"Obviously I had to finish them off quickly with Vorax’s help before I could use Wake Up on them," Mark replied matter-of-factly.
"..."
Mark had said it in the sa tone soone might use to explain that they had to restart their computer before installing an update.
"Wake up only works on corpses, so... well, first I had to turn them into corpses."
Rose stayed silent and stared at him for a couple of seconds.
Her expression went from confusion to surprise, then from surprise to sothing that looked like a complete reassessnt of the person standing before her, and finally landed on a half smile that mixed amusent with sothing close to respect.
"...I didn’t expect that from you, Master," Rose said in a teasing tone. "Killing five innocent people without hesitation to use them as weapons... that’s pretty ruthless."
"It was five strangers or the three of us, the math was pretty simple," Mark replied with a shrug from the floor.
"Don’t get wrong," Rose said, raising a hand. "I’m not saying it as a criticism. In fact, I’m glad to know my Master is soone competent who can make hard decisions without freezing up... that’s more valuable than any combat ability."
"Well, thanks for the compli—"
Mark couldn’t finish the sentence because five bodies launched themselves on top of him.
"Master, that was incredible!"
"You’re amazing, Master!"
"Obviously our Master is soone competent! He’s the best Master in the world!"
"What a brilliant strategy! I’m so proud to serve soone like you!"
"Master, Master, Master!"
The five reanimated won had thrown themselves at Mark from every possible direction.
Their bloodied arms wrapped around his neck, torso, and shoulders as voices filled with blind devotion rained down on him from every angle.
Mark, still lying on the floor, suddenly found himself buried under a pile of female bodies hugging him with enthusiasm that bordered on fanatical.
"Hey, hey..." Mark said calmly, raising his hands among the sea of arms surrounding him. "I appreciate the enthusiasm, I really do, but... could you give a little space? Your open wounds are getting blood all over ."
And that wasn’t an exaggeration.
All five were still covered in both dried and fresh blood, with open wounds dripping onto Mark’s clothes with every movent.
Mark’s clothes, which until a few minutes ago had been relatively clean, now looked like sothing out of a low-budget horror film.
"Yes, Master!"
"We’re so sorry, Master!"
"Forgive us, Master!"
"We’re sorry for making a ss of you, Master!"
"We got carried away, Master!"
The five obediently pulled back and sat around him in a semicircle, looking at him with the unconditional admiration Mark knew so well by now.
’Great... five more Arias.’
Mark sat up and shook the blood off his arms as best he could, which wasn’t much considering they had essentially bathed him in it.
He turned toward Yuki, who was still standing beside the nun’s body in the sa position she’d been in since stepping off her.
"Good work keeping the crazy one busy, Yuki."
Yuki simply nodded in silence, then her gaze drifted toward the body on the floor.
The nun lay face up with her eyes open, those green eyes that minutes ago had burned with fury were now completely blank.
The hole in her chest where the dagger had entered was clean, right through the heart.
’Flawless work, as always,’ Mark thought with mild amusent.
Mark got fully to his feet, shaking dust and blood off himself, and walked toward the body.
Yuki stepped slightly to the side to let him through.
Rose also approached, and the three of them ended up standing around the woman’s body.
Mark stared at the corpse for a mont before speaking.
"That woman seed to know you, Yuki."
"It seed that way," Yuki replied without changing expression. "Throughout the entire fight she kept talking to ... she even asked what I was doing here, and said I was supposed to be missing."
"Do you rember anything about her?" Mark asked.
"No..." Yuki’s answer was imdiate, without a trace of doubt.
Mark simply nodded, it didn’t surprise him.
Yuki had lost most of her mories, so if this woman was part of her past, that information had been lost along with everything else.
’Though assuming they knew each other... that raises so interesting questions about who Yuki was before I found her...’
Mark set that thought aside for later and stood looking at the body in silence.
’Terrifying.’ That was the only word that ca to mind when he looked at this woman.
She had carried five people up from the lower floors of the Demon Lord’s dungeon.
She had cleared an entire hall of forty monsters as if they were trash, and after all of that had fought Yuki and Rose simultaneously while severely wounded, and even then the fight had been tilting in her favor.
And according to what Rose had shouted during the battle, this woman was a cleric.
’Though to she looked more like a berserker than anything else.’
What kind of cleric fought with giant gauntlets and vaporized enemies with her fists?
’If this is what she could do half dead... what’s her actual level?’
"Master."
Rose’s voice broke through his thoughts and Mark looked at her.
Rose was staring at the body with an expression that was sowhat difficult to read.
"Aren’t you planning to revive her?" Rose asked directly, gesturing at the body with a casual wave of her hand.
Mark didn’t answer right away.
’I could try, but... her body is so damaged I’m not sure it would even be worth attempting,’
Mark couldn’t keep thinking because Rose spoke again.
"Think about it," Rose continued, crossing her arms. "We barely managed to beat her in that condition, with wounds that would have killed any normal person three tis over... honestly, I don’t even want to imagine what she’s capable of at her best."
Rose paused, then added with a half smile.
"And being honest... seeing what she can do, it would be a waste not to have her on our side."
With that last thing Rose said, there was nothing left to think about.
Rose was right, this woman was, without exaggeration, the most dangerous thing Mark had encountered since arriving in this world, obviously not counting Ely, and no matter how damaged her body was, even half her strength was already dangerous.
And if he could have that strength on his side...
"You’re right, and besides, we have nothing to lose by trying."
Mark knelt beside the nun’s body and extended his hand over the woman’s chest, right next to the hole Yuki’s dagger had left, and closed his eyes.
"Wake Up."
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