Skeleton Knight, in Volume 8 - Ch 8

Translator: Silver Editor: Namorax

Capital Larissa

A port city lied in the distance based on the description Branier had provided beforehand, and the magnificent fort built along the nearby hill, it was safe to assu that this city was Larissa.

After she spotted the city, Ferufivisurotte gradually lowered her flight speed and began to hover in the air.

Even from the sky, it was clear that the city was far from the state it would be in during peace tis.

In the harbor, several ships were anchored, but all of them were heavily damaged or had pillars of black smoke rising from them.

Only a few boats had managed to drift out to sea, but their sails had been shredded or their masts had been snapped off.

The city was also heavily damaged, with multiple breaches in the city wall. Pillars of black smoke were rising throughout the city and destroyed buildings were visible even from up here.

Just as Branier had predicted after hearing from the ssenger dispatched by the capital, Larissa had fallen victim to the undead ambush.

From this height and distance, it was impossible to tell if there were any survivors.

Ferufivisurotte seed a bit puzzled as she observed the city below.

Ara, there are a bunch of undead in that city, have you ever seen so many of them? Theres one large signature in a sea of smaller ones, ten thousand of them, perhaps?

What

To grasp the situation on the ground from this distance, as expected of an exceptional being.

Although my current body had good eyesight, it was still within the realm of common sense. Even I was incapable of observing the ground with satellite-like clarity from two thousand ters in the air.

However, her ludicrous sensory capabilities werent the problem. The problem was the number of undead she said were in the city.

Branier had said that Larissa had been attacked by two-hundred-thousand undead. If the vast majority of them werent here, it ant that they were already on the move.

The undead in the city were probably left behind to guard the occupied territory.

The ssenger from Larissa had arrived in margrave Braniers remote territory seeking aid shortly after the attack had begun. Considering the ti it took the margrave to reach Nozan, a considerable number of days had passed since the ambush.

It was possible that the undead army had already reached Braniers territory, but from what Goemon had witnessed in Delfuentos capital, it was unlikely they could move imdiately after capturing Larissa.

Though the spider-chira could match a horse in regards to running speed, the undead soldiers which made up the majority of the armys soldiers were no different from humans.

Since that was the case, there was still a bit of ti left.

Ferufivisurotte-dono, we still need to establish a transfer location, can you land us in a suitable location?

For future actions, it was necessary to draw the scenery of the location that would act as the Larissa transfer location.

Ho, a suitable location

Ferufivisurotte shifted the angle of her wings when she said that.

OW NOOOOOOO!? Kyun!

We suddenly began dropping out of the sky, the rapid updraft nearly throwing

off with the sa force that had pinned

to Ferufivisurotte during our ascension.

I clung to her back in an attempt to fight against the weightlessness, then a thundering boom preceded a shock that ran through her massive body.

Two spider chira had been patrolling the area, and Ferufivisurotte had crushed them beneath her feet, cutting down the remaining undead around her with the crystalline tip of her tail.

It was a leisurely swipe of her tail, but it cut across the ground like the grim reapers sickle, and all the undead within her tails range were bisected.

Uh, the stench is making my noise weep.

Ferufivisurotte show of overwhelming power was sowhat marred by her complaint about the stench of the undead.

The place wed landed appeared to be a field next to Larissa.

It was no longer possible to harvest the now trampled wheat.

Not all of the fields had been trampled, but considering just how many people could survive on what little remained My gaze wandered over the city overflowing with the dead and undead.

Because we couldnt afford to be leisurely about this, I unwrapped the furoshiki, took out my drawing implents and began sketching the area.

However, just as I was about to begin my work, I caught sight of several spider chiras and a host of undead soldiers approaching our location.

It would take too much ti to annihilate all the undead loitering outside the city, and Ferufivisurotte just seed annoyed by them as she watched their approach.

Ferufivisurotte-dono, Im apologise, but would you mind dealing with the surrounding undead while I finish the task at hand?

She proudly puffed out her chest when she replied to my question.

Ill play around with them for a while, give

a shout when youre done.

With that she kicked the ground as she flapped her wings, basically gliding towards the undead as she unleashed her reapers sickle upon them.

The sound of a whiplash rang out as she began to reap the surroundings.

The undead vanished in an instant and the wheat stalks were thrown into the air and fell to the ground like confetti.

Kyun! Kyun!

Pontas cry drew my attention away from her colossal back, and I resud my drawing in a hurry.

If I didnt hurry, she might actually clear out the surrounding undead and turn her attention towards the city.

I decided on the space directly in front of Larissas city wall as the transfer location and began recreating the scene on the parchnt. Since there wasnt much ti, I only drew a rough sketch and planned to fill in the details later.

It would be nice if I could imdiately envision landscapes when I invoke transfer magic.

That utterance left my lips as I compared the drawing to the actual location.

Although itd been a rushed job, Id say I managed to capture the general image.

After finishing my work and putting away my implents, I shouted Ferufivisurottes na while she crushed so undead beneath her feet.

Ferufivisurotte-dono!!

Her hearing was quite impressive, as soon as I called her, she stopped cutting down undead and leisurely flew back to .

That was unexpectedly quick.

Ferufivisurotte sighed and looked back at the capital as she said that.

Her purple reptilian eye blinked once as her sharp gaze poured over the city.

Is sothing wrong?

Kyun?

When Ponta and I voiced our concerns, Ferufivisurotte slightly shook her head and glanced back at .

The one large presence that had been in the city suddenly vanished

At her comnt, I turned my attention to the destroyed town.

Because I lacked Arianes and Chios high-level sensory capabilities I couldnt understand what Ferufivisurotte ant with she talked about presences.

However, that big presence she spoke of probably wasnt a spider chira or an undead soldier.

Perhaps it was a cardinal, or even the pope.

The fact that they suddenly vanished could an that they had access to transfer magic like mine.

If that were the case, it would be impossible to follow them, and it ant another problem for us.

Ferufivisurotte-dono, the main body of the undead forces have probably begun heading for Margrave Braniers territory. I would like to pinpoint their current location, so may I borrow your wings?

We were supposed to return to Soulia once we set the transfer location, but if the undead host was already marching towards Braniers territory, then we needed to keep track of its present position.

Depending on their estimated ti of arrival we might have to alter our plans.

However, her reply to appeal was a rather plain one.

Arc-han, didnt I already say I would lend you my power? Stop wasting ti and climb on my back. Get a good grip, because Im gonna fly a little recklessly.

No even a second of hesitatioooooonnnnnnn!?

After I tied my bag to my shoulders again and sat on her back with Ponta, Ferufivisurotte took that as the signal to ascend into the sky.

Kyuh!!

Ponta let out a happy cry, even as the wind forced her against my chest.

Eventually, the intense wind pressure subsided and Ferufivisurotte began flying in a circle before asking

a question.

The Branier territory is east of here, right?

Thats right. I want a grasp of our enemys current location.

When I answered her question, she nodded and imdiately turned to the east.

Co on, lets go!

Ferufivisurotte spread her wings wide open in response to my comnt, their purple patterns rippling as she flew faster and faster eastward bound.

Kyun! Kyun!

An intense headwind bombarded , but Ponta just looked imnsely pleased.

There was a strange air bubble surrounding Ponta that seed to lessen the wind force she experienced, it was quite a skillful use of magic. Id heard that riding the wind currents was a fluffy foxs primary ans of transportation, so it was probably a racial skill.

It was an enviable ability to have for soone at risk at being knocked off by the wind.

However, I didnt have to endure the wind for long.

Ferufivisurotte lowered her speed and urged

to look down.

Arc-han, down below.

That, what

I held my breath as I took in the spectacle on the ground below.

Scattered across the plains were these small, black spots those spots being a countless numbers of undead all heading toward the east.

Their movent wasnt like what Id seen from the forces of the Holy Leburan Empire, but they were still slowly but surely marching towards the Branier territory and the elven populated Rouen Forest.

Given the distance from here to Larissa, it will still take them so ti to reach the territorys border, but that isnt anything to be optimistic about

Kyun!

An utterance escaped my lips as Ponta intensely stared at the ground.

Once they gather in one place, one of us can blow them away with magic. Itll be ssy with them scattered about that.

Ferufivisurotte didnt even try to hide the disgusted sound she emitted before looking back at .

How about it, Arc-han?

That is

It was as she said, we could annihilate the hundreds of thousands of marching undead, but the manner in which they were spread out ant that there was no guarantee that an area of effect spell would destroy all of them.

While it was possible for Ferufivisurotte and

to kill them all, we didnt have the ti to spare.

Since we could no longer hope to deploy troops at Larissa, the next transfer site candidate would have to be on the border of the margraves territory.

However, it was possible that the army would split in two to attack the elven village Doranto in the south once they breach the territory.

If we wanted to destroy a significant portion of the enemys war potential we needed to find a location that would hinder their movent

I considered that while trying to rember the map layout of the area.

The Uiru river should flow along the border. How about we prepare a greeting for them there?

As if shed read my mind, Ferufivisurotte spoke the idea Id just thought of.

Yes, we should set the new location near the fort that sits on the edge of the territory.

According to margrave Branier, a few forts remained on the eastern bank of the Uiru river from back when the territory had belonged to Nozan, and hed restored them back to working order.

While the official statent was that they were ant to protect important highways, their real purpose was to fend off harassnt from other Salman nobles and the neighboring territories.

Villages in the Branier territory had fallen victim to bandit raids until the margrave restored the forts.

Ariane didnt seem to understand the connection between those things, but King Asparuf accepted it as if it were a common occurrence.

It seems that the Branier territory was under constant threat of invasion from both outside and within.

Regardless, our first step will be to visit the Uiru river fort.

Ferufivisurotte-dono, can you overlook them for now and take us to down near the Uiru river? Well set the new location there and return to Soulia imdiately afterward.

Ferufivisurotte accepted the new titable I suggested with a nod.

Okay, Im setting off again!

After she made that declaration, she flapped her wings and resud her eastern flight.

The undead didnt seem to notice us flying above them, and in almost no ti wed left them far behind.

Against such a strong headwind, I squinted my eyes and focused on what was straight ahead.

Ferufivisurotte flight speed was the sa as itd been before, so it should be possible to estimate how long it would take to the undead army to reach the river.