Under the moonlight, nothing could remain hidden. When the warped veil of darkness that twisted the light finally dissipated, the corpse-lich coven was completely exposed along the path of the cavalry’s charge. After a brief, deathly silence, the undead spellcasters erupted into chaos beyond all expectations. They possessed intelligence, and so they also knew fear.
“Charge!”
Close at hand surged a torrent of cavalry, their speed already pushed to its limit.
“Hold your ground, you fools! Prepare Death Shockburst! Crush them!” the great corpse-lich’s hoarse roar echoed across the wasteland as he tried to suppress his subordinates’ rising urge to retreat through sheer force of command.
Yet in the face of eternal oblivion, not all would obey. The great lich-corpse could only resent the fact that these lesser liches had minds of their own. More than half of them ignored his furious shouts. Seeing the cavalry already upon them, they abandoned the large-scale spell that required multiple casters and a long incantation. Instead, they raised the bone staves in their hands.
At the tips of the staves, vortices of dark magic rapidly condensed. They chose a faster, more direct first-circle spell—Bone Spear. A low hum filled the air as dozens of nodes of deathly magic lit up within the lich formation, their resonance linking together into a single field. The channeling of Death Shockburst was broken.
A weight lifted from Nolan’s chest. The brothers on the main battlefield were safe. But the cavalry would now have to face the entire lich coven’s close-range magical firepower head-on. At less than a hundred yards, the ground ahead had already become a true road of death.
“S-spells!”
“Black magic!”
Aside from Nolan and Hank, none of the guards had ever witnessed such a sight. As they stared at the ominous glow of spell-light ahead, panic spread swiftly through their ranks.
Two riders instinctively pulled at their reins, trying to veer away from the unknown threat.
Little Donnie, at the very front of the formation, had gone pale as well. The boy’s courage was being tested to its limit as he faced such supernatural power for the first time.
“Maintain your speed!” Nolan’s furious shout came before the storm of bone spears could fall. “Bone Spears have a small impact area once they lock on! Don’t lose formation! Keep your eyes sharp! Only watch the one coming at you!” There was a steadiness and commanding confidence in his voice that instantly crushed the rising panic.
Little Donnie jolted, gritted his teeth, and locked his gaze straight ahead. At that very moment—
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Four thunderous sounds tore through the air from the direction of the city walls behind them. Four massive heavy ballista bolts, each as thick as an adult’s arm, came screaming in. Their oversized arrowheads, soaked in consecrated holy water, carved four silver arcs of destruction across the sky as they hurtled toward the lich coven.
Boom!
The first bolt slammed into the coven’s large mana shield. Silver light flared as the projectile exploded into splinters. Then the second and third followed immediately.
Bang! Bang!
The translucent barrier rippled violently, rings spreading across its surface as its color visibly dimmed. The Great Lich strained to maintain the shield, fury and shock surging within him.
“Holy water bolts first, and now heavy ballista bolts? How much holy water do they have?!”
But the final bolt arrived almost at once, and no one answered his question.
Crack! The massive mana shield, jointly sustained by nearly fifty casters, shattered like struck glass.
Nolan silently breathed in relief. Fortunately, shadow and death magic—favored by the undead—had always been strong in offense but weak in defense, and were thoroughly countered by holy water. An old military ballista like Rosenberg’s had a painfully slow rate of fire. Against any other school of mages, these four shots might not even have broken their defenses.
At the very instant the shield collapsed, a second volley of arrows from the guard’s main position arced across the sky and descended. Arrows soaked in holy water rained down upon the lich formation. In that moment, the devastating effect of holy water against undead creatures was displayed in full. Although they failed to achieve direct kills, the holy power severely disrupted the liches’ spellcasting. In an instant, a third of the Bone Spears collapsed as their magic went into disarray and the spells failed.
One unlucky caster took an arrow squarely to the forehead.
“Ah!”
With a short, sharp scream, the bone staff in his hand exploded with a bang. His body was consumed by the backlash of uncontrolled death magic, and even his soul vessel shattered, leaving him utterly annihilated.
But more than twenty Bone Spears were still successfully released. The pallid spears tore through the air with a deathly howl, hurtling straight toward the charging cavalry. A small portion of them were aimed at Hank, who rode at the very front. Nolan, too, was locked onto by two Bone Spears at once.
Hank showed no intention of dodging. Instead, he let out a furious roar and swung his enchanted longsword directly into the oncoming streaks of death.
Clang! Clang!
In the most brutally straightforward manner, even as his warhorse thundered forward, he struck with perfect precision, smashing the two spears before him apart with the flat of his blade. The remaining few skimmed past him as he twisted his body to the limit, brushing dangerously close against his armor. The ferocity and experience of a veteran were nothing short of astonishing.
Nolan, by contrast, moved in an entirely different style. With his left hand controlling the reins and his right gripping his sword, his body twisted into an almost impossible angle atop the saddle.
Clink! Clink! Two crisp impacts rang out.
With the Darkpiercer sword in his hand, he used the very tip of the blade, applying minimal movement and the most efficient angle, to deflect the two incoming spears by striking their points.
Little Donnie clung tightly to Nolan’s instructions. His eyes were wide, every ounce of his focus fixed on the Bone Spear flying straight toward his chest.
Closer.
Closer still.
At the very instant before impact, he suddenly leaned sharply to one side, his entire body nearly hanging horizontally off the right side of his horse.
Rip! The spear grazed past his left shoulder, tearing open a bloody gash and sending droplets scattering into the air. Pain surged through him, but the spike of adrenaline made his heart pound wildly.
He had done it.
But not everyone possessed the same skill or fortune as the three of them.
“Aaah—!”
Thud!
Amid the screams, five riders failed to react in time. The Bone Spears pierced straight through their bodies with tremendous force, throwing them from their saddles and casting them far behind.
As the primary maintainer of the mana shield, the great lich-corpse suffered a surge of backlash when it was shattered by brute force, causing his magic to churn violently. Yet he was, after all, a powerful Silver-rank caster. He quickly suppressed the turbulence. As he looked at the cavalry that had already carved through the road of death and closed to within thirty yards, anger surfaced on his ashen face. He raised his bone staff high. He still had a way to deal with cavalry.
“Foolish vermin… rot within the shroud of death!”
There was no need for an incantation. At the tip of the staff, a dark green sphere of magic formed in an instant. It was a second-circle death spell, Deathly Miasma.
Whoosh!
A thick, murky green fog, so dense it seemed almost solid, materialized out of thin air. Like a heavy wall, it instantly stretched across the space between the cavalry and the lich coven.
Hank’s expression changed. He recognized this vicious spell.
Not only did the fog obscure vision, it carried intense corrosive power. If the Bronze-rank riders of the detachment charged into it, they would be reduced to putrid sludge in less than ten seconds.
The path ahead was cut off. Without the slightest hesitation, the iron-blooded captain let out a thunderous roar, “Nolan! You take command!”
Nolan understood his intent at once. Hank was preparing to use his own body, to rely on his Silver-rank strength to forcibly break open a path. He would carve the way forward with his life.
“No!” Nolan refused without a moment’s hesitation. His voice was even more resolute than Hank’s. “Captain, you’re our strongest point of impact! Leave this to me!”
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