Zombie VS Mummy

The Fourth Stigmata――Kaine Kaiwell, without even proper greeting, dashed forward.

He closed the more-than-ten-meter distance between them in an instant and brandished a gigantic saw-cleaver!

――Kiin!

“Fast, and heavy on top of that…!”

I managed to parry with my longsword, but my arm went numb with a tingling.

He called himself the Fourth Stigmata.

The number indicates rank and serves as an overall gauge of combat ability.

Selva, whom I defeated last month, was the Fifth Stigmata――it’s fair to judge that he was stronger than that one.

――Kiin! Kiin! Kiin!

Again and again――our blades met.

It didn’t seem like he was simply relying on brute arm strength and wildly swinging.

‘A seasoned warrior combining strength and skill, I’d say? Now, what do you intend, Sid? You probably can’t pull the trick of feigning sleep like last time.’

“But――I’m Undead, you know?”

――Zaku!

“…!?”

I thrust out the arm not holding the sword and took Kaine’s saw-cleaver on it.

The jagged blade sliced through my long coat, skin, and flesh――but did not sever the limb; it stopped at bone.

‘Just as I thought――no matter how high his strength stat is, a blade shaped like that won’t cleanly sever an arm.’

For me, having become Undead and grown used to pain, a blade reaching the bone is not that great a torment.

“How about this!”

――Slash!

I slashed at his exposed torso with the longsword――but Kaine took an unexpected action.

“Is that all?”

“…!?”

Kaine clenched his free fist, slapped the flat of my longsword to deflect it――then, with his index and middle fingers raised, jammed them into my eyeball!!

――Guchu!

“Gah!?”

Then, like a saw ripping through a timber, he violently pulled out the saw-cleaver that was against my bone.

――Guriguriguri!

“It huuuurts!?!?”

Screaming from the eye gouge and the pain of my bone being scraped, I took a backward step to put distance between us.

“Hah… hah… damn, I can’t see.”

‘Kuhaha――you boasted about being used to pain, and yet you let out such a pathetic scream afterward, didn’t you?’

“Shut up. Even I haven’t gotten used to having my eyeball crushed and my bone rasped away.”

Especially the pain of bone being scraped away is beyond description.

Being cleanly cut by a sharp blade would probably hurt less.

“Even if you’re Undead, it seems your sense of pain remains. I’ll inflict pain to make you regret becoming an Undead body――brace yourself.”

“That is, if you still have any HP left by then.”

No matter how he tries to break my will with a pain-focused weapon, I won’t give up that easily.

However――I felt something off about the body Kaine had wounded.

‘My regenerative ability is lowered…?’

Damage that would normally have been fully healed by now was barely recovering.

‘That Holy Knight――is using a rather troublesome weapon, huh.’

Ekarraat grumbled resentfully from within the shadows.

It seems that that saw-like weapon negatively affects the regenerative ability granted by the Progenitor Vampire’s blood.

‘That is one of the holy relics――“Decay Transfer (Rust-to-Rust)”.’

“A holy relic…”

A general term for powerful items possessed by the Holy Church.

They range widely—from chains that can fully bind Vanargand’s huge body to stakes that would kill even Ekarraat if driven through the heart—but all possess potent effects.

‘Anything cut by that blade rapidly degrades and decays. Metal rusts, flesh rots, plants wither――all without exception.’

Looking at my longsword in hand, though we’d only crossed blades a few times, rust had risen as if years had passed.

Moreover, that rust spread gradually――and the sword flaked and snapped roughly in half.

‘However, the blight blessing of “Decay Transfer (Rust-to-Rust)” corrodes even its wielder. Eventually the power of decay settles not only on the blade but on the user’s body――rotting one’s own flesh. They will be tormented by endlessly continuing pain of decay.’

So that’s why not only the arm and sword touched by the saw-cleaver――“Decay Transfer (Rust-to-Rust)”――but even the eyeball crushed by his fingers won’t regenerate.

Everything he touches decays――and the regenerative power of the Undead can’t keep up.

‘That said, my blood’s curse will not be defeated by a blessing/curse of that degree. Within a few hours it will be thoroughly purified and your original regenerative ability will be restored.’

Put another way, it means the cut parts won’t heal for several hours…

The compatibility is atrocious, then.

Who said they were compatible… oh right, that was me.

I wonder if there’s even such a thing as a trait that pairs well with a decay ability.

‘But if the wielder of “Decay Transfer (Rust-to-Rust)” is also tormented by the pain of decay then…’

‘His body is mostly rotten. The skin under his bandages is scorched and decayed, constant agonizing pain courses through him, he does not have a body fit for a long life.’

“That’s cursed equipment. What’s with the definition of a ‘holy relic’ anyway?”

Someone tell me where the ‘holy’ attribute is supposed to be in any of this.

Seeing that Kaine’s bandages and leather gear don’t rot, it’s likely the gear was specially enchanted to resist decay for him.

A holy relic that rots everything it touches and even eats away at its wielder’s own flesh.

I very much doubt the sanity of anyone who’d use that.

But――Kaine chose a path of pain.

If it’s his faith in God that led him to that, he’s a real fanatic.

“What’s wrong? No matter how much time you buy, those wounds won’t heal.”

“Seems that way…but――how about this?”

“…Mmph!?”

I summoned Dullahan’s longsword from the shadows.

I pulled the black longsword crawling out of the ground with my left hand and severed my decay-infested right arm at the shoulder.

From the severed stump a pristine, unblemished arm sprouted.

This time I slid the blade into my eye socket and gouged out my left eye.

“Iiiiiiit’s――soooo paaaainfulll!!!”

But that pain paid off, and a new left eye regenerated.

A clear view snapped into focus, capturing Kaine’s figure vividly.

My HP had fully recovered.

‘Just as I thought.’

Areas attacked by “Decay Transfer (Rust-to-Rust)” do not regenerate, but if you sever the injured part entirely, it becomes ordinary damage and will regenerate at the normal speed.

The problem is that hacking off your own injured part hurts like hell.

I’d become so used to the Undead body that I resorted to the bizarre act of cutting my own flesh away.

I’m pretty extreme――so insane that I can’t even make fun of those Holy Church guys for it.

“Well then, we’re back to square one――what’s it gonna be next, you mummy bastard?”

“I’ll keep cutting and shaving you down as many times as it takes――you zombie bastard.”