As I was preparing to cast magic to initiate the aerial assault, I noticed movement beyond the castle wall.
Skeleton soldiers were gathering heavily at the entrance of the castle.
Curious about what was happening, I paused my magic and looked closer.
I saw someone engaged in battle with the skeleton soldiers at the castle entrance.
It was hard to see from a distance, but it appeared to be a demon.
I adjusted the position for the aerial assault and aimed for a different location.
I would ensure that the demon fighting at the entrance wouldn’t be harmed.
I summoned the Last Ape in the shape of a spear and compressed magic at its tip.
It was magic that applied the compression of lightning.
Although it was my first time using this method, it seemed like a suitable practice area.
I targeted the undead soldiers gathering a fair distance from the entrance.
“Lightning World!”
A bolt of lightning shot from the Last Ape and struck the location I had specified.
Even from a considerable distance, the lightning was of considerable size!
From inside the castle walls, it must have felt like everything suddenly brightened.
The lightning poured down much wider than when I had used it in the city of Laden.
Crash!
It wasn’t just a strike of lightning but a sound like hundreds of missiles falling from the sky.
The undead moved in an orderly fashion toward the entrance of the castle to avoid the lightning, trying to save their lives.
Among them, I spotted a particularly large, one-armed creature moving.
It was undoubtedly the giant who had lost one arm from the compressed lightning.
Given its presence, it seemed certain that there were commanders in this city.
I didn’t see any knights riding the phantom horse known as the commanders.
If they didn’t show up even amidst such chaos, it seemed they weren’t here.
As I descended to the ground, I alerted the knight orders to be cautious of the lightning as they moved in.
“How about entering once the magic is finished?”
Frey asked my question.
“I think there’s at least one civilian inside that castle. We need to hurry if we want to save them.”
Though I couldn’t see clearly from a distance, they certainly wouldn’t last long.
It was best to enter and rescue them while the undead were disoriented from my magic.
“If there is a civilian, we must rescue them.”
Flap~
Frey spread her hidden wings.
The sun had set, disappearing over the horizon.
Those who had been draped in thick cloaks took them off.
Their appearance was much closer to that of humans than demons.
They automatically gathered, moving at a slightly faster pace toward each knight order.
“Well then, we’ll go this way to rescue the civilian.”
“We’ll deal with the commander over there. We saw it earlier.”
The seventh knight order, including Frey, dashed toward the castle entrance where the civilian was.
We moved at a more leisurely pace to another entrance.
“Is the commander perhaps that one we saw last time?”
I nodded at Ricky’s question.
“This time, I’ll cut off its arm!”
Jie, who hadn’t seen the giant’s condition last time, exclaimed boldly.
In front of the half-open castle gate were a lot of skeleton soldiers and ghouls.
Ricky and Jie cleared a path while the rest dealt with the undead soldiers.
I advised Melorna, who was dispatching undead soldiers, that she should aim for their cores.
“Where are they?”
“It’s the same as sensing mana; just aim for a dark spot in a specific area.”
After trying a few times, it seemed Melorna quickly picked up the knack and managed well.
Crash!
“Get out of the way!”
The giant swung its arm, knocking away the surrounding undead soldiers.
The one-armed giant revealed itself before us.
“I am the warrior Hinof. This time, I will hear your name.”
The giant pointed its spear at me.
“Sorry, but I’m not your opponent.”
“What?”
Ricky drew his sword and stepped forward.
“It’s you, isn’t it? Yes, we never finished our fight properly.”
The giant raised its spear high, wearing a look of satisfaction.
Dark energy began to gather around the spear before it transformed into a sword.
“Could it be a demonic sword?”
“Oh, to notice this, you have some skills.”
The giant proudly brandished the demonic sword and charged at Ricky.
Leaving that scene behind, we moved to search for another commander.
“Is it alright to leave our vice commander alone?”
“Well, you all stay nearby and help out if things get dangerous.”
“Okay!”
Jie and Iwaf broke off from the formation to clear the undead around Ricky and the giant.
If a dangerous situation arose, the two could step in to help.
I began to search with Melorna for another commander.
“Blade of Wind.”
The Last Ape was currently deployed in Lightning World.
As a substitute measure, I created the Blade of Wind and held it in my hand.
The surrounding undead saw us and howled, charging at us.
With the Blade of Wind in hand, I swung quickly several times, and one ghoul was split into three.
After dispatching a few more undead, I noticed that the enemies continued to be split into three.
I decided to name this technique “Tri-Slash.”
The method of applying a strong downward slash would be called “Single Slash.”
While I was joyfully slicing undead in thirds and halves,
“Humans are so fearless!”
It seemed to be a commander, judging by its ability to speak, but its figure was hidden.
“Hyii~!”
A phantom horse suddenly burst forth from among the undead and dashed quickly between me and Melorna.
Riding the horse was a gaunt creature staring down at me.
“I am Ahom, a loyal servant of Lord Karim!”
Ahom looked so thin that I wondered if it could even properly wield a sword.
Its appearance was similar to that of a ghoul, but with longer arms and legs.
“If I take your head, I could claim a position for myself.”
It was a sight I hadn’t seen from the other undead commanders I had encountered.
While they all spoke of bringing about the end of the world, this one was a bit different.
It openly revealed its objective to rise in the ranks of the undead legion.
“Charge!”
With its sword in hand, it started to drive the horse directly at us.
Clang!
As I blocked the oncoming sword with the speed of the phantom horse, I was knocked several meters back.
Even a seemingly trivial attack had considerable power behind it.
Furthermore, the phantom horse was free to change direction and quickly launched another attack.
Whoosh!
The sound of the sword slicing through the air felt as if it were wielding a metal club.
“I’ll aim for the horse!”
Melorna decided to focus on the horse, and I chose to target Ahom.
Melorna’s sword sliced silently through the charging horse.
As I struck to deflect Ahom’s sword, I aimed for an opening but felt nothing on my hands.
“You can’t strike me down with a mere sword!”
Although Ahom’s attacks struck us effectively, it was strangely odd that ours didn’t affect it at all.
“Could the phantom horse actually be a real ghost?”
“Impossible. There must be some kind of trickery at play.”
While Melorna and I failed to devise any countermeasures, Ahom’s relentless attacks continued.
It displayed various bizarre tricks from atop its horse, taunting us.
“I want to slice that neck quickly!”
Clang!
As Melorna deflected Ahom’s sword, her series of counterattacks appeared almost like art.
Though no damage was dealt, if it weren’t for the trickery it employed, it would have taken significant harm.
Following Melorna’s movements, I attempted to aim a counter at Ahom by deflecting its sword.
Zip!
Just as the Blade of Wind was about to touch Ahom’s thigh, it suddenly accelerated the horse to dodge my attack.
While ignoring Melorna’s assault, it desperately avoided my strikes, which felt very peculiar.
After observing a few more exchanges, I realized that the way it fought me differed slightly from when it faced Melorna.
When attacking Melorna, it dashed recklessly, but when facing me, it was clearly desperate to deflect my sword.
“I think I understand!”
“What?”
“You’re afraid of my sword, aren’t you?”
“Who’s afraid of your sword?”
Although the words were spoken casually, the reaction of its body was a completely different story.
I coated the Blade of Wind with mana and swung it at Ahom.
Since we were at a considerable distance, it showed no reaction.
Whoosh!
“Ah!”
I made a slight miscalculation in my aim, and the wind brushed against Ahom’s cheek.
“Melorna, move a little away.”
“Understood.”
The mana coated on the Blade of Wind inflicted a wound on it.
Originally, this was how the Blade of Wind was meant to be used.
I had tried to imitate the way the Demon King used it, but I could never grasp the feel of it.
Recently, I gained hints while watching others coat their swords with mana.
What I had launched wasn’t precisely wind but mana.
However, since I managed to inflict a wound, it seemed I was on the right track.
Now there was no longer a reason to engage closely with it.
“Charge!”
“Well then, I’ll charge too!”
While the horse rushed toward us, the wind rushed on our side.
I recalled the movements Melorna had demonstrated during training and moved in synchronization.
Seeing the sharp mana shot from the Blade of Wind, Ahom quickly turned to evade my attack.
This confirmed one thing.
Using mana for attacks was effective against it!
First, I decided to deal with the bothersome phantom horse.
Realizing it could be injured by my attacks, it merely circled around me.
“If it won’t come in, should I go to it?”
“Feel free.”
Zoom!
As the creature circled clockwise, it dove in as it saw my blade’s movements.
“You won’t be able to swing here!”
Having swung my sword once, I found it challenging to change my posture.
Clang!
Ahom’s sword came flying toward my exposed neck.
“What, what is this arm!”
“I don’t like this form very much.”
I raised a thick-scaled arm to block Ahom’s sword.
In defense, I released the transformation on one arm.
As I struck the phantom horse’s side with my dragon-formed arm, it let out a ghastly sound, raising its front legs.
“Calm down! Calm down!”
Ahom tried to calm the horse, but ultimately fell off it.
“Now, shall we have a fair fight?”
Holding up the Blade of Wind, Ahom shook its head and got back to its feet.
“Damn it, it feels terrible to stand on the ground.”
Ahom took off the armor it had been wearing as if getting ready to loosen its body.
Whoosh!
In an instant, its sword grazed past my side.
“Tch. Looks like this sword isn’t enough?”
Thud.
With a frustrated expression, it tossed the sword it had been holding to the ground.
“Consider it an honor! I shall defeat you with this holy sword!”
Declaring with the voice of a righteous hero, Ahom drew a sword from the dark space that had formed on the ground.
