A Difference in Class as Living Beings

Alexia-san's fire magic was, above all else, sheer firepower.

On top of that, the flammable gas drifting through the area had ignited from her spell, triggering an explosion far beyond its usual scale.

A heavy tremor shook the ground, and the violent blast wave it produced reached all the way to us.

My hair swayed, and a wooden sign was blown away.

The stench was gone before I noticed, blown away by the fire magic, perhaps.

Maybe the poison had been blasted away along with the air itself.

I couldn't keep my eyes open against the wind, so I moved my right hand in front of my face to soften the impact while peering toward the spell's point of origin.

Between the darkness and the smoke, it was hard to make anything out.

"I'll light things up with magic."

Alexia-san illuminated the area with a lighting spell.

It wasn't as bright as daytime, but it was more than enough to see our surroundings.

At the blast site, thick smoke was still billowing upward, forming something like a mushroom shape near the top.

Proof of just how devastating the spell had been.

Surely not even a large monster would have left a trace.

The soldiers were letting out cries of shock and admiration.

Maybe the Dragon Zombie had even been taken down.

At that moment, Ramiza-san's words flashed through my mind.

Remember what I taught you. In other words, use your head and get creative.

Had she been trying to tell me that fire magic alone wouldn't be enough to deal with this thing?

The smoke finally began to clear, and visibility returned.

A dark silhouette stirred deep within the smoke.

"You've gotta be kidding…"

Someone among the soldiers muttered it.

The Dragon Zombie emerged through the smoke.

Far from being obliterated, it had retained its shape.

The flesh was charred in places, and the areas where the spell had struck directly were visibly carbonized.

Those sections crumbled and flaked away, exposing bone beneath.

It should have taken considerable damage.

But the Dragon Zombie's legs moved, shaking the ground.

Its movements were sluggish, yet its raw power hadn't diminished in the slightest.

Its feet were sinking into soil that had melted from the heat, and it didn't care in the least.

Being dead, it probably had no sense of pain.

As long as the bones held, it could keep moving no matter what happened to the flesh.

"Snap out of it! The poison's been blown away, so now we can get close!"

Moomya's shout jolted the stunned soldiers back into action.

They drove logs into the ground and set up makeshift barricades.

… Though how effective those would be against a Dragon Zombie this size was questionable.

Several soldiers fashioned a crude battering ram from bundled logs and struck at it, only to be swatted away.

"If it were alive, the fire would make it wary, so I thought that blast would at least give it pause… Undead really are a pain."

"Fear and pain don't matter when you're already dead. It won't stop until it physically can't move anymore."

Elza-san had both hands extended toward the Dragon Zombie, preparing a purification.

Normally she could purify regular Zombies and Skeletons in the blink of an eye, but this was clearly not going to be so simple.

Alexia-san fired off several more fire spells in succession, but none proved decisive.

The majority of the rotting flesh and skin was scorched away, and gradually only bone remained.

The bones were impossibly hard; even Alexia-san's fire magic could only char them slightly, not break them.

The force of her spells made it stagger back, but even so, it was advancing faster than it was being pushed back.

Judging that further attempts would be futile, Alexia-san stopped using fire magic.

"Dragon species really are something else. Even in death, that durability… It shakes my confidence."

"If it gets any closer, the city will be right there. I'll hold it off, so please figure something out in the meantime."

"Got it. Leave the support to me. I'll try everything I can."

I drew my sword and gripped it in my right hand. To stop its advance, I broke into a sprint.

I equipped the ring that nullified poison, just in case.

"Out of the way!"

Some soldiers had frozen up along the way, so I shouted to get them clear.

As I closed the distance, I realized the thing was even bigger than I'd estimated.

It had looked massive from afar, but up close it was something else entirely.

The only thing I'd ever faced this enormous was the Sky Whale.

Back then, I'd had Evalin-san's help and only needed to swing my blade.

This time, I didn't have that luxury.

Ordinary slashes were meaningless against a Dragon Zombie. Even severing its head probably wouldn't stop it.

So first, I needed to halt its advance.

I aimed for the right leg, where rotting flesh still clung.

I swung my sword in a horizontal arc. A wet, squelching sensation traveled through the blade.

The decayed flesh was disgustingly soft, and I cut through to bone without effort.

But the instant the blade struck bone, an impact so violent it nearly numbed my hands shot through me, and I almost lost my grip on the sword.

That was despite holding it as tightly as I could.

(What insane hardness.)

Harder than steel. A normal sword would have chipped from that blow.

By unleashing the power of the Sealed Sword Grungaus, I managed to leave a small scratch.

If I kept targeting the same spot repeatedly, I might at least get a crack going.

"Azu! Above!"

Alexia-san's shout made me look up reflexively.

The Dragon Zombie's face had turned toward me, its empty eye sockets looking right at me.

Deep within those dark hollows, a red light faintly glowed.

The moment I saw it, an overwhelming terror seized me.

A difference in class as living beings. An illusion, as if I were an insect being watched by a human.

I reflexively distanced myself from that spot.

The next instant, the skeletal Dragon Zombie's jaws opened and spewed a pitch-black smoke.

Something entirely different from the poison before.

"Don't breathe that in! Everyone, get back now!"

This time it was Elza-san who screamed.

Following her warning, the soldiers and I retreated from the Dragon Zombie.

The expelled black smoke touched a large tree.

With a hissing, sizzling sound, the tree dissolved.

"That massive tree just… melted…"

"Oh no, someone didn't get away in time!"

One soldier had twisted his ankle and failed to retreat. The black smoke was creeping toward him.

Even at my speed, I wouldn't make it.

"Tch. What are you doing?"

Alexia-san clicked her tongue and hurled a rope at the soldier.

Using wind magic, she manipulated the rope through the air, wrapped it around the soldier, and yanked him to safety.

"Th-thank you so much."

"If you've twisted your ankle, get to the rear already. Elza can't treat you right now."

The rescued soldier thanked her and crawled his way to the back.

"That was…"

"Miasma. Remember that stuff we saw in the Great Forest?"

"It can breathe that out?"

A cold sweat wouldn't stop coming.

I'd thought we could manage if it was just big, but for it to do something like this on top of everything…

Ramiza-san, is this really something we can handle?

"Now that it's down to bones, my purification is working better. Just keep stalling it."

"I know."

I could see a tiny portion of the Dragon Zombie crumbling away.

Proof that Elza-san's purification was taking effect.

I soothed my hammering heart and steadied my breathing.