The howling wind roared in Roseliel's ears, stinging her cheeks.
The old horse beneath her breathed heavily, its stamina rapidly giving out.
Yet the living corpses behind her never tired.
Before long, she would likely be overtaken by the tide of corpses behind her and torn to pieces.
Naturally, Roseliel was not about to let that happen.
Once she estimated she had put enough distance between them, she reached into her inner pocket, her fingertips touching the cold coin.
"Come out!"
With that command, the surface of the coin turned ice-cold, and Wraith Roseliel emerged from within.
"Attach yourself to me!"
Roseliel gave no further explanation, throwing out the second command immediately.
The wraith said nothing, loyally executing the order. The moment this bundle of chilly aura made contact with Roseliel's body, the prayer blessing Lucia had placed on her reacted instantly.
A sizzle reminiscent of searing meat erupted at the point of contact as tendrils of black smoke billowed from the wraith's body, the two completely opposing forces eroding each other.
If Lucia were a fully realized Saintess, burning up the entire wraith wouldn't even be enough to scratch the surface, but right now, what lingered on Roseliel was merely a faint remnant of blessing light.
As the dim glow on Roseliel faded bit by bit, she offered a subtle smile. Next came the crucial part of the plan.
At the same time, inside the windmill.
"Hmm?" Inside the windmill, Lucia, who was currently purifying Nancy, suddenly paused, her brows knitting slightly.
Beside her, Amy's heart instantly leaped into her throat. She hurriedly asked, "What's wrong, Lady Saintess? Is there another problem with my sister?"
She had a sword strapped to her waist, acting as guard while the Saintess performed the healing.
In a world that genuinely contained monsters, almost everyone—regardless of age or gender—knew at least a few combat techniques for self-defense.
Someone like Roseliel, who knew absolutely nothing, was purely the result of having been overly protected.
"No, it's nothing." Lucia returned her attention to the patient before her.
While her gaze appeared focused, her fingers hesitated for a microscopic moment.
She could clearly feel that the power she had placed on Roseliel had vanished.
Under normal circumstances, the duration should never have been this short.
This indicated that the situation over there was far from optimistic.
When Roseliel—who had always carried selfishness to its absolute extreme—suddenly offered to take on the most dangerous role as bait, Lucia had instinctively felt she must be plotting something.
Even now, that suspicion had not faded much. That prayer and talisman were not merely assistance, but also a means of surveillance.
I hope you won't disappoint me, she thought to herself.
...
Faster, faster!
Inside Maple Creek Town, Mona was setting up everything at a speed she had never reached in her life.
She captured several stray living corpses, forcefully controlled them with black magic, and drove them to haul firewood, dried grass, and leaves, laying down combustible fuses across the gaps between the buildings.
Although most of the buildings in Maple Creek Town were made of wood, they were not tightly packed. If tinder wasn't laid down in advance, it would be difficult for the fire to merge into a single blaze in a short time.
"Ugh..." Another wandering living corpse emerged from the alley mouth, instantly lunging at Mona the moment it spotted her.
Mona didn't even slow her step. With a casual flick of her fingers, a thick burst of black mist erupted from her palm and instantly engulfed the living corpse's body.
When the mist dissipated, more than half of its body had vanished into thin air. What remained collapsed on the spot, never moving another inch.
Right now, anything that dared delay her execution of Roseliel's orders had only one fate awaiting it.
With the tinder completely laid out, Mona climbed onto a nearby high point. Facing the entire town now connected by firewood and dry grass, she raised her staff high and chanted in forbidden Demonic.
A moment later, a dark cloud of deep crimson condensed into shape above the town, pressing down heavily.
Then, the rain fell.
Droplets of deep red flames tumbled down from the clouds, sparse at first, then growing denser, as though the sky itself were bleeding.
The living corpses under Mona's control were still executing their tasks when the flames landed on their withered bodies, igniting them instantly.
Roaring, they collapsed and writhed on the ground, burning into twisted masses of flame.
Demonic spell: Fire Rain!
The flames appeared weak, yet any object they touched was swiftly ignited. In an instant, the entire town was transformed into a sea of fire!
Wooden houses, haystacks, and the pre-laid fuses—everything was burning.
The Fire Rain lasted for only two waves before coming to a stop. Mona propped her hands on her knees, her vision blurring while sharp, throbbing pain racked her brain in waves.
Demonic spells were far too taxing on humans.
Gritting her teeth, she squatted in place for a moment. Only when the phantom blurs before her eyes finally faded did she stumble back to her feet and hurry off toward the windmill.
Oak Town Militia Camp.
"What's all the racket?!"
A veteran poked his head out from the barracks, the noisy shouting outside driving away every last trace of his drowsiness.
A newly enlisted youth pointed toward the distant skyline, so excited he could barely speak coherently: "Look over there!"
The veteran looked in the direction he was pointing, and his eyes, accustomed to the night, widened instantly.
Far across the horizon, a blaze of orange-red fire raged fiercely, illuminating half the night sky.
"Damn it, get the boys up! Something's happened—we need to go help!" he shouted at the top of his lungs before immediately running back inside to put on his gear as fast as he could.
This exact scene was playing out across the camps of several neighboring towns.
Within a few hours, everything that had happened in Maple Creek Town would be discovered.
...
The Fire Rain Mona summoned burned far beyond the strength of ordinary flames, which was precisely why the light of the fire managed to reach so far.
By the same token, however, the materials in Maple Creek Town weren't enough to sustain the fire for long. After devouring everything in town, the flames gradually receded and soon died out completely.
Shortly after the fire died down, a small figure suddenly appeared around the perimeter of the town.
Blonde hair, a black strap dress, over-the-knee boots, and that distinctive collar around her neck.
Her face was smudged with a bit of ash, but the corners of her mouth were curled slightly upward, as if she had just accomplished something she was thoroughly pleased with.
It was none other than Roseliel.
Only, right now, she was dripping wet from head to toe.
"Hehehe, how was my little trick of shedding the shell?" she boasted to the empty air, drops of water still sliding down her cheeks from her hair and splashing into tiny dark spots on the ground.
Not long ago, after using the wraith to erase the prayer attached to her, she had instructed the wraith to fully possess her body, thereby concealing her living aura.
And as a result, the only two things left on the scene that would draw the living corpses' attention were the horse and the talisman provided by the Saintess.
So Roseliel stowed that talisman into the saddlebag, took advantage of passing by a river to leap straight off the horse's back into the water, and left the horse to gallop off on its own.
A horse was a living creature, after all. Though it didn't know what was happening, it certainly knew how to run for its life when chased by hundreds of undead.
Thus, the task of luring away the living corpses could still proceed smoothly.
As for Roseliel, isolated by the freezing river water and the wraith, the living corpses could barely sense her presence at all and were all drawn away by the horse instead.
Once the living corpses had mostly been lured away, Roseliel climbed out of the river and took a wide detour back to Maple Creek Town.
Looking at the town before her, now reduced to scorched earth, Roseliel had to make a final confirmation.
Standing before the charred ruins, she wiped the smile from her face and strode toward the center of town.
She had to perform this final confirmation.
She needed to ensure that deadly document had turned completely to ash, leaving behind nothing that could link the Rosenwal family—or Roseliel herself—to the Snake Cult ever again.
Rate on N.U.
