SIDE: Witch
"Phew, we're just in time."
I looked at the situation below after arriving at the border fort while riding on the back of Dragon Grandpa.
We vividly saw a light blade from the direction of the top of the fort cleaving the skeleton giant.
It was dark so we couldn't make out the other details, but from the situation, it seemed like we just barely made it in time.
"Ohhh— Amazing. Teto didn't know that was possible."
Teto muttered in surprise as she turned her palm into mud and took out a black magic sword she had stored in her body.
"Teto...... That sword......"
"It's the sword Majou-sama gave me! It changed a bit when Teto was sleeping!"
Apparently, Teto's magic sword also evolved alongside her body in the mud cocoon.
It was one size bigger than before and a yellow spirit stone was embedded into the sword's hilt.
"You showed me something good! I can't wait to try it out!"
"Ahh, Teto!?"
Teto jumped down from the back of Dragon Grandpa just as he passed right above the battlefield center and fell toward the skeleton giant while holding her magic sword high up in the air.
"Erneah-san! Teto, she jumped down!?"
"Calm down and look carefully, Chise. She is flying. She seemed to have acquired the magic of spirits."
Ah, indeed. Two pairs of yellow semi-translucent wings popped out of Teto's back as she glided toward the ground.
As she fell, she readied her mana-infused magic blade and cut down the skeleton's body from above. The magic, amplified by the magic sword, took the shape of a huge blade as it slashed down and severed the skeleton giant's left arm.
"Is that...... earth magic «Decomposition»?"
"Apparently so...... It looks plain but its effect is terrifying."
«Decomposition» was a magic that broke apart the bond between atoms of the target.
This magic was normally used to break hard soil, minerals, and other organic matter into fine particles since it was unusable in battle due to the resistance that the mana of humans or monsters put up.
Teto herself was using this to break the organic matter she stored inside her body and used it to create better-quality soil.
All she was using was «Decomposition», and yet it effortlessly cleaved the target, ignoring its defense. Teto has acquired a terrifying power.
"I'll help Teto out in delaying its advances. Chise should take care of the other soldiers."
"That sounds good. It doesn't seem like Teto's «Decomposition» would be effective against the corporal bodies of ghosts. I'll take down the Fear Geists."
Erneah-san repeated Teto's action as she jumped down from the back of Dragon Grandpa and flew into the sky by growing spirit wings on her back.
"Well then, time to shine. ——«O' Spirits, destroy thy enemies»."
The skeleton giant, finding Teto a bigger threat after she cut down one of its arms, shifted its focus to her from the fort and moved its remaining hand to attack Teto.
But before its attempt could come to fruition, the heavy pressure from the dark spirit, which Erneah-san summoned with a light flap of the folding fan in her hand, crushed its bones.
Furthermore, she also summoned a fire spirit, water spirit, wind spirit, earth spirit, and light spirit —— fairies of all six elements appeared and surrounded the skeleton giant as it reeled from their consecutive attacks.
"Just the show of force one would expect from a High Elf Queen. I must show my best as well."
Murmuring to myself, I held up the «Staff of Reincarnation» with both hands while on the back of Dragon Grandpa who was floating on the spot in the air.
The collective aggregation of resentment, the Fear Geists, rushed towards me. But before they could even come to attack me, I shook the staff, making a soothing sound echo throughout the surrounding area as the rings on top of its head clanged against each other.
"——«Purification»!"
I channeled 50,000 units of my mana into the staff, the same amount I had used when I once encountered the Fear Geist in the ruins buried under the «Empty Wilderness» before.
With the additional magic amplification effect from «Staff of Reincarnation», the looming Fear Geists couldn't even let out their death throes before being swallowed into the waves of purification. The waves didn't stop there and engulfed the skeletons that had been tossed into the fort by the skeleton giant earlier, defeating them as well.
"This staff works far better than I imagined. I'm glad I prepared it beforehand."
If I had directly flown to the battlefield right after the oracle was handed down without investigating the enemy's information——
If I had been alone without Dragon Grandpa, Erneah-san, or Teto to fight by my side——
If I hadn't prepared this anti-undead weapon, the «Staff of Reincarnation», after acquiring the information——
I am sure it would have been one hellish battle on this battlefield following the above assumptions.
I further purified the miasma on the surface with the staff and, as the multi-colored mana was being swept away by the night wind, I eyed the remaining skeleton giant, who was now only half of its original size.
«Hmm, the last one is just that skeleton giant.»
After circling the battlefield to check for any other monster, Dragon Grandpa spoke and gazed at the skeleton giant under him.
It was currently immobilized after receiving the massive light blade strike from earlier, Teto's «Decomposition» slash, and the spirit magic attack from Erneah-san.
The skeletons that were scattered on the plains were gradually approaching the skeleton giant and turning themselves into a part of it to fill in the gap of the lost bones.
«Oooooooooooooo——!»
Following a roar, the skeleton giant shook its remaining hand in a sweeping motion towards Teto and Erneah-san who had managed to deal an effective blow to it while turning its focus to me, who was preparing another wave of purification, and prepared to hurl another bone lump, but——
"With Teto here, you can't disturb Majou-sama!"
"I see you are gutsy enough to ignore me, eh…?"
Teto and Erneah-san also followed up with their attacks and interrupted the skeleton giant from attacking me, while further inflicting damage to it.
"Face your end now. ——«Purification»!"
I drew mana from the «Mana Crystal» I tossed in the air and channeled everything it had into the purification magic.
The surge of purification that I activated using 5 million units of mana that I saved up for the last two weeks, amplified by the «Staff of Reincarnation», shot through the sky like an arrow, creating a light pillar and engulfing the skeleton giant in it.
The expansion of the light pillar didn't stop there. It spread throughout the plain as well, taking down the skeletons wherever it went.
«——Ooo,oooo,oooooooooooo!»
'You are the sum of your past experiences, huh?' or so I thought. Had I not trained my mana manipulation skill years ago to relocate the flying island, then I wouldn't have been able to deploy such a huge amount of mana so easily and achieve such a result.
The skeleton giant raised a clattering sound as its bones fell apart, bringing an end to the crisis. Countless souls emerged from the giant bone husk, finally freed from the confinement, and aligned themselves to the light pillar. The scene resembled that of heavenly ascension.
After keeping the magic up for a while, a huge magic stone finally appeared amidst the bone hill. Dragon Grandpa descended beside it with me on its back.
"This must be the core mana stone."
The mana stone that appeared after the skeleton giant's demise was comparable to S-rank monsters. Presumably, it had fused itself with the dungeon core.
'Isn't it even bigger than me?' or so I thought as I touched the mana stone and stored it in my magic bag. Just when I was done here, Teto and Erneah-san descended from the air.
"Majou-sama~!"
"Kyaa, Teto!?"
Teto, who was flying in the air, glided down from the sky and rushed straight to me without slowing down.
"Teto always wanted to stay beside Majou-sama! Now Teto can also fight side by side with Majou-sama always!"
"Teto......"
There are times when I would head for another place depending on the situation since I could use flight magic. And I knew that Teto was reliable enough to be left with the task to look after another place.
However, it seemed like her wish was to be able to follow after me into the sky or be able to fight alongside me in aerial battles. She wished strongly for it and the outcome was apparently the newly formed spirit wings on her back.
"That was quite an anti-climax, eh? Now I think I came here for nothing."
"Teto might not have been able to save Majou-sama if Teto was alone. That's why, Erneah-san, Teto is thankful for your help-nanodesu!"
Hearing Teto's words of gratitude, Erneah-san made a satisfied smile as she pulled me and Teto into a hug.
"Sheesh, what should I do with you two cuties......"
"C-Calm down, you're suffocating me......"
"It tickles-nanodesu~"
Erneah-san suddenly scooped us into a big hug and nuzzled her cheeks against us. While I was feeling suffocated as I tried to wriggle my way out of the sudden hug, Teto instead found it funny as she twisted her body feeling ticklish.
Dragon Grandpa just watched us silently with a gentle smile on his face.
Just then, a group came rushing from the direction of the fort using light magic as a lamp.
"——Chise okaa-san, Teto onee-chan!"
It was the group of people who had been watching the fight with the skeleton giant from the fort. From a glance, they seemed to be the ones managing the fort, Margrave Reebel and his wife Selene, along with the angel race Shael and Dragon-Demon Yahada who we had dispatched as support.
" "Chise (Majou)! Teto (Guardian)!" "
Among them, Shael had just raised her voice when another voice, an elf woman, echoed almost at the same time from beside her, causing Shael and that elf to inadvertently stare at each other's faces.
"Thank you for supporting them so far, Shael. And hello there, Refrya, it's been a while, noh?"
Being an elf, Refrya looked pretty much the same as the last time we had met each other. Maybe it was this feeling of knowing that one of my friends still had a long life to live that brought a refreshing feeling to me.
And behind them, I could see an old man walking with the support of a young man. I thought hard as to who this old man might be seeing his familiar-looking gaze. It wasn't until Dragon Grandpa spoke that I finally recalled who he was.
«Hoho, Alsace. You look quite exhausted. Is this the price of using that light sword?»
"I apologize for showing this unsightly figure to the Great Ancient Dragon. Alas, such is this body of mine, but it will soon heal with time. Also, it's been a while, Ojou-chan."
With that awkward smile and the sword fastened on his waist, it dawned on me who that old man was.
"Alsace-san, it's really been a long time."
"Ahh, indeed it's so long. Seriously, you haven't changed at all, huh? And here I am with all my hair turning white."
Alsace-san spoke while running his fingers through his conspicuous white hair.
A nostalgic feeling rose within me after seeing the faces of old acquaintances so unexpectedly, but keenly, I could also feel that it wasn't just a nostalgic feeling.
«The biggest threat has been eliminated. If I stay any longer, I'll just keep the humans on edge so I am going on ahead first.»
"I have also done my duty towards Leriel so I guess I'll also head back. I'll enjoy the nightscape with Ancient Dragon-dono."
Leaving behind these words, Erneah-san rode on Dragon Grandpa's back and flew off with him.
In the end, she left without even leaving her name behind and went back to the «Empty Wilderness», pushing all of this as our achievement.
"She really is a whimsical person, isn't she?"
"Majou-sama, what are we going to do now?"
Shael and her brethren were still here in the fort, so it seemed like we would all be going back together.
Afterwards, we were led to one of the rooms in the fort under Selene's urging.
"......Not everything is settled, huh?"
We managed to successfully subjugate the skeleton giant, but I could smell the odor of miasma from the wind blowing from the west.
It was impossible to tell what would happen to the areas that had become the territories of monsters in the western region.
——Would nature cover the traces of the country?
——Or would the monsters spread and devour everything, with the winds of a wasteland eroding the remnants of the nation?
Could the spreading miasma be purified over time with nature's power, or would it give birth to a strong monster by taking in the surrounding mana with the miasma?
It was impossible to predict where the future would be heading, but for now, it could be safely concluded that the crisis of the continent's northwest region has been curbed to some extent.
As such thoughts swirled inside my mind, we entered the fort.
T/N: Well this summed up the battle against the undead. Next two chapters are going to be big. So another split.
