I Was a Sword When I Reincarnated

Maleficent managed to block the dragon’s surprise attack, but Raydoss continued keeping up the pressure. 𝒃𝙚𝒅𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝒍.𝙣𝙚𝙩

Fran flew through the air avoiding the persistent arrows flying in from Fort Marth.

The dragon floating above us continued invoking spells of thunder magic, flash magic, storm magic, and even unknown magic we’ve never seen before. Some kind of magic unique to dragons or wyrms?

In addition, more undead spawned from the enemy fort.

Although few in number, all of them were translucent ghosts. Physical attacks have no effect, so they can only be defeated by magic or enchanted weapons.

The ghosts started attacking our troops from the cliffside. This type of undead is capable of levitation, so steep cliffs don’t impede their movement at all.

That said, Jean should be able to handle them since they aren’t too many.

Raydoss’s plan didn’t end there though, and they deployed soldiers from the fort as well.

I never expected them to go that far since they needed to retain manpower for defense. Did they intend to finish us off here?

There were even knights in red armor at the head of their lines. Red knights, I knew it! They must be risking everything to take us down here and now!

『Urushi! Get ready to ambush the Red Knights when the moment comes!』

「Woof!」

『Just watch out for Blood Maiden’s red mist.』

Honestly, I have no clue what that red mist is. Just touching it makes people vomit blood and die, yet it doesn’t seem to be poisonous.

I can’t say for sure if Urushi can resist it.

Our soldiers deployed from the fort too, a reorganized unit of the first and second waves. They took out the undead shield bearers in the front and began intercepting Raydoss troops.

『Let’s make sure these arrows don’t reach them!』

「Nn!」

The Red Knights might break through if any arrows disturb our lines. We need to focus on blocking them more than ever.

However, the arrows didn’t come as expected.

All of them remained concentrated on Fran rather than our army. Arrow after arrow was fired at Fran without pause.

Was their intention to keep Fran from joining the fight?

Our troops collided with Raydoss troops on the ground below us.

That said, our side played one of the cards we had been holding too. Someone strong enough to take down Red Knights stood at the front of Kranzel’s lines.

「Dore is strong.」

『That must be how she got her alias, Dance Princess of Death.』

Dore had deployed into battle rather than staying back as Jean’s bodyguard. As the alias suggested, her leaps and spins displayed the grace of a ballet dancer.

However, she unleashed hits so vicious that they were the exact opposite of graceful. Those kicks must seriously hurt.

The elderly woman’s kicks were unusually powerful, even from our point of view.

Must be because they contain all the momentum of her dash and spins. Her foot crushed shields, shattered armor, and sometimes even sent heads flying off like soccer balls.

Moreover, her dance made the timing hard to read, so evasion became difficult.

She was up against Red Knights, the strongest men in Raydoss, and they could do nothing to stop her.

Or so it seemed, but the enemy was not content to just get beaten. After twenty Red Knights fell in battle, Dore suddenly lost her momentum.

She downed another twenty before starting to cough blood from her mouth. All her grace was gone, and she appeared to be in such pain that she could barely stand.

I saw blood dripping from Dore’s mouth. Did she breath in the Blood Maiden’s mist? But when, and where?

『Could it be the mist is mixed in with the blood of the Red Knights?』

It seems the deaths of so many Red Knights had spread more and more of the Blood Maiden’s mist. Moreover, Dore fights bare-handed, so she could not avoid contact.

This was a particularly bad match-up for her.

Her dulled movements began to drag her down in the battle against the Red Knights. They finally managed to land a blow on her, though not a direct hit.

It was only a small cut on her arms.

Yet despite the tiny scratch, Dore started vomiting even more blood. Her eyes turned red as well, spilling blood like tears.

Their weapons must be imbued with mist too. The Blood Maiden Knights employed a strategy of directly injecting mist whenever they wound their enemies.

『I’ll heal Dore. You handle the arrows for a while.』

「Okay!」

Dore was pretty far, but not outside the effective range of my magic. I morphed my decorative cord into steel thread, stretching it towards Dore to expand my range as much as possible.

Then, I invoked Maximum Heal with a bit of extra mana. Her complexion improved and the bleeding stopped, but this only lasted for a moment. Her physical condition immediately deteriorated again.

Perhaps some foreign substance other than poison entered her body. In that case, she’ll simply keep taking damage matter how much we heal her.

『Then how about this!』

I invoked cleansing magic in an attempt to expel the red mist from her body. Her blackened skin appeared to lighten a little.

Is it working?

After a consultation with Fran, I invested additional points in Purification Magic and used a more powerful spell.

『Total Purification!』

One of the most powerful purification spells, acquired at level 5 in Purification Magic. While only capable of targeting a single person, it cures almost all status ailments and returns the target to normal condition.

I noticed the change in Dore’s mana immediately. There was an unknown, foreign mana mixed in with her own, and my spell erased almost all of it. Her mana signature had returned to practically the same as when we first met.

It’s not a perfect cure, and the same thing will happen if she gets infected again. That said, she won’t be dying on us as long as I use this spell occasionally.

『Great! Purification works on the red mist!』

We may have gained another trump card against the Red Knights. Good news for us!