Assassin’s Chronicle - Chapter 321

Chapter 321: Kekkai of the Gods

 

Hagan talked to himself as he walked around the case. As everybody got dizzy from his walking, he suddenly stopped. He said seriously, “Anfey, I can only make the element lock stop for a second. You have to move the case into your Dimensional ring.”
“Is it dangerous?” Christian asked before Anfey had a chance to.
“I got it. It should be ok,” Hagan said.
“Should be?” Christian could not help frowning.
“Nothing is 100 percent safe. I trust Hagan on this,” Anfey said, smiling. “Christian, you guys can leave now.”
Christian did not look too happy as he took a look at Anfey. He did not even want to respond to Anfey’s suggestion. Suzanna did not look too happy either. Blavi said impatiently, “It is too much to run back and forth. Hagan, you can start now.”
“Okay, Anfey. You gotta be ready. Okay?” Hagan said.
“Wait a second. How could I take the case out of the Dimensional ring after I put it in? Do I have to study alchemy if I want to take it out?” Anfey asked hastily.
“Everything in the Dimensional ring stays still, including time. You can take the case out whenever you want to,” Hagan said.
“I got you,” Anfey responded.
Hagan took out a crystal stick from his Dimensional ring and chanted in a low pitch. He pointed at the center of the four element chains with the crystal stick. When the crystal stick just touched the element chains, the flowing silver white light on the element chains suddenly froze. Hagan hurriedly yelled, “Anfey!”
Anfey responded super fast. As Hagan called “An,” Anfey had already lifted his hand. The case with the four element chains in the air suddenly disappeared. Anfey searched his Dimensional ring with his telepathy. He found the case floating in his Dimensional ring. The four element chains still had no lights on them.
“Hagan, wonderful job!” Blavi was excited and patted Hagan’s shoulder.
“It is nothing. I am the greatest alchemist.” After seeing he had completed the difficult task, Hagan was so happy that he started to brag.
“Huh? Who is Master Jacob if you are the greatest alchemist?” Christian teased.
“I am the future greatest alchemist. Master Jacob is the current greatest alchemist. Two totally different things, got it? Don’t even talk if you do not know about it.” Hagan tried to save his embarrassment. He turned around. Seeing the stuff in Anfey’s hand, he asked in surprise, “Anfey, what is in your hand?”
“I do not know. A box,” Anfey said.
“Open it,” Hagan suggested.
Anfey held his breath to try to sense if there were any element surges in the box. He carefully opened the box after he was sure there were none. He found a smaller box inside the box.
“Which f*cker did this?” Anfey did not know if he should laugh or cry.
“Open it. I do not think it is empty inside,” Blavi said, walking over to Anfey.
Anfey opened the smaller box and found a smaller box inside it. Anfey was usually more patient than most people, but after opening about eight boxes, Anfey lost patience and did not care to check it before he opened the next one. When he grabbed the ninth box, he opened it quick.
“Hold on!” Hagan suddenly yelled.
“What?” Anfey was shocked for a second and looked up at Hagan.
“Don’t move.” Hagan carefully walked over and took the box from Anfey. He gently put the box on the floor and took out a small knife. He was prying something off the top of the box. There was a red gemstone on it, which did not look like anything special. Hagan tried to take the red gemstone off. After a while, with a sucking sound, he pried the red gemstone out. As Anfey took the red gemstone away from the box, a strong gust of red light spewed out and lit the whole chamber in red.
“Just as I thought!” Hagan said, wiping the cold sweat off his forehead because he knew what could have happened.
“What is it?” Anfey asked. Everyone else felt the intense waves of fire element surges. It was terrifying.
“It is the Fire of Hell,” Hagan answered as he took out a magic chemical bottle. He took a drop of it on the crystal stick and slowly lowered the crystal stick into the box through the hole where the red gemstone was. After a while, he raised the crystal stick back up. There was a dark red magic crystal stuck to the bottom of the crystal stick.
“This is…” Hagan could not believe what he saw. He rubbed his eyes hard and suddenly opened them wide. He stared at the dark red magic crystal.
“A supreme magic crystal would not have such strong element surges. What the hell is it?” Christian looked enticed by it.
“If my guess is right, this should be the Red Dragon magic crystal.” Hagan made his final judgement.
“Red Dragon?” Anfey and others gasped and asked at the same time. Anfey had some understanding of super creatures. Red Dragon was one of them. However, dragons had been extinct on Pan Continent for a long long time. It was really confusing when they suddenly found a dragon magic crystal.
“If we did not come here, this magic crystal could have had Fire of Hell running for thousands of years,” Hagan sighed softly. “Super creatures are so powerful!”
“If we triggered the Fire of Hell, what could have happened?” Anfey asked in a low voice.
“Only Suzanna would have some slim chance of survivng. The rest of us would definitely die,” Christian said bitterly.
“So calculating!” Anfey still looked calm, but he was pretty upset about it. The people who set this device up definitely took advantage of the weakness of human nature. No one would carefully check every box unless the person was a robot without any emotion.
“Anfey, here you go.” Hagan passed the magic crystal to Anfey. Maybe because Hagan had been through terror and excitement for the past few minutes, he blattered out, “Take good care of it!‘
“I know.” Anfey took the magic crystal. The magic crystal felt like a little oven in Anfey’s hand. Anfey wondered if it was his illusion.
“Putting even ten times the gold coins in the chamber together, we could not even buy such a magic crystal. Anfey, you need to take good care of it. I want to make a fire series magic wand with it.” Hagan was worried.
“Fire series magic wand? I am wondering if I should start to learn fire series magic.” Christian’s eyes did not leave that magic crystal until Anfey put it in his Dimensional ring. Christian was not willing to move his eyes away from it until it was gone.
“Let’s see what’s inside.” Hagan’s hands started to shake. He carefully opened the box. The more they hoped, the more disappointed they got. Hagan suddenly looked very disappointed. “F*ck!”
Anfey bent down to take a look. There was only a greyish book. It did not look like anything special. They could not believe that a Red Dragon magic crystal protected such a book. It was such a contrast.
Could it be an instruction book for martial arts? Postmodern people had more non-linear thinking skills than the people in this world. Anfey squatted with a serious look. He reached his hand out to the book. The case owner forgot that the magic array could protect the book from being stolen but could not prevent corrosion from time. The book was so old that it turned to ashes when Anfey touched it.
Anfey immediately took his hand back and cursed, “Darn it.” Anfey expressed the same feeling as Hagan did but in different words.
“It is very unfortunate,” Christian sighed. This book should be very important, otherwise it would not be protected by the Red Dragon magic crystal. It was so unfortunate that they could not get a chance to read it.
Hagan covered his mouth and said with a weird voice, “Stop talking. Don’t breathe either. Keep absolutely quiet.”
Anfey and the others were shocked for a second, but followed Hagan’s instruction immediately. Hagan had successfully moved the element lock and seen through the setup of the Fire of Hell. They all proved that Hagan was capable and had knowledge they did not. Everybody knew people were specialized in different areas. Now Hagan was their leader.
Hagan took out a light blue magic chemical in a slow motion. He released a drop and dipped his crystal stick into it. The chemical suddenly turned into a cloud of twinkled mist, slowly covering the book and seeping into it.
Hagan laid on the floor and gently blew on the book. As a cloud of dirt rose from the book, words clearly showed on the page.
“Gee! This is ancient language.” Hagan was shocked after seeing it.
“Can anyone read it?” Anfey asked.
Everyone looked at each other. Hui Wei was good at ancient languages, but he was thousands of miles away right now. It would not have been hard to bring him with them, but even though Anfey was calculating, he did not think they would need Hui Wei so badly now. It was too late to regret it now.
“Hagan, can you put this book in the Dimensional ring?” Anfey tried to think out of the box.
“Sure, but when you try to take it out of the dimensional ring, it would become a pile of dirt,” Hagan said.
“What should we do then?” Anfey asked.
“Let me try to read it. I hung out with Hui Wei a lot. He learned some basic alchemy with me while I learned some ancient language with him. It was just that recently I have been too busy to continue to learn. I do not know much about it,” Hagan said with a bitter smile.
“No matter what, you know more than us. Just try it,” Anfey said in a low voice.
“Ok.” Hagan nodded. He looked down and started to read carefully.
They did not think it would take Hagan so long to read it. Maybe it was because Hagan knew this book would disappear forever, or he was into reading it. He gently blew on the page when he finished reading. A new page would appear after the previous page turned into ashes.
Anfey and others did not want to interrupt Hagan, so they all waited in the corner of the chamber. Blavi got impatient and went out few times. Every time he came back, he would tell everyone the time changes: It was getting dark, already dark,the moon had come out, and so forth.
Without knowing how much time had passed, Hagan looked shocked after he blew at the page. He reached his hand into the box to search for something. Anfey walked a few steps forward to take a look. He found the box had become empty, which meant the mysterious book had totally disappeared.
“Hagan, what did it say in the book? Did you understand it?” Anfey asked.
“I think…” Hagan tapped his forehead with his left hand and looked like he was in terrible pain. Hagan was so tired from the trip. Now it took so much out of him to read the book. He would have been lying if he said he was not tired. To be more specific, Hagan felt exhausted.
“No hurry. Do you want to rest a little bit?” Anfey said quietly.
Hagan shook his head and thought for a while before he slowly opened his eyes. “Anfey, this book told stories about Kekkai of the Gods.”
“Kekkai of the Gods?” Christian was intrigued and walked over.
“Yes. Unfortunately, I did not understand most of it. It would have been great if Hui Wei were here,” Hagan said.
“That is alright. Tell us what you understood,” Anfey said.
“Basically, it talked about how humans had more and more power, which terrified the gods. Some gods thought the reason humans got so powerful was because humans were strong-willed and had unlimited evolving ability. If they wanted to constrain humans in a certain area, they had to change their living conditions.”
“What does it mean?” Anfey asked. It seemed that everyone heard what Hagan said, but did not understand.
“It was the living conditions that made humans stronger. The conditions were so bad: there were gigantic dragons, behemoths and other super creatures. To protect their living space, humans had to fight against these super creatures. At the same time, the magic and combat powers both got better in their fights. Humans also developed a great system of writing. Humans could pass their knowledge to others in the writing.” Hagan took a deep breath and said, “Compared with other races, dragons only had dragon language, orcs had really simple language, and elves’ writing was way too complicated. Only human language was rich. One important reason humans could dominate the continent was they had more advanced cultures.”
“Cultures? I think it was overstated.” Christian said in shock. One’s understanding of the world determined a person’s point of view. Christian did not agree that powers had nothing to do with cultures.
“I do not know about it, but it said so in the book.” Hagan forced a smile. “With difficult living conditions, humans have tried really hard with their strong will and become stronger with unlimited evolving ability. Supreme powers appeared in humans and were a match with super creatures. Some of them almost had the chance to become gods.”
“Continue,” Anfey said.
“Gods thought they should not let this situation continue. In fact, the land we are on has been changed a lot by gods. All the super creatures and supreme powers survived after the war had scattered them to the corners of the world and kept them far away from this continent. Gods also set a gigantic kekkai to keep us on the continent. The end of the world we think is actually just the border of the kekkai. They provided us a wonderful space without any pressure.”
“Storm Sea?” Anfey suddenly thought about the conversation between merchants he heard at Tumen Commercial Union. It was said that there was an enormous Storm Sea in a faraway place. The waves could be as high as hundreds of yards. No one could pass there, not even top powers.
“That could be it,” Hagan said.
“Do gods want to control humans this way?” Anfey asked.
“In the war between beasts and gods, gods wiped out a lot of cultures humans had created in the name of war. That did not stop humans from advancing, but definitely prolonged it. That war had taken so much out of the gods that they went back to sleep for a long time. When they woke up, the situation was not as bad as it should have been.”
“Continue,” Anfey encouraged.
“That’s all I got. I did not understand the rest of it. The book said there were three holy items that allowed the kekkai to keep operating. However, I do not know which three holy items.” Hagan shook his head. “I wanted to memorize those words that seemed important and ask Hui Wei about it later. But reading so many pages, I do not even know which parts were important.”
Everybody was quiet. What Hagan told them was so sensational. However, as they recalled the theory Hui Wei had talked about before, the two were quite similar to each other.
“Christian, what do you think?” Anfey asked slowly.
“I think it sounded a little ridiculous.” Christian forced a smile. Most people thought gods were kind and sympathetic. When Christian heard the exact opposite, he could not take it.
“I think it was ridiculous. If gods hated humans so much, why didn’t they just kill all of them?” Blavi said.
“What does bread mean to you?” Hagan asked.
“It is food,” Blavi said, confused.
“The beliefs of humans are the food for gods. Even though humans made them worry, the power of belief that a large amount of humans provided to gods was far more than what elves and orcs could provide. They did not want to lose it. Do not forget, there are beasts besides gods that we are not familiar with. Gods need us to believe in them.” Hagan started to rub his forehead. “These were in the book. Do not ask me how I know about them. I am so confused now.”
“Ok, let’s not talk about it anymore. What gods think has nothing to do with us. It is beyond our comprehension,” Anfey said quietly. “Everybody, we need be careful. Do not tell anyone else about this. It would not do anyone any good. Hagan, you’d better go to sleep. It is already dark. Tomorrow morning, we have to get back on the road.”

Chapter 322: Wings

 

Five days later, Anfey and his friends appeared on the city square in Paoro City. They arrived around the same time as the Roaring Death Legion, which was camping out near the city. Anfey wanted to arrive first and find out more about the situation. Anfey thought it would be too dangerous for them to approach the Roaring Death Legion, since it might attract unwanted attention. He and his friends spent five days staying away from large crowds, and their information was outdated. They had to keep up with the news to determine what to do next.
It was easy to gather information in such an exotic place. A bartender would spill everything he knew for a gold coin or two. Merchants, travelers, and mercenaries not only had information but also were looking for information. Trading intelligence was not a rare occurrence in this city. A lot of bartenders’ side job was the selling of information. In order to stay in business, they would diligently gather new and interesting information for their customers.
Anfey bought some information from an old bartender for a gold coin. He learned that even though Maho Empire was relatively peaceful, other places were not. In Country of Mercenaries, Glory mercenary group and Tiger of Tawau mercenary group were at war. Storm mercenary group was not helping either side, nor was it officially neutral. Mercenaries from Storm mercenary group said that conflicts between mercenaries should be kept within the Country of Mercenaries, and that people from Shansa and Ellisen Empire should leave immediately. This was an order, not a request. Storm mercenary group was clearly accusing Shansa Empire and Ellisen Empire of causing this conflict.
Another major mercenary group, Brothers mercenary group, remained oddly silent. This silence caused wild speculation about the group’s involvement. Anfey, however, knew exactly why. Both Marino and Entos were in Maho Empire. Without its leader and its deputy, Brothers mercenary group could not do anything.
Another interesting bit of news was that Scarlet, Shansa Empire’s new star, was charged with commanding all the armies along the eastern front. She forced armies of Maho Empire to take the defensive. The two empires’ borders had similar geography, and the troubles they encountered were similar as well. Shansa Empire blocked the paths through the Transverse Mountains and surrounded Blackania City. This led to the failure of Mao Empire’s defense along the mountains. After Shansa Empire’s army retreated, Miorich attacked Shansa Empire’s bridgehead along the border. The majority of Shansa Empire’s army was in the Transverse Mountains and could not arrive in time to defend their bridge. Then Miorich ordered his men to attack almost a dozen cities in the area.
Targeting civilians was wrong, but during war everything was fair game. Shansa Empire had attacked numerous cities during the war as well. However, Scarlet was able to regain the advantage over Miorich.
After he had told them all the important news, the bartender smirked and began talking about a rich widow residing in the city. Apparently, he thought Christian was handsome enough to seduce the widow.
Anfey listened with a smile and did not interrupt the bartender. He did not stop the man until Christian was visibly uncomfortable. “What are those men doing outside?” Anfey asked with a wave of his hand. “Are they here to arrest someone?”
“No, my lord,” the bartender said. “They’re guards.”
“Guards?”
“Yes,” the bartender said. “Heard some important people are coming from Sacred City. Our citymaster is getting ready to welcome them.”
“So we can’t leave the city?”
“They should be gone by sundown,” the bartender said with a frown.
“I see,” Anfey said. “We’re done, then. You can go tend to your other customers now.” Anfey smiled at the bartender and tossed him another gold coin.
The bartender caught the coin out of the air and bowed. “Have a good day then, my lords.”
As soon as the bartender left the room, Anfey glanced at Blavi and nodded. Blavi stood up and left.
“Hagan, we’re getting you out of here in a bit. You should go look for Riska,” Anfey said. “I’m sure General Baery has already made arrangements. No one will stop you.”
“What about you guys?”
“We’re going to Violet City.”
“Isn’t that the same thing?”
“We need to hurry,” Anfey said, shaking his head. “There are too many people traveling the road during the day. It’s better at night. We can travel for days without stopping, but you can’t. I don’t want you to overwork yourself.”
“Violet City isn’t in danger, is it?” Christian asked, concerned.
“I’m not worried about Violet City,” Anfey said.
“Then…”
“I’m worried about Moramatch,” Anfey said. “You’ve all met Alice, but you don’t know her. None of us really do. I left her in charge of Moramatch because she has nowhere else to go, no one else to turn to. The only thing she could do was what was assigned to her. Now though, now is different. Do you remember Kumaraghosha?”
“The Shansa General?” Suzanna asked.
“Yes,” Anfey said. “Kumaraghosha became the scapegoat for a crime he did not commit. He didn’t want to sit around and wait for his death, so he took his men and fought his way out of Shansa Empire. The last anyone heard from him, he was heading for Moramatch.” Anfey frowned, his fingers tapping the table. “Whatever happened at Moramatch, Alice won. Either she captured him or he is now working for her.”
“Maybe she killed him,” Christian suggested.
“Unlikely,” Anfey said. “People like Kumaraghosha and Alice share a bond we cannot understand. Alice was a princess, she was loyal, but she was abandoned by her own family and traded like a brood mare. She wanted to run but was captured by slaverunners who caused her friend’s death. What must she be feeling then? Kumaraghosha fought and risked his life for Shansa Empire, but he was slandered and marked as a traitor. He was clearly angry enough to fight his way out of Shansa Empire. What will happen if two traumatized people meet?”
“I see,” Christian said. “They’ll pity each other, trust each other, because they understand each other.”
“Not just pitying and trusting,” Anfey said with a sigh. “Alice isn’t just an innocent princess. She is calculating and manipulative. I can’t even tell what kind of person she is. I know she despises the Shansa royal family, because she wanted me to know. If she didn’t want me to know…well, I don’t know.”
“You mean…she is a cunning person?” Suzanna asked.
“Cunning is too broad a term,” Anfey said. “She’s brilliant. I placed her in charge because I’m taking advantage of the fact that she has no one else to turn to. If she has nothing, she can’t do anything no matter how brilliant she is. If Kumaraghosha is working for her, he becomes her wings and her claws. I’m worried.”
“I’m the Citymaster of Violet City and Christian will one day became Duke of Swordbury, but it is not enough. Far from it. We are just entrusted with those lands. We are not masters of them,” Anfey said quietly. “If we make the wrong people our enemies, those lands can be easily taken away from us. Without our lands, we are nothing. We need to secure Moramatch.”
“I understand,” Christian said quietly.
“Good. If we have Moramatch, we can always go back to it and be mercenaries. If we can’t do that, we will go into the Transverse Mountains. If we can’t even stay in the Mountains, we will go into the Forest of Death. No one will pursue us there.”
“If you’re so worried, why don’t we just kill Kumaraghosha?”
“I thought of that, but now is not the time,” Anfey said. “Let’s see what happens once we get to Moramatch.”
“Anfey,” Blavi said as he walked into the room. “The guards are gone.”
“Good. Let’s be on our way, then,” Anfey said.
“Should I tell Riska anything?” Hagan asked hurriedly.
“Just tell him to keep an eye on everyone,” Anfey said. “But I’m not worried. As long as Ernest and Entos are there, I doubt anything will go wrong.”

Chapter 323: A Mysterious Guest

 

Peace Festival was the day the whole Pan Continent celebrated their survival after war. It was the most important holiday. No matter how much people had suffered the previous year, they all hoped they would have a happy and safe new year. The third day after the Peace Festival, Anfey, Christian and a few others slowly walked into Violet City. They all looked tired except for Anfey, who still looked as fresh as usual. They worked out regularly, but travelling a couple of days at night really tired them out. As for Anfey, they did not see him as regular person. In fact, he liked the day and night reversed. The only thing he did not like was the nights here without lights and entertainment.
People looked different than before. They all looked sort of excited. As the festival had approached, the sadness and sorrow had eased. Whether people liked it or not, the living would gradually forget the sadness and sorrow. Frankly, it showed the strong willpower of people.
Anfey walked around to check out his residence. From a distance, the basic structure looked complete. He wanted to see what it was like inside.
His earl’s residence seemed to have high security. Anfey only lingered a little bit and tried to peek inside a few times, but a few guards had already noticed him. Anfey immediately spurred on his horse and called Christian and few others to the end of the street.
The garrison residence’s security was not as high as the earl’s residence. There were only four guards at the gate. When Anfey left Violet City, there was no garrison. Patrols were in charge of the safety of the city. Governor Urter governed the city. These soldiers in the garrison all dressed neatly and looked professional. Anfey knew Urter had contributed a lot to it.
Anfey jumped off the horse first and walked over with a smile. “Hi. Does Master Urter live here?”
“Who are you?” one of the garrisons asked in the group that walked up to Anfey.
“We are his old friends. Could you let him know we are here,” Anfey said.
“Old friends?” The garrisons looked at each other. The same garrison asked before others could, “The governor did not come back until midnight. He is still resting. If you want to see him, please come back in the evening.”
“Please, we are indeed Master Urter’s friends,” Anfey appealed, holding out his hand with two gold coins in it.
The garrisons’ attention was drawn to the gold coins. To royalty, the gold coins were not a lot of money, but these garrisons’ annual salaries were only a few gold coins. The two gold coins were enough for them to have a few days of luxury.
“I am sorry. The governor did not come back from the earl’s residence until midnight. You do not look like you have something urgent. Please come back in the evening. Master Urter has worked very hard all day. Please let him rest a little more.” The garrison sounded nicer. “This…please take them back. We do not need them.” That garrison knew a person who could toss around two gold coins must be somebody significant. He did not want to offend Anfey.
“Please! We have traveled a long distance. We wish to report to Master Urter.” Anfey turned his hand. More than a dozen gold coins appeared.
Those garrisons could not help staring at the coins. They lost themselves in the gold coins. Anfey smiled. As he turned his hand over, he had passed the coins to the soldier. However, as the first coin touched that soldier’s palm, he pulled his hand back as he received a shock. He let the gold coins fall on the ground.
“Why are you…” Anfey was shocked for a second.
The soldier’s eyes flashed a fierce look. He sounded like he was begging. “I am sorry, we cannot disturb the governor. If you have something urgent, you can tell me first.” He did not want to offend someone who could easily toss two gold coins at him. Now he dared not offend Anfey, so he addressed Anfey with even more respect.
Anfey looked at the gold coins at his feet. His lips curled into a smile. It was not hard to organize a garrison, but it was hard to train a highly-qualified garrison unit. If he had wondered whether these soldiers were qualified or not, seeing a few of them gave Anfey an idea what the whole city garrison was like. It was not that they did not want gold coins, but they were able to control their desires. It was not easy for them. After hearing the soldiers talk about how hard Urter had worked, Anfey was quite satisfied with this garrison.
When Anfey laid his eyes back on the garrisons, he looked like he was ready to kill someone. “Don’t make it harder than it should be.”
“What do you mean?” The temperature seemed it dropped in the air. That soldier was alert and moved one step back.
Anfey did not answer. He looked back and saw very few people on the street. The garrison residence was located at the very end of the street. No matter what he did, it would not draw others’ attention. He walked straight ahead to the gate. The soldier’s face suddenly changed. He pulled his sword out and pointed at Anfey’s chest. He yelled, “Step back, or…”
Before the soldier could even finish talking, Anfey had reached his hand out and grabbed the sword at his chest. He shook it upwards and then the soldier flew backwards. When the rest of soldiers saw their fellow get thrown so easily, they were smart and gave up the idea of stopping Anfey. Two soldiers ran over to hold their fellow up while the other soldier ran inside of the garrison residence. He yelled as he ran. “Hurry up, send out an alert! Enemy, enemy!”
“Shut up!” A voice came from the distance. Urter showed up in the courtyard. He stared at Anfey, who had already walked in. He muttered something, but did not know what to say. If Anfey officially had arrived in Violet City, he should have received notice, and it would be easy. Now Anfey’s appearance shocked him, and he was not sure whether Anfey wanted to let others know who he was.
Christian and Suzanna followed Anfey in. Blavi stayed behind to keep an eye on things outside. Anfey nodded at Urter and smiled. He knew what Urter’s concerns were.
“Master, you are back,” Urter said with respect. Those soldiers holding weapons in front of Urter were shocked.
“You probably did not think I would come, did you?” Anfey asked.
“I knew you had left Sacred City, but did not think you would come so fast.” Urter moved to the side. “Master, come inside. It is more convenient to talk inside.”
“Ok,” Anfey said with a nod. He walked two steps forward, but suddenly stopped. “Did you enroll these soldiers in the garrison?”
“Yes.” Urter was confused for a second. “Master, did they offend you?”
“They just did their jobs. They have done a good job. Urter, you have a good eye.” Anfey smiled and strode into the living room.
“Master, these…” A garrison asked timidly, pointing at the gold coins on the floor.
Urter seemed to know what had happened when he saw the coins. He said in a low voice, “You have done a good job. These are the rewards the earl gave you. You can take them.”
The soldiers were shocked for a second before they cheered. They hurried to pick up the gold coins. The soldier who Anfey threw acted the fastest. Anfey did not mean to hurt him and he was fine. There were few people who were not greedy. The soldiers liked gold coins as much as others, but they knew what they could take and what they could not. Now they did not have to worry about picking them up.
“Where is City Master Aroben?”Anfey asked as he looked around.
“He is still resting. He has been overtired for the past few days. His condition was not stable and made me worry about him.” Urter sighed and closed the door behind him.
“Then don’t bother him.” Anfey took a seat.
“Master, did you get rich recently?” Urter asked.
“That’s correct,” Anfey said, laughing.
“I was wondering why master was so generous,” Urter said with a smile. “Master, can you help me a little? I need to build an earl’s residence and enroll more soldiers in the garrison. Yet I do not have any income for the city budget. I am going crazy.”
“You look quite happy, and you do not look like you are forced to do anything,” Anfey said.
“That was because General Winkler helped me. He asked his supervisor to spare me some money from the budget in Shansa Empire, otherwise the construction of the earl’s residence construction would have stopped a long time ago.”
“General Winkler?” Anfey wondered.
“Didn’t General Miorich tell you? Before he departed, he left a unit of palace guards in Violet City. General Winkler was their commander,” Urter said.
“Oh, I remember now.” Anfey nodded. Miorich had talked about it with him, but did not tell him the name of the commander. Anfey thought Urter had really good diplomatic skills and had connected with Blackania City. It made sense that Miorich’s people helped him.
“Master, the reason you secretly came back to Violet City was…” Urter said.
“Just to check on it.” Anfey was quiet for a second, then continued, “Urter, did Marquis Djoser do anything recently?”
“I heard he had a very special and mysterious guest at his house. Marquis Djoser treated him with great respect, but that guest seemed to suddenly disappear. I have sent people to check on the guest, but …” Urter shook his head with a bitter smile. It was obvious he did not find anything.
Anfey smiled. He knew the mysterious guest was Archalchemist Jacob. Because of the opportunity of creating a potion, Jacob had gone to Sacred City. He was good at acting. He did not act too close to Saul, nor too aloof towards him. His acting at Anfey’s wedding was genius. His wedding gift was a bottle of aphrodisiac. Anfey knew Jacob was joking, but to others, it seemed insulting when he gave a young groom a bottle of aphrodisiac. As an archalchemist, he could totally have created a wonderful gift, what could such a small gift like an aphrodisiac mean?

Chapter 324: Change in Power

 

Urter spoke for a long time about what had happened in Violet City during Anfey’s absence. One thing in particular perked Anfey’s interest. Urter seemed very excited when talking about the military situation in the city. There was a law limiting the amount of soldiers a count could have at a thousand. However, Urter pointed out several times that a thousand guards were far from enough. He wanted to increase the defenses of Violet City and increase the number of guards to over ten thousand.

Anfey thought that this was Aroben’s idea, but as the conversation went on, he realized that most of residents of the city agreed. Residents had lost faith in official armies and wanted to protect themselves. They thought that if they faced another invasion, a militia would be more effective.

Urter prepared a simple dinner feast to welcome Anfey and his friends back. After hearing of their return, Aroben made an appearance, despite warnings from his doctors. He was in even worse shape than the last time Anfey had seen him, but he looked happy and did not seem to mind his disability.

Aroben glanced at Urter several times during the feast, but Urter seemed very uncertain. Seeing this, Anfey laid down his fork and turned to Urter. “What’s going on?” he asked. “Is something troubling you?”

“Not troubling me personally,” Urter said with a sigh. “As you know, my lord, a lot of nobles here fled before the arrival of Shansa army. Now that the war’s over, a lot of them are coming back.”

“Are they giving you a hard time?”

“No, we keep things civilized, but…” Urter’s voice trailed off and he sighed. “It’s their attitude towards the commoners. Like Viscount David. When he left, he only took part of his fortune with him. After the Shansa army occupied the city, the brothers from the Deng family organized a militia to fight against the enemies. Unfortunately, they were not strong enough to fight against actual soldiers. They sought refuge in Viscount David’s mansion. The Shansa soldiers decided to set fire to the mansion to kill them.”

“What then?”

“The Viscount was very angry about the destruction of his home. He thought that it was destroyed due to the brothers’ stupidity and defiance and demanded compensation from the family. But the only ones left from that family were the old and the young. He forced everyone in the family into slavery to repay him. This event has caused conflict…”

“Bastard,” Blavi spat.

“It’s true,” Urter said, shaking his head. “But I can’t do anything. The brothers’ action caused the damage to the Viscount’s belongings, but we cannot openly denounce their acts, either.”

“Did the people not do anything?”

“They do not care,” Urter said with a sigh. There wasn’t anyone who was willing to act against their own noble class.

Aroben clearly relaxed after Urter told the story. He was waiting for Anfey to make a decision. Perhaps he was trying to test Anfey’s ability.

“Christian, what do you think?” Anfey asked.

“Urter’s right,” Christian said. “This is too difficult. Nobles have the right to defend their belongings. If you do anything to Viscount David, you are risking offense to the entire noble class. They will team up against you.”

“The all nobles are doing what Viscount David did too,” Urter said. “They are trying to find scapegoats to take the blame for destruction of their property. They are supported by Marquis Djoser.” Urter was trying to tell Anfey that the marquis was trying to team up with these nobles. Anfey had to make a fast decision, or else his position would be threatened.

“What’s the nobility’s attitude?” Christian asked. He knew very well how influential those nobles could be.

“They somehow know about the conflict between the marquis and Lord Anfey, so a lot of them have not declared a clear allegiance yet.”

“Sneaky bastards,” Blavi snorted and rolled his eyes.

“As long as you don’t act out of line, the nobility will not side with the marquis,” Aroben said. “Even though the title of marquis sounds important, the citymaster is the rightful lord of the city. They know this well.”

“Let’s not talk about this anymore tonight,” Anfey said. “I’ll take care of this later.”

Urter frowned. “My lord…”

“Don’t worry. I will take care of this. I am, after all, the rightful lord of this city,” Anfey said. He stood up slowly and said, “I’m going to take a stroll. You guys should all go to bed.”

“This city is heavily guarded right now,” Urter said. “There may be trouble. I’ll come with you.”

“Alright,” Anfey said, nodding.

“Don’t be out too late,” Suzanna said.

“I won’t.”

The hall was very warm, but it was still winter outside. Anfey shuddered in the cold wind and glanced up at the stars. If it had been some other man, maybe he would have neglected the nobility and fought for power. However, the three brothers from the Deng family were heroes. He would give their family justice. He was not a politician and disliked power struggles. He would not take the nobility’s side.

“My lord,” Urter called.

“How is the exploration of the labyrinth going?”

“Do you want to go look at it, my lord? The guards there are all soldiers from the patrols, so their loyalty shouldn’t be a concern. None of them know much about what is under them.”

“Alright,” Anfey said.

“The labyrinth is full of magic arrays. I’m not a mage and I only have one way to solve the problem,” Urter said.

“What is it?”

“Sending people down there. Those magic arrays are all very old and there can’t be too much magic left in those crystals. I had about a thousand prisoners of war in my hand. I needed to do something with them.”

“That is a way,” Anfey said with a frown. “How many do you have left?”

“About six hundred.”

“Did the rest die?”

Urter nodded.

“Did anyone notice?”

“It is inevitable, but I don’t think they know how,” Urter said. “I take care of moving the bodies myself. Only a few of my closest guards know about this.”

“I hope you’re not overworking yourself,” Anfey said.

“It’s nothing. I’ve had worse,” Urter said with a smile. “My lord, get ready. The air down there is very bad.”

“Did you find anything down there?”

“No. We already explored the entire first level, but I can’t get down to the second.”

“There’s a second level?”

“Yes,” Urter said. “None of us expected it. This is too interesting. I am certain that whatever we find down there, we will not be disappointed.”

“It seems like we need help.”

“My lord, we need mages. Mages will quicken this process by a lot. Alchemists will be even better.”

“I will assign them to help you starting tomorrow,” Anfey said. He suddenly stopped and frowned. “Are we going the right way?”

“We are,” Urter said. “Follow me, my lord. I want to show you something.”

Chapter 325: Started

 

Passing the crossing ahead of them and make a turn, they would be able to get to the earl’s residence, but Urter led Anfey in the opposite direction. They walked to a regular house and knocked on the door.

There was a rhythm to Urter’s knocking. Without giving it too much thought, Anfey knew Urter was sending a signal, since he had so much experience in it.

A roughly 60-year-old old man opened the door. Seeing Anfey behind Urter, he looked surprised, but calmed down quickly. He stepped to the side to make a path for them. As Anfey followed Urter into the yard, the door quietly closed. Magic surges radiated from the old man. Over a dozen of people came from all directions like ghosts. Some of them held swords while others had drawn their bows and targeted Anfey.

Anfey raised an eyebrow. He trusted Urter and knew these people were his people, but he did not feel comfortable when about eight people pointed arrows at him from a short distance, especially when he saw they all looked extremely nervous. If he made any moves, those arrows might shoot at him.

“Let me introduce you. This is Earl Anfey,” Urter said in a low voice and then turned to Anfey. “Master, please do not take it personally. I have sent out signals to them, but they were worried that I was caught and threatened by others and looked a little too nervous about it. I have never brought anyone here before.”

“That’s ok,” Anfey replied.

Those swordsmen and archers looked at each other and let their weapons down, and then kneeled with one leg on the floor to Anfey.

“Ok. You guys can leave now.” Urter waved his hand and the swordsmen and archers left in formation. They disappeared into the pitch dark in the blink of an eye. Anfey cleared his throat and said in a low voice, “Urter, did you recruit them too?” The swordsmen and archers were trained well. Their movements were so well coordinated that Anfey was surprised Urter could have trained them so well in such a short time.

“No, they were the bodyguards of Aroben. He said he would submit his resignation letter to you when came you back. He did not feel he had the need to keep these bodyguards anymore, so he asked me to be in charge of them,” Urter said.

“Bodyguards? Then when Shansa Empire took over Violet City…” Anfey said.

“When Master Aroben got the news that Shansa Empire had invaded Violet City, he said everyone could leave, but not him. Master Aroben had dedicated his whole life to serving the empire. He did not want to be charged or make a bad name for himself and become a joke for others when he was about to leave his position,” Urter said as he pushed a bedroom door open. “These bodyguards have followed Master Aroben for many years. Master Aroben did not want them to die for nothing. He asked them to send a top secret memo to Blackania City. In fact, that memo was an order to ask them to stay and fight for Blackania City. By the time they found out that situation in Blackania was getting bad, the city already had been surrounded by the Shansa Empire military.”

“How many of them in total?” Anfey heaved a sigh.

“There are a little over 40 of them left,” Urter said.

“Left? Are you saying…” Anfey asked.

“There used to be over 80 of them. Some of them stayed in Violet City. They died to protect Master Aroben. Many of the ones in Blackania City died in the battle,” Urter said sadly. “Master, they have not attained high levels of fighting, but are very experienced. When Blackania City was in the battle, those guards did a lot to help defend the city.”

“It is a waste to have them on watch in this house,” Anfey said.

“I have no other options. I cannot find others I trust.” Urter walked to the bed. He gave a little push on the queen-sized bed: it opened. A big black hole with barely visible stairs showed. “Master, please follow me.” He stepped down the hole first.

The tunnel was narrow, but wide enough for one person to walk straight. It was high enough that Anfey did not have to bend over while he walked. Urter reached his hands out and searched along the wall. A small light appeared. “Master, I cannot afford Forever-Lasting magic light. I had to set up a simple light magic array, so be careful.”

“My vision is better than you think.” Anfey smiled. “Urter, would this tunnel lead us to the maze?”

“I planned that way,” Urter said, shaking his head, “but the walls of the maze were built with pieces of steel rock. Steel rock and elements can fuse well. It is also a good material for a magic array. The texture of the steel rock was hard and very difficult to pierce through. There was a time that they made too much noise. The patrols above noticed something. They sent people to let me know about it while they dug a few holes and buried big buckets in them to listen to the noise underground. I did not know how to explain it to them. I had to change the plan to dig the tunnel in the basement of the earl’s residence.”

As they were talking, they walked about a hundred yards. There was a wall in front of them and the tunnel had a 90 degree turn. Urter stood in front of the wall and flicked on it. The wall made a clear steel sound. “Master, look, this is steel rock.”

Anfey walked closer to the wall and took a closer look. “Is steel rock rare?”

“It is not rare, but expensive,” Urter said. “Master, after working on the tunnel for a few days, I had a new idea.”

“What idea?” Anfey asked.

“We cannot let what happened before happen again, so I am thinking of digging a tunnel that could lead to the outside of the city. If we are in danger, we could escape from the tunnel.” Urter looked a little awkward. “I know this sounds very selfish, because the civilians would not have any chance to use it. They do not even know about this tunnel, but…”

“It does not need to be so complicated. Violet City is going to have its own magic array soon,” Anfey said.

“Really?” Urter looked surprised and excited. “Would parliament pass it?”

“We do not need them pass it. We are going to use our own magic crystals. We will have our professor help us in the palace so no one can stop us,” Anfey said with a smile.

“Great!” Urter paused for a second. “But, Master, I think we still need a tunnel, just in case. In addition, we have more than six hundred captives. It would be a waste to keep them for nothing, since they are eating our food.”

“Did captives build the tunnel?” Anfey asked.

“Yes,” Urter said slowly. “Master, I know what you are thinking. Those captives are doomed. They would not be able to make it outside of the tunnel. I promise you this secret is not going to leak out.”

“Ok. I trust you.” This was already the second time that Anfey gave Urter such a comment.

Urter stood next to a crystal ball. He held his hand above it and moved his hand a little. The crystal ball lit up with an image of a room in it. Because of the dim light, the room looked gloomy.

Urter took a look before he pushed the stone door in front of him open. “Master, this is your basement. It was just built. It is not very big. You can use it for right now. We can expand it later.”

Anfey walked into the basement after Urter. The room showing in the crystal ball was actually the basement. “The Eyes of Sky magic array?”

“Yes, but it is a very simple and basic one,” Urter said.

“Did you come here often?” Anfey asked.

“Not too often. I am a bigwig now. It would be too obvious if I came here too frequently,” Urter said, smiling.

“Wouldn’t the patrols be surprised when they saw you suddenly showing up here?” Anfey asked.

“Since I took the governor’s job, I have warned them many times that they should not ask and look at certain things, otherwise they would be in trouble,” Urter said casually.

“They suspected someone doing something underground, and then you might show up here out of no where. Any person with some intelligence would be able to guess what was going on,” Anfey said.

“That is fine.” Urter shrugged. “I can promise you they would not leak any secret.”

“Is this tunnel about one hundred yards long? I wasn’t gone very long. It is amazing that you have built a tunnel so fast,” Anfely complimented Urter.

“Well…” Urter looked a little awkward after Anfey’s compliment. He cautiously took a look at Anfey. “Master, I did try. To protect this secret, I could not use all the laborers I have. If you can send me more people, it would take just a bit more than ten days to build a tunnel to the outside the city.”

“Ten days?” Anfey was shocked. He suddenly remembered the biggest difference between this world and Anfey’s previous world. “Are you saying you built this tunnel with magic?”

“If we did not use magic, do you think we used our bare hands on the tunnel?” Urter felt Anfey’s question was ridiculous. “If those captives had taken even half a year to build the tunnel, I do not think they could dig the tunnel this far.”

“Understood.” Anfey felt a little bit of shame. He changed the topic, “Where does the basement lead to?”

“To your study. Please follow me,” Urter said.

After passing a stone door, they came to a study without a roof. They could see the stars from the study.

“Master, what do you think? Pretty grand, right? There are very few buildings in Violet City are as grand as this one…” Before Urter finished talking, the sky suddenly lit up. Stars disappeared in the sky. A bright spotlight looking like a smaller version of the sun gradually formed into an image, a gigantic angel. The light sword in the angel’s hand was so long that it cross the whole sky. The light wings were so huge that their north and south ends were beyond what human eyes could see. It reached beyond the horizon. Urter was shocked, so were the patrols walking by and the slaves at work. They all looked terrified.

“What is that?” Anfey looked tense. He was super sensitive to angels.

“A necromancer war has started,” Urter said, as if he was dreaming.

Chapter 326: Final Warning

 

Pope William’s Light of Angels covered the entire continent. Hundreds of thousands of people looked up to the sky in fear and admiration. There had been many wars against necromancers, and every single war caused immeasurable damage. No one wanted to be alive to see a war against necromancers.

Light magic was the natural enemy of death magic, and Priests of Light would always be the deciding factor in how long the war would last. Without Priests of Light, necromancers might have already won the war. The importance and contribution of Priests of Light were undeniable. This was why the Church was able to gain respect and support in such a short amount of time and grow to be one of the largest religious organizations in the world.

Priests of Light were often treated like saviors during these wars. However, after centuries without a war against necromancers, the Church had become lax in its selection of priests. Some priests believe that they were saviors even though they had never fought in a war and should be respected and feared because they were the ones who kept the world safe. Without a war to display its power, the Church could not expand as quickly as before. This war could be the key to expanding the Church.

Sentient beings were not afraid of in-fighting, because whenever they are facing a common threat, they will band together against it. No matter where a man’s loyalty lay before, when he faced a common threat, he would trust and fight alongside all the other men against the threat.

This was because a common threat presented a common fear. No one wanted to become a zombie, even though a zombie’s lifespan was longer. Sentient beings were afraid of death. They were afraid of disappearing. The most important thing to a man wasn’t his life. It was his thoughts, his memories, his experiences. If these things could be preserved, no one would be afraid of death.

Those who chose the path of death magic feared the same thing. Every necromancer wanted to become an arch-witch because an arch-witch’s lifespan was longer than any other sentient being.

That night, the entire world stayed wide awake. Those in power found themselves busy like never before. The Holy Mountain where Pope William resided was even busier. Ambassadors from every nation flocked there trying to get help from the Pope and to seek out potential allies.

Like everyone else, Anfey did not sleep either. He was even more nervous than most people because he knew that he had already made the necromancers his enemies. He knew that the necromancers must be furious about his part in defeating Annunciata. If the necromancers really did want to hunt him down, he had nowhere else to run. He couldn’t fight against a political machine, and the Necromancer Union was one to terrify every single political machine.

The first major news arrived at dawn. General Augustus of Blackania City arrived at Blackania City through a transmission portal and took control of the city. Scarlet of Shansa Empire led her army away from the border and sent a messenger with a peace treaty. When facing such an enormous threat, wars were not acceptable.

Other news arrived soon after. Necromancers began to mobilize their members. In the past, necromancers would all band together and form a single, massive army. This huge army would sweep across the land, killing and pillaging as it went. The necromancers knew that the entire world was their enemy, and dividing up would mean defeat. However, this strategy had a major flaw. Creatures created with death magic move very slowly. Whenever people heard about necromancers, they would resort to scorched earth tactics. They would take everything they could and burn everything they couldn’t, leaving nothing for the necromancers. Then they would flee the scene.

To fight against necromancers, people would form small teams and employ guerrilla warfare. Mages and priests were the most important part of these teams. They can kill many more zombies in a short time. Then the team could flee the scene knowing that the necromancers were too slow to catch them.

After a few months, the necromancers would be too weak to pose a major threat. Then the nations would amass a great army and attack the weakened necromancers. This was why the necromancers could not gather large armies the way they had done during the first war.

The necromancers tried a similar tactic by sending a few necromancers into a large city to scout for information and ambush the people. However, powerful people were everywhere during those wars, and they could recognize necromancers at a glance. The necromancers could not get out in time and would be killed. Slowly the necromancers realized this was not the best tactic.

This time, however, the necromancers had picked a brand new tactic. They divided up their numbers, sending smaller groups of necromancers to dozens of different locations at the same time. One such battlefield was at Tumen Commercial Union, where there was little military defense and high traffic. Another was located in eastern Shansa Empire, another in northern Ellisen Empire. One was in Transverse Mountains, where the necromancers had already attacked a handful of mercenary groups. Another was in Greenwich, a small kingdom on an island offshore, and communication from the kingdom was lost.

Soon, the third piece of news arrived. Yolanthe had ordered the release of Shansa soldiers. Shansa Empire had already paid reparations and hadn’t caused that much damage. Maho Empire had been delaying the release of prisoners, but now it could delay no longer.

This order made the situation in Violet City more difficult. Anfey and Urter were still in the middle of exploring the labyrinth. They couldn’t send their own people into the labyrinth to die.

More news arrived at noon. The empire had ordered its more experienced soldiers and generals to communicate with each other and figure out a plan against the necromancers.

The necromancers’ new tactic was much more effective than their old one. When the necromancers occupied a new city, they would split again and head off to new locations. It was a fast and effective way for them to spread out throughout the entire world.

The old tactic was out-dated. Humans only had so many top level powers, and there were hundreds of battlefields. Top level powers needed to work together when fighting necromancers. If a master swordsman or an archmage die at the hands of necromancers, the necromancers would have an invaluable addition to their army.

Scorched earth was out of the question as well. Too many villages were caught off guard by the necromancers’ new strategy and couldn’t escape. The necromancers were not dangerous in small numbers, which gave people hope. People thought perhaps they could defend their homes and families. However, the death toll was very high, and the necromancers’ army grew with each death.

In the past, the necromancers had focused on the armies. This time, they avoided army camps at all cost. They focused on the weaker cities and villages. Against a large army, a small team of necromancers would be wiped out in minutes. Now, the necromancers’ army had grown too great.

The most terrifying thing was that none of the creatures created by the necromancers were afraid of the sun. Even the weakest skeleton could step into sunlight with no problem. Pope William had already sent out a warning and an example. In the past, a Holy Light spell from a Priest of Light could kill several dozen zombies. In a small village in northern Ellisen Empire, the spell had injured those dark creatures but did not incapacitate them.

Chapter 327: Extreme Chaos

 

Another night had passed. Anfey had been anxious and could not fall asleep for the past two days. Since the last few messages, there were no other message sent to him. However, giving it a bit more thought, it seemed to make sense. The reason Anfey could receive Yolanthe’s order and Pope William’s warning was because they were meant to put everyone on notice. They were not secrets, but how different countries reacted were top military secrets. As a business city, Violet city did not have reason to receive any of that military information

In the morning, Anfey sent people to ask Urter to come see him. Anfey wanted to go to the palace guards station outside the city to see General Winkler. General Winkler was Miorich’s man, and the two of them had been getting along. Urter and Winkler had become friends. With the presence of Prince Christian, Anfey did not think Winkler would hide anything from them.

Anfey and four others took more than a dozen of guards with them. They hurried out of Violet City. When they reached a palace guard station, Urter walked over to the guard stand before others could. He talked to them for a while, but came back with a disappointing look. After General Augustus took the job in Blackania City, he had called back all the high-ranking military officials. There was no news about Winkler.

Anfey and his group had no other options but to head to Blackania City. With Urter in the group, they had no problem entering the city. He had been back and forth between the two cities, so most guards at the gates knew him. However, he was stopped outside the general’s residence by a few soldiers in bright red armor. Urter tried to explain the situation, but they still did not let Urter in.

Seeing this, Anfey had to hang his flashy earl badge on his chest. He slowly walked to the gate of the general’s residence. The soldiers had seen his badge, since it was so obvious. They hesitated for a second before they forced themselves to stop Anfey.

Earls had much higher status than regular royalty. All the earls were members of the Upper House. To put it in a simpler way, earls could lead barons and viscounts. No matter in which empire, earls all had considerable influence.

The earl badges were the same in every country. The soldiers did not know Anfey was just bluffing them. In fact, he was just an honorary earl.

“I need see Augustus. Move!” Anfey yelled at the soldiers. It was scary to see someone wearing an earl badge. When Anfey yelled Augustus’s name, he looked like he had a tremendous background.

“I am sorry, Master.” The soldier definitely looked scared. He sounded like he was begging Anfey. “General Augustus is in a meeting now. He said he would not see anyone at this time. Could you wait for a little bit?”

Anfey frowned. When he was about to say something, Urter suddenly looked very excited and called out, “Winkler, here, here!”

A middle-aged general, walking hurriedly in the big yard, was shocked for a second when he heard someone calling his name. He turned around and walked over. “Urter, what are you doing here?”

“Winkler, let me introduce you. This is Prince Christian. This is Earl Anfey,” Urter said, moving to the side. Urter knew who Christian was. For the past few days, he had pretended that he did not know, because he had some concerns about it. He had claimed his loyalty to Anfey. If he acted too nice to Christian, he was worried that Anfey would suspect his loyalty. He’d rather play dumb.

Christian walked up with a smile and nodded at Winkler. Winkler was shocked for a second before went down on one knew and said, “Your majesty.”

“Please get up. Right now is a special time. You do not need to kneel,” Christian said in a deep voice.

“Yes, your majesty.” Winkler stood up and stood straight. Seeing the few soldiers still blocking the entrance, he yelled in anger, “Stupid! Move! Hurry up!”

The soldiers realized that the earl was not the one with the best background. There was even a prince. They were so scared that they broke out into a cold sweat. They immediately moved to the side and way for Anfey and his group.

“Your majesty, are you here to see General Augustus? Please follow me,” Winkler said politely.

Anfey walked in the front. Christian, Suzanna and few others walked beside him. After walking a few steps, Anfey saw confusion flash in Winkler’s eyes. He suddenly realized something. He slowed down a little bit and made room in the center of the group. He walked closer to Winkler and asked, “General Winkler, did you get any new information?”

Anfey was the absolute leader in his mercenary group. Everyone had gotten used to it, but it looked strange in others’ eyes.

“I cannot tell you now. You’d better have General Augustus tell you,” Winkler replied.

Christian was shocked for a second before he realized that he should walk in the center. Anfey did not get any information from Winkler. He shrugged and stepped back to walk next to Christian. Suzanna walked on the other side of Christian.

When they approached a conference room, they could clearly hear an argument. Winkler opened the door, Christian and his group walked in one after another. Augustus, at the head of the table, could not help getting angry when he saw these unexpected guests. He immediately recognized Christian. Augustus had been at Anfey and Suzanna’s wedding. He had given Anfey and Suzanna a valuable gift, so he knew them.

“Your majesty, why are you here today?” Augustus’s anger had changed into a smile. He walked up to them. “Earl Anfey, I am so happy to see you. Ms. Suzanna, you are getting even more beautiful. I can tell you guys are happy together. I am so jealous. Mr. Blavi, you do not look too good. You must be really tired. This is…”

Augustus used to be a defense minister. Compared with General Winkler, he seemed to be more social. He could even remember Blavi’s name. He even added Mr. in front to show respect. He did not miss Urter either. The generals on both sides stood up together. When they dressed in armor, they did not have to kneel to the prince in public, but at least they needed to show their respect instead of pretending not to see Christian and his group.

“This is Urter. He is a temporary city master in Violet City,” Winkler said.

“Please take a seat. Your majesty, I thought you were still on the way. It is a surprise for me to see you here. Your people did not even know you were here. Your majesty, if you lead a troop into battle, you definitely would be an awesome general,” Augustus said with a laugh.

Christian blushed when Augustus flattered him, even half-seriously. He immediately waved his hand. “This is your seat. I can sit here.”

“No, no!” Augustus looked serious. “There are rules in the military. When Prince Granden was the supervisor for the battle, he sat there too.”

Christian could not turn it down. He slowly sat down. He looked nervous at first, but after a while, he calmed down. He looked around casually.

“Can someone bring chairs for Earl Anfey, Ms. Suzanna, Mr. Blavi, and City Master Urter? Hurry up!” Augustus yelled.

Anfey and Suzanna did not get too excited when they were treated as honorable guests. Blavi looked excited though. Blavi could not remember a time when he was treated as an important person, especially by an important person.

Soon, chairs were set up. Anfey and others sat on both sides of Christian. When everybody took a seat, Augustus slowly sat down. “Your majesty, they…” Augustus glanced to the side out of the corner of his eye. The generals could not interrupt their conversation, so they still stood there.

“Everybody, take a seat please,” Christian said with a smile.

These generals were very professional. After they heard the order from Christian, they all took a seat together.

“General Augustus, do you any new information?” Anfey could not wait and went directly to the point right.

“Yes, and I have a lot of it.” Augustus thought for a second and had a bitter smile on his face. “Let me put it this way. The whole Pan Continent has been in extreme chaos. During the very first Necromancer War, necromancers gathered thousands of death spirits, but they did not make such a chaos.”

“Is this time more serious than that?!” Anfey was shocked.

“Back then, necromancers had certain objectives. They were powerful without any doubt, but they could only pose threats to at most a few dozen cities and towns. However, in the past two days, hundreds of cities and towns have been attacked. Some of them were filled with death spirits. We could not get exact data and do not know where it is safe and where they are going to attack,” Augustus sighed. “The necromancers are good at doing research on magic, but there is no way they could think out those strategies. I bet they have given the commanding authority to someone else”

“Do we have any plans to fight them?” Anfey asked.

“There are plans.” Augustus paused for a moment. “All the civilians around battlefields are going to retreat to the nearby cities, burn all the bones, and bring their food with them to their nearby cities. This way necromancers have less targets. They could all gather in a city to fight against death spirits in that city. This way we could have backup as well. Luckily we had a good harvest this year. Winter is coming. We do not need to worry about food.

“Isn’t it too passive?” Anfey asked.

“We do not have other options. We have been attacked by surprise. Those death spirits are not scared of sunlight anymore. We have to try to take a break from the constant attacks of death spirits,” Augustus said in a deep voice. “Compared with necromancer’s fight ability, we have a lot more experienced generals and brave soldiers. Necromancers are just some walking dead. If we are given a little more time, we definitely could find their weaknesses.”

“General Augustus, what were you arguing about before?” Christian suddenly asked.

After hearing Christian’s question, the generals all looked awkward. Even Augustus had an awkward smile on his face.

Chapter 328: Risks

 

“Is it because it’s a long story? Or because you don’t want to tell us?” Christian asked with a smile on his face. This was the first time he needed to take charge as a prince, and he was unsure of what to do. If Wester or Grandon had been in his place, he was sure they would have done a better job. However, he did not know that his attitude was even harder to deal with.

“You misheard me, Your Highness,” Augustus said. “This time, the necromancers’ attack alerted every nation. Many people believe that the reason those creatures of death aren’t afraid of death will be the key to winning the war.”

“I see,” Christian said with a nod.

“Our spies in Country of Mercenaries had some new information. Unfortunately, they were attacked before they could deliver the information. His Majesty had assigned me to investigate this case. The best plan will be to send a few undercover teams into Country of Mercenaries and seek out the surviving spies.”

Christian frowned. He thought it was a good plan and was not sure why the generals were all arguing about it.

“This involves the secret spies, Your Highness,” one of the generals said loudly. “They should be able to take care of themselves.”

“Those spies all have their own ways of communicating,” another general agreed. “It’s easier to just send out other spies.”

“They’re not wrong,” Christian said, turning back to Augustus.

“The only way for us to communicate with Country of Mercenaries was two small communication portals,” Augustus said. “Both portals were destroyed, so we cannot contact any of our people there. I’m sure the secret spy organization there would try and find the missing spies, but we have to provide assistance.”

“Country of Mercenaries is too big,” a general said, shaking his head. “This is like looking for a needle in a haystack.”

“If General Augustus thinks that those spies are vital to the war, then we should find all of our swordsmen and send them into Country of Mercenaries. Wouldn’t that be more effective?” another general asked. He was supporting Augustus, but in reality he was mocking him.

Christian glanced at Augustus. It seemed like Augustus had not yet won the support of every general. If it had been Baery or Miorich in Augustus’s place, the generals would all be supporting the decision of looking for the missing spies.

It was a known secret that Augustus and Constantine’s promotions were to pave the way for the princes. Augustus may have been a good man, but he had never led an army. The generals did not treat him as their equal.

“I would never back away from a fight against the necromancers, but Country of Mercenaries is infested with necromancers right now,” an old general said, stroking his beard. “Going there with less than a full-size army would mean death.” Just as swordsmen rely on their swords, the generals rely on their soldiers.

“We will not let our soldiers die in vain!” another general agreed.

“Be quiet!” Augustus bellowed. “Let’s not bicker in front of His Highness.” It was hard being the General of Blackania City. He had to use Christian to calm the other generals down. He did not like being so powerless, but it was the only way. Yolanthe told him to solve the case but did not order the return of the spies. This meant that Augustus would not be blamed even if he did not send anyone. The other generals knew this, which was why they were all against the idea of sending men into Country of Mercenaries.

Augustus wanted to organize a dozen teams. Each team needed an intermediate swordsman and other elites in order to survive the necromancer-infested Country of Mercenaries. If Augustus really insisted on sending those teams, he would take away the core members of an entire patrol army.

“Can I see His Majesty’s order?” Anfey suddenly asked. He had a feeling that Yolanthe would not give such an important mission to border patrol soldiers, though there was an excellent choice located close to Blackania City: Alibaba mercenary group. He had Ernest, Entos, and Suzanna on his team. Each one was worth five common soldiers. Black Eleven was originally one of the leaders of secret spies in Country of Mercenaries and knew all the spies posted there. The only thing Anfey could not understand was why Yolanthe sent the order to Augustus and not him.

“It’s burned,” Augustus said. “Protocol.”

Anfey and Christian glanced at each other. Anfey knew that Christian had made a choice. Christian would become the Duke of Swordbury one day, but that “one day” may not come for years. If Christian didn’t have any achievements, Yolanthe might one day forget his promise to his youngest son. In the past, Anfey had ignored Christian, because he thought that Christian didn’t need any achievements since he was a prince. Now he understood that Christian need these achievements even more because he was a prince.

“I’ll take my people there and find those spies,” Anfey said. He needed to go to Moramatch anyway. Might as well kill two birds with one stone.

“What? No,” Augustus said, shaking his head.

“Why not? I’ve lived in that country. I know it better than anyone here. I have a piece of land there too. I have the advantage.”

“No, no way,” Augustus said, still shaking his head.

The generals remained silent. They were all staring at Anfey. They were glad that someone had volunteered, even though their feelings about Anfey may be different. Augustus was more torn than the generals. Anfey was Saul’s student. If something happened, who would be held responsible? Plus, this order was given to him in the first place and had nothing to do with Anfey.

“Don’t worry, we’ll be fine,” Anfey said. “General Augustus, I want to put you in charge of Violet City while I’m gone. As you know, I have a lot of enemies there. I want someone I can trust to keep the city safe.”

“Count Anfey, you have to think about this,” Augustus said. “This isn’t something you can rush into. It is very dangerous.”

“I don’t need to,” Anfey said, shaking his head. He turned to Christian and asked, “Your Highness, what do you say?”

“It is done, then,” Christian said. “Let’s go.”

The generals all suddenly fell silent, then they all sprang up and began to speak at the same time. They could let Anfey risk his life and go to Country of Mercenaries because Anfey was of a lower rank. Christian, on the other hand, was a prince and outranked everyone. They could not allow him to risk his life. If something happened to Christian, the generals will all be blamed by Yolanthe.

“Silence!” Augustus bellowed. He turned to Anfey after the generals sat back down and said, “My lord, do you know why His Majesty did not order me to go in, but instead told me to make my own decision? It’s because His Majesty is hesitant as well.” Augustus paused and waved his hand. “Bring me the map.”

The servants hurried over with a large map and laid it down on the table. The map was covered with small black flags. Around each black flag were multiple grey flags. “Look, Your Highness, my lord. This is a map from this morning. Black flags mark the places already occupied by necromancers. Grey flags are their possible next moves. By now a lot of these grey flags are probably black flags. This is the Transverse Mountains. Do you think you can break through the necromancers’ line?”

The part of Transverse Mountains in Maho Empire already had three black flags and more than twenty grey ones. The flags had completely cut off any path through the mountains. The only way through was to fight. Augustus had made a decision, but he knew that it would be unlikely for those teams to survive the mission. However, the information those spies had was too important to be ignored.

The generals did not want to go, nor did they want Christian to go. Augustus thought that neither Christian nor Anfey should go.

Anfey stood up and walked around Christian. He stopped next to Augustus and whispered something to him. Augustus frowned, then shook his head. “You’re too stubborn, my lord.”

“My team is the best candidate,” Anfey said. “But I need your support, General Augustus.”

Chapter 329: Improvements

 

Anfey and his group arrived back in the Country of Mercenaries around noon. Seeing the totally different scenery than what they remembered, Anfey could not help thinking of the word “devastated.” He remembered that when they passed the Transverse Mountains previously, they could see merchant wagons and groups of mercenaries of different sizes. They saw none of them now, only a big road stretching far. Except for few rotting human and animal corpses, there was nothing else. Their surroundings were quiet. It seemed there were countless dangers waiting for them.

Anfey turned back to look at the already anchored suspension bridge and highly secured city border, and then turned to look at Ernest. After the war broke out, all the magic crystals had been reserved for military use. Civilians were not allowed to use them. Of course, civilians did not include royalty. Their lives had not been affected too much, but they were just as scared other civilians. People had to get permission from Central Empire before they could use magic transmission portals. With help from Augustus, Anfey got in touch with Baery very fast. With Baery’s influence and power, there was no question that Anfey would be allowed to use the magic transmission portal.

In any event, Anfey did not waste any magic crystals. He had two good people, Ernest and Black Eleven. With Ernest in his group, the whole group’s fighting ability was increased to a higher level. Black Eleven was very familiar with the Country of Mercenaries. He was a great counselor and the key for completing missions in the Country of Mercenaries.

Another person who could be even more valuable than Black Eleven was Entos. Unfortunately, he was building a magic transmission portal in Violet City that could not be completed in a short period of time. It was very important to build an escape tunnel, especially when they were under the threat of death spirits.

“Anfey, let’s go,” Blavi said quietly. With Ernest in the group, Blavi was very excited, since he felt safe with Ernest. He did not care for a peaceful life anyway. He badly wanted to showcase how he could perform in danger.

“All of us will ride horses. You have to save some magic power. Don’t use your levitation magic unless it is necessary,” Anfey ordered.

“Isn’t it too dangerous to take this main road?” Christian frowned. Those rotting corpses showed that something had happened here before. The general at the city gate also told them death spirits had been wondering on the main road.

“Dangerous? Those death spirits would be in danger if they met us,” Blavi said with a weird laugh.

“It will be fine,” Anfey said casually. He easily jumped on the horse. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. The trees in the forest about three hundred yards away started to shake all at once. Anfey’s sensing ability got stronger and stronger. Previously, he had to be in the forest to order plants, but now he could perform it from a distance. The effects were almost the same. He could clearly sense everything around him, including those crawling ants and bugs. His telepathy had also improved. He could take in all the information without mixing them together.

“Ok.” Christian realized he was too cautious. With Ernest in the group, death spirits could barely post any threat to them.

“Let’s go!” Anfey yelled in a deep voice. The horse Anfey rode suddenly started to run ahead of everyone else.

The main road was built through the Transverse Mountains. As its name implied, it had thick forest on both sides of the road. Except for Ernest and Suzanna, no one else noticed a gust of spirit constantly flowing out of the forest and covering Anfey and them. The horses they rode ran faster and faster to the point they felt they were as fast as lightning. The horses became much braver. They were not scared and ran over the corpses on the ground like nothing. They were almost as good as the blind-folded war horses cavalries rode.

Rows of trees looked like green walls flashing by. The extreme speeds had them excited. This sounded right, otherwise there would not have been so many racehorses in Anfey’s previous world. Because they were so fast, Christian and Blavi had to use their magic shield and Black Eleven released combat power as well. By doing so, it allowed them breath better. The pressure did not affect them. They all felt proud as a result of the speed.

Blavi was the most excited one. He was yelling at the horse and looked very excited. Christian and he had ridden horses before, but never with such freedom and speed. The speed of their horses was surpassing the maximum speed of regular war horses, almost a match for famous racing horses. Black Eleven seemed to notice something and kept checking his horse and the war horses following behind them.

After running for dozens of miles, there seemed to be more death spirits, but with body parts missing. A few stronger ones tried to attack Anfey’s group. Blavi had no opportunity to show off his pride and excitement. Seeing those zombies, he shot out a big fire ball first that hit a zombie’s head.

Blavi had never released magic on a fast running horse before, so he had no experience with it. As he released the big fire ball, the horse was still about 20 yards away from the zombie. He was about a dozen yards away when the fire ball hit the zombie. When the zombie turned into a cloud of flame, Blavi felt he was running into the zombie with a lightning speed. He panicked. Luckily, the horse changed direction when it sensed the danger. Suzanna swung her sword at the zombie and knocked its head off. Blavi barely passed the flaming zombie without touching it. He could even feel the heat of the flame. It happened so fast that he broke into a cold sweat afterwards.

“Bravo!” Blavi was shocked for a second before he laughed crazily.

Suzanna rolled her eyes at Blavi. She should not have helped him. Suzanna thought to herself, If Blavi could have hugged the zombie, he would have felt even better. Christian found it frustrating but funny at the same time. He yelled, “Blavi, you should be a beast, not a mage.”

Blavi did not even care. He shrugged and started to attack the death spirits on both sides of the road. This time he learned. He constantly changed direction. Death spirits turned into flaming fire balls behind him one after another. Blavi’s excited yells mixing with the screams from the struggling death spirts sounded horrible.

Anfey could sense what was behind him, but could forget about it immediately after he sensed it. He had reached a level that he was not affected by this ability to connect with the plant world. The spirit of nature had constantly flown out and surrounded him. Every time Anfey breathed and his heart beat, he would take in decent amount of spirit of nature. This spirit was endless.

As it was getting dark, Anfey saw a small village between the mountains in the distance. He pulled in the reins. Anfey could sense that there were about eight zombies crawling around in the village, even though he was still two hundred yards away from it. The zombies were missing body parts. It looked like they had terrible fights before they turned into zombies. They were dumped by the necromancers, just like the ones on the sides of the main road. Their speed had determined they could not keep up with the main stream of zombies on their long trip. They were just a burden to take on the road.

“Anfey, are we staying here today?” Suzanna reined in the horse as she rode close to Anfey. Seeing everything in disarray, Suzanna knew there had definitely been an attack by death spirits. If possible, she did not want to stay here: it was too disturbing.

Anfey shook his head. “No, we are staying in the forest.” Now that he had the Heart of Nature, every decision seemed to be easy. In the blink of an eye, Anfey had found a couple of trees they could stay in. He picked the best one for them.

“Is this the condition of the entire Country of Mercenaries?” Christian said, worriedly.

“No, at least not in White Mountain City or Blackwater City. The fighting ability of those four super mercenary groups should not be underestimated,” Anfey said with a calming smile. “Blavi, it seems that you have vented pretty good on the road. There are still about eight zombies in the village. Let them rest in peace.”

“Sure!” Blavi laughed. He jumped off the horse and strode to the border of the village. He clapped to try to draw the zombies’ attention. In fact, he did not have to clap to get their attention. The zombies had noticed him and crawled out. They crawled so slowly that Blavi did not see them until the clapping started to hurt and he had to blow on his hands.

“Come here, come!” Blavi moved a few steps back with a playful smile on his face.

These low-level death spirits with missing parts did not have any intelligence. Besides following the orders of necromancers, their only concern was eating flash left. They crawled towards Blavi without any fear.

As all the zombies crawled to an open field, Blavi released Swamp Magic followed by Dispel Magic. If Dispel Magic was used to dispel others’ magic, it would greatly affect other mage’s magic ability, telepathy and other factors. If it were to dispel his own magic, it was easy. As Swamp Magic had the hoped-for effect on the zombies, Blavi dispelled it. The result was half of the zombies’ bodies were stuck under the ground while the other half was still above ground. They screamed and struggled but could not bring themselves out of it.

Anfey’s eyes brightened. Is this the strategy Blavi thought of? He did not only try to improve his fighting ability, he also thought about his own fighting style. Everyone had been trying hard and was constantly making progress.

Blavi laughed proudly. He released another magic spell in slow motion. Firewalls came out right on those zombies. Their screaming sounded even worse. They still could not pull themselves out. There was disgusting smell in the air.

“Beautiful!” Christian complimented Blavi. Firewall magic was not nothing great in itself, but what surprised him was the way Blavi used it.

Chapter 330: Bizarre Zombies

 

In places that were occupied by necromancers, the nights were quieter. Anfey chose a large tree as his team’s resting site for the night. The tree was not comfortable, but it was better to be off the ground and out of sight. No one complained, as they knew it was the best place to camp.

Suddenly, a dull red light appeared among the trees. At first it appeared as specks of light, then the specks began to increase until it was impossible to ignore the strange light. Anfey opened his eyes. The Heart of Nature had sensed that something was wrong in the forest.

Anfey could tell that the red light was from eyes of the zombies. The zombies were marching through the trees at a surprisingly high speed. They were all looking around as if they were searching for something.

“Ernest,” Anfey said quietly. “You awake?”

Ernest nodded. He was a master swordsman and could sense change in the environment better than anyone. “What are those?”

“Zombies.”

Behind them, the others began to stir as well. After months on the run, everyone had developed a sensitivity to change in their surroundings.

“Those are zombies? How is that possible?” Blavi asked quickly.

“Wait!” Anfey said, shocked. One of the zombies suddenly raised its hand, stopping the others. The lead zombies had issued an order. This should only be possible among intelligent beings. These zombies could send and obey orders without the assistance of necromancers, which was thought to be impossible.

“What is it?” Blavi asked.

“They’re acting strange,” Anfey said. He took a deep breath and expanding the range of the Heart of Nature. He saw more zombies, but that was not the only thing he saw. There were two humans, a man and a woman, lying low in a bush. The zombies walked past them but did not discover them.

Anfey focused on the two. The man slowly moved his hands in a strange pattern, and a black line appeared in front of him. The line was made up of millions of strange ants. The ants swarmed towards one of the zombies and devoured it within seconds.

The other zombies walked past the fallen one without stopping.

The woman nodded at the man, who grinned widely. The other zombies walked past the corpse of the attacked zombie without noticing it. They were still looking around as if they were searching for something. The two humans must have known what they were doing, or else they wouldn’t have been so bold.

“What did you see?” Suzanna asked anxiously.

“Nothing,” Anfey said. “Christian, Blavi, stay here. Black Eleven, you should stay with them too. These zombies are acting too strange.”

The red lights were moving faster now. Anfey raised his hand and summoned wind element, forming it into a large broadsword. He jumped off of the tree and landed on the ground.

The zombies were fast, but Anfey didn’t think they would be difficult opponents. If the zombies really could defeat senior swordsmasters and master swordsmen, the necromancers would not hesitate to launch attacks on the major cities. The goal of the necromancers was to create a place where they could freely practice their magic. The first step would be to destroy the existing civilization. The major cities were seen as the height of civilization. As long as those cities remained, the people had hope. The necromancers were avoiding battles with major armies because they knew it was not the right time.

The zombies were fast, but Suzanna was faster. She summoned her combat power and launched into the zombies. Whenever she drew her sword, she would never reserve her strength.

Anfey gripped his broadsword and jumped towards the zombies as well. He swept his broadsword through the zombies’ ranks, leaving dozens dead with each sweep.

Unlike Suzanna, Anfey only had one method of attacking. Every time he attacked, he would avoid places like arms and torsos. Instead, he aimed for the zombies’ necks, which were weakest part of their bodies.

Sometimes, he would change his direction of attack mid-swing. It would appear that he was aiming for the creature’s head, but his broadsword would land on its neck. Sometimes, he would aim for a zombie’s stomach but would jump over the zombie and take off its head. He was skilled enough that he could easily combine his sword skills with his use of the broadsword.

There were about three hundred zombies present in the forest and no necromancer within a mile radius. Halfway through the battle, the zombies all turned to Suzanna. Dozens of zombies leapt at her at once. The light of Suzanna’s combat power was very bright, but zombies blocked it with their bodies. The last zombie to jump at her opened its mouth and reached out towards Suzanna with its sharp claws. The zombie’s jaw was dislocated and its mouth was opened wide enough to swallow Suzanna’s entire head. Dark smoke was emitting from the zombie’s mouth.

The zombie was clearly using magic, which was also impossible. It wasn’t clear whether Suzanna’s combat power could save her from this strange zombie magic. Anfey’s grip on his broadsword tightened and he dashed towards the zombie. As the zombie’s claws were almost touching Suzanna, Anfey jumped up and brought the sword down on the zombie’s head. The head flew off and dark fluid splattered onto the ground. The zombies that came in contact with the fluid howled in pain and their bodies were burned by the dark fluid. Some of the burns on the zombies were so bad that stark white bones were easily visible through the wounds.

Anfey had been keeping his eye on that zombie. He could tell it was the leader of the group after it issued on order. Even though it was much faster than the other zombies, it appeared to be more timid and avoided joining the fight. Anfey did not know what made this zombie special and did not want to kill it until he found out why it was different. He was forced to kill it because he did not want any harm to come to Suzanna.

Suzanna bellowed and jumped into the air. Her combat power expanded and struck the zombies around her.

Large chucks of rotting flesh and dark fluid splashed out. Anfey jumped back and quickly summoned a fire shield to avoid coming into contact with the zombies’ bodies. Then he hurried and hid behind a large tree to avoid more bloody parts of rotten flesh.

The rest of the zombies became much slower after their leader’s death. A bright sword radiance turned all the zombies into pieces.

“Are there any necromancers here?” Ernest asked. He was hiding because he needed to take care of the hidden necromancers, though now it was apparent there weren’t any around.

“No,” Anfey said, shaking his head.

“This is impossible,” Ernest muttered under his breath. He scanned the remaining zombies and frowned.