novelraw Chapter 119: Preparing to Fight
Chapter 119: Preparing to Fight
"Quickly deal with those corpses!"
Loren also understood where his unease came from: those corpses had been collected by the necromancer, which meant the necromancer could control them at any time.
"Understood!"
The Wind Messengers reacted quickly. The moment they heard Loren's command, they unleashed magic;
wind blades swept out, repeatedly shredding the corpses.
Several Wind Messengers pushed their power at once, and that pile of corpses was cut in half, but the remaining corpses stood up at that moment.
The risen corpses were bolstered by necromancy, their defenses considerably enhanced. Wind blades that would normally slice them to pieces only managed to leave wounds.
"Don't use the clear-soldier skill! Give it everything you've got!"
Loren commanded from his position without strain. He retreated with the others and directed the Wind Messengers to fight desperately.
Mooks were still mooks;
they posed no real threat to the divine Wind Messengers.
"No revivals allowed here."The lead Wind Messenger hovered in the air. The words he spoke sounded like an unbreakable decree, carrying a strange authority that struck at people's hearts.
At the very instant he finished speaking, the corpses that had been standing suddenly fell back down, reverting to ordinary lifeless bodies.
The other Wind Messengers then condensed a more powerful spell and shattered the remaining undead.
"Master Mentor, what is happening?"
Luna, fitting her model-student persona, asked the question when she didn't understand.
"This is the authority of Vows, the power to bind the heart and forge irrevocable decrees."
Vows—or decrees—were the God of Vows and Wind's main authority;
wind was secondary.
"Isn't that invincible then?"
Seeing the Wind Messengers solve such a thorny situation with a single sentence, Luna was a bit worried.
She still remembered her mission: she and Loren were to kill the gods. If the Orthodox Gods were so powerful, that could not be good.
"It's not that unassailable. If your rank is high enough, or your willpower and strength are strong enough, you can resist."
The Wind Messengers had keen ears;
they could hear what the wind heard, so Loren's words reached them too.
They did not take offense at Loren's apparent disrespect. Instead, they admired him more—his words exposed their weakness, a testament to Loren's strength.
"Deal with that special corpse first!"
Loren suddenly shouted;
he had sensed something amiss. That particular corpse had initially been caught in an AOE. While the unrecovered corpses could not withstand the wind blades, that corpse had been struck by several wind blades and remained unscathed.
The moment Loren spoke, both the Wind Messengers and the corpse reacted. As the Wind Messengers drew their longswords and charged, the corpse abruptly stood and sprinted toward the sea.
Magic gathered in a Wind Messenger's hand. He hurled a wind sphere that struck the corpse's back and exploded on contact.
A gale erupted. The wind sphere's power was terrifying;
it blasted a large crater in the ground, and the corpse hit by it had its back torn to shreds—Loren could even see its front ribs through the gap.
Even so, the corpse didn't entirely lose mobility. Using the shock's force, it leaped forward and was only one step from the shore.
"Bad!"
A gust of wind surged from behind the Wind Messengers. The cloak at his back caught that wind, propelling him like an arrow. In an instant he was above the corpse, and they were over the sea.
At the same time, Loren saw many ghostly blue lights in the water.
The next moment, under everyone's eyes, the Wind Messenger was pierced by spikes shot from the sea, turned into a human pincushion. Those spikes were over two meters long, spear-like, jet-black with rings of ghostly blue luminescence.
Head, torso, limbs—the Wind Messenger was impaled through and through, instantly lifeless. Under the spikes' weight, he and the corpse he had been chasing plunged into the sea.
The other Wind Messengers, seeing this, hurried to pursue.
"Stop! Do not give chase!"
Wind Messengers held enormous authority in Anselm;
even the King could execute people on their orders. Yet this group of high-ranking Wind Messengers halted at Loren's shout.
"Destroy the remaining corpses. Quickly evacuate the crowds by the shore—do not approach the beach!"
Loren naturally took over command;
the Wind Messengers did not question him and began executing his orders immediately.
The people of Anselm moved fast. When the evacuation order reached the coastal populace, they neither doubted nor questioned it. They fled as fast as they could, taking little of their belongings, because they knew the Church would compensate for disaster losses later and would arrange their resettlement.
Three Wind Messengers maintained order here. One flew off to another city to coordinate and arrange lodging for the evacuees.
In just a few minutes, the citizens had begun an orderly withdrawal. With the Wind Messengers' tasks handled, they gathered beside Loren to hear his next plan.
"How much combat power do we still have?"
Loren had entered command mode. Although not his specialty, he had led battles before.
"Discounting the dead and those who left, there are only the three of us Wind Messengers left."
"The Church's remaining forces include one Fifth-tier mage, one Fourth-tier mage, five Third-tier mages, and several First- and Second-tier mages as well as knights."
First- and Second-tier mages were basically magic academy students;
they were of little use.
"When will reinforcements arrive?"
"Reinforcing Wind Messengers will arrive within two hours, but others probably won't be here until late at night."
"Not urgent. Their objective is the entire Kingdom of Anselm. Now that the civilians have evacuated, our job is to hold them off."
The Wind Messengers naturally followed Loren's orders, even though Loren was a Bountiful Church believer.
"Will you participate as well?"
Loren had said "we," not "you," which surprised the Wind Messengers.
"Of course. I can't stand such inhuman slaughter. If I'm here I can analyze the situation for you in time. Besides, I'm not just a vase—I'm versed in some low-tier Abundant Magic.
"Even if I can't turn the tide, I can still help."
Loren's words sounded noble, but he was actually thinking about how to seize that necromancy for himself.
"They'll probably launch their attack once night falls. This is the situation;
the longer we delay them, the worse it is for them. Be ready."
The Wind Messengers did not know Loren's true intentions;
they were genuinely moved by what they perceived as his boundless compassion.
Loren was not merely the Church's Master Mentor—he was Master Mentor to all humanity.