They were in the same kind of chamber as where they first encountered the undead drake. It was a large, dome-shaped structure, with a floor made of packed soil where the same kind of ghostly purple light was emitted. He had become quite familiar with the feeling after all the time he had spent fighting with the undead underground, so it was no longer as unnerving as before. But it still induced a strong sense of dread from within.

He half-expected the same undead drake to appear once again. If it did, then it would be a very troublesome opponent, especially since… it looked like Soleil wasn’t going to be of much help anymore.

Her appearance caused his heart to sink. Were they too late? The amount of miasma inside the caverns was extremely thick. Previously, when they had first delved into what they had thought was a tomb-type dungeon, Soleil had to wear protective clothing on her face to avoid having their fluids enter her nose or mouth. But of course, a bite was a completely different thing altogether. Once one was bitten by a zombie, it was over for them unless they were able to purify the wounded area with holy water before the person turned.

Before the person turned… huh?

He turned towards the figure at the other end of the chamber. And, he felt his blood boil. His grip on his sword tightened. From that distance, he could easily–

“Easy, dude.” A soft voice suddenly called out to him. “I… don’t think he’s that wolfkin you know.”

“What makes you say that?”

“I don’t know. It just doesn’t seem right. But… that thing gives off a different smell.”

Smell? What the hell was she talking about? He tried to ask, but he received no reply in return. She likely wasn’t sure enough to say much either.

And as for Soleil…

“...”

She was simply standing there, lifeless, broken. The sight of such an energetic, outgoing girl reduced to a battered undead messed him up.

He shook his head. He needed to get those thoughts out. While he was only partly successful, he was at least able to calm down well enough to focus on something else. So, he turned his eyes to his “guide”.

Spear was standing on her tiptoes, hopping in place. He recognized it from his own experience that she was preparing herself to move at a moment’s notice. For a caster-type like her, it was a strange action to take. But after just an hour of fighting with her, he quickly learned what made her special.

If Soleil was like a bulldozer, then Spear was a castle. As long as she was moving forward, nothing could hurt her. The way she was able to block Soleil’s punch, which could have easily dug a crater on the ground, by simply taking one step forward showed just how dominant her defensive ability was.

Though, he had no idea how she could do that.

“Eyes forward, boy. Your friend is not who you’re supposed to confront. Not now.”

She stared down at her weapon, a floating triangular mirror that showed the fates of people as stars in the sky. And then, she frowned.

“Necromancer. You may talk. Quickly do so, before I “guide” ourselves to your end.”

She called the attention of their enemy, beckoning him to speak. Her voice was full of her usual arrogance, which would undoubtedly enrage, or perhaps amuse anybody in the opposite party’s shoes.

But instead of a reply, Matthias once again felt the ground tremble. In an instant, Soleil had closed the distance between her and Spear before delivering another crushing blow with her fist. And yet, despite the insane speed she displayed, Spear already had one foot forward by that time.

Another explosion. It was much stronger than before. Matthias was almost blown away from just the shockwave that the impact had generated. And though he was able to catch himself by digging down on the ground with his sword, the cave itself wasn’t as lucky. Large pieces of rock and soil fell from above, which created a landscape of ruin across the entire chamber. A few unfortunate undead had even been gouged from where they had been buried within the ceiling before landing on the ground with an audible squelch.

When Matthias opened his eyes, he saw the devastation Soleil’s attack had made. It hollowed out the surrounding floor. A perfect semi-circle had formed around him, starting from where Spear stood and eventually evening out a distance away.

He swallowed hard. Could he defend against such an attack?

“...”

“Soleil” disengaged again. Though she wasn’t able to show any facial expressions, Spear could. And her face told volumes about their predicament.

“Well? Are you convinced now?”

A mocking smile twisted her face. Even though she was small in stature, her head was tilted in such a way that made her look like she was looking down on them. And despite having to deal with two blows from Soleil, Spear was still not paying much mind to her, which clearly displayed her confidence.

It worked.

“You…” the figure croaked. “A “Stargazer”? I thought you and your kind… have all but disappeared already–”

“Hkyl’la. Necromancer. We are here to talk about you. Not me.”

“...”

Even from afar, Matthias could feel the displeasure from the opposite party. Truly, Spear had a way with words. She was even able to throw in an Elvish curse in there, which to his knowledge meant something similar to “someone who can’t follow a conversation”, but in a very derogatory way since it also implied that that someone was a “moron” or “lacked a brain”. She then followed it up with the standard language used throughout the continent; something anybody who lived there would understand.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Sure enough, she was able to elicit another response that didn’t involve retaliation.

“... Very well. Tell me, then. What do you need to know? I at least owe you one answer for reaching here… before you join the dead,”

“Good. That’s enough. For now. We can always pry anything else we need before you die, anyway.” Then, Spear jerked her head to the side and called Matthias’ attention. “Boy. Ask your piece. After that, we fight.”

Matthias was shocked at the pace that everything around him was moving at. Even right on the onset, without even exchanging hostile words or information, before anybody could make eye contact, the enemy had already tried to eliminate them. And when Spear tried to engage in a conversation, she was met with immediate retaliation. He quickly realized that the other party wasn’t the type to gloat about his work, unlike what most television shows he had watched during his previous life. Then again, if everybody on TV was like that, then the ending wouldn’t have any development.

And that development is important for the heroes of the story. Usually, it would point them towards their next destination. After all, there could be no victory in stagnation. The protagonist must seek troubles to gain experience, and eventually discover the end of his road. Thus, being given only one opportunity to pry some information from the enemy troubled him greatly. There were too many things to ask. He had a feeling that there wouldn’t be a time when another exposition could happen. Real life wasn’t that novelesque. Considering he had sicced Soleil at them with the full intention of killing them, then he felt no doubt about that.

So, what should he do? He was presented with an opportunity to get free information from an enemy capable of orchestrating such a large-scale event. Even knowing what his reasons were could shed some light to some unknown darkness hiding in that world’s shadow. Or perhaps he could ask who he was. Though he looked exactly like Tolg, Manna didn’t think he was. But either question served the same purpose. And as someone who aspired to become a renowned hero and fight the demon lord, that was the kind of opportunity he shouldn’t squander.

Then, he felt a hand squeeze his. Though he couldn’t see the source of the hand, he did feel the owner’s anxiety, fear and concern. She said no words or made any signals. But the cold of her trembling fingers told him all he needed to know.

It was likely Spear’s intention to guide him into asking that question when she said that they could just ask the enemy whatever they wanted once he was beaten. Once he realized that, he felt very grateful.

He looked towards Soleil. Or at least, what was left of her. Again, he felt his heart ache. But through the pain, he realized what he needed to do.

So he steeled his resolve… and placed his personal regrets at the back of his mind. He held Manna’s hand to reassure her and took a deep breath.

“Necromancer!’’ he yelled, as he was still unsure of the other person’s identity. “Since when was… my friend turned into this?”

Normally, there was no way to reverse the effects of zombification once it had finished. Perhaps only the Saint could do it; he wasn’t so sure about that either. But what he was sure about… was that Soleil’s left arm had always been like that.

The puzzle pieces somehow clicked. Why was she always drinking holy water? Why was her left always bandaged? Why would she resort to kicks when they fought the zombie drake, while the current one used punches? Her arm had always been rotting. It must have something to do with her story back during their camping trip, when she told them about how her arm had been severed. But the dungeon must have made the process accelerate. That must have been why she burned through their stock of holy water that time. She drank holy water, something that was usually applied topically, to stymie the rot, which she hid underneath layers of bandages.

What did that imply? Matthias had a hunch. And he hoped that he was right. Because if he was–

Then she could still be saved.

“Hmph. You ask that now, when it is already too late? You waste your time. But, very well. It’s only been half an hour since then. Now–”

“Manna!”

Right as he shouted her name, Matthias put as much magic into his legs and dashed towards Soleil. While his speed was incomparable to hers, he had hoped that interrupting the speech of the one who was controlling her would provide him a window to act with initiative. And with Manna’s aid, it would be a two-pronged attack that targeted both of them at the same time.

He did not need to tell Manna what she needed to do. He trusted that she knew exactly what he had planned without having to put it into words.

Sure enough, Soleil, who had been reduced to a puppet, couldn’t react in time. Or perhaps, she wasn’t even able to. In nearly an instant, Matthias had forced her within his striking distance.

If it was her usual self, she wouldn’t have allowed him to remain at such a disadvantageous range for too long. Fighting her was an insurmountable wall. But that was irrelevant. What he was facing may have her appearance and strength, but that was it.

She wasn’t the Soleil he knew.

He could win.

“Flash!”

Demon Culling’s blade erupted, turning the entire chamber into a pure white backdrop. All sight was reduced to chalk, and for a brief moment in time, a silence different from deathly stillness that had been oppressing them took over. It hushed all impurities in that world of white, and destroyed all magic that its light touched.

The undead that had fallen from the ceiling were instantly purified. The ground returned to simply being packed soil. And most importantly…

Soleil shielded her eyes. Just like back then.

Matthias, who had protected his sight in advance, pulled out several wooden vials from his pocket. Needless to say, they contained holy water, which had been distributed to the adventurers during the defense of the town. He didn’t have time to open them up, so he simply took a chance and shoved all of them into Soleil’s partially-opened mouth. If his luck was good, then the feeling of living flesh against her mouth would stimulate her instincts as an undead and make her clamp her jaws shut.

And it did. The moment he felt her teeth clamp down, he quickly removed his hand and jumped back.

By that time, the flash of light’s effects had subsided, and he could see the chamber once again. Because of Demon Culling’s effects, the ground had lost the purple glow it had. The only thing that remained that provided them with illumination was the glowstone Matthias had tied to his belt.

A tense moment passed. He kept his guard as he watched Soleil, hoping that several doses of holy water would work.

He believed that it would. After all, if Soleil had been carrying on for over a year while using a dead arm while having to drink holy water, of all things, to maintain it, then that meant that the arm itself was either already undead, or close to becoming one. Otherwise, she would have been taking medicine or getting physical treatment instead for something as relatively normal as necrosis. But still, she was attached to that arm. Quite frankly, that should be much worse than being bitten.

The hint was in the time given when she was “turned”. He mentioned that it had only been done “half an hour ago.” That meant that, even without any holy water, Soleil had been normal for a long time with a semi-undead arm. When he was told that she was “sick”, it must have been due to her battling against the conversion.

All-in-all, Matthias could only think of one reason.

Soleil was somehow resistant to becoming an undead.

As for why that was so, he had all the time in the world to figure it out after everything was over. That was, if his guess was right.

So, he waited. It was only for a short time, but for him, it felt like many, many hours. Meanwhile, he prayed to the god that gave him a second life to save his friend. The last thing he wanted to do was to kill a friend.

“Soleil” stirred. He swallowed hard–and then sighed.

“Aaaa… Ha… L… lea… der…?”

God had answered his prayers.