"Are there a lot of skeletons in this Thorns Swamp?" Stingham asked Philp and Emila while clinging onto his last hope.
"A lot." Ayrin answered.
"You never came here before, how do you know that!?" Stingham shouted.
"See for yourself." Ayrin pointed ahead.
"……"
Stingham immediately became petrified.
Bamboo shoots seemed to be growing out everywhere in his view.
However, they were not bamboo shoots, but skeleton hands.
"Why are there more dead than weeds here!? Is this Thorns Swamp a burial ground!?" Stingham cried out.
The muddy ground kept rumbling and countless skeleton hands poked out of the ground.
Densely packed skeleton hands already stretched out from the ground, while there were even more reaching out from deeper underground.
"The Thorns Swamp was the place demihumans bred and worked during the Era of the War with Dragons. This place originally contained rich tin and iron mines. In the end, the entire mountain was flattened. Metallurgy destroyed the environment here and this place eventually became the Thorns Swamp. From the Era of the War with Dragons to the Magus Era, hundreds of thousands of demihumans died here."
Philp's face also paled, "Apart from demihumans, lizardmen and weaslemen also lived here. Their populations were terrifyingly large. Near the end of the war, the lizardmen and weaslemen were eaten as food due to the shortage of supplies."
"……"
Stingham felt the urge to vomit.
"Uncle Lenyu, Uncle Philp, what about the strength of those skeleton warriors summoned by this artifact?" Ayrin asked with a serious expression.
The skeletons that had crawled out already filled their sight. The muddy ground was full of potholes and rubble. More skeleton hands continued to stretch out of the ground.
The awakened skeletons did not seem weak nor incomplete as he had thought.
Arcane energy condensed at the missing parts of every skeleton. Eventually, after they crawled out, they were patched up completely. Each skeleton's bones also seemed to be mutated into a different material as they turned black. The black bones reflected a metallic hue as if a layer of black iron was plated over the bones.
"According to the records, just like the Bone Disaster, the strength of these skeleton warriors is unrelated to the time they were alive. The same arcane power dwells in the skeletons. Their strength won't be great and they can't use arcane skills. They can only do close-range combat and should possess strength similar to a two-gate or three-gate arcane master." Philp explained.
"What's the point of discussing their strength? There are way too many of them! Even if they queue up to let us beat them and we can shatter one with a single punch, we can't win. Their bodies are like materialized weapons. If we get tired and lose the strength to resist, we will be torn up by them!" Stingham shut his eyes and shouted as he did not dare to look any longer.
For this rare occasion, Rinloran did not scold him.
It was because despite Stingham being idiotic, what he said was true.
Perhaps the number of skeletons appearing before them would only be cannon fodder to the righteous Corps of the Era of the War with Dragons since the Corps back then had a large number of arcane masters. There were even many legendary artifacts in each Corps.
However, after going through the chaotic Magus Era, the current Corps size could not compare to the past anymore.
No Corps could annihilate such a large number of skeleton warriors.
Even a four-gate or five-gate elite arcane master would not be the opponent of a skeleton warrior after completely exhausting their arcane particles.
"Uncle Philp, Uncle Lenyu, Stingham is right. Since this is the case, there is only the method of trying to destroy that item." Ayrin's eyes did not contain a trace of fear. His fighting spirit-filled gaze focused on the deep purple arch gate.
The chanting voice was real.
Ayrin could feel the vibration of the air constantly triggering arcane energy to fluctuate.
It seemed that the vibration of each crystal particle in the gate naturally generated the chanting voice, which as a chain reaction, triggered a more powerful arcane energy fluctuation.
Burning flames also dwelled in Rinloran's icy gaze.
If we can destroy the Evil Dragon's artifact itself, the skeleton warriors would stop manifesting, right?
"It's useless."
Philp shut his eyes painfully, "The Fearotz Stronghold is fated to fall. The Thorns Swamp skeleton army and demihuman-plus-monster army will sweep across the Kingdom of Doa."
Ayrin held his breath and asked, "Why?"
"Because this artifact is said to be created by the Evil Dragon itself using its own bone marrow and bloodline power. Any arcane power attacking it will only become a source of energy." Lenyu explained, "Even during the Era of the War with Dragons, nobody has seen the form of its source. Each time they witness it, it is accompanied by a skeleton army in the form of this Evil Spirit Resurrection Gate, as if countless necromancers are chanting inside. The last time it appeared was during the final war on the floating city in your Kingdom of Eiche. In that war, it disappeared after the Evil Dragon fell. I never thought it would appear again here today. It even allowed us to see its original form."
"No attacks work against it?" Ayrin was dumbfounded.
"The arcane masters during the Era of the War with Dragons tried various methods to attack this gate, but none succeeded. The only method is to exhaust all the skeleton warriors." Lenyu shook his head.
Rinloran's hands and feet completely chilled. Even the blood circulating through his body was chilling.
We put in so much effort…… so many people fought desperately, the Flying Messenger Fish Brigade sacrificed themselves…… so many heroic spirits from the Heroic Spirit Wall fought their last battle…… all of those were for the sake of defending the Fearotz Stronghold.
Even if more sacrifices their lives, even if I end up dying here today, it's worth it if we can defend the Fearotz Stronghold.
But now, a single Evil Spirit Resurrection Gate made all of that pointless?
While everyone was silent, Stingham suddenly shouted in shock, "Ayrin, what are you doing?"
Ayrin suddenly dashed forward towards the deep purple arch gate.
Whoosh!
Without any hesitation, Rinloran followed right behind him.
"Does he have a method?"
Lenyu and Philp glanced at each other and felt a trace of hope.
The monsters and demihumans still did not dare to stop them and escaped far away.
Boom!
After reaching about forty meters away from the gate, Ayrin's body suddenly shook and was repelled backwards.
It was an enormous intangible force, an invisible arcane resistance layer.
Ayrin landed and immediately exerted all his strength to punch the arcane resistance layer.
Boom!
Power brands shattered and he was repelled backwards again.
He stopped and did not make another move. Instead, he looked up at that gate.
Rinloran appeared next to him and asked, "How about it?"
However, after seeing Ayrin's expression, Rinloran was downcast.
Ayrin's face was completely twisted.
A never seen before anger and frustration filled his twisted face.
Suddenly, Ayrin roared towards the arch gate, "Bastard! You're the Coffin Master Bishop! Get out of there and fight me!"
Only Ayrin himself knew as he clashed against the gate, the devouring from both sides had reached a strange balance.
His body absorbed some arcane power from the gate and produced countless arcane particles. However, he could also feel the gate devouring some of his arcane particles. The total sum of arcane particles in his body remained unchanged in the end.
That balance made him understand even he would not be able to destroy the gate.
Am I going to admit defeat like this?
So many Royal Thorns Corps arcane masters sacrificed their lives all for nothing?
How can I accept that!?
"I don't care if you're the Coffin Master Bishop or someone else…… I swear, I will definitely defeat you!"
Ayrin let out another roar.
Even if I can't win today…… once my arcane level and power surpass this artifact, I definitely…… definitely will obtain victory!
Stingham blanked out as Ayrin roared yet again.
Even he could feel that frustration. He recalled the Flying Messenger Fish Brigade and Metal Shield Brigade.
"Retreat…… Uncle Philp, let the Royal Thorns Corps retreat." Ayrin said.
Stingham turned around and saw Ayrin's bloodshot eyes firmly looking at Philp and Emila.
"I will take the rear and stall the skeleton army to buy you as much time to retreat as possible."
