’ntor, have you found a new favorite? Am I not your most beloved student anymore?’
Seeing his expression, Annabella was both exasperated and amused, wanting nothing more than to smack him on the head a few tis.
But just at that mont...
BOOM—
A deafening explosion, like muffled thunder, erupted near the coast, shaking the ruins beneath their feet and sending rubble tumbling down!
Imdiately after, in the direction of Storm Bay, a pillar of fire shot into the sky, bathing half the night in an orange-red glow as thick smoke billowed upward.
Annabella’s gaze sharpened. In a flash, she leaped nimbly onto the back of the Wind-Winged Bone Dragon.
The bone dragon beat its wings, carrying her swiftly into the sky.
From her high vantage point, the view was unobstructed.
A faint white glow surfaced in her azure eyes.
In the churning waters of Storm Bay, a massive, strangely designed ship was cleaving through the waves like a steel behemoth, racing at full speed toward the open sea.
The vessel was enormous, its design vastly different from the ships commonly seen in the Empire. It looked more like a hybrid of engineering and Magic, with densely packed cannon ports and ballistae faintly visible along its sides. Nurous figures bustled about on deck.
"Hmph. Quick to react, are they? Trying to run the mont things look bad?" Annabella scoffed. She had the Wind-Winged Bone Dragon circle once before rapidly descending to Lynch’s side.
"Lynch, you and Avril’s group will stay here. Prioritize rescuing the imprisoned girls and cleaning up the remaining Blue Scarf mbers. I’ll leave a Silver Armored Corpse with you. Rember, it won’t be your heavy; it will only intervene to save you if you’re in real danger."
"Yes, ntor!" Lynch replied at once, his heart filled with reassurance.
With a Silver Armored Corpse for protection, the danger level in the mines plumted.
After giving her instructions, Annabella waved her hand, storing Anthony’s corpse and his spoils in her Space Ring. Then, she mounted her Wind-Winged Bone Dragon, which shot into the sky like a streak of light and gave chase to the fleeing warship.
The mont his ntor was gone, Lynch’s imposing and imperious air returned.
He quickly began issuing orders.
First, he assigned the bone wolves and Bone Shaman Blazing Fla to lead their respective Skeleton units, coordinating with the militia to guard the prisoners. If any of them made a move, they were to be killed without rcy.
As for himself, he called over the three girls, mustered his Skeleton commanders, Skeleton soldiers, and the Nagas, and headed straight for the mine, taking the freshly captured Necromancer apprentice with them.
The might of his Undead Army was on full display along the way.
Any small, fleeing bands of Blue Scarf mbers they encountered were cut down with ease, their corpses promptly recruited into his forces.
Clearly, these stragglers were only peripheral mbers of the Blue Scarf and not very strong.
The truly important mbers were most likely already on the escaping warship.
So, without further delay, Lynch led his Undead Army onward while interrogating the necromancer apprentice, forcing him to lead the way directly to Anthony’s lair within the mine.
With a guide, they quickly reached the depths of the mine.
The area had clearly been reconstructed by Anthony in the typical style of a Necromancer. A grim, bone-chilling aura washed over them the mont they drew near.
And Bone Valor’s vanguard of cannon fodder was the first to make contact with the enemy.
It was a small pack of twenty to thirty Ghouls.
At first glance, they retained a vaguely humanoid shape, but their skulls were pointed and their mouths, filled with vicious teeth, were split open to their ears. Their fingers and toes had beco sharp, black talons, and a row of barbs ran down their hunched backs, making for a truly savage and terrifying sight.
They were also incredibly fast, more agile than wolfhounds. They leaped through the narrow tunnels and bounded off the rock walls as if in flight, often attacking from impossible angles.
Their sharp claws easily tore apart the bones of the Skeleton Servants, and their mouthfuls of sharp teeth could shatter a Skeleton’s skull. CRUNCH, CRUNCH. It was as if they were cheerfully munching on potato chips.
In just a few monts of close combat, more than half of the thirty-plus cannon fodder Skeletons under Bone Valor’s command were destroyed. Even Bone Valor himself was ganged up on by several Ghouls, torn to pieces in an instant in a heroic sacrifice.
’Whoa... These things are seriously ugly.’
It was Lynch’s first ti seeing this type of aberrant creature from the Undead System; such things were extrely rare around Saint Roland City.
He wasn’t surprised by the sudden Ghoul attack. According to the captive apprentice, Anthony had specially created them to guard his base.
They were fast and agile, making them far more effective than Skeletons in the mine’s complex environnt.
Furthermore, the captive had revealed that the one commanding these Ghouls was an Abomination!
Sure enough, not long after the fighting started, a rumbling sound of footsteps echoed from around a bend in the tunnel.
A mont later, a hulking behemoth rounded the corner and appeared before them.
It was indeed an Abomination.
Standing over four ters tall, its body was a patchwork of corpses. Thick, black sutures crisscrossed its bloated, swollen torso, and in so places, the flesh had rotted away, oozing pus and emitting a sickening stench.
It had several thick arms, so gripping massive cleavers, others dragging hooked chains.
Even more horrifying, several tornted human faces were embedded in its flesh. With its arrival, an overpowering stench of rot and blood spread through the cavern, filling the entire mine in an instant.
Flanked by more than twenty Ghouls, the Abomination charged toward Lynch, trampling the shattered bones of Bone Valor and the other Skeletons underfoot.
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