Catacomb Pantheon, Part 4

A Zombie the size of two grown men, bloated to bursting, punched a shield-bearing warrior and sent him flying.

The shield he'd braced behind was crushed and bent, showing just how abnormal the force had been.

The warrior slammed into a wall and didn't move.

Fortunately, there were plenty of clerics here. If he was still alive, they could manage something.

Azu stepped up to the front line to keep the bloated Zombie from advancing further.

She had Elza's blessing active.

Holy water purification on her weapon, too.

With Azu's build, getting grabbed meant it was over.

No one understood that better than Azu herself.

She tracked the Zombie's movements with her eyes, circled into its blind spot, and slashed.

Rotting flesh cut easily. She severed its left hand.

The holy water enhancement was doing its work. Azu's attacks were more than effective.

The instant she went to behead it for the finishing blow, the Zombie caught her blade with its remaining hand.

The sound and stench of rotting flesh burning against the blade filled Azu with visceral revulsion, but she kept her eyes on it.

In a contest of raw strength, Azu had no chance of winning.

Burning as it was, the Zombie dug its flesh into the blade and tried to drag Azu in closer.

Let go of the sword and it was over.

But at this rate, she'd be eaten…

Elza's mace punched clean through the Zombie's skull.

Blood spray and rotting flesh rained down on Azu's face.

She'd managed to keep her mouth shut, at least, but she couldn't stop the tears at the sensation.

"Thank you."

"Sorry for splattering you. But I didn't have the luxury of being neat about it."

"I know."

Azu wiped her face and scraped off the gore.

Small mercy that her nose had gone numb.

Power flowed into Azu and Elza.

Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise.

Most of the monstrous Zombies were focused on the Ash Knights, and the ones reaching the adventurers were just stragglers from the main fight.

If those things had swarmed them en masse, it would have been a total wipe.

The Ash Knights weren't attacking the adventurers, but they weren't helping them either.

They'd watched a nearby cleric get devoured by a Zombie and done nothing.

The battle between the Four-Arms and the Ash King had been dead even at first, but perhaps because the Ash King's raw power was simply greater, the Four-Arms was being pushed back bit by bit.

The Four-Arms' sword strikes, a storm of violence by any measure, couldn't overpower the single blade gripped in the Ash King's two hands.

Deflect. Redirect. Evade. Counter.

The Ash King never missed an opening, punishing every gap.

The Four-Arms needed three arms just to stop his counter-strikes.

It retaliated with the remaining arm, but the Ash King redirected even that.

Each exchange drove the Four-Arms further back.

The surrounding Zombies tried to rush the Ash King, but the Ash Knights intercepted them.

At last, with its back nearly to the wall, the Four-Arms let out an enormous roar.

A body of nothing but bone couldn't produce a voice.

But the roar was laced with magical power, and the shockwave it carried made the very ground tremble.

To Azu, it sounded like fury on the verge of madness.

The Four-Arms hurled itself at the Ash King with far more ferocity than before.

At the start, its swordplay had been flowing and elegant.

But now all pretense of technique was gone.

It was simply slamming its blades down with raw brute force. Nothing more.

The Ash King blocked even this, but was pushed steadily backward.

The Four-Arms could only do this because it was a Skeleton.

With flesh and muscle, that kind of reckless movement would have torn the body apart.

Azu watched the Ash King's sword.

Just watched. Unwavering mastery.

On defense, he was unyielding as a fortress. On offense, he struck with the overwhelming force of a battering ram.

She wanted that. If she could fight like that, she could be so much more useful.

The Four-Arms opened its empty mouth.

Blue fire poured from it onto the Ash King.

The Ash King swept it aside with his sword, but in the instant his blade followed through, the Four-Arms brought all four swords down on his weapon in a unified strike.

The Ash King's sword didn't break.

But the force of his right arm alone couldn't hold. His stance collapsed.

The Four-Arms' skull lunged in close.

Blue fire was already building in that empty maw again.

Seeing that, Azu acted as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

She threw her sword to the Ash King.

The Ash King caught the Sealed Sword Grungaus in his left hand and slashed sideways through the skull of the Four-Arms, now inches from his face.

The blue fire spilled to the ground with the severed jaw and spread across the floor.

For a brief moment, the Four-Arms and the Ash King locked gazes.

The Ash King raised both swords to the sky and brought them down into the blue fires burning in the Four-Arms' eyes.

The flames went out. The Four-Arms' body crumbled away like sand.

It took no time at all for every bone to vanish.

Only its ornaments clattered to the ground.

The monstrous Zombies lost whatever force had been animating them and collapsed, motionless.

The Ash Knights raised their swords in salute to their king, then dissolved back into pale mist and faded away.

All that remained were the adventurers and the Ash King.

The Ash King turned to face the adventurers.

To be precise, toward Azu.

The adventurers who'd realized the exit was open again fled for it without looking back.

In moments, everyone was gone except the dead, Azu, and Elza.

In moments like these, freezing up meant you had no business being an adventurer.

The Ash King sheathed his own sword, then crushed the ornaments the Four-Arms had left behind.

All except a single brooch, which he picked up and carried toward Azu.

He stopped before her, plunged the Sealed Sword Grungaus into the ground with his left hand, and turned that hand toward Azu.

"Wait. We follow the Creator King. We're not your enemies."

Elza held up her Creator King rosary so the Ash King could see it.

The beautiful female relief caught the Ash King's gaze.

"Oh… my goddess. I have at last destroyed one of your enemies."

His voice resonated deeply.

The face shrouded in black miasma was invisible, but Azu thought she could see him trembling.

"Though I have fallen to monstrosity, I will destroy every last enemy of my goddess. I will turn my blade against the devil who wears the sun's name."

The Ash King drew a rosary from within his armor.

It bore the same design as Elza's.

The Ash King had been a follower of the Creator King.

"A fine sword, that."

The Ash King looked at Azu.

"Young girl. I am grateful for your aid. The creature's possessions had the power to manipulate people, so I destroyed them. This one, however, is safe. Take it as my thanks."

Azu accepted the brooch.

It was a magnificent piece set with a red gemstone.

The base was crafted from gold.

An accessory Azu would never have held otherwise in her entire life.

"Should you worship my goddess, we shall meet again."

With those words, the Ash King began to fade.

"Um…"

Azu finally found her voice.

"How can I learn to swing a sword the way you do?"

At her question, the Ash King turned just his face back toward her.

"Remember my blade. My swordsmanship was attained while I yet lived as a man. With the will to reach it, you shall."

And then the Ash King was truly gone.

The catacombs trembled.

Azu pulled her sword from the ground and escaped Ruined Heim Catacombs with Elza.

After they made it out, the entrance to the catacombs vanished entirely.

The aftermath was going to be a nightmare to deal with, most likely…

But Master would be satisfied once he saw this brooch, so it would be fine.

Azu felt as though she'd gained something, if only a little.