Chapter 1263: Enhanced Nameless

We launched our assault against Laranflura and Nameless alongside the Hero Zombies.

Nameless was caught off guard, and blown away by Begareth’s flames.

「What…? What are you doing!」

「Hahaha! Sorry, former master, but we’re on different sides now! I’m thankful for it too!」

「You can say that again!」

Begareth and Oldona launched a barrage of long-range attacks, as Urushi and Yuvel charged in.

「Grrr!」

「Get crushed.」

This was a combo attack by several powerful individuals. Not even Nameless would get away unscathed, or so I thought. However, Nameless exceeded my expectations.

He first dodged Yuvel’s slash with minimal movement, then kicked away Urushi’s foreleg. After dealing with the two, he used Shadow Shift to suddenly teleport behind Fran and attempt to stab her in the back.

We simply blocked this with Guardian Deity’s Shield, but any ordinary barrier might have been powerless.

It seems both his offensive and defensive capabilities have been boosted tremendously.

「You useless zombies! What is the meaning of this?! Kill the girl!」

「How about we kill you instead! Again, I mean, since you’re already dead!」

Begareth responded to Nameless’s curses with a smile. He, as well as the other Red Knights, had a lot of hostility towards Nameless and Laranflura.

Probably because of how the East Conquest Duke and Black Skeleton Corps sacrificed so many civilians for their plot.

Our other friends joined the assault on Nameless and succeeded in holding him back.

I took one glance at the Laranflura side, and their battle was also intense. Forrund had teamed up with the Hero Zombies against her.

But they appeared to be evenly matched, even with his addition, which surprised me.

Jean and Amanda stood on guard next to Persona, keeping an eye on Maleficent, who was still frozen in place for the moment. We have no clue how he’ll act, after all.

In other words, this was our chance.

『Fran! Let’s do it!』

（Nn!）

Thus, we once again swung our blade down on the Holy Mother. Since control over the Hero Zombies is linked to me, they won’t disappear if we stop the ritual.

Which means our top priority is to stop the ritual that is supplying mana to Laranflura and Nameless.

Fran unleashed a Heavenly Judgment infused with evil-divine energy! This will cut right through any so-called invincible barrier!

「Haaah!」

However, the barrier still blocked the best blow Fran was capable of. The mechanism seemed to be the same as the one on the crystal, where the barrier is continuously reinforced by vast amounts of mana until the crystal runs empty.

Nameless was so composed because he had confidence in the barrier. It doesn’t look like we’ll have an easy time getting through to the Holy Mother this way.

「Holy Mother! Why are you just standing there?! Take back control from these simpletons!」

「…」

「Dammit! Did they even manage to dominate the Holy Mother?」

Nameless glared hatefully at Jean, seemingly of the belief that Jean stole control over the Hero Zombies and Holy Mother through necromancy. Apparently, our attack managed to cover up the Holy Mother’s betrayal.

Taking advantage of that opening, Fran went for Nameless this time.

She rushed in from his blind spot and swung my blade down in an instant, but nameless casually blocked the swing with his fist. That’s not the end though!

「Fuhahaha! Futile! Now perish!」

「Not happening!」

I summoned Avenger behind Nameless for a surprise attack, but he dodged it easily. Moreover, Avenger got sent flying by a counter elbow.

Shouting that loudly during a surprise attack isn’t going to work, obviously!

That said, Avenger was pretty much unscathed. Had we taken Nameless’s elbow strike, it would have dealt heavy damage.

I know how durable Avenger is, but that attack contained enough power to blow off half his body…

「Fuhaha! My goddess! I accept your protection with gratitude!」

Huh? But I didn’t do anything…? Wait, did “goddess” refer to the Evil God Fragment or something? Maybe it lent out some evil energy to him again.

Using evil energy to cancel out Nameless’s mana would certainly reduce the power of his hits.

（Master! We should use evil energy too!）

『Right.』

I added evil energy to Fran’s attack, at which point Nameless started mumbling in frustration.

「Nragh! Where is this evil energy coming from?! Dammit!」

Nameless was currently enveloped by a considerably dense magical barrier. It would take an equal amount of evil energy to disrupt or nullify.

Unfortunately for him though, we have Evil God Fragment on our side. Simply activating the Evil God’s Trust skill was enough, and the fragment would eagerly supply us with more than enough.

Fran’s slashes began cutting through Nameless’s barrier as if it was tofu, tearing apart his body. He regenerated these wounds practically instantly, but I saw his regeneration speed slowly down over time.

As I thought, evil energy was super effective.

『How about this then?』

「Gah! Now purification magic too!? Accursed girl!」

I invoked the level 6 purification spell, Holy Strike, but Nameless deflected it with a back fist. That said, I noticed the barrier on Nameless’s arm thinning out for a moment.

『Purification magic is effective too.』

（Then let’s use both.）

『Right!』

From there, Fran and I launched a variety of attacks using purification magic and evil energy, while the Hero Zombies also assaulted Nameless with evil energy.

Despite not dealing considerable damage, Urushi was actually the most helpful here. He used Shadow Shift to nip at Nameless’s feet and hinder his movements, which allowed our allies to land their attacks.

One direct hit after another, and Nameless’s mana was getting depleted all the while. However, it wasn’t completely one-sided.

Fran was fine due to being protected by the Guardian Deity’s Shield, but Nameless inflicted a great deal of damage to the others through counters. Particularly in bad shape was Yuvel.

He dove in to protect others, so he ended up taking the most damage. Since healing magic won’t work on him, we had little choice but to wait for his regeneration.

Though not as severe as Yuvel, The other Hero Zombies were in similar conditions, including those facing off against Laranflura.

If we continued to whittle each other down like this, we would risk having several of the Hero Zombies disappear. Fran seems to have sensed that too.

「Haaah!」

『Fran? What’s this all of a sudden?』

She began to envelop me with a purification-attribute Elemental Sword. However, that simply caused it to cancel out with my evil energy. As a result, only the black lightning that came naturally with Fran’s Awakening was left on my blade.

（Only evil energy or only purification magic won’t work… Divine energy isn’t good enough either. In that case, let’s mix everything.）

『M-Mix everything…?』

That’s just like the fallacy where throwing all of your favorite foods into a pot will make them even tastier…

（You and I can pull it off. We got this.）

Fran asserted with a confident tone.

（So you handle the evil and divine energy.）

Fran looked at me with eyes that weren’t even considering failure as a possibility.

There’s no way I can refuse if you give me that look!

『Got it! You take care of the purification magic and black lightning then.』

「Nn!」

I guess I have to prove the “mix everything” fallacy is true, for Fran’s sake!