Chapter 373: The Ultimate Form of Necessary Evil (2)

Soldiers of the third regiment, first imperial legion, were growing uneasy. Something felt off about the situation. Why hasn't the retreat order come down yet?

Several waves of the undead had already crashed against them. They were holding their position, defending the outpost desperately against the onslaught. On any other day, they would have withdrawn by now. Yet today, they were being ordered to fight to the last.

"Do not fall back!"

"If we retreat, the whole world will turn into hell!"

It wasn't exactly a lie, but for soldiers who had become accustomed to quick retreats in recent days, the command sounded oddly hollow. Still, orders were orders, so they followed them, roaring as they swung their spears and swords wildly against the encroaching tide of the dead.

Yet the enemy's assault showed no signs of ending. No sooner had they barely managed to break the momentum of one undead wave than another group appeared from the rear of the outpost.

"They're here again?!"

"Damn it!"

Their enemies were elves and dwarves, all dressed in priestly robes. However, the symbols of Ta'al, the god once worshiped by the fairies, had been removed from their garments. They had abandoned Ta'al, embracing Tesranach and wielding the power of darkness as fallen priests.

The elves and dwarves, cloaked in black energy, began to chant. "O silence of the night, stretch forth thy grasp of dominion. Reveal thy claws and fangs of shadow!"

Pitch-black energy flowed along the ruined streets and surged into the air. The black storm sharpened like blades, engulfing the buildings occupied by the imperial army. The mages and priests of the third regiment recoiled in shock as they hastily erected defensive spells.

"It's necromancy!"

"B-Block it!"

Milia, too, desperately unleashed a holy incantation. "O Latiel! Grant us the light of purification!"

A radiant light blocked the darkness. Shockwaves exploded in all directions, and the ground quaked violently. Deafening blasts thundered without pause. They did their utmost, but the defense was far from perfect.

Shields shattered one by one, and darkness began to push through. It seeped in like a mist through the cracks, wrapping around and tearing into the imperial forces. Screams echoed everywhere.

Milia was shaken as her comrades fell one by one. The imperial elites, including Drel and Dios, had moved far from the outpost to deal with Giyen Ren's dragons. There was no one left to defend this place now.

And there was nothing she could do. She had ended up tagging along with these super-humans, but Milia herself was not particularly exceptional among other priests. What should I do?

A priest of the goddess, bloodied, shouted in disbelief. "How could priests of Ta'al fall so far into corruption?!"

An elven necromancer, once a priest, gave a cold smile. "Corruption?"

Laughter rippled among the fae. "Yes, you would see us as corrupted. But look at the power we have gained in return!"

An even greater darkness began to swirl around them, far surpassing the power of any undead army they had faced before.

Milia's expression twisted at the sight. "What nonsense, corruption?"

Something within her chest roiled and turned over. Who was calling whom corrupted now? She reached for the seal within her. She knew that if she broke it, it would bring disaster. But doing nothing would bring disaster all the same.

Screw it. I'm sure Lord Karnak will seal it back up later.

Having resolved herself, Milia cast off the mask of humanity. "You think you're the only ones? I'm corrupted too, you fae bastards!"

***

A golden radiance burst forth in all directions. From within the brilliant light, an armored angel unfurled a pair of wings and soared into the air. A lance of light shot forward, burning away the darkness. Seeing their painstakingly cast spell collapse, the fae necromancers recoiled, eyes wide in shock.

"W-What is that?"

"Why does that woman wield the power of Lord Tesranach?!"

In any case, this Angel of Radiant Wings was not something Milia could freely control. She was simply hitching a ride, and therefore, able only to issue broad, general commands. Take them all down!

The angel faithfully carried out Milia's command. After splitting the darkness, the Angel of Radiant Wings immediately dove toward the fae. Its lances of light pierced through them one after another. They tried desperately to counter with necromancy, but it was futile.

After all, this technique had been developed to face a martial king. While it could not match the angel personally summoned by Karnak, Milia's angel mode possessed more than enough power to rival powerful purple tiers.

A gruesome slaughter engulfed the streets of the capital. Had Milia been fighting with her own will, it would not have been this brutal, but with her simply issuing commands while the angel carried out the massacre, the outcome was nothing short of horrific.

It took only a few minutes to completely annihilate the advancing fae necromancers. The third regiment, barely holding on, could only stare blankly at the scene.

"M-Miss Milia?"

"What in the world...?"

Outwardly, it looked like an angel, but a distinctly sinister aura now emanated from Milia. In any case, Karnak would not have bothered to disguise it in the first place if it could flawlessly blend in.

By all rights, she should have been branded a heretic, but surprisingly, the mages felt no particular hostility. After all, even they had been using the power of darkness quite comfortably these days.

"Is this a new spell of Lord Karnak's Necromancy series?"

"When will they teach it to us, I wonder?"

Of course, the priests of the church did not make such mistaken assumptions. Priests sensed things differently from mages. No matter what, they would never fail to distinguish between the fake necromancy series and true necromancy at such close range.

That's real dark energy...

And yet, like the mages, they did not feel any deep hostility toward it. These days, even priests of the church had fought alongside true necromancers far too many times.

Is this another scheme by the Twilight Order?

They're exactly the types who would do this...

They had, however temporarily, accepted the Twilight Order's existence, making it awkward to criticize when a priest of Latiel was now reeking of darkness right in front of them. It truly proved that humans were creatures easily swayed by circumstances.

Only the uninformed soldiers were cheering enthusiastically.

"The goddesses' angel!"

"She has saved us!"

Thanks to them, Milia was able to let out a sigh of relief. That's not what this is. But I appreciate the misunderstanding.

She adjusted her grip on the spear of light. Once in this state, she could no longer return to her human form by her own will. It was easy enough to break the seal, but closing it again was something only Karnak could do.

So if she wanted to return, she would need to find him...

Since it's come to this, I might as well make it worth it!

The Angel of Radiant Wings soared toward the advancing undead army, accompanied by a graceful song resounding across the battlefield.

***

A massive adolescent dragon circled overhead before diving down. Roaring with the rage of having lost its kin, it spewed flames. Serati, who had been waiting calmly, focused aura into both her legs.

She kicked up against the ground with her aura-enhanced legs. She shot up into the sky while easily dodging the dragon's flames. It was an astonishing leap.

Seeing the small human suddenly charging toward it, the dragon flinched. Even for a powerful aura user, leaping this high using pure aura alone was no easy feat.

She herself was quite surprised. Honestly, I didn't think it would be this easy either.

Lately, her raw power had been increasing inexplicably, making feats like this possible. She closed in on the dragon's flank and swung her aura sword in a wide arc.

Tascal Swordsmanship, Quadruple Slash!

Her 'disciple' Lapicel was already capable of unleashing eight consecutive strikes, but that was a story for prodigies. Four strikes remained Serati's limit. But that was hardly a problem. She only needed to make each strike hurt.

Her fearsome blue aura pounded the dragon repeatedly. Scales shattered, and dragon blood splattered. The blows were so powerful that the dragon could not hold itself aloft for long, crashing down to earth with a plume of dust.

Serati followed swiftly, preparing to deliver the final blow. Huh? Something's coming.

From the other side of the ruined city, a young man leapt across buildings, closing the distance in an instant before bursting into radiant light in midair, his form expanding dramatically.

The man transformed into a massive red dragon with a wingspan stretching dozens of meters, unfurling its wings wide as the power of draconic mana surged around him. Serati tightened her grip on her sword, tense. It was an adult dragon!

Unlike adolescent dragons, who used draconic mana purely by instinct, adult dragons refined and controlled their magic.

They could use aura, magic, divine magic, and more in the same ways as humans, shifting freely between human and dragon forms as an application of draconic magic. The adult dragon conjured dozens of magic circles around itself.

"Step aside, human!" From the circles, crimson flashes of light rained down upon her in rapid succession.

Serati did not dodge. Instead, she drew her aura sword and faced the dragon's magic head-on.

The blue aura sword shattered each of the crimson flashes flying toward her. Amidst the scattering shards of light, the dragon's expression turned to one of shock. She's blocking them this easily?

Draconic mana had the incredible advantage of being able to utilize every type of energy. But it also had a clear drawback: its efficiency was poor.

No matter how refined, it could not specialize in a single direction. Thus, despite having vast amounts of mana, the actual destructive power per unit of mana was far lower than that of humans or elves.

Normally, this wasn't an issue, since dragons had several times the mana reserves to compensate for this flaw.

What... What is this strength?!

In the end, even the adult dragon was shot down from the sky, crashing to the ground. It trembled as it forced its torn wings to heal. "How can a blue-tier warrior be this strong?"

A faint smile crossed Serati's lips. I don't get it either, but what do they expect me to do about it?

The injuries to its wings were severe enough that, even with healing, they would not mend quickly. Left with no choice, the adult dragon planted its four legs on the ground and continued the fight against Serati.

The dragon's breaths and magic clashed chaotically with Serati's aura blade, turning the surrounding area into a complete wasteland. However, it was the dragon who continued to fall behind as time passed.

Setting aside everything else, it simply could not match her in raw destructive power. Whatever it tried, it was simply overpowered.

Moreover, it couldn't even focus properly. There had been something nagging at its senses for a while now. A cat continued to wander nearby while meowing repeatedly.

It wasn't doing anything in particular. It was just meowing once and then scampering off, but for some reason, it was incredibly distracting.

Why is this so distracting?

The price for letting his attention waver in a life-or-death battle was steep. Through the brief opening, a sharp aura blade slipped in. Though Serati was blue-tier, the power behind her strike exceeded even that of many purple-tiers. The sword plunged deep into the dragon's brow.

With a wretched scream, the dragon's neck twisted, and once more, the cry of a cat echoed through the ruins. Clicking her tongue, Serati glanced at the white cat, a dragon hatchling in disguise, approaching her.

Floke, you're surprisingly helpful even when you're doing nothing. She had no idea how much longer this would continue. I'm holding out like he told me to, but is this actually leading to anything?

Karnak, who had been part of the fourth regiment with her, had already disappeared somewhere with Varos. She had no idea where they were or what they were doing. He hadn't told her anything.

It was frustrating, but she understood. It wasn't as if he didn't trust his companions and was hiding things out of suspicion. No, who could blame him when ghosts might be eavesdropping in secret?

She sheathed her sword and scanned her surroundings. Fierce battles continued throughout the city of the capital.

Though she couldn't see them with her eyes, she could sense the general state of the battlefield through her aura perception. Everyone was still holding on, but they were clearly struggling.

If Karnak's words were to be believed, the time was near.

I still have no idea what he's planning, though.