I unleashed all the firepower I had been holding back and sent a powerful blow towards the self-proclaimed King of the undead. My blade came down in a vertical strike, carrying a raging tornado of flames.

The metal itself wouldn’t be enough to harm the undead—but those blazing flames would certainly burn that pile of bones to a crisp.

Zalrorg twisted his body to the side, trying to avoid being split in half from head to toe. As a result, my Flame Sword struck him from the collarbone down.

I could hear the sound of his bones cracking under the heat. The slash carried through past my enemy, erupting into a violent explosion of fire.

The wildfire was immense—on par with the explosion Justine and I had used to blow up the narrow passage in the mine. But apparently, it still wasn’t enough to defeat our opponent in a single hit.

Inside the burning flames, the skeleton was still moving. His silhouette within the fire gave Zalrorg a ghostly appearance as he extended his hand towards me.

With a quick leap, I put some distance between us just in time to avoid his attack. The flames that had enveloped my sword faded, and along with them, the fire burning Zalrorg died down.

Where his left arm should have been, it had been severed from the collarbone down. Even so, the rest of his body was in surprisingly good condition despite the explosion—only slightly charred, with his robe partially destroyed. What remained covered him from the waist down like a long skirt, which looked rather ridiculous.

I would’ve laughed at how ridiculous he looked, but the sphere of Miasma gathering in his hands killed any urge to mock him. The good part was that Rick and Alicia were no longer his target—but now, I was.

‘And I still couldn’t defeat him. Damn it!’ I thought inwardly.

From his hand, two consecutive spheres of that purple liquid were fired towards me. At that moment, a male voice echoed through the hall.

“Ero Boost!”

…

The first thing I did once I was able to move again was enhance the stats of my three Valkyries and my own, of course. Thanks to that, I spent 20 Mana Points—but the result was worth every single point.

[

Name: Richard Forster

Class: Valkyrie Tamer

Level: 18

Valkyries: 3/3

Health: 220 points

Mana: 63 points

Strength: 46 points

Defense: 31 points

Magic: 55 points

Agility: 40 points

Status Points: 0 points

]

[

Name: Sarah Lockhart

Level: 15

Class: Swordmaster

Title: Valkyrie

Master: Richard Forster

Health: 190 points

Mana: 65 points

Strength: 35 points

Defense: 23 points

Magic: 46 points

Agility: 43 points

Status Points: 0 points

]

[

Name: Alicia Ludvila Von Astrea

Level: 15

Class: Saintess

Title: Valkyrie

Master: Richard Forster

Health: 110 points

Mana: 164 points

Strength: 21 point

Defense: 22 points

Magic: 60 points

Agility: 35 points

Status Points: 0 points

]

[

Name: Justine Blackwood

Level: 11

Class: Sage

Title: Valkyrie

Master: Richard Forster

Health: 120 points

Mana: 148 points

Strength: 21 point

Defense: 22 points

Magic: 53 points

Agility: 35 points

Status Points: 0 points

]

I was surprised to see that each of our stats had risen by 20 points. We were now far stronger than our enemy.

Sarah, who had been targeted by two spheres of Miasma, quickly rolled backward twice, dodging both attacks.

“Weeh!” she yelped when she realized how fast she was—and how easily she had evaded her enemy. She looked at her own hands, clenching her fists as she felt my power flowing through her veins. “So this is the Ero Boost.”

We regrouped around the red-haired girl. “Yeah—and now it’s time for payback!”

Sarah and I rushed towards Zalrorg, empowered by the added Agility from Ero Boost.

“Huh?” The monster seemed shocked to realize that, in a fraction of a second, we were already right in front of him. The barrier before us was completely shattered by Sarah’s swift sword swing. At that distance, there was no way for him to escape.

“Holy Light!”

“Huh!” Zalrorg groaned in pain as the sacred light scorched his bones.

The moment I invoked this Saintess-class skill, a blinding flash erupted right in front of him. It was highly effective—and enough to stun our enemy in that brief opening. Now, he was defenseless against our attacks.

“Holy Light!” Alicia used the same skill, pushing Zalrorg even further. The light didn’t harm us, but to him—a creature of darkness—it was like being scorched by two suns at once.

But even that wasn’t enough to finish him.

“How can this be?” the undead spoke to me. His body wasn’t moving, yet his voice still echoed clearly. “I am supposed to be the King of the Undead… so why? How can you humans push me this far?”

“Eh, the answer is obvious,” I replied. “It’s because, compared to our power, you’re nothing. You see, we’re up against the servants of the goddess of death herself—so losing to someone like you is simply unacceptable.”

“What?” My words seemed to strike a nerve, leaving him visibly shaken. “Are you insane?! If it weren’t for that blonde girl, you would have died to my Miasma. And you think you can defeat Lady Hel?”

“Of course.” A female voice echoed from a distance. Still maintaining her Holy Light, Alicia spoke without wavering. “Rick isn’t alone. If he needs us, we’ll stand by his side—and he’ll stand by ours. He’s the man who will lead us to victory. Next to someone like him, you have no right to call yourself ‘King’!”

I smiled when I heard the princess’s words. I would definitely repay her later—but for now, I still had to deal the finishing blow.

“Flame Sword.” As I called upon my skill, the blade I wielded became engulfed in flames. While Alicia continued to use her Holy Light, I prepared to pour all my power into the next strike.

“Sarah, Justine! Let’s use your combo.”

“Right!” they both answered in unison. Sarah summoned her Flame Sword as well, and we crossed our flaming blades behind us.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep