CH 173

Chapter 173

When Peaceful Times Cease To Exist : To The Swamp, Part 11 — Dragon Zombie

Translated by KaiesV

Edited by KaiesV

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「A–Alright. This is as far as w–we can take you. Walking straight from here, it will take you about a day to get to where F–Fairtuse lives. H–Horses would be faster.」

「Got it, thank you.」

「If you are coming from Fairtuse’s residence, go n–north to where this bog tree grows. Then you can get out of the swamp, out of the swamp, w–without our help. We won’t mess with you, I’ll l–let my people know this.」

「Nhn, I appreciate it.」

「T–That’s all right. W–We don’t want to be destroyed either.」

With that, the swamp people left. Apparently, they were very afraid of Miliazar.

From there, as the swamp people told them, they proceeded on horseback. The ground here is almost as muddy as a swamp, so even though it was impossible to make the horses run as fast as they could, they could at least gallop.

「By the way, where’s Kaede?」

「…I completely forgot about her.」

「She was there just before the swamp people attacked us.」

「You’re safe, right? Kaede, are you there?」

「Yes, I’m here.」

Kaede suddenly appeared upside down from overhead. The way she appeared startled everyone unexpectedly.

「H–Hey! Don’t scare us!?」

「That being said, this is the standard way we appear.」

「…I wonder what kind of education they are giving you, Mouthless. Well, I hope you’re there. Don’t you ride horses?」

「Yes, because I run on trees. I apologise!」

Kaede then said nothing more and immediately disappeared. Everyone was stunned by her appearance and disappearance.

「I don’t know how she keep up with the horse’s speed, even though she’s not running at full speed because of the swamp.」

「Right. Well, whatever.」

Miranda also made this comment lightly at the time, but she would regret it the next day.

The rest of the trip was uneventful. There are not many fiends or magical beasts in this area, even according to Lisa’s sensors. Perhaps they are rather afraid of Alfiris. But perhaps that was a blessing, for the journey was quicker than expected.

「Maybe this one will come on sooner.」

「Nia, good for you. We’re going to make it in time to save your arm.」

「Y–Yeah. Okay.」

「I’m still not feeling well…」

Euhty watches Nia being held up by Aerial. Miranda was riding with Lisa, while Alfiris was riding alone.

They wondered if they had been riding for even a second. The wet ground was becoming less and less, and the grass was just about to grow, when Lisa reacted with a twitch.

「There’s something up ahead.」

Everyone stops their horses in response to her voice.

「An enemy?」

「No, what is this… at first I thought it was a big rock, but it is moving!」

Lisa seems to be flying Sonar with a suspicious look on her face.

「A rock? How big?」

「It’s well over 10 meters. But there is no heartbeat. I can’t feel any signs of life.」

「Then we’ll wrap this fast. It’s a zombie.」

Alfiris speaks with a lick of her tongue.

「Miranda, I told you that I wouldn’t hold back.」

「Yeah, you did.」

「If it’s a zombie, I can go all out, right?」

「…Lisa, do you think we need to fight it?」

「It’s almost frontal, because it’s clearly coming toward us. Well, I guess it’s not impossible to avoid.」

「I see. Alfie, you can do it, but Nia comes first, okay?」

「I get it. That’s why it’s faster to take it down.」

As she spoke, Alfiris’ face seemed to have already paid no attention to Nia. And then, with a sound of the earth, the other party, whom Lisa described as a rock, appeared from among the trees. Seeing this, the group would regret very much that they had chosen to fight.

「T–This is…」

「A zombie is a zombie… but a Dragon Zombie?」

A Dragon Zombie appeared in front of Alfiris and others. Its size, as Lisa said, was well over 10 meters. Although the size of the Giganotosaurus wasn’t a surprise to Alfie and the others who had seen it, the presence of a Dragon was still very intimidating.

Even though it’s 10 meters long, it’s only the body part, and when its wings are spread out, it was a huge body, perhaps 20 meters in length. It must have been a magnificent dragon in its lifetime, but its majesty can no longer be seen. Its skin, which was said to repel all human weapons, was rotting away, and it was badly infested with maggots. Pus dripped from every part of its body, its eyes were already missing orbs, and bones were exposed here and there.

There are two types of zombies: those who are moved by evil spirits attached to their corpses, and those who become evil spirits in the flesh because their pre-life delusions are too strong. In the former case, the sisters’ evil spirit banishment (exorcism) can bring them to enlightenment, but in the latter case, it is very tricky. The only way to do this is to destroy the body and the spirit at the same time, or to cut off the source of the unresolvement. A magic of the holy attribute would be very useful because it can destroy both body and spirit at the same time, but the problem is that it’s a Dragon Zombie.

「It also have a high resistance to witchcraft, oh no…」

「Even though it’s rotting, the skin would still be hard. And on top of that, it’s this huge body. It won’t feel any pain, and it will be a very hard task to defeat it.」

「And such a magnificent dragon isn’t often found in the center of the continent. Isn’t there a tribe of fire dragons that live in the western part of the Brome volcano? What brings them here?」

「It doesn’t matter. It’s more important. This is my catch.」

Alfiris laughs happily.

「Ufufu, it’s been a long time since I’ve had something worth destroying. Come on, I’ll play with you in person.」

「Alfie…」

The expression on Alfiris’ face as she tried to stand alone against the Dragon Zombie was the very definition of an evil demon. Miranda looks at her face and can’t help but feel uneasy, as if Alfiris is no longer the person she knew.

Alfiris, on the other hand, was unaware of Miranda’s concerns, and was already focusing all of her attention on the battle against the Dragon Zombie. The way she was licking her tongue in front of the Dragon Zombie, it was no longer clear which of them was the monster.

「Now, how am I going to kill it? Oh? Well, since it’s already dead, killing isn’t really an accurate description. Ascension? Extinction? Well, either way.」

Alfiris crackles the bones of her hands and draws separate marks in the air with both hands.

「Now, after all, zombies are to be cremated. I’ll get you a special fire.」

【Reverse is the abyss, boil is the cauldron of hell, boil is the fury. Give will to the flames of the abyss and free the wretched slaves of life!】

《Gehena Of Cremation》

With the chanting of Alfiris, a black flame rose up from the ground. The flames quickly engulfed the huge body of the Dragon Zombie, and the flames jumped up and burned into the trees. The chi in this swamp should have been quite humid, but the fire didn’t stop at all. It was so strong that it could have burned down the forest at this rate.

「What a flame!」

「Ouch, ouch–ouch!」

「To use so much magic in a swamp that is so incompatible with fire spirits…」

Aerial roared. It was out of the ordinary for a creature like Phalanx, which by nature belongs to fire, to handle so much power in a person who basically has no attributes. Moreover, the flame used by Alfiris is, to the untrained eye, specially made. As was the case with the previous《Flame Capriccio,》the flames this time show no sign of going out with just a shake of the head. Moreover, this time, unlike the previous magic, the flames themselves seem to have a will of their own, as if they were biting into the weak parts of the Dragon Zombie and attacking to rip off its flesh. It may already have no sense of pain, but she didn’t know if the Dragon Zombie was in pain or not.

「Guuooooooon!」

「Ahha! You can’t cry and scream about it. Burn up as you are! For the sake of my sorrows, ahahahaha!」

All of them couldn’t stop shaking as Alfiris, who handled flames that surpassed the zombie’s regenerative powers and laughed gleefully in front of the burning Dragon Zombie, was on the verge of a fight.

「Who, is that?」

「What a pernicious intent she emits…」

「Lisa, I’m scared.」

While Euthy clung to Lisa, it was Miranda who was the calmest.

「（But even so, that Dragon Zombie shows no sign of resisting at all. I doubt the zombie would stop rushing forward just because it was engulfed in flames. What the hell…）」

As a Sister of Arnelia, Miranda has a lot of experience in fighting deadly spirits and zombies, which is why she’s so uncomfortable. Even human zombies are troublesome, but a Dragon Zombie shouldn’t be this bad. At the very least, this Dragon Zombie may not have hostile intentions. If so, there is no need for the battle itself. With this in mind, Miranda moved toward Alfiris. If she let Alfilis fight any longer, she might not be able to get her back. Even with everyone else so overwhelmed by Alfiris, there was one thought that occupied Miranda’s mind most of all.

「（Alfiris has silently accepted my past… now it’s my turn!）」

Miranda is determined not to abandon her alone, even if Alfiris’s true nature is not what it seems, and she grabs Alfiris by the shoulders.

「Alfie!」

「Are you at it again, Miranda? I’m in the middle of some fun right now, though!?」

「This Dragon Zombie may not be hostile. Let’s go now.」

「I don’t care about that. I’m just taking it out on them!」

Alfiris shook off Miranda’s hand in a troublesome manner. But now Miranda has no intention of backing down.

「Taking it out on them? What the hell are you upset about?」

「It’s for Miranda! It’s always so depressing all the time. You are a Sister, and you do whatever you want on your travels, but you tell me I can’t do this and I can’t do that. Pretending to be my guardian!?」

「That’s a lie! That’s not what you’re upset about, right!?」

Miranda’s words cause Alfiris to pause for a moment.

「What on earth are you upset about? You should talk to me!」

「…Shut up, shut up, shut up!!」

Miranda again took hold of her hand, and Alfiris struggled to release it, but this time Miranda was holding on tightly to keep her grip, so she showed no sign of releasing it at all. And Miranda didn’t miss the tears in Alfiris’ eyes.

「（Alfie still has her sanity. With this!）」

「Why are you in my way, Miranda!? If you’re my friend, aren’t you supposed to be on my side!」

「Only if you’re doing the right thing. Look around you!」

Miranda showed her a forest that was on fire.

「After all this, you don’t even care?」

「Such a forest! They should just burn and be gone!」

「!」

Pan, a dry sound echoed. They all gulped, but it was Miranda who had stretched Alfiris’ cheek.