Everyone wore maid’s clothing, but their clothing was unlike any they had seen before. Those clothes had a metallic shine about them, just like armour.
“Who… are you? I’ve never seen you before… Hmm, is there a secret tunnel just like I expected?”
“Women? They are just as good-looking as the beauty of ‘Darkness’… They don’t look like ordinary people.”
“They don’t seem like an enemy… But, not likely to be hired by same people who hired us…”
“What should we do, elder?”
His comrades asked Parupatra while keeping their eyes on the women. Negotiating with them would be the best option, but there was no way it could end that well.
“We have the same numbers… It could be even?”
The opponents’ strength must be equal or just a little above theirs. The reason why they hadn’t attacked when all the workers were gathered must have been because they were not strong enough to take on everybody at once or because they thought it might have been a trap. The reason they finally showed their face must be because they were confident they could win against Parupatra’s group.
Parupatra sweated less and less as he got older but in this moment, his hand that was holding the spear was wet.
“Even so, to put a maid in a cemetery… Someone has questionable taste.”
In an instance, the comrade who had been joking just now shivered, his face pale and his brow full of sweat.
Parupatra also felt a sudden chill come over him, but the reason he had goosebumps all over was not just because of the temperature.
The coldness in the eyes of the maids who were aligned on top of the stair was clearly visible under the moonlight. It was almost as if their eyes were shining
“kILl TheM.”
“..…They need to die.”
“They don’t deserve a quick death. They need to suffer unimaginable pain before dying.”
A murderous aura whirled around the maids. The whirlpool of emotion was so strong, it made one wonder if the world might be collapsing around them.
“Now, now.”
The maid who looked to be the one in charge clapped lightly.
“We were ordered to let none return alive, so killing them is a given. But it’s nice to see everyone being so enthusiastic about it.”
Clack. Metallic sounds resounded down the stairs, which seemed to be made of marble. It was the maids’ high-heels, which resembled greaves.
Parupatra’s comrades backed off as if they had been pushed back. Considering their opponents carried no weapons, they were most likely magic casters. On top of that, the opponent held the advantage of the high ground. They could not afford to keep standing around in wide and open areas without any cover.
For Parupatra and his team, closing the distance was advantageous. For the maids, it was the opposite. But why were those maids coming down the stairs? Were they planning to use ‘Flight’ if the situation got dangerous for them?
Watching the maids, who appeared emotionless as if they were wearing masks as they regally descended the stairs, Parupatra’s team gathered behind the warrior’s shield and discussed the next step.
Clack. Making an even louder noise, the maids stopped about halfway down the stairs.
“Now, I’ll introduce myself first. I am the Pleiades’ sub-leader, Yuri Alpha. I think this will be a short meeting, but please take care of me. If we decided to deal with you ourselves, it would be over pretty fast, but due to certain circumstances, we can’t deal with you personally. How unfortunate.”
A lovely voice rolled out like a bell ringing in the wind. The unbelievably beautiful maids’ smiles were overflowing with an attractiveness that could make any man fall in love in an instant.
Parupatra was a former adventurer and had seen many things in his career as a worker. Amongst them were beings that possessed beauty beyond a human being, such as elves. Even so, he had never seen such beautiful women before. It was enough to make one’s jaw drop.
Their contemptuous tone and the sense of superiority which flowed through their words could only be the arrogance of the incredibly powerful people that hid underneath those pretty faces. It was an attitude that did not sit well with men who had braved countless dangers and were confident in their skills. It almost made them want to scold the maids.
But considering the circumstances, it was likely that the maids were stronger and nobody was keen on fighting them. Plus, one of their comrades had been stunned with killing intent and had yet to snap out of his fear.
Perhaps the best option was to retreat to the adventurers—especially Momon—and bring them in as reinforcements.
“Then I shall introduce your opponents.”
Yuri clapped her hands. As if responding to the clapping noise, which travelled surprisingly far, the cemetery shook.
“Come out, Nazarick Old Guarders.”
“What?”
The ground had split behind them and several skeletons showed up.
Is this a pincer attack?! Wha…
Looking up the stairs, the maids were hostile, but didn’t seem to want to fight in person. They appeared to be spectators. He couldn’t ignore them, but they didn’t seem to want to attack, just as they had announced.
Parupatra concluded that the true enemies were the skeletons at the rear and turned around to face them.
Skeletons by themselves weren’t really a difficult opponent. Even if hundreds of skeletons attacked Parupatra’s team, they would be able to clean them up easily. Compared to that, the eight skeletons that had sprouted from the ground were nothing.
But there was one problem.
Parupatra’s comrades gulped and unconsciously took a step back.
The atmosphere around them was different from regular skeletons. Even their equipment was different. They wore magnificent breastplates befitting of some country’s royal guard, held kite shields with an emblem in one hand and various kinds of weapons in the other. On their backs were composite long bows, and all their equipment had a magical glow to them.
There was no way skeletons armed with magical items would simply be regular skeletons.
“Just what is that?”
“Not even you know, elder? I’m not sure… but maybe it’s a sub-species of the ‘Skeleton Warrior’.”
“Sub-species? They don’t quite look like ‘Red Skeleton Warrior’, either…”