20 Chapter 20: The Spear Hero’s Spear

"This feeling is…!"

"Oh!"

Outside the Temple of Lyia, the Knights of Blood realized that something had changed. The ominous presence of the demon had disappeared, and with the demise of the Guardian, the temple was crumbling.

"Amazing!"

"That kid really did it!"

"What happened inside the temple?"

"Oh no! Isn't he still inside the temple?"

The knights of Blood were panicking when they saw that the temple was demolishing itself even though I hadn't emerged. However, they couldn't get near because my zombies formed an impenetrable wall and barred their entry.

"Hey! Now isn't the time for this!"

"Don't you want to save your master?"

"Technically, they're supposed to be our comrades…"

"Everyone, calm down."

It was Dante. The knight commander raised his voice and barked for everyone to remain calm. Stepping to the front, he turned to the Knights of Blood.

"The zombies are still here and reanimated…which means their summoner is still alive and well. He's okay."

"Oh…!"

"That's right!"

"Yeah, somebody who killed a monster like that wouldn't die so easily!"

The simple-minded knights nodded and agreed with their commander's assessment. They cheerfully banged gauntlets and cheered.

"We should celebrate with him when he comes out."

"Bring him to a tavern, and treat him to the best ale they have. That's the least we can do."

"He doesn't seem old enough to drink ale, though."

"You kidding? Age doesn't matter!"

While they chattered, Dante turned back toward the zombies, clenching his fists.

"You promised you'll set my men free." The commander of the Order of Blood swept his unwavering gaze over the uncompromising line of undead. "And I know you're not the type to go back on your word. I'll be waiting for you."

Meanwhile, the second-in-command of the Lancer Dragoons Company, Mongeigh Monka, slowly shoved the broken off his body and clutched his head.

"Ugh…my head hurts…"

He blinked when a shrill shriek sounded from his pocket. Reaching inside his armor, he retrieved a magical device, which beamed incessantly.

"That's the communication scroll!"

Frustration welled up inside him, compounded by pain and rage. Clutching his face, he realized that the majority of his visor had shattered.

"Damn it! It hurts! He even broke my helm! Next time, I'll definitely kill that brat!"

While cursing, the shrill, incessant ringing of the communication scroll continued to badger him. Annoyed, he snatched it up.

"Hey…"

"Who is this?!" he snarled into the receiver.

"Fucking bastard!"

The voice from the other side of the magical phone roared so loudly that Monka almost toppled over, clutching his ear.

"You don't even recognize my voice?!"

A chill ran down Monka's spine and he immediately straightened up unconsciously.

"B…boss! Ah, sorry…I was fighting, and so my mind is in a fluster right now. I'm very sorry, boss! What do you need?"

"…I just sensed something. The demon in the area you were dispatched in has just vanished."

Monka's eyes widened as he spun around to stare at the crumbling temple. Indeed, he could no longer sense the ominous presence of the defeated demon's head he had stepped on earlier. Not only that, the temple that the demon was guarding was also being razed to the ground by some sort of spell. And there was no sign of the kid.

"I just finished on this end."

On the other side of the communication scroll, Suzuki Shirou was holding a magical device that resembled a smartphone that was from his original world. Leaning against his spear, he glanced with disgust at the horde of demons that he had just slain singlehandedly after pursuing them during their flight from the castle.

"And I'm sure neither you nor the Order of Blood possess the power to slay such a powerful demon. Did another hero arrive on scene to save you? No…I'm pretty sure they all went the other way. I'm the only hero in this area."

"He…he wasn't a hero, boss."

"Oh? So someone did come and slay the demon?"

Monka balked at that, but having come this far, there was no point denying it.

"Yes, sir. A strong kid came and killed the demon."

"A…strong kid?"

Beneath his helm, Suzuki's mouth twitched into a sneer.

"Is he…human?"

"I doubt it, boss. He's a necromancer. He kept us at bay with his zombies, and then disappeared into the temple. The temple is self-destructing at the moment, and I don't see him anyway, but his skills are no joke. He took me out with one hit!"

"Ah…necromancer, huh…" Suzuki's lips curled into a sinister smile. Rising to his feet, he plucked his spear out of the gargantuan corpse of a three-headed monster and slowly strolled toward the direction where his subordinates had went ahead to. "In other words, an enemy to Legnica. A heretic. Tell me, where is he right now?"

"Boss! Don't be reckless! Even if you want to fight him, you should get the help of the other heroes first!"

"Don't make me repeat myself." Suzuki's fingers tightened around his smartphone. As powerful as the kid was, he was no hero or Demon Lord. There was no way Suzuki wouldn't be able to handle him by himself. "Where is he?"

"Okay." Monka turned around frantically. One of his subordinates had shown up and was urgently pointing toward the crumbling temple. "That guy should be at the entrance of the Temple of Lyia. That was the last place where anyone saw him."

"I see."

Straightening, Suzuki pressed the red button on his smartphone. In his other hand, his spear glowed golden as he drew tremendous amounts of mana into it.

"Sounds like the boss hung up," one of the lancers remarked, perspiration dripping down from his helm. More of the Dragoons were gathering around the pale-looking Monka, who stared at his communication scroll in defeat.

"Relax," Monka assured them. "Boss is a hero. There's no way that brat can beat him. And even in the event that the boss has trouble, as brothers, we'll fight together with him."

At the far end of the forest, Suzuki came to a stop at the middle of the bloody carnage. Raising his spear, which flared brightly with golden flames, he snorted.

"Hmph…I have no idea what manner of a necromancer you are, to be able to defeat such a powerful demon that serves as a Guardian of a temple…but today, whoever you are…"

He leveled his spear, almost parallel to the ground. A blast of energy exploded and funneled into the blunt end of his spear, flaring like a rocket's engine.

"I'll use my God-slaying Strike to slay you."

The flames converged into a single beam of energy that got ready to propel the spear forward like a missile.

"Die."

Meanwhile, back at the Temple of Lyia, the Knights of Blood were growing restless. With the Lancers gone, the Swordsmen gathered around Dante impatiently.

"Captain, are you sure about this?"

"The temple is almost completely destroyed, yet there is completely no sign of the kid."

"Is he really all right?"

"He should be emerging shortly." Dante assured them. He had noticed a slight movement in the zombies. Like soldiers, they suddenly snapped up and broke apart, forming two neat rows on the steps, almost as if they were acting like a parade guard for a commander.

At that very moment, the doors blew open, falling onto the steps and shattering into chunks of concrete.

"Finally!"

"That took a while!"

The knights were about to cheer, but they suddenly spun around when they realized something was amiss.

"Hey, look! Everyone!"

One of the knights in the rear was waving and pointing toward the horizon.

"There's something over there!"

"Yeah…something's flying from the other side of the forest?"

"What is that? A beam of light?"

"No…"

Dante turned pale when he caught sight of the golden projectile that streaked across the heavens.

"That's a long-range spell with enough firepower to travel across entire battlefields and raze a fortress," one of the veteran knights remarked, a quiver in his otherwise composed voice. "That's the attack the heroes used to break open the walls of the Demon Lord's castle."

"Ah…don't tell me…!"

"Ha ha ha ha!"

Back at the woods, the Lancers were laughing. Monka, in particular, was crowing in triumph as he watched the fiery projectile sail across the air with divine fury.

"I forgot that the boss has such a killer technique. This isn't your regular long-range spell! No matter how strong that brat is, he has no chance of winning!"

He glanced at the temple, where the zombies were still arrayed in formation, and then smirked.

"In fact, this God-Slaying Strike grows even more powerful the more enemies there are in a battlefield! If that brat thinks that he can hide behind his meatshields of zombies, he's in for a rude surprise! Those zombies will be his downfall!"

Laughing along with his subordinates, he jabbed a finder rudely toward the temple.

"You'll pay for ever daring to think that you can cross us Dragoon Lancers and walk away without suffering the consequences! It doesn't matter how powerful you are…in fact, the stronger you are, the more likely you'll get killed by this strike! Ha ha ha ha!"

"Sir Suzuki…he's launching his attack, even when there are allies within the vicinity?" Dante growled. He quickly gestured and order for his soldiers to withdraw. "Go! Everyone, get away! Take cover! Or you'll also be obliterated by this strike!"

"We can't get away in time!"

"We're going to be killed by friendly fire?!"

The armored knights panicked, several of them dropping to the ground. The rest of them crashed and collided with each other in their haste to escape, ending up getting tangled.

"Kid!" Dante shouted toward the temple, even as he tried to organize his troops into an orderly escape. "Don't come out just yet…!"

"Nah. All of you, please drop to the ground. Stay as low as possible."

Dante blinked at my voice, but then he instinctively dropped to the ground.

"Do as the kid says!"

The knights of Blood obeyed, immediately diving to the ground and shielding their hands over their heads. The golden projectile sailed over them and slammed into the entrance of the crumbling temple, engulfing the whole structure in ravenous flames. An enormous explosion expanded rapidly, obliterating what remained of the temple in a single instance.

From a distance, Suzuki watched the aftermath of his devastating strike.

"Hmph," he smirked triumphantly as he rested his spear on his shoulders.

"The kid should be blown to smithereens along with the temple now…"

One of the lancers remarked excitedly. But beside him, Monka went still, his eyes widening in shock as he studied the blazing scene.

"Eh…boss…"

He swallowed, still unable to believe the sight unfolding before his eyes. As the smoke dispersed, a single figure stalked out of the flames, totally unscathed. The knights surrounding him had survived, suffering nothing worse than smoot and ash on their once pristine armor.

"Eh? Why is he still alive?" Monka mumbled in disbelief. Shaking his head, he tried to wrap his mind around the impossible sight. "No…it's impossible! There's no way this is possible…!"

I kept my right hand raised, smoke billowing from it. In my left, I continued to hold onto the staff I took from Tsukishima Tomoyo.

"He blocked it with his hand?!"

"Kid!" Dante called out as he raised his head from the ground. He balked when he saw me. "You look different from before…"

He was referring to the black and red jacket that I now wore in replacement of my lost uniform jacket when I fought Asura earlier. The red stripes on the otherwise rough, black fabric almost glowed in ominous contrast with the flames.

"That outfit…is it a drop item from the Guardian of the Temple, Asura?"

"Yeah."

I casually flicked my right hand to clear the smoke away from it, and slowly proceeded down the steps, amidst the roaring flames. My zombies flanked me, like some kind of honor guard, silently shambling in disciplined formations.

"I'm back, guys. And I'm here to keep my promise."

Turning to my zombies, I nodded.

"You guys can go now. Rest in peace."

With a final salute, the zombies stepped into the flames surrounding them and allowed themselves to be cremated. With their bodies destroyed, their spirits were released from servitude and they seemed to ascend to Heaven.

"Thank you."

Dante bowed as he rose to his feet. I shook my head.

"I made a promise, and I intend to keep it."

While that was the main reason, I had also released them upon looking at the abilities of Suzuki Shirou's. His God-Slaying Strike grew more powerful when there were more enemies present. As such, the strike earlier contained tremendous power by virtue of my zombies being part of that huge number of enemies present.

By dismissing them, I had drastically reduced the power of whatever second strike he chose to throw at me. Come to think of it, Suzuki never used that attack against the Demon Lord. That made sense, given how the Demon Lord was all alone, fighting the twenty-nine heroes by himself in his throne room. With the conditions unmet, there was no point executing the God-Slaying Strike on such a powerful solo opponent.

"Whoa! It was actually able to block such a powerful attack!"

One of the knights rose and stared at my new jacket in admiration. His comrades joined him, studying the black and red outfit in awe.

"Does this outfit hold some special power?"

I glanced at the jacket I was now wearing. Absolute Appraisal had kicked in automatically and information flowed into my mind the first time I donned it. Otherwise I wouldn't be stupid enough to pull the stunt I did.

"Well…sort of. This Redwood Robe is a defensive equipment with several protective layers that regenerate constantly. Break through the first layer, and there will be several more 'rings' of defense that the attack has to get through. But even before that, the first layer would have regenerated and repair itself." I smiled. "Just like the massive, old redwood trees in Earth, this jacket has countless layers of defense that will continue regenerating no matter how many times you damage it."

The knights stared at me, utterly amazed. But I lost my smile as I studied the damage on the sleeve of my jacket that was slowly repairing.

"I blocked that attack earlier with raw power, but that spell was extremely strong. It penetrated five layers of my Redwood Robe."

Faraway, Suzuki Shirou stared into the distance as he placed his smartphone back into his armor in disbelief.

"Oh? God-Slaying Strike didn't kill him?"

His fingers tightened around his spear. At this distance, he couldn't make out the fine details, and he had completely no idea that I was his target. And none of his lancer subordinates were even aware that I existed.

"Interesting."

Suzuki began chuckling sinisterly.

"Interesting!"

Glowing flames crackled around him as he turned and stalked away from the direction of the temple. Each step he took left incinerated grass and soil in his wake.

"Next time I'll personally kill you. But for now, it's time to withdraw and meet up with Kobayashi and the others."

At his orders, the 5th Lancer Dragoon Company fell back, disappearing into the wilderness and leaving just the Knights of Blood and me behind.

"Hah! Run away like the cowards you are!" one of the knights shouted. The rest added to his enthusiasm, taunting the fleeing lancers.

I studied their interactions with interest. It seemed that this human kingdom of Legnica wasn't a monolithic entity. There were factional rivalry and internal strife even within the supposedly united human army. Especially with the threat of the Demon Lord now gone, this rivalry and conflict would no doubt surface in full force.

Glancing at the cheering knights, I allowed myself a smile. I turned to Dante, who nodded at me gratefully.

"I'll be in your care for a while," I told him. Dante stepped forward and offered me a gauntleted hand.

"Sure. We'll also be in your care."

As we shook hands, I spared another glance at the army of surviving knights. Like Asura said, I was going to need allies to fight against the "heroes," my former classmates. I couldn't rely on these guys because of their loyalty to Legnica, but I could first begin by asking them to lead me to a village or human settlement where I could start my preparations for surviving in this world. Once I had established a solid foundation for living, then I would turn my attentions to revenge.

With the knowledge I gleaned from the Library of Eden, I knew just where to begin.