Chapter 86

"Ah, ahhh! Ahhhhhh! H-Help meee!"

Kelt dragged his body, desperately trying to escape from the patchwork.

The patchwork slowly pursued him.

"If it were just one, we could have managed...! But the second one is just too much!"

Meabel clutched her staff and said.

"...Lucy, can you take the target that's focused on Kelt? Meabel, please heal him quickly."

"There's another patchwork right in front of us, so it's impossible to go and help him!"

In response to my words, Meabel reacted first.

"Besides, if it were Elma or Lucy, I might consider it, but I can't take such a risk to cover for someone who betrayed the party and ran away. If I use MP to heal him, and the number of targets changes, he'll probably run away again. I'm not saying I want to let him die, but if he's going to treat his comrades with such selfishness, he should be prepared to be treated the same way."

Meabel's words made Kelt turn pale.

"You didn't do anything that would make you deserve to die."

Kelt's actions were merely acting on his own within the scope of the large-scale request rules. He might be reprimanded for breaking etiquette, but he didn't do anything that would be considered a crime.

"Besides, in this situation, if even one of us is missing, it will be tough. It's true that Kelt might run away again, but we have to rely on his good will."

Kelt is the highest level among us. If we lose our strongest fighter, our chances of winning will drop significantly.

"With four of us, we can handle two patchworks!"

"We can handle it, I'll take command."

Kelt seemed overly frightened, probably because the patchwork's information sharing in this world isn't complete. Only the fact that adventurers have been killed by their vicious skills while being chased is known. While the patchwork's attacks are indeed powerful, they are not invincible with our current strength.

"Y-You say that so easily..."

Meabel's words lost their momentum, seemingly intimidated by my determination.

"But to begin with, we can't reach Kelt in time by running past the leading patchwork."

"Elma, please use your skill!"

Lucy seemed to understand my plan and said this to me.

To reach Kelt, it would take too much time to run past the leading patchwork normally. We would be too late.

I positioned my shield, and Lucy kicked off the ground, leaping into the air.

"Shield Bash!"

I thrust my shield forward with force. Lucy kicked the shield and flew. Using the momentum and her acrobatic running skill, she walked on the wall and neatly bypassed the leading patchwork.

She then slashed the back of the second patchwork, which was near Kelt. The second patchwork turned and swung its sword at Lucy. Lucy pulled back and barely dodged the sword.

This shifted the target of the second patchwork to Lucy.

"Y-You really came to help me!? You're crazy, why...! I betrayed you and ran away!"

Kelt pressed his knees and wobbled to his feet.

"Elma is kind, but she's not blind to reality. We never expected you to fight for the party in a dire situation. Elma helps those in trouble regardless of such things. That's the kind of person she is."

Lucy said this and glared at Kelt.

"But... I'm not as kind or principled as Elma. If you run away and cause trouble again, I'll throw this poisoned knife at your back."

...She seemed quite upset by Kelt's actions.

"But, the 'Three-Armed Reaper' is something we shouldn't fight! These abnormally strong rare monsters are found in every 'Dream Hole'! And... if two of them appear, there's no way we can all survive!"

The 'Three-Armed Reaper' must refer to the patchwork. Adventurers in this world seem to fear the patchwork by that name.

"Like he said... it's impossible for our current party to handle two of these monsters. Elma, do you have a plan?"

Meabel asked me, looking doubtful. I nodded and charged forward.

I attacked the leading patchwork with my Mithril Sword. The patchwork blocked with its own sword, and we engaged in a blade lock.

"I'll take one. Meabel, heal Kelt and then deal with the other one with the three of us."

"W-What!? Fighting one alone... that's impossible!"

"Paladins are supposed to draw enemies. If you're worried, come to my aid after you've taken down the other one."

"But..."

"Go quickly! It's much worse to have Lucy, who has no defense, protect the injured Kelt while fighting!"

"O-Okay! I'll finish it quickly and come back to help!"

Meabel bowed to me and passed by my side to go and assist Lucy.

At that moment, the patchwork forcefully pushed my blade away and lunged at Meabel's back. However, the patchwork's movement suddenly stopped mid-air, as if pulled by something. It was my 'Shadow Step' skill.

"You're my opponent!"

I attacked the patchwork, which had exposed a weakness, but it was blocked by its sword.

A second blade came at me. I ducked to avoid it, and at the same time, a third blade came from a different angle. I pushed the blade I was engaged with and used the momentum to back away, barely avoiding it.

The patchwork wielded its sword with its three grafted arms. But that wasn't all.

A magic circle formed around the patchwork. The moment I saw it, I reflexively jumped back.

A purple light slash passed in front of me. It was the patchwork's magic skill, 'Death Sword'.

As a close-range attack magic skill, it activates quickly and has immense power. With its three arms, the patchwork can be considered to have four swords when combined with 'Death Sword'. It disrupts the opponent's stance with a three-hit combo and then immediately follows up with a 'Death Sword' attack. This is the main reason why the patchwork is feared.

【Information on Another Work】

'The Disciple of the Undead' Volume 4 will be released on August 25th!

(2021/08/22)