Knight and Wand

Chapter 359 Conditions, shocking changes

About an hour had passed when the cry of the eagle beside him interrupted Leon's wandering thoughts.

Seeing Akau waving, Leon turned his mount and flew towards the clouds behind. He knew that Azerien's position must have moved.

He urged his Death Claw to catch up with the Hippogriff. One in front and one behind, the two beasts flew across the sea of ​​clouds and quickly descended.

Penetrating through layers of thick clouds and overlooking the southern plains of the Lion Scorpion Valley, the sharp eyes of the Griffins and Hippogriffs soon discovered the figures of two riders who had broken away from the gathering place of the Undead Army.

One of them was Azerien.

Seeing that his best friend was not in danger, Leon felt relieved.

Seeing Azerien looking up and waving, he immediately controlled the Death Claw to circle and slam down on the grass in front.

Only then did they see clearly that next to Azerien, there was a vampire knight riding a ghoulish warhorse.

He was wearing a set of Serian-style armor that seemed to have been distorted by some force. Lion had seen this armor on the undead of Rolandar before.

This pale-faced blood-sucking undead was obviously not a subordinate of Count Elliver.

"Who is he?" Leon asked immediately.

"This is Sir Angert, my father's former vassal. He was also my riding teacher when he was alive." Azerien introduced the old friend with a slightly sad voice.

The blood knight named Angert didn't care about life or death. He nodded slightly to Leon, his fangs looming between his pale lips, and his voice was low and hoarse:
".On behalf of my Lord, I would like to express my gratitude for your heroic act of saving the young master of the Flarel family. Please forgive me for not being able to thank you in person now."

Leon shook his head: "If it weren't for Azerien, I wouldn't have survived the escape. No need to thank me."

Seeing that the other party's attitude was quite friendly, he felt a little hopeful and looked at Azerien: "Did your talk with your father go well?"

"." Thinking of his loved ones who were now shrouded in darkness and madness and gloom, a trace of pain appeared on Azerien's handsome face.

He shook his head: "I don't know if it's going well or not, or I can't tell whether I was talking to my father just now."

"?" Leon was confused when he heard him say that.

At this time, Angert turned his head and spoke to Azerien to comfort him: "He is still your father, young master. The Baron's consciousness is being tortured by the evil sword. It is difficult for him to disperse the overly powerful power by creating a clan like us. Many times, the words he said and the actions he took were not just out of his will, but the hatred of countless resentful spirits of the Holy Land City who died in vain."

Leon couldn't help but wonder: "Magic sword?"

The Blood Knight turned around and said, "It was the abominable demon that twisted us and gave our Lord this ominous blade. There are countless souls living in that sword. My Lord, you must fight against the madness in it all the time."

Having said this, Angert closed his mouth and said no more.

Azerien sighed, rode forward, and told his companions the result of his hard work:

"I can't convince my father of his endless hatred. Lord Elliver is right. His madness is worse than any other blood descendant. Unless we can help him eliminate all the undead of the Eastern Invasion Army, there is no way he can give up his obsession of killing all the Kantardars."

With a heavy voice, he took a deep breath to put away his frustration, and continued, "However, Sir Angert barely helped me to get a condition. As long as we can do it, my father will at least agree to return the freedom of Earl Elliver and the vassals of Thorn Flower."

After hearing this, Leon immediately became excited.

Even if he couldn't form an alliance with the Blood Baron, being able to free Elifer from his restraints would already be a huge gain.

"What conditions?"

Before Azerien could answer, Angert said, "Let me explain."

He raised his head and continued to speak to the Griffin Lord on the high saddle of the giant beast: "The undead under Avilut can use some kind of magic to quickly travel through the area where the Soul Clock Tower once stood, allowing them to attack the legions under my lord everywhere.

The number of ghouls under Aviut is much larger than ours. In the past few months of fighting, our offensive has become increasingly difficult."

Azerien also looked over and said, "Leon, remember what the surviving soldiers of the Battle of Mamor said, that a dark gate appeared without warning in front of the king's army and a large number of undead poured out? That is almost exactly the same as the magic gate that Sir Angert has seen."

The Blood Knight nodded and said in a deep voice: "I also vaguely remember what I saw in Rolandar when I was awakened from death. That evil being with tentacled legs and bathed in blood that desecrated the Great Temple once cast a spell to open this form of pitch-black door. It was through that pitch-black door that we returned to the human world from the cursed Holy City."

After hearing this, Leon roughly guessed the conditions that Azerien mentioned.

"Mr. Shaleman, do you want us to help you counter this magic gate?"

"That's right, but it's not just a counterattack. I heard from the young master that you are a powerful wizard who has broken the spells of those demons and liberated the Holy Land City. So if possible, I hope you can help us master the means to open the dark door and fight back against Avilut and Karazik, our common enemies.

We were twisted into blood-sucking monsters by the blood demon. Although we are much stronger than ordinary ghouls, there are no wizards among us, so we are helpless against the witchcraft that allows the army to shuttle around.

Angert paused and smiled bitterly, "If we had encountered this kind of problem in the war, we could have asked the priests and ascetics of the church to deal with it. But now, the souls of the monks may be blessed by the great holy sun. The monks who died after Rolandar broke the city were not transformed into undead by those demons."

Leon touched his chin and understood the dilemma faced by the vampires. It can be imagined that, in contrast to the undead camp of Rolandar, there are probably many ghoul mages under the command of Avilut and Karazik.

He turned around thoughtfully and looked at Corvis who was riding a Hippogriff beside him.

After all, the person who cracked the principle of the Undead Cloud magic was his own magic consultant, not himself.

"Akao, do you know this magic that sounds a bit like 'portal'?"

"To be honest, I don't know much." Corvis was also frowning and thinking. He had only recently started reading up on the theory of time and space after Leon encountered the ancient royal palace magic.

The young knight looked thoughtful. "But, my lord, do you remember when we led the coalition forces to attack the Great Temple, the blood pool altar controlled by the blood demon? Could the dark door we saw there be the same thing?"

Leon suddenly realized, and thinking back, it seemed that the magical vision floating behind the blood pool altar during the Battle of Rolandar was exactly the same as the "Dark Gate" described by General Orland and Sir Angert.

"So, we have to go back to Serian and investigate in Rolandar City?"

As he spoke, Leon couldn't help but shake his head in distress. "But after the war, the Blood Pond Altar was blown to pieces by King Kamoz of the Barren Mountains and the angry Steelforge Guards. And after so much time has passed, I'm afraid the Holy Sun Church has already burned the twisted remains of the altar."

Angert suddenly said, "Perhaps, you can go and take a look at the ordinary witchcraft altars first. Although those altars of the dead with blasphemous pendulum bells hanging on them no longer have the evil power they once had, we have found that the black doors basically only appear near the remains of those altars."

Only appeared near the Soul Bell Altar? Leon frowned. Could it be that it was still some kind of residual influence of the great magic that formed the Eternal Night Cloud?

After exchanging a glance with Corvis, Leon pondered and said to the Blood Knight of Baron Shaleman, "At this point, it seems there is no better starting point. Are there any remains of the Altar of the Dead nearby?"

Inglet nodded.

"Then please follow me. Not far to the east is a ruined town with a well-preserved altar. My Lord once fought against the army of Aviut that attacked through the Dark Gate."

Without any hesitation, Leon and the others immediately followed the Blood Knight's instructions and headed east.

It was indeed not far. Even if they slowed down their flight speed and let the Deathclaw fly low to accompany Angert and Azerien who were riding their horses on the ground, it took them less than an hour to reach the ruins of the town.

This border town located on the southern border of Kantadar has long been reduced to a lifeless dead place. Among the broken walls and ruins, there are only a large number of zombie soldiers wandering around aimlessly.

It seemed that the corpse lord stationed here also discovered the approach of the living at the first moment, and the undead gathered around like a group of sharks smelling blood.

The Blood Knight on the corpse's warhorse merely glanced with his red eyes and opened his mouth to let out a sharp, piercing sound.

The power deeply rooted in the soul spread out quickly, and the corpse cavalry and zombies that were approaching, as well as the undead in the town, dispersed far away. Angert said to the griffin knight who was holding a gorgeous silver spear beside him: "Don't worry, the undead here are subservient to the magic sword of my Lord. With me here, they will never dare to disturb you."

Leon hummed, said nothing more, and rode the griffin into the town ruins.

The heavy rumbling sound of the animal's feet stepped over the weathered bones. When they saw the collapsed altar tower in front of them, Leon gently pulled the reins and jumped off the saddle with Olivia.

Corvis and Azerien also turned over and jumped off the back of the Hippogriff and followed the two.

However, looking at the Soul Bell, whose light had faded away and lying quietly among the rubble, Lion knocked on its outer wall with Gungnir and couldn't help scratching his head.

It's called an investigation, but I don't know where to start.

Corvis half-knelt down beside the big clock, feeling the magic patterns and rune symbols on it, frowned and thought, and once again tried hard to decipher the complex magic on it as he did before.

"Haven't you analyzed this great magic before? How was it? Do you have any idea about the dark gate that can teleport the undead army?" Leon leaned over and asked.

With my current theoretical level, I can only recognize some Lorelit words, such as the magical meanings of "Klenion" and "Connection", but I can't understand those symbols that are completely different from the Lorelit runes.

Corvis rubbed his forehead in confusion. After thinking for a long time, he said in bewilderment: "Strange, I... I feel like I have forgotten a lot of knowledge. I clearly remember how to identify this magic, but... why is it so difficult to understand after analyzing it again from the beginning? Am I slacking off?"

Leon patted his shoulder and said, "Don't worry, take your time. If it doesn't work, you can just take the Hippogriff back to Avalon and go to the Mage Tower to get some magic books like this to study while learning."

Corvis put aside his confusion for the moment and said, "I'll try again."

He stood up, returned to Hippogriff's side, and took out a thick notebook manuscript from his bag. He took it to the big clock and sat on the stone block. He flipped through the manuscript and began to ponder.

Leon sat on a collapsed stone pillar, holding his wand and staring at the clock in thought. He seemed to be in a daze, but in fact he was reviewing the magical knowledge in his mind more efficiently than Corvis.

Unless he wanted to leave a text manuscript, he had no habit of taking notes, because since he embarked on the path of learning magic, his memory would hardly forget any details he had seen in his life, whether it was the faces he saw in daily life, or the text and graphics he had only seen once.

Time passed by minute by minute.

The Blood Knight Angert flew up to a crooked tower at some point and looked into the distance, waiting silently.

Seeing that the sky was getting darker, Azerien simply picked up some broken wood and lit a bonfire.

"Would you like to eat something first?" Olivia asked with concern as she brought some dry food and bacon.

Leon broke away from his thoughts, took the food, and thanked him softly.

He took off his iron gloves and munched on his rations while looking at Corvis: "You should take a break too. There's no point in rushing about this."

Corvis closed his thick notebook and sighed, "It seems that I really need to go back to the Mage Tower to find out if there is any knowledge corresponding to these strange spells."

Leon swallowed the food. "I remember these altars were just one of the ritual nodes of the dark cloud magic. Since the blood pool altar core controlled by the blood demon can open the dark door and transmit the undead from the spirit-like field to the outside world, could it be that there are still functioning altar cores in Aviut with the same ability?"

"Do you mean that we should try to repair this altar as well?" Corvis asked.

Leon pondered, took another bite of the pickled meat leg, and shook his head: "You can try, but you should first figure out the specific principle of the portal."

Having recklessly activated the great magic of the ancient royal palace and nearly changed the fate of the entire world, he was still frightened and didn't want to act rashly on any issue involving "great magic".

Corvis did not wait until the next day to set off. He ate a simple meal and took with him a notebook manuscript covered with Soul Bell magic patterns and runes. Not wanting to waste time, he immediately pulled the reluctant Hippogriff to his feet and mounted the saddle.

"Remember to find Lohak and the others on the way and let them know we're safe." Leon greeted them.

Corvis nodded and took note.

Watching him hurriedly ride the Hippogriff and disappear into the night sky, Leon came to the campfire and secretly set up a warning spell around the three of them.

Both he and Olivia were full of energy so they didn't need to sleep too long. They agreed to be on duty in the first and second half of the night respectively. Leon leaned on Olivia's thigh with peace of mind and closed his eyes.

Before falling asleep, he recalled the "hellish thoughts" he had while waiting for his companions during the day. He couldn't stop being curious. Along the way, the undead on this land were still wandering around without sleep, and even followed the zombie lord to fight everywhere.

If these zombies had been blessed by the soul realm gathered by the great magic, they would have been able to absorb the magic power to maintain their existence.

But now, the dark clouds have dissipated for more than a year, and these corpses show no signs of rotting or disintegrating.

This is why?

In the past, Leon had hoped that the corpses would decay and perish on their own without the protection of the eternal night magic, but now it seemed like wishful thinking.

Normal undead spells require the caster to constantly maintain magical power.

But these zombies, and even those more powerful zombie lords, we haven’t even seen what they eat to survive?
The same goes for vampires. Elliver said that they suck blood only because they find that this helps them maintain their sanity, not to replenish their survival needs. They can completely survive without food or water.

This is unreasonable.

Even from a magical perspective, it's irrational.

There must be a reason why the dead can continue to exist
With this confusion, he gradually fell into a light sleep.

save.
help me.

What's calling?
who is it?

help me.

?

Save you? Who are you?

They called me Clenion.

It seemed as if a pair of hazy and transparent hands reached out to him, but the next moment, countless blood-red madness surged up from the depths of the chaos in the darkness.

"Leon! Wake up!"

Hearing Olivia's loud cry, Leon suddenly opened his eyes, held Gungnir tightly and stood up.

All I saw was a blood-red glow filling the surroundings, even overshadowing the moonlight in the sky.

Azerien, who was leaning on the side, was also awakened, drew his sword and stood up.

With a gust of cold wind, Ingret flew down from the tilted tower with a look of surprise and doubt on his face.

Everyone's eyes turned to the source of the blood.

——At some unknown time, the Bell of the Dead floated up from the rubble.

(End of this chapter)