Chapter 1139: Maleficent and Persona's Powers

「Ave-… Fleshbag! Who is controlling these undead? Scavenger?」

「Not him, since we already killed almost all of his copies! Onslaught’s undead would be infused with evil energy, so I believe Wickerman the Substitute must be responsible!」

「Wickerman the Substitute?」

「As his alias suggests, he can use the undead under his command as damage substitutes. As such, he can survive quite the beating.」

He already explained this to us earlier, but it seems Wickerman can transfer damage to others using shield arts and other such abilities. If he’s capable of creating undead this quickly, he really will be a nuisance.

Avenger repeated his explanation of Wickerman to Fran so that the rest of the adventurers could hear. By the way, the hole in his stomach was already sealed, so he could move around without any issues.

「Oh, and Wickerman’s alias of “Substitute” isn’t only because of his abilities!」

「What do you mean?」

That’s news to me.

「He also acts as Nameless’s body double! With his skills for fooling appraisal, he can easily pass himself off as Nameless! They even look rather similar so I doubt anyone will be able to tell them apart. Well, until I exposed him just now! Fuhahahaha!」

Avenger burst into laughter while still blocking the flame lasers still coming from the fort. Isn’t that pretty important? He revealed not only the enemy’s abilities, but also the existence of their boss’s body double.

「The Carmine Flame Knights have only about 300 members, so there must be very few of them left in the fort.」

In other words, we only have to worry about the knight captain and Wickerman? Going on the offensive is looking much more appealing now.

「Maleficent!」

「We’ll go along with you!」

「…」

Maleficent gave his reply before Fran even asked the question, with Persona nodding as well.

That said, can Kranzel even survive a pack of Dullahans without Maleficent’s support? Donadrond was already so exhausted that he could no longer activate Protective Shimmer, and the adventurers didn’t stand a chance against such formidable forces by themselves.

However, it seems Maleficent wasn’t being reckless at all. He had a plan in mind.

「We need only one person capable enough to protect the adventurers, yes? Give us a moment. Persona, please heal Forrund-san.」

「…」

「We need Forrund-san’s help to make this work, and that fort is… please.」

「…」

Persona looked up at her partner as if asking a question. In response, Maleficent bowed his head for some reason.

I didn’t sense any signs of telepathy, but it seems they understood each other’s thoughts.

After this exchange, Persona headed over to Forrund. The man was so exhausted after using his trump cards that he couldn’t even summon additional swords for flashy attacks. The most he could handle was fending off a Dullahan or two.

Persona stood behind Forrund and crossed her arms in front of her chest, as if in prayer. Naturally, the undead went after her too, but a barrier repelled all of their attacks. Her skill level in warding arts must be very high.

I continued watching her actions at a distance, until something unexpected happened.

「Ahh…」

「…! Persona spoke!」

『Y-Yeah, and that’s a ton of mana!』

We all thought Persona was mute until hearing the soft and lovely voice exiting her mouth. Immediately afterward, she became surrounded by an immense amount of mana.

The vortex of mana swirled around in the air, raging and unstable. Is she actually capable of controlling all of it?

「La-la-la…!」

Is she… singing? Persona’s voice remained completely flat without any intonation, yet it had a mysterious allure to it.

Her voice echoed across the battlefield as the mana danced in response to her song. Then, we saw the light enveloping Forrund.

「This is…」

The mana began replenishing Forrund’s body.

Seeing this reminded me of Sophie’s magic songs, which were capable of healing the target’s internal fatigue and exhaustion, something impossible for normal healing magic. Persona seems to have a similar ability.

That said, there must be a reason she didn’t use this ability all the time.

「…」

「Persona, are you okay?」

「…」

Persona wobbled a moment before collapsing, and Maleficent caught her fall. It seems she was so spent that she could no longer stand, apparent by the waterfall of sweat running down her neck.

She had used her voice for a few seconds… Maybe that’s the reason she doesn’t speak normally.

「Persona really pushed herself, so it seems I must do the same.」

With Persona still in his arms, Maleficent took a step forward.

「Now then…」

「!」

Everyone, even those still engaged in battle, gasped in surprise. Maleficent had bit into his own wrist and tore out his artery.

Naturally, a large amount of blood squirted out to stain the ground red. Exactly what he was after.

His blood flowed along the ground as if it had a will of its own, forming a pattern rather than simply soaking into the dirt. He had created a magic circle about three meters in diameter.

「I offer you my blood. Heed my summon, demon!」

Much to our surprise, Maleficent was also capable of summoning demons. An entity cloaked in powerful mana began to rise out of the blood circle.