Chapter 211 – Chapter 44: Rendezvous #2
Time passed by. It was a bit longer than a day.
Each group was moving toward one goal. There were several different movements, with interlocking fights.
Then it was time…
Now, there was no turning back.
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1st Prince Baikal Ragnaros took a deep breath as he looked at the castle. The frigid cold beyond the limit line was obviously threatening, but the draconians’ strong bodies had already completely adapted.
Baikal’s lungs had already stabilized against the cold. The warmth and gentleness which Anastasia liked so much was shining in his eyes.
There were hundreds of draconian knights by his side. They wore black cloaks and had been with Baikal for over a decade, so they could breathe as one.
Baikal didn’t know much about Arch Lich Shutenberg. He just knew that Shutenberg was a formidable enemy once called the Half King as well as a powerful lich who had lived since the Era of Struggle.
However, Baikal thought that was enough. He was just an enemy to be removed. It was easy to forget due to Baikal’s mild temperament, but he contained the blood of King Zanskal, who was famous among the draconian rulers.
A snowy field stretched out beyond the blizzard, and at the end of the snowy field was a huge castle made of ice. He knew intuitively without anyone telling him that this was Arch Lich Shutenberg’s castle.
His cloak blew in the wind, and Baikal took a deep breath. Instead of looking back, he pulled out his sword. In the raging blizzard, there was a roar which announced the start of the battle. 100 draconians using Dragon Style rushed forward, with their aura rising around them like flames.
Then Shutenberg responded. The snow piled high in the wake of the fierce Dragon Style rush. Every gust of wind changed the appearance of the snowy field.
Baikal understood, and Sektum shook as he stared at Shutenberg’s castle in the distance.
Arch Lich Shutenberg, he was the person who had made Sektum an undead. He was the world’s greatest necromancer!
“I am back. I’m back! Shutenberg!”
As Sektum raised his fist, thousands of undead shone as they prepared for battle. It was the undead which he had made with the bodies of the soldiers and creatures who died beyond the limit line.
Sektum ordered a charge, and the undead rushed towards the castle. At the same time, the snowy field moved as well. Tens of thousands of undead raised themselves from the snow.
So far, it was like he had expected. It was a number they could face. However, Sektum realized something. It wasn’t just tens of thousands. It hadn’t been the wind which changed the appearance of the snow. The whole snowfield moved, revealing the snow had covered all the undead. Hundreds of thousands…
An enormous number of undead stepped forward at the same time like a huge tsunami.
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The War Knight ran, and the red woman embraced the War Knight’s shoulders.
The flames of War were rising. No one could stop them now.
War thought of Conquest. She remember the face of the white woman who she both loved and hated, and a lovely smile emerged.
&
He didn’t scream.
Baikal stared in front of him. Rather than being overwhelmed by the tsunami of Shutenberg’s undead, he looked at the entire battlefield.
There was a strange light, and he felt a strong magic power from the snowfield as the undead rose.
‘It can’t be.’
Baikal didn’t know it for sure, but he sought to deny his intuition. However, he couldn’t. He already understood.
Sektum swallowed back a scream and remembered why he had fled instead of fighting against Shutenberg.
Thousands of undead clashed with hundreds of thousands of undead. As they trampled on and destroyed each other, the draconians led by Baikal rushed forward.
The ice dragon Quanta poured out her cold breath, and her big wings blew away the undead. Meanwhile, Zephyr’s magicians chanted hundreds of magic spells at the same time.
It was a cool sight. Hundreds of thousands of undead were destroyed in an instant. Hundreds of magic spells poured down from the sky and swept over the undead. In a single collision, thousands of undead were destroyed. The enemy might have overwhelming numbers, but the quality of Baikal’s troops were far superior.
However, Sektum was desperate. He had forgotten to create new undead as he stared at the magic circle, which covered the entire snowy field, start to shine. There were no spells or chants. Shutenberg’s broken and destroyed undead were raised again. The skeleton’s broken bones were restored, while the ghouls gained new bodies.
The tsunami didn’t stop, and the army of the demon king gulped.
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The Death Knight took a step forward and picked up the sword which had been created 1,000 years ago. As he put on the blue and black armour, he only thought of one death.
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The rush of hundreds of thousands of undead was like a tsunami. There seemed to be nothing which could stop it. It was their future to be destroyed by that tsunami.
However, they couldn’t think differently. Compare to that great tsunami, they were too small and shabby.
The undead ran. They trampled each other. The broken undead rose again to continue that huge tsunami.
Even Baikal’s draconians warriors, who had a lot of experience, felt fearful.
However, there was one person who didn’t feel any fear. He stood in front of everyone, grabbed the handle of his sword and greeted the nearest undead.
Then the tsunami struck. At the same time, he drew his sword.
Sword Duke Ishgard…
He cut the tsunami.
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It was like an island formed in that area. The sharpness was enough to cut both time and space. However, a catastrophe, which was supposed to destroy the sky and the ground didn’t happen. The atmosphere didn’t tear to pieces either.
There was just the cry of a sharp sword which spread over the snowy field. The undead at the front collapsed, and the fearsome momentum stopped. All of them were split apart.
The sword duke adjusted his hold on the sword. He swung his sword again before the bodies of the undead could be raised. This time, the undead a little further away were affected by the sword duke’s movement, and the wind dug through the undead.
If he dealt with them one by one, there would be no end. So, the sword duke considered doing a frontal breakthrough. He was going to destroy the nucleus of the magic circle in order to stop the resurrection of the undead.
Baikal understood the sword duke’s plan, and his draconians threw themselves to open a path for the sword duke. Sektum once again created more undead, while Zephyr’s 100 magicians and 200 knights became a fortress on the battlefield. Dark Saintess Altesia started praying. She was calling the great powers of Erebos to the earth.
Quanta struck the undead from the sky, and Zephyr looked down from her back. For the first time since entering the battlefield, he shouted at the sword duke.
The sword duke heard Zephyr’s cry. Simultaneously, he confirmed it with his own eyes. There was a person rising up from among the undead. He rode a giant black horse and was holding a giant sword in his hand.
The sword duke changed the direction of his sword hastily and cut to the right instead of the front. His sword swept away the undead, but he couldn’t cut the black horse. The person riding on the black horse blocked the sword duke’s attack. It was the first time Baikal had seen the man on the black horse. However, he instantly realized who it was, and he screamed out,
“Winter King!”
It was the king of the northern barbarians…
The presence who didn’t allow the captains to leave the Aegis Gate!
A blue energy was pouring from his whole body, which was wrapped in a black armour. Then the sword duke changed the direction of his sword. He attacked the winter king.
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The power of Arch Lich Shutenberg exceeded expectations. No one had expected the winter king to appear here.
Shutenberg’s magic circle was still being maintained. Baikal and his 100 draconians tried desperately to break through the undead, but it wasn’t easy. The battle between the sword duke and the winter king was devastating the surrounding area, and no one dared interfere with their fight.
‘Why?’
The sword duke thought as he fought the winter king. The the winter king attacked whilst seated on his huge horse, and the attack was heavy and violent. It was impossible to compare the winter king to the demon king, but the winter king’s power was still enough to cut down a captain of the Demon King’s Palace.
He had never imagined there would be a contact between Arch Lich Shutenberg and the winter king. If they were allied, why did only Shutenberg attack the Sanctuary? Why didn’t the winter king come out directly?
It was hard to imagine the relationship between Shutenberg and the winter king. The auras released by the sword duke and the winter king exploded against each other and went in different directions. The hundreds of undead in the surrounded area turned into powder instantly.
The winter king was covered with a blue energy, but it wasn’t just mere aura. It was the type of power the sword duke had encountered at Thunderdoom Fortress.
The Death Knight…
No, the winter king wasn’t the Death Knight. He was definitely one step lower!
Kwang!
A roar shook their ears. Simultaneously, Altesia’s prayer was completed. Altesia, who was covered in sweat, shouted in a lively voice,
“Sma-sh!”
Her voice spread through the battlefield. Perhaps this was a miracle from Erebos, the God of Darkness.
A black power, which was the opposite of Altesia’s youthfulness, stretched out in menacingly across the sky. It took away the false life from the undead and gave them true death. Tens of thousands of flying undead returned to the ground in an instant. The dark power of Erebos affected Shutenberg’s magic circle temporarily. The undead flying in the sky crashed to the ground and couldn’t get back up again.
The reason for Altesia’s attack to occur in the sky, and not the ground, was to create a gap. As she leaned on a long staff, Altesia stared into the sky. Meanwhile, the ice dragon Quanta was rushing toward the center of the circle. However, it was an enormous magic circle with a diameter of several kilometers. Even the approach of flying from the air didn’t make sense.
Quanta aimed her frost breath towards the ground. The undead which were using the power of the magic circle were frozen. Zephyr prepared a powerful spell from his position on Quanta’s back. Even if it was Zephyr, it was impossible to crush a magic circle of this size with one blow. It was best to prevent the resurrection of the undead by destroying key functions.
Zephyr chanted his spell quickly. Quanta had almost reached the center of the circle. At that moment, a huge hand rose from the ground. Made of tens of thousands of undead, the giant hand grabbed Quanta’s neck and the undead ran along her back. Quanta struggled but couldn’t escape the giant hand.
Then Altesia started to chant a new prayer. Zephyr gave Quanta a command, and she turned into a gandharva.
Zephyr kicked in the air and used Telekinesis to stay there. In mid-air, Quanta turned her body. She was once again in the form of the giant ice dragon and swung her tail in a huge sweep. Quanta didn’t stop there as she used the magic power in her body to devastate the surroundings.
Zephyr once again kicked in the air. He was still quite a distance from the center of the circle.
Chwaaaaak!
Thousands of bats flocked before Zephyr. These were senior undead vampires which hadn’t shown up until now. They were an ancient vampire species, different from the Day Walkers. The vampires took on the appearance of bats and used powerful magic. In an instant, bursts of lightning, wind, and ice flew toward Zephyr.
Then Zephyr saw someone in the center of the magic circle, beyond the vampires. Just like Yosarina, it was another one of Shutenberg’s subordinates. She was called Cabellina, the frost monarch.
She had silver hair, white skin, and blue eyes that glared at Zephyr. Right then, Zephyr made a decision in a split second. He exploded the magic, which he had prepared beforehand, at the vampires rushing toward him.
There was a fierce storm of magic power, and the magic of the vampires was swept away and destroyed. The vampires could no longer maintain the form of bats and crashed into the ground. They were strongly affected by the magic storm and vomited out blood.
The undead were also affected. All undead in a radius of 100 meters around Zephyr collapsed. Within the influence of the mighty magic storm, even Shutenberg’s enchantments couldn’t raise the undead again.
However, Cabellina just laughed loudly. It was because she thought that such a great amount of magic would be impossible to produce again. She ordered the undead to charge. The center was guarded by many senior undead, and many death knights raised their swords.
Zephyr exhaled and stood up straight. The wave of undead would appear again after the magic storm disappeared, but he didn’t lose his composure. Instead of watching Cabellina, Zephyr turned his gaze somewhere else. The sword duke, who was fighting against the winter king, smiled for a moment.
A flurry of wind was coming from the south. No, it was faster than the wind. Without realising it, Altesia had stopped her prayer as she gazed in that direction. Quanta and Sektum were no different.
“The finest saintess battery!”
There was an unknown cry. At that moment, a white flag appeared behind an orc who gave a large battle cry. The white mass sped up. They didn’t slow down and literally tore through the undead. From the front of the charging white mass, the sound of hundreds of birds flapping could be heard.
Chwaaaaaack!
Dark blue smoke crossed hundreds of meters of undead, and the undead were all smashed by black blades. Then the dark blue smoke ended. There were two people standing there. One was a warrior holding a mighty sword, while the other one clenched his fist and faced Zephyr.
Zephyr stared at In-gong…
And In-gong stared right back. Then at the same time, the two people turned their gazes towards the center of the magic circle.
“Spiritualism.”
It was the strongest prince and the gandharva god.