Knight and Wand

Chapter 262: The Demon Lord
The Kingdom of Kantadar, the southern part of the mountain.

In the heart of the Duchy of Aberle, dark clouds of impending storm were hanging low, as if they were about to swallow up the fortress where the Duke lived.

He walked into the castle's meeting room with heavy steps, dismissed the attendants and servants, and sat alone on the large but cold chair, holding his forehead with a frown.

This hall, where many southern nobles and leaders had sat together to discuss important matters not long ago, now seemed particularly deserted.

Since he led tens of thousands of defeated troops out of the territory of Usato and returned to the south, the Uriah people were the first to leave.

Then came the scattered groups of other southern nobles who had suffered heavy losses.

Even the highly prestigious dragon slayer Valensis was seriously injured in the battle. The failure of this invasion of the royal city to seize the throne made the noble lords who chose to follow him panic, and they all started to make new plans.

Abel knew clearly that he had lost his temper, and he only had less than 20,000 soldiers left to command. Even if he added the lords from the duchies and those who had surrendered to him, he could only recruit another 10,000 soldiers of miscellaneous goods at most. With these troops, let alone taking the royal city and killing that bastard Casso, even if he wanted to break into Usato, he would probably have to take great risks.

If only those damn Orlanders hadn't been meddling in other people's business!

Clenching his fists, Aberle took a long time to suppress his anger at failure.

What should I do next?
Maintain the status quo?

Although his position in the Principality and Shannan Territory is temporarily unshakable, the nobles under his command will surely gradually waver over time.

If that kid Casso is smart enough and simply pardons the rebellious lords with a wave of his hand, how many people will choose to betray him in the future?

Otherwise, how about going all out and ascending the throne as king in the principality right away?

Announcing that Kaso colluded with the Northern Kingdom to enter the pass, making him a traitorous fake king?
Abel was still hesitating as he pondered over his countermeasures.

At this time, in the corridor outside, a guard hurriedly ran to the door, knocked on it urgently, and reported loudly: "Your Excellency the Duke, Shannan Territory has sent in military intelligence from the northern border, and found a large number of... large numbers of what... undead, armies of corpses, armies of the living dead are rushing towards the principality!"

The Duke turned his head and looked towards the door in surprise.

"Undead? What a mess!"

He paused, and then slowly recalled the requests for help and warnings from the messengers from the "Sobonitz Territory" in the east of the kingdom not long ago.
The tavern where the Duke lived was filled with a strong smell of alcohol. In a dim corner, Mamer sat alone against the wall with a sad face.

Several of the wine glasses in front of him were empty.

Previously, his wife had paid all the wealth accumulated by the family over the years to redeem herself who was captured by the Orland people. Now the manor territory inherited from generation to generation has become penniless.

He had been badly injured by the girl with superb swordsmanship, and had been imprisoned in the cellar for so long without receiving medical treatment. Only recently, with the help of a witch doctor in his hometown, had he almost recovered from his thigh injury.

But this also made him owe a large sum of money to the witch doctor.

Mamer was full of regret at this moment. During his recovery period, he was unable to catch up with the Duke of Aberle's march to Usato.

Although he heard that the rebellious campaign to seize power had failed, the Duke was not the king, and the knights did not have to serve for free. If he could join the war, he could still get a day's salary even if he did nothing for a day.

Now, there is no war and no opportunity to make money.

Mamer sighed, looking out the window, wondering whether to return to his dilapidated old manor or go further west to find another way out. He couldn't become a bandit.
Just as he was lost in thought, he saw his old friend hurried into the tavern and saw him at a glance.

The friend walked over quickly, patted Mamer on the shoulder, and said anxiously: "Don't be in a daze! I just received the Duke's assembly order. Come with me to report to the military camp. There may be a battle to fight!"

Mamer was stunned at first, then a light flashed in his eyes.

The sudden news was like a ray of light in the darkness. He stood up suddenly, drank the remaining wine in the glass, and regained his strength.

As a Knight of the Order of Arms and with the introduction of an acquaintance, Mamur naturally joined the Duke's army easily.

The army set out quickly and marched towards the north of Shannan in a mighty manner.

Thousands of troops marched along the avenue and arrived at the fortress built by the Duke on the border of the territory in just one day.

As the army entered the city guarding the valley, Mamur, along with many lords and knights under the duke, climbed up the city wall.

When he looked into the distance, the scene before him made his blood slowly freeze.

In the sky, ominous dark clouds are looming, as if they are about to cover the entire world.

Under the dark clouds, there is a black ocean with no end in sight, and countless decaying bodies are slowly surging, hovering at the edge of the dark clouds.
Hundreds of kilometers away.
Eastern Usato Mountains.

General Kantadar, who was loyal to the new king, Kaso and stationed at the mountain pass east of Usato, leaned on the battlements and looked at the terrible doomsday scene at the foot of the mountain from the towering fortress wall.

The impregnable mountain pass fortress had just helped Usato block tens of thousands of Aberle's rebels, forcing the enemy to take a detour.

But right now.

How many walking dead are there in this dark cloud that stretches to the horizon without seeing the end?

100,000? 200,000? 300,000?

Or more? Relying on the altitude of the mountain, the general looked at the vast plain in amazement. He was not an unfamiliar soldier, but he still could not estimate the specific number of soldiers in the horrific scene before him.

On the deadly night-like land, hundreds of thousands of zombies transformed from the people of eastern Kantardar slowly crawl in the dim light and shadow. Their resentful souls stir in their bodies, craving for the flesh and blood of living things.

However, they can only follow their instincts in life, obey the will of the corpse lords and corpse wizards riding on skeleton horses, and wait for the orders of the high-level undead.

In the sky, corpse demons, giant bat ghosts and undead knights riding undead lion scorpions flew freely, shuttling through the dark clouds like ghosts, which were terrifying.

In the endless sea of ​​corpses, tens of thousands of ghoul soldiers and undead knights lined up in neat rows, holding high the tattered battle flags that symbolized their identities in life, as if they were still loyally guarding the royal court of Kantadar.

In the center of this terrifying undead army, three gigantic undead generals, riding on the Undead Lion Scorpion, the Nightmare Beast, and the Giant Bat Ghost, led the Death Knights on black-armored corpse horses to escort Aviut, who was sitting on the Undead Chariot and had transformed into the Undead Lord.

The Flesh and Blood King's Court slowly moved forward along the avenue and finally came to a giant desolate tomb at the foot of Mount Usato.

This is a place that every Usato and Sobonit, even every Kantadar, knows.

Decades ago, "Redwin II" sent troops to invade Kantadar and arrived at the foot of Mount Usato. The flying dragon ridden by the King of Orland was killed by the great knight Valensis himself.

This large tomb was built to carry the kingdom's past glory and splendor and to commemorate the feat of slaying the dragon.

The chariot pulled by several skeletal war horses stopped in front of the dragon-slaying statue of the great knight Valensis.

A large number of zombies were controlled by the corpse witches and moved in an orderly manner, slowly transporting the flesh and blood corpses from the surrounding large corpse transporters into the tomb.

Not long after, several corpse wizards rode forward, chanting spells, and controlling the evil spirits wandering around the soul bell carts to fly into the dragon tomb.

As they chanted, evil magic seeped into the underworld like a surging tide.

The earth is shaking and the mountains are shaking.

The dragon tomb began to tremble violently.

--call! !
A terrifying dark green dragon breath penetrated the land from the inside out.

Along with roars of collapse, a huge black shadow forcefully broke through the collapsed bricks and rubble.

An undead flying dragon with only a little flesh and blood hanging on its body spread its broken wings and climbed out of the tomb from the pit.

Its huge body regrew under the influence of magic power. The corpse was covered with bone thorns and naked flesh and blood. The originally broken body was tightly pieced together with a green glow.

--Roar! ! !

A terrifying dragon roar roared out from the open bony mouth of the skeleton dragon head, threatening the ants around it that made it extremely irritated.

The corpse wizards were not afraid.

Waving their bone staffs swiftly, the Kantadar wizards who had turned into the dead activated the soul bells, releasing soul chains that tightly bound the violent skeleton dragon.

Avilut stood up and drew out the Dread Blade from his waist that emitted a strange black mist.

His body, which was several times larger than when he was alive, walked down the royal carriage step by step. The battle robe made of wolf skin and human skin was dragged on the ground. His dry will-o'-the-wisp eyes stared at the undead flying dragon and he walked forward slowly.

The struggling skeleton dragon swung its long neck, trying to break free from the magical constraints. The taut illusory chains almost broke the soul carriage that was being dragged over.

However, when Aviut came to the corpse dragon, he waved slightly with the same dignity.

Boom! !
The heavy pressure of the dragon soul surged in from nowhere, pressing the body of the flying dragon to the ground.

The smoke and dust shook, and Aviut raised the magic blade and stabbed it into the chest of the skeleton dragon.

The evil blade bestowed by the devil released an unstoppable force. The black mist injected into the soul, and the resistance of the undead dragon became weaker and weaker.

After successfully enslaving the soul of the giant beast, the Demon Lord stepped onto the back of the Death Dragon.

The majestic wind was fanned by the undead beast, and the broken dragon wings, carrying the dragon body and Aviut on its back, rose into the sky.

The Lord of the Corpses pointed his magic blade far to the south.
The undead flying dragon obeyed the order, flew over the Usato Mountain and the countless undead below, and flew towards the south of the mountain.

With his remaining consciousness, Avilut learned about his half-brother's rebellious behavior from the memories of the dead he killed along the way to conquer the East.

Malice grew in the Maharaja's mind, and he vowed to instill fear into the soul of this despicable man.

In order to regain control of the land of Kantardar, he decided to start with the treacherous Aberle and then take his kingdom back into his hands.

on earth.

The ocean of death surged with a tremendous roar.

(End of this chapter)