An orphan left with nothing

A monster born with nothing

What could they have in common?

Nothing

Yet they feared together.

Together, they feared.

And they were complete.

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The shield was a fortress wall. The sword was a reaper’s scythe. The two undead moved with such agility and flexibility that Matthias thought was impossible for their kind. On top of that, the strength in their arms was far more than what their thin frames suggested they could do.

He had heard about how a human’s brain limited the amount of strength their muscles could output to avoid self-harm. Becoming a zombie must have removed those limiting factors. But even so, their strength and speed were still illogical. They were on par with him at that moment, and perhaps even slightly better. Perhaps the same magic that brought them to life also strengthened their abilities? It was a very real possibility. After all, he could practically see the sickening glow of miasma coursing through their veins.

But what surprised him was their ability to coordinate. The shielder always positioned herself in such a way that she could always intercept Soleil’s attacks with minimal movement. And, the swordswoman would never fail to take an opportunity to strike whenever Soleil staggered from getting her punches blocked. She would come from all sorts of angles, from underneath the latter’s sight to backstabs and feints. It was almost like they weren’t mindless undead like what most people believed them to be.

And without a doubt, they were undead. Not only did their fatally-battered bodies give it away, but also some minor movements and gestures they made. For example, the shielder would sometimes be blown back by the force of the attack she blocked. Yet instead of bracing for impact by leaning forward, she would absorb the force after the fact by bending her body backward and sliding a foot as far back as she could, almost like she was a rubber band being stretched. The swordswoman was no exception. While her attacks were quick and precise, the postures she took looked more like she was struggling to keep up with her own strength and speed. Her backswings were always too wide and she had a hard time stopping the momentum of her sword once she strikes. They were incredibly inhuman movements. The only reason both of them were still standing despite those faults was because of their ability to get themselves out of harm’s way regardless of their balance or stance.

In a way, it was like looking at two string marionettes controlled by a skilled puppeteer fight.

However, their combined specs didn’t matter. In the end, they were individually no match for someone who had undergone the same process they did, but using the body of one strong enough to proclaim herself the “Demon Lord”. All the latter needed to do was to

Bang!

A cruel sound of metal being pulverized rang throughout the desolate chamber. The shielder, struck with a destructive blow, was sent flying across the cave. Her massive heater shield fell by her feet, severely chipped and dented from Soleil’s onslaught. Considering the power behind the latter’s fists, Matthias thought that it was a surprise that such an ordinary, unenchanted shield even managed to last that long. It was only until he focused that he realized that the dents on the shield were angled away from the center. That meant a “mere” undead knew how to redirect the attacks to her shield away from it.

With their tank gone, the red-headed swordswoman quickly lost her momentum. She had great trouble evading Soleil’s concentrated attack. Even with Matthias’ assistance, they were only able to hold her back for a few dozen seconds before Soleil could take advantage of their lack of coordination and send the second undead crashing toward the wall.

“What the hell?” he cursed under his breath. “Is she getting stronger?”

Perhaps that was so. But it may also be because of their lack of teamwork that made fighting Soleil that much harder. After all, even if the two undead were intelligent enough to work as one, the three of them together didn’t feel the same as they did when he fought with Manna.

No. Manna couldn’t help them. Matthias had to accomplish the task at hand by himself. Yet, he wasn’t doing much to help at that moment. With Soleil on the offensive, it looked like he had been forced to be on the receiving end. While that was true, there was also another reason for it.

He was biding his time.

“Your friend isn’t like any other kind of undead. You’ve seen it for yourself. She can still be saved.”

Those were Tolg’s words to him before they broke off to fight their own battles. As a necromancer himself, Matthias felt that he had a unique authority to dictate what he should believe in. And as someone who had helped him out of a pinch, he was inclined to trust in his words.

“You can’t fight her as a fellow adventurer. She’s much too strong for you. But, you should have the upper hand in something else, right?”

It hurt to be told that he, a hero, was weaker than someone else other than himself. He was aware of that fact, of course, even if Manna kept telling him that he was just underestimating himself. Maybe it was because she hadn’t been there when they fought the zombie drake until the last moment. But even if he wasn’t on her level in terms of fighting ability, he was at the very least smarter than her.

Maybe.

He immediately realized what Tolg meant by having the upper hand in something else. And it didn’t even take him too long to think of a way to “defeat” Soleil. However, it wasn’t something he could do just yet. He didn’t have the “trump card” on hand. That was why he was waiting.

“Tsk.”

Soleil’s punch, almost as fast as the speed of sound, whisked past the side of his head. But despite his dodging the attack, the intense and sudden change in air pressure that followed tore his eardrums. He was able to quickly recover thanks to his resiliency, but the fact that it happened despite him augmenting his entire body told him grim tales of what the consequences would be if he was hit directly.

“Don’t get cheeky, you meat-loving idiot.”

He pumped as much mana into his sword as quickly as he could. Without any incantations or sufficient time, the result was far from the best he could do, but for that one instant, it was enough. The sword’s blade released an intense flash of light that lasted for a mere fraction of a second, blinding everybody who wasn’t prepared in the vicinity.

Sure enough, Soleil was also affected, and she staggered back a few steps before leaping away. And as her eyes recovered, it gave the two undead on his side enough time to get back on their feet.

It was a shame that there was “friendly fire” in that world. If he used it, he would also blind those two as well. And in the first place, the only reason that he wasn’t affected too much by it was that he knew when to close his eyes, so even he wasn’t safe from his own attacks.

And once both sides had recovered, they were all back to square one. It looked like they still had a long night ahead of them.

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Back on the surface, the appearance of the town cemetery had changed drastically. What used to be a desolate-looking flatland filled with headstones and dead trees had been reduced to a smoldering expanse of scorched earth. Everything that could burn had been burnt. What remained were glowing veins of red-hot soil that continued to release smoke into the air.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

In the middle of the fire-torn landscape was a proud-looking undead. It had on a set of armor that radiated an eerie light. Beside its feet were the remains of its fellows, reduced to cinders and ashes inside their armor. Yet while it looked battered and heavily burnt, it remained standing on the battlefield, ramrod-straight, with the same hatred and wariness in its eyes.

On the other hand, the Blue Wolves had been almost completely wiped out. Nail, who had managed to help Mie defeat two more Royal Guarders, had become so worn out that a moment of carelessness caused him to be pierced by a sword. Ujel, in an attempt to save his life, rushed over to him to cast healing magic but was also struck down right after she succeeded. Without their vanguard and healer, Egan and Kilo became vulnerable to the remaining two Royal Guarders’ attacks. As their last-ditch effort, they managed to hold one of them back long enough for Mie to recover and take it out.

That left the state of the battle into a one versus one. But it couldn’t be more stacked against them. The last Royal Guarder was still mostly fine. Though it was singed here and there, that didn’t matter to an undead. Not being affected by pain and fatigue made them extremely difficult to fight against if it became a battle of attrition. Without having any of their limbs dismembered, they were able to fight at their best from start to finish.

On the other hand, Mie was the last of the Blue Wolves who was conscious… relatively speaking.

While she barely had any injuries on her due to being protected well by her party, she had reached fatal levels of mana depletion and potion intoxication. Over thirty empty mana potions lay scattered around her, some of which had shattered necks. Due to the speed and urgency of the battle, she didn’t have time to remove the corks on some of them which necessitated her having to bite through. Because of that, blood flowed profusely from her mouth, torn by the wooden splinters from the bottles.

As mentioned, a normal human body wasn’t supposed to take more than ten bottles of that liquid in quick succession. Mie has had to down exactly thirty-three of them. And it wasn’t enough. After depleting what remained of their supplies, including all of the health potions, she had to squeeze water from the stone to continue fighting.

Mie didn’t know it was possible to feel that much misery yet remain awake. She felt nauseous and cold from the potion intoxication, feverish and short of breath from the extreme mana deprivation, severe body pain and weakness from overexertion… It was a miracle that she could remain standing despite all of that and more. Perhaps it was fear that kept her from passing out; fear that if she did, she would never open her eyes ever again. And she knew that she was near that point. Even so, her body was honest with itself. It trembled violently, begging for her to collapse. Her eyelids felt like a ton of bricks, and she couldn’t focus her sight at all. She was covered in cold, sticky sweat and she had already lost all feeling in her extremities. The only things that separated her back from the smoldering soil were the strength of her will and a pair of hands desperately trying to hold her up on top of her knees.

“... f… uck.”

Even so, she still had enough strength to squeeze out a quiet slur in between her panting. She never felt so vulnerable before. A gentle breeze might have been enough to knock her over.

Yet, the Royal Guarder simply stood before her, watching… contemplating…

Laughing…

By that point, Mie didn’t even have the strength left to feel insulted. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t respond. Struggling hard, she brought her shaking right hand up towards the undead, almost making her knees buckle in the process, and…

raised her middle finger at it.

There was no reaction from the undead. It simply looked on in silence, waiting on her. To Mie, who had to painstakingly perform such a gesture despite how awful she felt, it was kind of a letdown. It wasn’t all in vain, though. Even with a thick haze in her mind, she figured out that even if she moved, as long as it wasn’t an attack toward it, then it wouldn’t retaliate. If so, then could she wait it out? Stall for time until reinforcements came? Or… maybe… she could even flee?

No. No. It wouldn’t let her. It would surely strike her down if she turned her back on it. And even if it did allow her to leave…

She turned her head around and saw the bodies of her comrades. They were all on the ground, unmoving and lying around a dried puddle of their blood. But, they were alive.

None of them were bitten. The low-level zombies had stopped popping out of the ground a while ago. So at least for the time being they were safe. But she had to get some help, or else…

She quickly stopped herself from that train of thought. It wasn’t helpful at all. If anything, it only weakened her resolve. And if she had lost even that, then they would all fall.

But what should she do? Just thinking about having to keep fighting made her retch. Could she still fight in the first place? She couldn’t even stop the drool and blood from running down her mouth. And it was a telling sign that an extremely-specialized fire mage such as herself was having cold sweats. She couldn’t even heat her body again, frigid and shivering from being subject to the cold wind of the night without any clothes.

… Actually, she could.

Finally, the Royal Guarder budged, as if it had become bored with watching a vegetable on life support. It raised its shield and sword before it slowly approached her. Even when she had one foot in the grave… or more like, she was already in the grave, and all she had to do was to lie in it, the undead in question still approached her with its guard up and treated her as if she was still completely combat-capable. It did not show her any signs of carelessness or overconfidence. And in her state, she couldn’t help but despair slightly. It was a very anticlimactic way to be sent off. If it had approached her casually, it would have made for a good scene if it could be surprised by some hidden trump card Mie had tucked away.

But oh, the reality wasn’t so dazzling or exciting at times.

“Pretentious bastard… you’re just a stupid fucking undead.”

Despite herself, her lips twisted into a mocking smile. If that was the end, then she felt like at least having the last words, even if the other party couldn’t talk at all.

Once it had her within striking range, it didn’t waste any time. It thrust its sword out towards her head.

Mie felt a massive mass of heat expand in her throat.

And then–terror.

It was a sudden, explosive fright that gripped her soul, paralyzing her entire boy in the process. She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t move. She even felt her heart, which had been in a state of tachycardia before that moment, stop. All of the hair on her body, even those that were on her head, stood on its end.

The feeling of fear was so oppressive that time seemed to stop. And it wasn’t just her.

Even the Royal Guarder had stopped. With her brain working overtime due to the sudden surge of adrenaline, she could even see that its joints were trembling. The orbs of light in her eyes had dimmed considerably.

No way. Was it… an undead, scared?

Then, she felt something whisk past her face. The Royal Guarder was blown away. Bits and pieces of its armor and bones were left behind from whatever hit its chest. She looked up and saw that the undead her party had so much trouble with was at a distance away, unmoving. The light had completely gone from its eye sockets.

It was dead.

“... Heh?”

What the fuck happened?

The heat in her chest dissipated. The feeling of dread left her just as quickly as it came. She collapsed on the floor, still trembling from the event.

… Did someone save her? Was it over? No. What if she was the next target?

Severely exhausted from the chain of events that had happened, Mie sighed. If a third party joined the fight and they were strong enough to defeat a Royal Guarder with one blow, then there was no way she could win in the state that she was in. After all, there was no way it could be one of the adventurers around town. Besides that group of kids, who should be busy dealing with what had happened at the guild, nobody else in town was as strong as the Blue Wolves.

So, she relaxed, half-expecting her chest to explode into a bloody mist when the other side changed her target to her.

“Shit… This sucks… Haven’t even confessed yet…”

Her shoulders sagged. She looked upwards and saw one of the moons directly above her head as if gazing at her. And then…

Clink.

Something hard hit her head. But it wasn’t enough to kill her. It was more like a nuisance than anything. Surprised, she managed to turn her head and saw what it was that scored a headshot–it was a potion bottle; five of them and completely full. There was enough for everybody there.

She rubbed her eyes in disbelief and sure enough, the bottles were still there. It wasn’t her hallucinating from exhaustion nor was it a dream. She wanted to laugh but found that her lungs could no longer function properly as relief washed over her.

And then, she heard the sound of fabric ripping. Mie turned her head quickly towards the source of the sound only to find nobody. But, in the darkness, Mie saw that someone had torn open her bag… and that was it.

There was only complete silence around her. The other figure had already left.

“... Thank you. I guess?”

Mie had no idea why someone would want to break into her purse, but whatever. At least she… they were alive. Right?

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"Shit. I don't bring a change of clothes."

"... I could just give him the potion later. He's just sleeping, anyway."