"[Exorcism]! [Life's Shield]!" Elayne roared, imbuing her new spell into her own shield as it began shining brightly, a gigantic barrier suddenly emerged and protected her from the energy-sucking power of the Souls enslaved by Gustaf, as their entire bodies began turning into ashes and disappearing one after the other!
FLUUOOOOOOSSH!
"GRYAAAAAHHHH…!"
"LORD GUSTAAAF…!"
"I AM DISSAPEARING?! GEEEEHHHH…!"
POOF! POOF! POOOF! POOOF!
More and more souls started disappearing one after the other, as Elayne's powerful Shield's Hidden Ability, which was [Life Shield] something Gaia herself had left within her own weapon started to activate more and more.
"RAAAAAAHHHH!"
FLUOOOOOOOSH!
The Life Shield suddenly shaped into her own armor, covering her completely. Elayne started charging forward while punching and hitting all the souls trying to stop her, while finally reaching Irene who had grown too big due to her transformation, and held her with her two armor, enchanting her muscles using her magic.
"[Wooden Muscles]!"
FLUOSH!
Her arms suddenly grew several times bigger, as she swung the gigantic sword and then imbued it with the Life Shield's Aura and the Exorcism Spell!
As she readied to attack, Rose blew Gustaf into the ceiling! However, was that enough? The giant skeleton was incredibly powerful, and even after all of that, he laughed.
"GAHAHAHAHA! You'll need MUCH more than that to finish me off! Even without an arm, as long as I have my trusty axe! I am invincible! There's a reason why I was once known as the Barbarian King of the Northern Lands!"
Gustaf hit landed over the floor once more, the very impact shook the entire dungeon once more, making the entire structure tremble. He furiously swung his axe at Rose and the rest of Elayne's familiars, unleashing a gigantic slash of phantasmal energy and darkness, blowing them away in mere seconds!
BOOOOOOOOMMMM!!!!
As he saw his former skeleton servants all shattered into the floor and Blackie and Rose unconscious, he quickly directed his gaze at Elayne once more.
"Now… It's time for you to-"
CLAAAAASSSHHHHHH…!
Before he could finish his words, the gigantic golden sword, Irene, pierced Gustaf's chest, shattering his gigantic magic crystal which was well hidden within his ribs and armor, and even slashing his very soul into two halves!
BAAAAAMMMM…!
"U-Unnggh?! W-Wha… AAAGH…! THIS… CAN'T BE…!"
It happened so suddenly that Gustaf was incapable of comprehending how it happened. However, he instantly felt the power of Gods themselves within Elayne and the sword Irene… It was very obvious the Gods would aid them in their endeavor of slaying another Death General if they could.
"[Pathway]!" Elayne roared, creating countless pathways leading to the power of the Gods and channeling them into her hands, and then combining them together with her spell… "[Divine Exorcism]!"
FLAAAAAAASSSHHH!
"AAAAGGGH! THIS… NO… NOOOOOOOO…!"
The light consumed Gustaf in an instant, as his bones and even his armor were consumed completely, and turned into ashes. His soul squirmed in agony but then slowly faded away as well.
"This… to someone… as strong as me…"
Incapable of comprehending his quick defeat, Gustaf disappeared bitterly.
"Rose! Blackie!"
Elayne didn't had any time to relax, rushing towards her new Dhampir friend and her pet, Blackie. She quickly started to heal Blackie, who only had a broken leg and a few ribs, which slowly regenerated through her insanely powerful healing magic, further boosted by the still lingering effects of [Pathway] within her body.
And as for Rose, she quickly took out a small bottle with blood she had prepared beforehand, feeding it to her and slowly helping her recover her wounds through her natural powers, which were fueled by drinking rich blood. However, Rose was so tired she ended falling asleep, and so did Blackie.
Meanwhile, the three skeletons were all shattered into pieces over the floor, completely destroyed. Elayne felt slightly sad, they had joined her and even fought for her, yet ended dying, sacrificing themselves to help her defeat their former boss.
"He must have treated you very badly if you hated him so much…" She sighed. "I hope you three can rest in the afterlife, I'll make sure to purify your remains."
Elayne sighed, touching their bones, and caressing their skulls.
"Ahhhh~ My queen, please caress my ribs as much as you want~!"
"Oi shut up! You ruined the moment dumbass!"
"This guy's completely brainless in that skull!"
However, all three skulls started talking while Elayne was having a rather sad moment… She sighed, grabbing back her shovel, and about to dig them some new graves…
"W-Wait please don't do that boss!"
"W-We're fine! As long as our souls and our magic crystals are intact, we won't really die…"
"Although it might be a bit hard to recover from this…"
Elayne sighed while the Great Spirit started to laugh out loud.
"Hahahaha! These guys are shameless. How about you give them some new bodies? I think they could work as golems." Said the Great Spirit.
"Golems, huh?" Elayne wondered, quickly nodding. "Alright…!"
FLAAAASH!
She quickly started to rearrange their skeletons and fused them with many plants and even some spirits imbued into their bones. The Skeleton Trio was reborn anew, they still looked like skeletons, but now had regal muscles and armor made of wood and covered in flowers and all sort of nature.
[All [Nameless Dark Skeleton Guards (C Rank)] x3 have evolved into [Nameless Nature Skeleton's Knights (C+ Rank)] x3!]
[All of their physical abilities have been enhanced.]
[To further improve their abilities, naming them is recommended.]
The voice once more informed Elayne of what had occurred. These skeletons were rather versatile and had evolved a second time already. They were now Knights though, which sounded much cooler.
"UOOOH! These bodies ain't half bad, boss!"
"I can feel more connected with nature now! I am a nature's man!"
"My boner's gone… Ah, no, there it is!"
"Stop saying ridiculous things, geez!" Elayne reprimanded them a bit. She had also used their boss former bones and whatever leftover armor was left behind to repair them, making them even stronger.
Using her stronger connection with her World Tree Body, Elayne began creating Cooking Spirits and started using them, alongside the help of small Plant Familiars she created on the spot to make a temporary camp and also to cook some food.
"Anyways, do you three remember your former names? And what was your relationship with Gustaf anyways? How did you ended up serving the Demon King of Death?" The three skeletons looked at one another, sighing.
"Well our memories are a bit fuzzy, boss… But we do remember that we used to serve Gustaf back then."
"When we were alive…"
"It was… Loooong ago, so much that we barely remember when we were alive."
"Gustaf… Who was he?" Wondered Elayne.
"I remember he was something like… a Barbarian King, a Conqueror of Lands!"
"Gustaf the Barbarian King, yes! He was so cool back then, but he was a terrible boss!"
"Eventually… He ended serving someone, a Lord named… Err, what was his name?"
The skeletons began thinking but they couldn't remember either. Their memories, which were stored inside their souls, were already very fuzzy, trying to remember might only make them forget more.
However, Elayne ended learning much more than she expected. The Death Generals might have been famous people that once lived in Arcadia, Gustaf, the Barbarian King, was one of them.
Then… could Thanatos have such a past too?
