‘I should be in that space at the bottom of the giant tree, right? No… where was I originally?’
Though confused by the situation before her, the instincts of a warrior forced Iyue into a combat stance instantly.
As her gaze slowly moved to her waist, she saw a familiar longsword—
‘A sword…? Where are my spear and hunting knife? And this sword is…?’
The approaching enemy gave her no time to think further. She drew the blade.
“Haahhh!”
Where the sword light passed, black armor shattered and blood gushed like a fountain.
But the tearing roar that came from her throat… was not her own voice.
‘No… this isn’t me swinging the sword at all! Have I become something like a ghost?’
“Don’t fight her in close quarters! Send the magical beasts first!”
When Iyue realized this, her vision—or rather, the vision of the person she was possessing—was already stained red by the blood spurting from the corpses of the demon army.
Yet facing the relentless waves of enemies and the ferocious dog-shaped magical beasts they summoned, she still charged forward without hesitation.
“Spells… spells! Use spells to shoot! Frontline soldiers, fall back first!”
This person’s fearless assault tore a gap in the demon army’s melee forces surrounding her.
Every soldier and magical beast that dared to block her path fell under her sword, which advanced like a meat grinder.
To stop her advance, the demon army commander hidden behind the formation issued orders to the rear ranks of mages.
Seeing those glowing magic circles, the owner of this body tried to retreat toward the buildings on the side of the street that could serve as cover… but the summoned large magical beasts swarmed forward and bit into her limbs.
She saw that this body’s hands were covered in armor.
But judging from its state—so stained with blood that its original appearance was indistinguishable—it was clear the armor could no longer provide any decent defense.
The fangs and claws of the canine beasts easily pierced through the armor and injured this person’s body—the excruciating pain that even Iyue could feel was proof of that.
This person swung her sword to kill the magical beasts tearing at her… but these monsters, unafraid of death, did not fear their companions being torn apart.
They still clung tightly to this person, trying to delay her.
‘…This is a spell cast openly by the Demon Spirit Duke.’
Iyue recognized at a glance what kind of power had created these disgusting things.
When she pursued his retreating army to the Kingdom of Salvation back then, the entire brigade had been slowed down by such spells.
Although the magical beasts summoned by these war mages could not compare in strength to those summoned by the Demon Spirit Duke himself, due to the large number of casters and low mana consumption, they could gather in an astonishing quantity in a short time.
“Aaaahhh!”
The surging magical beasts had formed a solid wall of flesh pressing down…
Even though the slashes released by this person’s sword carried powerful mana and stirred sharp Sword Qi, it was hard to push back that wall any time soon.
“Shoot, shoot! Maximum firepower! Don’t spare your mana… that elf is an undead! Blast her to pieces so thoroughly that she can’t regenerate!”
‘…Undead?’
Iyue didn’t understand the meaning of that word shouted by the commander.
Weren’t the undead a major race under the Netherworld Necromancer Lord?
How could they possibly be related to elves—
Her thoughts were interrupted by a rain of spells descending from the sky.
The clawing of the magical beasts had bought time for this round of spells to gather power and aim.
Flames, lightning, ice shards, stone bullets… individually, these low-level spells were weak, but concentrated together, their power surpassed a volley from a bow formation without mana infusion.
Iyue’s vision was completely obscured by the blood mist from the magical beasts’ explosions and the strange-colored light emitted by the clashing, annihilating mana elements.
‘Pain, pain, pain, pain, pain, pain, pain, pain…!’
As a warrior, she was not afraid of pain.
But this pain of her flesh and bones being violently torn apart by rampaging mana while her consciousness remained clear—she was tasting it for the first time.
No, more precisely, this should be the pain of death.
The images Iyue saw tumbled and flipped continuously… because this body was torn into pieces, and even its head was blown off, rolling onto the ground.
The pain was almost enough to make her consciousness fade. But in the darkness, she heard someone’s voice—
“Stand up.”
That voice instantly cleared Iyue’s mind. Because the owner of that voice was the one she had just sworn to shatter into pieces—
Yiruiweilian…
She could not mistake that voice. Because it was that same voice that had once pronounced her fate and had the guards throw her out of the family’s giant tree.
“Are you going to die here? Is the loyalty that drove you to offer your soul… only this much?”
That voice was as always… more like mockery and ridicule than encouragement and inspiration.
“Stand up. Prove to me that so-called loyalty of yours… and the value of your soul.”
Suddenly, a scene flashed before Iyue’s eyes.
In a stream stained with blood, a knight was soaking.
Her armor, which had endured countless bites, was broken and scattered.
Her limbs, unprotected by armor, had vanished… and the corpses of the magical beasts that had gnawed on her remains and flesh soaked with her in that stagnant blood-red water.
Her sword was stuck in the wet soil of the streambed. On that blade, which had cut down countless enemies, chips and cracks spread endlessly—
Until finally, it shattered and scattered, completely broken.
The sword and the knight’s life reached their end together.
But on the knight’s face, already gnawed beyond recognition, there was not an expression of relief or release after a desperate battle.
She was crying. The one always described by her comrades as a cold-faced statue was crying helplessly.
But the reason for her tears was not for her dying self, but for her master, still exposed to enemy threat far away.
‘Why can I only go this far? Why can I not cut down every last one of those monsters? If it were that woman who abandoned her oath… could she do it?’
‘Ah… that person who embodies all of Her Highness the Princess’s admiration and respect. Why isn’t she here? Wasn’t she also the one who swore loyalty to His Majesty and Her Highness? Didn’t we promise… to stake everything to protect them?’
“You look like you can’t rest in peace. Pitiful child.”
In the chaos before death, only this voice was particularly clear.
“I can feel it… you’re very unwilling, aren’t you? You still want to fight, still want to serve your master, right?”
‘You… who are you?’
“Heh heh… I will give you a chance. After all, experiments always need new subjects.”
‘Can you… save me? Can you… let me pick up my sword once more?’
“Yes. As long as you give everything in exchange.”
‘Apart from my loyalty… I can give you anything. I only want to pick up my sword again… and protect that person’s side.’
“Your wish will be granted—the contract is established.”
With the voice’s final words, the scene faded, and Iyue’s consciousness returned to the battlefield stained with blood and gunpowder smoke.
“Un-undead… no… even undead can’t…”
The demon army feared what they saw. A broken, headless skeleton stood on one leg… new flesh swelled upon it.
Iyue watched it reach out, pick up the head that had fallen on the ground, and reattach it to the neck.
After regaining its line of sight, the body used its newly formed hand to pick up the broken, shattered sword from the ground.
The sword was also restoring itself. It was as if the sword were part of the flesh, pulling and swelling back to its original shape.
And on that eerily smooth and new blade, Iyue finally saw the face of this person clearly—
Waletidina…!
This was the longsword issued to the Guard Knights.