Within the Kingdom of Lugnica, war had broken out.
Following Albedo's orders, the Great Tomb divided its forces. Each member of the Pleiades led a detachment, launching attacks across the land, their advance pointing straight toward the royal capital.
The squad led by Antilene and Shalltear was tasked with subjugating magical beasts and the Sin Archbishops along the route.
Even though Shalltear and Antilene both had opinions about Albedo, since the Commander had delegated command authority to her, they loyally carried out their assigned duties.
In a sense, the Great Tomb Squad represented the pinnacle of magical power within the Overlord world—and at this moment, they were challenging half the entire Re:Zero world.
However, unlike the pre-departure strategy meeting where everyone had discussed detailed operational plans, this battle between two magical worlds was taking an unexpectedly bizarre turn from the very beginning.
Shua—shua—
Shalltear, followed by several of her vampire brides, moved swiftly through the forest.
Before long, she located a Witch Cult stronghold.
Hum—
With the powerful perception of a Guardian and aided by the holographic map, she detected the presence of not only numerous uniformed Witch Cultists but also a pale young man with white hair wearing a white coat.
His face was expressionless, almost colorless, and aside from the teardrop-shaped ornament at his ear, there was nothing remarkable about him. He could easily disappear in a crowd.
However, judging from the cultists' deferential attitude toward him, his status was clearly extraordinary.
This was Shalltear's target for this mission—the Sin Archbishop of Greed.
"Hmm… a rather troublesome enemy."
Shalltear rarely adopted such a serious tone.
She was often lectured by Albedo for her lack of composure and was even mocked by Gudako, who called her "Shia." Though she didn't know what that nickname meant, she was quite sure it wasn't something flattering.
Determined to prove herself and earn respect from others, Shalltear decided to treat this mission seriously.
"Alright… the small fry are easy enough. My vampire subordinates can handle them. The key is Greed himself…"
"His fifty-three wives are nearby. To completely eliminate him, I must destroy them all together."
"His 'Lion Heart' skill lasts five seconds, granting him brief invincibility. I'll need to chain attacks to outlast its duration…"
"Perhaps an instant-death skill might work…?"
Her mind burned as she constructed a flawless battle plan.
Once she confirmed everything was perfect—
Shua—
She transformed into her Valkyrie form, holding a Spuit Lance in one hand and a shield in the other, preparing to strike.
Suddenly—
Antilene's voice echoed through her earpiece.
"Lady Shalltear, step aside a little, move back—you're blocking the firing line."
"...?"
"What?"
Instinctively, Shalltear complied.
Then she heard—
"Target locked. Alright, who's taking the shot this time?"
"Scama? Lilynette? You both want to try? Fine then…"
"Three, two, one—Chain Lightning!!!"
"Fallen Down!!!"
Zzz—Zlaaap!Boom—!!!
A barrage of blue-violet lightning erupted from behind her, striking the enemy position with explosive force, instantly reducing the nearest Witch Cultists to ash.
Before Greed could even react, a blinding column of light descended from the heavens, obliterating the entire stronghold.
Whether he managed to activate his Authority in time was unclear—but even if he did, it wasn't enough. In Shalltear's perception, the target was utterly annihilated.
"???"
Shalltear stood frozen, staring blankly as Antilene's squad approached from behind, looking exhilarated.
The two who had just fired the spells looked especially thrilled—their own magic wasn't powerful enough for high-tier casting, but the scrolls had given them the chance.
"What was that…?"
"We're purging the Witch Cult along the way," Evileye replied casually.
"After studying in the Starsea Empire for a while, we realized that relying on magic or close combat is risky and inefficient," she added matter-of-factly.
"So, we changed our tactics."
The Nation-Destroying Loli opened her backpack—an entire bundle of magic scrolls nearly blinded Shalltear with their glow.
"Let Tia, Tina, and the others perform stealth reconnaissance first. Once they locate the exact enemy positions and coordinates, we'll use the magic scrolls for long-range fire coverage."
"Depending on the enemy's strength, we can use anything from Tier Six to Super-Tier magic. Activating scrolls barely consumes any mana, so even Albedo could use them."
"..."
"Reconnaissance? Coordinate targeting? Fire coverage?"
Was this really supposed to be a magic world's strategy?!
Shalltear's expression twisted as she stared at Antilene's squad, feeling something deeply wrong.
Come on! She had spent so much effort trying to think tactically—and these girls just swooped in and stole the kill with two attacks.
Didn't that make her look like an idiot?!
The Commander was definitely laughing at her from the ship right now—he had to be!
"You can join us, you know. We're just making efficient use of our equipment," Evileye comforted her.
"The Commander probably gave the Guardians even more gear than us, right?"
"Ah… right!"
Shalltear paused for a moment, then realized—
The Guardians not only had countless disposable scrolls but also the rare equipment issued by Setsuna himself—World-Class Items.
Back at the base, she'd had little chance to use them.
Now was the perfect time for them to shine.
"Indeed. Let's go annihilate a few more Witch Cult bases, then regroup with Albedo."
"I can't miss out on a chance to conquer a kingdom. I heard there's a top-class fighter in their army, supposedly the strongest in this world."
...
Meanwhile—
The Pleiades, acting separately, were conquering the kingdom's territories with overwhelming efficiency.
Before such power, no city in the Kingdom of Lugnica could resist.
The better-informed nobles fled toward the capital with their families before the undead army even arrived.
Most ordinary citizens, however, stayed in their towns—trembling as they awaited the undead's rule.
"Worms, kneel and submit to the Supreme One's might, and I may spare your lives," Narberal declared coldly as she accepted another town's surrender, casually giving the defenders strange nicknames as she went.
"Lady Albedo, I've conquered five towns. The Mosquitoes, the Slugs, the Leafworms… all have surrendered."
"...Narberal, I want city names, not insect names."
A vein pulsed on Albedo's forehead.
"Ah~ you'd better surrender soon~ Otherwise, I'll just kill you all~" Lupusregina cheerfully threatened, terrifying the locals with her bright smile.
Though the undead army was frightening to behold, surprisingly, there were no massacres after the cities were occupied.
The undead merely left a small garrison behind to maintain order before continuing their march forward.
Aside from executing a few stubborn resisters, they didn't interfere much with ordinary civilians.
They didn't care—or perhaps, it simply didn't matter to them.
The undead army's objective was to conquer the kingdom and the world. Petty cruelty toward civilians was beneath them—that was something only the lowest undead or amateur necromancers would do.
In the royal capital of Lugnica—
The Sage Council and the kingdom's upper echelons had been confined to the palace for days, too anxious to leave.
Nobles and generals gathered around the sand table map, simulating troop movements and discussing strategies in panic.
"Report—Hakdili Town has fallen! Abinat Town has fallen!"
"Fort Grack has been destroyed by a bone dragon—now nothing but ruins!"
Every scout report brought more bad news.
They were advancing too fast!
The nobles and sages removed the fallen flags on the map one by one, exchanging grim looks.
From the moment the undead army appeared and began splitting its forces, their advance had been unstoppable—sweeping across the kingdom in mere days.
There wasn't even time to request reinforcements from neighboring countries.
This tireless, day-and-night-marching undead legion was a war machine incarnate.
"Damn it! That was my territory!!!"
One elegantly dressed noble crushed his glass in rage, his teeth grinding audibly.
"Those undead… they slaughtered my people just like that…!"
The noble clutched his chest in pain at the thought of his territory being conquered.
"Uh…" The scout hesitated, clearly wanting to add something.
"My lord, forgive my interruption, but… according to reports, the undead army hasn't really interfered much with the cities they've occupied."
"As long as the people don't resist and agree to surrender, they don't harm humans. In fact… they might even be more civilized than the Imperial Army. They don't even take loot."
"Huh?" The duke froze.
In an era of cold steel, conquering cities almost always involved plunder—but this undead army was astonishingly disciplined.
No massacres. No looting. More civilized than most human wars—all one had to do was kneel and surrender.
They seemed to care for nothing except conquest itself.
"So, after taking the cities… they did nothing else?"
Reinhard asked curiously.
"Uh… not exactly." The scout thought for a moment.
"Rumor has it they've been searching for certain strange girls in each city… then transporting them away by airship. Many were from the slums, young girls, quite small in age."
"Also, Duke Karsten's daughter—Lady Crusch Karsten—is reportedly among those on the list."
"It's said the undead army's commander spoke privately with the Duke, and after that, he agreed to it. No one knows the details…"
"What?!"
Everyone froze.
"No money taken, no massacres—just searching for little girls?! Are these so-called 'Supremes' here to kidnap lolis?!"
The theory was so bizarre that the entire palace fell into an awkward silence.
Only Roswaal stroked his chin thoughtfully.
He recalled the disappearance of Ram and Rem and couldn't shake the feeling that it was somehow connected.
His Gospel still offered no guidance—the enemy was completely unaffected by prophecy.
"No… that's not right!"
After a moment, one of the sages spoke up.
"No matter what, they are undead! Their objective is to conquer the kingdom—perhaps even the entire world!"
"We must stop them! If the capital falls, the Kingdom of Lugnica will be destroyed. We must defend it at all costs!"
The atmosphere in the throne hall grew grim.
"How many troops can we mobilize right now?" one of the generals asked.
"..."
After some thought, the sage replied,
"Since the invasion began, we've been summoning forces from across the realm. Including the Royal Knights and the Palace Guard, we have over two hundred thousand troops—but only about one-tenth can be considered elite."
As a feudal kingdom, most of their troops were levied conscripts—good enough for bandits, but ill-suited to face the undead army.
Thus, the Royal Knights and the few elite battalions carried the kingdom's hopes.
"They bear various divine blessings," another sage noted. "In battle, each could face a hundred foes."
"Hmm… if we recruit more demi-humans, we might increase our numbers further," a third sage suggested, studying the map intently.
"All forces are to be gathered to defend the royal capital. We will face the undead army head-on."
"The fate of the kingdom will be decided here!"
—
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