Faster than a falcon.

Stronger than an ox.

Tougher than an elephant.

These were all comparisons Matthias felt were apt when describing Soleil’s battle prowess. Her abilities were nothing short of beastly.

His entire experience with fighting her before then were all friendly sparring sessions meant as training for him. As someone who was versed purely in physical combat, there was nobody better to seek mentorship from than her… and all she asked for in return was to be treated to meals. So facing her in that dark, dreadful cave was the first time he had to do so without her holding back.

And it went exactly as he expected.

He couldn’t even hear the whistling of the air. Only his eyes gave him notice as her fist traveled straight towards his gut. Fighting against inertia, he twisted his body aside to steer clear from its path.

The swing she made was wide. At first glance, it was full of openings. Though he knew they were all just a figment of his imagination, he still took the opportunity just in case his own mindset was working against him. And much to his surprise, he was right.

Soleil had no openings.

As he brought his sword down to her arm, she abruptly dropped to her knees and dove forward. And as she did, she, too, twisted her body to avoid his sword, while at the same time she raised her heel towards his face.

After he had already broken his balance to avoid her first punch, he was no longer in a position to do another stunt like that. By himself, there was no way he could avoid it given her speed and precision.

Darkness overtook him–and then light appeared once again.

“Thanks,”

“Sure thing,” a distorted voice replied.

He took a quick glance over where Soleil was and frowned. She was already standing up. An arrow was in her right hand; not through it. Even while locked in battle, Soleil was still able to catch the arrow Manna had shot at her from here she hid.

Without stopping to breathe, Matthias charged in again. Against someone like Soleil, it was mere folly to stand and wait for her to attack. Her specialty was in straight line motions where she could fully utilize her speed, power and durability. If there was one thing she lacked, though, it would be her skill. All of her attacks were… honest. She knew no feints and tricks. The best way to bridge the gap between them was to fight her head on at a range where he could swing his sword just outside the range of her limbs and prevent her from utilizing her charges. But even then, he found no success.

It was true that she could only perform simple attacks, but the difference between their physical abilities more than made up for that fact. Still, it was the only way he knew how.

There were only two things that allowed him to survive up until that point. The first was Manna’s invaluable support. Not only was she able to attack from difficult angles while being out of Soleil’s range, she was also able to come in and pull him out of trouble.

And then there was Soleil’s old weakness.

Matthias dug his right foot into the ground and mustered power into his knees. Then, he kicked off the ground and thrust his sword forward in a smooth motion.

Of course, Soleil easily avoided his attack. To someone as fast as she was, he might as well be an old man limping towards her. But stabbing her wasn’t his intention anyway. He just tried to make it look that way. Right as her eyes focused on the tip of his sword, he injected a burst of mana into it. In an instant, Demon Culling flashed white, blinding Soleil.

For some reason, or maybe because she was honest to a fault, she also had difficulty reading into those kinds of tricks.

With Soleil reeling from the flash, Matthias pulled his sword back and brought it down towards her left arm. At the same time, one of Manna’s giant arrows appeared from the dark and headed straight towards her right hand.

That was the plan at that moment. If they managed to compromise both limbs, then it would become… marginally easier to force Spear’s strange concoction into her mouth. But that was easier said than done. Even while blinded, Soleil possessed an otherworldly sixth sense. She was still able to both dodge his sword and catch Manna’s arrow.

The following exchange that occurred was basically a repeat of the previous, with Manna having to bail him out at the last moment.

They had already gone through that exchange four times. And while it was only “just” four times, the tension and frustration ate away at their nerves. They were quickly running out of patience, as evidenced by the fact that Soleil had managed to graze his ribs during the last round.

And man, did it hurt.

“It’s only a scratch, but it’s bleeding so much…”

Manna pulled herself out of the shadow momentarily to splash his wound with a potion. It quickly took effect, but the process was obviously stunted due to the density of miasma around them.

“Well, we don’t have a choice.”

Initially, their plan had been to attack both Soleil and the necromancer at the same time. But it only took them one round to realize that dividing themselves would lead to their deaths. Soleil could easily overpower Matthias without any support, while the necromancer simply hid behind a wall of bones and rotten flesh. And even when Matthias used Demon Culling’s effects on the necromancer’s magic, Soleil would defend her puppeteer from both his and Manna’s following attacks. Fortunately, the latter didn’t attack them as they fought Soleil. Instead, it looked like he was concentrating on controlling her. That time when she regained consciousness must have spooked him a little.

Well, of course, they had another plan up their sleeves. They were just looking for a opportunity to implement it.

And that brought about a bit of doubt in Matthias. If the necromancer was focusing on his grip on her, then would Spear’s mud-water still work?

He shook the thought out of his head. It’ll work, he told himself.

“Would be nice if something distracted that necromancer, though.”

True enough. The only benefit that they discovered when they split their attention was that Soleil seemed to react slightly slower while the necromancer was defending himself. But even so, she was still much faster than both of them.

“What about Spear?”

“Checked. Busy. No way she can help us.”

Taking advantage of a short lull in their engagement, Matthias shifted his eyes towards the corner of the gigantic chamber and saw Spear’s… “fight” against the skeletal drake. Instead of a battle, it was more fitting to call it a game of cat and mouse. The monster attacked wildly with every weapon at its disposal, from its claws, tail, teeth, and even its breath, minions and magic. However, Spear simply skipped away from everything it threw at her with the grace and speed of a swallow.

It almost looked like she was simply taking a stroll.

But it wasn’t like she “had the advantage”. One can summarize her actions as simply “running away”. Besides that one time where she attracted the monster’s aggro, she hadn’t attacked again. Or maybe it was that she couldn’t attack anymore?

Well, whatever. He had no time to worry about her. If she couldn’t help, then that was that.

Submitting himself to reality, Matthias and Manna continued their attacks. Each time they did, they changed their strategy a little, hoping to see some sort of flaw in Soleil or figure out a way to overcome her. While they were certainly pressed for time, they didn’t have any other option.

“Third-rank magic doesn’t work either.”

“She’s a monster,” Manna laughed tensely.

After their sixth round of attacks, Matthias started to use magic spells. He had initially been conserving all of his mana to use in physical augmentation, as he feared that he might be killed if he ever lost his ability to enhance himself. However, after several attempts to defeat her, he realized that they weren’t getting anywhere with trying to match her physical abilities.

Looking through Soleil’s figure, completely unharmed in the middle of a scorched ground with residual electricity, though, it seemed as if magic wasn’t effective either.

“... Is it just me, or is she getting stronger?”

Matthias laughed it off, saying, “No way. How could she get any stronger than that?”

There was a distinct possibility though, despite what he said. Perhaps it was because the difference between their abilities was so high that any increase on Soleil’s side was indistinguishable to his perceptions. That thought made him recoil a bit. He was supposed to be the hero, right? Why did someone else at his age have that much power?

But that train of thought was interrupted by an unexpected voice.

“You’re right. She is stronger.”

Their eyes turned to the necromancer, who had stopped whatever it was that he was doing to glare at them from afar.

“... I should have killed all of you from the start. Now I’m running late in destroying this entire town. But–”

As soon as he started talking, a thick cloud of dust enveloped his body. A brief silence enveloped the group as the visibility returned to both sides.

Soleil had dashed towards the necromancer and caught a small arrow right before it pierced the necromancer’s head.

“Tsk.”

Manna spat out in frustration. She had moved so quickly that Matthias barely saw the silhouette of her arrow as it shot out from behind him. But even that was caught by Soleil in a way that could even be called easy.

“... Cheeky brats. How dare you…?”

His words were laced in venom. He looked genuinely upset that he was interrupted. A row of sharp, half-rotted teeth bared themselves out of his twisted mouth as his mottled fur raised itself in rage.

On the other hand, Manna responded to him casually as if she was talking to a punk she ran into at the side of the road.

“What do you mean, “How dare you?”” she sneered. “It’s just a taste of your own medicine. How does it feel?”

“Tolg’s” face contorted even further in anger. He looked like he was on the verge of exploding from blood pressure. A dark aura that permeated the hair-raising purple light of their surroundings emanated from his body. Matthias could feel its effects even with the relatively large distance between them. It was like being suffocated by the air itself.

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But Manna, unfazed, continued to taunt him.

“Why are you so angry? Since you make it a point to interrupt others when they’re talking, you shouldn’t be so pissed when someone does it to you. Act more like your age, yeah? You’re easier to peel than old paint on the walls.”

Matthias had almost forgotten how provocative Manna was from his short time being the target of Spear’s verbal abuse. And it was working. Naturally, as the secret sub (in his thoughts) between the pair, Matthias kept his silence and focused on defending Manna if things suddenly went south.

“Quiet! I could kill you bo–”

Another arrow flew towards him before he could even gather his bearings. That time, it was Manna’s larger ones, and due to its mass, it actually managed to slip through Soleil’s fingers a bit before stopping a mere fraction of a centimeter away from his eye.

“No, you shut up. Somebody who hides behind a girl doesn’t have any right to talk, you know? Aren’t you a man? Or is your fur thicker than your brain?”

… The more he listened to Manna, the more he was sure that Spear had an extraordinary character to overpower the former with words alone. Fortunately, there was never a time when he had to suffer under the torture of her castigations. But, taking the opportunity to take a breather, or perhaps in fear for his mental health, he simply kept quiet and listened on.

The necromancer actually lasted for an admirable length of time trying to fight using words. Maybe it was due to the pride of the “strong” that he refused to give for such a long period. Of course, he was the loser of the battle. Obviously. Against someone who used both incitement and physical threats, anybody who was stubborn enough to rely only on harsh language could only bite the dust.

And the result was as both of them expected.

“Kill them.”

He gave the order with heavy, hateful words.

Soleil twitched slightly. There was a bit of delay before she reacted. Then, obediently, she crouched down into a three point stance. With both of her hands on the ground and her buttocks raised, she gathered so much power into her legs that the ground started to tremble. It was a stance that both Matthias and Manna had only seen once, but were all too familiar with. How could they forget when she made such a terrific first impression on them with it?

It was time. They nodded towards each other and held their breath.

As expected of Soleil, her speed when she made an earnest charge was like heaven and earth when compared to her usual movements. Even with Matthias’ augmented eyes, the velocity she achieved wasn’t any different from simply teleportation. And behind it was a kind of attack that left nothing alive in its wake short of true monsters. It was her certain-kill move…

And that was what both of them were waiting for.

Since they no longer cared about what information they could pull from the necromancer’s mouth, they sacrificed the prospect of a conversation with him in order to enrage him as much as they could. In response, his anger would make him order Soleil to finish them off as quickly as she could. But considering that both of them could actually fend her off when they worked together, then Soleil would have to do something much more drastic.

And it was that charge of hers that could do them in.

There was no doubt about it. If any of them were to so much as be grazed by her as she passed by, their insides would be destroyed just from the energy she could deliver. But that was their best chance. After all–

It was Soleil herself that showed it had a glaring weakness, so much so that she didn’t use it even once during their bitter battle against the drake when they first encountered it as a zombie.

“Manna!”

He felt the ground vaporize underneath his feet. Soleil’s kick from her charge, done under her maximum output, caused an explosion comparable to a refinery disaster. It instantly excavated a crater large enough to cover a quarter of the chamber they were in. And before the soil was even able to rise, Soleil had already launched herself towards her target.

Even with his best efforts, starting from scratch took more time than he liked. But since he had prepared for that since the beginning, he was able to kick off right before Soleil blew past him. Before he left, he gave Manna’s hand one last squeeze… before her body disintegrated from Soleil’s attack.

… That was fine. Defending her wasn’t his aim.

Matthias kicked off as well. He held his heart in check with great difficulty. He didn’t even glance at Soleil during that one, fleeting moment she passed by him.

Being slower than Soleil actually gave him an advantage. He was able to hide himself using the soil she had gouged out. And the lack of visibility naturally favored the hunter.

The necromancer hadn’t moved. Of course. Such was his pride. And that worked perfectly in Matthias’ favor. He didn’t have to bother looking somewhere else. But as expected of a veteran, his surprise from seeing Matthias suddenly rushing towards him through the smoke quickly dissipated. He erected a wall of bone to defend himself from an attack. Of course, that wasn’t enough to stop someone like him.

“Blessings through the darkness! Flash!”

He pumped as much power as he could into Demon Culling within the short time available to him. The sword responded to his wishes, and a pure, white light erupted from its blade. It penetrated through the thick cloud of dust and soil around it and dispelled all miasma within its range instantly. That included all traces of necromantic magic around them. And as the bone wall crumbled, the sight of “Tolg’s” shocked face came into sight.

There was no hesitation behind Matthias’ strike. He put all of his frustrations into one swing of his sword, including the regret he harbored for trusting the wolfkin.

Demon Culling drew a beautiful, brilliant arc through the dirt. Defenseless, all the enemy could do was to wait for it to come. He no longer had Soleil available to him. After all, her charge had a glaring weakness–not even Soleil’s extraordinary physical abilities could stop her momentum. She would crash against the cavern’s walls and be immobile for a moment. And that moment was all he needed to make a decisive blow.

After that, he could take all the time he wanted to force Spear’s mud down her throat.

That was his and Manna’s plan after they had considered that the enemy might have heard Spear’s words. To ensure their success, they first had to tackle the root of the problem.

And as his blade homed in on “Tolg’s” neck–it stopped.

----------------------------------------

That… was weird.

What happened?

He was sure that they had created the perfect opportunity to finally eliminate the necromancer.

The sword was still releasing its miasma-cleansing light. Anything that its rays illuminated was purified. There should be nothing that the necromancer could do to save himself.

What’s more, Matthias had clearly heard Soleil crash into the far wall. There was no way she was able to move so soon after that kind of impact.

So, why…?

Why was she there between him and his enemy?

“Fool. You actually thought I would leave myself defenseless? Even after you’ve revealed what that sword of yours can do?”

Shut up.

“You even went and sacrificed your partner to gain this opportunity. But even after all of that, you still lost.”

Shut up.

“It was a good attempt, though. I’ll give you that. I never thought this girl’s strongest attack could destroy her own body.”

Shut up!

Matthias lost himself to anger when he saw Soleil’s body. It was battered beyond belief, like it had been hit by a semi at high speed. Her skull had been split open, her entire right arm had been bent into four sections, and her small chest had a large dent on it. She must not have done anything to protect herself from the impact; a mistake the real Soleil wouldn’t ever make. But, she was still moving. No, she was being forced to move by him. It was all his fault.

Enraged, he yelled out as loudly as he could. He put as much power into his sword, intensifying the light that it made. But Soleil, who was somehow unaffected by its light, remained standing. And despite her state, she was still fully-capable of displaying her physical strength. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t pry his sword out of her grip.

“We’ve wasted enough time here. Kill him.”

“Soleil” reached out… with her shattered arms. Even though it shouldn’t have been able to budge at all, it snaked up his body before stopping at his hands. Then, she squeezed. Pain immediately wracked his nerves. He felt the bones on his hands shatter. Even screaming in pain was denied from him as she kicked his stomach hard before he could.

For a moment, he felt his body be released from the binds of gravity. The weightless feeling only lasted for a second, though, as the intense pain he felt on his belly and back almost robbed him of his consciousness.

But the adrenaline in his system kept him up. And instead of fainting like a good boy, he even managed to prop himself up.

“Damn you,” he cursed. In response, the necromancer sneered.

“Condemn me all you want. It doesn’t change the fact that you’re going to die now.”

Soleil walked… shambled towards him. It was obvious that her injuries weren’t limited to her upper body. Something else on her legs was wrong. He couldn’t help but feel concerned, even if the one in front of him was… nothing more than an undead.

She raised her arm, which held his sword, into the air. He felt a hand grasp his from below. Everything had happened so fast that he wasn’t sure whether to face his end blaming people… or blaming himself.

It looks like he failed again… so…

What would be the heroic thing to do? Perhaps a one-liner?

“A one-liner would be cool. But I can’t think of any.”

He felt his body sink into the ground slightly. Just in time for Soleil to bring his own sword down towards his head.

…

A loud clanging noise rang out.

It was followed by the sound of curses, groans and… feral howling.

He felt something tug at his clothes. Expecting to be somewhat farther away; like, really far away, he was surprised to open his eyes to the sight of the same, featureless dark ceiling above him,

An undead caught his eye. Matthias immediately tensed his body. While it was a zombie, what first caught his attention was its beautiful red hair and mangled right eye instead. It was holding a normal steel sword… and it had parried Soleil’s blow magnificently. But perhaps owing to the large difference between the weapons’ qualities, the dull, gray sword suffered a large chip on it. Perhaps it would even break after one more hit.

And then another undead appeared. It was another zombie, but with a giant shield instead. Besides its head, which had lustrous gray hair and… half of its face missing, it was entirely covered with the kind of platemail that adventurers typically used. With its unnatural strength, it jumped into the air and smashed the shield into the ground right where Soleil was standing. Of course, the latter easily dodged it.

Then, two more undead came into view. At least, they should be undead, judging from their bloodied pelvises and battered torsos. Their complexions were terrible, too, and they could only communicate with guttural groans. But what was truly weird was that they were wearing the garbs of church clerics. Both of them ran over to him and kneeled. Then, they made a gesture of prayer.

Matthias wanted to laugh. The undead? Praying? And then, he felt that jovial feeling slip away as he felt negative energy well up within him. But instead of a curse, he actually felt it repair his broken body. His eyes opened wide as he realized what just happened.

The undead casted healing spells.

“What the fuck…?!”

Using his newfound strength, he quickly propped himself up and pulled out his backup weapon; his own trusty steel sword. From a glance he could tell that those undead were of quite a high rank. But disregarding that, even while he was in the middle of four zombies, none of them paid him any attention.

Yes, attention.

Matthias saw that those undead… had focus.

They had a measure of consciousness inside. And, they were even surrounding him protectively.

He was shocked beyond belief.

Where did they come from?

“Make sure you take your time, alright? I know we’re in a hurry… but just do it.”

Spear’s words popped out uninvited in his mind. During that time, he didn’t know what she meant. He simply took it as a sign that he was free to take it leisurely; that he wasn’t in any kind of time limit. But perhaps… Did she mean reinforcements?

Undead reinforcements?

And just as he was trying to get his head around that idea, a voice suddenly called out to him.

“You look well.”

It was soothing and gentle, like the owner of it didn’t have the heart to hurt a fly. And it was also a familiar voice. How could he forget it?

He had been hearing that same voice all that time.

A large, imposing and ferocious figure appeared from the darkness. It had slightly soiled dark gray fur, and a long, canine snout. A row of clean, white, razor-sharp teeth protruded out of its hooded head. A pair of piercing, yet encouraging golden eyes stared at him from underneath a thick hood.

It walked with a slight slouch with a combat staff affixed with a gemstone on his hand.

“... Tolg?!” he screamed out.

The wolf beastkin smiled tiredly.

“Yeah…”

“Apologies. The situation aboveground had taken a while to control. I had to ensure everybody was safe before heading here.”

His voice was deep and calming as usual. But… How could it be?

Wasn’t he–

“Oh, by the way, Sir Matthias.”

“I do think one-liners are cool.”