Knight and Wand

Chapter 267 Subjective Initiative

The five large Kantadar paddleboats at the river bend ferry sailed across the boundary between sunshine and clouds and sent the cavalry to the other side of the river in two batches.

The horse's hooves stepped into this land shrouded in the breath of death. Although it was still daytime on the north bank, the south bank was as dark as night.

The surrounding scenes made the Avalon cavalry feel depressed from the bottom of their hearts. There was an indescribable chill in the air that penetrated their hearts.

Fortunately, the Avalon Knights who led the team and the Ranger Knights beside him gave the Orlando cavalry the courage to stand firm.

As the reconnaissance operation began, the two teams immediately split up along the country road that had turned into hell.

Knight Roan served as a guide and led Greenthorne's rangers to Finleytown.

Under the guidance of Baron Ivan, Leon led the Avalon cavalry towards the port of Ashford.

With Olivia's powerful sensory warnings along the way, Leon took a detour to avoid the groups of zombies wandering in the wilderness and did not get into meaningless delays.

A team of more than a hundred cavalrymen rode non-stop, quickly crossed the countryside, and arrived at the vicinity of the lost port city.

Lighting up the Holy Soul Guardian Lamp, the magic power transformed into an invisible force field and spread out, easily protecting everyone's soul in the hazy light and isolating the dangerous soul-summoning bell.

The cavalry hid in a withered forest on the eastern outskirts of the city, and Leon and the warriors observed the distance.

The scene before them frightened every Orland cavalryman in the team who was seeing the City of the Dead for the first time.

Outside the city, ragged and distorted-faced zombies were wandering around in dense numbers, emitting bursts of creepy roars.

The outline of the city was looming in the night. The once solid fortifications were destroyed beyond recognition by the war. The charred marks and mottled bloodstains on the city walls were intertwined, as if recording the desperate picture of the fierce battle not long ago.

The towering resonating bell tower behind the city wall has risen, and the green light is shooting up into the sky, making the dark clouds in the sky look eerie and ghostly, just like the hell in mythology. Countless ghosts are hovering over the ghost town, bound by some force and unable to rest. The shrieks that drift in with the wind are like the resentful accusations of countless dead souls, or begging for relief.

The soldiers recalled the pre-war encouragement given by the lord before setting out, and only then did they truly realize the true meaning of no one could stay out of it.

The fate of the city of Kantadar before our eyes can be regarded as a preview of death engulfing the earth.

Leon had already seen the scene of the ghost town and did not pay too much attention to it. After he roughly confirmed that there were indeed at least tens of thousands of undead here, he immediately unfolded the city sketch drawn by Count Runaf's men, looked at the city ahead, and compared them with each other.

"The granary is further north. There is a city gate on the north side of the Ashford city wall that is only used for cargo transportation in and out. There is also a small dock there." Ivan pointed to the map.

Leon nodded, identified the direction from the city outline, and continued to lead everyone along the path around the north of the city. From afar, they saw the freight gate that Ivan mentioned.

The city gate had not been destroyed, and the Undead army, which had relied on numbers and ladders to break into the city, had not been able to open the door, which was still closed.

However, although there is no siege equipment, Leon now has his own way to enter the city.

After repeatedly confirming with Ivan the route behind the city gate, he did not hesitate and immediately ordered all the knights and cavalry to prepare for battle. With himself, Olivia and Lohak as the spearhead, he prepared to launch a charge through the outskirts of the city.

They had to get in and out quickly. Leon didn't want to stay here for long. As long as he could confirm the necessary information, he would immediately lead everyone to retreat.

Swinging the reins, he gave a light shout and urged Wuzhui to take the lead.

There was no war cry. The cavalrymen holding spears followed closely behind, pulling the reins in silence. The sound of their horses' hooves was like war drums, stepping across the silent countryside and stirring up layers of dust.

The wandering zombies soon discovered the unusual movements of living creatures, and swarmed over quickly like sharks smelling blood.

Leon looked at those zombies and felt a little fortunate. If it were an ordinary army of living people, they would undoubtedly have been exposed in the eyes of these enemies who never closed their eyes.

However, the sea of ​​undead corpses without a complete wisdom chain will not proactively report the enemy situation to the non-existent middle and grassroots commanders.

For a city of this size, no matter if there are still high-level undead in Ashford Harbor, it will take some time to discover them.
The undead, twisted by the power of darkness and death, let out hoarse roars and charged towards the galloping Avalon cavalry without fear.

But the heavy cavalry riding Uriah's horses and charging were like living tanks. The ordinary zombies without formations or weapons were knocked to the ground in an instant and trampled under their iron hooves.

In order to save magic power, Leon did not even summon the magic spear. With Olivia and Lohak guarding him, no zombie could reach his black warhorse intact.

The armored cavalry swept through like a storm, eliminating the zombies blocking their way one by one. As the distance shortened, the outline of the city gate became clearer and clearer. The abundant horsepower of the mounts enabled them to reach the city gate in a short while.

Leon pulled out the card containing the monster's soul and quickly injected magic power into it.

The Neti card turned into dazzling particles of light, which condensed into the shape of the terrifying beast in front.

The Oreyama Bear fell heavily, and with a physical two-dimensional foil, it directly crushed the tiny corpses under the city wall into a bloody "two-dimensional" mess.

"Break the door open!"

Leon ordered in a deep voice.

Upon hearing this, the mountain bear roared loudly, and the terrifying king of the forest charged towards the city gate with the force of thunder.

With a weight of dozens of tons and a speed of dozens of kilometers per hour, it was like a moving mountain, slamming heavily into the heavy city gate covered in blood.

——Boom!
For a moment, the earth shook and a deafening roar resounded through the sky.

The unimaginable force smashed the side door in the north of the city into pieces.

Before the Fear Mountain Bear could even roar to vent its anger, it turned into tiny particles of light and was quickly taken back into the palm of Leon, who was trying to save his magic power.

Witnessing the dreamlike giant beast appear and disappear in front of him, Ivan, who was riding a horse to kill the undead, couldn't help but widen his eyes, wondering if he was hallucinating.

He looked in astonishment at the back of Baron Avalon who was charging on horseback, and only then did he understand what the city-breaking spell he had mentioned earlier meant.

The Avalon cavalrymen were just as shocked as Ivan, but having seen the large and small griffins under the lord's mount, they were mentally prepared for their lord who was both a knight and a wizard.

The horseshoe crabs stomped through the collapsed city gates and rushed into the city shrouded in darkness and the light of death one after another in a tight formation.

The aimless undead on the street noticed the sudden intruder and rushed up in groups of three or five, roaring.

Compared with the zombies with mutilated bodies, the zombie soldiers armed with spears and sharp blades finally posed a certain threat to the Avalon cavalry.

Olivia squeezed the horse's belly, dropped the reins in her hands, swung her spear back and forth with both arms, and took the lead in charging into the group of zombies in front.

The silver blades crushed the undead warriors that rushed towards them like a bindweed.

Lohak swung his long-handled axe and smashed the zombie soldiers that blocked his way with great force. He and the other Avalon Knights followed closely behind, taking turns using their spears and axes to kill all the enemies that blocked their way.

During the fierce battle, the violent ups and downs of souls attracted many resentful souls that were looming.

The shadowy evil spirits that sobbed and wailed in the shadows gathered like a swarm of bees.

Holding the familiar weapons they could imagine in their remaining consciousness, they charged towards the galloping Avalon cavalry.

(Gulorelite)
".——Retreat!!" Leon saw the green light coming towards him, and immediately raised the holy lamp and roared out the magic decree from ancient times.

The light that suddenly burst out from the magic lantern spread out like the shining sun.

The first time Leon used the holy lamp against the undead, he found that its power was even beyond his original imagination.

Countless evil spirits and resentful ghosts who had no time to escape let out shrill screams. Some weak souls seemed to be burned into remnants and disappeared into the air. More ghosts fled desperately in fear.

After repelling the swarm of ghosts, hundreds of soldiers rushed along the street under the protection of the holy lamps that protected the souls.

Finally, under Ivan's guidance, they turned a street and arrived at the nearby granary area.
But the sudden enlightenment made Leon's heart sink.

The worst-case scenario he feared finally happened.

Extensive areas of charred black and emptiness came into everyone's view.

The twisted and deformed debris and broken beams are like the skeleton of an old man who has experienced vicissitudes of life. The large granary complex that once stood here has turned into a meaningless ruins of fire.

The mountains of food had apparently vanished into thin air, turning into dust among the remains of the granary.

"Leon."

Olivia slowly reined in her horse and turned back to look at her lover with worry.

The cavalrymen stopped their horses one after another.

Baron Ivan tightly grasped the blood-stained spear, looking at the cruel reality that was burned to ashes, anger and despair filled his heart.

This is the scene that no one wants to see the most.

The dead don't need food, so there's no reason to keep food for the living.
Leon looked through his visor at the granary that had obviously been deliberately burned, and knew that this was definitely not the behavior of an ordinary undead.

The mindless corpses did not have this kind of tactical awareness. Obviously, this was the work of higher-level undead with more residual intelligence.

There was no point in staying any longer. He looked at the winged corpse demon gradually flying in the distance, and immediately turned his horse's head and gave the order: "Retreat."

Before the more elite and powerful undead troops could react, Leon led the cavalry and evacuated the port of Ashford as quickly as possible.

Relying on horsepower, they shook off the following zombies in the wilderness. They ran away very quickly and were not caught up by the undead that were alarmed in the port.

Leading his soldiers towards the planned river bank for evacuation, Leon silently pondered the increasingly grim reality.

The 20,000-plus dan loads of grain in the port's granary were burned down by the corpse-ghost general who commanded the undead.

He now only hopes that the other four teams can have good news
After leaving Ashford Port and returning to the river bank, we could see that the other side of the river, beyond the area covered by dark clouds, had already entered night.

Since they returned faster than originally expected, Leon did not plan to return to the north bank immediately. He found a hidden valley that was easy to defend and difficult to attack, and ordered everyone to set up camp and rest, intending to wait there for Greenthorne's ranger team to return.

Leon ate the rations he brought with him from the kettle, and couldn't help but look at the food in his hand.

In fact, according to Laura's analysis, due to the special environment of this undead realm, it is actually beneficial rather than harmful to the preservation of food.

This underworld area is now equivalent to a super "sterile storage room" with a constant temperature and an exaggeratedly large space.

Theoretically, if there is no external interference, the food lost in this area can even be preserved longer than in the normal mortal environment outside.

In addition, the undead army itself does not eat food from the living, so he had high expectations for the state of the food.

It’s just a pity that even if the enemy was a bunch of numb dead heads, they still had the awareness to guard against the counterattack of the living army and actually burned all the food and grass in advance.

"This is too cheating. These undead don't eat or drink. How do they move? Just rely on magic? But where do they get the magic to keep moving for a long time? This place is not like the spiritual field that is filled with chaotic energy emitted from the spirit world." Leon gnawed on the jerky and complained to Laura silently in his heart.

He knew that a spellcaster as powerful as Lorelit's magician level could indeed achieve immortality without eating or drinking by converting magic power.

But what right do those useless people have?
According to the necromancy knowledge he had learned, the undead puppets awakened in the world by general necromancy magic were not permanent and required the caster to use magic power to maintain their power, and their bodies had to be maintained regularly so that they would not decay over time and become unable to accommodate the souls of the dead.

It can maintain hundreds of thousands or even millions of undead souls immortal for a long time. Even if those soul-summoning altars can use the undead as "fuel" to release magic power, the amount of magical energy consumed is completely disproportionate.

Although higher-level undead such as the Ghoul Lord and the Ghoul Warlock can command the Ghouls, the energy source that maintains the immortality of the undead obviously does not come from them.

Could it be that a demon from the spiritual world with magical powers powerful enough to rival that of the King of Magic has descended upon the mortal world?

"There's something strange about the space shrouded by this dark cloud. It seems to be corroding reality more than before. I still need to think about it." Laura's voice was hesitant.

She originally thought that this magic from outside the realm was intended to shield the power of the Dead Sea.

But now, I am confused about the distorted natural laws in this area.
The natural laws that can be felt here do not have the nature of the spiritual world.

in contrast
This dark land is becoming more and more similar to the Dead Sea in nature.
In the camp, everyone took turns keeping watch.

The Avalon cavalry rested for a night in this gloomy land of the undead. Apart from the knights who were guarding them killing a few blind undead beasts, nothing special happened.

However, many sleeping soldiers had some scary nightmares, and the war horses tied to tree stumps to rest also screamed all night.

After Leon asked Laura, he comforted everyone and told them it was normal.

In this world, people’s dreams are not just physiological phenomena within their own brains, but are also affected by changes in elements in the environment.

Especially in this haunted place which is dark in every sense, the more sensitive a person is, the more he can feel the resentment of all the spirits on this earth at this moment in his dreams.

But he and Olivia slept peacefully together, and had a dreamless night. He didn't know whether it was because of Laura's protection or because of Olivia's physique that kept her from being disturbed.

They waited here until almost noon, when a cavalryman who was standing guard outside the camp suddenly ran back in a hurry, leading several silver-armored knights.

Leon looked and immediately recognized them: they were two knights and a priest from the Order of Ilaril.

He was shocked. Could it be that something happened to Captain Irem?

After the Knights of the Holy Lake completed their mission at Hagstein Castle, the river ferry for them to evacuate was not here. It was still far away from the fortress, so there was no need to send anyone here unless there was an emergency.

He led the knights to meet them with some worry. Before Leon could speak, he heard the Holy Lake priest who was leading the group with the holy lamp report anxiously:

“Lord Lion, Grand Captain Irem has led us to capture Hagostan, destroyed the undead in the fortress, and found the food stored there.

Excuse me, should we contact the other side immediately to transport the food? Or should we set up a base here?"

Leon opened his mouth in astonishment when he heard this.
He seemed to remember.

The mission I gave to the other party seemed to be reconnaissance? ?
(End of this chapter)