The giant’s spear pierced through my shoulder.
A burning pain accompanied by a sense of paralysis spread through my body.
“With this, it has become similar.”
The giant, who had successfully attacked, was breathing heavily.
It seemed he had used a considerable amount of strength for that one attack.
We both shared a deadly wound, but…
“Thinking about it, I don’t understand why I fought you one-on-one.”
“What?”
“I came here to deal with you.”
A pure white blade of light flew towards the giant’s chest and pierced it.
“I’ll heal your wound quickly.”
Maran and Jema stood before me.
There was no way to withstand the numbers.
The wound I had inflicted on the giant was still bleeding behind him.
“Good. If you want to be buried here, then I shall bury you!”
A black energy from Maran’s sword flew toward the giant.
“This must be the energy of a cursed sword; are you perhaps on our side?”
“My sword is indeed a cursed sword, but I am not on your side.”
I had no idea that the sword Maran possessed was a cursed sword.
Who would think that such an ordinary-looking sword was a cursed sword?
“Why is it that a wielder of a cursed sword is opposing us? That guy has allied with you.”
“Just because I use a cursed sword, must I ally with you?”
At Maran’s words, the giant could no longer speak.
“Did you know Maran’s sword was a cursed sword?”
“Yes. I was the one who lifted its seal.”
Lifting the seal of a cursed sword in Latnia is a taboo.
I wondered why Epiro had lifted it.
“Isn’t it forbidden by the Order?”
“But the goddess appeared in my dreams and revealed the sword’s location.”
A command handed down directly from a goddess, who is higher than the head of the Order, to Epiro.
Epiro must have had no choice but to follow that command.
If the goddess personally chose it, it certainly wouldn’t be an ordinary cursed sword.
For Maran, who already possessed exceptional skills, a cursed sword was akin to giving wings to a tiger.
“You handle that cursed sword surprisingly well. I know someone who took a long time to get used to it.”
“It’s already been a year since the seal was lifted.”
That meant Maran had possessed the cursed sword since the time we met in Kant.
It was then I understood that Epiro had already known about Maran.
The giant was helpless against the attacks of my team members.
Unlike when he fought me, he did not close the distance suddenly or use spear attacks.
Instead, he used wide-area attacks by scattering lightning all around.
Maran’s swordplay was uniquely twofold.
The black energy from the cursed sword and his own mana combined to create a green blade of energy.
When these two merged, they became a mysterious dark green energy.
The giant looked relaxed when facing Maran’s blade head-on.
That was until Jema’s burning red swordplay struck from the side.
In a greatly weakened state, the giant struggled to withstand the combined assault of the two.
The subtle presence of Epiro’s divine power infused in the sword also played a role.
“Damn it! You damned critters!”
After receiving treatment from Epiro, I pondered how to use the blade of light.
Its power wasn’t overwhelming, but its attack range was, essentially, limitless.
I extended my finger and drew a line towards the giant’s eye.
Light glimmered in the giant’s eye, and upon exploding, he momentarily lost his sight and held onto his eyes.
“Argh! My eye!”
In that instant, Maran’s sword severed the giant’s arm that was holding the spear, while Jema’s sword cut off one of his legs.
Blue blood spurted out, and the giant fell to the ground.
“I… lost?”
Unable to accept his defeat, the giant reached out to grab the spear, but there was nothing left for him to hold onto.
“It’s over.”
“Haah… so it has come to this…”
“Let me ask you one thing. Why are you helping the undead legion?”
“Because our king has sworn loyalty to them.”
“To whom?”
“……”
The giant could no longer respond.
I dealt with the gatekeepers guarding the exit to Emerald Bay.
If all went well, we would be able to escape with the people before dawn.
As long as we reached the teleportation device, we would be able to return.
“Who goes there?!”
Melorna drew her sword and raised her voice.
“The giants are utterly useless.”
As I turned to the direction of the voice, there stood Ahom looking down at us from a ghostly steed.
“Ahom!”
“Ahom? The one from the old tale?”
“Old tale?”
When I asked, Epiro recounted an old story passed down from the Diana Order.
In the tale, a young man named Ahom is chosen by the holy sword and becomes a hero who later saves the world.
Several elements of the story overlap with that Ahom.
In particular, the tale of the holy sword could not be overlooked.
“What happened to that holy sword?”
“It disappeared along with Ahom.”
If Epiro’s story was true, it meant that Ahom was a hero in the past.
Now, he had completely become undead.
“In the end, I’ll have to intervene myself.”
Ahom dismounted and drew his sword, walking towards us.
His pace was neither slow nor fast, just average.
As Ahom approached, the divine sword embedded in the giant’s chest began to vibrate lowly.
Wooooo!
“What’s going on with that?”
The sword trembled more violently as Ahom got closer, then unleashed a wave of divine power.
Boom!
As the wave of divine power spread, Ahom stopped in his tracks and clutched his head.
“Ugh!”
As Epiro infused her power into the sword, Ahom started thrashing around in place.
“Ahhhh! Please call to me!”
With his arms outstretched towards the sky, he became enveloped in black smoke, just as he did the last time he vanished.
When Ahom disappeared, the wave emitted by the divine sword abruptly ceased.
Epiro retrieved the sword and gazed dazedly in the direction Ahom had vanished.
The objective was accomplished; she resolved to take action immediately.
It would be less conspicuous to escape at night than during the day.
With the number of undead greatly reduced, now was the most appropriate time to flee.
We split into two teams.
One team would bring the people from the hotel, while the other would secure the path to the elf ruins.
I headed towards the hotel with Maran and Epiro.
Meanwhile, Melorna and Revelin Jema would secure the area near the ruins.
As soon as we arrived at the hotel, we quickly gave orders to the combatants.
“Let’s escape! Move quickly!”
The remaining survivors hurriedly prepared to evacuate and formed two lines in the banquet hall.
“From now on, we will be leaving the city. Our destination is a teleportation device located in a nearby forest.”
As I finished speaking, concern filled the citizens’ faces.
“The combatants must protect the citizens as they follow us.”
When Maran added a remark, the eyes of the combatants changed.
After checking the numbers once more in the hotel lobby, we started to move.
I led from the front, followed by Maran, with combatants guarding the citizens on either side.
With so few protectors, it almost seemed that we were clinging to the citizens.
The path to the ruins was eerily quiet.
The moonlight that had been illuminating the ground was now obscured by clouds, casting darkness all around.
Melorna stood waiting for us, guarding between two large buildings.
“We’re ready to enter.”
“Ready?”
As we stepped into the alley, I noticed that the narrow cave entrance I had struggled to escape from last time had widened enough for a person to pass through easily.
“It was definitely incredibly narrow before.”
“I widened it.”
As Jema slightly drew her sword, she spoke.
Thanks to that, the citizens were able to quickly enter the ruins through the widened entrance.
“How do we get outside from here?”
When one citizen asked, I approached a dry well.
“This is it. The escape route.”
I explained the structure of the well to the people.
When I asked if anyone couldn’t swim, five hands were raised.
Since there were people on our side who couldn’t swim, that meant a total of seven individuals needed to be moved.
Including myself, there would only be three people capable of flying.
Since I couldn’t teach swimming in the short-term, I decided to place those who couldn’t swim at the back for now.
As all the citizens descended into the well, I was the last to go down, and numerous eyes glimmered with a faint light.
“Light.”
As I conjured light, I could see the faces of the citizens and my companions clearly.
“Let’s depart. Melorna, please lead the way.”
“Yes. This way.”
Having led for quite a while, Melorna suddenly stopped at a certain point.
“This, from here on, is water.”
“Alright, you all need to be ready to swim at any moment from here.”
I explained to the citizens, and Jema naturally scooped up Melorna.
Then I followed behind with Revelin and those who couldn’t swim.
“If the water gets deeper, hold onto my tail tightly.”
I pointed to my tail, which was elongated compared to usual.
“Is it really okay?”
“Yes. It’s fine.”
The people cautiously grasped my thick, long tail.
For now, this was the best method.
As we moved along the waterway, it gradually got deeper, and one by one, they began to swim.
I felt the grip of those holding onto my tail tighten.
“Once we’re outside, make sure to keep your voices down.”
“Yes.”
Since there were undead roaming outside in the forest, we needed to be especially cautious.
Upon reaching the end of the dark waterway, Jema surveyed the surroundings and signaled that it was safe.
“Let’s go out.”
In the dead of night, dozens of people quietly cut through the water.
I flew as close to the surface as possible to help soothe those holding my tail.
One by one, we emerged from the water and gathered near the forest.
After checking our numbers, we promptly started moving, led by Melorna.
Even though it was only my second time passing through, Melorna guided us through the forest path as though it were her own bedroom.
Before long, we arrived at the cave which housed the teleportation device.
As we stepped into the cave, the teleportation operator rushed out toward us.
He embraced one of the citizens, not me.
The joyful moment of emotional reunion was brief, as the expressions of the two soon turned somber.
They must have learned the fate of other family members.
