Chapter 84: The Ultimate on Against the Undead (02)

  Bwoooong!

  As I swung the Mana Saber menagly, the skeletons recoiled, feeling threatened. But soon, without hesitation, they charged at me.

  Ssh!

  Although I could easily slice them in half with orike of the Mana Saber, they attacked me in a staggered manner, creating a coordinated assault that would have been dangerous for a typical swordsman uo recover their bde in time.

  However, my on was a Mana Saber. With to the bde, a slight twist of my wrist was enough to ge its dire.

  Thwack-thwack-thwack!

  A few quick swings of the Mana Saber were all it took to keep the skeletons at bay. Their rusted iron ons and jagged bone fragments, which they tried to use to stab me, melted or burned away the moment they touched the bde.

  Ctter... ctter...

  The skeletons tried to overwhelm me with sheer numbers, but each wide swing of the Mana Saber disrupted their ranks, rendering them hreat.

  - "Sir Knight, you're amazing!" -

  'Well, this is nothing...'

  Knights have always been exceptional, but modern knights are traio surpass even the capabilities ur soldiers, making them a force that ordinary troops ot tend with.

  In previous battles, no matter how strong someone was, they could be overwhelmed by sheer numbers. However, knights have evolved to ter such tactics.

  Equipped with Mana ons capable of pierg any defense, wearing armor that withstaating attacks, and possessing unmatched speed that makes them impossible to surround, knights are noerior forumbers alone e the gap in power.

  That is what defihe knights of our kingdom.

  Skeletons, leveraging their ck of fear aless attacks to intimidate or exhaust regur soldiers, were no more than mere obstacles like branches or shrubs for a knight-css warrior.

  Crack!

  The skeleto ing, but I pushed forward, cutting them down as if harvesting wheat with a scythe. Such fragile, brittle bones were incapable of stopping me.

  "You useless creatures! Even if you were knights or soldiers in your past lives, you're worthless now!"

  The neancer's words wereirely true. The skeletons were not useless—at least not in their prime. The requirements and equipment for knights had ged, making them inferior in the current battlefield. If they had living bodies and fought me with solid ons, I wouldn’t st even a few exges.

  Ssh!

  Of course, skeletons were weak enough to shatter with just the machete I held in my left hand. Now, with the machete in my left and the Mana Saber in my right, I was dual-wielding and cutting dowons as I advanced.

  "Fine... I’ll show you my full power!"

  Bck ghosts surged like waves, rushing toward us.

  If each of those ghosts represented a soul the neancer had collected, the number of trapped spirits was unimaginable.

  There were far too many to hah just the Mana Saber. But I had no iion of dealing with them by swinging my sword.

  Swish!

  From a paper bag in my possession, cookie crumbs begaing to the bck ghosts, radiating a brilliant light.

  I tore the bag open with my fingernails and lightly tossed it forward. As the tents spilled, dazzling light burst forth, spreading in all dires.

  Just as a glorious dawn drives away the darkness, the bck ghosts were forced to dissipate uhe holy radiance of the sacred crumbs, which carried the blessing of a saintess.

  'If I eat those, will they explode in my stomach like this?'

  I firmly decided o e anything the saintess gave me. While I was having these thoughts, the thick clouds parted, revealing the bright sunlight of dawn and the rising m sun.

  "What? Did I stay up all night? My sense of time was right after all."

  The ghosts crumbled intments uhe sunlight, vanishing like dust. Meanwhile, the skeletons emerging from the ground fell silent, returning to mere corpses buried in the earth.

  'Ah... my heart feels a prig warmth. It’s like my body is healing.'

  The mana used for neancy left a tingliion on my tongue, but after scattering the saintess’s cookie crumbs, the surroundings transformed into a sanctified ground. The area seemed blessed, and the ghosts found soce, passing on with radiant joy.

  - "Ah... Lien... What have I done? I’ll go on ahead and wait for you... You all, rest in peaow..." -

  - "Finally, freedom..." -

  - "We’re no longer bound..." -

  Lien’s father, along with the servants and maids of the estate, asded peacefully, leaving this world food. Now, only two people remai the se: me and Lien’s mother, the neancer.

  "You're alive, so I suppose you're not undead?"

  "Wh... why... is this happening..."

  "The mana from your neancy has been forcibly purified by divine power, but you won’t die. In fact, your body will probably beuch healthier."

  "My magic... the neancy I gathered to save my daughter... all of it, gone... I am..."

  She sank into despair, attempting to dig her nails into her o take her own life. However, the divine power c through her body healed her wounds instantly, making even suicide impossible.

  "......"

  Click.

  Though it seemed unnecessary, I pced mana-sealing handcuffs on her arained her on the spot. No matter how healthy her body had bee, someone of her age and without the aid of neancy wouldn’t be able to escape. Besides, the remnants of the bck ghosts that had covered this area earlier would iably draw the attention of nearby neancers or wizards. They could handle her ohey arrived.

  "Mana from neancy was detected in this area, so I came to iigate. Are you alright?"

  A thin-faeancer in a bck robe arrived, their face cealed. I pointed my Mana Saber at them and asked, "State your affiliation."

  "I’m with the criminal iigation agency. I was stationed in the nearby vilge with orders to assist any knights that arrived."

  After gng at their badge and firming their affiliation, I lowered my on. It seemed they were indeed sent to support me but had taken a different route and arrived ter than expected.

  "Uood."

  Although it’s standard to decre one’s identity, the mission itself was cssified, so I didn’t o disclose that I art of the Magiights. The neancer seemed to grasp the situation well enough and approached after firming I was a knight.

  "Here. The illegal neancer has already beerained."

  I handed over the custody of Lien's mother, the illegal neao the authorized neancer.

  "Phew... What in the world happened here?"

  "In the process of capturing this illegal neancer, I used an item directly blessed by the saintess at the temple."

  "This level of divine power... Even the tral temple doesn’t have something this powerful. It’s remarkable. My neancy is on the verge of breaking."

  Holy, even I hadn’t expected it to be this potent.

  "At this level, it’s practically an artifact-grade item. The divine power lingering here will st for a while."

  Ihe residual divine energy in the area left a tangible tingliion. It seemed it would persist for at least a few days.

  "Then I’ll arrange for the immediate trahank you for your efforts."

  After handing over custody of the illegal neancer, I turned back. There was still one more matter to address.

  Oar y what remained of her—the st vestige of this pce.

  'Did Lien asd too quickly, ed by the explosion of divine power nearby?'

  "A dy who chose the right path over her resurreay you rest in a better pce."

  Toug the body, which should have decayed decades ago, I felt the warmth of life—proof of her unnatural preservation, fueled by twisted obsession and maternal love.

  "......Grrrrr..."

  From my bag, Shuru and Molng poked their heads out, gring at me with expressions that said, You’re not seriously sidering something weird, are you?

  "What’s with those looks... e on, even I wouldn’t stoop that low, no matter how desperate I am!"

  Admittedly, the divine power c through my body had boosted my stamina, aain... reas were undeniable. Seeing her body now, fully corporeal aiful, instead of her previous transparent state, I couldn’t deny she was stunning.

  "Ugh... so cold..."

  A pletely ued voice reached my ears.

  Shuru and Molng stopped gring at me and turheir attention to the source of the voice. I did the same.

  The voice didn’t register earlier because it wasn’t heard through my ears but resonated with my soul. Now, her clear, melodie echoed directly from below me.

  "It’s glowing all around, so it must be heaven... but why is it so cold here?"

  Green eyes, familiar from her translut form, sed the surroundings before meeting mine.

  "Huh? Sir Knight, why are you here?"

  "I should be asking you that question. Weren’t you supposed to have asded?"

  She had been right beside me when the saintess’s divine cookie exploded, so I assumed she had been forced to asd without even leaving a final word. A, here she was, ihat body.

  "Could it be..."

  I pced my hand on her chest, feeling for a heartbeat.

  'Revival... that’s impossible.'

  Resurre is beyond even divihority. Not even the first saintess, regarded as a demigod, could bring her lover back to life.

  At most, neancers could preserve a body, preventing decay and preparing it to host a spirit. That’s likely all this was—a body treated to prevent rot and make it easier for Lien’s spirit to enter.

  The neancer had inteo sacrifice others to give life to Lien, but she refused. The subsequent battle led to me using the saintess’s blessed cookie, whileashed immense divine power.

  'Thanks to the divine power, her body is brimming with vitality.'

  Indeed, she shivered, pining of the cold, and her body temperature, though warm now, was gradually dropping. She wasn’t alive. Her spirit was bound to a dead body temporarily infused with divine energy, creating a sembnce of life. Over time, as the divine power faded, the body would begin to decay.

  Was she essentially a divine-powered zombie?

  "Even in this state, I couldn’t asd... Is something wrong with me? This body hasn’t e back to life, my heart isn’t beating, and I don’t feel short of breath even though I’m not breathing..."

  "Well... this isn’t my area of expertise."

  "Maybe..."

  Her gaze shifted downward.

  In my haste, I had only hastily belted my pants, and the divine power-enhanced vigor had left a noticeable... bulge.

  "Perhaps it’s because I’m still a virgin..."

  "...What?"

  I had no idea how she arrived at that clusion, but she seemed fixated on the idea.

  "Sir Knight."

  "Surely there’s another expnation! Maybe we should sult a neancer or a priest who specializes in this—"

  "My body is still warm... Would you like to try?"

  "Yes."

  Ign the judgmental star es from Molng and Shuru, I avoided their eyes and muttered to myself.

  'Well... everything’s best when it’s fresh, right?’

  Ultimate-Harem-fan