The Wandering Scales

The morning mist had yet to fully disperse, and damp, chilly air clung to the tips of the conifers. The group left the town behind and set out along the rugged road north.

The closer they drew to the Northern Nations, the more desolate the scenery became. Evergreen conifers replaced broadleaf trees, casting vast, silent shadows. The road grew rough as well, strewn with loose stones.

Ruby pulled her cloak tighter, her breath forming white clouds in the cold air. She was still thinking about last night's questions of trust and danger, and her gaze kept drifting toward Mina, who walked silently at the edge of the group in her enormous horned helmet. Her armor gleamed coldly in the faint morning light.

"At this pace, we should make it through the forest by evening," Himmel said, studying a crude map, his tone as gentle as ever. "Beyond that is open highland."

"Forests always make me uncomfortable." Heiter took a swig of wine to ward off the cold. "It's too quiet."

It was quiet indeed. Even birdsong was rarely heard.

Eisen, walking at the front with his battle-axe over his shoulder, suddenly stopped. The dwarf warrior frowned.

"There's a smell," he said in a low voice, his nostrils twitching.

Almost at the same time, Lowell raised his eyelids slightly and swept his gaze across the mist-shrouded woods. Frieren was crouched beside the road, gently prodding a trembling little white flower that had poked its head out of a thick pile of dead leaves with a twig, seemingly oblivious to the change around them.

Himmel's hand went to his sword hilt.

Then they heard it.

At first came a rustling and scraping, like many people treading over dead leaves. Then the clinking of metal grew clearer, mingled with heavy, dragging footsteps.

Figures emerged from the misty depths of the forest.

Ten, a hundred, a thousand... packed close together. Clad in battered, mud-stained armor and carrying rusted swords and blades, they walked silently out of the shadows between the trees. Their movements were stiff but unnaturally uniform, their steps so orderly as to make hearts pound. Most unsettling of all, there was nothing above their necks.

They had no heads.

A stench of stale earth, rusted metal, and some indescribable rot drifted in on the wind, so thick it almost refused to disperse.

"The Undead Army..." Himmel spoke the name under his breath, his sword already drawn.

Ruby sucked in a breath and instinctively took half a step back, her staff in hand. Heiter lowered his flask, and the light of a holy emblem gathered in his palm. Eisen spat and held his battle-axe across his body.

Lowell and Frieren reacted rather differently.

Lowell gave a soft "Ah," as if he had run into some trouble. He wrapped up the half-eaten rations, tucked them inside his clothes, and only then brushed the crumbs from his hands.

Frieren finally turned her attention away from the little flower. She stood and tilted her head at the headless soldiers closing in from all directions.

"Ah, they're Aura's underlings, aren't they?"

"You know her, Frieren?" Himmel asked, keeping his eyes fixed on the tightening encirclement as he judged the distance.

"I know the name. 'Aura the Guillotine,' one of the Seven Sages of Destruction." Frieren conjured her staff as she spoke, her movements unhurried. "A demon who specializes in controlling the dead."

"One of the Seven Sages of Destruction? Looks like we're in for a hard fight, hahaha..." Heiter tried to ease the tension with a laugh, but his hand was already on his holy scripture.

The Undead Army kept advancing. Silent and orderly, they bore the oppressive presence unique to death. There were at least a thousand of them, and they had completely blocked every route out.

"So? Do we fight?" Ruby's voice was a little strained, but excitement at facing her first major battle also flickered in her green eyes.

Himmel took a deep breath, his gaze turning resolute.

"Of course we fight," he said. "Heiter, focus on healing and protecting Ruby and Mina. Eisen, we'll clear a path. Frieren, Lowell, please support us."

Before he had finished speaking, the Undead Army moved.

There were no cries, no commands. The soldiers in the front rank raised their weapons as one and charged in silence.

"Hah!" Eisen roared, swinging his battle-axe in a wide arc. The dwarf's immense strength cut three soldiers in half at the waist, sending shattered armor and withered limbs flying.

Himmel's sword flashed like a ribbon of silver. His swordsmanship was masterful, each strike aimed precisely at a joint, wrist, or ankle to disable a soldier, yet he deliberately avoided vital points on their torsos. It made the fighting exceptionally hard for him—against enemies that knew no pain and feared no death, restricting their movement was far harder than destroying them outright.

"Himmel, don't hold back!" Eisen growled, splitting a soldier who lunged at him from the side with his axe. He followed with a backhanded sweep, sending two more approaching soldiers flying.

Himmel gritted his teeth, drove one soldier back, and turned sideways to evade a thrust from another rusty sword. "No, Eisen, spare them. They were once warriors who protected someone..."

"Now they're just puppets!"

Himmel did not answer. His sword strokes retained that same baffling restraint.

Ruby finally sprang into action. She drew a deep breath and pointed her staff forward, mana gathering at the gemstone on its tip.

"Flames, gather into arrows—Rapid-Fire Flame Arrows!"

Several crimson fireballs roared forth, striking a handful of soldiers trying to surround Heiter with precision. Explosions rang out, flames engulfed the bodies, and the stench of burning spread through the air. The soldiers that had been completely burned finally stopped moving.

"Well done, Ruby!" Heiter praised her as a soft barrier of holy light spread out, blocking several arrows fired from a distance.

The battle erupted in full.

At the edge of the battlefield, Lowell and Frieren dealt with it at what could only be called a leisurely pace.

A headless soldier staggered toward Frieren and brought a raised rusty sword down at her.

Frieren did not turn around. She merely shifted half a step to the side, and the rusty sword grazed the ends of her silver hair before striking the ground. Only then did Frieren turn gently and tap the soldier's breastplate with her staff.

There was no dazzling light, no violent explosion. Yet the soldier froze as though all his strength had been drained away, then fell stiffly to the ground.

On the other side, three soldiers surrounded Lowell in a triangular formation.

Lowell raised his right hand and made a grabbing motion in the air.

Several nearly invisible, slender silver threads flashed past.

The three soldiers froze at once, as if bound by invisible threads. The next moment, their bodies crumpled helplessly to the ground like puppets with their strings cut.

Lowell looked down and used the tip of his foot to kick out a somewhat intact knight's badge. He bent down, picked it up, wiped it clean, and gave it a thoughtful look before slipping it into his pocket.

He looked over at Frieren and saw that she had already dealt with her fifth soldier. She was crouching beside a somewhat more intact corpse, trying to pry something out from a gap in its armor.

"Found it." Frieren slipped a tarnished silver ring bearing a family crest off a finger bone, held it up to the gloomy daylight, and smiled slightly in satisfaction before pocketing it. Then she stood, brushed nonexistent dust from her hands, and looked toward the increasingly fierce fighting at the center of the battlefield.

"Lowell, come to think of it, why won't you let me use wide-area magic to clear them out?"

"When our strength allows us a choice," Lowell said evenly, looking at the soldiers still fighting, "leaving the heroic souls who once fought for humanity their final dignity is a form of respect."

"Is that so? I don't understand." Frieren blinked.

"You will." Lowell looked into the depths of the forest.

Himmel, Eisen, Heiter, and Ruby were locked in a bitter fight.

There were too many soldiers in the Undead Army. Moreover, they soon discovered that the soldiers' fighting was not disorganized—they seemed to retain some of the combat instincts they had possessed in life. They could coordinate, flank their opponents, and even use simple battle formations.

Worse still, quite a few of them were formidable fighters.

"At this rate, it'll never end!" Heiter panted, smashing a soldier's chest with one punch. His holy light magic had limited effect on the dead, so he relied mainly on physical attacks strengthened with mana.

Ruby's magic was effective, but her mana was not limitless. These soldiers were not comparable to low-level monsters; many were powerful, and she could not destroy them effectively without increasing her mana output. After casting fireball spells in succession, beads of sweat had appeared on her forehead, and her breathing had grown rapid.

"Conserve your mana. Use a more effective method." Lowell had approached her at some point, and he casually snapped his fingers.

A soldier lunging at his side suddenly sank, as though weighed down by an invisible mass. His whole body was pressed firmly into the ground with a smack, unable to move.

"Against groups of enemies, area control is more efficient than killing individual targets," Lowell explained evenly. "Gravity magic, for example."

Ruby's eyes lit up. "I understand!" She swiftly changed hand signs and slammed her staff against the ground. "Earth, turn to mire—Yellow Springs Swamp!"

The ground within a ten-meter radius of her suddenly softened and sank, turning into a viscous bog. The soldiers charging into the area immediately slowed, as if moving in slow motion, struggling to pull their legs free with every step.

Lowell: "..." I was just saying that offhand, and you can actually do it? What's with this Earth Release: Yellow Springs Swamp? How old are you, anyway? You know such a wide variety of magic. You're so capable—does your family know? Oh, they probably do.

"Well done!" With some of the pressure lifted, Himmel seized the chance to cut down three soldiers trapped in the mire.

But just as the situation eased—

A petite figure darted out of the forest's shadows at tremendous speed.

She was a demon who looked no older than a human girl, with pink twin tails, deep blue eyes, and a red-and-white dress that even had a large hoop skirt. A silver-glimmering battle-axe of mana formed in her hands, its surface covered in a flowing sheen of mana like quicksilver.

Her target was Eisen.

Eisen had just knocked down a soldier with the back of his axe when he suddenly felt a fierce gust coming from behind. The dwarf warrior's combat instincts made him spin around at once and raise his battle-axe to block.

"Clang!"

Metal struck metal with a thunderous crash.

Eisen's pupils contracted.

The pink-haired girl had actually used an axe to meet his battle-axe head-on! And that stance, that way of applying force—

"That's... the opening stance of my Mountain-Splitting Slash?" Eisen was somewhat shocked.

The girl—Linié—showed no emotion in her deep blue eyes. With both hands braced against his battle-axe, she pushed and redirected its force, using it to leap backward and open the distance.

Imitation magic.

"Eisen, look out!" Himmel tried to rush over, but several soldiers held him up.

Linié moved. She swung the silver mana battle-axe with both hands, her movements, footwork, and rhythm of exertion identical to Eisen's! A powerful horizontal slash swept toward his waist.

Eisen roared and met it with a swing of his own axe.

"Clang!"

The collision was even louder. The shockwave knocked over several nearby soldiers. Linié slid back a few steps; she was clearly far weaker than Eisen, but she retreated lightly and landed without a sound.

"She's... copying my techniques." Eisen could hardly believe it.

"She's doing more than copying," Lowell commented. He had been observing from the edge of the battlefield and had somehow made his way back to Frieren's side. The two watched from afar as though observing a performance. "She's learning, evolving. With every exchange, her imitation gets a little more precise. There are demons who fight by relying on an instinct for learning, though they're rare."

Linié attacked again. This time, she used a move Eisen had employed earlier, one that incorporated a shield-bash technique. Her silver battle-axe drove straight at his center like a battering ram.

The support of the undead knights around them forced Eisen to divide his attention. Axe clashed against axe again and again, sparks flying. An experienced dwarf warrior and a demon girl who fought through imitation were, for the moment, evenly matched.

"I'll help!" Ruby prepared to cast a support spell.

"No need," Frieren suddenly said. "Eisen can win. That girl is only copying the form. In strength and experience, Eisen has a firm advantage."

As if to prove her words, the edge of Linié's silver battle-axe began to flicker and blur after another fierce clash. A trace of feeling flashed in her deep blue eyes. She pulled back decisively, and the silver battle-axe dissolved into specks of light. Without pausing, she darted back into the forest's shadows and vanished.

"She ran?" Eisen leaned on his axe and panted. The combined attacks from Linié and the surrounding soldiers had left the webbing between his thumb and forefinger numb from the impact.

"She was only observing," Lowell said. "Her task was probably to collect data on how you fight. Those few exchanges were likely just a test of the fighting abilities she'd picked up. She's probably still hiding somewhere, trying to steal some of your combat techniques."

The battle continued, but without Linié harassing them, the pressure eased somewhat. Ruby worked with Himmel and Eisen to gradually clear out the soldiers in the swamp, while Heiter bestowed blessings on everyone to restore their stamina.

Even so, none of them let down their guard.

The true commander had yet to appear.

Deep in the forest, at the top of a tall spruce.

Aura sat leisurely on a horizontal branch, legs crossed and cheek resting in one hand as she looked down at the battlefield. Lugner stood silently on another branch behind her.

"Well?" Aura asked.

"The hero Himmel is an accomplished swordsman, but his fighting style is overly merciful and inefficient. I don't believe all of them were his comrades, which means he's showing restraint against every corpse. His pointless pity for the dead is his most obvious weakness."

Lugner continued his calm analysis. "The dwarf warrior Eisen is powerful and experienced, the main force for breaking through tough defenses. He was merciless at first, but under Himmel's influence, he's started holding back as well. The priest Heiter has excellent support abilities, but his direct combat strength is average. The human mage Ruby is extremely gifted, judging by human age. Her magic is precise and varied, but she lacks experience, and her mana control and judgment of the situation need improvement."

"What about the elf and the black-haired man?" Aura narrowed her eyes.

Lugner fell silent for a moment.

"The elven mage Frieren's strength is unfathomable. The way she deals with the soldiers... is highly efficient. She achieves the greatest results with almost the smallest possible expenditure of mana. But she doesn't seem to be fighting at full strength. It's as if she's practicing something, so I can't judge her upper limit."

"And the other man?"

"The black-haired man calls himself Lowell. His fighting style..." Lugner hesitated, a rare occurrence for him. "I can't make sense of it. The magic he uses... is somewhat like Draht's. But he's clearly far beyond that level. It seems casual, yet it's precise and lethal, as if it comes effortlessly to him, with no discernible system. He deals with enemies no less efficiently than the elf."

Aura laughed softly.

"Interesting. Facing my army, there are actually two people holding back? This hero's party is more interesting than I imagined."

Her gaze settled on Himmel, watching him carefully avoid causing excessive damage to the bodies of the dead even amid the fierce fighting.

"Especially that hero..." Aura's red lips curved in an amused smile. "The way he fights is like a ridiculous dance."

She stood, the hem of her red-and-white dress fluttering gently in the wind.

"That's about enough. If this goes on, my Undead Army will suffer rather heavy losses." Aura dropped lightly from the treetop, mana supporting her body as she drifted like a feather toward the center of the battlefield.

"Let me ask him myself—why does the esteemed hero show such pity for the dead?"

Lugner followed close behind.

Below, Lowell seemed to sense something and glanced up at the sky. Then he lowered his head again and said to Frieren:

"The one in charge is here."

"Mm." Frieren also stopped searching for spoils and stood, looking toward the place where Aura was descending.