Former General Is Undead Knight

Volume 3, Chapter 9: Temperature Ball’s Sorcerer③

「My study of this is still incomplete, but… it can’t be helped. It’s an emergency after all. Temperature ball, dwell in my hand!」

A white heat ball appeared on Gilldoum’s hand.

Gilldoum stepped back from the heat ball, striking the heat ball with the tip of his golden cane.

At that moment, the purple lightning that covered the heat ball suddenly expanded.

The expanding thunder then mingled with itself, forming a beast-like form.

The shining, white ball then stayed inside the beast’s chest like its heart.

The lightning beast raised its head to the heavens as if raising a howl.

「That thunder beast… No way… It’s alive? I thought you just created that impromptu form, but it’s a pseudo-lifeform? Such haphazard magic is…」

Kreuz, who stood behind Lambert, couldn’t hide his shock.

‘This beast should’ve been used during the Eight Countries Unification War, but… seeing Kreuz’ reaction, it seems Teslagora’s achievement has been forgotten.’

Lambert had experienced several fights against plasma beasts created by heat ionization sorcery in the past during the war against the Makyuras Kingdom.

「Go, my hound, Tindalos! Corner him. He will reach the bottom of hell until his soul never feels peace!」

Gilldoum swung his cane.

The lightning hound Tindalos ran in a straight line toward Lambert.

Each of the Tindalos’ footsteps left small, scorched marks on the ground.

Lambert dodged the lightning hound and closed in on Gilldoum.

But the Tindalos turned around at once and ran after Lambert.

「It’s futile. The hound will chase you until you die. No one can escape from the plasma beast! Moreover… I have another one!」

Gilldoum conjured a second Tindalos.

The second hound howled to the heavens too, and then it rushed toward Lambert with its jaw wide open.

「AND THIS WILL FINISH YOU OFF!」

Gilldoum conjured a third hound.

The third hound went toward Lambert from another direction, zeroing in on Lambert.

The three Tindaloses surrounded Lambert.

One of them opened its jaw as it closed in on Lambert

Lambert readied his greatsword.

He dodged the Tindalos that leapt at him, swinging his greatsword toward its exposed abdomen.

Tindalos’ figure blurred for a moment. But it returned to its original form immediately.

「It’s futile. Physical attacks won’t work against Tindalos’ gaseous body. No matter how skilled you’re with your sword, it’s useless in front of heat ionization sorcery. You won’t be able to fight them unless you’re a sorcerer. Armored man, die…」

「HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!」

Lambert forcefully raised up his sword that already hit the ground below.

The ground tore apart, raising the soil upward.

After the storm of soil and slashes receded, the greatsword’s slash created a small fissure in the ground.

Tindalos, who landed at the end of that, stood right there, split in half from head to tail.

The heat ball in its chest also split, and upon losing its core, Tindalos began to fade away.

That was the moment when the lightning beast was annihilated.

Gilldoum’s eyes opened as wide as saucers due to the unbelievable sight before him.

His head couldn’t catch up with what had happened a moment ago.

「Good grief, to think that I must use this cumbersome method.」

The second Tindalos leapt toward lambert.

Lambert put more power into his hand which gripped his greatsword, stooped forward, and jumped.

Tindalos and Lambert clashed.

Tindalos’ body exploded into countless particles of lightning as it collided with Lambert’s Organ.

Engulfed in an explosion, the ground was shaved off in a circular shape.

But Lambert stood right in the center of that circle as if not affected by the shock of the explosion.

「Uh, maybe I should have just done this from the very beginning.」

「Ha… Eh? Eh?」

Gilldoum’s aged face warped in disbelief upon seeing the spectacle unfolding before him.

Although almost all physical attacks didn’t work on Tindalos thanks to its energy body, making it explode into pieces was a simple matter.

Although trying to hit the flame with one’s fist sounded like a crazy idea, the wind pressure from the fist did affect the flame.

Nevertheless, using a physical method to perfectly crush Tindalos’ high-rank sorcery seemed to be beyond Gilldoum’s understanding.

「Why is your armor still spotless even after receiving that much shock?! How can you still remain composed even when you’re standing right in the middle of an explosion?!」

「It’s simple. This armor is simply far too tough for that small explosion.」

Lambert readied his greatsword as he spoke, rushing toward Gilldoum as he finished speaking.

The third Tindalos desperately chased after Lambert from behind.

But it couldn’t catch up since the current Lambert was way faster than the lightning beast.

In the first place, even if the lightning beast could catch up, it was bound to explode into pieces again when it clashed against Lambert.

「NO WAY… THIS GILLDOUM! I-I STILL WANT TO SOLVE THE MYSTERIES OF THIS WORLD WITH THAT PERSON!」

「If most are around the level of the likes of you, the people of the past… Domiliune already arrived at the answer a long time ago.」

「How dare a lowly swordsman like you speak as if you…!」

Gilldoum raised his golden cane.

A giant heat ball conjured at the tip.

The lightning formed from the heat ball produced a hemisphere with Gilldoum at its center as if trying to protect him.

The extremely high density of ionization gas had turned into a lightning barrier.

It was an extremely terrifying barrier of destruction which would turn any outsider who dared to touch it into cinders.

But Gilldoum made a mistake.

In short, this lightning barrier had also trapped him inside with no way out.

The reason for this was that Gilldoum injected all the mana that was left in him to create an absolutely unbreakable barrier.

But then, even if he could kill Lambert with this, he would be left completely defenseless after this.

Sure enough…

But then, the barrier would finally collapse when he ran out of mana.

Although it was the strongest defensive wall, it needed a lot of mana to maintain it.

Its fuel cost was simply too high.

‘T-Think of something, Gilldoum. What can I use to escape from this predicament? It’s only a matter of time before he kills me. Shall I try to beg him to spare my dear life?’

Gilldoum realized that he was only stalling his death by burning the rest of his mana.

Anyhow, he had no choice but to work on his next plan.

‘These guys must be itching to get more information about our organization from me. Although I have no intention of providing any information, I can buy enough time to think about my next plan… I still have the final trump card of heat ball sorcerers. This is kinda like a gamble, but… I guess I have no other choice.’

Gilldoum raised his face as soon as he made up his mind.

…And saw that the top part of the barrier had already cracked.

「…Uh?」

「HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!」

The cracks spread on all parts of the dome, breaking along with the war cry of Lambert who swung his greatsword.

Gilldoum was completely at a loss for words upon seeing that scene.

Lambert’s greatsword destroyed Gilldoum’s barrier, descending like a reaper’s blade and slicing Gilldoum in half from the top of his head.

Each half of his body was sent flying to the side, and his golden cane fell on the ground.

When its caster died, the heat ball which became the core of the last Tindalos vanished too along with the beast who lost its source of power.

Lambert looked at Gilldoum’s corpse as he pulled out his greatsword from the ground.

「…I only intended to destroy the barrier though. Hah, holding back is really hard.」

After slaughtering another precious source of information, Lambert could only heave a sigh upon realizing his failure again.