The Vastness of Magical Destiny
Chapter 630: Volume Seventeen: Dark Descends on Earth - Two: Seizing the City (2)

Chapter 630: Volume Seventeen: Dark Descends on Earth - Two: Seizing the City (2)

Conan struggled to raise the knight’s spear in his hand, the sizable flare of the spearhead blossoming into a dazzling halo. Only now did he realize, despite having devoted considerable effort to Light Magic, just how much he needed help in the face of these undead creatures—and he was far from the only knight harboring this thought. Although Mejernov had been persistently casting supportive spells to help the knights recover their strength and sustain their Holy Light Spells, the endless stream of skeletons and zombies still left them feeling stretched thin.

Bronin could bear it no longer, it was time for him to stand with his knights. His body leapt up lightly, aided by the knight’s cloak infused with Wind Magic, his airborne silhouette between the castle and the streets appeared especially graceful. The knight spear cast a myriad of light and shadows, and in an instant, broke through several skeletons that had just lunged at him wielding rusty swords and blunt blades. The shattered particles of their bones scattered, falling down in bits and pieces—just this single thrust turned four skeletons into debris.

The spear’s green qi cut sharply through the air, a powerful impact driven purely by Fighting Qi. The light wheel at the top of the spearhead suddenly expelled forward, creating a harsh, piercing sonic boom as it violently rubbed against the air. Two massive zombies lunged fiercely from the sides, the rust-streaked wolf tooth clubs in their hands seemed intent on smashing Bronin into pieces. He spared them a contemptuous glance, then suddenly pulled back his spear, drawing a beautiful arc at his waist. Without warning, two blossoms of the spear’s light imprinted on the tops of the two charging zombies’ heads. In that moment, the Holy Power of Holy Light, riding along the Fighting Qi expelled from the spear, was triggered. The zombies, as if abruptly realizing something had gone awry, saw their pale complexions turn crimson red, and then their bodies exploded, chunks of their flesh and foul gases splattering everywhere—a sight so gruesome that Viscount Saliman, who was watching from behind, couldn’t help but retch on the spot.

Hiding in the shadows, Komer watched all this with keen interest. Perhaps due to their primal state, the skeletons and zombies weren’t of great quality—most conjured from the cemetery around Bruce Fortress were in fact residents who had died normally or otherwise. These skeletons and zombies, having undergone no special training or casting of spells, could do little more than frighten people and perhaps claw at the soldiers of the Storm Infantry Corps. However, in the presence of the knights of the Knights regiment, they were utterly feeble.

The only satisfaction for Uma and the other two Undead Mages was that some of the skeletons and zombies summoned from the trenches buried beneath the fortress walls were somewhat acceptable, particularly a few clad in military garb who evidently possessed considerable combat prowess in life. After intense spellcasting reinforcement and fortification by Uma and the two other mages, these became the main force in this chaotic battle. One of them, a Skeleton Archer, despite not being physically exceptional—the small stature and delicate limbs indicated it had likely been an Elf—was now a force to be reckoned with under Uma’s deliberate training and enhancement, drawing attention even from onlookers like Komer. To see such a delicate skeleton handling a bow and arrow, shooting successive arrows and hitting the target, was indeed an unusual sight to behold.

Komer had to admit, Light Knights naturally held a tremendous advantage in combat against these undead creatures. The Holy Light Spell wasn’t anything extraordinary, in fact, it was merely the most basic spell within the Church of Light. Imagine, even these knights could cast basic Holy Light Spells to enhance their weapons’ offensive power or to fortify themselves against dark creatures, underlining the spell’s significance. Yet, it was this very basic Light Magic that still struck fear into these undead beings—especially the unfortified skeletons that, upon being impacted by the Holy Light Spell, would suffer considerable damage. Light dispels darkness, darkness devours light; it’s the innate truth of opposing forces. These skeletons were simply too lowly to be strengthened to a satisfactory level in a short time. For Komer, the fact they could be rallied for an attack and create chaos was already satisfying enough.

Nevertheless, if these hastily summoned skeletons and zombies were to continue being consumed by the blows of the Light Knights, this wouldn’t suffice to instill fear in those people from Homer and force them to relinquish Bruce Fortress. It was imperative to crush their psychological thresholds.

With a "thwack" of the bowstring, Saliman instinctively ducked, a single arrow whizzing by his cheek to embed deeply into the stone wall behind him, quivering steadily. Following the arrow’s flight path in horror, Saliman spotted a Skeleton Archer readying its bow, aiming a second arrow at him. The bottomless sockets seemed to hide endless Magical power, its rows of white teeth grotesquely bared.

Apprehensively, Bronin watched the dark shadows advancing from afar, shrouded in an old, black robe, its face showing a strange golden hue devoid of expression, the eyes dim and lifeless. With just one look, one could tell it was a corpse, yet Bronin knew this was no ordinary zombie. It emanated an infinite Dark Aura, so palpable that even from thirty meters away, both he and Mejernov could feel it.

"Mr. Bronin, this... this zombie seems different from the others." Mejernov had never imagined his first battle as a Mage would begin with such a turn of events. A succession of eerie incidents left him feeling completely drained. Facing the swarm of undead creatures, he had no choice but to fulfill his role as a Light Mage. All he could do was inwardly pray to the God of Light to help him get through this dire predicament.

"Mr. Mejernov, I fear we are truly in trouble," he said. "This zombie isn’t just different from the others; it’s likely been specially refined and possesses considerable power. It’s certainly not some self-generated zombie borne of lingering resentment from being deeply buried underground. I can assure you, all of this is being orchestrated by someone nearby."

Licking his somewhat parched lips, Bronin felt an unusual burning sensation on his skin, a symptom that only appeared when he was extremely anxious. He realized that he must warn Viscount Saliman; they had fallen into a massive trap. This encirclement could be the doing of their enemy from Caucasus—or even more likely, that Baron Komer of Caucasus had long been under the control of those Dark Wizards or Undead Mages, perhaps already turned into a puppet.

Bronin didn’t believe that a wealthy idler, who mere years ago was debauching around Cyprus, could suddenly possess such cunning and power. He couldn’t believe it unless the man had been manipulated by those damned Dark Forces. If he managed to survive this ordeal, he would certainly report this fact to the Duke and the Church.

Uma watched coldly as the events unfolded before him. The Knights of the Church of Light had gained an absolute advantage. Skeleton after skeleton turned into dust in the face of the fierce wind and the sharpness of the knights’ long spears and swords. The few remaining zombies that were there, painfully wailed and fled under the continuous cleansing of the Holy Light Spell. However, the knights seemed determined to eradicate every last one of these elusive creatures, relentlessly pursuing them.

Dark Power enveloped Uma, two Undead Mages and Uma himself formed an equilateral triangle, an odd formation of power. Dark Magic Force flowed above their rudimentary Magic Array, continuously pouring into Uma, who stood at the forefront.

"Lord of the Undead, please grant me Power, let these aliens who dare to defile Your citizens crawl at Your feet, let them undergo a metamorphosis of the soul amidst endless repentance," Uma said comfortably, inhaling the Dark Magic Power transmitted from the two Undead Mages standing far behind him.

Undead Magic was not unfamiliar to Uma, but he was not a dedicated Undead Mage. In the power hierarchy of the Dark World, Undead Mages only played a small part. They couldn’t influence the Dark World as a whole. The real power holders should be pure Dark Wizards, who not only could use Dark Magic Force to cast various kinds of Dark Magic easily but Dark Magic Force could also be used in other branches of magic, like Undead Magic, Puppet Magic, Summoning Spells, Dark Spirit Magic, and some special Mixed Magic, and so on.

Uma kept stimulating the Dark Magic Force within him to transform. Dark Magic Force is the foundation of all Dark Magicians’ power; be it Undead Magic or Puppet Magic, it is all built upon the basis of Dark Magic Force. Only after establishing a foundation of Dark Magic Force can one choose their particular focus. The metamorphosis of Dark Magic Force ensures that when casting, the Magic can be more targeted, achieving the best effects of the spells used. For Uma, this posed no problem at all; the skeletons and zombies before him, numbering less than a hundred, could easily be controlled with his own power.

At this moment, it seemed as though all the skeletons and zombies received some sort of summons, recklessly converging towards where Uma stood. Their movements surprisingly became much more swift and efficient. All the knights noticed this strange occurrence, and Uma’s eerie behavior put them on high alert—the leader of the undead creatures had finally revealed himself.

(To be continued. To find out what happens next, please visit WWW.CMFU.COM. There are more Chapters available there; support the author, support authorized reading!)