Honestly, it was a million blessings that I didn’t really have to pee.
The moment Morty pointed his finger at me, my whole body went limp without thinking.
Probably what he just used was Death Finger, his favorite technique for killing the weak.
A skill that shoots out mana filled with malice and blows up the opponent’s heart.
Of course, in principle, it’s not like magic or anything.
It’s just firing a lump of mana, but its speed is in the supersonic range, faster than sound.
If Raven hadn’t interfered midway, I would’ve dropped dead without even blinking.
But seriously, who would’ve thought I’d feel such a life-threatening vibe just from locking eyes?
Same goes for Akashmir. These Seven Spears guys are all insanely dangerous, no joke.
‘In another world, necromancers were punching bags getting beaten by church forces. So I get why they hate them so much.’
Even so, isn’t trying to blow someone’s heart up without a second thought going too far?!
After wiping the sweat off my now-drenched palms on my thigh,
I stealthily hid behind Raven so Morty couldn’t see me.
Right now, this person was the only one in this space capable of facing Morty.
My survival instincts, sharpened after becoming a beastman, naturally led me here.
Do something about that dangerous guy! You’re the protagonist, you can do it!
With my tail, now twice as puffed up from shock, tightly hugged to my chest, I sincerely cheered Raven on from the bottom of my heart.
“Hmm… So. Down below, things were unfolding like this. Was the plan to cause chaos on the auction side where there were many pixies and split their forces?”
Raven scanned the area without taking his eyes off Morty, lightly furrowing his brow.
Seems like he roughly figured out what happened here just by taking in the chaotic scene.
Well, even someone who doesn’t know much could tell the auction was deliberately attacked.
Given how experienced and knowledgeable he is, there’s no way he wouldn’t have noticed the situation.
Perhaps Raven’s question hit the nail on the head.
Morty responded as if he were about to collapse back into his grave, acknowledging his words without resistance.
“Yes… The corpses I brought aren’t in great shape, so I planned to replenish my soldiers… I never expected my masterpieces, Veta and Beritha, to be held back…”
Listening to him talk, I got a rough idea of what Morty had been planning.
Probably, he intended to spread Rage Gas among the crowded auction, then mix his corpse soldiers in with the infected people.
Since undead are already dead, they wouldn’t be affected by the Rage Gas.
If it were entirely undead, he could mercilessly bombard everyone, but the infected people were still living citizens who could be saved.
If even a little time was delayed while trying to protect the citizens, the pixies defending them would turn into victims of the Rage Gas.
And Morty could seize control of the hotel with the overwhelming numbers of infected pixies and corpse soldiers.
If Tamamo hadn’t endured the relentless assault from the Veta sisters inside, or if Alice hadn’t quickly evacuated the civilians…
Well, it would’ve been the worst-case scenario.
‘We got lucky on multiple fronts. Suppressing the Rage Gas was a big deal too. If things hadn’t gone smoothly even once, we’d all have been goners, right?’
Indeed, Morty, the necromancer, considered the toughest of the Seven Spears in the Liberation Army.
Escaping this threat unscathed with minimal damage was quite an accomplishment.
Well, if he had been at the auction from the start, there’s no way we could’ve handled him.
That part was truly a stroke of luck worth being thankful for.
Raven seemed to grasp the situation as well, smirking as he aimed his gun at Morty.
“Hmph, must’ve been frustrating when things didn’t go your way. Life doesn’t always go as planned.”
“Yes, I suppose so…”
But Morty didn’t seem fazed by Raven’s taunt, calmly pulling something out of his pocket and deflecting the comment.
“But half of our objective has already been achieved. It’s unfortunate we couldn’t deliver despair to the humans… Still, it’s a step forward for our cause.”
“Our cause…?”
Swoosh.
Something hung from Morty’s arm, which looked like a withered old tree.
It was a very beautiful crown embedded with two red jewels and two blue ones.
Ignorance would’ve been bliss.
Coincidentally, it was an item I recognized from my original knowledge.
Perhaps it was supposed to be listed in this Enigma Auction?
The name of that beautiful crown was the Unholy Tiara of the Queen.
An extremely dangerous artifact created by a queen from another world.
‘Could it be… that he moved separately from the Veta sisters in the hotel just to get his hands on that?’
That thing was dangerous. No, to be precise, it would be extremely dangerous if the Beastmen Liberation Army got their hands on it.
So the moment I recognized its presence, I immediately gathered sacred power into the form of a spear and hurled it at Morty with all my might!
“Such useless tricks…! Lentha Deposito Putredinis…”
But the spear I fired was effortlessly blocked by a black mass that appeared around him.
Even though it was a disadvantageous matchup, does such a huge level difference render everything meaningless?
I missed the immense power I had when I became an adult through the Tesseract.
Of course, my current form was all about cost-effectiveness.
Even if I could transform into an adult, it would’ve worn off long before Morty arrived anyway.
“Tch! Alice! And you, purple hair! Quickly fall back!”
“A-ah, yes!”
“Hweeek!”
Bang! Tatang!
Raven fired his gun at the spreading black mass.
Of course, bullets wouldn’t be able to deal meaningful damage to Morty’s magic.
Surprisingly, his bullets pushed against the black mass, hindering its progress.
The secret lay elsewhere.
The bullets Raven used were custom-made with a substance that suppresses mana.
Each bullet was worth thousands of credits, making them expensive items.
Think of it like coating bullets with silver to take down vampires.
Unable to use mana and with physical stats barely above an orc’s, this was his only breakthrough.
‘But Raven is strong. His true nature isn’t a straightforward fighter but a tenacious and clever hunter. If the opponent has a weakness… he never loses!’
Perhaps instinctively wary of the tiara artifact Morty pulled out,
Raven slid forward, gripping a pitch-black gun, and unleashed a barrage of bullets to prevent Morty from doing anything reckless.
Of course, the thick fog-like aura of decay blocked the bullets, stopping them in mid-air without reaching him.
Or so it seemed.
Puck! Pshuk!
Suddenly, bullets pierced through the wall-like aura of decay, sharply piercing Morty’s entire body!
“Guh?! Y-you…! How did you bypass my magic…!”
“You idiot. A trick shown once won’t work twice! That magic you scattered earlier… I’ve already fully analyzed it!”
Logically, it shouldn’t have been possible.
As far as I knew, what Morty just used was a corpse magic that emitted decay smoke in all directions, corrupting any attack…
There was no way to counter it except by dodging.
Due to the nature of gunfire targeting points, it was nearly impossible to penetrate Morty’s magic and deal damage.
With multiple layers, straight-moving bullets couldn’t pierce through the smoke.
But Raven ricocheted two bullets off each other, distorting their trajectories to an uncanny degree, forcibly finding an opening!
It was nothing short of a miracle within the realm of marksmanship, an achievement no one could replicate.
“Damn, my insides… Never thought this was possible…”
“Master Morty!”
Thud thud.
Blood gushed out from Morty’s body, like an ancient tree.
Perhaps the deflected bullets shredded his insides.
Black blood dripped ominously from the bullets lodged in his collarbone and abdomen.
Ultimately, as a mage, his physical weakness was fully exploited.
Though Morty himself was an Eldritch entity possessing a dead body, so the damage wasn’t as severe as it appeared…
Still, the collapse of his physical form meant a loss of control over his mana. Accumulated damage could become a serious issue.
Perhaps Raven wasn’t about to miss this chance.
Aiming his gun at Morty, he shouted with a serious face.
“Necromancer Morty, I’ll put an end to your infamy here.”
“Kuhuhu, interesting… Let’s save that story for next time.”
Next time? What nonsense is this?
Raven frowned as if Morty were talking gibberish.
No matter how you think about it, Morty was in a desperate situation with no escape.
His danger lay in easily creating undead like the Veta sisters if he had corpses.
And his ability to wield wide-area magic combining offense and defense along with unpredictable and troublesome spells.
But right now, it was difficult to utilize those strengths.
Without new corpses to turn into soldiers or bodyguards to shield him,
And with Raven, who could exploit gaps in magic, watching closely, how could he possibly escape?
No matter how incredible Morty was, this was a moment where he couldn’t change the situation.
That is, if not for the tiara-shaped artifact he held in his hand.
“Remember this. Black-haired human. And… the saint from Earth.”
“…”
“What… Space is…!”
Crack crackle.
A harsh tearing sound echoed as the air opened amidst the hazy decay mist.
The Unholy Tiara of the Queen.
Its effect was to create a passage connected to a desired location.
Morty, who had been staring intently at us, disappeared through the opened portal along with Beritha.
Soon after, the decay mist vanished into thin air.
Clearly, there was no better way to block the opponent’s attack.
It felt like suffering an enormous loss.
