BXBX NOVEL Book 2: 319
“Hey, Yuriah. Are you okay?”
“…”
For a while, Yuriah just stood there, blankly staring at the place where the barrier had just been.
“…ah.”
Then she let out a soft sound that resembled a sigh and frowned slightly. She turned to look at Luks with an expression that made it seem like her pride had been wounded.
No. It was a bit different from that.
Hoffman couldn’t help but mumble.
“…I can’t believe you managed to turn Yuriah into a fool.”
“…turned her into a fool?”
What was he talking about? Even though Lukas asked this question with his eyes, he didn’t receive a response.
However, the way Hoffman looked at Lukas changed slightly. Was it because Lukas cut the barrier? Of course… while that certainly had a role to play, it felt like the fundamental reason was a bit different.
“But is it really gone?”
“…completely.”
This time it was Yuriah that responded. At the same time, her gaze was still locked onto Lukas. Others might think that she had become infatuated with him, but there was no such emotion in her eyes.
Yuriah hesitated for a moment before speaking.
“Can I take a look at your sword?” (TL: Hohoho, Yuriah’s moving so fast)
“My sword?”
Lukas tilted his head to the side for a moment but soon realised the reason.
Indeed.
No matter how she looked at it, a man who didn’t seem like much had completely broken a 7 star or higher barrier. With ease.
Rather than think that he was hiding his power, it was more reasonable to believe that his equipment had some kind of mysterious ability.
In addition, Yuriah had not witnessed exactly how Lukas had broken the barrier either. This was because she had been behind him, and even if she had been in a position to see everything, she hadn’t been paying much attention to him in the first place.
“On the surface, it looked just like a steel sword.”
Hoffman murmured as he stroked his chin.
Naturally, it wasn’t just its appearance, it was actually a steel sword, but Lukas decided to not correct their misunderstanding.
“No.”
It wasn’t difficult for him to show them his sword, but he thought it would be better for them to continue to misunderstand.
The Zero Technique was a sword technique that Lukas had developed on his own. No, in fact, it was shameless to call it a sword technique in the first place, but in any case…
It was not a sword technique that normal people could understand.
This was the same even for high ranking Swordsmen.
While theoretically, it was possible for a Wizard to understand the principles of the way the spells were being casted and broken down, they would need to be at least 8 stars to do so. And even then, it would be impossible for them to imitate it.
Nevertheless, he had no intention of revealing the Zero Technique yet.
Currently, the Zero Technique was Lukas’ greatest trump card. And it could only showcase its true strength when it was hidden.
“…”
Yuriah’s expression hardened at Lukas’ firm rejection.
Nevertheless, it didn’t seem like she was willing to let it go so easily. Just as she was about to open her mouth again.
“Enough.”
Hoffman stopped her.
“It’s rude to ask a Swordsman to show you their weapon.”
“You just said he doesn’t look like a Swordsman.”
“I still think so. And…”
Hoffman turned to look at Lukas.
“I’m not sure if this guy has been lying to us or not.”
“What?”
“Hmph.”
It was a sharp remark.
It could be said that this man had a simple mind.
But his ability to derive an answer that was close to the truth using nothing but his own intuition reminded Lukas Ivan or Kasajin.
Skrr—
Suddenly, a strange sound came from the forest.
It sounded like something hard was being dragged against the ground. It also carried an ominous and gloomy aura.
Hoffman narrowed his eyes being smiling grimly.
“Yuriah, get ready.”
“Are we using Formation E?”
“No. Let’s do D. That guy can help us too.”
Realising that they were preparing for battle, Lukas asked.
“What’s coming?”
“It should be obvious.”
Then the creators of the ominous sound appeared.
Their arrival was heralded by a foul odour that pierced the nose. It was a smell unique to rotting corpses.
Each of the individuals had different appearances, but Lukas knew the name that grouped them together.
Undead.
“First it was the barrier, now it’s undead… I don’t know what to do with such overwhelming hospitality.”
“Be careful. They aren’t weak. There might be a few low ranked ones there, but I think that most of them are medium ranked undead and above.”
“That doesn’t matter. But time is a bit tight… If it’s like this at the entrance of the forest, then the situation inside must be even more chaotic. We need to reunite with Eric and the others as soon as possible. Yuriah, shoot an extra large spell and wipe all of these guys out.”
“Idiot. I’ll need at least 5 minutes to cast a 7 star spell. It’s impossible to get that much time alone.”
Hoffman turned his gaze to Lukas, who revealed his power without hesitation.
“I can take on two of them.”
For reference, dozens of undead had appeared.
“…seriously.”
Hoffman let out a sigh.
“I’ll take care of the undead in the back first. Hoffman, you deal with their frontlines, and you… just take care of yourself.”
“Alright.”
Lukas decided to follow their instructions for now.
Hoffman pulled out his sword and charged forward like a wild beast without any warning.
The ground that he passed across scattered with every step.
Boom!
With one swing of his sword, a loud explosion was heard.
No, it wasn’t just a sound, an explosion actually burst forth from his sword.
It seemed that Hoffman’s sword had been engraved with magic runes.
‘That’s a lot of power.’
In addition, his understanding of his weapon and the runes was quite high. If he made a wrong move, he would be caught in his own explosion, but he was twisting his sword and moving his body to minimise the force reflected onto him as well as using the momentum for even stronger attacks.
Hoffman was not the only one showing off an amazing performance.
Yuriah, who was a few steps away, was constantly pouring out spells. Her body floated about five metres above the ground, but instead of the Fly spell, it was with the help of a pair of boots that appeared to be magic items.
This was probably done so that she could see the entirety of the battlefield with a glance.
“Screech!”
Undead.
A method of reviving the body of a creature whose life had already come to an end by injecting it with negative emotions and dark mana.
Of course, there was some degree of ambiguity in the use of the word ‘revive’.
Most undead did not maintain the personality and memories of their lives before death.
In fact, such cases were extremely rare.
Instead, most undead were heavily influenced by the memories that they had just before their death, and the emotions that they felt at that time.
Those who died of starvation only focused on predation despite the fact that their stomachs no longer worked. This was due to the fact that the memory of ‘hunger’ had been engraved onto their very existence, and they would move to eliminate this unfulfilled hunger until they returned to the soil.
Negative emotions were the greatest driving force when it came to undead.
That’s why those who died while feeling intense emotions like rage or hatred tended to become strong undead.
“Roar!”
A ghoul rushed forward, black saliva dripping from its mouth.
…Use the right foot as the focal point.
Remembering Snow’s advice, Lukas turned his body. Since the attack was so simple, it was also simple to dodge. In an instant, an opening appeared on the ghoul’s body, and without hesitation, Lukas plunged his sword into the back of its head.
“Gurgle…”
The sound of gargling blood came from the ghoul. Even though it was an undead, it still had vital points. But instead of the heart, it was the head. Of course, that didn’t mean it was easy for them to die like living beings.
Lukas quickly withdrew his sword before slashing horizontally.
He’d swung with the intention of separating its head from its body, but his sword got caught in its spine.
‘It’s not possible with my current strength.’
He’d tried it because undead have weaker bones and muscles, but it had been stopped easily.
Although it didn’t work out as Lukas had planned, his blow was still fatal for the ghoul. It struggled on the ground for a while, but it was unable to get up again.
…Necromancy was a type of black magic.
But Iris, who had reached the pinnacle of black magic, never used necromancy.
This was because she understood.
Just how terrible it was to use the corpses of those who had already died.
And just how much of an insult it was to the deceased.
‘Were these undead made by Diablo?’
He didn’t know.
Lukas didn’t have much knowledge when it came to Necromancy.
Nevertheless, he understood that the undead they had encountered were exceptionally strong.