The Legendary Moonlight Sculptor

(467) Volume 49 6 — The Sorcerer of Darkness Part II

?Volume 49 Chapter 6 — The Sorcerer of Darkness Part II

With a single incantation, Bar Khan cast a set of three area-of-effect curses with the range that covered the entire region.

“We need Bless! Remove the curses, quickly!”

“Where are the priests? Please, we need help right now!”

The users of the Hermes Guild desperately called for the priests. The paladins could withstand the curses with their innate resistance or Bless spells, but the damage suffered by the other users was more immense than they had imagined, even though they were equipped with the gears that were resistant to Black Magic. Not only preventing the enemies from exerting their full strength in combat, the power of Bar Khan’s magic was such that it reduced the victims’ overall competence by a couple of notches.

In the meantime, the horde of skeletons whose number amounted to almost a million was crawling up the castle walls. Unlike the human soldiers who need ladders, they just used their bony hands and feet to climb up the ramparts ever so diligently. The Hermes Guild users tried to stop them using their attack skills.

“Exploding Slash[1] !”

“Thunder Hammer!”

“The Bow of Gamesh!”

A skeleton that had been strengthened by Bar Khan could even match the power of a Death Knight, but the users of the Hermes Guild defeated the skeleton horde without much trouble using the advantage of their position on top of the castle walls as well as their combat strength.

“You need to make sure their bodies dissipate completely! Just pushing them off the walls won’t do anything!”

“Suppress them!”

Using their powerful skills, the Hermes Guild users liquefied or pulverized the skeletons that had reached the top of the ramparts. The only way to win a fight against the Immortal Legion was to thoroughly destroy every corpse in the battlefield.

“The Doom Knights are about halfway to knocking down the castle main gates!”

“What, already?!”

“Defense units, quickly!”

In order to hold back the advancing Doom Knights, some of the strongest warriors or knights among the Hermes Guild members came forward to face them. Throughout the fortress there were explosions of divine force or blazing lights of magical spells, an intimidating sight to the invading undead.

“Up in the sky!”

“Careful! Everyone duck!”

Thirty Bone Dragons were soaring across the sky, spouting out concentrated acid; soon a number of places in the Valkis Castle had become corrupted, smoke of rotten gas rising from the ground.

“Krrrrr…rise up, vessels of unbelievers. Every being that possesses life merely exists to commit evil!”

The wailing ghosts were emitting bloodcurdling shrieks, cursing the living around them.

“I’m wounded!”

“Everyone who’s below 60% of their life force, retreat to the rear!”

The Hermes Guild had set up healing posts along the ramparts at every 50 meters; many priests with divine power were stationed there, whom the guild had recruited as many in number as possible from each religious order using its accumulated contribution points.

From the central tower of the Valkis Castle, it could be seen that treatment of the injured soldiers were proceeding smoothly.

“It’s a tough battle for sure, but we are…doing better than expected. Although, I must say, those skeletons are certainly powerful for such low-rank monsters.”

“Yes. We have the advantage of defending inside the castle, so we only have to be careful with those Doom Knights.”

“The Immortal Legion has about a million troops; their number would increase by a few tens of thousands when those Doom Knights that have scattered to find more corpses return, but I think we will still be able to defeat them.”

The top rankers and other authority figures of the Hermes Guild had gathered in the central tower, with Myul being one among them.

“I’m a bit concerned about those Bone Dragons rampaging through the field…”

“Right now any attacks against them are not much more than a waste of our strength. If we cannot take them down in one go, it’s better to just leave them be and concentrate on the low-rank undead. This fight will be over as soon as we get rid of Bar Khan, anyway.”

As their victory seemed more certain as the battle went on, the expressions on the faces of the Hermes Guild users became less stiff as well. At first they had been worried about the possibility of the Immortal Legion devastating the whole continent, but now that they had actually faced the undead army, they were doing a good job of driving it off. It was, of course, a tricky fight, as undead were able to be revived over and over again unless their bodies were completely destroyed; even when they suffered a considerable loss in the life force, with the power of Bar Khan recovering them they came to their full strength again in but a second.

The members of the Hermes Guild, the most skillful users of the continent, had joined their strength to fight against the terrible power of the undead horde consisting of the dreaded Doom Knights as well as the large elite monsters like Bone Dragons. They annihilated the skeletons crawling up the ramparts and blocked the bone arrows flying from the distance by using protection skills or deflecting them with their swords. The Doom Knights were difficult enemies to deal with, but the users coordinated their attacks to dispose of them one by one whenever there was a chance.

And at the very moment when they started to believe that they were proving the strength of the Hermes Guild as befitted the one that conquered the Central Continent, about a thousand users who had been standing on the ramparts got almost all of their life force drained at once by Bar Khan’s curse.

They were not instantly killed thanks to the magic resistance, but their lives would be in peril if they continued to fight any longer.

“The power of that curse…He is indeed a legendary monster.”

“Nobody died, though. It seems that skill cannot kill the victim outright, although it is capable of dropping the life force almost down to the bottom.”

“That would be because we have utilized every available piece of equipment that can block curses or Black Magic. Those users would have died if we had underestimated our enemy.”

The Hermes Guild had spent approximately 15 percent of the total wealth they had accumulated in preparation for this battle; it had been collecting an enormous amount of items that can resist Black Magic or curse spells from every possible source including auction halls, stores, and individual users.

‘We can win this. At this rate, we will defeat them.’

‘Even the Immortal Army will fall by our hands.’

The eyes of the Hermes Guild users were ablaze with fighting spirit. They were on their guard, waiting for the moment when the formation of the Immortal Army breaks with the continued siege and the core units of the guild penetrate through their ranks to deal with Bar Khan directly.

However, one must not underestimate their enemy until the very last moment when facing a monster as powerful as Bar Khan.

“This land is under the dominance of my commandments of darkness. The eternal power of immortality shall reign over all beings. Dark Rule!”

Bar Khan cast one of the three major spells: a spell of Necromancy that automatically raises every corpse in the region as undead!

The users who had been fighting on the central defense tower, on the ramparts or near the castle gates saw his spell manifest itself.

“There will be no effect, though.”

“We’ve made every preparation for that spell. At this rate, all of the other major spells are as good as sealed.”

There had not been many users who had fallen in battle, while more than 20 percent of the skeleton soldiers were put out of existence, and the Doom Knights had also suffered a considerable loss in number. The users were certainly wary of Dark Rule, which was the highest rank spell of undead summoning, but they predicted that it would not have much effect as they had led the battle to their favor so far.

However, after Dark Rule was cast, the ground around the Valkis Castle’s plaza and castle gates began to shake, as if there was an earthquake.

“Wha, what the…?”

The maximum number of users that could fight on the ramparts and at the gates was 65,000. The rest of the users had been standing by as the reserve force, when they saw hands made of bones erupt from the vacant ground.

“Krrargh.”

“Kwaaaarrrrgggghh!!”

Ancient skeletons with worn-out joints; zombies and ghouls crawled out from the earth and rose up, the last few strands of hair falling off from their skulls. The phenomenon was occurring throughout the entire Valkis Castle, whether it was the marketplace, the town square, or the lord’s estate. Bar Khan’s undead summoning spell was raising every single body of a person that had died in the Valkis Castle a long time ago.

***

The initial strategy of the Hermes Guild was to destroy and reduce the number of the undead in the Immortal Army and send out a group of elite shock troops in order to defeat Bar Khan himself. Out of these troops that had been organized in advance, the warriors would clear a path to the boss so that Bard Ray and the paladins can suppress Bar Khan. In terms of safety, it would have been a better choice to eradicate the entire undead army first, but the core of the strength of the Immortal Legion was Bar Khan; the users were apprehensive about the possibility that he might choose to leave the battlefield after losing all of his undead, and hence they had been desperately waiting for a chance to strike directly at him.

“The Immortal legion! They are…”

“There are too many undead being raised!”

However, the Hermes Guild’s plan had gone awry the moment Dark Rule spell came into effect.

The endless stream of undead, with the number far beyond any of their previous predictions.

According to the old historical records, since the opening of Royal Road there had been a lot of wars over the ownership of the Valkis Castle. And now the bodies that had been accumulating underground during the course of those battles were all being revived as undead monsters, crowding both inside and outside of the castle walls in no time. Most of them were low-rank skeletons, but due to the effect of the Death Aura that enhanced their abilities, they were crushing buildings and setting things on fire with outrageous strength. Zombies and ghouls were running amongst the structures, attacking the users.

“It’s on the roof!”

“Zombies are falling from the ceilings!”

“The town plaza in this side is full of zombies already!”

The street battle of the undead; something that had never been recorded in any history books was currently taking place. With the skeleton mages and archers shooting fireballs or fire arrows all around them, the houses and major facilities of the Valkis Castle were consumed by uncontrollable flames.

“The fire is spreading. Spirit masters, please summon water spirits and start putting out the fire first.”

“Save the consumables with divine power for later! Do not pour down all the holy water-we need to prepare for a long battle, too!”

As the undead were rising up from the whole land, the Hermes Guild users were forced into a very confused fight, defending themselves against the horde rushing in from every direction. On the other hand, Bar Khan was blasting the Valkis Castle with a stream of Black Magic by offering the endless life force and mana he had been draining from those undead.

“Rise from the eternal corruption and drive the existence itself to decay! The Fog of Gultan.”

The land around the Valkis Castle was split into huge crevices once again. It was a remarkable sight to behold, the dark purple aura that had risen from beneath the ground gradually covering the entire Valkis Castle.

You have inhaled the Fog of Gultan, and are now poisoned.

349 points of life force will be lost every second.

Defensive abilities and magic resistance will be continuously reduced.

The durability of the Blue Coral Armor has decreased by 3 points.

The durability of the Golden Winged Boots will decrease by 2 points, and all of its stats will be reduced.>

Dark red fungi started to bloom on the sturdy castle walls, corroding the entire structure and reducing the durability. It was a corruption that covered the whole ground, and it inflicted damage on all constructions and living creatures.

Krrrrruuuuuumm.[2]

The earth began to shake. The buildings and ramparts in the Valkis Castle were collapsing down violently as a result of corrosion. The Bone Dragons howled in the sky and gushed out their Breath onto the ground in unison.

“Defend the position. The paladins will come into action soon.”

“Attack! Quickly, hurry up!”

The paladins that had been recruited from various religious order of the Versailles Continent joined the fight. With the grace of the divine power that made them several times deadlier against the undead, they rushed into the Immortal Legion, risking their own lives.

Almost ten thousand users had been killed by curses and Black Magic, and another ten thousands were lost in battle against the Bone Dragons and the Doom Knights. Now they were being resurrected as high-rank undead units, which meant that the circumstances were very far from the initial calculations of the Hermes Guild.

“Things are not looking favorable.”

“It seems a good chance isn’t about to present itself anytime soon.”

Near the top of the hill that overlooked the whole Valkis Castle, the shock troops that consisted of the top elite users of the Hermes Guild were gathered, waiting. They were on the alert for an opportunity to strike at Bar Khan when the lines of the Immortal Army break with prolonged siege.

“The Valkis Castle has suffered more damage than we have expected.”

“It wouldn’t matter if they died…but there is a possibility that the undead will grow even more in number if we wait for too long.”

The users that had been assigned in the shock troops were actually quite tempted to leave the battle, as theirs was a very difficult mission indeed. They could not just drop out of it, though, because besides the fact that this battle would be broadcast live, Bard Ray himself had joined the fight.

Arkheim of the Elite Guard spoke to Bard Ray.

“I’m afraid the situation is worse than our initial plan.”

“We can’t expect to have a perfect opportunity all the times. It looks like things will only become more disadvantageous to our side as we drag this on. This Black Magic is also very unpredictable; we can’t predict what would follow next.”

“Then, are you going to begin the assault?”

“Let’s go now, before it’s too late.”

“I shall order the shock troops to move immediately.”

Arkheim conveyed Bard Ray’s decision through the communication channel of the Elite Guard and the battle channel of the Hermes Guild.

-Arkheim: Time to go hunting.

Bard Ray and the other members of the shock troops started to speed across the hill on horseback.

“Our target is Bar Khan.”

“Eradicate the undead!”

The forces that had been hiding in and around the Valkis Castle had also simultaneously risen into action. At this one moment, all the Hermes Guild users were actively joining the fight, slaying the undead army. The Doom Knights were well matched in strength against them, but the users were burning their mana to quickly neutralize all the other weaker units of undead.

“Clear a path!”

“The Emperor has begun to move!”

The Hermes Guild users who had been so far defending the fortress in accordance with the meticulous battle plans jumped and slid down the ramparts all at once. As they were risking the danger of drawing the attention of the undead to themselves, Bard Ray and the shock troops struck the rear of the enemy forces. They were penetrating through the sea of skeletons in order to reach Bar Khan, who was in the center of the Immortal Legion.

“Guard against Black Magic and cursing spells!”

“In the worst case, the users in front must advance to block the curses with their bodies!”

They managed to get rid of the skeletons with area-of-effect skills, but shortly caught the eyes of Bar Khan and the Bone Dragons.

– Those despicable humans are coming after Bar Khan-nim.

– We shall rot them into a pool of water.

The Bone Dragons that had been attacking the Valkis Castle hastily changed direction and began to fly towards Bard Ray and the shock troops.

“Come, mortals. I will gladly show you the life of Immortality.”

Krrrruuuumm!

Bar Khan uttered an incantation, summoning a Fortress of Howling Corpses-a grand spell that changed the entire terrain with giant pillars of bones shooting from the ground. Due to the increased number of undead belonging to the Immortal Legion, the fortress of bones had become even larger than before, reaching the height of 150 meters. All the undead monsters that had been guarding him in the neighboring area also became stronger by the effect of the fortress of corpses.

“Damn it.”

The shock troops of the Hermes Guild were still charging furiously towards him while destroying the swarming undead in the process, but even they could not help gulping in terror as they witnessed this terrible sight. On top of the giant fortress made of bones, Bar Khan was sitting in his throne. The Doom Knights, specters, and other countless high-rank undead were looking down upon them from the high ground. By instinct, the users were struck with an ominous premonition-as if they were about to be engulfed by this sea of monsters.

“Charge! There will be no retreat.”

Although having had a moment’s hesitation, the members of the shock troops, each of them a top-notch user of the Hermes Guild chosen by a fastidious selection process, continued to advance towards the Fortress of Bones, protecting Bard Ray.

“Guard yourselves against the approaching monsters…and don’t take your eyes off those Bone Dragons, even for a second!”

“Warriors, raise your shields and prepare to block the Bone Dragons’ Breath attacks.”

“Focus on just passing through the undead–our target is Bar Khan. Everyone charge towards him!”

The shock troops of the Hermes Guild consisted of some of the very top-ranking users of the entire Versailles Continent. They were using highly advanced skills that ordinary users had never seen before, including even the ultimate secret skills of sword art, to penetrate the ranks of the undead army. They were displaying an incredible efficiency in breaking through the horde, as they were well aware of the fact that slowing down for just a second will put them into a disadvantageous position.

“People in front, put on more speed!”

“13th Squad, stay behind and stop the undead coming from behind.”

As soon as the shock troops reached the Fortress of Bones, they began to climb. The mountain-high structure was growing even taller as time passed.

“I am Wilhelm, the knight of death-“

“Out of my way, I’m busy!”

They pushed aside the attacking Death Knights and Dullahans, making them fall to the ground.

– Such insolent humans! You dare to step forth to commit an eternal sin?!

The Bone Dragons flashed them by, sending gusts of wind from their wings. The Hermes Guild users kept pushing forward, even while being attacked. Some brave users climbed onto the backs of the Bone Dragons and struck them. To become the top-class rankers, they had conquered countless dungeons and hunting grounds; they understood the importance of the task entrusted to them, and knowing that hundreds of millions of people were watching the battle through broadcast, they did not hold back.

“The order of Doom Knights is just ahead.”

“And there are…more than a hundred of them!”

“That’s no reason to fear. Just pierce through!”

Except for the Elite Guards escorting Bard Ray, the rest of the shock troops rushed forward and started fighting against the Doom Knights. As they approached closer, the power of their attack skills diminished drastically, oppressed by the terrifying aura emanating from Bar Khan.

“Break them! It doesn’t matter if they revive again, just focus on clearing a path!”

A hand-to-hand combat with the Doom Knights, in the Fortress of Bones filled with a chilling fog and wailing cries of the lost souls!

– Pathetic humans. I can feel your fragile flesh struggle in pain!

The Doom Knights standing closer to Bar Khan’s Death Aura were exhibiting remarkable abilities in battle–each Doom Knight’s power could in itself match that of a boss-level monster.

“Arrgh!…my strength is [1] …”

“These things don’t die even if I cut them down! I’m hardly doing any damage just striking them! We need to do something!”

Casualties were rising as people fell victim to the undead, and many users were falling off from the Fortress of Bones in succession.

“We don’t have time! Keep pushing forward.”

The shock troops were in a rush, anxious about Bar Khan’s cursing spells that could be put upon them in any minute. Now that they had climbed onto the Fortress of Bones, having deadly curses inflicted upon them in such a close distance could mean a total annihilation of the troops. There was a limit to the range which the Doom Knights could cover, so the Hermes Guild users jumped right over it or made a detour. They knew that the guild was also suffering quite a large loss of lives, but for now they just passed by.

When the distance between them and Bar Khan was reduced to about 50 meters, another group of Doom Knights blocked their path.

-Protect the Master of Immortality.

From the sky they could see that more than three Bone Dragons were flying towards them-it was hard to find even one of such high-rank undead monsters in the Versailles Continent, yet this battlefield was full of them.

“We need to get closer.”

“There’s not enough time. Just start here!”

A group of users began to break away from the rest of the shock troops while taking out some objects. Their task was to distract the undead with the holy relics from various religious orders.

“A War Hammer of Valhalla!”

“This is the halidom of Freya Order!”

“The Shield of Lugh over here!”

From the Fortress of Bones, the users holding the holy relics dashed out in all directions.

“Those humans are giving off such an abominable trail…”

– Do not let them escape! Kill them all!

Naturally, the hostility of the Doom Knights and the Bone Dragons immediately turned towards them. Vehement fury, and a thirst for revenge—as Divine power was their natural enemy, they scattered like diverging wind, leaving Bard Ray and his Elite Guards.

Bard Ray and the central units of the shock troops penetrated the thin wall of Doom Knights and approached Bar Khan.

“It’s over, Bar Khan!”

Eager to make an impressive scene, Bard Ray instinctively drew out the Holy Sword of Lugh and pointed it towards Bar Khan in an imposing manner; while he was surrounded by reliable supporting troops, he intended to make himself look heroic just for a short instance before the actual battle began.

Bar Khan did not blast his magic spells straight away; instead, he opened his mouth and spoke, as if in complement,”Human. You have exceeded my expectations by coming this far. However…you are still too weak to face me directly.”

Bard Ray retorted, “Nonsense. My strength is more than enough to defeat you.”

“Such insane and useless confidence, coming from a being confined in weak human flesh. Then, are you willing to come at me all by yourself?”

For a second, everyone sensed a strange turn of atmosphere.

Every viewer watching the broadcast at this moment was anticipating the one-on-one showdown between Bard Ray and Bar Khan—a bloody battle of the great Emperor against the lich, taking place in the mighty Fortress of Bones! Even the users of the Hermes Guild were looking expectant, wondering if Bard Ray could really put down Bar Khan alone.

‘This wasn’t part of the plan, but what if…?’

‘What’s this? Is he going to have a duel, right now?’

On the other hand, Bard Ray was breaking out in a cold sweat. His plan was to defeat Bar Khan together with everyone and win more fame using that accomplishment, but a one-on-one fight against the Arch-lich? Things were getting out of hands.

‘If I lose the duel against Bar Khan now, it would completely break my pride, even if we manage to destroy him afterwards.’

It was humiliating, but Bard Ray reached a cool-headed decision and ordered his troops to attack.

“Our opponent is a Necromancer; he is just trying to buy some time with a dirty trick. Get rid of him immediately before he uses any foul magic or raises more undead!”

The priests prepared themselves for the battle, chanting incantations for a spell of sacrifice that had been planned in advance. It was a miracle that enabled them to possess the Divine force ten times stronger than normal for a short time, in return for giving up a portion of their level and stats.

“Go!”

“Strike him all at once!”

Bard Ray and two hundred users of the shock troops spread out, attacking Bar Khan simultaneously. There was a feast of splendid attack skills that had never been revealed to the world until this moment.

“Foolish humans. I see you refuse to believe in the power of immortality!”

Bar Khan blocked the attacks by summoning a pitch-dark barrier. All the flashy weapons and skills were ruthlessly blasted upon Bar Khan and his surroundings, causing an intense shock wave that made the Fortress of Bones tremble and even partially collapse. Due to the continuous supply of life force and mana from his undead legion, Bar Khan did not fall easily even when he suffered some amount of damage.

“The endless despair. I will show you what lies beyond that cannot be fathomed by your pitiful human mind!”

Bar Khan began to cast a spell of Black Magic.

“Now!”

At that same second, Bard Ray teleported a short distance using the power of a divine weapon.

He had not had much time to prepare for the battle against Bar Khan, but he had done his research; an incredible amount of life force and absolute magical power, as well as the endless horde of undead protecting him-the chance to damage him directly through all these would not present itself often, but there was a hint.

‘I need to put the holy sword through Bar Khan’s body, to weaken his magical power.’

Just at the moment he was about to use Black magic, when he was most vulnerable-

“Transcending Strike!”

The priests focused their force onto Bar Khan in unison. Blinding white lights of divine power struck the barrier of darkness and seeped into the body of the Arch-lich. Bar Khan was standing his ground, not even flinching, but Bard Ray appeared right behind him by teleportation.

“This is the end.”

Stab!

He drove the Holy Sword of Lugh deep into the back of Bar Khan.

“Yes, that did it!”

“We defeated Bar Khan!”

All the users of the Hermes Guild shouted in excitement, not to mention the entire shock troops. To a monster such as a lich, a holy sword was a nemesis. In the past, Weed had also defeated Bar Khan once using the same Holy Sword of Lugh.

‘Even if he doesn’t get killed by this, he’ll still be crippled. We can win in an all-out assault.’

They had revised this plan and rehearsed it several times, but this was the best outcome possible—such rash action, that wouldn’t even have been imaginable if it had been Weed, who was so cautious he would tap on the floor of an elevator before stepping into it. [2]

Bar Khan rattled his jawbone, the Holy Sword of Lugh still stuck in his chest.

“Kehehe. You all are nothing but offerings to darkness. I hereby sacrifice my body to summon the deep void upon this land…everything in existence shall perish.”

The ultimate skill of a Necromancer that used up all of their remaining life force and mana: the Great Extinction.

Guuuoooooohh…

Bar Khan’s body broke apart and crumpled into dust. A dark red speck appeared on his place and started to spread rapidly. The spell of Great Extinction was swelling in power as it integrated every living creature and undead that was caught in the range of destruction; an ultimate explosion spell that pulverized even the Fortress of Bones in its entirety.

Having felt a sudden inkling of danger, Bard Ray had fled to Valkis Castle, using ‘Absolute Protection’ skill sealed in his magic cloak and ‘Solar Movement’ on his boots.

A tremendous amount of damage!

You have suffered a critical loss in the life force by a spell of irresistible power.

1,203,933 points of life force have been lost.

Due to the grave injuries, you are temporarily unable to engage in battle.>

Even with his quick reflexes he had lost over a million points of life force; still, he escaped death, thanks to the several blessings and protection spells as well as life force enhancement that had been put on him before the fight by the spell of sacrifice the priests had cast.

Among the shock troops and other Hermes Guild users who had been in the neighboring areas, those who had not managed to escape on time were all massacred.

Shortly afterwards, on the spot where Bar Khan had been standing appeared a bottomless crater with a radius of several hundred kilometers; it was the monument to the power of the Great Extinction spell, capable of warping the terrain itself.

The users of the Hermes Guild were dumbfounded for a moment by the intensity of magic they had never experienced before, but soon they came to themselves.

“We…We won…!”

“We’ve defeated Bar Khan!”

“Hooray!!”

“Bard Ray-nim did it!”

Bard Ray himself did not have much stamina and life force remaining, but he stood on the rampart and raised his fist high, savoring the moment of bliss.

– I have subdued Bar Khan, with my own hands!

In response to Bard Ray’s Great Roar, the Hermes Guild users let out shouts of victory. There were still more than half of the Immortal Legion left, but nobody cared about them; once Bar Khan had disappeared with the last mighty bang, those remaining undead forces were nothing they could not handle easily. Bard Ray continued his Great Roar, his fatigued state notwithstanding.

“After vanquishing all the remaining undead, we will celebrate for three days and nights! The Valkis Castle shall be ordained as the sacred ground upon which we have defeated Bar Khan and the Immortal Legion!”

“Long live the Hermes Guild!”

The morale of the users who had gathered for the battle against Bar Khan was now through the roof with the pride they felt after stopping such a mighty enemy. They would be victorious, and celebrate their victory with people, just like the Arpen Kingdom. The Hermes Guild users were swelling in self-confidence, and just as they were about to relieve their tension,

– There seems to be no end to your foolishness, humans.

Bar Khan’s eerie voice reverberated throughout the battlefield.

Bard Ray and the other users of the guild looked around for the source of the sound, startled.

Bar Khan was standing unscathed in the middle of his Immortal Legion, escorted by the undead. He didn’t even have the Holy Sword of Lugh stuck in his chest.

“How…?!”

“Bar Khan is still alive!”

“But he died, completely, just now! Why is he…?”

Bar Khan had already put a new spell of immortality upon himself; the terrifying fact was that he would be revived none less than five times, unless the vessel sealing his life was destroyed. In the meantime, the users who had just died in the explosion had also been raised as Doom Knights or Death Knights by the Dark Rule.

Bar Khan’s voice was clearly heard by everyone.

– Go to sleep now. The nightmare will never end.

***

The Battle of the Kalice Castle!

A clash between the Hermes Guild and the Immortal Legion—nobody could have predicted that it would devolve into a bloody fight that had dragged on for 35 hours.

“What, they are still fighting?”

“Yeah…it just doesn’t end.”

“Are they even planning to wrap it up within today?”

“Dunno. Bar Khan still has two more resurrections to go.”

The users who had come near the Kalice castle to watch the fight got tired first and left the scene. Even the broadcasting stations–after having continued the live coverage for some time, given the gravity of the battle—decided that they could not carry on any longer with all of their cast and crew exhausted, and returned to their normal schedules.

During the course of killing Bar Khan five times, the Hermes Guild suffered tremendous losses.

The paladins and the priests had been eradicated without a single survivor, having used their last spell of sacrifice, and more than 80 percent of the high-level users that had joined the battle had perished as well.

In the end, they eventually managed to defeat Bar Khan for good through the final coordinated attack, but the remaining Hermes Guild members collapsed onto the ground rather than enjoying the moment of victory.

“Uggh…I just want to lie down for a bit.”

“It’s been a horrible, horrible fight.”

“The undead are the worst. Their stench, and their ridiculous amount of life force…I’m not fighting them again. Ever.”

“Well, Weed is a Necromancer. You might have to.”

“Dude! Don’t even say such things.”

The surviving users sprawled onto the ruins of the Kalice Castle that had been completely destroyed. Bard Ray himself had narrowly escaped death several times, and as Bar Khan had focused his attacks on him, there were especially few survivors among the Elite Guards.

Battle Achievements!

You have successfully subdued Bar Khan Demoff and led a massive historic war to victory.

The fame of every user that had joined the battle will increase by 12,790 points.

All stats will increase by 6.

Your relationship with the religious orders that had joined the battle will become friendly. You have earned a large number of contribution points.

The Blessing of Battali, the God of War will be in effect for a week!>

They had earned fame in battle and some improvements in stats through a great achievement, but these rewards did not interest them much; in fact, at this moment it didn’t feel much like a victory at all to the users, who had been through such a gruesome and desperate fight.

“What’s this? That’s all for the loot?!”

Bong-dal, the ranker who had dealt the final blow on Bar Khan, cried out in anger as well.

The top-class boss monster that threatened to turn the course of history itself; one of the enjoyable benefits of hunting such a monster was the great booty it left behind.

You have obtained two sheets of white elephant skin.>

You have obtained a colorful deerskin. >

You have obtained a sparkling pebble.>

You have obtained 61 silvers.>

However, all they had found in the remains of Bar Khan were a couple of sheets of animal skin, a pebble and a small amount of silvers.

“Is this for real? Somebody tell me this is all a lie…”

Considering the fact that the mages usually possessed enchanted weapons or treasures of tremendous value, this was such a stark contrast, a shocking discovery. Bar Khan’s belongings were worth even less than the objects dropped by Death Knights or Doom Knights when they were killed.

The truth was, ever since his resurrection Bar Khan had been penniless, having lost all the valuable items by Weed.

“Noooooooooo!!!!”

A battle that involved the entire main force of the Hermes Guild, and yet the spoils were not even enough to compensate for the payroll costs.

Worst still, terrible news had been delivered by the Second Legion.

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