A Powerful Martial Artist Reincarnates as a Nun Knight

What greeted the nun knight party upon arriving at Aghno were none other than the undead monsters and chimeric amalgamations leisurely roaming the town’s vicinity.

“This is…quite serious, isn’t it?”

Hildegard muttered. Among the undead were wraiths of the deceased drifting in the sky, geists with physical forms, and spectres spreading terror, while on land crawled draugr guarding tombs and revenants risen for vengeance. Even undead hrökkáll eels swam in the waters.

But that wasn’t all – intermingled with these undead were chimeric amalgams of animals and plants. Besides bugbears, owlbears, cockatrices, manticores, and man-o-wars, there were grotesquely misshapen creatures like monstrous mushrooms or carnivorous plants fused onto undead tree stumps.

“I had considered infiltrating, but it seems sneaking in is impossible now.”

Sophia frowned.

“How about disguising ourselves as draugr or revenants? We can conceal our tracks with spells.”

Hildegard suggested, but Sophia flatly rejected it:

“At least in proper magical disciplines, there are no spells for mimicking a corpse’s tracks. That’s an unreasonable proposal. We might as well just charge in head-on…since there’s a saying that if there are no witnesses, it’s not an assassination.”

“That’s been decided as impossible, Master. Your initial thought of infiltration was to consider the Aghno residents, wasn’t it? If we charge in directly, there’s no telling what might befall the civilians.”

Truly a situation where neither option worked. The nun knights racked their brains endlessly but could not devise a viable solution. It was at this moment that:

“Um, could you take a look at this, Master and Lady Wolfstein?”

Conra furtively produced a parchment scroll from his bosom and unrolled it before the two.

“This is…?”
“How did you…?”

It was a map showing Aghno’s secret underground passages.
Sophia asked, “Where did you get this?”
“The bureaucrats gave it to me separately before our departure.”

In other words, the earlier discussion between Sophia and Hildegard had been pointless. Seeing Conra slowly curl his lips into a subtle smirk as he mulled over the situation, Sophia felt an inexplicable twitch develop in her forehead.

Soon, catching Sophia’s glance, Hildegard quietly shifted, and a crisp thwacking sound soon reverberated.

+++++
Just as the map showed, the underground passage did exist. Evading the nearby undead and chimeras to infiltrate through the passage, Sophia and Hildegard stole glances behind at Conra trailing them, breaking into a cold sweat.

Conra walked silently behind them with a completely sullen expression, pursed duck-like lips while grasping his swollen forehead. He seemed quite vexed after being winged by Hildegard and smacked by Sophia.

However, the two women had their reasons. To enjoy himself like that while they were engaged in serious discussion – his mischief was simply unforgivable. Wasn’t it only natural to get punched for such an infuriating prank? In that sense, while Sophia had directly struck him, Hildegard wondered if she was truly innocent.

Inadvertently voicing such thoughts nearly sparked a minor war between Sophia and Hildegard, but let’s set that aside.

Even they could not help being wary when they encountered a waterway with undead hrökkáll eels in the underground passage. It wasn’t long before Sophia, realizing these eels had no connection to them, incinerated them all.

The holy spirits Jibreel and Ariel guided the party from the front. It seemed their premonitions had recovered upon entering an area concealed from the being that had veiled their foresight.

Following Jibreel and Ariel’s lead through the underground passage, the party finally emerged and infiltrated the lord’s mansion itself.

The passage led to the wine cellar beneath the mansion. Countless oak casks lay aging on shelves.

“Come to think of it, Aghno is famous for its wines. I had thought to try them if I ever had the chance. Never imagined I’d come here like this.”

Hildegard forced a wry smile as the wine-lover spoke. Sophia chuckled in response:

“After dealing with the witch, let’s come back down and plunder the entire wine cellar, shall we?”
“That prospect is making me motivated all over again, isn’t it?”
“Is that really a proper source of motivation?!”

Overhearing them, Conra stopped his duck-pout to reflexively interject.

“Oh, you’ve revived!”
“I was wondering how long you’d stay sullen. Get tense now, we’ll be facing the enemy shortly.”
“I know, I know already? I’ll do what I need to do?”

Though still defiant in tone, Conra had truly gotten over his sullenness and obediently began heightening his combat awareness.

The wine cellar’s exit led to the kitchen, whose entrance connected to a hidden passage used by the mansion’s servants. This passage and the emergency stairwell linked every floor except the rooftop, allowing them to infiltrate up to just below the top floor undetected.

Sophia scanned the mansion via her mystic senses. Soon, she perceived the human sacrificial rites unfolding in Aghno’s square and an evil presence huddled on the rooftop, greedily absorbing the immense life force and mana gushing forth.

“It seems they’ve just started the sacrificial rites.”
“What? If it’s human sacrifices, then the victims are…?”
“Yes, it appears the Aghno residents are being used as sacrifices.”
“Damnation…we must hasten to eliminate her, if only to stop the sacrifices.”
“Master, can you tell where she is now?”
“The target is currently on the mansion’s top floor. Seems she’s absorbing the life force and mana generated from the ongoing sacrifices.”

Outrage and fury began smoldering in Hildegard and Conra’s eyes. Sophia too quickened her pace. Before the enemy could further empower herself, she had to definitively assassinate her.

Concealing themselves in their own ways, the trio infiltrated towards the top floor. Finally reaching the entrance, they surveyed the interior.

From within emanated the witch’s rapturous moans, intoxicated by the overflowing life force and power. Laced with human depravity and defilement, the moans caused the three outside to involuntarily grimace in revulsion. Disgusted, Sophia spoke:

“We make our move now.”

With those words, Sophia shattered the entrance door and darted inside like a bullet. Then,

Fwoosh!

In an instant, the witch’s head flew into the air. Without a moment’s hesitation or mercy, Sophia’s longsword had cleanly severed her neck. Soon, the immense life force and mana converging on the witch began rampaging – a phenomenon triggered when the host perished.

Left unchecked, the raging energies would undoubtedly devastate the surrounding area. This could not be allowed.

Simultaneously, Sophia and Hildegard, who followed her in, deployed luminous force barriers to suppress the rampant forces. Soon after, Conra entered and scattered alchemical reagents everywhere, frantically chanting spells while waving his makeshift staff-spear.

{Follow the mana flows as I guide!}
With his contracted presiding spirit Esras-Hermes’ assistance, Conra finally heightened the progression of his alchemical rituals and druidic spellcasting.

Intense light and winds soon swirled before coalescing in midair.

“Come forth and heed me, Will-o’-Wisp!”

As Conra sang the final words, the coalesced light and wind took on a pale semblance of life. Brimming with the overflowing life force and mana, his alchemical creation and druidic summon – the Will-o’-Wisp – manifested at last.

“Success!”
{Don’t be so sure. The flow I’m sensing now is somehow…abnormal!}

The presiding spirit Esras-Hermes cautioned.

And indeed, it was right.
The witch’s previously sprawled body and severed head squirmed briefly before melting into the shadows, then rejoined and revived as one.

{KyyyyyAaaaaake—-!}

With writhing tentacles adorning her nape like ornaments, the witch spewed an inhuman screech.