The Legendary Spearman Returns

Side Story Chapter 135

“W-Wait!”

-Heeheeheehee!

The maniacally laughing death knight stymied all attempts at conversation.

Arie bron Sten was a great knight who had once been the strongest wielder of the rapier, a sword that was usually used by women, in the Avalon Empire. However, it was well known that he had been killed by the Emperor of Avalon a long time ago.

“Why in the world...?” Kireua mumbled.

-Why did I become a death knight?

He was thrusting his rapier astonishingly fast, like pouring rain. Kireua struggled to track the rapier. He couldn’t even think about dodging, so he chose to block Arie’s attacks from the start.

Why? The rapier was a weapon specialized in quick stabs, but it couldn’t deal significant damage due to its light weight. That was the reason why none of Avalon’s knights used the rapier after the Sten family.

-I’m just like them.

Unlike Arie, Kireua couldn’t afford to talk.

-I have an unfulfilled dream. As long as it remains that way, I can’t find eternal peace. But after my death, it only seemed further away. I thought the gap was minuscule, but I can see the gap clearly after becoming an undead.

One of Arie’s attacks slipped through. Kireua thought he blocked it, but instead he could feel stinging pain in his thigh. Before long, blood seeped out of Kireua’s leg. Arie paused and brought the tip of his rapier up to his helmet.

-...Oh, yeah. I don’t have a tongue anymore.

“Ugh...!”

-The reason why I became an undead is simple: I wanted to stay with Joshua forever.

Goosebumps pebbled the skin on Kireua’s arms. He had never seen anything like Arie’s mad obsession.

-I told you earlier, right? I embraced this all for Joshua, but I’m in such despair. I’ve practically given up!

“What... are you talking about?” Kireua asked.

-My goal is a man of monstrous strength. Before I got stuck in this cave decades ago, he was already a monster I couldn’t imagine fighting equally, so I have no idea how ridiculously strong he is now.

Arie straightened.

-So I’m thinking about changing my goal a little. They say you should go back to the basics when you’re stuck, right? Once I’m able to crush Sanders’s boys, I might have a chance when I challenge him again. Ah, just thinking about it alone is really!

Arie moaned unsettlingly—even more so because he was a death knight. Kireua couldn’t take it anymore.

‘Molar of Gluttony.’

The black sword reappeared in Kireua’s hands once again. Gluttony’s power was sturdier than any other mineral in the Demon Realm.

‘Fire of Greed.’

Black flame enveloped Kireua’s sword. The only ebon flames on the continent, capable of burning any other fires into ash.

‘Lastly... Aura of Lust.’

Kireua raised his sword, shrouded in a thick pink haze. Crevasse was slightly shocked, but Aisha continued to watch the battle with a serious look.

-...Oh?

Kireua suddenly blended into the darkness and literally vanished, drawing a small gasp from Arie. The high-level stealth technique made Aisha open her mouth in surprise.

“When did he become that good?”

“The student becomes the master, huh?”

“...He’s not that good yet.”

“Hmm. Are you talking back to me, Aisha Sestropi?” Crevasse smiled crookedly.

“Your threats don't work on me anymore. You aren’t that scary anymore.”

“Hahaha.” Crevasse quietly chuckled, to Aisha’s surprise. She’d thought that he was going to be furious. Considering what their relationship had been like in the past, that reaction should have been impossible. Aisha had feared dragons above all other things, and in contrast, Crevasse had treated elves and humans like bugs.

The change was all because of Joshua. After their encounters with Joshua, Crevasse no longer looked down on humans, and Aisha’s fear of dragons had disappeared.

-Now, where is this rat hiding?

Arie took a look around, flicking the tip of his rapier. There were many hiding spots in a space of this size. The ceiling was so high that Crevasse could be in his dragon form, and all sorts of undead filled its confines. It was the perfect place to hide; it wouldn’t be easy finding his target in this kind of place.

Arie suddenly thrust his rapier behind him without looking back.

-Hehehe, no matter how much you hide your presence, there’s no way I wouldn’t recognize that unique demonic power of yours...

Arie hesitated when he realized that sensation at the tip of his sword was odd. He slowly turned around, confused.

-...Huh?

-Ouch! It hurts! It hurts! I’m going to die!

A wailing black cotton ball was skewered on the end of the rapier bottom-first.

-...What is this?

Arie suddenly felt something near his waist, so he instinctively swung his rapier around. Coal went flying off the tip of Arie’s blade with a little pop! and went rolling across the floor. However, the weird creature rubbing its bottom was no longer Arie’s concern.

The biggest advantage of the rapier was the speed of its thrust, but Kireua managed to block Arie’s attack with the flat of his blade.

“It worked!”

-Do you really think so?

Kireua frowned. Arie’s rapier should have shattered like glass, but he blocked Kireua’s aura slash issue.

Worse, Arie slowly pushed Kireua’s sword back, their weapons squealing as they ground against each other.

-What a bummer. Hehehe.

“...No, this is the real one.”

-What?

Arie reeled as he was enveloped in the ebon flames rising from Kireua’s sword so quickly that he had no time to respond.

“This is the ebon flames that even the creatures of the Demon Realm fear,” Kireua kindly informed Arie. “Care to find out why?”

* * *

The plains beyond Arcadia’s eastern walls were packed with an army of countless undead. The three invaders who had been running away from the Palace now stood at the front of the army, arrogantly staring back at the city’s defenders. There were tens of thousands of undead, so the invaders must have thought they had a chance of winning now.

“This is not good,” Duke Tremblin flatly stated.

In contrast to the enormous undead army, Tremblin and the others only had three thousand soldiers on their side. It was said taking a castle needed a three to one advantage, but it was clear that the undead army outnumbered the forces of Avalon by a factor of ten or more.

“Where in the world did they come from?” Selim mumbled in disbelief.

“As I understand it, the Evil Sins' powers are the powers of Demon Kings, so who can say? Demons who thought that they could become Demon Kings came all the way over here and brought their armies with them,” Tremblin explained.

“Mmmm...” Selim quietly grunted.

“Hey, hey, don’t freak out,” Theta interrupted, grinning. “The Martial God wouldn’t have so much as batted an eye at an army that big.”

“...I didn’t freak out.”

“Anyhow, can you take a step back?” Theta waved at Selim. “I’ve finished my preparations.”

A large storm descended upon the land, rumbling as it absorbed lightning bolts from above.

“Arrrggggghhh!”

The tempest was so powerful that it threatened to throw them off the ramparts at any moment, so Valmont quickly grabbed Selim.

“Wh-What are you doing?” Selim protested.

“Hah, hahaha. We can’t fall down in front of our soldiers, can we, Your Highness. That would be pathetic.”

“But why would you—”

“It is technically part of my job to protect your dignity, Your Highness,” Valmont interrupted.

Selim closed his mouth. Meanwhile, the storm grew bigger as it continued to swallow lightning.

All the undead who were caught in the storm were sucked into the sky, but the three invaders—demons, the group presumed—had vanished long ago. The moment they saw a Eighth Circle spell, they had withdrawn to the rear.

“It’s... remarkable.”

“Yes, this must be why archmages are called living weapons.”

Selim and Valmont gazed up at Theta. He hovered in the sky, his eyes shining and his hair fluttering in the wind.

“But this is only a temporary measure,” Valmont noted. “The fact that he’s the Master of the Magic Tower doesn’t necessarily mean that his mana is infinite.”

“...I’m hoping this will take out at least ten percent of the enemy.”

Even ten percent of the undead army was several thousand undead. If one magic attack was able to impact the undead army on that scale, it more than lived up to the reputation of Eighth Circle magic.

“...Wait,” Selim said.

“What is it?”

“What are those monsters?” Selim pointed. The others immediately turned to look and saw, as Selim noted, that a group of monsters was emerging from the forest. In fact, their numbers were just as great as the army of undead already blanketing the plains.

“They’re coming from the north. Why...?”

Their faces darkened. They were already at a disadvantage; with these fresh monsters added to the mix, it was, realistically speaking, impossible for the party to deal with them all.

However, that was just the beginning of the surprise.

“Huh?” Valmont noticed something and blinked. “S-Something’s strange.” Googlᴇ search Noᴠelꜰire.nᴇt

The others peered closer and their jaws slowly dropped.

“Wh-Why are those monsters attacking the undead?”