With a swing of his sword, Kaye took off the head of the last skeleton.
He flicked away the blood and bone fragments clinging to the blade as a sense of…
doubt began to grow in his heart.
“Gordir,” he asked, “does your family…
have this many people?
For there to be so many undead creatures…” “Our family members are all buried in the ancestral tomb after they pass…” Gordir scratched his head awkwardly.
“That’s easy to understand!” Sio, who had been busy dealing with the nuisances on the side, finally found a moment to chime in.
She kicked aside a Draugr blocking her path with a look of disgust and continued, striking the pose of a scholar.
“Let the clever Miss Sio explain it to you!
Normally, we’d only have to face Draugr—that’s an Ancient Nord technique that’s long since been lost.
As for those skeletons…
they’re clearly Valse’s handiwork.” “Mages sure know a lot of evil things…
uh, I mean, Necromancers.” Gordir muttered under his breath—after all, it was hard for modern Nords to have a good impression of magic.
But when he noticed the look Sio shot him, he immediately added a modifier to avoid offending her.
“Oh, right!
This should be the door to the main burial chamber!
Let’s hurry inside and stop Valse.” To keep the awkward atmosphere from lingering, Gordir changed the subject and took the lead toward the stone door at the end of the corridor.
Sio took a few extra seconds to admire the ancient carvings on the stone door.
Well, at least the Ancient Nords had decent artistic taste; the carvings were quite well-designed.
She uncorked a potion bottle with two fingers and downed the pale green liquid inside.
It was just a Stamina Potion!
She might have to do some running in a bit, so she had to prepare in advance.
…But the potion tasted bitter and astringent, and a few drops inevitably spilled from the corners of her mouth.
Sio didn’t care about her image at this point, simply wiping it away with the back of her hand.
Perhaps she just thought everyone would be focused on reaching the main chamber and wouldn’t have time to notice such small details.
The three of them entered the dark passage one by one and rushed into the main burial chamber.
“Who on earth has been lighting the lamps in this tomb…?” Seeing the brightly lit main chamber, Sio couldn’t help but put her hands on her hips and tilt her head in confusion.
“Is it the Draugr?” “Uh, I don’t think they have that kind of intelligence.” Kaye and Sio went back and forth like a comedy duo, so much so that…
The Dunmer mage in dark robes, standing at the highest point of the main chamber, was completely ignored.
“Silence!” Valse raised his hand and fired a Firebolt…
at an oil lamp on the tomb wall.
“Oh, so you’re the one who lit the lamps!” Sio nodded repeatedly as if having a sudden realization.
“…” Valse was momentarily speechless.
Where did this clown come from…?
He really wanted to burn that noisy girl to a crisp, but more important than that was that matter…!
“The dead should serve the living, not the other way around!
You stupid Nords!” Valse’s primary verbal target was still Gordir.
After all, it was because of family conflict that he had come to the ancestral tomb to cause trouble in the first place.
“I’m going to send my ancestors back to Sovngarde, and you with them!” With nothing more to say, Gordir charged forward with his axe, determined to settle things with Valse.
Condensing flames in his palm, Valse raised his hand and sent a searing Fireball straight at Gordir’s face.
“What a brainless Nord savage…!” Sio clicked her tongue, ran to Gordir’s side, and shoved him out of the way.
Pale blue crystalline patterns spread from the girl’s arms to her entire body.
The effect of Crystallized Skin allowed her to completely ignore and absorb the destruction spell meant for Gordir.
Nords didn’t have fire resistance; if he took a Dark Elf’s fireball head-on, he’d probably end up smelling like roasted meat.
…Even though her clothes wouldn’t catch fire, Sio was surprised to find herself in trouble.
Crystallized Skin only lasted for 3 seconds, but Valse’s fireball would keep her burning for much longer!
Once the effect wore off, she’d be the one smelling like roasted meat!
Roasted dog…
no, roasted meat?
With Sio’s low HP, she probably wouldn’t survive!
What to do, what to do!
She’d subconsciously felt invincible because of her magic resistance…!
In her panic, Sio instinctively called up her Character Panel in her mind, causing time to come to a standstill.
Oh, thank goodness.
At least she had plenty of time to think now!
The only way out was…
to exploit the game mechanics!
As a veteran familiar with all sorts of cheese strategies, the technique Sio was about to use was incredibly simple!
She opened the Level-up Panel right then and there and dumped several points into Health!
+10, +10.
Not only did it raise her level so she could withstand the burning, but it also refreshed her status to full!
Heh, this is what you call a ‘breakthrough on the spot’…
Exiting the Character Panel, Sio immediately dropped to the ground and started rolling.
“Stupid human…” Valse sneered.
That frail Breton girl, even with Dragonskin magic magic, couldn’t have dodged that hit!
Let her pay for her recklessness…
wait, why isn’t she even screaming?
The moment he realized something was wrong, Valse’s eyes widened—the girl’s rolling was certainly undignified, but she was almost completely unharmed.
There was no time to raise his hand for Necromancy.
Valse condensed a Barrier Magic in front of him to block the Battleaxe Gordir threw at him; the barrier’s strength dropped significantly, but as long as he could resurrect the dead…
Two whooshes sounded as arrows cut through the air.
The first arrow nearly broke through the Barrier Magic but was still deflected; however, the second arrow that followed immediately after struck the exact same spot, hitting Valse right between the eyes.
The sound of Kaye lowering his bow coincided with the Necromancer falling backward, and the tomb returned to a dead silence.
As a battle-hardened warrior, shooting a bird out of the sky was no trouble at all, and a Double-shot technique was second nature to him.
“Don’t push yourself so hard next time.” “Can’t help it, I’m a Breton.
If he dies, who am I supposed to get my reward from?” Kaye reached out a hand to Sio, who was still face-down on the ground.
Sio took her companion’s hand with a grin and jerked her chin toward Gordir.
“That’s another extra charge.
Let’s see…
you owe me a life.
Feel free to praise, flatter, and butter me up!” “Is your…
uh, companion always like this?” Looking at the smug Sio, Gordir couldn’t quite figure out the relationship between the two—it was better to just call them companions for now.
“Always.” Kaye shrugged and shared a smile with Sio, who was proudly puffing out her chest.
At least…
nobody died, right?
…Valse notwithstanding.
You know, we never really count enemies in that.