The march of the undead was slow, but unceasing. Those who were stabbed by the complicated barriers set up throughout the city continued to advance and finally surrounded the palace.
“Dammit... the fire arrows? Are there any more fire arrows?”
“They have been exhausted due to the battle that lasted for weeks!”
“Groan, so many blacksmiths have left... keep your formations!”
The commander’s orders were issued and there was the sound of drumming. However, most soldiers didn’t respond. They had been fighting for weeks and couldn’t rest properly during the day because they had been searching for the daoist. The traps that had been set up after discovering that the army of the dead were aiming for the royal palace started to show their value.
The undead couldn’t distinguish the traps and were buried in the pits. The soldiers moved their heavy feet, poured oil, and lit them up. Dark smoke billowed out and a terrible stench filled the area. The fires that intensified every time the clothing and bodies of the undead were burned gave hope to the soldiers.
“Ice Wave.”
Then a little boy appeared in the sky and cast a strange spell. A cold wave of ice appeared and extinguished the flames of the battlefield, filling up all the traps the soldiers had worked so hard to dig.
“M-Magic without charms?”
“A daoist from the west! Attack him first!”
The soldiers were confused and fearful of the being that appeared but the upper echelons were different. They had guessed the enemy was a foreigner from the moment they saw the zombies, not jiangs.h.i.+, mixed in with the army of the dead.
“Don’t forgive them for invading our kingdom and insulting our people!”
"Waaaaahhhhh!"
The Kars army and the army of the dead entered the full-scale war. The number of Kars soldiers was three times the enemy, but it should be a fierce battle because they were exhausted. However, an unexpected result occurred. The Kars army started to slaughter the army of undead one-sidedly. The dead weren’t able to fight against the Kars soldiers one-on-one and were completely overwhelmed by the larger numbers.
“......?”
Agnus’ eyes twitched as he led the undead from the rear. After infiltrating Kars and waging war for a few weeks, he realized for the first time that the level of the Kars army was much higher than expected.
“Kikik... The East Continent is truly different, isn’t it?”
Baal’s Contractor turned corpses into undead and used them as limbs. In other words, the more corpses there were, the stronger it became. It was just that as the battle progressed, the number of undead decreased rather than corpses acc.u.mulating.
“Charge!”
The rising momentum of the Kars army broke through the collapsing formations of the undead. Dozens of deceased people lost their heads and fell every time the weapons of the warriors on horseback swung.
“You are the culprit!”
One of the generals discovered Agnus being escorted by the undead and yelled loudly while raising his axe. His other weapon, a magic sword that knocked down the undead flashed like lightning toward Agnus. Just then, Agnus clapped his hands and the thousands of undead on the battlefield fell like broken dolls. The general smiled when he judged that the enemy in front of him had given up on the war. Even so, his hand wielding the sword didn’t stop and aimed for the enemy’s neck.
“......?!”
The general’s vision rotated once and the moon filled his eyes. The full moon, which should be scattering a divine light, was red and covered with hundreds of eyes.
‘...What?’
Nothing followed. The general’s field of view became black as he fell to the ground.
“General!”
“T-This...!”
The Kars army that had been in high spirits faltered. The death knight stepped over the body of the decapitated general and glanced at them. Agnus’ mad laugh echoed through the battlefield.
“Kill them! Kill them all! Kuhahahahat!”
Agnus had reclaimed the power of domination he used to lead the thousands of undead and used it to summon three death knights and Lich Mumu, who gradually dominated the battlefield. Under the protection of Mumud, Agnus started using the three death knights to aim at the higher-ups in the Kars army. The army command system collapsed in an instant.
Nevertheless, the soldiers resisted.
Despite the loss of the generals and tacticians leading them, they were brave enough to cut and break the death knights’ arms and legs. In the end, the three death knights reached the point where they were turned to gray ash. However, this wasn’t the end. It was a new beacon of despair.
Agnus regained control of the dominance used on the death knights and once again raised the dead who had fallen on the battlefield. The number of the dead had more than doubled. Thousands of soldiers were killed by the death knights and Lich Mumud resurrected the undead.
"T-This is ridiculous...”
An infinite power. The treachery of this demon on the battlefield made the Kars army feel despair. Just then, the cry of a bird was heard and the sky became bright like it was dawn. The hundreds of eyes on the h.e.l.l moon silently watching the humans on the battlefield closed their eyes in pain.
A rain of fire poured down. The thousands of undead that Agnus had raised through an arduous process were easily turned to gray ash. The same was true for the lover by Agnus’ side.
[The deceased you created ‘Luna Caroline’ has received great damage and is destroyed.]
Just like Pagma"s Descendant could create items and the Sword Saint could create sword skills, Baal’s Contractor had a cla.s.s-specific skill to create a deceased. Unlike a normal undead, death knight, or lich, the deceased could be summoned without consuming dominance.
It meant they could always be by his side under any circ.u.mstances. They were different from other summons that had restrictions on the number of operations. The strength of Baal’s Contractor was amplified by making as many high-rated deceased as possible. However...
“Luna!”
Agnus consumed this precious skill in a different direction. It was used for the pursuit of happiness without the indulgence of power. It was to pursue false happiness...
“Kuaaaack!”
Luna Caroline was only rare rated. She possessed poor intelligence and had an easily damaged body. It was because the process of creating the deceased wasn’t smooth and was also the result of Agnus’ obsession with form, not power.
“Luna!”
Luna Caroline was unable to withstand the rain of fire from the sky and burned in pain. The soldiers of the Kars army were disgusted by the sight of the monster after its false appearance was gone, but it was different for Agnus. He was experiencing the past as he embraced Luna Caroline’s body.
It overlapped with the final image of his lover who took her own life after being insulted by those bugs who deserved to die a hundred times. Agnus felt something breaking. He turned his eyes in the direction of the flying red phoenix with an expression so extremely cold that it was hard to believe he was the same man who had just been sobbing and struggling moments ago.
A woman could be seen pulling a bow from the top of a tall building. She deserved to die a hundred times.
“Kill...! Kill that b.i.t.c.h!” Agnus shouted but he only had a handful of troops left. The number of undead, which had reached over 3,000, had fallen to the hundreds and they were being blocked by the Kars army. Lich Mumud was interrupted by the charms of the daoists personally led by the Cho King and part of his magic was blocked. The three death knights hadn’t fully recovered so Agnus had only one more trump card he could believe in.
“Useless things! Get lost! Get lost!!”
Agnus shouted in disgust as he recalled the dominance from the hundreds of undead and Lich Mumud. He summoned Lantier, the legendary a.s.sa.s.sin who demanded more dominance than Lich Mumud. At the same time, Lantier melted into the darkness and appeared on top of the building hundreds of meters away.
However, Jishuka’s arrows were one step faster. She had been pulling her bowstring for a long time. The nine arrows she fired in succession continuously pierced between Agnus’ eyebrows. His health dropped to the lowest value and his flesh melted. The unique skill of Baal’s Contractor that was different from the immortality of the legends was expressed.
“You!”
Agnus turned into an undead and was enraged. He made a path by magically collecting the bone fragments on the battlefield and flew on it. He entered the attack range of Jishuka, who was struggling with Lantier on the terrace, and fired magic at her.
He could’ve easily suppressed Jishuka by strengthening Lantier, but currently, Agnus couldn’t make a calm judgment at all. He forgot about Satisfy’s strongest air defense skill ‘Umbrella’ that allowed Jishuka’s arrows to be used in succession. The anger from losing his lover was too great.
Jishuka and Lantier were swept away together by Agnus’ magic. The magic that made the entire inn explode broke Lantier’s right arm holding the dagger. Jishuka didn’t miss this opportunity. A pre-installed trap prevented Agnus from advancing and she dug into Lantier’s gap to slice his neck with a dagger. Then she opened the distance again and quickly fired.
Jishuka was being cared for by the red phoenix. Her attack that was filled with divine power inflicted great damage on Lantier, who was confused by the continuous bombardment from both sides.
Kuack!Kuaaack!”This rat-like b.a.s.t.a.r.d!” The anxious Agnus cut his own ankle after Jishuka gained the upper hand against Lantier. He escaped from the trap and rushed to Jishuka. He swung a sword. Jisuka couldn’t escape due to Lantier and her shoulder was cut. Her wounds quickly rotted.
“Die! I will kill you!”
Agnus wasn’t laughing. He chased after Jishuka with a face that was like a demon. Jishuka was still focusing on Lantier. She didn’t care about her back as she consumed all her evasive skills to fire the Grid-made mithril arrows at Lantier.
Kuaaack! Lantier—he might’ve been reduced to a death knight, but he was still a legend. It was why Baal’s previous contractor, Pagma, and Baal’s current contractor, Agnus, coveted him.
“I don’t know if this gamble will work,” Jishuka muttered as Agnus chased her to the end and his sword pierced her chest. She smiled as she released the bowstring she was pulling. Lantier’s skull was smashed.
[You have won a battle against a legend.]
“......!”
Agnus stiffened as he was pus.h.i.+ng the sword deeper into Jishuka’s chest. He felt the life that had been drained due to his sword being restored.
[A legendary archer has been born!]
A world message appeared in the vision of Jishuka and Agnus.
***
Approximately two minutes before the birth of a legendary archer...
“Grid-sama! Grid-sama!”
Damian, who stayed in the Overgeared Kingdom after finis.h.i.+ng Lord’s private tutoring, came to Grid. He didn’t forget the promise Grid had made before he left for Talima.
“Item...! You were going to make me an item...”
He finally found Grid. Damian’s face was full of excitement after finding Grid, only to immediately stiffen. He felt some anxiety when he saw the transparent sword hovering around Grid. Grid smiled brightly. “You came at a good time. Please help me test the power of this weapon.”
“......”
Being too durable was a crime. Damian was in tears as he started to place all types of buffs on himself. It was the birth of the Zombie Demon King who made the world weary in the National Compet.i.tion. He declared, “I am different from before. Now I can’t fall down easily.”
One minute later...
Damian stretched out on the ground in the ‘大’ shape and stared blankly at the message that a legendary archer was born.