Gathering Emotions

"Lord Knight Commander, we can't hold on much longer. The magic power in our bodies is being consumed too quickly. If this continues, the city walls will surely collapse."

The priest who once again cast Light Blessing over the city walls and shields looked pale, his entire body showing signs of exhaustion as he reported to Knight Commander Sgert.

Sgert's brows were tightly furrowed as well. Just as he was considering whether to have the Knights of Light, reserved for the final charge, also ignite the Light Power Battle Aura within their bodies, a voice carrying divine resonance rang throughout the city.

"Holy Light Illumination."

As Bishop Jamir spoke the incantation, the vast Light Magic within him formed an enormous magic array over the city.

Then everyone saw another sun appear above Hui Dun City.

Endless holy light poured from it onto the city walls in every direction. The skeletal arrows embedded in the walls and shields melted away as quickly as ice and snow beneath the blazing sun.

The city wall defenses, which had been on the verge of collapse, once again stood firm.

The undead outside the city howled continuously. Those Undead Skeletons near the walls were all reduced to ashes beneath that wave of holy light.

The sun of holy light dispersed in the sky, and specks of radiance gathered atop the walls. Then Jamir, dressed in a bishop's robes, stepped out from within them.

When everyone saw Jamir, their faces filled with excitement. With Jamir standing guard, much of their previous unease dissipated.

The morale that had nearly collapsed also gathered anew because of his arrival.

"Wonderful! The bishop is here! We have hope again!"

Many of the temporarily conscripted civilians cheered.

However, mixed among them were unfavorable remarks about Wisdom Shield, such as, "Where is the earl now?" "We haven't seen the earl for so long." "Could the earl be hiding because he's afraid?"

Meanwhile, Wisdom Shield, who was in the academy, was also deeply concerned about the defenses atop the walls. He had long wanted to go to the walls with Torey and defend them alongside the soldiers.

However, Chen Cheng had held him back, because no one here surpassed Wisdom Shield in the use of natural Magic Energy.

Because he was a Chaos Mage, the energy of the Chaos Magic he wielded was actually extremely similar to the Magic Energy that made up nature itself.

And to operate this enormous magic array, relying solely on the Magic Crystal reserves within the city was nowhere near enough. Its true source of Magic Energy could only be the boundless, inexhaustible Magic Energy drawn from nature.

Naturally, that was one of the basic functions of the magic array, but it was also a blind spot in Chen Cheng's knowledge. Otherwise, he would not have injured himself through Magic Energy overload earlier.

Therefore, he needed Wisdom Shield's assistance. At the very least, he needed Wisdom Shield to use his Chaos Magic to test the disassembled absorption-and-storage modules.

Jamir walked before the priests and spread his arms toward them.

"The God of Light is with you."

Then a great amount of Light Magic power surged from his chest toward the priests whose magic power had been exhausted.

The priests answered in unison.

"The God of Light is with me."

Only after replenishing the priests' mana did Jamir turn to look at the army of Undead Skeletons outside the city.

"Cursed darkness, denying the souls of all living beings their rest—Holy Light Judgment!"

An enormous blade made of pure holy light slashed toward the Undead Skeletons outside the city. Wherever the blade passed, countless Undead Skeletons had the undead within them erased, turning into clouds of bone dust.

Judging from the power of Jamir's attack, it was clear that he had consumed too much energy. Otherwise, those Undead Skeletons would not even have left behind bone dust.

At that moment, the Undead Knight mounted upon an undead horse moved. Dark demonic energy surged around him, and he raised the great axe in his hand. His entire body seemed to be lifted by an unseen force as he chopped toward the blade of holy light.

When the two collided, there was no gale scattering in every direction, no thunderous boom. Across the battlefield, only darkness and holy light surged wildly against one another.

Where the darkness swept over patches of bone dust, the Undead Skeletons that had already died revived one after another. Once the holy light swept over them, those revived Undead Skeletons were crushed back into bone dust.

Amid the cycle of death and rebirth of the Undead Skeletons, the power of the holy light blade Jamir had unleashed was gradually worn away by the Undead Knight.

When the blade of holy light was completely destroyed, the Undead Knight released a roar from the depths of his soul.

Seeing this, Jamir immediately unfolded his Light Domain, covering the mages and priests behind the shield wall. Then, guided by his domain, the many mages and priests mobilized their spiritual power alongside him and formed a mental defensive barrier.

All of this happened in the span of a spark from a flint. The Undead Knight's soul attack slammed directly into the mental barrier.

The next instant, Jamir's expression turned somewhat ugly. Those mages and priests had already expended too much energy earlier. Though part of their Magic Energy had been replenished, the spiritual power used to cast magic had not recovered. When the mental barrier took that blow, every one of them turned pale.

Jamir's method of communicating with lower-level mages and having them cast a certain spell alongside him was one of the standard uses of a Platinum Rank mage's domain.

Moreover, the damage borne by such a defensive barrier could be redirected and shared out. Jamir had taken most of the force behind the Undead Knight's Soul Roar just now.

The spiritual power of those mages and priests merely served to expand the area of the defense.

Otherwise, given the level of that Soul Roar and the mental state of those mages and priests, if the damage had truly been shared out, most of them would have become idiots.

After using Soul Roar to tie up Jamir's attention, the dark demonic energy beneath the Undead Knight's armor began to churn without end.

The Undead Skeletons that he and Jamir had just killed in their clash rose to their feet once more.

Torey and the others also sensed something strange, for they discovered that skeletons beside the Undead Knight, which had clearly already turned into bone dust, were standing up again.

They immediately circulated the Battle Aura within their bodies into their eyes. Then they saw countless wailing souls packed densely within the dark demonic energy beneath the Undead Knight's armor.

This also made them understand why the skeletons that had clearly been killed by holy light could revive beneath that darkness.

At that moment, ugly expressions appeared on Torey and the others' faces.

In their eyes, they could clearly see the wailing souls within the demonic energy touching the skeletal bone dust on the ground, directly gathering it into skeletons once more. Then the souls entered those skeletons again, becoming new Undead Skeletons.

Furthermore, when the skeletons that had been shot down had their soul flames extinguished, the souls inside them would be drawn into the Undead Knight's body at the moment of death, becoming part of the wailing souls within that demonic energy.

Only then did they realize that if they did not kill this Undead Knight immediately, then even if they could wipe out all these Undead Skeletons, the Undead Knight, having absorbed the dead Undead Skeletons, would reach a terrifying level of power. Moreover, he could use his darkness to revive those dead Undead Skeletons again.

It could be said that as long as the Undead Knight was not killed, this would be an undead army that could neither die nor perish. And as long as he continued slaughtering, the army's strength would continue to grow.

At that moment, endless fear wrapped around the hearts of everyone who witnessed this scene. They felt their own weakness and helplessness.

On the cliff behind Hui Dun City, the alchemist watched everything happening at the city gate and let out waves of sinister laughter.

"Be afraid. Be terrified. You lambs lost amid the evil god."

If powerful mages and warriors had been present, they would have seen invisible multicolored threads drifting from the bodies of the many soldiers within the city and atop the walls, as well as from powerful people like Torey, into the magic orb in the alchemist's hand.

"More fear. Just a little more..."

Bang! Bang! Bang! Someone pounded violently on the door. Adam, hiding inside with his wife and child, swallowed hard and asked in a trembling voice, "Wh... who is it?"

But no one outside answered him. Only the pounding continued, more hurried and louder than before, as though the sound were striking directly within the hearts of his family of three.

Just when the family of three was about to be driven mad by fear, everything outside suddenly fell silent.

Then they heard heavy footsteps departing. The dull sound was enough to show that whoever had been pounding on the door was no lightweight.

Only after the sound had faded did Adam cautiously approach his door and carefully pull open a crack to peer outside.

The next instant, the carpenter was frightened speechless. Through the crack, he could see the departing figure's back—and upon that back, he saw no head.

As his family of three stood frozen in terror, invisible multicolored threads of emotion called fear drifted out from Adam's body.

Adam's family was still relatively fortunate, since their caution had kept them from opening the door.

Those who opened their doors were either scared to death upon seeing a headless corpse knocking, or, if they did not die, the Headless Knight would force his way in and swing his greatsword, slaughtering every person inside through exceptionally cruel means.

The corpses of those killed and frightened to death were also gathered by the Headless Knight into a vast mass of bodies. For a time, a hundred corpses paraded through the streets, and Hui Dun City was filled with fear.

Meanwhile, Adolf and Pembez, who were helping Chen Cheng dismantle the magic array in the academy, both sensed the dark aura arising within the city. After exchanging a glance, Adolf said, "Some scum may have slipped into the city. Stay here and focus on setting up the magic array. I'll deal with them."

After he spoke, a gust of wind swept through, directly lifting Adolf and carrying him toward the city's residential district.

Pembez watched Chen Cheng look in the direction Adolf had left, then smiled. "Don't worry. That old fellow still has some skills. Let's finish deploying the magic array as quickly as possible."

Chen Cheng withdrew his attention and began inscribing his Variable Magic onto the Magical Items provided by Professor Pempes and the others.

Yet while the entire academy was occupied with tense, frantic work, Coles, who had been watching Chen Cheng all along, nearly ground his teeth to pieces.

When he saw the academy's upper ranks, including Earl Huidun, all revolving around Chen Cheng, jealousy burned away his reason.

He screamed within his heart without end.

"Why? Why? Why... He's nothing but a slave. Why are the headmaster and the others treating a slave with such courtesy?"