V52C1P1 – Dark Rule

“Foolish humans, what futile resistance. This land is governed by my rule of darkness. The power of eternal immortality shall thrive. Dark Rule!”

Weed’s magic shook the Garnav Plain, and caused the undead to rise.

A horde of zombies and skeletons sprang up from the ground!

Ghosts rose from the underground, filling the air with fog, while Death Knights roared from the backs of their horses.

“Oh G.o.d, he started summoning the undead.”

“Is undead summoning always like that? Corpses just keep rising endlessly.”

Under the eyes of the 4th Legion’s commander, Calcus, the undead were rising 100,000 at a time.

Weed, standing atop his mountain of skeletons, proclaimed:

“This is the indomitable might of the darkness, that can’t be smitten by puny justice!”

Words from a true villain!

They couldn’t be more fitting in this situation.

“Bar Khan Demoph’s Dark Rule.”

“Wooow, I can’t believe I’m seeing this magic with my own eyes!”

Users were gripped by the might of this magic.

All the dead corpses revived and there was no limit on how many could come back to life.

This was because Dark Rule didn’t just bring back the undead one by one; it overturned the rules of the entire land.

“Advance, my obedient servants. You’ve been given ageless life and henceforth you’ll be raised again and again forever.”

Under Weed’s command, the skeletons began marching, their bone joints creaking.

“The lord of immortality!”

“The Lich king has ordered us thusly.”

“Eternal pain!”

“Grant us your blessing of blood.”

Fragile they may be, the enormous troops of the undead, which stretched as far as the eye could see, marched with synchronized arm swings and steps toward the Haven Empire’s army.

The troops had benefited from Weed using Sculptural Shapes.h.i.+fting to turn into a Lich, which had had an impact on their stats and skills.

Their Knowledge and Wisdom had soared, and their skills had reached Advanced level 7 thanks to the Undead Summon spell being Intermediate level 8.

Even a one-level difference in magic meant a huge difference in power, so this had made the undead tremendously stronger.

Each and every skeleton was either blackened or wore an armor and a helmet made of bones and darkness.

“G.o.dd.a.m.n. Seems like they won’t go down easily.”

Despite being frustrated at the sight of the summoned undead, Calcus regained his cool in no time.

“All soldiers shall spare no holy water.”

His warriors sprayed their weapons and armors with holy water.

Before joining this battle, the 4th Legion had made a huge donation and purchased holy water in bulk.

They had also kept in mind that if they got close enough to catch Weed, there was a possibility he would transform into a Lich. They felt that their preparation had proved worthwhile.

Other legions of the Haven Empire also took out holy water or their blessed weapons.

The 3rd Legion, even more thoroughly prepared, grabbed a huge amount of silver arrows from their war wagons.

“Get into position!”

“Hurry. Advance swiftly.”

The horde of undead summoned by Weed didn’t stop the Haven Empire’s army from moving forward.

“Whirlwind of Fire, arise. Move and sweep all!”

“Glory of War, the radiant light sparking merciless ma.s.sacre!”

It was followed by an attack from the Hermes Guild’s mages.

Some of the top users of the Versailles Continent had gathered together.. Five to six of them combined their forces to complete their magic.

A fiery whirlwind with a radius of about 40 meters danced on the land, sending skeletons and zombies high up in the sky.

A high-level flame, burning with unbearable heat, made the skeletons crumble and reduced them to ashes!

Remains of the ashes rained down from the sky to the earth.

“March. Forget the petty, low-level undead, go straight to target only Weed. Piercing Flas.h.!.+”

“Don’t let anyone outrun you. The 7th Legion shall be the first to reach Weed.”

The knights templar were surrounded by light and then galloped immediately.

They stamped down on the undead using the momentum of their charge, zombies and skeletons dissolving every time they swayed their spears.

“Aaarrgh!”

“Kuuuaaaargh!”

As spectacular as it was, many of the half-shattered skeletons would absorb vitality and rise back up.

“Formidable indeed… But you still won’t be able to simply dismiss the undead.”

Atop the high tower of skeletons stood Weed, eyeing the battlefield with cold-hearted, a.n.a.lyzing eyes.

*Kaboom!*

Bursting magic spells made the land shake.

Archers shot fire arrows at the rows of skeletons and zombies, setting them ablaze.

The synchronized movements of the humongous undead legion was a marvellous sight, yet they were being torn apart by the Haven Empire’s armies.

“There’s no way they don’t know that I will eventually triumph as long as I hold on.”

For the moment Weed was in an extremely disadvantageous situation, but over time the tables would turn.

For beyond the empire’s armies were an unlimited number of users coming to the rescue.

“Our lord is in crisis. All shall stand up and fight!”

Doom Knight Hero Neturus bellowed.

The outcry rallied the undead and the Doom Knights victoriously fought all across the battleground.

They staged a successful and wondrous defense against a thousand knights templar from the 7th Legion.

***

“Oh no.”

Mage Pormon.

His hands trembled as he grabbed his cane.

He came to the battleground even though his level had only reached 45.

“I should have cut short my play time at Poohol Waterpark and hunted more instead.”

He had run all the way from the bards’ performance stage to fight for Weed, but the users around him were terrified.

“We’re screwed.”

“All of the empire’s forces have shown up to get us.”

Beginner-level users were losing their mind over the rapid pace of progress.

They were having fun when they were pus.h.i.+ng the 4th Legion with their sheer numbers, but became shocked by the news that all the empire’s armies had gathered here.

“We’ve been trapped.”

“It’s driving me nuts. Their maneuver is fantastic. Is this how Versailles Continent falls to the hands of the Haven Empire?”

“Can’t Weed-nim just run away from here?”

“Weed-nim is not someone who would run away. And the users here are the Northern’s main force. It would be quite a serious blow if all of them die.”

Fear engulfed Pormon and other users.

Not all the Northern users were brave.

They might be willing to lay down their life for the Arpen Kingdom, but that didn’t mean that they were not afraid.

“Zombies are awesome.”

“Look how skeletons run.”

“Honestly they look tougher than us.”

A lot of the Northern users were still surrounded like Weed, and were waiting for a battle to break out.

They wondered for how many seconds they would last, while witnessing magic sp.a.w.ning grand destruction from afar.

They thoroughly felt the magnificence of the Hermes Guild whenever its destructive force quaked the earth.

When one’s level surpa.s.sed 400 or 500, their magic became strong enough to annihilate a small region, though it consumed a lot of mana and thus couldn’t be used often.

– Mandol: Stay calm! Our role is to buy time.

He was the hero of Sh.e.l.lgium.

Mandol steadily encouraged users in the regional chatting room.

“d.a.m.n, this is where I die.”

“As much as I braced for this, I’d like to go down in style at the last moment.”

Holding weapons, the users waited for the Imperial army to approach.

Foul-smelling zombies entered the battle, while skeletons were seen fighting even as they were beaten and broken apart.

“There are Bone Dragons in the sky!”

“Kuuuaaaargh!”

With their crimson, gigantic eyeb.a.l.l.s, the Bone Dragons roared in the air.

Their roars were so loud that they echoed.

“I must say, it’s amazing just to be in a battlefield of this magnitude.”

“Indeed. How could we experience this if it were not for Royal Road?”

“I’d like to fight often. Next time I won’t be as weak as I am now.”

A message, which was not sent to ordinary users, popped up on the screen of the empire’s commanders:

< Sorrowful Fear!

You have heard the cry of a creature that symbolizes death.

Troops’ morale decreases by 31 percent.

Unhappiness takes effect.

It increases the chances of contracting contagious diseases, and warriors are more likely to panic. >

The force of a Bone Dragon’s outcry!

The two Bone Dragons flew in the sky and fell on the 10th Legion that was approaching the users.

The huge dragons killed soldiers by pinning them down, stamping on them or striking them with tails.

“Kuuuaaaargh!”

The dragons grabbed knights with their mouths and threw them a hundred meters away.

“That c.o.c.ky Bone Dragon…”

“Kill them!”

Users of the Hermes Guild were confident that they would prevail even against the powerful dragons.

After all, they had formed teams before to catch monsters of this level.

“Let’s get rid of them!”

The users came and activated their skills.

The dragons were attacked by dozens of skills and ran among the Legion.

They could endure these attacks thanks to Death Aura, which significantly boosted their defense and magic resistance. The dragons cried and soared into the sky.

Soon afterwards, a dark shadow engulfed the Bone Dragons.

< A new homeland for the undead.

This land is overrun by the fear of death.

Those who were stained by grief as they crossed the boundary of death give away their life force!

The Bone Dragons fully recover their Health.

Their Agility goes up by 34 percent and their Strength by 51 percent. >

“No…”

The users on the ground sighed.

The area became populated by a large number of undead.

The dragons absorbed life force and recovered swiftly.

The 10th Legion leader Slatter raised his sword and commanded.

“It’s hard to damage a high-level undead without holy power. Just stay clear of them and march sideways!”

He deemed it a headache to fight against the dragons and found it unnecessary to waste time on them.

He thought the empire’s other armies would vanquish the dragons.

“Hooooop!”

But the sight of the dragons inhaling deeply horrified the Hermes Guild members nearby.

“Holy c.r.a.p, those are breath attacks!”

“h.e.l.l no, we need to run away from this.”

The Bone Dragons’ Acid Breath!

The guild members prepared to use short-range movement skills or special equipment.

A huge amount of damage was inevitable for them the moment they get attacked by the Dragons’ Breath.

Slatter yelled his instructions.

“Stop and defend yourself! Activate all defensive magic!”

“All troops circle around!”

The infantry units of the 10th Legion broke their formation and ran over themselves in an effort to stay as far away from the dragons as possible.

At that moment, instead of spewing their Breath, the dragons moved to somewhere else.

“…?”

“What the h.e.l.l?”

The 10th Legion was outmaneuvered.

The marching formation turned into a mess, and it would take time just to get back into formation.The Northern users were also congregating from all around, completely entrapping the troops and causing a delay.

“Did they fool them?”

“Holy cow, I didn’t think Bone Dragons could pull that off.”

“Kuuuaaaargh!”

The two flying dragons, all of a sudden, spewed their Acid Breath on the 14th Legion.

Dark, blue breath spread across the sky and shrouded the empire’s 14th Legion.

“Amazing.”

“Incredibly powerful.”

The users of the 10th Legion who were watching the scene weren’t sure if they should be crying or not.

***

“They’re putting up a decent fight.”

After transforming into a Lich, Weed could see all as if it were bright daytime.

< Lich’s eyes.

The high-level undead is familiar with darkness.

They can see farther, even places shrouded in the thick darkness. >

It is quite convenient since it becomes unnecessary to use the magic that illuminates the darkness.

Millions of undead had been summoned, and more were rising in this very moment.

The northern users who had followed Weed were killed ma.s.sively under the aggressive attack from the Haven Empire’s armies, but they revived as undead and went back to the battlefield.

Some of them gained even more power when they turned into skeletons.

< Brutal Madness was activated.

The undead who are eager to fight back see their combat abilities improve. >

< Fear of the Abyss!

Soldiers become terrified. >

< Recovery from Damage.

Some Death Knights learned a new skill.

They have learned how to absorb life force by killing.

If the Death Knights are let free to harvest as many lives as possible, they might break free from the restraints on their souls, allowing them to be reborn as new beings. >

< Zombies have activated Disgusting Vomit! >

Numerous message windows popped up, reporting the status of the undead.

“Death Knight Crowell. Greeting the commander of immortality.”

“Go. Fight.”

“Death to all enemies!”

As Weed was commanding the two Bone Dragons, boss-level Death Knight commanders conjured by Dark Rule swore allegiance to him.

Dark Rule raised countless undead, and increasingly more high-level ones appeared.

< Dark Rule has created a holy land of the undead.

Many are those who have died, and thus a ma.s.sive amount of undead have risen. Puny, unpleasant holy power shall not set foot in this sacred land.

The power of the Priests’ holy spells decreases by 60 percent.

The ability to give Blessings and lift curses won’t be usable by those who lack Faith. >

The holy land of the undead!

A literal land of death has been created.

Weed sharply eyed the battlefield.

“Nonetheless, we remain at a disadvantage in this battle.”

If commanded, the skeletons would gladly jump into a fire.

Most low-level undead were not properly fighting against the empire’s troops.

Everywhere, thousands of warriors from the skeleton legion were seen running, only to be dissolved by arrows before even getting to fight.

A Flaming Meteors spell hit the center of the undead soldiers, smas.h.i.+ng and scattering their bone joints.

“Kagh, d.a.m.n you. You won.”

“The great rule dominates this land. We have returned from death.”

“Too strong…”

The skeletons kept dying and reviving, chipping away at the Haven Empire’s armies.

“Break though!”

The skeletons were swept away by the empire’s knights, like restless autumn leaves falling from trees. In the next moment, however, they persistently rose back and fought to stop the Imperial troops or knights.

Weed, in his Lich form, lowered his jaw bone with a deathly sick smile.

“Ain’t this quite a nice battlefield.”

A sense of crisis jolted him as the empire troops flocked from all around. Yet this also meant that no battlefield could be bigger and nicer than this.

All abilities could be tapped to confront the opposing side.

“I will crash this party as much as I can.”

(Continued on next part …)