It’s hard to believe, but this work has been posted for two years.
This is all thanks to your support and readership. I’ll continue to do my best to reach the conclusion, so I’d appreciate your continued support.
Another Side
How long has it been since we were attacked by a group with eerily glowing red eyes, an army of the undead?
Kitamiya felt like it had been about an hour.
“Seriously, what are these guys? They just keep coming and coming! Minami! Did you find anything out?!”
“All I know is that they’re undead, and their strength is around the level of the beings we usually fight. Also, there’s probably some magic circle set up somewhere, and if we don’t destroy it, they’ll keep spawning infinitely, which is problematic. To put it simply, we’re in a really bad situation, aren’t we?”
“Can’t you say anything without being sarcastic for once?”
It was fortunate that we noticed just before and weren’t ambushed.
Kitamiya and Minami calmly observed the situation while one of them simultaneously cast offensive magic and the other buff magic.
In the meantime, Kaido, Amelia, and Katsu formed their formations.
That took only a few seconds. Because we had sufficient time, which we were accustomed to and capable of responding to, we were able to engage in battle without confusion and deal with the numerically superior undead army like this.
“I’m going for a big one! Minami, timing!”
“Yeah, yeah, here comes the buff! Kaido-senpai, I hope you make it back alive.”
“Why are you singling me out?! That level of concern is ominous!”
As declared, the wave of cold air generated by Kitamiya’s sweeping ice magic froze all visible undead within range.
Immediately after, Minami’s buff magic was cast.
“Whoa!? Here we go!! Katsu-kun, Amy-chan!”
“Yes!”
“Yes!!”
Without missing a beat, seeing that the enemy’s movements had stopped, the three of them dashed forward with all their might.
Based on their appearance, actions, and their method of attack which inflicted bad statuses centered around miasma, Minami judged them to be the same type as those encountered in the Undead King’s dungeon and chose this countermeasure, which was the best move for the current party.
The troublesome thing about the undead is that debuffs and bad status effects are attached to their normal attacks.
They stopped their movements to reduce that danger.
“Alright!”
“Ngh!”
“Hah!”
Undead are beings who have surpassed the limits of life.
They are beings who do not die from the natural end of their lifespan, are less bound by time, and whose existence has been transformed by the corruption of their souls.
The three, Kaido, Katsu, and Amelia, aimed for a being positioned in the rear, clad in a tarnished, tattered cloth, and attacked it.
This was a Lesser Lich, a higher-order undead than Skeletons or Zombies.
They are skilled in magic and have high magic resistance.
They use magic of the four elements—fire, water, wind, and earth of low to mid-tier, as well as dark, which is troublesome.
However, they have the characteristic of low physical resistance, which is unique to the undead.
Even the undead aren’t truly immortal, they just die less easily.
Higher-ranking species like Elder Vampires, known as True Ancestors, can regenerate over time even if their heads are blown off, their hearts pierced, or even if 99% of their body tissue is incinerated.
Fortunately, the beings before them were not that high of a hurdle.
They could be defeated by crushing their heads or hearts.
However, even if they can be defeated, the Lesser Lich’s durability is astronomically different from that of an ordinary person, so defeating them requires considerable skill.
And although they are Lesser Liches, they are normally found with frontliners like Skeletons holding shields.
When fighting in dungeons, they never forget their shields to protect themselves.
“Finish this quickly! The ice restraint won’t last long against the undead!”
Naturally, the enemies this time were no exception to that rule, and Skeletons wearing tarnished but magnificent armor were present.
However, this point had been properly dealt with, and they were not a threat at the moment.
The Skeletons, who were advancing to attack, had their legs completely frozen up to their knees, immobilizing them.
Kitamiya’s magic was not intended to kill, but to stop their movement.
However, as Kitamiya warned, it probably wouldn’t last long.
Unfeeling beings, the ice restraint only had physical restraint capabilities.
The Skeletons were either smashing the ice with their shields or trying to pull their legs out by brute force, regardless of pain.
This was the drawback of not being able to cover their entire bodies with ice due to remaining magic power, only managing partial immobilization.
But, for them, that brief moment was enough.
With the frontliners’ movements stopped, they slipped into the small gap created and struck down the troublesome enemies first.
Delivering maximum efficiency with minimum effort, this was something they had always done at work.
Without minding the frozen ground, the three ran with firm footing, ignoring the frontliners, and attacked the rear guard who could deal damage.
They cut down vital points like heads, necks, and hearts with swords, smashed them with fists, and pierced them sharply with daggers.
By the time the three had efficiently finished and returned to their positions, capable of fulfilling their frontliner roles, the enemy frontliners began to move, but their threat level was lower than before with reduced firepower.
The remaining enemies were being annihilated, and a brief rest was expected within a few minutes.
“How many times was that now? And what’s the interval?”
“It’s the fourth time, and the interval is about five to ten minutes. Also, it seems they’re attacking anyone indiscriminately, whether it’s spirits or humans, but their target is undoubtedly us Testers.”
“That’s unsettling. It seems this is what senpai meant when they warned us to be careful in this otherworld.”
“That’s part of it. It’s not just this. Anyway, there’s no point in staying here. We should evacuate as soon as possible.”
“Don’t you need to rescue other Testers?”
“If we had the strength, we should, but right now we only have enough for a one-way trip. The pace of combat is too fast, and Minami and I can’t sustain it. It’s wiser to evacuate according to the guide’s instructions than to become a hindrance by moving carelessly.”
As soon as the abnormal phenomenon of the undead occurred, the Dark Elf guide simply indicated the direction of evacuation and quickly disappeared into the forest.
It wasn’t that they had abandoned Kitamiya and the others.
They normally entered this forest and served as forest dwellers who protected the living spaces of the spirits.
There were spirits in this forest that were not capable of fighting at all.
Their role as forest dwellers included protecting such spirits from external enemies, and for that, they had to guide the spirits to safety.
As a minimum requirement, they had been given a map and a variant of a compass that kept pointing in a certain direction by the Dark Elf guide, so Kitamiya and the others had no worries about getting lost.
With the number of undead expected to increase as time went on, the concern would be the passage of time.
“I’m fine with that, gozaru!? Reaction!”
“’’’’’’!”
“Wait, it’s an ally.”
Just as the party’s course of action was decided and they were about to leave, there was a reaction on Minami’s detection net, and they instinctively took defensive stances. However, emerging from the forest was a group wearing special suits with forest camouflage patterns, like those often seen in movies in Japan.
Their weapons were not assault rifles, but swords, staves, and knives, giving them a fantastical appearance.
However, their faces were painted with camouflage, making them difficult to identify in the darkness.
“This is Squad D3. We have found Tester Fourth Platoon. Repeat, we have found Fourth Platoon.”
The man at the forefront, who stopped Kaido from launching an attack magic with his hand, was communicating with someone via telepathic call.
After exchanging a few words, he turned back to them.
“We are a unit that was ordered by Evia-sama to infiltrate this forest. This is our identification.”
“So you predicted this would happen… this is our company ID. It also says direct subordinate to the supervisor, and there’s a crest.”
The MAO Corporation employee ID is specially made and is said to be almost impossible to duplicate in an environment with magic.
It stores the individual’s magic power, and if that specific magic power isn’t flowed through it, it becomes just a plain plate. Moreover, due to special coating, the text cannot be overwritten on the surface.
It is a convincing form of identification among employees.
One of the unit members took out an employee ID, and Kitamiya took it, confirmed it was blank, and then flowed her own magic through it, but it showed no reaction.
In addition, the crest indicating the supervisor’s affiliation was the deciding factor.
Kitamiya nodded to her party members to show that it was alright, and their next course of action was decided.
“We will escort you near the village. We have received a report that other units are engaging a Dragon Zombie on the evacuation route. We will take a detour, so please follow us.”
The party members, who broke into a cold sweat realizing they might have been caught in a battle if they had evacuated directly, started running towards a path slightly deviated from the direction indicated by the compass.
“Unlike when we came, it’s noisy now.”
“Yes, it was quiet when we arrived, but now…”
Various sounds could be heard from the surroundings: explosions, flashes of lightning, the sound of water splattering, and trees falling. It was far from the silence of the forest.
As they ran behind the guide who was avoiding combat, Kitamiya and the others looked around.
As Kaido and Katsu said, the difference between coming and going was clear, and although it wasn’t something they had caused, they still felt a sense of unease.
“! Wait a minute!”
At that moment, Amelia called out to stop everyone.
Without hesitation, the party reacted to her voice, and not long after, or rather, faster than Kaido and the others, the supervisor’s subordinates who were guarding the surroundings reacted and stopped their movement.
“What’s wrong Amy? Is it an enemy?”
“No… it’s not an enemy, but…”
Kitamiya, who was nearby, asked if something was wrong, but Amelia had both hands over her ears, trying to pick up sounds and not miss any while searching for something.
“!? I knew it! There’s a spirit that got left behind! They were asking for help in a small voice earlier, and they are now!”
She reacted in a certain direction and urgently appealed to Kitamiya that it wasn’t a misunderstanding.
“Huh!? I can’t hear anything… Minami, what about you?”
“There’s no reaction within my scrying range, but… Amy-chan’s scrying range is wider than mine.”
Kitamiya, who did not have a skill like Amelia’s for detection, could not make a judgment and confirmed with Minami, the party’s radar, but she also could not confirm.
Only Amelia could sense it, and they were currently evacuating.
Ideally, they shouldn’t be stopping to talk, let alone rescuing someone.
“I apologize for interrupting, but our mission is to escort you. We cannot afford to stop and talk. We will contact you for spirit rescue. We will leave it to the Dark Elf forest dwellers and resume moving.”
It was not possible to do so, and they wouldn’t let them.
Everyone present understood that acting on a half-baked sense of justice and making independent decisions was a bad move.
But if asked whether she could ignore the cries of small lives seeking help, Amelia would shake her head.
However, her whim would not be granted.
Even if she ran off alone, the party members would stop her, and if they didn’t, one of the unit members would have stopped her.
But, was this divine intervention, or just a coincidence?
“!? Below, gozaru!?”
Suddenly, the ground shook.
And everyone scattered.
Less than a second later.
“Enemy, Ghoulworms! There are three of them!”
“Engage them!”
The enemy attack came at a perfectly timed moment.
What Minami sensed was a colossal body moving underground.
It was a giant worm that had become undead, a monster that only thought of predation.
Its boasted carapace was cracked, and miasma leaked from the gaps, scattering a putrid odor as its colossal body writhed and thrashed.
A void created by unthinking gluttony and violence, a momentary lapse in thought.
“Run, Amy!!”
“Okay! I’m sorry!!”
It was the other personality latent within Amelia who did not miss this.
It was advice born from the fact that she was on the inside, sensed that Amelia was not lying, and truly wished to help.
“Amy!”
“Whoa, you’re gonna do that alone at this timing, that’s dangerous!”
“Minami! Buff magic!”
“Now, gozaru!”
“Wait! Impulsive actions! Nn!?”
Moreover, Amelia was the fastest girl in the party, and once she started running at the perfect timing, driven by emotion, there was no one who could stop her.
She had become like the wind, leaving behind Kitamiya’s restraining voice, Kaido’s panic, Katsu’s hand reaching out, and Minami’s pursuit.
Pure goodwill propelled her forward.
The others were not so heartless as to leave her behind.
One worried about the sister-like existence, another despaired at the scolding they would receive later, one sympathized with her actions, and one grudgingly ran with all their might to chase after her, despite thinking it was troublesome.
The subordinate demons tried to stop them, but a storm of violence unfortunately interfered.
As the situation twirled and turned, Amelia ran at full speed, ignoring all the undead along the way, and there it was.
“I found them!!”
A large hollow in a tree, so to speak. A small, puppy-sized red dog was desperately trying to drive away Skeletons and Zombies by breathing fire, but their small flames were no match for beings that would burn.
It could barely delay them from approaching, let alone keep them away.
And behind the red dog, other small spirits huddled together, trembling.
“Mike! Be on guard!”
“Got it.”
Seeing this, Amelia accelerated further, as if to become the wind.
She requested the unseen lodger in her body, and then, with the dagger in her hand, attacked the undead army.
“Three are coming from the right.”
“OK!”
She cut off the head of a nearby Zombie, used its shoulder as a foothold to crush a Skeleton’s neck.
She continued to move around, making it difficult for them to pinpoint her position.
However, to reduce their numbers even slightly and draw their attention to her, she moved flashily.
During this time, a pack of undead wolves, Wolf Zombies, attacked Amelia.
Unlike humanoid Zombies, they were fast-moving.
Mike informed her, and Amelia met them head-on.
Meanwhile, Amelia grew increasingly anxious as the horde of undead slowly approached the spirits.
“Amy, swing around from the right.”
“That way!”
“Just do it, with your speed, you’ll make it.”
Merely watching the scene, anxiety gradually gnawed at her heart, and her movements began to become sloppy.
Her dagger sliced through an Undead Wolf’s face, and just as she was about to dash in a straight line towards the spirits, she received instructions from Mike.
She hesitated for a moment, about to object, but with the faint reason remaining, thinking there might be a plan, she stopped herself and dashed forward with all her might.
She was originally a candidate for Hero, possessing hidden talent.
Even after being hired as a part-timer by the company, she continued to hone her talent, and she maneuvered through the small gaps as if performing dance steps.
Without slowing down, she succeeded in circling around from the right.
“Now just go straight, and if you run at full speed forward!”
“Here I come!”
But that was.
“What next?”
“Mike!?”
“Well, I just wanted to resolve your concern, but now that I think about it, you’re more of a mobile fighter type, aren’t you?”
She had simply charged into enemy territory.
As a result of following Mike’s instructions, she found herself in a position to shield the spirits behind her, but that position was, quite frankly, a dead end.
She was simply cornered.
Mike’s action was meant to ease Amelia’s anxiety, but it ended up having the opposite effect.
Amelia glanced back at the stares piercing her from behind, and then could only offer a wry smile at the number of undead slowly approaching from the front.
“Wh-what should I do?”
As a consequence of not thinking ahead, her favored maneuverability was nullified, and Amelia, unable to see a way out, resolved to fight with all her might, but.
“Honestly, you’re going to get lectured later, Amy! Come on! You charge too!”
“That’s a ridiculous request! Seriously.”
“Come on, Minami, get to work!”
“Just… wait,gozaru. After… a full… charge, it really… hurts…”
As if to blow away her anxiety, arrows of ice rained down, followed by a man flying in.
A series of impact sounds followed.
A barrier was erected in front of Amelia.
“Everyone!”
The undead were dwindling one after another.
“Here, Amy, get your hands moving too. I’m not doing all this for zero results!”
For following her selfish actions, Amelia briefly grinned at everyone who had accompanied her.
“Yes! It’s okay now, so wait for me!!”
She smiled reassuringly at the spirits behind her and began to run again.
This is all for this installment.
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I look forward to your continued support for this work.
