His eyes widened, seeing his foot caught by the opponent's knife. Observing more closely, Alioth realized that there was a wrapping of thin golden thread. His body was also thrown hard, his cheek hitting the ground.
Alioth felt the wind swipe from above, and without turning, he immediately rolled. It turned out that the female mage, who was Velma, had attacked him with dark red magic that destroyed the ground where he had just fallen.
"Quickly kill him!" Velma shrieked, pointing at Alioth.
The young man instead stared at the binding on his foot. Now he knew why the opponent's knife could fly and turn wherever it pleased. It was connected by a thin, almost invisible thread. If Alioth hadn't been entangled by that thread, he might still not know the secret.
The man's body dashed quickly, and one of his knives stabbed forward.
Alioth slashed the thread that bound the knife to his leg, severing the knife's connection with its user. Fast as lightning, he launched a three-stab attack from Triple Stabs. The man was forced to withdraw his attack and dodge away. Now he only held one knife.
"If you are Velma, then you two must be Greg and Paul?!" Alioth glared, looking at them one by one. "Why are you doing this?!"
Hearing that, Adam was also surprised. For a second, his attack faltered due to the shock, and Greg took advantage of this to slash hard, pushing the young man back five steps.
"What, Velma, Greg, Paul?" He looked at the three of them one by one in confusion.
The two people still wearing hoods pulled them back, and their faces indeed looked familiar. The sword-wielder was Greg, and the knife-wielder was Paul.
"Even though you know who we are, you'll still die anyway, hehehe." Paul chuckled with a wide smirk. "These corpses won't let you leave either."
True, the corpses charged ferociously as soon as they stopped moving. The fierce battle began again. Demon Slayer slashed wildly in all directions. Alioth alternately used Shadow Slash and Triple Stabs combined with lightning-fast movements because Alioth always distributed Mana to both feet.
Adam, although not as agile as Alioth, was able to fend off their attacks quite well.
It turned out that the two young men who had just officially become members of the Adventurer's Guild were indeed not to be underestimated. The siege of the living dead quickly broke apart irregularly, so Alioth and Adam were back to fighting Paul and Greg.
Velma held the short staff with two hands and then mumbled. Instantly, the entire bodies of the living dead were enveloped in a dark red aura, making their movements even more ferocious when attacking.
Naturally, Alioth and Adam were struggling immensely, especially while fending off the powerful charges from Greg and Paul.
As the encirclement tightened, Adam shouted, "Target Velma! If she diverts her attention even slightly, the magic binding these corpses will weaken and they'll be easier to defeat!"
Alioth was startled, that made sense. If he observed, Velma had not participated in the attack since the beginning, relying only on the protection of Greg and Paul. Yet, there were many opportunities she could have taken to assist with an attack.
"I won't allow it!" Paul's flying knife soared around Alioth's neck.
The sudden, surprising attack made Alioth spontaneously raise his left hand so that the fine thread would not successfully strangle him. He felt the palm of his left hand hurt when Paul's super-thin thread wrapped around it, but he failed to wrap it around Alioth's neck, preventing the young man from breathing.
Paul clucked his tongue, and Alioth gave a wry smile.
Demon Slayer slashed, and the thread snapped, which automatically made Paul lose his weapon.
"Damn, why are my threads so weak?!" He then jumped to the side as the Demon Slayer's blade almost split his head.
Paul had no idea that what made the thread feel so soft to Alioth was Demon Slayer. As its name suggested, the sword was very effective at slashing through any evil power or anything related to a Demon.
Likewise, Paul's golden thread magic was actually a forbidden demonic magic considered taboo by the people. Naturally, Demon Slayer could easily cut through it.
Blood splattered as the Demon Slayer's blade failed to decapitate Paul and instead slashed his shoulder. Although the wound inflicted was not too deep, it was still enough to cause blood to spray into the air.
That was enough to give Alioth a chance to approach Velma's location because Paul's body stumbled and fell. As expected, the woman was surprised to see her enemy approaching. She launched an attack that looked like a desperate move. Her short staff swung, a streak of red light was created, shooting toward Alioth's body, who was still charging hard.
Her overly slow movement was readable by Alioth, who immediately dodged to the right. Using Shadow Slash, Alioth slashed directly at Velma's crown.
"Mistress!" Greg shrieked while continuously parrying Adam's fierce attacks.
"M-Mistress!" Paul shrieked too, amidst the pain spreading from his shoulder.
As Adam expected, the woman was very proficient in magic but so weak against close-range intimidation. When Alioth had closed the distance so quickly, the magic controlling the corpses weakened for a moment, and that was enough for Adam to slash back and forth, dealing with those who were too close.
"Aaakkhhh!!!"
When the woman successfully dodged and her arm was slashed, causing a deep wound, Alioth's eardrums felt like they would burst hearing that powerful roar. It truly sounded like something unnatural, the tremor was also very strange.
Is she doing this on purpose? Alioth wondered as he stared deeply into Velma's eyes. Is she possessed?
In the game Aetherion Chronicle, there was no skill that a player could use to become possessed to increase power. However, there was one quest where the player met a possessed character, and the mission was to kill that character. When the character was possessed by a demon, he surrendered control of his body to the demon.
As far as Alioth had played, information about possession was limited to that.
"Uaakkhh, die, you!" Velma swung the short staff.
A dark red color split the air, forming an abstract wave that was difficult to explain. The attack would have hit Alioth's temple squarely if he hadn't quickly executed Shadow Slash with a significant amount of Mana and then slashed.
Booomm....
The sound was very loud and resounding. Velma was pushed back, and Alioth could still hold his ground with a slight forced effort. Only because of the effect of Demon Slayer meeting demonic power was Velma pushed back.
Not wasting the opportunity, Alioth dashed to deliver a finishing blow. He didn't know if Velma was possessed or not, but he couldn't be hesitant here. If he hesitated, his life and Adam's would be the victims.
Once again, Demon Slayer was covered in a dark blue light that looked sharp and long. Alioth slashed horizontally from right to left. Velma raised her staff with its reddish magic to parry.
However, the sound of something breaking was heard, followed by Velma's shriek. It turned out that the crystal at the tip of the staff had shattered into pieces, struck by Demon Slayer. The blade continued to slide down and grazed Velma's shoulder.
The woman's body fell backward and stopped moving. Likewise, the corpses surrounding the graveyard stopped moving shortly after before falling and turning into dust particles.
"Haaaarrgghh!!" Adam shouted, full of rage, as he pushed Greg further back, who was overwhelmed. His fire sword became even more brilliant, illuminating the place.
Alioth raised his sword high, ready to stab Velma's heart. However, the woman suddenly widened her eyes and raised her hand.
"A-Alioth? Wait!"
Alioth's hand stopped moving, but his gaze remained vigilant.
Velma opened her mouth as if to speak, but then she winced in pain while clutching her left shoulder. She then cast healing magic to treat the wound inflicted by Demon Slayer.
"That bitch!"
Alioth turned, Paul was already standing with an angry face.
"I'll just kill you!"
He charged recklessly with the knife in his right hand, ignoring his left shoulder, which was deeply wounded by the Demon Slayer's slash.
Although he didn't fully understand, Alioth began to get a rough idea of the current situation. For some reason, Velma could be called "Mistress" while holding the staff, and she was called "That bitch" when the staff was broken. There must be something going on.
If Velma were truly someone worthy of being called "Mistress" by the two of them, she would not be called such a vulgar name just because the staff broke.
So, without hesitation, Demon Slayer moved quickly to sever the man's neck.
"Euhh...." Alioth looked away, his body slightly trembling, witnessing his hand killing another human.
In his heart, he continuously forced himself to believe that what he had just killed was a ferocious monster.
Alioth's body staggered slightly due to the sudden rush of guilt that flooded him. After all, he still felt guilty. Whether Paul was right or Velma was right, what if he himself had been too quick to bring down a cruel hand?
As his head throbbed with pain, Greg's hoarse shout was heard from the right.
"You must die!" he yelled, charging with his sword to slash the defenseless Velma.
Alioth's eyes widened. Reflexively, his Demon Slayer moved. Then sraatt..., the hand was severed.
A second later. "Aaaarrgghhh!!"
Greg gasped as Adam's large sword pierced his back all the way to his stomach.
And so, the two men died in this graveyard.