Priests Excel at Zombie Extermination

Duke Baroba was quick to act once he'd made up his mind.

He'd been fast getting here, and the withdrawal was equally swift.

The soldiers assembled in no time.

The knights and guards looked a bit disappointed.

They'd probably been hoping to really cut loose.

"I'll leave behind some of the supplies like provisions. Use them. As for any spoils, you can take them, though I'll buy anything useful. If you run into trouble, feel free to abort the clearing."

"Understood. Thank you."

With that, the entire force descended the tower at once.

The theologian looked reluctant to leave, but safety concerns meant he had to go with them.

Guarding him as well would have been too much of a burden.

"Please show me anything you find. Even if it has no material value, if it holds academic significance, I'll pay a fair price for it."

He made a point of saying that before departing.

Given his enthusiasm, even random trinkets would probably fetch a good sum as long as they were old enough.

"They left in such a hurry…"

"The rank-and-file soldiers are impressive, but the unit commanders are even better trained. An enemy I wouldn't want to face in a war."

"Whatever. I don't care. Too many people, it was getting annoying."

"Finn-chan's shy around strangers, after all."

"Shut it."

After seeing Duke Baroba's forces off, Azu muttered her thoughts aloud.

Alexia responded.

Giving orders to individual soldiers was already difficult enough; moving that many people as intended was a testament to daily discipline.

I couldn't begin to imitate it.

Managing the handful of people here was probably Yohane's limit.

"Now then, let's see what the duke left us… Field-grade consumables and provisions. Honestly a relief, but…"

I checked the supplies.

He'd said he was leaving part of them behind, but considering how few of us remained, it was more than enough.

Could we keep the extras?

The floors we'd cleared seemed to stay safe. No monsters respawned no matter how much time passed.

We stuffed as much as we could into everyone's item bags and set off again.

"Right, the question is whether we can clear this… Up until now, it was pure human-wave tactics, just steamrolling everything."

"Each floor did have quite a few monsters."

"Come on, no whining. If you've got time to complain, put it toward moving your hands and feet."

"You've got a point there."

We followed Alexia's advice and climbed the stairs.

With fewer people, it was considerably quieter.

Only the sound of footsteps echoed unnaturally loud.

The vanguard was the usual Azu and Finn.

No matter how sudden an ambush, those two could handle it.

The moment we reached the next floor, Finn pinched her nose.

"Hey, Elza. Give me that."

"That tells me nothing."

"Holy water. You've got some, right?"

Elza produced a small bottle from inside her robe.

It was the Elza-brand holy water we sold at the shop.

I was wondering why, but then the air began to carry a damp, heavy quality.

A terrible stench. Like rotting meat…

"Skeletons were all we had before, so I guess now it's decaying corpses. Could get us sick."

Finn popped the cork on the holy water she'd received from Elza and dumped the contents over her head.

The stench around Finn vanished.

I moved closer to sniff, and she gave me an openly disgusted look.

"Holy water has a purifying effect, so it works on stuff like this too. Guess you didn't know."

"Is that so?"

"It does have that effect, but… not many people use it as deodorant."

Elza said that with a wry smile.

We all used up some holy water before our noses gave out. Much better.

Looking deeper in, a thoroughly unpleasant sight met my eyes.

A grotesque scene, nothing you'd want a child to see.

"Fighting that? Hard pass."

"Same… Last time I fought those, gunk splattered everywhere."

"Purification can take care of them cleanly, but it'll take a while."

Everyone turned to look at Alexia.

"I know, I know. My turn."

Understanding what those looks meant, Alexia stepped forward and gripped the fire brooch with her right hand.

She thrust it out in front of her.

"Whether it's for ventilation I don't know, but good thing there are windows. Otherwise we'd suffocate."

Magic power gathered around Alexia.

Then, like a fire-breathing Dragon, flames erupted from her outstretched right hand.

"I'll add a purification blessing while I'm at it."

Elza chanted something toward Alexia.

The crimson fire seemed to shift, taking on a faintly white hue.

The flames steadily incinerated the shambling Undead corpses approaching us.

With Elza's purification blessing in the mix, they were being processed at remarkable speed.

"… Fewer than I expected? Before, the floor was practically carpeted with them."

"True, now that you mention it."

There were still plenty of monsters.

But not an unreasonable number.

"Probably adjusting for the number of challengers."

"The count changes based on party size? That happens…?"

I was puzzling over that when several Zombies appeared, running from the depths.

They forced their way through despite being engulfed in flames.

"Elza, you've got this, right? All yours."

Alexia kept her gaze on the oncoming enemies while continuing to pour out magic.

"Sure thing."

Elza readied her usual mace and dripped holy water onto it.

That alone made it more effective against Undead than any other weapon.

"You've done well for so long. May you rest in peace."

Elza swung the mace.

The Zombie it struck dissolved like mist.

"You're specialized, so it makes sense, but that's brutal. No point even swinging a sword."

"Times like this, I've got to pull my weight."

By the time Elza finished off the last of them, the other Zombies had been reduced to ash, and a treasure chest appeared in the center of the room.

Alexia cut off her magic. Once the temperature settled, we opened the chest.

Inside was a single glass sculpture.

Shaped like a human chest with a knife plunged into it.

A curious ornament.

"That's a little creepy."

"Really? I think it suits this floor perfectly."