The Exiled First-born of the Noble House. Rising to the Top With the Worthless Skill [Null Poison]

Elphas

Even as the former hero undead was defeated with a thundering crash, Elpahs continued to summon more and more undeads without even a single fluctuation in her expression.

It was hard to hell whether she was panicking but maintain her expression, or did she really still have everything under her control?

I was lacking info so it was hard to tell but, all I can do right now is attack her directly.

Before my [Mana Rampage] runs out, I need to get at least a good hit in.

Just as I began to prepare my magic, having completed another round of [animate undead abyss], Elphas finally spoke up again.

“You’re strong huh.
You look the same age as me more or less so I should know of you, and yet I really can’t recall ever meeting you.
Perhaps it’s too late, but may I ask your name?”

I hesitated over whether I should bother replying but, we were about to enter a battle to the death.

I felt awkward about firing a magic and ignoring her, so I quickly just spoke my name.

“………Esta.”

“……….I really haven’t heard of you.
Do you perhaps have a last name?”

“None.
I’m no noble, but was raised at an orphanage.
And it’s normal that you don’t know of me, as today’s the first time we have met.”

“I see, I asked a rude question it seems.”

“Don’t worry about it.
Now, I have people that are as close as family to me, and I have even managed to come close to you who was born and raised an Elite.”

“Hmmm………..I feel a little envious of you.
But, let me correct you, you have not come close to me, and you never will.
When I said you will die soon, those words were not a lie.”

She looked at me with cold eyes as she spoke, and then aimed the hourglass-like tip of her two handed staff at me.

And with a quick chant, she fired an advanced magic [Flame Fronde].

Whether it be her skill with quick chants even for advanced magic, or her way of kneading mana.
Both were so brilliantly polished and refined, that I ended up fascinated just looking at her technique even though she was an enemy.

The magic she was similar to [Meteor Flame], a compound magic of fire and earth.
And as it rushed towards me——I hurriedly quick chanted a intermediate magic and fired it back.

“[Hail Kugel].”

I had fired it in a panic but, the block of ice was much larger than Elphas’ magic as they crashed into each other at a high speed.

The element affinity was the worst between these two spells so I was confident within my mind that her advanced magic would end up winning in the end but…..

Perhaps because of [Mana Rampage], my ice magic easily crushed her {Flame Fronde].

And furthermore, it continued its momentum and headed straight towards Elphas.

She quickly casted [Clay Epitaph] to create a wall of earth to fully block my [Hail Kugel] this time but……honestly, with just this interaction, I suddenly was confident of my victory now.

“You said I’d never be able to catch up to you but, if you have a hidden trump card, now’d be the time to use it you know? My next magic will kill you otherwise.”

“Esta, you really are very strong.——-but the fact remains that I am still stronger.”

Even after all this, her expression remained unchanging as always as she confidently replied back.

My intermediate magic had won against Elphas’ advanced one.
And it took another spell to fully block my ice magic.

Perhaps she was simply acting tough at this point but, seeing her expression and her attitude, I understood that that was not the case, but that only made me even more afraid.

Feeling a bit unsettled, I decided I needed to quickly finish her off, so I began to prepare an advanced magic to end the duel when suddenly——-

Elpahs suddenly pulled out a dagger from within her robe, and then aimed it at me.

“A dagger…….?”

Unable to comprehend the unexpected situation, I ended up muttering that out loud.

In a panic, I quickly refocused myself, the prepared to fire another magic towards Elphas who was supposedly going to somehow attack me with the dagger but——

The action Elphas took next really was something that I could have never predicted.

She injected mana into the dagger, and then turned the edge of the knife in the exact opposite direction from me, and before I could do anything further, she stabbed it into her own heart.

Unable to even comprehend just what was going on at this point, I was wondering if perhaps the dagger was some kind of magic item that could enhance the user’s ability or something but……

Elphas simply crumbled to the ground as blood began to seep out of her chest, and her mouth, and her body began to spasm.
And soon, all of it completely stopped.

I didn’t even need to go near to know that she had died.

I was unable to hide my shock, but I could only assume that she decided to take her own life rather than die by my hands maybe??

I forced this explanation inside my head, and was about to turn away from her when suddenly, something happened.

A huge vortex of mana, so strong that you could see it with bare eyes began to gather above Elphas’ dead body.

The mana gradually turned into a large black clump, and then black strings, similar to Chris-san’s [Sticky strings] came out of the lump and attached themselves on to Elphas’ body.

And then the dead corpse of Elphas, was slowly lifted up by those black strings, and then forced her mouth to say the chant of a specific spell.

“[Marionette Corpse]”