongue. With that, Lena could keep clinging to life even after being decapitated.

"Heh. So we really did save her. Worth the trouble of running all the way here."

Robinson burst out of the forest, his massive body heaving as he swung a pair of claw-like weapons and blasted the axe-wielding zombie away in a single strike.

And they weren’t the only ones. Lark as well—as the entire forest trembled—an enormous army soon revealed itself here.

It was larger than the swarm of zombies that had attacked this place just moments before.

"He has declared war. On the humans... more precisely, on the unknown black magician who dared to try to defeat us by using humans as tools."

"Black magic, huh? I’ve only ever heard of that in legends."

"It is His firm and burning will that we hunt down that bastard who made the first move without knowing his place and tear him apart by any means necessary."

Karin, holding Lena’s head in her arms, hardened her expression and spoke to the countless forces gathering around them. In truth, she didn’t need to say any of it, but at the very least, it was effective in sharing the anger.

"Robinson, and Lark. You understand, don’t you? There’s no more hiding, no more restraint. Kill them. All of them. We are done staying in the shadows. We will show ourselves openly to this world."

"Hiding out and picking off fools who wandered too close was fun enough, but I guess that’s over now."

At Karin’s words, Robinson gave a snort of laughter. But even so, he had no hesitation, because he knew this was an absolute command from their sovereign—an order that could not be refused. Rather, he moved with an easy grace, as though this was exactly what he had expected all along.