“Indeed. Ah, I believe they are called ‘The Living?’ I heard that once, but I do not quite trust my recollection.”
“Wha-what? Why are you? What on earth… are you really... no, a human?” The Bafolk’s eyes turned to Neia. “You! You control that undead creature, right? What a creepy guy he is!”
Thoughts like, I’m not a necromancer, or You’re being rude to the Sorcerer King, ran through Neia’s mind, but she remained silent.
“Sorry to intrude while you’re in chaos, but—”
“—Get back, undead! Or else this kid gets it!”
The Bafolk tightened his grip around the boy’s throat.
All signs of life fled the boy’s face. His glazed-over eyes reflected the Sorcerer King’s visage, but he did not react. Even so, he still gasped softly when his captor grabbed his throat.
“Fuhaha! You’re actually trying to use the living as a hostage against me, one of the undead? My, my.”
The Bafolk’s eyes went wide. His expression’s kind of disgusting, and Neia mused that the reason she had the room to calmly think like this because she was backed by the mountain that was the Sorcerer King.
“Human! Call this undead off!”
It’s not like I’m controlling him...
“Hm. Now then, shall we begin?”
“What? Stay back! Get back right now!”
Perhaps it had sensed something, but the Bafolk took a step to the rear while still holding its hostage.
When she looked around closely, she could see the forms of other children. Had they been brought here as hostages as well? Even so, they did not seem to want to kill their hostages to teach them a lesson. They probably thought, Would living hostages really work on the undead, who were the enemy of the living?
Neia sensed something like a black wind curling past her. In that moment, all the Bafolk froze in place. Ever since the Sorcerer King had shown up, everyone present had remained still, studying him so as not to miss a single move he made, but this change was far too extreme. Their eyes and mouths gaped open, and their faces twisted in an ugly manner. Also — it was not just the Bafolk. Even the near-lifeless children showed a dramatic response to this.
While she could not read the demihumans’ faces, Neia understood human expressions. Fear was written on the children’s faces. It was an absolute, unimaginable, and overpowering fear.
“Aiiiieeeee!”
The Bafolk screamed in a strange way—
“—Hmph. Release, 「Mass Hold Species」.”
A magic circle appeared, and some kind of spell flew forth from the Sorcerer King. In the next moment, the numerous demihumans and their child hostages froze in place like hideous statues, their faces still twisted. However, they did not look like they were dead. She could hear the faint sounds of breathing — quite ragged, it would seem.
And then, above them — countless cries rang out from near the city wall. After that, the thump, thump sounds of meat being bludgeoned came from behind Neia.
“All right, let’s go.”
She was briefly distracted by that sound, so when she looked forward again, at the portcullis—
“「Greater Break Item」.”
—A shrill noise rang out. It was the sound of the pieces of pulverized gate falling like rain.
“As I thought, destroying buildings with this drains a lot of mana… although I didn’t use it like that over there… I guess all I can do is accept the fact that I need to pick my targets for best effect. You can’t look down on small things, after all.”
The Sorcerer King muttered to himself as he walked over the hill of the gate’s debris and passed through the city gate, with nobody to block his path.
The rapidly changing situation left Neia confused and unable to move. Once she regained her calm, she smiled to herself.
The Sorcerer King had destroyed in seconds the portcullis which the paladins had worked so hard to just dent.
The strong really are unfair...
Neia jogged after the Sorcerer King, and he turned around in front of the immobile Bafolk.
“So, how about them?” he said, while indicating the motionless demihumans and the children they were holding. “It’s only temporary, you know. Go tie up everyone here.”
“Then I’ll call the paladins over.”
“That would be a great help. Unfortunately, I am still radiating a fear aura. Everyone who steps into it will be terrified. Therefore, please ask them to take the appropriate measures. I believe priests ought to have 「Lion’s Heart 」 while paladins have… hm, ask them to use 「Under Divine Flag」, how about that?”
“You actually knew about that…”
The Sorcerer King chuckled, and then walked through the Bafolk, as if to fill the gaps between them.
“Gooooohhh!!”
A strong-looking Bafolk fell from above with a growl, holding a spear. It had probably jumped down from the city wall.
Its eyes were red and he was foaming at the mouth. It was clearly not in a normal state of mind. It looked like he had gone mad.
“I see. Savagery… no, berserking? Certainly, that would negate fear and other mental effects — oops.”
The Sorcerer King skillfully evaded the stabbing spear. It was a crisp, efficient movement, one unique to trained individuals. However, the Sorcerer King’s evasion meant that a Bafolk who had become a statue ended up being stabbed by its compatriot’s spear instead. The spear pierced straight through its body, and it collapsed to the ground, spraying blood everywhere.
The berserk Bafolk no longer seemed able to tell friend from foe.
“Give me a break.”
The Bafolk raised its spear. Was he going to sweep with it? However, Neia could not launch an arrow.
The Sorcerer King approached the Bafolk, like he wanted to block her shot.
Certainly, it was wise to close the distance given the spear’s length. However, the Sorcerer King’s next move deviated from common sense.
With a swift movements, he pressed down on the Bafolk’s head from left and right.
Perhaps it was because the Sorcerer King was surprisingly strong, but the Bafolk could not escape the Sorcerer King’s grasp no matter how it thrashed. Having given up on that, the Bafolk thought of something else; it gripped the front portion of the spear and drove it through the Sorcerer King. No, to be precise, it looked to Neia like it had driven the spear through him.
However, the Sorcerer King did not flinch. Perhaps a defensive spell had stopped it.
“You’re not like that Troll, after all.”
With a sickening squitch, the Bafolk’s eyes popped out of its skull.
This was clearly a lethal injury. No, one could say that this was even worse than a fatal wound.
The Sorcerer King let go, and the Bafolk collapsed on the ground. Its limbs twitched around on the ground, but it was hard to say that those movements were consciously driven.
“May, may I know what you did?” Neia nervously asked from behind, and the Sorcerer King dusted his hands off as he nonchalantly replied:
“I crushed its skull. Sometimes, berserk individuals don’t go down even when they’re fatally injured. Still, if you destroy the brain, it should be fine… Still, it really was weak. Barely harder than an eggshell… are you kidding me?”
Neia’s face twitched.
His Majesty really doesn’t have any gift for making jokes...
“All right, Ms. Baraja, call the paladins. Tell them to secure this area so I — we can continue forward together.”