Chapter 80: Collapse
A single sword swept across, unimpeded by thousands of troops.
What kind of momentum is this?
Not just the black knight Sassal, but even the militia and mercenaries in the distance were stunned. Is this still a human? The legendary sanctuary knights were perhaps not even this formidable? The humans, already in the rhythm of their assault, immediately cheered in unison, their morale soaring, and for a moment, they were ready to unleash three to four times their fighting strength, pushing the undead back.
Seeing this scene, Sassal knew he was powerless to turn the tide, but the dark and proud blood within him would not allow him to admit defeat—
What kind of army is this? Looking at their attire, they seem like a ragtag bunch; they are militia, and even worse than that, merely a temporary army formed of desperate, fearful refugees. Yet they possess an impressive backbone and commanders. Sassal couldn’t help but wonder, who exactly are they?
Where do they come from?
Erluin is just a decaying kingdom; how could the rising Madara possibly fail in such a land, in the hands of such an army—especially when even its own subjects have lost the reason to fight for this land? Sassal believed he should not accept defeat from the hands of the enemy.
The black knight drew his sword, the soul fire within him surging fiercely. He immediately turned around, grabbing the slightly higher-ranking necromancer beside him, pointed to where Brendel was, and loudly ordered it to attack using a mental piercing spell.
Then he patted his warhorse’s neck, urging it to start cantering forward, accompanied by three black knight bodyguards, parting the rows of skeletal remains as they surged toward the enemy. Sassal believed that even in the face of adversity, risking his life in battle could still provide an opportunity to slay the enemy—he was determined to reclaim his glory.
This was the pride of Madara, the pride of the dark nobility.
At the same time, Brendel also noticed the situation here. He immediately pointed to Charles beside him, and the young wizard attendant shot out a beam of white light, striking the necromancer’s deputy who was casting a spell. However, Charles did not anticipate that his spell would bounce off the ribcage of the necromancer, dissipating into thin air.
Charles’s level was too low.
Brendel recognized this immediately upon seeing the resistance effect of the spell. He frowned slightly. Since he was in the midst of slashing at a few skeletal soldiers, there was no time to sheathe his sword, but Brendel reacted quickly by raising his left hand—
A bright sky-blue triangular magic array appeared in his palm.
The necromancer deputy’s mental piercing had already been released, and Brendel injected three wind elemental crystals into his elemental pool, displaying the wind spell card—Energy Drain.
The azure cards symbolized the power of the wind; the wind is agile and changeable, its spells mysterious, striking first and achieving unexpected victories, while the fate cards of the wind also bear similar strength—
The transparent, serrated mental wave burst forth like a sharp knife from the necromancer’s forehead, crossing half the battlefield in an instant, heading straight for Brendel and his group, but then it came to a standstill in the center of the battlefield—this moment was so bizarre that it felt as though time had momentarily frozen—then, like a storm, it let out a shrill wail as it reflected back, causing a series of muffled explosions, with countless withered undead heads bursting apart.
The decapitated necromancer wavered on its skeletal steed before collapsing down.
Magic and martial arts in perfect harmony!
The less experienced mercenaries were alright, but Retao, Mano, Balthom, and Vulonta nearly dropped their weapons in shock. To them, Brendel, as a young man with mid-black iron strength at less than twenty, was already considered a rare talent, an outstanding young commander, knowledgeable and well-versed.
But now they also saw him as a wizard, capable of contending with at least a mid-low-tier necromancer!
Could it be that the opponent was actually a rare Seer?
Sassal felt a chill in his heart; he was not afraid—undead beings are destined not to have the true sensation of fear—but he was somewhat shaken—he did not know who that young man was, wielding an elven sword, his martial skills extraordinary, commanding with calmness and composure—how could such a person remain unknown in Erluin?
In his moment of hesitation, two black knight bodyguards had already bypassed him to meet the advancing Brendel. But that young man remained unfazed, and in an instant, he sent the first black knight’s two-handed sword flying—almost as if the black knight’s level 20 undead strength meant nothing.
Then he raised his sword high and struck down at the joint between the black knight’s shoulder armor and neck; the elven sword came down like a silver, vertical line, crashing straight down and sending the black knight and its steed smashing into the ground.
Brendel then turned, swinging his fist to knock aside the giant sword of the second black knight, pushing it aside, then tightly clenching his legs around the horse’s belly, allowing the steed to thrust forward and grasp the sword hilt—his right hand drove a sword through the heart, pulling the undead down from the saddle.
He squinted, seeing the -72 damage rise above the black knight’s head, and couldn’t help but think that the Pierce of Glimmer was exceptionally high against dark creatures. It was just that these numbers reflecting on his retina felt somewhat strange.
Sometimes he wondered if someone had installed a microcomputer in his brain when he crossed over; of course, that was merely a joke.
Brendel discarded the black knight, which was now burning fiercely, and stood upright just in time to meet Sassal’s third bodyguard, exchanging blows with the opponent’s sword before knocking him off his steed.
With a crash, when the black knight fell, Brendel saw his sword lift high, catching a silver-gray necklace. He quickly grabbed it and was pleasantly surprised to find it was a +0.3 Strength Ghoul Necklace.
At this point, Brendel found it strange; the low-magic equipment in the game should be akin to plain equipment. Even NPCs of captain level should have at least one, yet until now, he had only seen Romaine’s Spider Ring, the Quicksilver Dagger, and this Ghoul Necklace—
In fact, the difference between magical equipment in the game is generally marked by rarity; the black iron label signifies a rarity of (Alchemical), also known as low-magic items.
The bronze label indicates (Dim), known as low-magic items.
The brass label signifies (Magical), which represents true magical items, like Brendel’s Wind Queen Ring and Freya’s Flame Ring—they have a prominent feature of possessing at least one activated magical power.
The silver label denotes (Legendary), rare magical items, exemplified by Brendel’s Pierce of Glimmer. Such magical items possess powers that can alter the dynamics between strengths, falling into the category of treasure-level.
The gold label indicates (Fantasy); magical items at this level are ones sung by bards or items found only in fantasy. While there are many legends passed down throughout history in different lands, few are grasped by people—
The dark gold label signifies (Mythical), this level of magical items’ true marker is “Mystery,” a true “rare equipment”—Brendel had only seen this kind of item in the hands of core members of major guilds. In the game, an item marked as “mystical” is often a symbol of status.
As for divine artifacts, besides the Mercury Staff and a few well-known ancient relics, most are in the hands of legendary figures, either Monarchs or divine beings. For example, the national treasure ring of Saint Ausoor, the “Breath of Wind Queen” (Wind Queen Ring), or the sacred spear “Azure” of the Sky Blue Dragon.
Yet, in fact, aside from those exceptional items, low-magic items marked as “Dim” and low-magic items marked as “Alchemical” are still quite commonplace, as Vaunte, in a high-magic world, magic in some prosperous regions is indeed not as mysterious as people imagine.
However, after battling with Madara for so long after arriving in this world, he had not seen many items; even fighting against the Golden Tree boss had yielded no legendary items. If it weren’t for the rewards from Jirande’s Tomb not disappointing him, he would genuinely suspect that there was some difference between reality and the game.
But today, finding the ghoul necklace dropped from this black knight eased his mind, indicating that the earlier issues were likely because the Golan-Elsen region was somewhat impoverished.
Just as he was lost in thought, a dark, heavy sword suddenly thrust toward him. Brendel was startled, instinctively sidestepping to avoid it as he saw the black knight riding forward right before him.
The young man couldn’t help but glance sideways, noticing the enemy’s momentum exhausted, with most of the bodyguards already dead or injured—yet the opponent still hadn’t turned to flee or surrendered with their sword in hand; could they want to challenge him?
He couldn’t help but be taken aback.
*
Freya pressed a hand against her side wound, unable to hold back her frown. However, this ponytailed girl felt strange, as if she was more concerned about the damage to her Wind Queen armor than her wound. After thinking it through, she convinced herself that it was because the armor was too valuable—
The self-defense group was driving the disorganized skeletal soldiers toward a side valley, with Brendel’s command being not to let a single undead escape, and it seemed that it wouldn’t need to be said, as the terrified citizens and soldiers, scared for a day and night, would willingly do so.
They merely needed to maintain order in the pursuit along with other key personnel to prevent chaos from endangering their own people.
Freya chased on horseback, and as she passed through a rocky area, she noticed a one-legged skeletal soldier struggling to rise. Just as she was about to go in for a finishing blow, a figure rushed down like the wind and cut down the skeleton with a single sword.
That person stopped; it was Sue, dressed in a leather long skirt—
“Sue?”
The bronze-skinned girl rode over, concern in her eyes as she quietly asked, “Freya, are you hurt?”
“I’m fine. Have you seen Brendel?” Freya turned her head, realizing that she and the self-defense group had already pursued to the other side of the valley.
“Him? The guy who doesn’t even dare accept a knight’s challenge? Why are you so concerned about him?” Sue pondered before responding.
“A knight’s challenge?” The lady knight’s long ponytail halted.
……
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Orz, I suddenly lost a few hundred votes.
Today has already been terrible; please use your votes to soothe my wounded spirit.) (To be continued, for more chapters, please log in to support the author and read the official version!)
