Sudden Change

"Heh heh heh! A few more delicious morsels have arrived. Looks like we're in for a splendid feast tonight!"

Seeing Sun Busong and Usop arrive, Mobent Fell wasn't worried in the slightest. Instead, he laughed gleefully.

The undead mage now looked like the hermit Abercrombie. He seemed so frail that he could barely walk, but everyone knew how terrifyingly evil the undead creature inhabiting that body was.

"Drop that ridiculous act, evil necromancer! Today is your last day. We'll bury you here. Since there's still a little time, I'll let you pick out your own grave!"

Since they were here to fight, whether they could win could wait. First, they might as well get in a few verbal jabs. Usop raised his hammer and pointed it at the enemy's nose, giving him a piece of his mind.

"Heh heh heh! Weak little knight, if one of your family's old-timers had come out here to say that, I might've considered how to cook them up tonight. Heh heh! But you're only fit to feed my skeletons!"

Mr. Heavy Fist had joined Sun Busong and Usop. Eight other Imperial Guard members stood behind them.

Some people from the town's other two defensive positions had also come over. Those posts no longer needed many defenders. The Imperial Guard officers had completely broken the enemy's assault. The ogres, werewolves, wolves, and spiders had all retreated, leaving only a few low-level Skeleton Soldiers to harass them.

The battle here had lasted a long time, but Mobent Fell had never ordered an attack. He had only sent low-level Skeleton Soldiers to harass them, so the defenders here had suffered almost no casualties.

"Heh heh heh! The time has come. I only need the flesh of you people to complete my supply. Hahaha! I hear you're quite formidable—you've killed plenty of werewolves and ogres. Oh, and those adorable little wolf pups and spiders, too."

The undead mage, wearing Abercrombie's appearance, held an ornate staff. A huge blue gem set into it glimmered with an eerie light. The creatures at his side were no longer Skeleton Soldiers, but much more powerful zombies and gargoyles.

There were also mid-tier Scourge troops: Banshees, Skeleton Mages, Web Shooters, and Nerubian Flyer Spiders. Their level and attack power were nothing like those of the disposable Skeleton Soldiers.

These troops were powerful, but there weren't many of them. There were fewer than ten Banshees and Nerubian Flyer Spiders in particular.

"I have you to thank for this blood sacrifice. The flesh of the humans in town alone wouldn't have been enough to meet the needs of my Flesh Reconstruction. The flesh of these wolves, spiders, and ogres may be a little coarse for the body I'm about to remake, but it doesn't matter. I'll keep refining and tempering it with the flesh of people from the surrounding towns!"

"Now, let the celebration of my Flesh Reconstruction begin!" Mobent Fell finished speaking and swept his staff forward. At once, the undead army launched its full-scale attack!

More than a thousand Skeleton Soldiers and several hundred other undead troops surged forward. Sun Busong and the others had only a little over three hundred people altogether. It was a battle of overwhelming odds, an unfair battle, a desperate struggle to the death! If they won, their names would go down in history. If they lost, no one here would survive!

"Usop, take the Night Watch elites and deal with the Banshees and Skeleton Mages. Heavy Fist, hold off the Skeleton Warriors. Humar and I will kill the Nerubian Flyer Spiders and Web Shooters. Banshees are immune to physical attacks, too, so concentrate your forces and kill them as quickly as possible. Once your mana runs dry, those Banshees will be deadly."

"Yes, sir!" Usop raised his hammer and charged forward with the dozen or so Magic Professionals behind him.

Heavy Fist's defenses were formidable, and ordinary Skeleton Soldiers couldn't break through them. His greatest strength was the Tauren's War Stomp, an area-of-effect skill that was perfect for dealing with tightly packed Skeleton Soldiers.

Night Watch commander Althea Eberlock had arrived with dozens of elite Professionals under her command. She split them into several groups, and they quickly joined the battle.

"Sun Busong, what do you need me to do?" Althea Eberlock cut down several skeletons and quickly moved to Sun Busong's side.

"Take a few highly defensive Warriors and help Heavy Fist. He's facing too many Skeleton Soldiers. Once I kill these Nerubian Flyer Spiders and Web Shooters, I'll go after the necromancer!" Sun Busong quickly answered Altaia.

"Use the items I made to deal with these Banshees. We have Mobent's Bane now, so we don't need to worry about his physical defense barrier." As he spoke, Sun Busong tossed out a Thorium Grenade. These grenades were powerful, but they had a one-minute cooldown.

The Thorium Grenade landed near several Web Shooters. It exploded with a deafening boom, taking a third of their Health Points and paralyzing them for three seconds!

Heroic Leap

5–45 yards

Instant; 5-minute cooldown

Leap high into the air, then slam into the ground, dealing weapon damage equal to 200 + 62.4% of Attack Power to all enemies within 8 yards of the target area and stunning them for 1.

Sun Busong paid Althea no further attention. His task now was to kill the enemy's mid-tier undead troops. He landed in the middle of the Web Shooters with Heroic Leap. The monsters' Health Points dropped by another third, and now, to Sun Busong, they were like crops ready for harvest. In less than ten seconds, all six Web Shooters' Health Points were depleted.

Things weren't going well for Usop. The Banshees could fly, and they weren't going to sit still and wait for the others to hit them with magic. They flew over the humans, letting out piercing shrieks that could confuse and stun their enemies.

The stunned ones were manageable. Confusion was the real danger. The human soldiers caught in the Banshees' shrieks could no longer tell friend from foe. Almost all their weapons struck the nearest ally.

Seeing the humans bewitched by the Banshees, Usop could only leave them alone. The Magic Professionals with him had skills that could dispel the confusion, but they absolutely couldn't use those skills here. Their mana was limited. If they dispelled the confusion, they wouldn't have enough magic left to kill the Banshees.

"Forget about them. We have to conserve our mana. There are nine Banshees here, and only eight of us. We'll focus our attacks on one at a time. Every Banshee we kill means more people here will survive!" Usop's order was ruthless, but there was no other choice.

Heavy Fist had become a Brotherhood cadre thanks to his sturdy build and his mastery of his racial skill, War Stomp.

He wore armor Sun Busong had made for him out of Thorium. Its defense was formidable. Even level-40 elite Professionals could only take off a little over twenty Health Points with each hit. But the armor had a weakness: it was vulnerable to magic damage!

Ever since Heavy Fist had put on the Mining Helmet Sun Busong had prepared for him, he hadn't taken it off. After all, he was a Tauren. The Brotherhood had taken him in because they were a band of troublemakers, but now he was with the Imperial Guard. He didn't want to cause trouble for his boss unless he absolutely had to.

The pair of axes in his hands flashed in a dazzling blur, every strike deadly. The skeletons were no match for him. Between Heavy Fist's War Stomp and the damage from his axes, two or three skeletons died at his hands every minute.

Sun Busong and Humar had already killed more than half of the Web Shooters and Nerubian Flyer Spiders. The undead had been attacking on all fronts for ten minutes now, and Sun Busong and Humar had killed more than three hundred monsters. His Health Points had risen again, and he was just about to reach the experience threshold for leveling up.

If the Nerubian Flyer Spiders weren't so hard to kill, he might already have been dueling Mobent Fell. They flew incredibly fast. If Sun Busong focused on killing them, he'd be completely useless. Instead, he waited until they attacked someone else, then took them by surprise. Fortunately, only three of the Nerubian Flyer Spiders Mobent Fell had brought were still alive.

Seeing that half the monsters had been killed, Sun Busong decided the time was right. He was going to take on the boss!

"Humar, get him!"

Sun Busong was pointing at Mobent Fell. Humar was the toughest creature on the battlefield. With Sun Busong's attributes boosting him, his Health Points had reached fourteen thousand, and his defense had climbed to six thousand. Humar also had innate resistance to magic!

That's right! Green-quality Humar was that powerful! And he could still improve his quality!

At his master's command, Humar roared and pounced on Mobent Fell.

The undead mage had stood motionless ever since the battle began. He didn't care about his followers dying, and he hadn't used magic to attack the humans. It was as if the battle had nothing to do with him.

But now Humar had dragged him into the fight. Humar's attacks couldn't hurt him at all, but Humar's Taunt was maxed out. No enemy could ignore it.

A Magic Missile struck Humar, taking 113 of his Health Points.

Sun Busong had been keeping a close eye on Mobent Fell. He couldn't make out the undead mage's level, and he couldn't see his Health Points or Mana Value, either. But when Humar took that Magic Missile, Sun Busong's lips curled into a slight smile.

His attack power isn't that impressive! Just 113? With Humar's Health Points, this'll take until dawn!

Now that he knew what his opponent was capable of, Sun Busong went back to killing the other undead. He needed to clear out the weaker monsters as quickly as possible. The more of them he killed, the more people would survive.

There were fewer than six hundred undead left on the battlefield, while nearly three hundred defenders from Night Town were still alive. The tide of victory was turning in humanity's favor.

But just then, Sun Busong suddenly felt waves of bone-chilling cold sweep through the air and surge toward them from all directions.

"Commander, it's about to cast a large-area spell!"

Usop's shout came from a distance. Sun Busong turned to look and saw Mobent Fell's staff blaze with an icy blue light. Rings of magical energy formed around him. Humar was still trying in vain to attack him with its claws and teeth.

Mobent Fell had cast his area spell!

Wisps of white mist rose from beneath Mobent Fell's feet. Everything within a hundred yards was caught in its path. Skeleton Soldiers, Night Town villagers, Night Watch members, even the flying spiders overhead—anything the mist drifted past was instantly frozen into an ice statue!

The spell attacked indiscriminately. No wonder Mobent Fell had ignored the deaths of his own followers ever since the full-scale attack began. He had never cared whether those undead monsters lived or died.

Sun Busong was outside Mobent Fell's hundred-yard range, so he was unharmed. But the indiscriminate spell had frozen seventeen of their people into ice statues, and even Humar hadn't escaped!

Then, as everyone watched in shock and horror, the undead mage Mobent Fell raised his staff once more and slammed it down at the ground. A ripple spread out from his feet. Every ice statue it touched exploded into fragments!

"No!!!"

Almost everyone in the distance cried out at the same time when they saw what had happened.

But the ripple didn't stop. Right before everyone's eyes, it slowly pushed forward. Everything in its path shattered!

Sun Busong was so furious he was going mad! He had underestimated the undead mage who had lived for hundreds of years. He'd thought the mage's weak attack meant he wasn't a threat, so he hadn't used Mobent's Bane right away. Because he had underestimated his opponent, those seventeen comrades were gone forever.

"Damn it!"

"Usop! Gather all the Paladins and Priests. We're going to fight him! Commander Altaia, Heavy Fist, take all the remaining physical-damage dealers and get beyond the undead mage's hundred-yard range."

Sun Busong charged at Mobent Fell from a distance and unleashed all three of his single-target skills on him. He needed to draw the necromancer's aggro and buy everyone more time to retreat.

His Taunt and skills all hit Mobent Fell successfully, but the enemy didn't take a single point of damage. His Health Points remained at 100%!

"Don't come over yet! Wait until I—"

Sun Busong hadn't finished speaking when everyone saw an Ice Spear suddenly appear in the undead mage's hand. The spear shot forward and pierced Sun Busong's armor!

13000!

It took away a fifth of Sun Busong's Health Points!

"Ah!"

"No!"

Commander Altaia cried out, but it was already too late. The Ice Spear's impact sent Sun Busong flying more than ten yards!

Commander Altaia stared with her mouth agape as tears fell one by one.

Could he really have died just like that?

Please, anything!