Mount and Blade System: Start from Pioneer Lords.

Chapter 456 Battle
The imposing death knight was shrouded in heavy armor covered in rusted runes, with two crimson soul flames emanating from the gaps in his helmet. He held a giant flail wrapped in black mist in his hand, exuding an aura of iron-blooded blood and death, like an undead commander who had crawled out of an ancient battlefield.

It sat upright on the broad back of a two-legged corpse dragon, its body ramrod straight. Behind it was a dense swarm of undead creatures, silently gazing at this scene as if they were dead.

This corpse dragon was a wyvern in its previous life, and wyverns are distant relatives of true dragons. They do not breathe dragon breath but can spray venom.

Its size is quite rare, and it is most likely a variant that must have broken through racial limitations and advanced to the legendary rank in its lifetime.
“Your Excellency the Saint, and this Saintess,” a Lich King’s voice rang out, “your tenacity has exceeded my expectations, but look at you now, how pathetic you are, and how futile your resistance is.”

The Lich King was hunched over, draped in tattered robes, and wielded a bone staff topped with a soul crystal that seemed to emanate from a painful, wailing spirit. He was surrounded by a visible, nauseating cloud of green plague.

Its gaze turned to Fatil, and it gave two hoarse, dry laughs: "A pure soul, a perfect body, truly perfect material! Join us, cast aside that illusory light, embrace true eternity, and your soul will shine even brighter in the land of the dead than it does now."

Its sound is full of allure, as if it can directly evoke the deepest greed and desire in people's hearts.

Fatil's body trembled slightly, not from fear, but from the evil power contained in the voice trying to erode her will.

But she bit her lower lip, and the holy light on the scepter suddenly brightened a bit, and the black band on the tip of her nose seemed to be barely able to cover her eyes, which seemed to turn into the sun: "Shut up, blasphemers, your evil will eventually be purified!"

"Ha...naive." Another Lich King let out a low laugh, like bones grinding together. "The Holy Light? Look at what it can do now? It can't even protect yourselves..."

Its withered white fingers gently caressed the staff. "Before absolute power, everything is nothing but paper."

The last Lich King was relatively normal, dressed in an elegant classical mage robe, his face withered but still showing traces of his former handsomeness, and holding a magnificent staff inlaid with a huge obsidian.

"Let's begin, Lord Azrael." The Lich King, dressed in a classic mage's robe, gracefully performed an ancient mage's salute, his voice carrying the air of a scholar: "Delay may bring unforeseen changes. I never imagined that the Holy Light Church would still have a saint alive, though now only in a soul form. But who can say for sure whether he can still maintain any connection with the Goddess of Light?"

His gaze swept over Ego Saint, a hint of apprehension in his eyes at this figure who had existed far longer than himself.

“Iron King Theodore, Plague Mage Vali, White Tower Archmage Dallas, Great Sage Farin, I really didn’t expect to see you guys here.” Saint Ego lurked in the air, his golden hair, shining brightly, cascading down like a waterfall.

These Lich Kings and Death Knights were all renowned and powerful figures in their lifetimes. For Saint Ego, a saint who has lived since ancient times, it would be easy to recognize their identities with just a little careful observation.

"That's why I hate talking to smart people, because in front of you people, I feel like I've been stripped naked." A hoarse voice came from under the Death Knight's visor. The two-legged corpse dragon under its rear also snorted irritably, and green corpse fluid flowed from its mouth, instantly corroding a large hole in the granite floor below.

"Historically, there has only been one warrior who possessed a dragon mount far larger than any other dragon of his kind. That warrior was the Iron King, who founded a desert kingdom. To be honest, your identities are not hard to guess."

Saint Igor's gaze was calm as he looked at the figure in the sky who had remained silent.

Compared to the others, this person was the one who weighed heavily on his heart.

The other party arrived without saying a word, but their inherent arrogance and disdain were all too obvious.

"What I'm curious about is how you all transformed into undead creatures."

This saint was genuinely curious.

After all, he was in the Holy Light Church and knew how much his church was cracking down on its mortal enemies, the necromancers.

The goal was to destroy the necromancers and all necromancy spells thousands of years ago.

Even if a few undead creatures occasionally appear, it's only due to accidental environmental influences.

For a powerful being to transform into an undead is not as simple as just talking about it.

Azrael's deep vortex beneath his hood seemed to shift slightly, locking onto Ego Saint without uttering a word.

Its withered, white fingers pointed gently in the direction of Saint Igor!
There were no earth-shattering roars, no dazzling lights or shadows, only the space itself seemed to be violently twisted and torn apart by an invisible hand.

A pure, condensed beam of dark light, silent yet lightning fast, instantly traversed the distance between them, its target aimed directly at Ego Saint's heart. Wherever the black light passed, even light itself was swallowed up, leaving behind a fleeting, chilling dark trail.

This strike embodies Azrael's profound understanding of the laws of death. Amplified by the Titan Diamond, its power is enough to instantly annihilate anyone's soul, not even a saint.

To Azrael's surprise, the opponent disregarded everything and chose to withstand the attack head-on, manipulating countless holy light giant swords behind him to slash through the night sky and strike at the others.

The light was so bright that it illuminated almost the entire dimly lit cathedral.

The condensed dark light struck Ego Saint.

Without a sound, it burst forth with a brilliance far exceeding that of a physical collision. A circle of pure black dots, visible to the naked eye, grew larger and larger, obliterating everything around them.

But Azrael remained silent, and a figure stood there, seemingly unaffected.

On the contrary, the other Lich Kings and Death Knights were in a rather disheveled state.

Azrael remained motionless, but finally spoke, his voice like two pieces of iron rubbing together: "...As expected of the Twelve Saints..."

As it spoke, the other four Mujitaishid Lich Kings also moved simultaneously.

The Death Knight swung his flail, creating a massive black crescent that tore through space.

The Plague Lich King slammed his staff into the ground, and the dark green plague cloud transformed into ferocious figures that rolled and pounced on the members of the Holy See like living creatures.

The White Tower Archmage, who had mastered the magic of vengeful spirits, let out a silent shriek, and shockwaves that twisted souls swept across the land like a tsunami, visible to the naked eye.

The great sage Farin gracefully raised his staff, chanting ancient and obscure incantations. The obsidian at the tip of the staff glowed ominously, clearly preparing a powerful spell.

Fatil immediately channeled more holy light into the magic circle beneath her feet through her scepter. The Church of Holy Light had stood in Gonda for so many years, and countless powerful magic circles were hidden underground. They were usually inconspicuous, but could unleash terrifying power at crucial moments.

The paladins behind them roared, their holy light merging into one as they desperately resisted.

Inside the Church of Holy Light, an unprecedented and terrifying siege is looming!

...The evening breeze rustled, making one shiver uncontrollably.

Mir looked enviously at the lord who was shirtless in the biting cold wind. As for the others, he didn't envy them, because none of them were human.

The gates of Gondar were already tightly shut. Even the Frost Barbarians, looking up at the towering walls, couldn't help but marvel at the power of humankind. The heavy gate, made entirely of magical metal, might have been able to stop ordinary Frost Giants, but it couldn't stop the legend, Ragras, who broke through the gate with just two punches and three kicks and walked in.

Before the group could take more than a few steps, countless shadowy figures emerged from the surrounding streets and houses in the darkness.

Although they are roughly humanoid, no one would ever associate them with humans—skulls, zombies, undead knights, and vengeful spirits floating in the shadows…

“Brother-in-law, these were all once residents of Gonda City.” Mir’s voice was filled with endless sorrow.

Then another piercing scream rang out beside them.

The lord melted someone's hand with holy light.

Livy discovered that cutting off the lich's hands and feet with swords caused no pain whatsoever, but when Holy Light was added, the pain was excruciating, reaching right to the soul.

These undead creatures are like cats encountering a tiger when they meet the Holy Light.

However, what this person didn't know was that undead creatures had an unimaginable sensitivity to Holy Light.

As a result, almost half of the undead in Gonda abandoned the other direction and converged here.

Looking at the endless stream of undead creatures converging on this place, layer upon layer, Li Wei sighed and said, "It seems we're quite popular."

Ubigail glanced at the tyrant discreetly, but dared not speak.

"My lord." Ragras' enormous figure shrank to four meters. Even so, the lord still had to stand on the shoulder of a small frost giant to be on par with him.

“I can feel it, it’s inside!” Its enormous eyes gazed into the depths of Gonda.

"Hmm." Li Wei certainly hadn't forgotten the Titan Diamond, but now was clearly not the time to look for it. The most urgent task was to see how many people in Gonda were still alive.

Are all the royal family members and ministers in the palace dead? If so, does that mean Gaoyabao will no longer have to pay taxes?

What has become of Fatila and that beautiful and kind-hearted Pope?

As for Ego Saint? Li Wei wasn't too worried; the guy's innate abilities meant he didn't even need to think about death.

At this point, Li Wei had already begun to think about what Florina had said to him alone.

If, or rather hypothetically, most of the ministers, officials, and members of the royal family in Gonda were dead, what would Debe do?
If they leave it alone and remain neutral, the land of Debe will obviously be engulfed in war and conflict among kings.

Li Wei hasn't made up his mind yet, so he can only take it one step at a time.

With just a single, chilling punch, the Frost Giants froze all the undead on the street; with a single kick, countless undead instantly turned into ice dust.

"Tch, they're all so weak. They're not even as strong as the ice mammoths that wrestled with us." A frost giant kid with ice crystals still hanging from his nose was extremely disdainful. He kicked a bunch of them to death with one kick, and then wiped his ice crystal snot off his nose.

Li Wei still remembers that little brat. He remembers getting kicked in the butt, which swelled up really high, and then he behaved himself.

For these top-tier magical creatures, although their nine hundred warriors were somewhat inflated, including some hundreds-of-years-old underage children and women, dealing with these low-level undead was nothing.

Mir looked on with envy. The ice mammoth was a behemoth with a shoulder height of five meters. Once it launched a charge, it was completely unstoppable. In the end, it was just a wrestling match for these frost giant brats.

The group didn't linger with the spirits and headed straight for the palace.

They encountered no significant obstacles and quickly arrived at the outskirts of the palace, but the journey was destined to be anything but easy.

The massive, gilded city gate, which had been tightly closed, suddenly swung open with a sickening metallic creak.

A deathly aura, a hundred times stronger than that on the street, swept over us like a tangible wave, instantly overwhelming the chill emanating from the frost giants.

In the darkness of the passageway, two crimson lights suddenly shone.

A heavy, metallic thud sounded as hooves scraped against the ground.

A knight, so tall he almost touched the top of the door frame, riding a skeletal warhorse, slowly emerged from the darkness.

It was covered in thick, black lacquered armor, and the ground trembled slightly with every step it took.

Beneath the massive helmet, two crimson soul flames were locked onto everyone, filled with a cold, violent, and destructive desire.

It dragged a giant two-handed greatsword taller than itself, its blade shrouded in dense, persistent black energy. Just by dragging it along the ground, it carved a deep furrow into the hard stone slabs of the palace square, sending pebbles flying.

This was a high-ranking undead knight. The oppressive aura emanating from him caused the frost giant cubs, who had just been complaining about how weak the undead were, to instinctively shrink back and grip their spiked clubs tightly.

If it were just one, the Frost Giants wouldn't take it seriously. But behind it, one undead knight after another slowly emerged, taking over the entire spacious ground.

At a glance, there are at least a thousand people.

Roar!
The Death Knights let out a roar that was not human, lifting heavy greatswords or lances with one hand and pointing them at the ranks of frost giants. They had no intention of provoking them; they simply wanted to annihilate all living things in front of them.

From the darkness behind it, more undead figures of various shapes and equally ferocious auras continued to emerge—skeletal warhorses spewing ghostly blue flames, undead knights clad in heavy armor silently arrayed, floating in the air, and shadow mages wielding bone staffs emitting silent shrieks.

This is an army composed of high-ranking undead creatures.

(End of this chapter)