Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
78th year of the San Calendar
Many qualified wizards quickly gathered in a small village near the Kary River. Bohr Kelermo was leading a group of around thirty wizards from the wizard tower.
They were spending their days and nights traveling across many countries, while riding the flying beast known as the cloud eagle. After journeying many days and nights, they finally met up with the wizards from Colossus College that were being led by Uruk.
Bohr, who was the master of the wizard tower, then led a group of wizards into the ghost-infested Danello City. Once they arrived there, an intense fight broke out within the city. The master of the wizard tower had turned himself into a magical eagle, then fought against Adenos, the King of the Dead.
His magical eagle form had a powerful regenerating power, and when it was paired with Bohr’s powerful defensive abilities and dream witchcraft, he could really hold his own against Adenos. This was because, even though Adenos had become a level seven mythical creature, he still did not have a low-tier mythical creature template. In fact, he only had the immortality, mind control power, and devouring power of a mythical creature.
At this time, the presence of blood witchcraft and the projection of the dream wizard were wreaking havoc within Danello City. All throughout the city, evil dragons roared, witchcrafts collided in the sky, and many illusions and monsters were projected and materialized.
These illusions and monsters appeared in the sky above Danello City. Their special abilities were tearing the sky apart.
After this went on for awhile, under the overwhelming attacks of the King of the Dead and the ghosts, the wizards were slowly defeated. In fact, none of the wizards returned from the battle alive.
The force that had consisted of nearly half of the elite powers of all of the wizards was hence wiped out. And, since the witchcraft ritual, the song of the dead, could not be repeatedly used in the battlefield, the King of the Dead was unable to mass produce soul flame based ghosts.
This resulted in most of the creatures dying straightaway, as their consciousnesses were dissolved and returned to the origin of the world. However, Adenos had succeeded in capturing many people alive, and was thus able to transform them into ghosts. In this way, the size of the ghost army was still growing!
Meanwhile, after noticing that none of the wizards returned from the battle, Ibu, the leader of the Holy Knights army, knew that it was time to attack. Thus, nearly 200,000 soldiers crossed the river, entered the Inan province, and waged war against the army of ghosts.
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Within the Kary River, numerous bodies were floating downstream, then piled up, blocking the river’s flow and dying the water a crimson red. Those bodies stacked up like mountains, spanning all the way from the Kary River to the Inan province.
Last time something like this had happened near the Kary River was when the Church of Light and the Crete Empire had invaded the Kingdom of Menkaure. That confrontation had ended with the king of the Kingdom of Menkaure drowning himself in the Kary River, bringing with him the Sword of the King. After the invasion, the whole Kingdom of Menkaure was filled with dead bodies!
Dongdong!
Dongdong!
Dongdong!
Footsteps were heard approaching, as horns were being played by death knights, summoning all of the ghosts to gather. At this moment, within the Inan province, the ghost army crossed the river as a pack.
The death knights, who were riding skeleton horses, crossed the most narrow part of the Kary River amid the sound of the horns. Countless ghosts crossed the Kary River, leaving Danello City to head further into the Holy Seville Empire.
Looking at the scene from the sky, one could see that a massive death army that was composed of only monsters and the dead covered the whole earth. The ghost army was so dense, taking just one look at it could make one feel chilled to the bone.
The last creature in the army formation was the zombie dragon, which was flying in the sky. Huge gales of air from its giant body and wings could be felt everywhere. Even the black clouds were following the zombie dragon as it was moving.
The entire ghost army was like a single entity. They were strengthened by the power of the zombie dragon and the King of the Dead, which made them all the more terrifying!
Roar!
Pushed by the dragon’s roar, the army sped up their pace as they headed towards the east. After crossing the Kary River, if they were to keep heading east, they would reach Saga City.
Nothing could slow them down now, as they had defeated the only army capable of doing so less than one month ago. In that battle, Holy Knight Ibu, who led the army of the orcs, was severely injured by the storm and was eventually defeated by the hundreds of thousands of ghosts.
The holy knight Ibu and Allen had died one by one, as the army of ghosts attacked them and the orcs relentlessly. These ghosts were almost impervious to all attacks, as they wouldn’t die unless their soul flames were destroyed completely. Therefore, they defeated the orcs easily.
Although the orcs had managed to kill many of the ghosts, their elites, the Northland Cavalry and other holy knight groups, were dying just as quickly. In fact, after the deaths of the holy knight Ibu and Allen, their formation had completely broken down.
While they were being chased by the army of ghosts, they had tried to cross the Kary River during the night. At that time, countless people were drowned or killed. The ones who survived ran away from the battle immediately.
Moreover, the war between the humans and the orcs that occurred about ten years ago not only led to the end of the Crete Empire and the separation of the central province, it also devastated the Holy Seville Empire. After it had finally recovered after all these years, this battle set the Holy Seville Empire back ten years! Now, the state of the empire was even worse than before!
The King of the Dead carried deep resentment in his heart, sharing that same sentiment as the hundred thousand ghosts. Hence, he chased after the living, dragging everyone to the abyss of death with him!
As a result, many lives were lost, which allowed him to add to his army of the undead! What was even worse, new variations, like special skeletons, skeleton magi, king class ghouls, and headless knights began to appear in his army.
“We lost! The King of the Dead and the ghost army, they are coming!”
“Ibu’s Northland Cavalry was defeated?”
“Even though Ibu was defeated, the evil power with him was too strong!”
“What can we do?”
“We can only run away now! We must go to the north or south!”
By the time the citizens heard the news that the orc army had been defeated and the ghost army was crossing the river, they had already abandoned their city and run either towards the north or the Red River Plain in the south. Everywhere the ghost army went, they left abandoned cities and villages in their wake.
“Evacuate! Follow orders!”
“Everyone form a line! Leave in an orderly fashion!”
“Don’t mess around, or you will be prosecuted!”
“How could this be? Those undying monsters, are they really coming?”
“Let’s go! I heard those undying monsters are coming soon. They eat people alive and will turn us into one of them! I don’t want to be a monster!”
“God, why? Is this some punishment?”
In Saga City, the forces were leaving first. The citizens would then follow them as they moved towards the Primonius province in the north, which was the old capital of the Engido Kingdom. Although Saga City was big, it lacked defensive capabilities, especially any that were adequate to protect them from beings like the King of the Dead and the ghost army.
Also, there were not many forces left in this part of the empire. This was because the forces could only gain more manpower once they retreated back to the military origins of the Holy Seville Empire, which was located at the base camp in the north. There, they would prepare to fight against the army of the King of the Dead once more.
A large number of trailers and horses passed through the wide gate, all of which were heading north. Many people joined the group, forming an endless line on the road.
Countless orcs brought their sons and daughters, abandoning their warm, sweet homes. No one knew what their destination was going to be like when they arrived.
Many orcs cried when they left the city. They were sad because they knew that they may never return.
The densely populated Holy Seville Empire suddenly became empty. The king, Verthandi, had stayed behind in the church of Cory, as it was agreed that she would be the last to leave after everyone evacuated.
Once everyone was gone, she would follow the caravan with her Royal Guards. Only in this way could she ensure that the noble families and the citizens had left safely.
She sat alone in this church that was named after the first Patriarch of the Faith of the Sun. She kneeled in front of the statue of God, wearing a loose white shirt. She remained there until sunset, praying to God.