“To think you’d raise a blade against your own Master…!”
“A-, aa—”
Although Meltina had been saved, the scene was gruesome. This was real combat, a battlefield where people harmed one another.
What a tragic ending. But Meltina’s assumption was completely wrong.
“Fufu…”
Echidna turned to smile at the knight behind her. Despite being run clean through the chest with a sword, she showed no signs of suffering, an eerie sight. Even from the wound, barely any blood seemed to spill.
“S-She’s an Undead! Be careful!”
“Damn… I can’t pull it out!”
While the knight struggled to withdraw his blade, Echidna’s sword stabbed straight into his abdomen.
“Gwaaaaah…!?”This time, the sword that pierced the body was drenched in blood, staining the ground below in moments.
“Now, I’ll give you… feed…”
Still impaled on her sword, Echidna effortlessly lifted the knight’s body and flung it toward the giant made of Mana Essence.
And just like the Holy Knights absorbed before, the knight was engulfed into the giant’s body with a grotesque crunching of flesh and bone, becoming part of the fluid mass.
“Kukukuku… Hahaha…”
Though she had just sacrificed a knight, a fellow subordinate of Prime Minister Rigriff no less, Echidna smiled coldly, entirely devoid of remorse.
Her speech was awkward, halting. Liselotte mentioned that she became an undead, but would that imply that being an undead meant one’s intellect decreased whilst their physical strength increased?
“This is the first time I’ve seen an Undead capable of speech! Answer me—what is your goal!? Was it General Maxwell of Venefique who made you like this!?”
But Echidna, now Undead, gave no reply to Liselotte’s demand. Instead, she launched herself forward, charging straight at the nearby Meltina.
“!?”
Her speed and swordsmanship were sharp, too fast for Meltina to react. But before the blade could reach her, Echidna’s body was suddenly sent flying sideways.
A shadow had intercepted, landing a powerful kick to her side. So powerful that Echidna’s body bounced off the ship’s floor before skidding to a halt.
“Meltina, Liselotte—are you two okay!?”
It was a Hyrule Menace, with animal ears and a tail, Ripple.
“Lady Ripple! Yes, we’re fine!”
“Thank you!”
“Phew, sorry I’m late!”
Ripple turned to give them a quick smile before shifting her focus toward the direction she had kicked Echidna. There, standing ready with a glowing crimson sword and clad in red-winged armor, was Raphael, preparing to face the Mana Essence Giant.
Nearby, the Echidna that Ripple had kicked lay sprawled, but she quickly sprang back up despite taking the full force of a Hyrule Menace. Though her neck was twisted unnaturally from the blow, she forcibly wrenched it back into place with a horrific crunch.
“Ugh…!?”
“S-So this is an Undead…”
Straightening her neck with brute strength, Echidna then charged at Raphael.
“Raphael! Behind you!” Ripple’s warning and Echidna’s attack came almost simultaneously.
“I see it!” Moving as though he had eyes in the back of his head, Raphael dodged her blade with fluid grace, pivoted, and delivered a brutal kick to her back.
Following Ripple’s attack, Raphael’s kick sent Echidna flying, right into the Mana Essence Giant. She was absorbed, sinking in like she was being swallowed whole.
“…! Wh-What is this!?”
“A-an undead can absorb another undead?”
“I-I don’t know. Maybe it’s infighting? Or a loss of control…?”
Ripple voiced her doubts as she rushed to join Raphael. But then, the Mana Essence Giant that had absorbed Echidna began to change.
Where once there was a blank face, Echidna’s face now emerged—massive, grotesque, and completely disproportionate to the rest of the giant’s stocky body, exuding a nightmarish presence.
“No…!? D-Don’t tell me they merged!?”
Echidna’s giant face opened its mouth wide and lunged at Ripple to devour her. Her short neck stretched unnaturally long, snapping toward Ripple.
“Uwaaaaah!?”
It was a horrifying sight. A featureless face would have been preferable to this grotesque mimicry. With a scream, Ripple dodged the attack, leaping and kicking the massive face before flipping away to create distance.
“There’s no way I’m letting something like that eat me!”
Missing her, Echidna’s head swiveled violently, now turning toward Raphael. It slithered along the floor in a low trajectory. From its mouth, a tongue extended, wrapped around the sword she once wielded.
Sweeping it across the floor in a wide arc, it unleashed a wall of raging wind—a storm crawling along the deck. The sword was likely an Artifact, still able to channel Gift even in this grotesque form.
“To become like this… how pitiful. At least I shall end your suffering!” Raphael made no attempt to dodge the oncoming attack.
“Deyaaaaah!!” He swung the blade of the Dragon’s Fang down with all his might into the wall of wind. The sheer power of the blow split the storm in two.
““As expected, magnificent!””
The knights around him cheered. But it didn’t stop there, fire followed the blade’s path along the ground, striking and igniting Echidna’s face.
Before she could shake off the flames, Raphael charged in, boosted by the wings on his armor. He closed the distance in a flash and drove his burning blade into her thick neck, severing it in one blow.
But even then, the Mana Essence Giant didn’t stop. Its arms and legs moved to strike Raphael, but he was already a step ahead.
“I won’t let you!”
Using the speed of his wings, he danced around, delivering slashes that tore through the giant’s body. Red flashes of swordlight erupted one after another, and in the next moment, the limbs, torso, and everything else crumbled into pieces.
“A-Amazing…! Truly our kingdom’s finest Holy Knight!”
Liselotte was awestruck. The power of the Dragon’s Fang was surely a factor, but Raphael’s skill with the sword was also extraordinary. In pure swordsmanship, he might even rival Inglis.
““We did it! As expected of Sir Raphael!””
““Hahaha! No one can stand against him!””
The knights of the Holy Order beamed with pride.
“Don’t let your guard down yet! We need to incinerate all the scattered pieces before they regenerate! Everyone, help me!”
As Raphael warned, the scattered remains of the Mana Essence Giant still writhed on the floor. If left unchecked, they’d surely reconstitute.
“““Yes, sir!”””
But then…it happened. Directly above the remains of the Echidna-faced Mana Essence Giant…
The ceiling collapsed, and something massive came crashing down.
“Everyone, get back!!” Raphael shouted, pushing the knights away. Falling from above was a massive, fluid-like mass.
A chunk of Mana Essence flesh, the same as the giant they’d just fought. And it was at least the same size. In other words, what they’d just fought was only half of the threat.
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