Overlord

Nonetheless, she had to do it.

The prince continued firing off spells, and Shizu slashed at the demon with her knife while being slashed at in return. Everyone was performing their roles perfectly, so there was no way Neia could be the only one to complain that she couldn’t handle it.

“Heavy Recovery.”

Having judged that Shizu’s wounds had started adding up, Neia activated the item from the King of Darkness to use the tier-three healing spell on her.

“Aha!”

Neia sensed that the faceless great demon’s gaze was directed at her.

His exclamation must have meant that he had discovered the healer—that is, the one he should take out first. And then he really did use the magic he was still allotted after countering the prince’s spells to attack her.

“Shock Wave.”

An invisible impact hit as if she’d been clobbered with a war hammer.

A nauseating creak reverberated inside her body, and the pain coursing through her made her want to writhe. This hurt a lot more than the magic the va-um used. She couldn’t believe Shizu had weathered this like it was nothing. It was a powerful blow—no wonder Kelart Custodio was known as a genius.

“Nnnngh!” A hoarse scream escaped between the gaps in her gritted teeth.

“Are you okay?!”

“I-I’m fine!” Neia replied to the concerned prince.

“Next, I’ll get the zerun along wi—”

“—No. I’m protecting Neia.” Shizu spread her arms and stood in front of Neia to shield her.

The great demon was tall; Shizu, in contrast, was short. She could
stand there, but he probably still had a direct line of sight. Nevertheless, the sentiment made Neia so happy.

“What? Ahhh!” the great demon cried hoarsely.

Shizu’s action must have done something to him.

Did she use some kind of special ability? Or a spell?

Neia had no idea what Shizu had done, but the great demon’s urge to kill seemed to have weakened. Of course, it was probably just her imagination. There was no reason his hostility should have dropped at this moment.

Neia felt she would be able to withstand one more spell like the attack earlier. Well, she wanted to believe she could anyhow.

She had regained the mana she consumed in the battle with the va-um, but she wasn’t sure how many times she would need to use Heavy Recovery, so she wanted to conserve it to the extent possible. That said, if she pushed herself to the brink, one little mistake could send her over. It was an extremely difficult thing to make out.

“And her weapon is a bow that Lord Ainz lent to her!” Shizu stated in a voice that was loud for her. She must have wanted to talk up the King of Darkness? Neia wanted to remind her they were in the middle of a battle, but maybe there was some reason behind it if the most experienced, most powerful person here was saying it.

“What?! That King of Darkness?” the demon aide shouted in surprise. The King of Darkness really was amazing. Jaldabaoth must have told this demon to be on guard against him.

“Yes! A bow made with runes!”

Unable to ignore what was just said, Neia admonished her, “Don’t give away our secrets!”

“Oh?! It’s a weapon made with lost rune technology? With a weapon like that, you might be able to kill me!”

Why does he seem to be explaining everything so conveniently?
thought Neia before feeling ashamed of herself. They were in the middle of a life-and-death battle with a powerful enemy. A weakling like her had it hard enough already. She couldn’t afford to waste even a tiny corner of her brain on idle thoughts like that.

“Runes, you say? Marvelous!” The demon aide spoke again, sounding extremely cautious. Maybe the idea was to distract Neia, breaking her focus. And in reality…

“Runes?” she heard the prince asking from her back.

So she said, “No! It’s not that kind of weapon!”

Neia felt both Shizu and the great demon freeze.
Oh, that, right.
She figured they were locked motionless, faced with the realization that they were evenly matched.

“Runes…”

“No!” she fairly spat.

“Grm…,” the demon aid groaned. “I see… Well, then… Blindness.”

Suddenly Neia’s field of vision went black. That must have been his way of disabling the healer.

The magic item Neia had borrowed could only cast Heavy Recovery, not any spells that would cure a status like blindness. If their party included a priest or other faith caster, it could have been healed easily enough. Unfortunately, things wouldn’t be that simple.

It was unclear how long this enchanted darkness would continue, but if she wanted to heal Shizu, she would have to approach within touching distance…

“I can’t see!” It’s important to communicate with one’s teammates. “Shizu! If you get hurt, let me know!”

“……Mm.”

“Sorry! I don’t have a spell that can cure a status like that, either!”

“Don’t worry about it!” Replying to the apology that came from her back, Neia drew her bow. A body that large she would be able to shoot at from memory. She had learned a bit about fighting sizable opponents from their clash with the va-um. The bowstring twanged.

“Gwaaaooohhh!” The demon aide howled in pain.

“Nice! He tried to evade it but dodged the wrong way! A perfect shot!”

Hearing the prince’s commentary, Neia prayed to the King of Darkness.
How lucky was that?

“……Let’s maintain this momentum and take him down.”

“Yeah!”

“Right!”

It was difficult to hear through the sounds of the zerun fighting the shadow demons nearby, but focusing every fiber of her being, Neia sensed how Shizu was doing, as well as the demon aide’s position, and continued attacking.

Perhaps the demon had realized that he needed to crush Shizu first or he would lose; all his attacks were aimed at her. And many of the spells were the disabling type, like Blindness that he had cast on Neia, so pretty much everything was neutralized.

At that point, all they had to do was keep pushing.

By the time the prince’s mana had run out, they had won almost as if it had been a matter of course. His joyous shouts at that moment were borderline obnoxious.

The zerun had lost some members but also won their battle.

The only thing was that the spell on Neia still hadn’t lifted. Her field of vision remained pitch-black. But it shouldn’t have been a spell that would rob her of the light forever; she was sure it would wear off soon. It was lasting so long because Kelart Custodio was just that powerful of a caster.

She couldn’t see, but from the feel and sounds, she could tell the zerun had gathered around her.

“Prince! We’re so glad you’re safe.”

“Yes… Please partake respectfully of the Grand Mother’s corpse.”

You’re gonna eat her?
Neia quipped in her head.

But he had said “respectfully,” so she could only assume that it was some sort of zerun mourning ritual.

“Neia, what will you do with the human’s head? Do you eat it?”

“N-no, that’s not how we humans dispose of our dead. I’ll bring it back to the castle.”

“I see. Human funeral rites are quite puzzling. Well, you must feel the same about ours. I suppose that’s what they call a cultural difference. Still, I can’t thank you both enough. We never could have—”

“—Wait. We don’t have time to chitchat here. We need to get moving.”

A disturbance was audible in the distance. Either the liberation army was advancing toward them, or they’d been discovered by the subhuman alliance. It could also be some guards rushing toward them upon hearing the battle noises. No matter what it was, they couldn’t stand around dawdling.

“You’re right, Miss Shizu. As promised, please assist the liberation army with the capture of Karinsha.”

“Yes, of course! Hey, you!”

“Sir! We’ll get started right away. Would you and the humans please get into the barrels, Prince? We’ll carry you out of the castle.”

Neia couldn’t see so she wasn’t sure, but she got the sense that Shizu, next to her, was hesitating about something. She understood why. She must have hated the barrels. Neia felt the same way.

“……I’ll assist.”

“I will, too, after my blindness gets cured.”

The prince flailed on Neia’s back like a freshly caught fish. It was trembles of delight. The fact that she knew that, her adaptability, was a bit stupefying.

“If my sisters-in-arms are off to battle, then so am I. Of course, I used up most of my mana, so I can’t rely on any fancy spells, but I can cast some strengthening magic on you.”

“Your Highness!”

“Don’t make a fuss. Are you telling me to be the kind of male who lets those who fought beside me battle on alone?!”

“……That’s about enough. Time to go.” Shizu urged them to depart—as if she wanted to be done with the barrels as soon as possible.

“Let’s take the barrels to a place where many of my fellow spawn are gathered. Please get in.”