“You… who are you…?”
“…You’re awfully curious for someone who’s about to d*e soon.”
“How… how could this…!”
A middle-aged man lay sprawled on the ground, staring in disbelief at someone towering over him.
The man’s clothes were torn in various places, and he was bleeding heavily as he lay there. Torn into his tattered garments was an insignia clearly marking him as part of the Church.
But despite this, the man clad in black robes standing before the middle-aged man did not falter even an instant.
CRACK-
“AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!”
The man in black robes coldly lifted his foot and brought it back down without hesitation.
A sickening sound of bone breaking was accompanied by the middle-aged man’s scream of agony.
The left ankle had shattered.
“AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!”
As the screaming began to subside, the hooded man moved again.
Up and down went the foot.
The relentless sounds of cracking bones and screams filled the area.
This time, the right ankle.
“Y-YOU MONSTER! Don’t you know who I am? Leader of the First Knights of the Goddess Church…!”
CRACK-
“AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!”
“I’m aware. Leader of the First Knights, Brown. And I know about the ring you possess…”
“AAAAAAAHHHHHH! How… how do you know THAT…!”
CRACK-CRACK-CRACK-
The man in the black robes stomped on Brown repeatedly as if it were an inconvenience.
With each stomp, Brown screamed in agony.
Both ankles were now twisted at grotesque angles, and both wrists had suffered the same fate.
It was hard to reconcile this pitiful sight with Brown Barris, once one of the mightiest warriors of the Goddess Church who had ruled the continent.
“Gurrrrrrr…”
Brown’s voice was fading as he muttered something incoherent.
“Ah, there it is.”
The man in black robes had spotted something glinting on the severely damaged pendant around Brown’s neck.
At the end of the pendant was not an ordinary gemstone, but a ring.
SWISH- CLUNK-
“Guh… guh…”
The man in black robes wasted no time tearing the pendant from Brown’s neck.
As the ring passed into someone else’s possession, Brown gave one last violent scream, though it was incomprehensible.
“I’m aware of that too. That the four pieces must be reunited for it to work.”
“…”
But the man in black robes seemed to understand what Brown had said.
Still keeping his gaze fixed on the ring in his hand, he responded calmly.
Brown’s eyes bulged as if they would pop out of their sockets.
“Before you go, allow me to enlighten you.”
“…”
Brown could only glare up at the man in black robes despite his shattered body. Though the man’s face was hidden, Brown somehow felt like he was smiling.
“Just a feeling.”
“I am… the rightful owner of this ring.”
PUFF-
Simultaneously, bl**d spurted from Brown’s body.
Brown’s heart had been pierced clean through by a sharp object that had risen from the ground.
“And also the rightful owner of the bracelet, necklace, and earrings.”
Brown’s staring eyes remained fixed, unresponsive.
“By tomorrow… they will all return to me.”
A rare flicker of joy passed through the man in black robes’ tone.
Meanwhile, similar events were taking place across four locations on the continent.
Erika had climbed to the top of the tallest tree in the area and was quietly surveying her surroundings.
The soft glow of the moon bathed the academy in a tranquil light.
Other than the raucous sounds emanating from a nearby building, the academy was deathly silent.
“Is this really it?”
Though her lips were pouting in irritation, Erika did not let her guard down.
It was annoying, but this was work, so she couldn’t slack off.
“Still, it’s so noisy.”
Erika scrunched up her face in distaste at the loud voices coming from the building nearby.
Though it was technically a party for academy students, Erika knew better.
Inside was nothing more than a socialite gathering for nobles.
People were divided by social rank, those of inferior status were groveling to their superiors.
Everyone was desperately trying and calculating how to get close to those of higher status.
Not to mention all the formal mannerisms and etiquette one had to follow at a “proper” party.
Having endured such events in the past, Erika found it all thoroughly exhausting.
“Hmph.”
Dismissing the building with a yawn, Erika turned her gaze away.
She had to stay and guard since there were many students inside, but she was not happy about it.
WHOOSH-
A cool breeze swept past, ruffling Erika’s hair.
Other than the party building, the academy was eerily quiet in the still night.
“This is way too quiet.”
Erika suddenly felt something was off.
Yes, she knew it was festival time and most academy students were attending the party.
But this? This was too quiet.
Having sneaked into the academy a few times to tail Cynthia, she could definitely tell the difference.
Even if all the students were inside, this level of silence was unnatural.
PUFF-
Just as Erika had this thought, she straightened up in the tree.
Having honed her auditory senses to catch any sound, she finally detected something unusual.
It was hard to tell what it was at first.
Sounded like something piercing or… softly colliding?
“What is that?”
Erika looked around below, trying to locate the source of the sound.
PUFF- THUD- TOCK-
“Huh?”
This time the sounds were louder and coming from multiple directions.
Whatever it was, it didn’t sound good.
|Leader?|
|…Yeah, what did you find?|
|There’s weird noises coming from outside. It’s not just one or two places.|
|Weird noises?|
Erika immediately sent a message to the Leader.
She couldn’t see anything yet, but the sounds continued.
|Yeah. I don’t know what it is…|
PUFF- CRUNCH-
“Ah.”
Erika froze mid-message.
This time she not only heard, but saw something.
|Erika? What is it?|
|…The ground!|
|The ground?|
|They’re coming out of the ground!|
BOOM!
As Erika messaged Ryuyoung, simultaneous explosions shook the ground around the buildings.
The “puffing” sounds from before weren’t stabbings or soft collisions.
They were undead creatures digging their way out of the ground.
The first thing Erika saw was a skeletal arm.
A skeleton’s arm.
“d*mn it.”
Following the first skeleton, more began emerging from the ground all at once.
Among the skeletons were interspersed d*ath knights – similar to skeletons but enormous in comparison.
Undead were bursting out of the ground.
“So that’s why we didn’t detect anything!”
Erika instantly realized why neither she, the Leader, nor Yuria had found anything yesterday or today.
None of them had thought to check underground.
|Leader, you should probably come out and see this. There’s a crazy number of skeletons coming out.|
|I’ll head out after finding Yuria. Try to stop them from getting inside the building.|
|Got it, I’ll do my best.|
CRACK!
Erika’s black hair whipped around as she leaped toward the building.
Wherever there was a breach, more skeletons and d*ath knights kept coming out of the ground.
Unrelentingly.
BOOM! CRASH!
As Erika landed among the skeletons, raising her mana, bones clattered and the surrounding skeletons shattered.
But only for a moment.
The skeletons began reassembling themselves, bones clicking together.
“Quite a lot, huh?”
Erika muttered as she drew two daggers from her thigh holsters.
They didn’t d*e easily, but individually they didn’t seem that strong.
The real problem were the massive d*ath knights interspersed among them.
Even Erika couldn’t take on all these skeletons and d*ath knights alone.
|I’m trying my best, but no guarantees.|
|…Alright. That’s good enough.|
Just as Erika flashed a wry smile and prepared to charge into the skeletons and d*ath knights…
The gentle moonlight, faint as it was, suddenly disappeared.
“Huh?”
Erika instinctively looked up to where the moonlight had been shining.
As expected, something was blocking it.
“That’s… what?”
Directly in front of Erika, blocking the moon, was an extraordinary silhouette.
Grand wings extending out on both sides and an enormous body.
And someone riding atop it.
“Bones…?”
Looking closely, the creature blocking the moon was entirely composed of bones.
Erika realized now – this wasn’t a living creature.
It was an undead constructed of bones.
WHOOSH!
“…Huh.”
The winged skeleton, as if waiting for Erika to recognize it, started flying away the moment she did.
There was nothing Erika could do but watch dumbly.
It was too late to stop it, and it wasn’t heading toward her anyway.
BOOOOM!!!
The thunderous explosion followed immediately.
The winged skeleton had just headbutted the building where the students were gathered.
