novelraw Chapter 153: Qing Soldiers
Chapter 153: Qing Soldiers
"Face the storm!"
Loren swung his blade, unleashing a tornado. This was the wind-element magic he had previously obtained from the Wind Messenger. Shouting the line was purely due to Loren's personal reasons.
After being unleashed by Loren, the tornado continued to grow larger and larger, sucking in more and more zombies, shredding them to pieces.
With this single move, Loren directly eliminated over fifty zombies, yet nearly a thousand still remained.
[Level up successful. Gained 1 attribute point. Current level: 28.]
The extra attribute point was immediately allocated by Loren to his Stamina. Today was destined to be a battle of attrition.
Most crucially, Loren didn't believe such an important matter would see the Canaan Kingdom dispatch only a single Plague Envoy. There were definitely others hiding in the shadows, waiting for the moment Loren revealed a flaw.
He had just been forced to expose his Void-walking trump card, but it wasn't a huge problem. Any normal person would assume such an invincible skill came with a great cost and couldn't be used continuously.
Wind-element magic was very fast for clearing mobs. After pouring a few AOE spells down, a large clearing was carved out of the zombie horde.
But the consumption was also significant. After clearing half the zombies, Loren's Mana had dropped to only about a thousand points left—roughly enough to wipe out this group of zombies five or six times over. Yet, Loren still chose to pretend his Mana was exhausted, beginning to engage in close combat with Requiem.Loren's Strength wasn't high, but just relying on Requiem's sharpness was enough to instantly kill these zombies. Requiem cutting into a zombie's body was no different from a hot knife through butter, not feeling the slightest bit of resistance.
This feeling of blade meeting flesh with every strike was quite satisfying, giving Loren the illusion he was playing a hack-and-slash game.
However, Loren hadn't forgotten to remain vigilant about those hiding in the shadows, guarding against a possible sneak attack at any moment.
Since killing these zombies required no effort, his Stamina consumption wasn't high. It was like simply performing a sword dance. With Loren's Stamina, wiping out all these zombies wouldn't be difficult, just a matter of taking a bit more time. Loren couldn't even be bothered to use martial skills.
All of Loren's techniques were basically max level, including his blade techniques. He just usually couldn't be bothered to use them. Compared to risking his life with blade techniques against enemies, Loren was more accustomed to simply overwhelming his opponents with his vast reserves of Mana.
Initially, Loren also enjoyed skillful dueling, wielding a long blade with various parries and dodges, fighting for a long time just to land a few sneaky strikes. It wasn't until later when he changed classes to a Mage that he realized how simple this game could be.
Loren fought while retreating, not allowing too many zombies to gather around him. If someone hiding in the shadows triggered a Corpse Explosion at that point, Loren would also face trouble. Corpse Explosion wasn't just a simple blast;
these corpses were killed by Plague Believers. If they exploded, they'd definitely carry some virus or flies or something, making it hard to dodge even with Void-walking.
The number of zombies dwindled, and Loren's level increased once more.
[Level up successful. Gained 1 attribute point. Current level: 29.]
After allocating the attribute point to Stamina, Loren's Stamina finally broke through the forty-point milestone. The fatigue originally generated from slaying the zombies lessened somewhat, but Loren put on an act of appearing overwhelmed and exhausted.
This entire battle had proceeded at Loren's pace, everything seeming effortless and under control. Only about fifty zombies remained. With just a bit more effort from Loren, they could all be killed.
It was precisely at this moment that the zombies suddenly went berserk. Loren failed to dodge in time, and one zombie successfully tore through Loren's black robe.
Before the battle began, Loren had changed into an ordinary black robe. His specially crafted black robe was left with his horse. If he had been wearing that specially crafted robe, it wouldn't have been torn so easily.
Loren swung his blade backhanded, severing that zombie's head. But the other zombies immediately swarmed in. Loren's pressure instantly multiplied, to the point where one zombie even managed to grab hold of Loren's Requiem. However, just as Loren pulled the blade back, severing that zombie's hand, his back was suddenly raked by a zombie's claw. This strike directly shredded Loren's clothes, leaving a scratch on his back.
Thanks to Loren's sufficiently high Stamina, this only broke his skin, but it was enough for the Zombie Virus to infect him.
If he had wanted to avoid this strike, Loren had countless methods even without using Void-walking. But he knew a way to avoid being infected by the Zombie Virus, which was why he acted fearlessly, wanting to use this to lure out the person hiding in the shadows.
"Circle Slash!"
Loren swung Requiem, instantly unleashing a ring of blade light that circled around him. All the zombies surrounding him were bisected at the waist. But soon, the other zombies pressed forward again.
Requiem was swung once more, only this time there was no technique to speak of. It was like simply swinging a club. It seemed the martial skill just now had exhausted all of Loren's strength.
Loren gripped the blade with both hands, continuing to slay zombies. Different from before, wounds were continuously appearing on Loren's body. He looked utterly spent, his oil lamp dried up.
After killing the final zombie, Loren collapsed from exhaustion, lying on the ground completely defenseless.
Before he could rest for even a moment, a new Plague Envoy appeared before Loren. The Plague Envoy's hand enlarged in Loren's vision, a sinister aura coiling around it. Loren's Intuition screamed warnings frantically. His instincts told him that even for him, touching that hand would be extremely dangerous.
Loren had been guarding against their sneak attacks all along, so his reaction now was swift. He quickly rolled to the side. That hand pressed against the ground, and the weeds on the ground instantly withered.
Sixth-tier magic, Death's Grasp. Upon touching another living being with the hand, it rapidly strips away their life force. Undefendable.
While the effect was powerful, the usage conditions were also very demanding. It was almost impossible for a mage to touch an opponent with their hand in combat, so this move was mostly used for a Finishing Move.
The Plague Envoy wasn't surprised that Loren could dodge. He was also cautious to the extreme. Even though Loren had appeared so weak, he still chose to use zombies to wear Loren down, only personally moving in for the Finishing Move at the very end. And the moment he acted, he used a sixth-tier magic.
Being able to use sixth-tier magic proved this person's strength was no small matter. Back then, Eldrin's limit was also only sixth-tier magic, which was already the ceiling for ordinary mages.
Furthermore, Loren only knew he *could* use sixth-tier magic, not that sixth-tier magic *was* his limit.
However, Loren wasn't too panicked either. He was no longer the person he used to be. In possession of Requiem and the Judgment card, Loren lacked no means of dealing damage. If the current him were to face Eldrin, Eldrin wouldn't even have a chance to fight back.
The Canaan Kingdom was not a small country like the Gedlan Kingdom. The Plague Envoys there were much stronger, let alone a Plague Envoy who could be assigned such an important mission.
"Now you get to face the BOSS's second phase."
After the Plague Envoy revealed himself, Loren instantly perked up, appearing like a completely different person from his previously weak state. Once again, the blade's edge rested against its scabbard.