abcnovels
Chapter 225
Chapter 225
Chapter 225
The intense battle continued on. Lee Shin’s Undead had initially shaken the soldiers, but they soon adapted to the situation and began cooperating with their new teammates.
"Hey! You Skeleton with multiple heads! We're losing ground up front, so go and stop them with your evil spirits!"
The Commander of the Corps of Divinity shouted at Naberius.
"Ugh, that mere human is bothering me..." Naberius muttered.
Naberius gathered his dark mana and released it toward the front. The dark mana covered the ground and reanimated the fallen corpses.
Grrr...
The divine healing powers couldn’t save all the soldiers, but Naberius could bring them back as Undead. When other soldiers of the Corps of Divinity saw this, they cried out but did not get angry at Naberius. They knew that their comrades were already dead, so they could only thank them for fighting for them even in death.
"Ben has risen to fight for us!”
"Fight! Our comrades are not giving up even in death! We can do this!"
Whoa—!
Cheers erupted from the Corps of Divinity as they saw their comrades rising as Undead to fight alongside them. Lee Shin thought it was a paradoxical situation and chuckled. This unexpected turn of events seemed to boost their morale significantly.
‘Tsk, the situation is turning against us.’
The Undead of the Corps of Immortality kept coming back to life after death, and Lee Shin’s Undead, unfortunately, couldn’t do that. While some level of recovery was possible, they could not be resurrected if they were destroyed. Lee Shin didn’t know how Gene had done that.
"He is almost on par with the Great Devils..." Lee Shin muttered.
The combat power of the first-floor souls was only a bit below that of the Great Devils that Lee Shin had summoned. Considering that these souls were not in their original bodies, their class could be on par with the Great Devils or higher.
'When it comes to a corps-to-corps battle, I will eventually lose.’
Lee Shin had no other choice but to admit it. His skills and capacity as a necromancer were far inferior to Gene Ebrium’s.
‘But when it comes to magic, it's a different story.’
Observing the chaotic battlefield, Lee Shin turned to the Commander beside him.
"Order the troops to retreat," Lee Shin said.
The Commander looked surprised by Lee Shin’s order.
"But if we retreat now, the enemies will pursue us; we will suffer heavy losses," the commander replied, worried.
"It's fine, so just retreat. If we keep fighting like this, we'll eventually be wiped out. We need to fight behind the castle walls," Lee Shin said.
"All right, Sir," the commander replied.
After hearing Lee Shin’s firm command, the Commander nodded and quickly relayed the orders to the other soldiers.
Booo—!
A thunderous beeping filled the air, generating a wave of confusion among the allied soldiers as they tried to make sense of the retreat signal. The Commander of the Corps frowned and glanced at the castle wall where Lee Shin stood.
"Are you planning to block the rear with the Undead? But even so—" asked a knight.
"No," Lee Shin replied.
Interrupting the Knight's words, Lee Shin shot his shimmering blue mana toward the back of the soldiers who were charging forward. A blue barrier extended over the Undead of the Corps of Immortality. They looked up to see what was happening, but all they could see was a fog of blue mana.
'Even if it’s the Corps of Immortality, they shouldn't be able to resurrect infinitely.’
Gene Ebrium was scattering the resurrected Undead in all directions to prevent Lee Shin from figuring out the resurrection cycle. However, that tactic did not work on Lee Shin, as everything he saw on the battlefield was eternally stored in his memory. After reviewing everything on the battlefield, the cycles and intervals were neatly arranged in Lee Shin’s mind.
'The stronger the individual's power, the longer the resurrection cycle.'
As that power grew stronger, the gap widened even more.
[Torrent of Lightning]
Rumble— Rumble— Crack!
A fierce thunderclap sounded from the sky. Everyone felt like their eardrums would burst, but no one lowered their heads; they just flinched. The silence before the storm lasted for a moment.
Bababababam—!
Heralding the beginning of the battle, a thunderbolt struck the head of an Undead holding a wand.
Crack—
That Undead desperately tried to create a shield, but it was meaningless. The thunderbolt reached the Undead before its shield was complete.
"One down," Lee Shin muttered.
The mana barrier enveloping the Undead obstructed their vision and disrupted their ability to detect mana. They couldn’t see or sense anything with their mana. Could they really withstand a sudden thunderbolt in such a situation?
‘First, I need to deal with the souls from the first floor.’
Lee Shin cracked open the head of the one casting curse spells. However, there were still twenty-seven more left for him to deal with. The remaining ones must have become much more cautious after the recent strike. Therefore, Lee Shin was determined to attack mercilessly without giving them time to prepare.
Babababam—!
Crack—! Boom! Bang—! Babababam—!
Under the relentless thunderbolt strikes, the Undead’s formation broke.
"Damn it! Someone do something about this barrier!”
"What are those damn wizards doing? Can't they handle something like this?"
"Even if we want to, as soon as we try to open our mana circles, the lightning stri— Aaah!"
One unfortunate Undead, unable to evade a thunderbolt that had fragmented into multiple bolts, shattered into pieces, and vanished into the shadows. Hundreds of Undead met the same fate in a matter of minutes. The count of Undead formed from the souls on the first floor had dwindled to less than half now.
***
While the Undead chasing the retreating Corps of Divinity were in disarray, most of the soldiers of the Corps of Divinity had safely returned to the castle.
"This is insane. I didn't know Commander Lee Shin's abilities were this formidable."
The Commander of the Corps of Divinity marveled as he watched Lee Shin performing incredible magic on the castle wall. It was almost unbelievable that a single wizard could change the atmosphere on the battlefield.
"Honestly, the barrier spell didn’t look that impressive, but it sure is restraining the Undead.”
“It may seem simple, but the technique behind that spell is anything but simple. People like us can’t even try to perform it,” the Commander replied.
The Commander then hurriedly scaled the castle wall. The Corps of Immortality had temporarily ceased their advance. Currently, neither of the two sides was at the peak of their combat power, but the Commander knew that with time, the odds would become increasingly unfavorable for the Undermost people, as the Undead would eventually resurrect.
"I am Oskepel, the Commander of the Corps of Divinity. I have returned from my post," Oskepel said.
"Great work," Lee Shin replied.
"Thank you. However, the situation is still very unfavorable for us. May I ask what your plan is?” Oskepel asked.
Lee Shin didn’t answer and turned his gaze toward the battlefield instead. Oskepel also looked at the battlefield to see Gene Ebrium. The necromancer pulled out a staff from his shadow—made entirely of bones. Two iron rings hung at one end of the staff, producing a strange sound every time the staff moved.
Clink— Clink—
When Gene tapped the ground twice with the staff, black mana seeped out and spread across the entire battlefield.
"Territory Declaration."
Thud!
Clink!
The black mist instantly engulfed Lee Shin’s blue barrier, the dark clouds and the blue sky, and even the Corps of Immortality and the Corps of Divinity.
"This is...!" Oskepel muttered with a frown as he started to panic.
As the mana enveloped him, the eeriness he felt was more chilling than anything he had ever experienced.
"Tsk." Lee Shin clicked his tongue.
He could tell that Gene Ebrium’s previous attacks had only been sneak peeks of what he could do. The real battle was about to begin.
The black mana was oppressive and filled with murderous intent. Looking around, Lee Shin noticed that the soldiers' morale was dropping rapidly.
"If we can’t defeat that necromancer, we can’t win this war," Lee Shin said to Oskepel, looking at Gene Ebrium.
"Understood, Sir," Oskepel replied.
"Oskepel," Lee Shin called out
"Yes, Sir," Oskepel replied.
"Take this. With this sword, you should be able to release its true potential," Lee Shin said.
Lee Shin pulled out the pure white sword hanging at his waist and handed it to Oskepel.
“This is…” Oskepel’s eyes opened wide when he saw the pure white sword.
As soon as Oskepel took the sword from Lee Shin, he immediately felt the power contained within it.
‘This sword contains an incredible amount of divine power…’
The mere appearance of the sword oozed divinity. However, that was only the tip of the iceberg. As soon as he grabbed the sword, he felt its divine power, incomparable to any other holy relic.
- I will lend you my strength according to my master's command.
Oskepel gulped when he heard Martyr’s voice.
"Who are you?" Oskepel asked, looking at the sword.
- My name is Martyr. You can sense my capabilities by giving me your divine power.
"All right," Oskepel replied.
Oskepel slowly infused his divine power into the sword; simultaneously, he felt like he had acquired a sixth sense.
‘Oh, I can feel it.’
He now understood the meaning of divine power, its limits, and its potentiality.
Swoosh—!
The air around Oskepel began to tremble. Noticing the change in atmosphere, Lee Shin looked at the situation with interest.
‘Just as I expected…’
After witnessing Oskepel's large-scale healing, Lee Shin had gotten a better sense of his potential. Could the Corps of Divinity alone defeat the legendary boss, Gene Ebrium? Absolutely not, and Lee Shin knew it. Only a challenger at Gene’s level could defeat the necromancer.
On every stage, there was at least one key that could help a challenger clear that stage. It was up to the challenger to find it and use it correctly. After all, there was no use in finding a key you couldn’t use properly.
‘Phew. I was lucky.’
Oskepel’s awakening was the key to this stage. Lee Shin did not know the conditions, but he knew Martyr could facilitate the process. Without Martyr, it would have been a difficult task to awaken Oskepel.
"Thank you, Commander." Oskepel bowed his head to Lee Shin.
Oskepel just felt different now. While Martyr was too great of a weapon for Lee Shin because he did not have much divine power, he knew Oskepel could use the weapon to its fullest potential.
"Divine territory," Oskepel said, drawing the sword.
A golden divine power spread from his sword and clashed with the black mana surrounding the territory. The clash brought the black mana to a halt. It clung sparsely to the space as it combined with divine power.
"How impressive… You pushed into my territory," Gene Ebrium muttered admiringly for the first time.
He then raised his staff and aimed it at Oskepel.
"Then try blocking this," Gene Ebrium said with a smirk.
Black mana gathered at the staff's tip and flew toward Oskepel. The blazing, black flash pierced the vast ground and collided with the divine shield before splitting into five branches. The scattered black mana spun, gathering around the soldiers huddled inside the castle walls.
"Keugh...!" A soldier gasped after getting struck by the black mana.
When the black mana hit him, he instantly turned black, and his eyes changed.
"Hmm… Not a bad body," said the soldier, looking sinister.
Swoosh—!
Thud!
The soldier swung his sword, beheaded his comrade standing beside him, and smiled lightly.
"Yan! What the hell are you doing!"
"Are you crazy?"
The soldiers shouted in confusion, but the sinister soldier remained calm.
"What?" the sinister soldier replied
Swoosh— Swhoosh— Swooosh—!
Subsequently, the sound of flesh being cut and rent rang in the area. Every soldier the black mana touched began acting the same: harming their comrades as if they had become different people.
"Man… Forcing souls into the soldiers?” Lee Shin muttered.
Realizing what Gene Ebrium had done to the soldiers, Lee Shin was shocked. This showed how great of a necromancer Gene Ebrium was. He had forcibly attached souls to not just ordinary soldiers but also elite soldiers who used divine power.
"I'll handle this," said Oskepel with determination, ready to jump down, but Lee Shin stopped him.
"No, you'll have to face Gene Ebrium with me,” Lee Shin replied.
After sending the Undead corps into the chaos, Lee Shin no longer paid attention to that area. Shortly afterward, Oskepel, who had been looking back, also turned his head with a stern face.
"All right, Sir. Understood," Oskepel replied with determination.
Oskepel realized that the necromancer would play him like a fiddle if he wavered at every little thing.
"They're coming," Lee Shin said, looking at the approaching enemies.
The Corps of Immortality, who had finished their preparations, began to charge toward the castle walls.
"All of you!” Oskepel shouted.
He took a deep breath and shouted even louder.
“Get prepared for the enemy's attack!" Oskepel shouted.
He vigorously swung Martyr and then pointed it toward the Corps of Immortality; with that, thousands of arrows flew out, and dozens of siege weapons began bombarding the Corps of Immortality.