Above the mage

Chapter 283 The Right Path

"Forbidden necromancy!" Sunefa's already cold and aloof expression turned even colder upon seeing this scene.

Necromantic spells that resurrect the dead as skeletons or zombies are considered an inviolable red line, both within and outside the North, and are absolutely forbidden spells.

In fact, necromancy, especially offensive necromancy, is mostly characterized by "evil and bizarre" effects such as draining life and creating undead creatures.

A knight-errant uses his martial arts to break the law.

Although people with evil intentions may use their knowledge for unethical purposes regardless of the school of magic they master.

However, necromancy undoubtedly carries a greater potential danger.

Therefore, after discussion, the high-ranking mages at the top of the pyramid decided to take a drastic approach and list all these necromancy spells as forbidden, prohibiting mages from learning or mastering them.

This is also why necromancy has always been extremely weak among the eight major schools of magic – powerful necromancy spells have all been banned.

But history has proven time and again that "forbidden arts," like "forbidden books," will only be repeatedly banned but never truly eradicated.

Therefore, even though forbidden necromancy has fallen to the point of being universally hated, it still survives tenaciously like weeds, and remains rampant despite repeated bans.

Skeletons are the lowest-ranking undead creatures, but they are further subdivided according to different types and strengths.

The most common type is the skeleton warrior, which is made of the bones of ordinary humans or other humanoid creatures. They are usually equipped with simple weapons and shields made of bones.

These skeletons look creepy, but they are actually clumsy and fragile; even a well-trained militiaman could defeat multiple skeleton warriors.

Skeletons of this level can only pose a threat if they are outnumbered.

An even higher level of skeleton monster is the skeleton mage.

Once a mage's corpse, it can be resurrected through necromancy and become a skeleton mage.

Skeleton mages possess greater strength and tougher bones than skeleton warriors, and can also cast some basic spells that the corpses possessed in life. They may even have different special abilities depending on the mage's cultivation method.

The skeletons currently appearing in the camp are all skeleton mages, and they are all "inspired" by the Northern Iceborn mages.

Visible to the naked eye, the pale bones of these skeleton mages were tinged with a blue light representing frost.

This gives them a high resistance to ice elemental spells.

Iceborne mages who spend their lives hunting in the snowfields may not be as disciplined as military mages who undergo rigorous training year-round.

However, they are in no way inferior in terms of combat skills and ability to deal with emergencies, especially in skirmishes where they are more than capable.

After all, when hunting in the snowfield, it is common to be ambushed by creatures from the ley lines.

So after the initial panic, the temporary camp of the entire Zhenbing tribe was immediately filled with urgent and stirring horn sounds.

The Iceborn mages who were not attacked reacted quickly, casting their spells and entering battle mode.

In an instant, the camp was filled with snow and ice, and a fierce wind blew, with various blue magical lights flashing everywhere.

A barrage of ice elemental spells rained down on the skeleton mages, launching a fierce attack.

At the center of the skeleton horde, a third-ring Iceborn mage moved his hands rapidly.

Instantly, a massive ice wall rose from the ground, isolating a large portion of the skeleton mages and buying precious casting time for the other ice-blooded mages.

The other Iceborn mages, now protected by the ice wall, had no more worries and quickly unleashed their attack spells.

Where the skeleton mages were densely packed, ice spikes suddenly rose from the ground, piercing the gaps in their bones and strangling them up.

Then, many more sharp ice spikes shot towards the skeleton mage group like arrows.

Although these skeleton mages had high resistance to ice elemental spells, they were ultimately unable to withstand such a dense onslaught.

The skeletal body shattered and disintegrated, and the eerie green phosphorescent flames flickering in the eye sockets were extinguished.

"Necromantic spells have a limited casting range, so the necromancer who controls these skeletons must be hiding nearby."

Instead of participating in the battle to eliminate the skeleton mages, Sunefa decisively began searching for the necromancer's location.

Don't be fooled by the necromancer's ability to create a massive horde of skeletons. Once the necromancer is killed, all the skeletons he creates will crumble into piles of scattered bones, like soulless shells, and will no longer pose a threat.

However, the necromancer's ability to control skeletons is limited in distance.

This means that the necromancer who controls these sinister armies of skeletons must be hiding in some dark corner not far from the battlefield.

Sunefair understood this, so her goal was clear: rather than slowly wiping out these numerous skeleton mages, it was more practical to directly kill the necromancer behind them.

This is the fastest way to end this battle.

Upon hearing this, Gao De turned and looked around.

It is night now, the darkness is as black as ink, and the dim light makes everything hazy and difficult to discern.

However, this is nothing to Sunafair; a second-circle spell, Darkvision, can solve the problem.

The problem is that their camp is currently in complete chaos, with ice mages and skeleton mages locked in a fierce battle.

Moreover, the surrounding snow provided perfect shelter for the hiders.

If the other party is even slightly disguised, it would be extremely difficult to quickly and accurately locate the necromancer in such an environment within a short period of time.

But Sunefa wasn't worried about that.

Jue~~~

The next moment, a high-pitched and passionate cry came from her tent.

Then, a silvery-white light, like lightning piercing the night sky, suddenly shot out from the gap in the tent at an astonishing speed.

The light and shadow instantly drew a beautiful arc in the air, spiraling towards the higher and farther reaches of the sky.

That's Sunafar's magical falcon, Azure.

Falcons are naturally adept at reconnaissance.

Canglan is an alien species with terrifyingly strong reconnaissance abilities, capable of detecting the faintest fluctuations and anomalies.

It flies high into the sky to overlook the battlefield, and while being high above, it can ignore the interference of the chaotic environment and find the target more quickly.

Just as Cang Lan began her search, a deep voice seemed to come from the abyss, clearly audible even in the noisy and chaotic camp:

"Sunefa, you don't need to bother looking for me."

Gao De and Sunafa turned their heads almost simultaneously, their eyes sharp as they locked onto the direction from which the sound came.

A large cloud of black mist churned up there.

"Something big is here!" the Iceborn mages at the edge of the black mist shouted, their voices trembling slightly, but they still tried their best to warn them.

The moment their voices faded, the black mist seemed to be torn apart by an invisible force, and a terrifying behemoth burst forth from it.

Its body was enormous, like a rampaging prehistoric giant elephant, but its skin was shriveled and covered with grayish-white rotting flesh. It was emitting blue smoke and a nauseating stench.

The behemoth's eyes were empty and lifeless, but its speed and momentum were terrifyingly astonishing.

With a loud bang, the ice wall constructed by the third-ring mage was shattered by the impact of this behemoth, turning into countless flying ice shards.

However, the speed of this behemoth remained unaffected, and it continued to rush toward Sunefa's location with unstoppable momentum.

With each step it takes, it creates a trembling rhythm on the snow.

Logically speaking, given its enormous size and terrifying weight, it should have sunk into the snow.

However, on its four feet, formed from rotting flesh, a layer of pale blue magical light was shimmering.

It has been blessed with a buff spell, so it can walk on the snow as if it were flat ground.

Any Iceborn mage who stood in the way of this behemoth, no matter what spells they cast, were so small and powerless when they struck the behemoth, like throwing an egg against a rock, futile and unable to cause the slightest ripple.

Then, the giant beast knocked them away.

Some monks tumbled through the air, accompanied by screams of breaking bones; others were thrown far away and crashed to the ground, their fates unknown.

"A zombie behemoth!" Sunefa's eyes turned cold as she murmured.

Zombies are undead creatures that are one level higher than skeletons.

The giant zombie beast is one of the most powerful types of zombies, possessing astonishing strength, defense, and regenerative abilities, making it an extremely troublesome presence on the battlefield.

Above the giant zombie beast, a figure clad in black robes stood proudly, a sinister smile on his face, as if everything was under his control: "Sunaf, once I kill you, the main force of your Zhenbing tribe should retreat, right?"

"Ryan." Sunafa's gaze narrowed slightly, fixing on the figure atop the zombie behemoth's head.

"Is it just you? Where are the other fourth-ring mages?" Judge Ryan stood atop the rapidly charging behemoth, looking down at it coldly.

After Donald's death, the Zhenbing tribe still has four fourth-ring Iceborn mages.

However, of the four fourth-ring Iceborn mages who sent troops to the Icefield Temple this time, only one, Sunaf, came.

This was Sunefa's decision.

According to her, there are only three fourth-ring mages among the Snowfield Guardians, and they are not necessarily all located in the Icefield Sanctuary.

For her, even if all three fourth-circle mages were present, or even if the number doubled, she could easily suppress them.

This is the confidence of a pure-blooded Iceborn.

"My king, step back first." Sunaf didn't answer Ryan's question, but instead instructed God while taking down the huge ice bow [Blizzard] from his back.

The next moment, she took a deep breath, gripped the bow tightly with one hand, and pulled the bowstring with the other.

Then, a ghostly blue light shone on the bowstring.

The pale blue light quickly transformed into tiny ice crystals, shining like stars in the night sky.

These ice crystals spun and coalesced in the air, eventually transforming into a crystal-clear ice arrow that exuded a chilling aura.

call out!

With a crisp whooshing sound, the ice arrow shot through the air like a bowstring taut, hurtling towards Ruian.

Upon seeing this, Ryan smiled calmly, seemingly unafraid of the attack launched by the magical weapon wielded by Boreas himself.

The blazing, bright flames, as if summoned by some mysterious force, suddenly surged out of his body, quickly encircling him and forming a fiery shield that shone with an orange-red light.

Sunefa's blizzard-infused ice arrows precisely locked onto Ryan, but just as they were about to touch the fire shield, they seemed to encounter an insurmountable barrier.

The ice arrow collided with the fire shield, making a hissing sound, like ice and snow meeting molten lava. It melted rapidly from the arrowhead, turning into a wisp of smoke and dissipating into the air.

However, the fire shield was completely extinguished after blocking the ice arrow.

boom!

Ryan actually controlled the zombie behemoth to suddenly stop.

The intense movement instantly created a small snowstorm.

"As expected of [Blizzard]." Ryan, who had stopped his charge, looked at Sunefa with a slight change in expression, surprised by Sunefa's attack just now.

Compared to Ryan's astonishment, Sunefa's expression became extremely solemn: "[Fire Shield] is only a fourth-level spell; it's impossible for it to block a True Ice Arrow."

"Indeed, you are far more powerful than I imagined, Sunaf. Even the [Flame Shield] cast by the Ascended Ring could only block one of your arrows." Ryan's gaze shifted back and forth between Sunaf's face and the [Blizzard] in her hand, his tone carrying a hint of "appreciation".

"Ascending Ring Spellcasting." Sunefa took a deep breath. Hearing this, she understood everything. "You are now a Fifth Ring Mage."

Looking around, there was no one else in sight except for Ryan.

This means Ryan came alone.

The fact that one person dared to force their way into the Zhenbing tribe's camp, with a mage level of five rings, was the source of Rui'an's confidence.

"You wouldn't believe it, would you?" Ryan smiled at Sunefa, beaming with pride. "The first and only fifth-circle mage in the Northern Realm is actually me."

"You've changed your cultivation method." As a pure-blooded ice descendant, Sunafa possesses an extremely keen perception of ice elements, and now, she can no longer sense any ice element power in Ryan.

This is illogical, because even the mages who are guardians of the snowfields are basically all of the Iceborn bloodline, and their power is closely related to the ice element.

"Yes," Ryan nodded, his face showing no hesitation or reluctance. "I am currently practicing the 'Ritual of the Dead,' which is what helped me break through to the fifth ring."

"Possessing the blood of the Iceborn, yet becoming a necromancer." Sunefa's voice carried a hint of coldness. Ryan had not only betrayed the teachings of the Snowfield Guardians, but also his own bloodline.

"What do you know?! Sunefair, the Iceborn bloodline is useless!" Ryan's voice was tinged with agitation, as if Sunefair's doubt had touched a raw nerve. "The path I've chosen is the right one!"

"You are the last pure-blooded Iceborn in this era. You should know that in the past, with the power of the Iceborn bloodline, the minimum level of a pure-blooded Iceborn should have been at least the fifth ring."

Ryan's words carried a hint of regret, as if he were thinking of the Iceborn race's past glory. "After you fully awakened your Iceborn bloodline, your mage level rose to the fourth ring in just two years, but three years have passed and you are still only at the fourth ring."

"What does this mean? It means the power of the Iceborn bloodline has diminished to its maximum, only reaching the fourth ring!"

"The Iceborn bloodline was indeed powerful in ancient times, reaching its peak and creating the powerful Iceborn race. However, since ancient times, the Iceborn bloodline has begun to decline."

"At this point, the Iceborn bloodline is a complete dead end. If we want to go any further, we must abandon the Iceborn bloodline and find another way."

Ryan's words carried a hint of sarcasm, mocking Sunefa's stubbornness and ignorance: "It's just that you're used to the powerful strength of the Iceborn bloodline and can't bring yourself to give up everything you have now, so you can only stay in the same place."

"To take a step forward means you have to give up something."

(End of this chapter)