A Secret Meeting

“Alert! Something’s approaching.”

At the elf Cecil’s warning—she had been spreading her senses around the perimeter—even those resting grabbed their weapons and stood.

After a moment what appeared were lizards. A slightly large, no, to be honest, a family of lizards the size of a cow.

The horned lizard monsters, notable for horns on their heads, apparently thought the Rebound Legion members were prey and opened their mouths wide with a shriek.

Not even five minutes after Kim Han—who usually relayed monster info, gave warnings, and commanded fights—had collapsed, the monsters appeared.

Only a few hours earlier they’d slaughtered dozens of species, thousands of creatures.

“Merus, what are the lizards’ traits or things to watch out for?”

Why did Naruan ask Merus? Merus turned her head toward the asking Naruan.

Naruan opened that small, cute mouth and offered a reason that seemed plausible at first listen.

“What are you looking at. Aren’t they kin? Maybe relatives?”

“No they aren’t!!”

“They look similar though…”

“Not similar at all!”

Naruan was earnest and Merus was over the top, but thanks to them the other members felt the tension that had pressed on their shoulders drop away.

“Tear them apart before the monsters do anything.”

At Lee Hyo-ju’s order, all Rebound Legion members raised their divine power.

How to describe it—divine power rising felt like hitting a sudden turbulence? Or like encountering a bunch of elementary kids all doing whatever they wanted?

Four kinds of divine power surged and whipped about according to each user’s method. Dust danced everywhere like in turbulent air.

But before the group could do anything, the fire top-tier spirit Salleana—who had been waiting beside Kim Han—moved.

Salleana appeared in the center of the lizard monsters with an effect like a magical blink, as if a candle had gone out and relit.

Under her touch the lizards’ skin color began to change—into a vivid crimson.

By the time the lizards realized something was wrong with their bodies, the top-tier spirit’s flame, ignited from within them, was already bursting out.

Flames lapped from their mouths as if breathing fire, burning the lizard family completely from the inside out.

It happened so fast the monsters turned into a handful of roasted meat before the party could react.

―Your comrade is at an important turning point. Please look after him for a while.

When the top-tier spirit—who had said nothing until now—spoke information about Kim Han’s condition, Hazel darted forward and asked.

“Is his companion alright?!”

―What I can tell you now is not to do anything to your comrade. No need to overexert like now, but please keep a reasonable guard. You there, elf with silver hair, you handled things well.

“Thank you.”

―I’m merely stating facts. Now please.

Having said that, Salleana returned to her place and stood waiting, watched by some seventy pairs of eyes.

And despite Salleana’s suggestion to rest, the members did not move from their assigned positions.

That remained even thirty minutes later, after they had rotated.

Those close-guarding Kim Han chewed jerky and drank potions like water while sharpening their senses.

―Hm?

The top-tier wind spirit Silestin tilted their head toward the sky.

At Silestin’s odd behavior, the eyes of those guarding Kim Han also looked in the same direction.

“W-what the hell!!”

“A flock of drakes?!”

―Salleana!

Silestin’s urgent shout filled the campsite as Silestin already threw their body forward to block the flock of drakes.

―Stand back! This is not your place to come!

The drakes flinched and halted, perhaps from Silestin’s intensity and that soul-shaking voice.

At that moment, strange phenomena began from the ground as well.

“Huh? Uh? What’s this?”

From the east—the direction the Rebound Legion had entered—came the sound of something moving.

Before it registered in their senses, it was heard as a sound: those heavy footsteps.

Everyone tensed and turned their gaze that way.

After some time, the owner of those footsteps finally revealed itself.

Seven to eight meters of body length. A massive reptile. A monster that could turn most beasts into a single meal.

A flock of basilisks had appeared.

“Woah… this is no joke.”

At Merus’s mischievous voice, everyone’s sharp gazes snapped to her—except those watching the northern area.

“Alright. Looks like I’m just getting a longer watch. But something seems to be coming from that way too?”

Only after Merus pointed did people finally turn their heads—and they were horrified.

“…This is fucked.”

This time Merus was not joking. Hundreds of Death Knights and dozens of floating skull-buckets—definitely a lich.

What on earth was happening all of a sudden?

―It seems the time has come. Well, our strength did feel stronger a short while ago…

―Indeed. Such clean, peaceful spiritual energy. Our comrade must be growing.

―Silestin, can you stop them together with Salleana?

―Hmph. Are you ignoring me?

“Hey, ladies. What the hell’s going on all of a sudden?”

A rude man’s voice cut into the serious conversation of the four top-tier spirits. It was Proy.

His face was terribly contorted. Was he uncomfortable? Scared? Or urgently needing the bathroom? None of those.

“So those hunks of meat came to try and do something to my lord—no, our captain?”

―Ho?

―They’re strong.

―Unusually so…

―Very strong.

The four spirits met each other’s eyes and then spoke to Proy.

―You there, are you family of the comrade? The comrade put it that way—family.

“Family…? Really? Did Kim Han say that? He called me family?”

The bearded, southern-type Proy blinked and asked back, while the spirits nodded with reluctant expressions. At the same time, a surge rose from Proy.

―Hey you, come stop those reptiles with me.

Noeaden stepped forward and offered this to Proy.

But Proy scoffed and replied loudly enough to make ears ring, filled with divine power.

“Stop them! I’ll chop them up! All of them! Tonight I’ll have a beer with basilisk meat.”

―Good. Then I’ll go first.

―Then I’ll also…“

“Elastra, please protect Kim Han.”

The voice calling Elastra back from charging the undead belonged to Lee Hyo-ju.

Lee Hyo-ju issued orders to Schumix and the other members and likewise joined the group herself.

Watching that, Elastra’s eyes gleamed with curiosity.

The Rebound Legion’s numbers were roughly seventy. The Death Knights and liches numbered over three hundred.

Considering the undead don’t tire, it was clearly unfavorable—even for representatives.

Yet the members stepping forward showed no sign of considering defeat.

Rebound had faced Talis and Bioss, who tire even less than undead.

Moreover, Schumix and Naruan—nemeses of the undead—were present.

From the moment the undead appeared Schumix had already unfurled a white cloth and began chanting.

A broad, pristine white cloth. Apart from knots tied here and there, it looked like an ordinary piece of cloth.

But this seemingly ordinary cloth was equipment Kim Han made for Schumix. A weapon, even.

In some dimensions, newborns are wrapped in the finest white cloth at birth, believed to protect them from disaster or misfortune.

Increases the effect of all rituals cast on undead by 1.5 times.

The pure white cloth stretched like a rubber band and moved toward where the undead clustered.

Perhaps because no power was felt in the cloth itself, the undead paid no attention to the white fabric elongating across the ground.

Schumix’s muttered sounds, if listened to closely, seemed like a song and also like a wizard’s casting.

Or if heard another way, like someone speaking or someone crying.

Schumix’s shoulders heaved—a small motion. Each time, a knot tied along the stretched white cloth untied itself.

Schumix raised her arms and her hands traced graceful lines as the cloth fluttered; the knots on the fabric unbound faster.

“…Untie the lodged grievances and let them pass like frost.”

Schumix’s non-spell finished. A tear rolled from her eye, down her cheek, past her chin, and landed on the white cloth.

“Please… go to a good place.”

Whoooooosh—

Perhaps the wish soaked in Schumix’s tears was the start of the spell. Bright light streamed out randomly in all directions.

About a third—randomly chosen liches and Death Knights—were engulfed in bright white light, burning brightly and scattering.

The light was so reverent and warm that the nearby undead, just exposed to it, began to emit clumps of black smoke in agony.

Even the top-tier spirits couldn’t hide their astonishment at the wondrous sight.

―Huh…

―That child…

―A xian-bone.

―No, a holy-bone.

Whether she overdid it or not, Schumix sat down panting; the spirits who had been sharing thoughts moved to protect their comrade.

Proy’s coordination with the top-tier earth spirit Noeaden was surprisingly excellent.

The moment Noeaden took defense and Proy focused solely on offense, Proy’s true strength revealed itself.

Proy had the force of a wild horse to begin with. Allowing him to ignore defense and focus only on offense was like giving wings to a tiger.

“Die, die! Die twice!!”

But Proy wasn’t jubilant. He kept it concise, focusing only on cutting the basilisk’s throat.

This behavior was unlike his usual temperament. But Proy’s feelings were urgent.

‘Damn. Quickly, finish this and help.’

Proy personally considered the members—excluding Kim Han—nothing more or less than ‘known representatives.’

But seeing Naruan nearly die while protecting a member swelled something in his chest, and living and fighting alongside those who threw themselves to protect him made it contagious.

‘Damn comrade sickness!’

What Proy called comrade sickness was the overwhelmingly sticky camaraderie unique to Rebound.

“Damn it! Just die!!”

Even Proy—with a fine weapon and powerful force—needed many punches to pierce the basilisk’s neck, thicker than several logs combined.

Punches packed with full force.

But contrary to Proy’s concern, the group was handling the undead legion easily.

Above all, after Schumix’s single, almost unbelievable blow, the undead were markedly weakened and the members dealt with them with ease.

And any undead that had been sufficiently damaged inevitably had Naruan’s weapon ‘True Flame’ fly in and burn them.

Like a workshop executing precise division of labor, Rebound quickly reduced the number of undead under Lee Hyo-ju’s coordinated commands.

As the battles in the air and on the ground were winding down and Rebound and the top-tier spirits caught their breath, an event occurred that shocked the party.

Beings that hadn’t been burned. Basilisks whose necks were cut, a flock of drakes whose wings were severed and fell.

They had become undead and risen again.

―No way…

―The Tyrant?

―He shouldn’t be able to leave the castle, though?

―This is bad.

They had already fought once. And now the undead rose again in an even more absurd state.

Above all, basilisks and drakes resurrected as Bone basilisks and Bone drakes, and their intimidation alone was different.

If anything fortunate, most of the initially appearing lizards and drakes had been burned—leaving no bone fragments, only white ash.

Maybe it was thanks to Kim Han’s very high luck.

“Hazel, unnie.”

At Lee Hyo-ju’s call, Hazel nodded and stepped away from Kim Han. She could no longer simply defend him.

There, the Ja-ryong who had been watching Kim Han with concern let out a roar that contrasted with its cute body.

Purple light rose from the Ja-ryong, and it grew in size.

The Ja-ryong became another shield completely covering Kim Han. Its pale purple eyes glared at the Bone series with their dangling black bones.

Was the Ja-ryong displeased by their gaze? Or unable to contain its overflowing power?

The Bone series roared into the air.

As Rebound and the top-tier spirits flinched at that fierce momentum, an irritated voice crossed the battlefield.

“Damn it, who turned rare materials into undead! Now they’re useless!”

A voice they thought they’d never hear. A voice they’d missed. Everyone’s gaze turned to one place.

There, Kim Han half-raised his upper body, knitting his brows and wearing a nervous expression as he glared at the Bone series—like a shopaholic who’d missed the hot-deal timing.