Catgirls And Dungeons (Yuri)-Chapter 154: Light of the dead

We swing,

And swing.

And swing again.

Sheol roars in our grip, its three opened eyes flaring as the blade cuts through the swarming Sentinels. Each strike cleaves through radiant bodies, scattering particles of divine light into the air like shattered stars. The battlefield crackles with energy, and our vision is so bright it’s nearly impossible to see things.

Meanwhile, the Sentinels attacks are really relentless. Some of their attacks land. A blades of light sliced down from above and cut into Alter’s shoulder, a spears of radiance thrust at our chest, but none of them pierce through Azazel’s Guard. The armor adapts instantly, dispersing impacts with blackened scales and crimson mana pulses. It even mend itself and automatically fixes any broken parts or cut.

"Damn! Eris’s gear is really good!" I exclaim in awe.

"Uh huh!" Alter nods mid-swing, slashing a Sentinel clean in half. "If it weren’t for them, I’d be having a hell of a time right now!"

As she says it, three Sentinels dive toward us from above. She raises Sheol, parries all three with a single spinning block. The ground beneath our boots craters and shatters from the force, but we don’t fall.

"HRAAAHH!"

She retaliates with a brutal horizontal sweep, black lightning flaring from the edge of Sheol. The Sentinels are flung backward, sliced to bits midair, their glowing remnants scattering like ash on wind.

These guys, these angel wannabes, they’re strong, way stronger than the zombies and skeletons we fought earlier.

But with Eris’ equipment and Alter’s skill, they almost feel manageable now.

Almost.

Because one problem remains…

They are just keep coming, and coming!

Like they are multiplying endlessly!

"This is madness!" I growl. "How many Sentinels did you summon, Alter?!"

"Tch…" Alter grits her teeth as Sheol whips into another parry, black lightning trailing from its edge. "Not this many. Not even close!"

"Then why the hell are there so many?! They just keep coming!"

"Maybe… it’s the corruption?" she replies, glancing around at the spiraling chaos, her breath are becoming heavier now, I feel it.

"Yeah…" I

After all, we are still inside the barrier, which is technically a closed world that nothing outside can influence inside.

The only variable is demonic corruption from Morvena

Yeah, that must be it.

However…

"No. Wait," Alter suddenly says. "I think I know now. It’s not just the corruption."

She slashes again, sending three Sentinels spiraling into the mist.

"It’s her mana. They’ve absorbed Morvena’s mana!"

"What?!"

"Tch." Alter clicks her tongue in frustration as more Sentinels dive from above, forcing her to step back. "You probably know that Morvena is a necromancer, right?"

"Oh—right!" I gasp.

In Alter’s memories, I remember hearing something her personnel once reported: that Morvena didn’t just come to Luminaris to become a paladin. She also studied necromancy, for some mysterious reason unrevealed.

"That’s because of her unique mana attribute," Alter continues.

"Unique… mana?"

"Yeah. It’s called Lumen Mortis. Or in other words, the Light of the Dead."

—————————

And so, Alter explains it briefly for me. Amid the chaos of battle, the pieces begin to fall into place.

Undead, by their very nature, should fear the light. They are creatures born of death and shadow, repelled by anything pure, anything radiant. But the Sentinels swarming us now are different. What fuels their endless tide isn’t ordinary light.

It’s something far more complicated.

Lumen Mortis.

The Light of the Dead.

Unlike the holy light that burns and purifies, Lumen Mortis is the only kind of radiance that can exist in the realm of the dead. It doesn’t banish. It guides. It soothes. It reaches the forgotten corners of broken souls and offers them redemption and happiness.

But that sacred light holds a dual nature.

It can also awaken the dead. If the necromancer wills it, instead of soothing the undead, they can also stir them, command them, drive them into a frenzy and turn them into powerful soldiers without pain or fear.

That’s what makes this light one of the most powerful attributes a necromancer can possess.

And that’s probably why this dungeon is overflowing with undead. They were stirred by Morvena’s necromantic mana, then corrupted by her demonic curse.

————————

"But something still doesn’t make sense!" I shout. "Those Sentinels aren’t undead! Or—wait… are they?"

"Normally? No," Alter replies, slicing through another one midair."However, these are clearly different!"

And then I see it.

The battlefield isn’t overflowing just because of their numbers, it’s because they keep coming back.

Every time a Sentinel shatters into radiant fragments, the particles don’t fade. They linger, they shimmer, they pull together again, reassembling into a new form within seconds.

"They’re rebirthing?" I gasp.

"Exactly. The bastards don’t die. They respawn!"

Alter narrows her eyes, watching as another Sentinel reforms just ahead of us.

"They’re made of more than just light," she says grimly. "Their bodies are composed of actual Lumen Mortis. A fusion of divine light and undeath. And that makes them ten times harder to kill."

"Then what the hell are we supposed to do?!" I yell. "We’ll be here forever at this rate!"

Alter doesn’t answer immediately. Her breath is short. Her movements—though still sharp—are beginning to slow. I can feel it too.

Her time’s almost up.

The limit on her soul’s control… it’s closing in.

If she loses control now, I’ll be left alone.

I will be fucked.

Because, obviously, there’s no way for me to fight these enemies. I can’t even kill one Sentinel, let alone hundreds of them like this.

…

"I guess there’s no choice, huh?" Alter mutters under her breath, narrowing her eyes.

She then bites into her thumb. Blood wells up, dark and glowing. She presses the wound to Sheol’s hilt and begins to draw a long, jagged symbol across the blade.

The blood sizzles on contact. Smoke rises as the sword absorbs it greedily.

"Huh? Alter, what are you doing?" I ask.

"Powering up, obviously" she says, her voice low. "I’m going to open the fourth eye on this bad boy. At higher level, this divine darkness should be able to erase Lumen Mortis!."

"W-wait, you can do that?!"

Even at three out of six eyes open, Sheol was already terrifying. The sheer weight, the destruction, the bloodthirst it radiated… are all incredible!

Then what the hell will it become at four?

"Yeah, but it’s not easy, you know?" Alter says, her voice is strained, but determined. "I’m surrendering most of my recovered soul energy to make it happen."

Her grip tightens on the sword. The air around us begins to tremble.

"Sorry Felicia. After this…" she exhales. "I’ll be gone for a looong while."