Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Rhode raised his right arm abruptly. The Spirit Bird emanating a sacred, dazzling radiance expanded its wings majestically. It slowly turned transparent and merged with Rhode as one, where, in the blink of an eye, a pair of azure spiritual wings unfolded behind him, releasing a faint breeze sparkling in lightning bolts and silver-whitish aura.
Bubble let out a chuckle beside him.
Then, dazzling, wavering brilliance shone skyward with her in the middle, coalesced into rays of light, and eventually transformed into two pairs of light wings on her back.
“Sir, you two are…”
Randolf stared blankly while Rhode waved him aside with an airy gesture. Then, he looked ahead and revealed a gentle smile. Upon witnessing Rhode’s smile, Randolf felt a razor-sharp, chilly blade striking his spine, like a sense of fear pinning him to the ground.
“It’s time to farm some EXP. Lets go, Bubble.”
“No problem, Leader. This is what I’ve been waiting for!”
Rhode lifted his head and blew a sharp whistle. Shortly after, the Divine Unicorns hovering in midair quickly regrouped and soared forward. At the same time, Rhode and Bubble flew forward like blasted artillery shells and transformed into two fast shadows!
“Grrrr—!”
The Gargoyles had arrived before the Fortress. They let out deep growls in their throats, exposed their sharp claws, and beat their wings fiercely. On the other hand, the Divine Unicorns lowered their heads, aimed their pointed horn forward like the knights’ pikes, and darted forward.
Bam!
Both sides clashed.
The Gargoyles were much harder to deal with than Bone Griffins.
Even though the Divine Unicorns’ horns had penetrated the Gargoyles’ chests, the Gargoyles didn’t crumble immediately like the Bone Griffins. On the contrary, it enraged them further and they snarled, stretched out their sharp claws, and slashed the Divine Unicorns’ skulls. If the Divine Unicorns were Humans, perhaps their skulls would have turned into smashed watermelons. But the Divine Unicorns didn’t have it any better though. They winced to the powerful impact, but it was apparent that the Gargoyles wouldn’t let them off this easily. As the backlash threw the Divine Unicorns to the side, the Gargoyles turned around abruptly and lashed their pitch-black, long tails on the Divine Unicorns. Fragments splattered and the Divine Unicorns had no choice but to retreat instantly. However, the Gargoyles seized the opportunity to chase forward and deal the final blow.
A dazzling, meteor-like blade ray flashed.
At the same time, a Gargoyle pouncing on one of the Divine Unicorn was split into half from the middle. The magical energy supporting its movements scattered and in the blink of an eye, it returned to being a heavy boulder, descended from the sky, and smashed into the ground.
Rhode kept his blade and drifted away like a spirit that dodged an oncoming attack. In an instant, Rhode was caught up in his thoughts. He gazed at his sword and recalled the moment when he first came to this world, where he experienced the most dangerous battle in Twilight Forest against two Gargoyles. Back then, he felt as depressed as a tiger that had left the deep mountains and was bullied by the land dogs. He used to be able to fight ten of them at once, but he had to pull out all the stops to defeat two Gargoyles in his gravely injured condition. However, the situation was totally different now.
An ice-cold glint flashed in his eyes. He sped forward while with his two daggers and dragged two shimmering silver trails of lightning bolts across the night sky. The Gargoyles along the trails shuddered as though they were struck by an invisible force and blasted away instantly. The Divine Unicorns swiftly stomped with their iron hooves and thrust their horns to shatter them into worthless stone fragments.
On the other side, Mini Bubble Gum was having a much more brutal battle.
“Heyaaaah!”
The little girl clenched her fists in a fighting stance while staring to a Gargoyle pouncing on her. At this moment, four to five consecutive rays appeared out of thin air and shrouded her entirely. Then, she landed her punch heavily on the Gargoyle’s rock-solid body and in the blink of an eye, it shattered into powder and the indescribable, immense impact spread, and rippled wildly across the sky. The dense air filled with the presence of Gargoyles was immediately blasted away into an empty space, where hundreds of Gargoyles were destroyed entirely by Bubble with nothing spared.
“Awesome!”
Mini Bubble Gum let loose of her clench and exclaimed in delight. Then, she flew straight into the black, dense mass of Gargoyles like a dazzling meteor. However, the Gargoyles didn’t retreat. They didn’t have such intentions either.
Dozens of Gargoyles darted toward Bubble from all directions and almost shrouded her tiny stature within. But everything was completely reversed at the next moment.
“Get lost, scums!”
She punctured one of the Gargoyles with her tiny right fist. She raised her arm with a proud grin, and tossed it toward the other Gargoyles, where they crashed into a complete mess. Then… there was no more ‘then’.
Ssss—!
A Gargoyle emerged behind Bubble and struck out its black, sharp claw at her — But sparks splashed instantly as a transparent barrier negated its attack. Before it could respond to the situation, the light wings behind her transformed and extended like vines that whipped across the sky. Not only was the ambushing Gargoyle was struck, but even the other Gargoyles around it were shattered completely.
“Hmph. Worthless trash!”
Mini Bubble Gum turned around, curled her lips in disdain, and raised her tiny fists. Her wings unfolded and beat to bring her to the area most concentrated with the Gargoyles.
“Oh my goodness…”
The soldiers stared blankly in the night sky from the city walls. In an instant, they thought that they were present in a legendary battle that had unfolded in their wildest dreams. The Divine Unicorns soared in the sky and fought a violent battle with the pitch-black, distasteful Gargoyles. On the other hand, the constantly flickering blade rays and holy radiance got their blood racing. None of them had expected to witness such a fantasy-like scene.
But now… They had become one of them and were about to battle the terrifying creatures like legendary heroes! Many of them were fired up. They fixed their eyes on the sky and cursed themselves for not having a pair of wings behind them like Rhode and Mini Bubble Gum and flying into the air and facing the creatures. How glorious would that be?!
“Everyone. Get ready. Enemies have entered our attacking range—!”
Randolf’s yells dragged the soldiers back from their fantasy. They pulled themselves up and gazed at the Undead Army. The Abominations were approaching them step by step. Gillian extended her right hand with a stern expression. The scarlet flames on her palm throbbed constantly while Marlene crossed her hands and chanted under her breath. Not only them… But this was also our battle!
In an instant, the soldiers sensed an unprecedented calmness even though a hot blooded desire for a fierce battle had erupted in their bodies. They felt as though their skin had been completely frozen by the whizzing, cold winds. However, that wasn’t due to fear. Instead, it was because of excitement and thrill. The soldiers raised their bows and aimed at the enemies in the distance. Their eyes were no longer glinting with fear or uncertainty.
“Release your arrows!”
Randolf ordered.
A string of blaze and explosions erupted, which devoured the Undead Army. Simon let out a grim laughter as he squinted at the army ahead. Behind him stood 12 Necromancers clad in black robes. They had formed a perfect circle with their positions. They held white bone staff and quietly waited for their orders. Simon was ready. It could be seen that Saiborn’s report wasn’t exaggerating at all. In fact, Simon couldn’t help but exclaim in awe when he witnessed this massive, majestic Fortress, where even his White Bone City wasn’t as beautiful or flourishing. In an instant, Simon had come up with intentions of snatching this place into this own. If he could receive such a castle and guard this strategic location and major road, it was imaginable how powerful he could become.
Just as Rhode had expected, even though the Country of Darkness was powerful, there were signs of internal disputes and this was the reason why the Country of Darkness wished to expand their territories. Therefore, apart from the four legendary generals who had taken part in this battle against the Light Mainland, there were also many other families involved. In fact, they were the most active participants in this battle because they knew why the Dark Dragon started this battle. This presented a great opportunity for them. If they could grasp it, they would have a chance to expand their forces and grow from an ordinary family into a massive, powerful family. They might even reach the social class of the four legendary generals.
But now…
Simon dwindled this thought. He stepped toward the middle of the circle formed by the Necromancers in large strides. Even though Saiborn was foolish, he did suffer a defeat with reasonable reasons. Simon had checked the nearby terrain and it was undeniably unsuitable for the Death Knights. But it was entirely different for Necromancers. Even though he wasn’t aware if what Saiborn said was true, he wouldn’t belittle the enemies. In fact, he had a strategy ready.
“Let’s begin.”
Simon lifted his head and gazed at the Fortress. Then, he extended his hands and the white bone staff in his hand hovered slowly in midair. He lowered his head and chanted a curse softly. The 12 Necromancers followed his lead and chanted in harmony.
The darkness turned deeper.
Another string of explosions flashed.
Marlene puckered her brows at the Abominations who were still braving forward even after they were blasted with heavy damage. They were truly hard to deal with just as Rhode had mentioned. Since the battle commenced, the soldiers had fired two waves of arrows. Although the explosions had slowed the Abominations down, they didn’t seem to have intentions of stopping. Their tall, obese bodies were full of pitch-black large holes with forest green blood gushing out. The night breeze swept the putrid stench along and polluted the air.
Living creatures would have died countless times by such injuries, but these Undead Creatures continued to move forward stubbornly. Even though their thick, short legs limited their speed, their defenses were still high. Even if their upper bodies had exploded into a bloody mess, they could still advance with their lower bodies.
Not only that, but also…
A shadow flitted by and struck at Marlene. She shrunk back subconsciously and heard a deep collision.
Bam—!
A gigantic hatchet connected to a steel chain hacked into the thick, solid city wall before Marlene. The Abomination’s four muscular arms dragged the steel chains. After missing its target, it pulled its steel chain back and moved forward.
This is real trouble.
Marlene knitted her brows. She turned to the side to find Orchid Heart leaning back leisurely on the chair. The chair had slanted toward the back and if it weren’t for the city wall, perhaps she would have fallen to the ground. But Marlene couldn’t understand how she was able to keep this calm before this violent battle. Even though the soldiers were fighting hard and Lize and her Clerics were doing their best to summon and maintain the defensive barrier, Orchid Heart was still looking sleepy. She had only given two commands ever since the start of the battle and they were the simplest of all: “Stop” and “Attack”.
Would these commands be useful?
An explosion attracted Marlene’s attention. She turned to see Gillian aiming her right index finger at the ground. Then, a light trail streaked across the sky and a wall of flames extended abruptly from the ground. The scorching flames instantly devoured the massive Abominations. Shortly after, the Abominations collapsed and exploded like water-filled balloons. The putrid forest green liquid splashed everywhere, but the companions behind them weren’t affected at tall. They climbed over the wall of flames and continued their assault.
What should we do next?
At this moment, Marlene saw Canary standing on her feet and gazing forward.
“The Necromancers have made a move. They’re summoning a strategic spell.”
“What?!”
Marlene let out a cry. She knew how terrifying strategic spells were. Not only were they AoE spells that contained incomparable might, but they could also last for a long duration. Apart from that, they required a lot of high-level spellcasters in order to work. Even though Marlene didn’t know how powerful the Necromancers were, this move would expose the extent of their strength.
“What should we do, Miss Canary?”
“Don’t worry, Miss Marlene.”
Perhaps sensing Marlene’s worries, Canary revealed her signature, gentle smile.
“Rhode left me here to prevent such a situation from happening. Leave it to me.”
Canary extended her right hand.
