Chapter 2: Seizing the City (2)
Conan struggled to lift his knight’s spear, a brilliant burst of light erupting from its tip. Though he thought he had put in considerable effort mastering light magic, he realized just how much help he needed against these undead creatures. And he wasn’t the only knight who felt this way. Although Mechenov kept casting supportive spells to restore the knights’ strength and bolster their holy light magic, the endless stream of skeletons and zombies still left them struggling.
Boroning could hold on no longer. It was time for him to stand by his knights. He leaped lightly, using the wind magic in his knight’s cloak to soar through the air. His figure, gliding between the castle and the streets, appeared graceful. The spear emitted a dazzling burst of light, instantly piercing through several skeletons that had lunged at him with rusty swords and blunt knives. Their shattered bones flew into the air before falling back down. With just one strike, four skeletons were reduced to fragments.
A fierce gust of spear energy sliced through the air—purely driven by combat energy. A glowing ring at the tip of the spear shot forward, generating a screeching howl as the combat energy rubbed violently against the air. Two massive zombies attacked from both sides, swinging their rusted clubs as if to tear Boroning to pieces. With a disdainful glance at them, he abruptly retracted the spear, drawing a graceful arc around his waist. Without warning, two brilliant bursts of light erupted from the spear, striking the heads of the two zombies head-on. Holy light, imbued with sacred power, was unleashed along with the combat energy. The zombies seemed to suddenly sense something strange—their pale faces turned crimson before they froze and exploded, their flesh and foul stench splattering everywhere. Visiting Viscount Saliman, who was watching from afar, couldn’t help but gag.
Hidden in the darkness, Komer observed the scene with interest. Perhaps due to the nature of the primal forces involved, these skeletons and zombies weren’t very strong. Most of them, summoned from graves, were ordinary or unnaturally deceased residents around Bruce Fortress. Untrained and without magical abilities, they could only serve as a scare. They might even pose a threat to the soldiers of the Storm Infantry Regiment, but they were utterly helpless against the knights of the Order.
The only thing that satisfied Uma and the two other necromancers was that the skeletons and zombies unearthed from the buried ravines beneath the fortress walls were fairly satisfactory, especially several skeletons dressed as officers who had clearly possessed considerable combat strength in life. After being enhanced and solidified by Uma and the two necromancers, they immediately became the main force and played a huge role in the chaos. One of the skeleton archers, though not particularly strong in physique—with his small stature and delicate limbs suggesting he was an elf—had no explanation for why an elf archer would end up buried in Bruce Fortress. Under Uma’s deliberate training and enhancement, even in just a few hours, his combat skills impressed observers like Komer greatly. It was truly strange to see such a petite skeleton able to hold a bow, shoot arrows continuously, and hit targets.
Komer had to admit that the paladins indeed had a natural advantage when dealing with these undead creatures. Holy light magic was hardly a remarkable spell; it could be considered one of the most basic spells in the Church of Light. The fact that even these knights could use basic holy light magic to enhance the attack power of their weapons or strengthen their defense against dark creatures spoke volumes about its significance. Yet, even this most basic light spell was enough to frighten these undead, especially those skeletons that hadn’t been specially strengthened—upon being struck by holy light, their bodies suffered severe damage. Light drives out darkness, and darkness consumes light—this was an inherent principle of opposition. These skeletons were too inferior, and it would be impossible to strengthen them to a satisfactory level in a short time. Komer was already satisfied that they could be hastily assembled to launch an attack and create chaos.
But if this continued, the skeletons and zombies that had been painstakingly summoned would be exhausted under the assault of the paladins. Such an outcome wouldn’t be enough to frighten these men from Homer into surrendering Bruce Fortress. To make them give up the fortress, their will had to be shattered psychologically.
With a crisp “snap” of the bowstring, Saliman instinctively ducked to avoid it. An arrow flew past his cheek and struck the stone wall behind him, embedding itself deep in the cracks and trembling continuously. Following the path of the arrow, Saliman was horrified to see a skeleton archer nocking another arrow, aiming it at him. Its empty eye sockets seemed to hide infinite magic, and its rows of sharp teeth were eerily white, sending chills down one’s spine.
Borin stared in fear at the dark figure approaching in the distance, clad in a tattered black robe. Its expressionless face had a strange golden hue, and its lifeless eyes made it clear it was a corpse. Yet Borin knew this was no ordinary zombie. An overwhelming sense of darkness radiated from it, something even Borin and Mechetnov, who were thirty meters away, could feel.
“Mr. Borin, this… this zombie seems different from the others.” Mechetnov never expected his first battle as a magician to start with such an incident. The series of strange events left him exhausted. Faced with the onslaught of undead creatures, he had no choice but to fulfill his duties as a light mage, praying inwardly that the God of Light would help him overcome this crisis.
“Mr. Mechetnov, we’re in real trouble. This zombie isn’t just different from the others—it’s likely a specially crafted one, with great skill. It’s definitely not one that formed naturally from resentment buried underground. I’m sure someone is manipulating all this.”
Licking his somewhat dry lips, Borin felt an unusual burning sensation, a symptom of his extreme tension. He had to warn Viscount Saliman that they were trapped in a massive encirclement, possibly orchestrated by that enemy from the Caucasus. It was even more likely that Baron Komer from the Caucasus had already been controlled by those dark wizards or necromancers, perhaps even turned into a puppet.
Borin couldn’t believe that a dissolute young man who had been loafing around in Cyprus a few years ago, indulging in food, drink, and debauchery, could suddenly become so cunning and powerful. He would never believe it even if he died—there could be no other explanation except that he was under the control of those damned dark forces. If he could survive this ordeal, he must report this fact to the Grand Duke and the Church.
Uma watched everything coldly. The Light Knights held a decisive advantage; waves of skeletons were shattered by the fierce winds and blades of the knights. The few remaining zombies also cried out in pain as they fled under the relentless cleansing light of holy magic. Yet the knights seemed determined to eradicate all traces of evil, relentlessly pursuing those who escaped.
Dark power enveloped Uma. Two necromancers positioned themselves at the corners of an odd equilateral triangle around her, with Uma at the center. Dark magic flowed above this somewhat crude magic circle, constantly pouring into her body.
“Lord of the Dead, please grant me strength to make these abominations who dare desecrate your people kneel at your feet, forcing them to undergo spiritual transformation through endless repentance,” Uma said, comfortably absorbing the dark magic sent by the two necromancers behind her.
Necromancy was not unfamiliar to Uma, but she was not a full-time necromancer. In the power structure of the dark world, necromancers held only a minor role—they couldn’t truly shape the dark world. The real power holders were pure dark mages, who could effortlessly cast various dark spells using dark magic. Moreover, dark magic could also be applied to other branches such as necromancy, puppetry, summoning spells, dark spirit magic, and various special hybrid spells.
Uma continued to distort the dark magic within her body. Dark magic was the foundation of all dark mages’ powers—whether it was necromancy or puppetry, both relied on it. Only after possessing this foundation could one choose their preferred specialty. By distorting dark magic, it could be directed more precisely during spellcasting, maximizing the effects of the spells. For Uma, this was not a problem at all—even these less than a hundred skeletons and zombies could be easily controlled by her alone.
At that moment, all the skeletons and zombies seemed to be summoned by some force, rushing desperately toward Uma’s location. Their movements also became much faster and more agile all of a sudden. All the knights noticed this strange phenomenon, and Uma’s eerie behavior made them extremely vigilant. The leader of these undead creatures had finally appeared.