Now that I think about it, I feel like I forgot to describe this, but the higher the number of the adventurer rank, the higher the status.
A Rank 4 is a normal adventurer with expert knowledge and skills (according to the Guild’s assessment).
Bryan’s Rank 7 is considered Ace-class in a major city. He would be acclaimed as one of the top adventurers even in the capitals of powerful nations. Well, due to his age, his current ability is a little lower.
“Everyone…?!”
Iris Lune, who had ventured out into the forest, hiding the corpses behind her, froze at the sight of something unbelievable.
There were the three members of “Dragon’s Throat,” who were supposed to have been left behind in the territory of Count Kealy, which was almost on the opposite side of the country.
Benedict the Fighter. His robust upper body, being a Kobold, is covered in fur, and his head resembles that of a dog. His helmet even has pointed tips to accommodate his ears. He wears mithril armor and carries a large sword with a tip like a head-chopping axe on his back. He is a reliable leader who leads a group of unique individuals.
Hugh the Tank. He always wears heavy armor, saying it’s to train his body. He’s small for a tank, but on the other hand, he’s a mobile tank, and his defense with spiked shields in both hands and accurate smiting have saved the party many times. He is also knowledgeable about the world and serves as the party’s negotiator.
Diana the Priestess. Although she is called a priestess, she is skilled in hand-to-hand combat, easily kicking to death small fry with her iron-plated boots. Her modified priest’s robe is woven with mithril fibers… and instead of her usual khakkhara, she now carries a silver whip that looks like her usual silver accessories linked together. Although she is a drinker and has a slovenly side, she is caring and compassionate, especially towards Iris, treating her like a mother.
She thought she would never see them again.
But they are here.
The three of them looked at Iris Lune with a strange expression, as if they were bewildered and wary.
Diana quickly pressed her chest as if enduring pain.
“It’s throbbing…! Iris! You used magic that humans shouldn’t use!? What kind of magic did you use, and how many people did you kill!? And just a little while ago!”
“Eh…?”
Iris Lune’s heart jumped. Like a child whose mischief had been seen through.
“And what’s with that! You were hopping around with teleportation in the city! Because of that, we were running around all over the place! Since when did you become such a magic idiot!”
“W-Wait! How did you know this place!”
――That’s right, that’s the first thing that needs to be clarified.
Iris Lune tried to calm her confusion by clinging to “what she should do now.”
Diana unbuttoned her priest’s robe, revealing a pattern stained with blood.
“This is called [Inquisition Stigmata]. It can detect when someone has been killed by evil arts or power. Furthermore, if you drop a single drop of blood from such a victim… it becomes a search technique that will chase the perpetrator to the ends of the earth.”
≪Pain Whip≫ and ≪Death Cloud≫ are classified as curse magic. It is a system of techniques that distort the proper state of the world, such as the nature of life and the soul. Ordinary people cannot use these. They cannot even learn them without distorting their own nature in some way.
On the other hand, for Renée, who is undead, it is a natural technique to use, and it is also the easiest technique to use. In fact, curse magic is considered by adventurers to be the exclusive domain of undead monsters.
“We dug up a corpse from the snow… and that white mark looks exactly like the trace of a ≪Pain Whip≫. There’s something in that forest, too. You just came out of there, what were you doing?”
This time, Iris Lune’s blood froze.
After annihilating Night Python’s runaway caravan, Iris Lune had hidden the traces. Moreover, she did it carefully, thinking that “Dragon’s Throat” might come after her.
She never thought that they would find it, figure out that Iris Lune had done it, and even use it as material for tracking.
Iris Lune doesn’t know such magic. She didn’t know Diana could do something like this.
“I…I…”
“[Enhance Stigmata – Double], [Regene Stigmata – Double], [Sense Stigmata], [Reflex Stigmata], [Mana Stigmata], [Weapon Stigmata], [Shield Stigmata], [Aponia Stigmata]… Decuple Activate!!”
Diana activates magic that I have never heard of.
Diana’s whole body emitted a pale blue light in a pattern-like shape.
Then, a vast amount of magical power swirled up from Diana.
Traces of the swirling were carved into the snow around her.
The air surrounding Diana is pure to the point of nausea. Diana is emitting a strong pressure that makes you want to look away if you carelessly let your guard down.
An extraordinary power was dwelling in Diana. Iris Lune could tell.
――This is… this power, can de stroy me. …!!
Iris Lune sensed it with her instinct as an undead (although it’s strange to call it that).
“This is bad,” she thought.
“Who… are you? Are you really Iris? Or did I not know the real Iris?”
Diana, who had become a divine being, pointed her silver whip at Iris Lune.
Diana’s eyes, glowing pale blue from the aftereffects of magic, were serious, not allowing for even the slightest deception.
“I guess, it can’t be helped…”
Iris Lune realized that she was already cornered and steeled herself.
Iris Lune pressed her thumb to her own neck and made a ‘throat-slitting’ gesture.
It’s just a gesture. However, following the movement of her finger, blood spurted from Iris Lune’s neck.
“Wha…!?”
The three onlookers were shocked.
Iris Lune’s head was cleanly severed and rolled off her body. Her vision spun around, but Iris Lune caught her own head by the hair.
Her body is transforming. Her height shrinks a little, and she becomes a little thinner. Her loosely waved blonde hair turns into a shining silver. Her lilac eyes, which she can’t see herself, must have turned silver as well.
From the cut surface of the severed head, blood flows backward and spurts out.
It slowly creates a flow, floats in the air, and then forms a red blade of curse. It’s like a huge ruby carved into the shape of a sword.
And, showing a bit of playfulness, Renée used the leftover blood to draw a rose emblem on the hem of her robe.
“Silver hair, silver eyes… and a blood-red rose!”
“No way! Don’t tell me!”
Renée can possess and take over anyone, as long as it’s just possession.
However, if the target is a girl of the same age, she can exert the magical power of her soul to the fullest, and, in times of emergency, she can also transform her body into an undead and fight.
“The Rose Princess of Hellrage…!!”
Seeing Renée in the form of a Dullahan, the three were bewildered in their own ways.
“Then where’s Iris!”
“She was here until just now.”
Renée tapped her flat chest with the hand holding the sword.
“I possessed Iris. Her soul was dormant in her body all this time… But now, I’ve transformed this body into an undead body. She’s dead. Iris is.”
Before the words were even finished.
Benedict’s eyes gleamed.
“You bastarddddddddddddddd!!”
“Stop it, Benedict! It’s impossible!!”
Benedict charged, putting his hand on his greatsword.
But now that she has taken the form of a Dullahan, who excels in close combat, Benedict’s charge, being a heavy warrior, looked like the speed at which a fly would land.
Renée herself stepped forward and swung the red blade many times as if dancing.
“Gah…!”
The crimson flash cuts Benedict to pieces, armor and all.
The shredded armor falls off, and then Benedict falls down. The blood flowing from Benedict, who no longer moves a muscle, dyed the white snow red.
――What. I can kill properly, after all. It seems my heart has also become a monster.
Renée was relieved to look down at Benedict. …Is that really relief?
She knows that Benedict is a good guy. Taking Iris’s position, she lived with him for a short time, felt affection for him, and thought of him as a reliable person.
But now, in Renée, who killed Benedict, there was not even a speck of guilt. Her swordsmanship did not falter.
“Benedict!”
“Calm down, Hugh. Fortunately, Wesala is right there. If we take him to the temple, he can be resurrected.”
Diana restrains Hugh, who was about to jump out himself.
A high-ranking priest can use resurrection magic.
However, it’s unlikely to succeed unless you increase the success rate with various expensive catalysts, and the success rate decreases rapidly the worse the condition of the corpse is or the longer it has been since death. The time problem is particularly serious because adventurers usually die in the deepest parts of dungeons, so even if their comrades survive and bring back the corpse for resurrection, it’s often too late by the time they get back.
The fact that he died so close to the city is a blessing in disguise for Benedict. Well, the misfortune in the blessing in disguise is that the remaining two have to repel the strongest undead to bring back the corpse.
By the way, since the corpse was not only damaged but also turned into an undead, which is the worst possible state, even if Renée’s soul is somehow extinguished, Iris’s resurrection is probably impossible. It was only natural for Benedict to be furious.
“What the hell is going on? His armor was cut like butter.”
“That sword, it’s probably a magic attack. That armor is useless. Take it off.”
“Seriously?”
Told by Diana, Hugh threw away his shield and fiddled with something by reaching his hand behind his back.
The heavy armor came off easily, as if it were some kind of joke, revealing a lean, muscular body underneath.
Hugh’s armor is sturdy, but it is designed to be instantly discarded by manipulating it in a specific procedure. It is a function specifically for cases like this.
“Back to being a Thief!”
Drawing a combat knife, Hugh laughs foppishly.
Hugh was originally a Thief. However, due to the lack of opportunities for dungeon exploration and the fact that the party had two magic users, he switched to a tank in order to take advantage of the party’s strengths and create a formation to protect the rear guard (especially Iris).
Even a cursed blade that doesn’t work against defense can’t do damage if it doesn’t hit. He figured that a light warrior style that emphasizes evasion would be more effective.
“Rose Princess. What do you intend to do… or what have you done by taking Iris’s body?”
Diana asks, as if delivering an ultimatum.
“To put it simply… I’m going to destroy this country from now on. I just crushed Night Python because it was necessary for that.”
“I see. You wouldn’t stop even if I told you to, would you?”
“Getting angry at injustice is something you can leave to someone else… That’s what you said. But if this ‘Rose Princess of Hellrage’ forgets her revenge, who will be angry instead? Who will judge them? I’ll pay them back with plenty of interest, both pain and despair. I absolutely refuse to go to the afterlife peacefully.”
“Hmm. So, at that time, Iris was already not Iris, huh?”
Diana shakes her head, as if exhausted or in anguish.
And when she raised her face, she swung her silver whip.
The whip, belying its unreliable appearance, extended long and sharply, and blew past Renée’s side like a thrusting spear.
“‘Revenge is the torment of continuing to imprison oneself in the prison of resentment.’ Those are the words of a poet from the past who went mad and hanged himself.”
The whip was swung and flew straight.
But just that alone, the aftereffects of the energy deeply gouged the snow, forming a small half-pipe straight from Diana.
“I can’t just leave a cute girl with a face like that. It’s unsolicited meddling, but I’ll stop you. Don’t underestimate me, Princess.”