"I know you can hear me." The Duke of the Rotting Garden stalked between the buildings, curled his fingers around corners, and menaced the escaped Walter and Elin. "If you run, then I will hunt you. I know you want to retreat to Camp Wolf, but this battle demands its conclusion, and if I have to follow you there, then so be it. So, come out of hiding, and let's settle this honorably."

"We can't bring him to Camp Wolf," Elin whispered.

Walter exhaled through his nose. His first instinct, when Elin dived with him out of the boss room, was to [Teleport] to Camp Wolf. The buildings blocked his line-of-sight, so direct transportation was impossible.

After Elin dragged him into hiding, his next instinct was to use the [Home] spell. 'This spell teleports the caster's party to the nearest safe area. It cannot be cast when monsters are nearby.'

"Gotta be fucking kidding me," Walter mumbled under his breath, "So much for being all-powerful."

"Walter?" Elin glanced at him, expecting a solution.

He shook his head. They could, theoretically, escape with a series of [Teleports], but the Duke of the Rotting Garden's behavior troubled Walter. No matter what hiding place they scurried to, the nosferatu arrived at the general area and then seemed to lose them.

He mentioned something about his sense of smell before. He knows where we're at, Walter thought, he's toying with us and stretching out his fun. No, he's acting as he's expected to, as a bad guy.

Elin clasped Walter's hand, intending to dart to another spot, but he tugged back, and she stopped. With one look, he communicated his thoughts to stay and fight.

"We don't stand a chance." Elin forced a grim smile.

Walter returned a grin, but it looked like a man caught cheating at cards. "If we put our power together, we might. Do you trust me, the way I trust you? If so, give me permission."

Kieran, the [Boss] known as the 'Curse of the Earth,' Duke of the Rotting Garden, sniffed the air. As a nosferatu, he was sensitive to the proximity of blood. Finding the two escapees proved simple. Boss fights should be dramatic, so Kieran chose to extend it by feigning inability.

The idea of the [Heroes] self-destructing to destroy him tantalized his poetic soul. His disappointment could not be measured when they declined. After ignoring their third hiding spot, Kieran grew irritated by their unwillingness to fight.

"You ruined it. If you wait like cattle, then I'll butcher you." He turned, circled around, and marched straight to Walter and Elin. He cursed them for their lack of resolve.

They were gone.

He sniffed, and their scents were still strong. Yet, pinpointing them was now impossible.

Elin's sun-bright [Holy Sword] pierced his heart from behind. She blindly stabbed through the wall and his chest, needing to push her arm through for reach. The precision was perfect. Kieran stared down in surprise and thoughtlessly grabbed the extruding metal. When Elin yanked the sword back, it cut his fingers and torso again, and Kieran coughed with pain. A chunk of his HP was shaved off.

He lived for hundreds of years. He never expected, with his level of awareness, to be backstabbed, let alone by a paladin. A paladin's [Sense Danger], like his [Blood Scent], could not predict an enemy's location this accurately.

He screeched, spitting like a cat, and crashed through the plaster wall to return the injury.

Kieran reluctantly admitted her reflexes were superb. Before he finished tearing through the wall, the paladin slashed him with an upward swing. The force sent him sprawling clear of the flying debris. He tumbled to a stop twenty feet away. The nosferatu realized his stats, while an advantage, was not going to win this fight.

"[Lightning II]!"

With a blinding flash, a bolt struck Kieran. From hiding, the wizard launched a spell--

"Wait," the nosferatu pointed at the paladin, "You cast that?!"

She entertained no parley. Without moving her feet or casting a spell, the paladin launched forward after crouching, with her enchanted sword pointed to skewer him.

The nosferatu parried the telegraphed movement, but the reversal of her momentum caught him off-guard. Before his failed counterattack could reset, she slid back in with a flurry of attacks.

Inexplicably, with preternatural balance, she climbed up and knelt on his shoulders, pinching his neck with her shins. After a twist of her hips, which would snap a mortal man's neck, she backflipped, and his entire body spun above her like a rock on a string. The Duke of the Rotting Garden slammed into the cobblestone street, hard enough to bounce. Stones dislodged and scattered.

What truly terrified Kieran was she fought this entire time with her eyes closed.

"[Lightning III]!"

Again, Elin incanted a spell she had no rights to, and the bolt stabbed through the nosferatu's stomach. Lightning originated from the air above its target, so the mage hazarded no risks.

"You bitch," he growled, "I'll drain you dry!"

When he scrambled to his feet, she had slid to safety.

The paladin twirled in place, and if she were wearing a dress or skirt, it would have flowed around her. After a flourish, she raised her sword and screamed, "[Righteous Judgement]!"

"Ah," the nosferatu spoke with a dispassionate tone, "It seems your [Holy Sword] has a second phase. I've never seen it before."

The enchanted light of her blade extended and balanced over her. When she yanked the sword down, the pillar crashed on top of the monster. Every rock in the road unpacked and was sent flying. The windows, then doors, and finally the plaster walls of the nearby buildings, buckled from overpressure.

Kieran realized half his HP was gone, and he did not land one strike.

The paladin collapsed to her knee and leaned on her sword for balance. "Walter, is this how you see the world? My sight is confused. My stamina is depleted, and I'm at my limit." Then, she continued the conversation by herself. "I know, Elin. Let's tag out. [Teleport]."

After accepting the [Grimoire], Walter learned things.

This reality is divided into two parts: the worldly and the numinous, and a person has a unified physical body with a magical one. A mage, or a cleric, is an individual that learns where the dividing line is and uses their numinous form without their physical anchor. It stands to reason a powerful mage can use their numinous body with complete independence, and Walter struck upon an idea.

When Walter suggested to Elin that he afflicted her with [Astral Possession], her eyes bulged, but she tentatively nodded. The [Scales of Love and Lust] prepared the connecting bridge, and Walter merely stepped inside her.

Wow. A man's armor is really uncomfortable for a woman, Walter thought. I always thought boob armor was a joke, but there might be a good reason for it.

"Please ignore that," Walter apologized to Elin, spoken with Elin's body. He realized a weight clicked on the scales.

Elin sighed patiently. "Do not, under any circumstances, get any ideas."

"Like what?" Click.

She snapped her teeth. "Walter, I'm entrusting my body to you, but this is unsettling. Don't be immodest, please."

"Ah, well, about that," Walter said, "I'm not a warrior, so it's more like cooperation. I'll provide the information and intent, and you'll provide the skill and timing."

"How so?"

The [Grimoire] inundated her when Walter attempted to share it wholesale, and she requested for him to stop. So, he added piece by piece, until she could track the nosferatu's outline.

The monster was deliberately going house-by-house, on an obvious path that brought him closer. Once the vampire was revealed to her, it was clear he was not searching but stalling.

"No wonder you almost brute-force your way free of [Charm Person]. Walter, how can you even look at the world like that?!"

He shrugged with her body, "Practice, I suppose."

When you think about it, if you put a medieval woman in a car and drive down the freeway, then it'd be a pure terror for her. So, if she looked at a computer screen, she might not be able to adjust to the sudden influx of information.

At this point, Walter realized there was new information about Elin.

A tutorial move-list appeared for the 'Falling Feather' style, and he recognized the game finally, 'Valkyrie's Vengeance.' The character's abilities passed on to her bloodline was named, 'Einherjar,' a sexually repressed and flirty fanservice character. Popularity rankings consistently put her in the top three, and, power-wise, she was indispensable in tournaments.

"Suddenly, a lot of things about you make sense, Elin."

Her tone grew defensive. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

He bypassed the oncoming argument. "This is more cheaty than having every spell," Walter whined with Elin's voice, "Is it even possible for a paladin to be dual-class? What bullshit."

Working together, the nosferatu, in short, was getting his ass kicked. Elin accessed moves she subconsciously strove for her entire life, and Walter could feel the joy in her spirit as they manifested. She even giggled when Walter noticed, a little too closely, the grab-move.

It was too much to hope for an easy win, though.

Elin's leveled-up stamina could not match the output required.

So, Walter stepped up, and he invited her spirit into him.

"You can't cast magic large enough to kill me, not without hurting your woman," the Duke of the Rotting Garden said, "It was foolish to come out."

Walter slammed his fist into his palm, and both Walter and Elin said with his voice. "Maybe we'll just beat you to death, then."