33 — Windine And Shadow Enhancement

――――Kiiiin!

“What!? It bounced off!?”

――――The blade was stopped about two meters before Windine.

“She’s laid a barrier with barrier magic.”

Blocked by the strengthened, periodically healing Blue Sylphs; just when I thought I finally reached her, it’s a barrier next.

“You’re hiding way too much!”

“――――!!”

Windine cries out.

It’s not the song-like voice she uses to heal allies.

A piercing, high-pitched tone, like blowing as hard as possible into a wind instrument.

――Roar!

With that shrill cry she unleashed a water-attribute offensive spell.

A high-pressure, compressed jet of water slammed into my torso and sent me flying.

Apparently Windine’s attacks can penetrate barriers.

Even though it was a direct hit, it took about twenty percent of my HP in one blow.

My wounds healed instantly, but being knocked back increased the distance to Windine again.

“Dark Horse!”

“Hihiin!!”

I summoned Dark Horse at the landing point and landed on its saddle.

I had it charge toward Windine again.

“~~~~♪”

Windine’s singing.

This time it’s a healing spell.

The wounds of the Blue Sylphs that the Shadow was dealing with were healed.

“She’s tougher than I thought. Shadows also struggle against things other than the Minotaur.”

The Gargoyle, strong against physical attacks but weak to magic, vanished.

Quite a number of Goblin Riders have also perished.

I immediately spent MP to re-manifest them.

Anyway, I’ll leave the small fry to the Shadows and focus on Windine.

“――――!”

――Roar!

“Dark Horse—fly!”

“Hihiin!”

As Windine emitted that grating high note, I made the Dark Horse leap.

Windine’s water-attribute magic struck where Dark Horse had just been running.

I can’t understand monster speech, but from the vocal range I could start to tell what move would come next.

Maybe it’s because I often hear monster voices when communicating with the Shadows.

I kicked off the leaping Dark Horse’s saddle for a second contact with Windine.

――――Kiiiin!

As expected, it was repelled by the barrier.

But knowing there’s a barrier means I can devise countermeasures.

“Vanargand—connect.”

“Waon!”

The surface of the barrier darkened to a shadowy color.

Vanargand has the ability to jump through space.

I learned how troublesome that was firsthand when I fought in the S-Rank Dungeon【Crimson Night Moon】.

I passed through the shadow-colored gate Vanargand created and entered the inside of the barrier.

“Hey—finally I can stab you to death!”

I stabbed Windine’s abdomen with my longsword.

Blue blood splashed and stuck to the inside of the barrier.

“――――!!”

Windine’s beautiful face changed to one of shock.

But she immediately counterattacked.

――Sploosh!

“Gah!? Gabo!?”

Windine released a massive amount of water in all directions.

The inside of the barrier was engulfed in water.

My heart may be stopped so I don’t need to breathe and won’t suffocate, but I can’t move well underwater.

But—this level of counterattack is no problem.

“(Swallow it—Vanargand)”

“Waon!”

Vanargand not only moves through space but also has spatial storage capabilities.

Vanargand, said by Ekarraat to have even swallowed the moon of another world, gulped down the water that filled the barrier in an instant.

“He says thanks for the hydration—apparently!”

――Slash!

With my freed body I decapitated Windine.

“――――!?”

But the severed neck writhed and the flesh bulged up, restoring the beautiful face again.

As expected from someone who wields powerful healing magic, her body’s regenerative ability is exceptional.

But――unlike me, this thing is not Undead.

“Ora! Ora! Oraoraoraora!!”

I pulled another longsword from Vanargand’s body and, dual-wielding, hacked Windine to pieces.

Windine had to focus on healing and couldn’t counterattack, and her regeneration couldn’t keep up as more and more flesh was cut away.

――Slash

――Slash

――Slash, slash, slash, slash!

――Slash slash slash slash slash slash slash slash slash slash slash slash slash slash slash slash slash slash slash slash slash slash slash slash slash—slash!!

“Found you… your real body!”

Exposed from deep within the flesh was the core, the weakness of spirit-type monsters.

I plunged the spherical, stone-like core hard—cracks ran—and it shattered with a crack!

“――――!!!?!?”

Finally Windine let out a death cry like a broken wind instrument and stopped moving.

The barrier vanished and the four-meter body that had been floating sank into the water.

“Got you, Windine.”

＊＊＊

I checked Windine’s stats—successfully turned into a Shadow.

I thought she was pretty strong, but her overall Combat Power is the same as the Minotaur.

No wonder she’s strong.

That means I’ve gotten strong enough to defeat a Minotaur too.

Thinking that gives me a certain feeling of poignancy.

“Burugah!”

“G-guo…”

“Gigyah… ah…”

“You guys did well too.”

When Windine perished, her Blue Sylph minions also disappeared, and the Shadows that had finished their duty gathered.

Everyone was pretty battered, and even the Minotaur had taken considerable wounds.

“It’s helpful that all the experience from monsters the Shadows defeat goes to me, but I was bothered that Shadows don’t grow at all after being extracted.”

But reaching the milestone of Level 80, I learned a new skill:【Shadow Enhancement】.

Windine’s Magic Stone lies at my feet.

I’ll try using【Shadow Enhancement】right away.

“That said, who should I use it on?”

The Minotaur is already more than strong enough.

That said, even if orcs or Gargoyles got a bit stronger now, it’s questionable whether I need to raise them to the level of Goblin Lords or Dullahan.

“Maybe I’ll use it on the Minotaur as a test.”

“Burugah!”

I applied the freshly obtained Magic Stone from Windine to the Minotaur and activated【Shadow Enhancement】.

The Magic Stone was absorbed into the Minotaur’s body.

I checked the stats.

The Rank and Overall Combat Power increased.

Currently it seems you can only enhance each unit once, but probably as my level rises the number of enhancements will increase.

Shadow Necromance can extract up to Level×100 Shadows, and【Shadow Domain (Shadow Field)】can extend shadows up to Level×1 meter.

They’re skills that scale with level.

So【Shadow Enhancement】should also increase the number of enhancement stages possible—stage two, stage three, and so on.

“Well—I’ve safely made Windine an ally. Time to go back.”

I don’t know how long the slave girl in the mansion has left, but it’s certain she’s enduring suffering.

I collected the Dungeon Core that had appeared in the center of the crypt and the bonus drop items, and reached out to warp to the surface—at that moment.

“Hey—wait!”

A party of four adventurers entered the crypt.

Seeing the adventurers’ faces, I couldn’t help but be surprised.

Because the ones there were—

“We’ll take those. Hand over the drop items and the Dungeon Core!”

“Sorry, but we’ve got our reasons too. I won’t take them for free—I’ll buy them at your price.”

“Yeah yeah ❤ You’d better cooperate peacefully~ ❤ Or you might get hurt~ ❤”

“……..”

――A hero party.

――My targets for revenge.