Chapter 252: Not Polly

With that malevolent voice, the remains in nearly every surrounding corpse pit seemed to stir, assembling themselves into one Flesh Golem after another. These creatures, cobbled together like pieces of abstract art, showed no sign of organization or discipline. The moment they could move, they scrambled to swarm Ron and the others!

"That voice! Is that the Ghost Witch you guys drove away?!" Shiva shrieked. "How did you beat her last time?!"

The female student was still flustered and frantic, but thankfully, her and Gordon’s performance was already a vast improvement. At least they could begin chanting simple Arcane Magic for offense and defense. It was just that, to Ron and the others, their methods were a bit too... textbook.

"Colorful Ball... Seven-Color Spray..." Silvia said, summoning a massive Fireball that made the cavern tremble with the explosion. "Mr. Elden, does your academy have something like a performance competition?"

’These spells were certainly colorful and flashy, but look at these Flesh Golems—is that kind of thing really going to work on them?!’

"It’s not a performance competition, it’s the ’Nova Cup’!" Gordon, hastily casting his own spell, couldn’t see Silvia’s expression and thought she was praising them. "Miss, Shiva and I have both won a championship and a runner-up title in the Nova Cup!"

"We can definitely—"

"Get back!"

The tall barbarian lunged forward, shoving the young man—who had drifted to the very edge of the group while casting—back behind her. "Elden, keep an eye on your students! Don’t come crying to me when my sword shaves off half their heads!"

"This is just our first real battle! We’re not that experienced yet..." Shiva protested loudly. She had wanted to take cover behind Aive’s Tower Shield to do her Casting, but the Half-Elf gave her no such opportunity, instinctively keeping Ron protected in the shield’s shadow.

Under that familiar protection, Ron drew his bow. With a sharp TWANG of the string, an arrow wreathed in fire slammed into the open chest cavity of a Golem. The fat inside instantly ignited, the flames leaping to the other Flesh Golems nearby.

"Are my ears failing me? Or are my eyes playing tricks?" Elden asked, pulling his two students close as he dug a finger into his ear in astonishment. "Lord Ron, was that a Flaming Arrow on your shot? And you didn’t chant at all?"

"The bowstring is my voice," Ron grunted, loosing another arrow—this one imbued with Strike Undead. It blew the head clean off a Golem that had a Lizardman’s massive head stitched to a goblin’s body. "My arrows are the Magic; my Magic is the arrows."

For one, the combination of Magic and archery greatly increased the attack’s accuracy. For another, the Magic would detonate within the wound created by the arrow’s impact, inflicting multiple bursts of damage. Even for the tough and resilient Undead Creatures, it was nearly impossible to escape such an assault unscathed.

However, there were far too many corpse pits nearby, and the number of Golems they spawned was considerable. Ron and the others were forced to fall back toward the entrance to avoid being surrounded. Under these conditions, Delaford—who had been injured earlier and was now being pinned down—was the first to snap.

"Ron, I’ve had enough! I’m taking them all out right now!"

The Goblin Hunter drew his bow, leaned back, and fired an arrow high into the air. It looked absurdly off-course, but the shaft exploded in midair. A volley of projectiles rained down from above like a furious swarm of bees, peppering the dense horde of Golems below!

"Eat my arrow storm! This is for you bastards!" the Goblin Hunter yelled, spitting on the ground with a wide, manic grin.

While the arrow storm damaged the Golems, it was magically constituted and left no physical traces. The instant the volley ended, Sera charged out like a war chariot, annihilating all the Golems in her path whose movements had been impaired by the attack. With the support from the others behind her, they managed to sweep the area completely clean, despite the large number of Undead Creatures.

THUMP! Aive’s tower shield slammed down, smashing the head of a Golem that wasn’t quite dead into pulp. The Half-Elf reached into the gory mess of the deer head, rooted around for a moment, and finally pulled out a peculiarly shaped bone fragment. She tossed it to Shiva, rotting flesh and all.

"It’s for you," Aive said, satisfied at the sight of Shiva wanting to catch it but not daring to. "Things like this from inside a deer’s head are quite popular in some human cultures. You can take it back as a souvenir."

"Can I say no?"

Shiva’s face fell. She desperately wanted a souvenir like this, but was disgusted by how filthy it was. In the end, an ecstatic Gordon took it from her. The boy emptied his waterskin, gave the bone a quick rinse, and then placed it in an inner pocket as if it were a precious treasure.

No doubt, once Gordon got back, that little trinket would be enough for him to brag about to his classmates over drinks for a long time to come.

"Shiva asked you all a question earlier, but things were too dangerous for you to answer," Elden said, frowning as he looked at Ron. "That malevolent voice from before was a Ghost Witch, wasn’t it? Was it really the one you drove away?"

"You’ve shared quite a few of your experiences over the past few days. Based on your recollections, I feel like..."

Ron didn’t answer him. He just cautiously drew one of his specially-made arrows and set it on the un-drawn bowstring. The others exchanged glances and shook their heads.

"No, it wasn’t her," Priest Heim said, his tone tinged with confusion. "While there was some resemblance, I’m almost positive that was not Polly’s voice."

"I don’t think it was her, either," Silvia said, raising her Walking Stick. A Night Howling Hound immediately burst forth from the Ethereal Plane to scout ahead. "My big dogs here agree—they think it sounded more like a different Ghost Witch."

"I’m sending it out to take a look. If it is her, it will—"

Silvia hadn’t even finished her sentence when a piercing cry echoed from up ahead, followed by a frantic series of barks. Without waiting for her command, the space around them rippled as a dozen more Night Howling Hounds burst forth, howling as they charged into the unseen darkness.

"Something’s wrong!" The Vampire Mage’s expression changed in an instant. "My connection with the first hound—it was just severed!"

"Another one’s gone! We can’t wait any longer!"

’At this rate, her whole pack will be wiped out!’