Undead

 

Do you find the loss of life abhorrent?

Compared to losing death, it's far better.

 

"Lufelle!? What happened!?"

"A ghost showed up… Tia's badly hurt!"

Ghost? What is she talking about?

"Got it — I'm coming right now!"

I didn't understand, but this was no ordinary situation. Judging from Lufelle's scream, I sprinted to the window and leapt out from the third floor of the school building.

"Contact Nina!"

I shouted as I transformed into a dragon in midair. Then three heavy things thumped down onto my back.

"Mentor! Let us come too!"

"I'll have Nuck contact Professor Nina."

It was the sofa carrying Ara, Mel, and Innis.

I didn't know what this "ghost" was supposed to be. But to be an opponent that left even Tia badly injured and drove Lufelle to call for help… Other than being a dragon, I'm hopeless at fighting. To be honest, I was grateful they came along.

"… Well, even I wouldn't say 'what a hassle' when lives are on the line."

That Innis was here too surprised me, though. When I glanced her way, she pointedly averted her eyes and offered what sounded like an excuse.

"— Thanks. Alright, hold on tight. We're going to hurry!"

I beat my wings wide and climbed high in one go. The shriek from behind — *gaaah — was probably Innis. The high, delighted cheer must be Mel.

"O' my scale — clasped by the giant maiden — point to thy counterpart!"

I tore off a single scale and chanted. It shot a dazzling ribbon of light toward the edge of the village. I fixed the scale to the schoolhouse roof and headed after the light. Nina's quick on the uptake, so she should be able to figure things out from that much.

Lufelle had called from the very, very edge of the village — within the forest near the northernmost mountain. Even flying at full speed, it would take me a few minutes.

"Lufelle!"

Spotting her from afar, I folded my wings and dove while calling out. I ignored the screams from my back.

Lufelle was crouched on the ground, back hunched tight as if shielding something.

"What is this…!?"

Black shadows ringed her in numbers. Fine cuts ran all over Lufelle's arms and legs, bleeding. Which meant these things could wound a body protected by the "Giant's Might."

"Begone!"

Beating my wings, I spoke a short spell. A tremendous gale blasted the shadows swarming over Lufelle and flung them away. They hit the ground with a wet crunch.

"Are you alright, Lufelle?"

"Mentor… Tia, Tia is…!"

Tears spilling down, Lufelle held out her large palm to me. On it lay Tia, limp and bleeding. Lufelle had been shielding her.

"Sorry… Mentor, I… I messed up…"

"Don't talk, Tia. It'll aggravate your wounds. Nina should be here any moment. Just hang on until then."

With a pained grimace, Tia shook her head.

"I'm fine… this much… More importantly… be careful."

Panting and sweating, she forced out her voice.

"That much won't kill them."

As if to prove her words, the black shadows lurched to their feet.

"Ugh, what is that — gross!"

Innis cried out when she saw them. Surrounding us were an armored bear, a horned mountain cat, a giant pillbug, and a winged serpent. They were ferocious beasts common to this region, but there were two things wrong.

First, these beasts don't form packs. I've never once seen different species cooperate to attack people.

And the other…

Was that, by any look, these beasts were dead.

Some had their flesh gouged away, bones exposed.

Some had blistered skin and strips of rotted flesh hanging.

Some had lost half their heads, and still they moved.

A word crossed my mind. Undead.

The beasts' corpses charged me without so much as a growl. Their speed wasn't the sluggish gait of so-called zombies, but the nimble pace of wild animals when alive.

"Shadow! Become a branch-spear with a hundred prongs and impale them!"

"Jack Frost, please!"

Ara's shadow split like lightning into dozens of lances, piercing the beasts. At the same time, the Jack Frost Mel had summoned breathed a blizzard and engulfed the grotesque host.

But it was no good.

Even with holes punched through them by Ara's shadow-spears and frozen by Mel's spirit, the beasts' corpses showed no sign of slowing.

For ordinary beasts it would have been fatal beyond doubt. Muddy blood gushed from their necks; frozen limbs snapped and cracked, and yet they paid it no mind and sprinted across the ground.

"Mentor, one more wind!"

"Wind, blow those things away!"

At Innis's direction, I reflexively sent a gust. But whether they'd learned, or simply because it wasn't the surprise it had been before, the heavyweights like the armored bear and tusked boar braced themselves and withstood it.

"Activate!"

But that instant was enough for Innis. A line ran across the ground to divide the beasts from us, and the earth heaved up to form a wall about three meters tall.

"Nice one, Innis! While we —"

— take Tia and Lufelle and run.

I couldn't get the words out.

A winged serpent vaulted over the wall Innis had made and struck my throat.

As the name implies, a winged serpent is a snake with small membranous wings midway along its body. Extremely vicious, but only about a meter long. Panicking, I tried to tear it off me, but with these clumsy dragon forelegs, I couldn't even get a proper grip on the writhing little snake.

Worse, a sharper pain lanced deeper into my throat.

It's planning to burrow inside me. Even as a chill ran up my spine, part of the wall blew apart in an explosion. The armored bear's corpse had smashed it with its claws.

"D-damn it…!"

Abnormal. Chewing through my scales, destroying a stone wall conjured by magic—no normal animal could do that. These beasts before us weren't just different in appearance and undeath — their very insides were something else entirely.

"Mel! Can't you burn them to death with Salamandra!?"

"Nuh-uh… I think that would be bad. I've got a really bad feeling."

At Ara's words, Mel shook her head, face tense.

As if to underscore it, the winged serpent latched to my throat suddenly flared. A fire dragon's blood is an extremely high-temperature, magma-like thing. Wound me and that happens.

But even wreathed in flame, the winged serpent didn't stop. As if it didn't care at all, it sank its fangs in deeper to tear my throat.

"Butler, yank it out—ah!?"

Transparent Butler tugged hard at the serpent, but only the body slid free. I couldn't see due to the anatomy, but it seemed the head alone remained, still chomping at my throat. To keep moving even as a burning severed head—truly immortal.

Sure enough, if we sicced Salamandra carelessly on enemies like this, we'd be the ones burned to death.

"Gr… gh…!"

I clawed at my neck where the head bit beneath the scales, trying to pry it out before it invaded my body. But my talons only scraped the surface; the serpent's head, buried deep, wouldn't come free. Worse, the horde that had broken the wall was charging us all at once. The situation was the worst it could be.

"R… run…!"

Spreading my wings wide, I stepped forward and squeezed out my voice.

I cannot let my students die.

"Wind…"

The wind I mustered was only half as strong as before, barely slowing their legs.

As the beasts' corpses leapt for me, I steeled myself for death.

"… Kept you waiting, huh."

Right before claws and fangs reached me—

—right under my nose, the beasts were bound head to toe in vines.

"For you lot, that was well done."

"Nina!"

Forgetting the pain, I called my partner's name.