"Quickly deal with those corpses!"
Loren also understood where his unease ca from: those corpses had been collected by the necromancer, which ant the necromancer could control them at any ti.
"Understood!"
The Wind ssengers reacted quickly. The mont they heard Loren's command, they unleashed magic;
wind blades swept out, repeatedly shredding the corpses.
Several Wind ssengers pushed their power at once, and that pile of corpses was cut in half, but the remaining corpses stood up at that mont.
The risen corpses were bolstered by necromancy, their defenses considerably enhanced. Wind blades that would normally slice them to pieces only managed to leave wounds.
"Don't use the clear-soldier skill! Give it everything you've got!"
Loren commanded from his position without strain. He retreated with the others and directed the Wind ssengers to fight desperately.
Mooks were still mooks;
they posed no real threat to the divine Wind ssengers.
"No revivals allowed here."
The lead Wind ssenger hovered in the air. The words he spoke sounded like an unbreakable decree, carrying a strange authority that struck at people's hearts.
At the very instant he finished speaking, the corpses that had been standing suddenly fell back down, reverting to ordinary lifeless bodies.
The other Wind ssengers then condensed a more powerful spell and shattered the remaining undead.
"Master ntor, what is happening?"
Luna, fitting her model-student persona, asked the question when she didn't understand.
"This is the authority of Vows, the power to bind the heart and forge irrevocable decrees."
Vows—or decrees—were the God of Vows and Wind's main authority;
wind was secondary.
"Isn't that invincible then?"
Seeing the Wind ssengers solve such a thorny situation with a single sentence, Luna was a bit worried.
She still rembered her mission: she and Loren were to kill the gods. If the Orthodox Gods were so powerful, that could not be good.
"It's not that unassailable. If your rank is high enough, or your willpower and strength are strong enough, you can resist."
The Wind ssengers had keen ears;
they could hear what the wind heard, so Loren's words reached them too.
They did not take offense at Loren's apparent disrespect. Instead, they admired him more—his words exposed their weakness, a testant to Loren's strength.
"Deal with that special corpse first!"
Loren suddenly shouted;
he had sensed sothing amiss. That particular corpse had initially been caught in an AOE. While the unrecovered corpses could not withstand the wind blades, that corpse had been struck by several wind blades and remained unscathed.
The mont Loren spoke, both the Wind ssengers and the corpse reacted. As the Wind ssengers drew their longswords and charged, the corpse abruptly stood and sprinted toward the sea.
Magic gathered in a Wind ssenger's hand. He hurled a wind sphere that struck the corpse's back and exploded on contact.
A gale erupted. The wind sphere's power was terrifying;
it blasted a large crater in the ground, and the corpse hit by it had its back torn to shreds—Loren could even see its front ribs through the gap.
Even so, the corpse didn't entirely lose mobility. Using the shock's force, it leaped forward and was only one step from the shore.
"Bad!"
A gust of wind surged from behind the Wind ssengers. The cloak at his back caught that wind, propelling him like an arrow. In an instant he was above the corpse, and they were over the sea.
At the sa ti, Loren saw many ghostly blue lights in the water.
The next mont, under everyone's eyes, the Wind ssenger was pierced by spikes shot from the sea, turned into a human pincushion. Those spikes were over two ters long, spear-like, jet-black with rings of ghostly blue luminescence.
Head, torso, limbs—the Wind ssenger was impaled through and through, instantly lifeless. Under the spikes' weight, he and the corpse he had been chasing plunged into the sea.
The other Wind ssengers, seeing this, hurried to pursue.
"Stop! Do not give chase!"
Wind ssengers held enormous authority in Anselm;
even the King could execute people on their orders. Yet this group of high-ranking Wind ssengers halted at Loren's shout.
"Destroy the remaining corpses. Quickly evacuate the crowds by the shore—do not approach the beach!"
Loren naturally took over command;
the Wind ssengers did not question him and began executing his orders imdiately.
The people of Anselm moved fast. When the evacuation order reached the coastal populace, they neither doubted nor questioned it. They fled as fast as they could, taking little of their belongings, because they knew the Church would compensate for disaster losses later and would arrange their resettlent.
Three Wind ssengers maintained order here. One flew off to another city to coordinate and arrange lodging for the evacuees.
In just a few minutes, the citizens had begun an orderly withdrawal. With the Wind ssengers' tasks handled, they gathered beside Loren to hear his next plan.
"How much combat power do we still have?"
Loren had entered command mode. Although not his specialty, he had led battles before.
"Discounting the dead and those who left, there are only the three of us Wind ssengers left."
"The Church's remaining forces include one Fifth-tier mage, one Fourth-tier mage, five Third-tier mages, and several First- and Second-tier mages as well as knights."
First- and Second-tier mages were basically magic academy students;
they were of little use.
"When will reinforcents arrive?"
"Reinforcing Wind ssengers will arrive within two hours, but others probably won't be here until late at night."
"Not urgent. Their objective is the entire Kingdom of Anselm. Now that the civilians have evacuated, our job is to hold them off."
The Wind ssengers naturally followed Loren's orders, even though Loren was a Bountiful Church believer.
"Will you participate as well?"
Loren had said "we," not "you," which surprised the Wind ssengers.
"Of course. I can't stand such inhuman slaughter. If I'm here I can analyze the situation for you in ti. Besides, I'm not just a vase—I'm versed in so low-tier Abundant Magic.
"Even if I can't turn the tide, I can still help."
Loren's words sounded noble, but he was actually thinking about how to seize that necromancy for himself.
"They'll probably launch their attack once night falls. This is the situation;
the longer we delay them, the worse it is for them. Be ready."
The Wind ssengers did not know Loren's true intentions;
they were genuinely moved by what they perceived as his boundless compassion.
Loren was not rely the Church's Master ntor—he was Master ntor to all humanity.
User Comments
0 comments from readers