Chapter 54: A Seemingly Weak Enemy and His True Power
Leona stood beside Abyss, disappointed, not even bothering to activate her Dou Qi.
In her eighteen years of life, she had never experienced a life-or-death duel. Even her fight with the Golden Griffin City priest after being resurrected by Abyss could only be considered one-sided bullying, not a proper battle.
She had anticipated a clash of titans, a battle between two powerful forces, with this “invincible” enemy, but it seemed things weren’t going as she had imagined.
Instead of a majestic figure clad in a black robe billowing in the windless air, a necromancer empowered by the might of an evil god, a weary, unassuming man with a nervous tic stood before them. His facial muscles seemed to have a mind of their own, constantly twitching and smiling. He looked so weak that Leona couldn’t believe he was a Bishop of the Lord of Submergence—he had less presence than a mere district deacon of the Church, who at least traveled with an entourage.
And Abyss beside her seemed completely relaxed, casually chatting with the enemy.
“Hehehe…” Dallan chuckled, his shoulders shaking. “Do you… know what you’re saying?”
“I know exactly what I’m saying,” Abyss said, spreading his arms, looking at the enemy before him. “Do you find it unbelievable? It’s just stealing a god’s power… If necessary, I might even resort to force. It’s just a small goal.”
“You know nothing about the Lord of Submergence’s power,” Dallan said, taking two steps back, putting distance between himself and Abyss. “I don’t want to talk to you anymore… Hehe… Because you’re about to die.”
“Show some respect. I’m a necromancer. Threatening me with death is childish,” Abyss rolled his eyes.
“I want to see your… Hehe… Abilities. Since you were able to resurrect Princess Leona, you must have some value… Hehehe…”
“Stop laughing already. It’s creepy,” Leona finally said, her patience wearing thin.
Dallan stopped wasting words with Abyss and, along with the head in the jar in his left hand, began chanting rapidly. Waves of magical energy emanated from him, swirling and dancing around him.
With a clattering of bones, countless skeletons, their bodies glowing with green fluorescence, materialized around the campsite, their sheer number forming a complete circle. Soul flames burned fiercely in their empty eye sockets, and they held various weapons. Judging from the aura they emanated, none were low-level undead, indicating that Dallan was a peak ninth-tier Supreme Necromancer.
Leona, seeing so many skeletons surrounding them, finally nodded in satisfaction. This was the kind of spectacle she had expected.
“Hand over the artifacts! I will spare your soul from the flames of torment!” Dallan’s voice echoed from the mouths of all the skeletons simultaneously.
Abyss frowned, observing the surrounding skeletons for a moment, his body still relaxed. “I was wondering why you were so slow. So you were collecting undead minions along the way? Hmm… It seems half of them died recently. Your doing?”
Dallan didn’t answer. He continued chanting loudly, his fixed grin and wide-open mouth creating a terrifying visage. The skeletons didn’t charge like typical minions, but stood their ground, chanting in unison, their voices directed at the three figures in the center of the circle. A buzzing cacophony of incantations filled their ears. At the same time, the distance between the trio and the caster seemed to be locked by some mechanism. Leona tried to approach and eliminate a few skeletons, but no matter how she moved, she only spun in place, unable to make any progress.
Leona was annoyed and ready to unleash her Dou Qi, forcefully breaking through the mechanism.
“Aren’t you bored? Let’s see what kind of magic he can conjure,” Abyss said, gently patting Leona’s shoulder. Leona realized he had a point and stopped.
Abyss sighed softly. It seemed this enemy didn’t want to waste any more words. How could he not be familiar with this type of magic, summoning undead and having them chant in unison? Many high-level necromantic spells required this step, but Abyss could usually achieve the same results on his own, so he rarely used this method.
Magic on the continent of Haitville was the ability to absorb external mana into one’s body, process it through the magically-attuned core developed through training, and then release it in specific ways. Incantations were used to fine-tune the released mana using ancient words with magical properties, achieving more intricate and complex effects. Depending on a mage’s understanding and application of magic, the incantations used by high-ranking mages would differ slightly. The higher the mage’s level, the more complex their incantations and the greater the difference.
From the snippets of Dallan’s incantation, Abyss could tell that he was attempting to summon some powerful undead creature.
Flora, sitting in the campsite, also sensed something amiss. The cultists who had died on the snowy plains a few days ago, the ones Abyss had summoned to dig a grave and erect tombstones, were now crawling out of the ground, their cracked, dry lips moving, chanting along with Dallan. Blue-green fluorescence intensified around him, and a terrifying aura emanated from him, as if tearing a rift in space, slowly seeping out.
…
In Golden Griffin City, atop the tallest mage tower, an apprentice mage reported urgently to his master, “Master Farel! There’s a sudden surge of magical energy a few kilometers outside the city! Is it an enemy invasion?”
A middle-aged man with grey hair and beard sat behind a desk at the top of the tower, his brow furrowed as he observed a massive magic crystal before him. Countless points of light flickered within it, illuminating the room as brightly as day. Only the strongest magical reactions could cause such a phenomenon. “I’ve already noticed,” the man, known as Master Farel, said in a deep voice. “Go and inform all the city guards immediately. Don’t send out a single soldier. There’s a Supreme Necromancer fighting outside the city. We don’t know his target, but his power surpasses most ninth-tier mages on the continent. Sending soldiers out there is a death sentence!”
“Yes, Master!”
“I’ll go summon the other Supreme Mages in the court. You and the other apprentices must inform the army as quickly as possible!”
The apprentice rushed out of the room. Master Farel stood up from his chair, his expression grave.
Why would a black magic user suddenly appear near Golden Griffin City with such a blatant display of power? What was that infamous Council of the Dead up to? He needed to alert the Supreme Mages currently residing in the city and prepare for a fierce battle.
He chanted a spell, and his body, enveloped in starlight, levitated, rising through the window and out of the mage tower.
As he soared into the sky, his eyes widened in shock—even though the unidentified black magic user was fighting several kilometers away, he could still see what was happening.
A massive, multi-layered magic circle reached towards the sky. In its center, a giant with two heads and eight arms slowly rose, roaring silently, its body engulfed in blazing soul flames. Each of its eight giant hands held a powerful spell, ready to unleash, aimed at a target on the ground.
“By the God of Magic, what is that?!”
Even this seasoned Supreme Mage couldn’t help but gasp in astonishment.
At the same time, the magic crystal inside the mage tower shattered with a loud crack. The residual energy from that spell was enough to destroy the heavily enchanted crystal ball.
Master Farel shuddered. Abandoning his usual composure, he amplified his voice with magic, sending a warning to all the mages in the city.
“All mages in the city, activate the city’s protective barrier immediately! Hurry!”
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