Valkyrie's Shadow

Chapter 10

With the remainder of the garrison barracks’ second floor cleared, Ludmila inspected her new set of Red Skeleton Warriors. Though they had little more than half of a Blood Meat Hulk’s health, nearly everything else about them was better.

“I’ve commanded Undead with on-use Skills before,” she said, “but it was the area of effect taunt Skill of a Death Knight. I’ve never tried to direct anything so precise as the Skills that these Red Skeleton Warriors have.”

“Most summoners direct their pets using general instructions,” the Sorcerer King told her. “They leave Skill and Ability use to the discretion of the summon. There are cases where one might want to exercise more control, but for the most part, it’s rare to see one manage things as you do. Then again, you’re a Commander and not a pet class. This preternatural ability may be related to the fact that you should be issuing Commands the same way.”

She still hadn’t figured how to issue Commands. Nothing she did had even the slightest sense of feeling like a Skill.

“The Skills that these Red Skeleton Warriors manifest with: can they be augmented with these ‘Commands’ that you speak of?”

“I wonder about that.”

Ludmila let out a long sigh at His Majesty’s vague response. The corner of Lady Shalltear’s lip turned down.

“Ludmila…”

Her liege’s tone lowered dangerously at Ludmila’s expression of discontent. The Sorcerer King held up a hand.

“It’s fine, Shalltear,” His Majesty said. “There is a reason that I remain evasive with certain answers, Miss Zahradnik. Abilities, Martial Arts, Skills and spells are the product of development and research. Many unprecedented achievements result from the work of those who never knew something was supposed to be impossible. Much like how many do not utilize their Job Classes properly because they are ignorant of their existence, setting the wrong expectations can blind one to the paths that they might have otherwise explored. I am especially wary of influencing talented individuals who have already shown the ability to achieve the impossible, such as yourself.”

“I have?”

“You may not know it, but you have. You are a fountain of anomalies, Miss Zahradnik, and it is anomalies that lead one to the discovery of new knowledge.”

Realizing the truth reflected in the Sorcerer King’s wisdom, shame rose within Ludmila. Though he had expressed his wish for her to be at ease and conduct herself more casually during the expedition, she was being too familiar with her sovereign. Beyond that, who was she to assume the motives of one who possessed incalculable wisdom and intellect?

Ludmila lowered her head solemnly.

“I apologize for my rudeness, Your Majesty,” she said. “Your servant was entirely ignorant of the depth of your concern. In that case, is there anything you can tell me? The names of the Skills that they are using, perhaps?”

“The names don’t matter,” he replied. “I thought it might be something that you already understand. How many of the Skills, Abilities and Martial Arts personally developed by you have names?”

“None, Your Majesty,” a self-deprecating smile touched her lips. “Though I will have to come up with them for the sake of reference.”

“Just so,” the Sorcerer King said. “I doubt that these Red Skeleton Warriors even know the names of the Skills that they use – they are mindless, after all. What everyone else calls them is, as you say, a reference. Much like the Undead employed in the Sorcerous Kingdom, these dominated Undead understand intent rather than specific words.”

She lowered her head again in acknowledgement, then turned her attention back to the building before them. Judging by its exterior, the third floor should be the last: there were no towers, though there were probably some Undead manning the battlements.

Activating her hairpin, she flew up to get a view of the roof. It turned out that the entire thing had collapsed onto the third floor. The absence of light in the smothering mist meant that no light streamed down from the second-floor stairwell to indicate that the ceiling was open. She descended to take an inventory of the Undead on the third floor, noting two dozen Skeleton Warriors.

As Ludmila floated lower to check for any Undead hidden in the corners of each room, a distinct shape in the dust of an office caught her attention. She reached down to pick it up, dusting it off to find an ornament wrought in burnished red metal.

A Spider Lily…?

The negative energy clinging to the barracks suddenly condensed into the piece of jewellery. Ludmila tossed it back to the ground in alarm. A corporeal form materialized around it, taking the appearance of a vaguely familiar-looking Elf in light plate mail. Ludmila came closer.

“Hello?”

A shining rapier appeared in the Elf’s hand. Ludmila’s eyes widened as the Elf’s figure blurred forward.

“「Fortress」!”

The point of the gleaming blade stopped against Ludmila’s throat, and the Elf’s flowing red hair trailed forward from the momentum of her lunge. Ludmila rose into the air, the sound of dozens of bony feet clattering all around as the Skeleton Warriors around the floor ran to the origin of her surprised shout.

Her assailant did not pause to consider her next attack. She vaulted up to the top of the broken wall and threw herself bodily at Ludmila. The collision drove them out over the plaza, and Ludmila fought to stabilize herself. The Elf wrapped her arms around her for a scant moment before phasing through Ludmila’s body to fall in front of her Undead company.

“Who are you?!” Ludmila called down to the Elf, “Why are you attacking me?”

An enraged hiss was her only response. The Elf looked up at her and the shining rapier disappeared, replaced by a war bow. A flash filled Ludmila’s vision as an arrow of light was deflected by her equipment. More arrows followed in rapid succession.

The Sorcerer King and Lady Shalltear flew over beside her.

“I see that there was a ‘captain’ after all,” he said. “It doesn’t seem like she wants to talk.”

“Can she talk?” Ludmila rose slightly as another lunge almost nicked her foot, “I don’t even know what kind of Undead she is – just that she’s a really angry one.”

“She’s a type of Undead not dissimilar to a Revenant,” His Majesty said. “A Sword Wraith. They’re unrelated to the incorporeal Wraiths that you’re familiar with. Sword Wraiths are presumably warriors whose will to fight was so great that they return from the dead to seek battle once more. If she is what she appears to be, however, she should be at least as intelligent as well.”

“So it’s a Sword Wraith that isn’t a Sword Wraith?”

“That seems to be the case…still, there must be a reason why she attacked you.”

“I found an item on the ground: a clasp decorated with a Spider Lily.”

“That’s probably why you were attacked,” the Sorcerer King nodded. “Though why there’s a Sword Wraith protecting a clasp is a mystery…perhaps she failed to protect the owner and has lingered over one of their belongings ever since.”

Flashes of light continued throughout their conversation as the Sword Wraith loosed more arrows at her. The Skeleton Warriors from the third floor finally caught up with their ‘captain’, milling about on the broken pavement.

“What will you do now, Miss Zahradnik?”

“If she’s as intelligent as described, shouldn’t dominating her offer a wealth of information?”

“I figured you might want to fight her before that.”

The Sorcerer King seemed to shrug as he replied. Ludmila frowned down at the ridiculously aggressive Undead Elf.

“She’s very strong,” Ludmila said. “Mid to high-Orichalcum – around Level 24.”

“And how strong are you now?”

“A bit stronger than these Skeleton Warriors below.”

“Hoh…you’ve gained at least two levels since we started…”

His Majesty stroked his chin thoughtfully.

“So a Level 17 Revenant – at the lowest – with your equipment versus a Level 24 Sword Wraith. An offensive Fighter whose attacks should be around Level 27 or 28…well, it should be an enlightening experience.”

A Platinum-rank against an Orichalcum-rank? Just how strong was her equipment?

Ludmila idly wondered if she could bury the Sword Wraith in her Undead company. After some thought, she decided against it: her Death Priests were already down to two-thirds of their mana capacity and they still had much of the city left to explore.

The Sorcerer King dominated all of the Skeleton Warriors and cleared the area in front of the garrison barracks. Ludmila floated over the makeshift arena, trying to figure out how to initiate the fight with the Sword Wraith below. The Undead Elf continued to ceaselessly loose her attacks.

As she hovered lower, the Elf’s bow was replaced by her shining rapier. She launched herself into the same, blurring lunge as before, scraping the bottom of Ludmila’s boots. Flight magic was convenient, but she felt like it left her defenceless against opponents who had attacks to intercept her with when she attempted to close on them.

The lunge was probably an Attack Skill. Advanced Martial Arts were conceptualized through their components, and Ludmila suspected that Skills were not much different. Rapier users were well-known for their lunge attacks, and for some reason, the rapier users in the Adventurer Guild were the first to grasp Martial Arts with a charge component.

She had never seen an Adventurer direct such Martial Arts straight into the air before. However, it was possible – no one did it because they would take damage upon landing and it made one vulnerable to attacks as they fell to the ground.

The point of the rapier missed the soles of her boots by several centimetres as the Sword Wraith lunged again. Ludmila carefully observed her landing. The Sword Wraith did not lose any health, so it must have had some other Skill or Ability that allowed it to prevent damage from falling.

Ludmila dipped into range of the Sword Wraith’s lunge Skill – about twenty metres. It didn’t immediately attack her. This must have been the delay between uses His Majesty had mentioned. Twenty seconds after the previous attack, the next one glanced off one of her sollerets.

Equipping her new glaive, Ludmila lowered herself into the gap between lunges, wary of any additional Skills. Her backwards descent was meant to create space between herself and the Sword Wraith, but it easily outpaced her flight effect. Four metres over the ground, Ludmila changed her plan of attack, levelling out and continuing to fly backwards.

The Sword Wraith lunged again.

“「Evasion」!”

Ludmila’s figure blurred to the side even as the Sword Wraith blurred past. She twisted in midair while the Counter Art was still active, her glaive sweeping around in a wide arc. The softly glowing blade of her weapon sliced through nothing but mist. The Sword Wraith’s lunge Skill ended, landing the Elf over fifteen metres away.

I suppose that wasn’t going to work.

Evasion allowed her to dodge the blindingly-fast attack, but it didn’t empower her counter with the same speed. Between closely-matched opponents, an advanced Martial Art was usually required to enact an effective counterattack against another advanced Martial Art.

The Sword Wraith spun on its heel and dashed towards her, weaving from one side to another as it approached.

How is this mindless?

Ludmila activated Ability Boost and Strengthen Perception, relaxing slightly as her opponent’s movements became easier to follow. While the Sword Wraith displayed single-minded aggression, the way it conducted its offence seemed anything but lacking in intelligence.

She crossed the charging Elf’s path with a diagonal Slash. The Sword Wraith’s momentum did not change: she raised her rapier to guide Ludmila’s strike as she ducked under it. Ludmila eyed the Elf’s shining blade, bringing the haft of her weapon across as she prepared to receive the force of the incoming strike.

The strike she expected never came. As Ludmila continued to eye the shining rapier, something punched her in the gut. She flew bodily, landing several metres away. Ludmila only made it halfway up to her feet before the Sword Wraith lunged and sent her flying again. The wall of the garrison barracks trembled as she ricocheted off of it to tumble over the stones of the plaza. Light steps sounded in Ludmila’s hearing as her opponent closed on her.

“「Fortress」!”

There was no time to think. She could only act. The rapier stopped against Ludmila’s gorget and her foot lashed out, employing a Strike Art to drive her assailant away. In the seconds to the next lunge, Ludmila shifted backwards to create more distance between them. She noted a poniard in the Sword Wraith’s left hand just before it lunged again.

Ludmila used Evasion, weaving a Slash into her counterstroke. This time, she made sure that she was positioned at the end of the lunge Skill’s twenty-metre range. Her glaive removed the Sword Wraith’s right arm at the shoulder. The rapier clattered over the stones, but Ludmila paid no attention to it as she recentred her weapon and launched a Piercing Strike.

Her opponent raised the poniard in her left hand to parry, but the polearm blasted through the flimsy defence. The Undead Elf’s weapon flew into the air and the blade of the glaive scored a deep gash into the Sword Wraith’s side. Ludmila imbued a Slash into her draw cut, but she couldn’t withdraw. The Sword Wraith ran forward with her recovery and Ludmila felt something puncture her armpit. She felt an object being pulled out before the Sword Wraith’s attempt at grappling Ludmila caused it to phase through due to her Freedom effect.

Ludmila turned and backed away again, eyeing her opponent warily. The Sword Wraith was holding a poniard in her left hand again.

Where is she getting them from?

The corporeal body of the Undead Elf did not have any visible scabbards on her form – only her armour. Ludmila’s eyes widened as the poniard shimmered, replaced by the shining rapier. Then she was sent flying again by the Sword Wraith’s unexpected lunge. Ludmila tumbled to a stop in front of her company and the sound of light steps sounded in the air again.

Getting back to her feet, she glanced at the arm still lying on the ground. It wasn’t holding the rapier anymore. Her gaze returned to her rapidly closing opponent, and she altered her grip on her glaive, placing her right hand near the blade of the weapon.

Her opponent’s weapon came forward in a vicious thrust, and Ludmila caught the blade against her own. She worked the haft of the glaive like a lever, easily forcing her opponent’s weapon aside. The rapier went over her shoulder and the Sword Wraith collided with her.

Out of the corner of Ludmila’s eye, the hilt of the rapier shimmered, replaced once again by the poniard. The Sword Wrath’s wrist twisted to drive the blade into the side of her neck, and Ludmila pushed against her opponent’s forearm with her own. She hooked the haft of her polearm behind the Sword Wraith’s head and drove a knockback-imbued knee into her opponent’s abdomen.

The Undead Elf’s hips rose two metres into the air, but the back of her head remained fixed against the haft of the glaive. Ludmila heaved down on her weapon with both hands, driving the Sword Wraith face-first into the plaza.

Ludmila took two steps back. A Slash took off the Undead Elf’s remaining arm above the elbow as she tried to right herself again. She came forward again to plant a boot against the back of the Sword Wraith’s neck, pinning her to the ground.

With her adversary subdued, Ludmila let out a quiet sigh before turning her gaze up towards the Sorcerer King.

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