Elven Village Siege Battle ⑪

【Shun】

Kyoya suddenly appeared.

And Sōfia, formerly Nagai Akiko.

Why are these two together?

In their previous lives, there had been no particular connection between them.

Therefore, in this life, they must have met somewhere and been acting in concert.

"I am Sophia. I discarded my old name long ago."

"No, you’ll inevitably be found out eventually. You’d do better not to pretend."

"Stop giving me orders."

Nagai—now Sophia—glared at Kyoya.

Indeed, the impression left by Nagai in her previous life differed greatly from that of Sophia now.

In the past, she had been silent, always looking down, emanating an eerie presence.

Now, she spoke with arrogance, her gaze forward, radiating authority.

Kyoya’s comment was likely the only thing that would have made one recognize them as the same person.

There was no trace of the former figure known as Rihoko in the shadows.

“Ah”

Magic is cast toward Kyoya and Sophia.

Elven magic.

Kyoya and Sophia deflect it effortlessly.

“Simultaneous barrage!”

The male elf resembling a commander shouts.

In response, the surrounding elves begin attacking in unison.

“Wait!”

My voice does not reach them.

I wanted to say we are not enemies, but Kyoya has already declared his intent to annihilate the elves.

To the elves, he is clearly an adversary.

“Interference.”

Sophia swings her arm.

She clears all elven attacks, red liquid spilling from her limb and spreading across the surroundings.

The liquid writhes as if sentient, moving at high speed toward the elves.

Too late to stop it—elves touched by the substance dissolve, emitting violent sounds and a foul odor.

“Ghk!?”

Turning at the sound, Sophia saw Hyrlins holding back the red liquid with her shield.

The crimson fluid clung to Hyrlins’s shield, as if seeking to engulf it entirely.

Beyond that, An and the teacher stood.

“Stop!”

She swung her sword toward Sophia without hesitation.

Kyo'ya intercepted it.

“Lightweight. Do you actually believe someone can be cut with a blade this flimsy?”

Kyo'ya lightly deflected the strike.

The disparity in attack power was unmistakable—clearly superior to mine.

“Sophia. The one lying unconscious behind you… isn’t that the teacher?”

“Oh? Is it?”

“Probably.”

“Then I have no choice. I’ll let you go.”

Sophia snapped her fingers. The red liquid withdrew smoothly from Hyrlins’s shield.

The liquid scattered around the area wrapped around Sophia’s arm, then vanished as if being drawn into her body.

No skill like that has ever been seen or heard of.

What is this?

"Leaving aside the teacher, what about that half-elf over there?"

"Who knows?"

"Then I can kill him without consequence, can't I?"

A sense of unease rose in response to Sophia’s words.

The sword was raised.

"Oh, Shun’s angry. What should we do?"

"Blame me, is it? I don’t care. If he opposes me, I’ll crush him—just not kill him."

"He’s a friend of mine, you know?"

"Then persuade him. I don’t mind either way."

Kyoya aside, Sophia is dangerous.

In addition to her unknown ability, there is this composure.

Better to assume she is strong.

And like Kyoya, Sophia’s stats are unidentifiable to my system.

"Identification blocked."

That message appeared only once before.

The first time I used identification on my teacher.

The teacher called it a Sovereign Authority.

Meaning both individuals before me are Sovereigns.

I was so focused on guarding against Sophia that I had no awareness of the surroundings.

A short cry confirmed the situation had changed.

Turning, I saw countless elves attacking Sir Hyalins.

All of them bore the same wretched form—half-melted bodies, identical to those defeated by Sophia moments earlier.

"Ah..."

Sophia uttered a breath.

Is this her ability!?

Damn it.

Hyalins repelled the swarm with his shield and cut through them with his sword, but the effect was minimal.

A blade descended toward me as I rushed to assist.

At the tip of the blade stood Yugo, headless.

Zombie: A golem-like entity animated by the ability to control deceased biological matter. Continues movement until the body is completely destroyed.

Upon inspection, no status data appeared. Only the description was displayed.

Zombie. That was the true nature of the entity attacking us now.

Yugo’s headless corpse moving without hesitation—suggesting that crushing the head had no effect.

To stop it, the body itself must be destroyed completely. No part left intact.

What an inconvenient ability.

I cast a spell to disintegrate Yugo’s zombie.

To my side, Cathia was incinerating the elven zombie with flames.

I turned to assist Hyarins—

“Ah.”

A deep arrow pierced Ana’s chest, where she had been tending to the teacher.

The elven zombie’s arrow had struck her heart.

Ana’s HP dropped rapidly.

Without immediate treatment, she is in danger.

Yet an elven zombie stands in my way.

Hailyns and Catia are immobilized by the swarm of elven zombies.

"Get out of the way!"

I clear a path through them and reach Ana.

Simultaneously, Ana's HP reaches zero.

I activate the mercy skill without hesitation.

I will not let Ana become a zombie.

[Skill level reached. Taboo LV9 upgraded to Taboo LV10.]

[Condition met. Activating Taboo effect. Installation in progress.]

A surge flows into me upon successfully reviving Ana.

"Guaaaaaaaah!?!"

My head hurts.

It feels as if my skull is splitting.

Yet they pour relentlessly into my struggling mind.

Katarina burns the elf-zombies to ash and rushes toward me.

Hyrlins raises his shield to protect us.

Kyoya and Sophia appear to be discussing something, but with the headache splitting my skull, I cannot comprehend what they say.

"Shun! Pull yourself together!"

Katarina casts a healing spell on me.

It does nothing.

This is not pain that can be resolved by healing.

[Installation complete]

At the same moment the divine message arrives, someone teleports in.

The figure appears beside Kyoya and Sophia.

I recognize the person.

A white-haired girl.

I could never forget.

The final opponent of Julius-sama, shown to me by Hyrlins.

But why did I not realize it then?

No—seeing her now, it makes sense.

She is difficult to perceive. An awareness-dampening effect surrounds her.

A magic designed to leave only the impression of white.

The footage shown by Hyrlins did not make this clear.

But upon seeing the physical object, the awareness-dampening magic was breached, and its true form crystallized into view.

"Wakaba-hime."

It could only be the reincarnated one, long thought dead—definitely Wakaba-hime.

And then, my head split open with pain, consciousness severed, sinking into the depths of a bottomless abyss.