13 Chapter 13: Alpha Predator

"Don't let even one of them leave alive."

Kijima Takeshi's voice clearly rang out in the woods. His glowing golden lions growled and leaned back on their haunches, their muscles rippling and their fur standing on end.

"It's another of Evelyn's Chosen!"

Elia Kratz and her subordinates were backing away fearfully, intimidated by the sheer presence of Kijima.

However, my enhanced zombies stepped forward and tore the first lion apart.

"What the hell are those?"

"What do you think?"

I shrugged with a smile. My zombies stepped forward in a protective ring, growling and bellowing as they bore down on Kijima, but he merely summoned another pride of lions. Roaring, the majestic, glowing beasts lunged forward.

My zombies were more than a match. Unleashing their special abilities, they launched elemental attacks, increased in number, and tore the lions apart before Kijima's wide eyes. The delinquent bully backed away as he saw his horde torn apart before his very eyes.

However, his fear was short-lived. He suddenly chuckled.

"?"

"Oh, you really surprised me," Kijima remarked, shaking his head. "I didn't think you would have such tricks hidden up your sleeve. I thought you were useless trash, but it seems you somehow managed to get your hands on a necromancer ability."

I frowned, watching him warily. He was…smiling?

"I guess I should get serious too."

Raising his hand, Kijima threw his head back and cackled. A massive lion appeared in front of him, swatting my zombies aside. With a snarl, it bounced across the clearing, soaring above my zombies, and pounced straight at me.

Aiming for me, huh?

That was a wise move. The lion would get too tied up with the zombies and unnecessarily waste time. If Kijima could kill me as quickly as possible, he would end the battle immediately. The best way to kill a beast was to cut off its head.

A fine strategy instead. However, he wasn't the only one capable of that.

"Guys!" I hollered as I dodged the lion. My zombies responded immediately, twisting around and lunging at Kijima. The bully's lip curled when he saw that I had the same idea, but he scoffed.

"How naïve."

"…!"

I blinked in surprise as the lion, which I had been evading, was shrouded in a sudden golden glow. In an instant, the lion vanished, replaced by Kijima, who swung his fist gleefully at me. I managed to dodge, but glancing at my zombies, I saw that they were engaged in a frantic melee with the giant lion. Despite their enhanced power, they weren't able to take him down.

"Hmm, I can't believe Misha still hasn't gotten rid of those things. Were zombies always this strong?"

Kijima's lips twisted into a snarl and he swung his fist at me again. I jumped back, then lashed out with a kick. Kijima blocked it and staggered back, but his eyes widened.

"How do you have so much power behind your kick?"

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

I stared at Kijima, baffled. He didn't look hurt at all. Yet he was swinging his arms about, as if shocked by the slight, stinging pain.

"A hero like me shouldn't be able to feel anything from any attack from a small fry like you! Did you get some sort of hero ability too?"

"Huh?"

"That can't be…you're not a hero…we should have killed you! Your stats should be much lower than us!"

"What stats?" I frowned. Even with Absolute Appraisal, I still couldn't see any parameters that measured or quantified our strength, speed or magic power. There were no levels either.

However, Kijima didn't reply. Howling, he summoned a golden sword and slashed it at me. I jumped back, just barely avoiding getting eviscerated.

"Stop dodging!"

What idiot would listen to such an inane command? I rolled my eyes and continued to evade, keeping a safe distance from Kijima. Backing away to Tsukishima Tomoyo's remains, I kicked up her staff and grabbed it. Twirling it around, I parried Kijima's strike. With a grunt, I dug my heels in deeply and shoved Kijima back.

"You…!"

Kijima's eyes widened and he glared at me, his gaze flicking toward the staff I now held in my hand.

"That's…Tsukishima's staff? How did you get it?"

"Well…she hired new staff?"

"Fuck you!"

With a roar, Kijima slashed at me ferociously, forcing me back. Sparks flew as his blade clattered against the shaft of my newly acquired weapon, but thanks to Dark Weapon Mastery, I could handle the staff as skillfully as any veteran soldier who had trained with it for a few months. Stepping in confidently, I spun my staff around and knocked him back.

Kijima was a hero, however, and he wasn't felled so easily. He determinedly stood his ground and thrusted his sword at me, forcing me to deflect the blade by mere inches. I spun around and slammed the staff into his head, but he parried it with his sword, stopping the blow a few centimeters away from his temple.

"How are you fighting like this? You never trained…never fought with us!"

"How do you know that?" I countered. Even though Kijima was correct, he should have no idea that I had never trained, and that I was relying completely on a cheat special ability that I had devoured from the late Demon Lord.

"You mean…you were hiding somewhere the last six months, training in secret?"

Kijima stared at me in disbelief, but I didn't reply. I had no obligation to answer him. Instead, I increased the power behind my attacks, surprising him with a kick from below before swinging my staff to connect with his skull. Both times, Kijima reacted impressively, blocking my foot with his shin before ducking under my staff and parrying the shaft with his blade.

"Gr…!"

I didn't feel as frustrated. Unlike Kijima, I knew that it would be difficult for me to match him when I didn't have any training at all. In fact, I was amazed that I could pressure him to this extent. It seemed almost unfair, that in just a couple of days I had managed to reached the same level as someone who had accumulated six months of training and combat experience.

I almost felt sorry for Kijima. Almost.

With a determined growl, I pressed down on Kijima, driving him back. He panted and switched with his lion in that usual glow of golden light. I struck the beast in the nose, causing it to yelp, but the humongous familiar swiped at me. Despite parrying its claws with my newly acquired staff, I was hurled across the clearing.

"Ugh!"

I managed to roll to my feet, the gouges on my skin rapidly healing. Staggering, I fired a Doombolt at the lion, glancing off its shoulder. The majestic beast roared in pain and fury, toppling over and clutching at its wound, which began to blacken and spread.

Meanwhile, despite his sword skills, Kijima was beginning to get overwhelmed by the sheer number of zombies. He backed away, realizing that his lion was in trouble, and then switched places with it once more.

"You…!"

I couldn't miss the opportunity. I flung myself at the newly teleported Kijima, but he was on hand to block my blow. He seethed and sent me back reeling from a powerful slash, golden magical energy radiating from his conjured blade.

"I see."

Kijima kicked me to the side. By now, I realized that I had exhausted myself with the previous exchanges and had inadvertently depleted my stamina. The difference in experience was beginning to show now, and Kijima returned on the offensive, pressuring me.

"Ugh!"

I dropped to a knee as blood gushed out of my shoulder. Chuckling, Kijima sent another thrust that ripped open another wound on my chest before I could knock it out of the way. Panting, I responded with a riposte that he slapped away before hammering the hilt of his sword into my face. Blood sprouted from my nose and I staggered.

"Hey, hey! Your movements are getting predictable!"

I managed to block his next attack, but Kijima kicked me in the abdomen, sending me flying across the clearing.

"Ugh!"

I crashed into a tree, nearly uprooting it. Leaves rained down on me, shaken free from the violent impact. Huffing, I wiped the blood from my mouth and rose shakily to my feet.

My wounds were healing rapidly. Good thing I devoured Tsukishima earlier. I should have enough reserves to last for my Regeneration.

However, Kijima had noticed the strange phenomenon.

"What the hell are you? How are you healing so quickly? Are you using healing magic?"

I shrugged. "Take a guess."

"Fuck you!"

With a roar, Kijima lunged forward and slashed at me again. I just barely managed to block his blade, but he cuffed me with a hand before spinning around and delivering a roundhouse kick. I managed to soften the impact with my staff, but the powerful force behind his blow sent me tumbling into the ground several meters away.

He's strong!

Kijima was stronger than Tsukishima, especially in terms of physical combat. That must be his class or specialty. While Tsukishima was a black mage, Kijima must be a summoner-warrior or something akin to that.

Fortunately, his lion was being stalled by my zombies.

"I can't believe Misha is having trouble with such fodder…no, there's something weird about your zombies."

Kijima glanced up at the thousand and eight gravestones that towered over us, thinking deeply. Stroking his chin, he mused to himself.

"Could it be that those tombstones are enhancing your zombies somehow?"

The guy was surprisingly sharp and astute. I didn't reply, but he inferred from my silence that he was right.

"Aha. I see. So that's how it is."

I didn't like the grin that spread across his face. Suppressing the urge to wipe off that smirk, I kept my distance and readied a spell.

But there was no point.

Kijima raised his hand and summoned something. A golden sword shone brightly as it levitated above him. With a snap of his fingers, countless other golden swords appeared all over the battlefield, casting their luminous glow to cast out the shadows.

"…?"

I watched the swords warily, expecting them to rain down on me. But they never did. Instead, they maintained their position, illuminating the battlefield. To my horror, my tombstones crumbled under their glow.

"Golden Forge." Kijima's smile widened. "Don't think you're the only summoner who can buff your familiars. I can do the same too. These swords will buff divine beasts with their aura and weaken undead and dark-type creatures. They also have the added bonus of corroding dark spells in the vicinity. Like those tombstones of yours."

I swallowed as I watched many of my tombstones rot away to nothingness. Even though Kijima's area of effect was smaller than mine, all the gravestones in the immediate vicinity were rapidly disintegrating. With them gone, my zombies lost their buffs and were reverting back to their frail, weak bodies.

"Golden Forge can also boost my summoning."

Snapping his fingers, Kijima conjured a pack of wolves. Howling, they pounced and tore apart the weakened zombies, ripping them into shreds. In mere seconds, my undead army was routed and massacred, replaced by a legion of wolves, led by the gigantic lion.

"As expected of a hero, huh?"

A large bead of perspiration rolled down my face as I studied Kijima. Raising a hand, I activated Absolute Appraisal again.

Name: Kijima Takeshi

Species: Human

Job/Rank: Summoner/Hero

Special Abilities: Summon

There was no sign of Golden Forge, so I tapped the Summon button. Immediately, my vision was flooded by a new box of text.

Summon: Summon any type of monsters and weapons. Power of monsters and weapons are limited by the summoner's strength.

Spells: Golden Forge

A quick glance at Golden Forge confirmed what Kijima had told me. It boosted the strength of divine-type familiars, reduced the energy required to summon new ones, weakened dark-type creatures and spells such as undead.

This battle had turned against my favor. I had never expected Kijima to possess the direct counter to my zombies and undead skills. Hell, even I was an undead, and I could feel myself growing lethargic and week just from being in the vicinity of the Golden Forge.

This was bad. I wouldn't be able to last much longer.

Realizing that, Kijima gleefully tore into me, his sword flashing and slashing at me. Blood splattered across the ground as I clumsily fought to defend myself, but my reflexes had been dulled and my senses impeded. My Regeneration had slowed down, blood gushing out of my wounds ceaselessly as Kijima opened up new cuts.

"Ku…!"

Kijima closed in, slashing at me wildly and knocking me back. I stumbled, but managed to regain my balance, only for Kijima to drop to the ground and sweep my feet out from under me. I threw out a hand to break my fall and vaulted backward, flipping to a crouching position while using my staff to balance myself.

"…!"

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Just when I thought I had caught a break, a wolf lunged at me. I just barely managed to smack it away with my staff when I caught sight of the entire pack circling me. With Misha the lion at its head, the pack lunged.

I unleashed a Doombolt and obliterated the lion, but the rest of the wolves slammed into me and knocked me off my feet. I rolled on the ground, fighting them off with my staff, but they bit and tore into my flesh.

This is bad!

Especially with my reduced Regeneration, I might not be able to survive such an assault. I kicked and swung my staff as best as I could, but for every wolf I dislodged, another two would take its place to bite into my flesh.

"Ugh!"

With a yell, I unleashed a miasma that blasted the wolves and reduced them to skeletons. The wolves danced about in their death throes, their flesh flayed from their bones. Even with Golden Forge in play, the Corrupting Darkness spell was so potent that I managed to exterminate the entire pack. Panting, I threw them off me.

The skeletal remains of the wolves staggered for a few moments, then they slowly turned around, their bones rattling, as they faced an astonished Kijima.

"What manner of magic is this?" he demanded.

"Necromancy," I replied with a shrug. "I thought you already knew that I was a necromancer."

The skeletal wolves lunged at Kijima, but with a swing of his golden sword, he obliterated them into white shards.

"You think you can set my own summoned familiars against me?" he hollered.

"No, not really," I responded. "That's why I didn't send all of them against you."

"?!"

Kijima looked up and his jaw dropped. Half of the undead wolf pack had jumped upward to tear the golden swords from the skies and lash them onto the ground. Golden shards rained down as the swords shattered from the slightest impact.

I see…so Golden Forge has such a weakness, huh?

"You…what are you doing?"

"The same thing you did earlier…regaining control of the battlefield."

As Kijima shrieked at me in panic, my gravestones reemerged, casting shadows over the undead wolves. They grew black skin, their sizes enlarging and their canines lengthening. Howling, they mutated into gigantic hellhounds that breathed fire. As one, they converged on Kijima's position, pouncing on the hapless summoner.

"Don't screw with me!"

With a burst of effort, Kijima summoned a pride of lions. The roaring, majestic lions grappled with the hellhounds, wrestling and rolling on the floor. Hellfire scorched the ground as the hellhounds bathed the lions in flames, but the latter emanated divine light that perforated the former and shredded them apart. So far, it was even, but Kijima's incessant ability to summon allowed him to create an army that outnumbered mine.

"Get him!"

With a yell, Kijima ordered a portion of his pride of lions to turn their attention toward me. Snarling, the golden beasts loped across the clearing. I annihilated one with a single Doombolt, but the rest managed to surround me.

"Gr…!"

The first lion lashed out with its claws, but I kept it at bay with my staff. With several of the golden blades destroyed, I could feel my strength slowly returning. My Regeneration was speeding up and returning to half its normal pace. It was far from ideal, but it was much better than before. The bleeding had stopped and my body no longer felt as sluggish.

I knocked away another lion and unleashed a second Doombolt to fry the third. Spinning around, I parried another deadly swipe from the first lion, then twirled my staff about to deflect the claws of a fourth lion. The fifth lion almost took off my head, but I bent my neck as far to the side as I could, and the claws only succeeded in grazing my cheek. No matter. It was just a small injury. The bleeding closed up almost immediately.

"Sending a pride of lions after a single human like me…have you no pride?" I shouted at Kijima, who was backing away from a stray hellhound that had gotten free from his lion bodyguards. He slashed at it with his sword, but the hellhound managed to avoid him before swiping at him with its claws. Kijima's knees buckled and he uttered a curse.

"Shut up! Do you think you're funny?"

"As a matter of fact, I do." I shrugged. "My hellhounds make one hell of a joke, don't they?"

"I told you to shut it!"

He glared at me, and then suddenly switched place with one of his lions. I was taken by surprise, my staff instinctively raised to block the lion's claws. Thanks to that, I was unable to parry the sword thrust from below.

"Gah!"

Kijima's blade pierced my abdomen. I had instinctively dodged on reflex when I saw his attack coming, but wasn't able to avoid the blow. He failed to strike anything vital, but it still hurt like a bitch. I sagged and leaned against my staff helplessly. I wanted nothing more than to lift it and counterattack, but my senses were overwhelmed by pain at the moment.

"Checkmate."

Kijima crowed as he twisted the blade in my gut, a triumphant grin spreading over his face. His sword glowed golden as he intensified the attack.

However…

"You should check before checkmating someone."

"Huh?"

Kijima stared at me, stunned, when he saw that I was chuckling. Feeling uneasy, he took a step back, but left his sword in my gut.

"What's so funny?"

"You."

"Huh? What are you talking about?!" Kijima snarled. I merely shook my head.

"You never change, Kijima. I wonder if Kobayashi is the same too. It'll make getting my revenge a lot easier."

"I asked you what's so funny!" Kijima hollered as he slashed me with his sword. But I grabbed hold of the blade, keeping it where it was. Blood dripped down my palm and fingers, but I ignored the burning pain and held it firmly to stop him from moving.

"Your Summon special ability is amazing. I want it."

"What are you talking about?"

Kijima shuddered and tried to pull away, but I had grabbed his hand with my other hand, letting go of my staff in the process.

"Get him! Kill him!"

Panicking, Kijima screamed and directed his lions to pounce on me. But a black miasma spread out and struck them, decomposing their flesh and turning them into zombies. With a whimper, the lions hit the ground before going into spasms. When they rose again, they were zombies. Under the influence of my Thousand Astral Graves, they began to distort and grow, turning into powerful chimeras.

"Just what the hell are you?"

Kijima flailed about as he was struck by my Corrupting Darkness spell. Unlike the wolves and lions, he possessed significant resistance to my spell as a hero, and so he didn't get turned into a zombie. Good. I needed him non-zombified, especially if I wanted to devour his special ability.

It certainly would be useful, especially for a necromancer like me.

Letting go of the blade, I seized my staff once again and cracked Kijima's skull. He shrieked in pain and flopped down, clutching his head with his free hand. But I wasn't done yet. Resting my staff against his head, I whispered a single spell.

"Shadow Lunar Fang."

The entire place vanished in a black, crescent-shaped shadow that was so large it engulfed huge segments of the forest.

As the darkness expanded voraciously, the only sounds that could be heard were the agonized screams of Kijima Takeshi.

And then…silence.