But the magical power carried by the ocean currents could be regarded as a completely natural mana-restoring potion, allowing any hero's mana to return to its peak after drinking it.
Standing beside the Vitality Magic Well and feeling the surging magical aura, Moros bent down, cupped the well water in both hands, and drank it all in one gulp.
As the icy water flowed down his throat, Moros could feel his mana recovering at an incredible speed.
In just a few breaths, his mana had returned to full.
Next, it was my turn to fight. Wait for me...
Filled with hope, Moros turned his Skeleton Warhorse around and raced toward Graveyard City with the vampires.
Time rewound a little.
Not long after Moros stepped through the Demiplane portal, a fully armed team of constables rushed into the hospital room where he had been staying amid hurried footsteps.
"Report to the captain immediately! Tell him the target has escaped from the hospital room!"
Through the hospital's surveillance system, the cleanup personnel had already learned what kind of beings had killed those mercenaries.
Then, the heads of the city's medical and police systems were completely stunned.
What had they seen?
Vampires? Ghosts?
Was this still the Mu Continent they knew?
Though their hearts were full of questions and confusion, they still knew what they needed to do.
Thanks to the efforts of constables well versed in behavioral logic, criminal psychology, and other modern disciplines, Moros's movements were quickly pieced together.
After that came the scene from earlier.
A Great Battle Approaches
Moros knew that his identity had been exposed.
He would never underestimate the power of the state apparatus.
He could cover up the slaughter aboard the passenger ship, but Moros was fully aware that he could not conceal the killings committed by the vampires and ghosts.
After all, by the time he woke up, everything had already ended.
As a transmigrator, Moros had more than enough understanding of how advanced surveillance systems were in modern society.
Given the Mu Continent's technological level, which far surpassed that of his previous life, Moros was fully confident that he had been exposed.
Under such circumstances, his only choice was to avoid the sharp edge for now.
Otherwise, Moros would have to face the Mu Continent's state apparatus head-on.
As for peaceful coexistence?
Unless Moros was willing to submit to control and reveal all his trump cards, he refused to believe that the state apparatus would tolerate an unstable factor like him.
Obviously, with the Demiplane as an absolutely safe escape route, Moros had no intention of becoming a dog obediently serving politicians.
But Moros also refused to directly clash head-on with the Mu Continent's state apparatus like this.
After experiencing the earlier assassination attempt, Moros knew that he was not yet a match for the state apparatus.
To defeat a modern nation, he needed strength equivalent to a ninth-circle spellcaster in the DND system.
And to contend with a top-tier power like the Mu Continent, with its flourishing technology and stable regime, Legendary Rank strength was the bare minimum.
Therefore, the moment he retreated into the Demiplane, Moros abandoned his identity.
From this moment on, until he reached Legendary Rank, Moros would not appear on the Mu Continent under this identity again.
Moros had a clear prediction of all the possibilities that might arise after his departure.
Any being capable of becoming a mage possessed intelligence beyond question.
Of course, he understood what the exposure of the undead meant.
It meant that he would face pursuit and extermination by the Mu Continent's state apparatus.
Therefore, before the Mu Continent's state apparatus could fully mobilize, Moros needed to settle the conflict between himself and Mayor Yang.
Thus, after returning to Graveyard City, Moros did not hesitate to open a Demiplane passage to the dock district where the Corpse Mages and zombies were stationed.
"You stay here. We're leaving!"
He ordered the Corpse Mages and zombies to remain behind as usable anchor points for the Demiplane passage.
Moros led a group of vampires onto the road toward the small city where he had been born.
Along the way, Moros could clearly feel that the city's level of alert was completely different from before.
There were noticeably more checkpoints and patrolling constables on the roads. Everything indicated that the operation to hunt him down had begun.
Moros understood that he had become a wanted target of the Mu Continent's state apparatus, which meant he needed to act with even greater caution.
Even so, Moros did not abandon the thought of returning to the small city where Mayor Yang was.
Though he was a transmigrator, Moros had already acknowledged Mr. Frakt and Emma as his parents in his heart.
To save them, Moros was willing to take the risk.
Relying on the Skeleton Warhorse's tireless gallop day and night, Moros returned to the remote small city where he had been born in only a day and a half.
However, when he saw the clearly increased number of patrols on the streets, he knew his intentions had already been exposed.
Under such circumstances, sneaking into the small city would be no different from walking into a trap. It would be an extremely foolish act.
"Why are you forcing me?!"
Moros growled angrily, a trace of helplessness showing in his eyes.
He understood that his plans had been seen through. If he was unwilling to give up on saving his parents, his choices were extremely limited.
Closing his eyes, Moros began carefully weighing his chances in this battle.
At this moment, he had already abandoned any possibility of reconciling with the Mu Continent's state apparatus.
Before both sides had shed blood, reconciliation would have been relatively easy to achieve.
However, Moros knew well that any compromise now would be no different from surrender.
That was something he could never accept.
Peace was not begged for. It was fought for!
When Moros opened his eyes again, the hesitation in them had vanished, replaced by unwavering resolve.
Immediately afterward, Moros opened the largest Demiplane passage he could create.
"Come forth, my servants!"
Having decisively abandoned all pretense of concealment, Moros rode his Bone Warhorse and shouted loudly.
Behind him, the enormous Demiplane passage seemed to have opened the gates of death. Hundreds upon thousands of undead gathered like a flood, forming an unstoppable army of death as they advanced toward the heavily guarded small city.
In the sky, vampires and ghosts soared and circled, their shrill howls intertwining with the whistling of the cold wind.
On the ground, the enormous force of Skeleton Archers and zombies resembled an endless tide, displaying a terrifying power of destruction.
Beside the Bone Warhorse, a group of towering Corpse Mages raised grimoires and staffs high, chanting spine-chilling incantations.
As the incantations rang out, thick dark clouds blotted out the sunlight and shrouded the entire small city in a sinister atmosphere.
Death Canopy!
In an instant, darkness covered the earth, and a suffocating pressure descended upon every living being.
It was at that very moment that the councillor observing the area through satellite surveillance realized that the situation had completely spiraled out of control.
After learning of the existence of supernatural power, this powerful councillor quickly connected the series of events that had occurred earlier.
Then he knew that it had become a fight to the death between himself and that lowborn wretch who possessed supernatural power.
The councillor who had received Mayor Yang's report knew that the wretch's parents were already dead.
So the councillor made his choice without hesitation.
Kill that wretch and seize the supernatural power he possessed, ensuring that his authority and position would not be threatened.
To achieve this goal, he had made many arrangements in the city where Mayor Yang was located.
The councillor believed that all kinds of high-tech traps and elite private troops would definitely be able to capture a lowborn wretch who merely performed tricks.
But such arrangements could never stop an army.
"Contact the nearby garrisons immediately. The Federation needs them!"
The councillor instructed his secretary, then began contacting the other councillors whose status in the Mu Continent's political scene was comparable to his own.
He needed to coordinate with these big shots in advance to ensure that his position would not suffer a severe blow.
Someone had to be held responsible for the fall of a city.
Even if he pushed Mayor Yang out to take the blame, the councillor would still have to pay an enormous price to emerge from this incident unscathed.
Yes, even after personally witnessing the undead army summoned by Moros, this powerful councillor still firmly believed that he would not fail.
He looked down on Moros's forces, believing they were merely a primitive army wielding cold weapons and could never be a match for high-tech firearms and artillery.
That understanding was not wrong when facing ordinary cold-weapon troops, but under the might of magic, everything was different.
The Overall Situation of the Urban Battle
Moros knew nothing of the actions being taken by the councillor behind Mayor Yang.
In fact, Moros did not even know of that councillor's existence yet.
However, Moros knew very well that he did not have much time.
Even the rapid reaction forces of his previous life could complete cross-theater deployments within twenty-four hours. For the Mu Continent, whose technological level far surpassed that of Earth in his previous life, the time required would only be shorter.
Therefore, the moment the thick clouds created by Death Canopy obscured the battlefield, Moros immediately gave the order to advance.
Under Moros's command, the undead army began marching, with ghosts and vampires as its spearhead, Corpse Mages as its core, and Skeleton Archers and zombies as its flesh and blood.
Although this city was truly a bottom-tier small city among the many cities of the Mu Continent, the Mu Continent's advanced technology had long since rendered traditional defensive facilities such as city walls obsolete and removed them.
Thus, the Skeleton Archers and zombies poured into the city without effort, and the other three kinds of undead had even less trouble.
Relying on their incorporeal nature, the ghosts passed through building walls without obstruction and attacked the city's armed forces from every conceivable unexpected angle.
They appeared soundlessly, leaving the people defending the city unable to guard against them.
The vampires transformed into enormous bats and circled above the city.
They looked down at the ground, searching with sharp eyes for flaws and weaknesses in the defensive forces.
The moment they found an opportunity, they swiftly dove down and launched deadly attacks.
With their powerful close-combat abilities, once vampires closed the distance with their enemies, they could rapidly secure victory.
Even the finest private soldiers could barely withstand a few exchanges under vampire attacks before being cut down in an instant.
The Corpse Mages, meanwhile, served the same role as self-propelled artillery in a modern army.
Whenever they discovered defenders putting up stubborn resistance somewhere, the Corpse Mages would cast Death Cloud.
The yellow-green clouds of Death Cloud carried powerful negative energy. Even if the defenders wore gas masks, they could not stop life from draining out of their bodies.
Though the city's defenders tried their best to attack, the damage they inflicted on the undead army was negligible.
The small pistols carried by the constables seemed so outdated and laughable in this battle that they could not even penetrate the zombies' defenses.
The only undead units they could effectively threaten were the fragile Skeleton Archers.
Even then, the pistols were extremely inefficient.
Unless they struck the Soul Fire within a Skeleton Archer's skull, any damage from the bullets would be completely ignored.
Expecting these constables, who rarely had any chance to fire their guns in ordinary times, to possess precise marksmanship was clearly unrealistic.
However, neither Mayor Yang nor the powerful councillor had ever counted on the constables' combat strength.
What they had truly pinned their hopes on were the private troops that had been deployed throughout the city in advance to capture Moros.
Yet the course of the battle disappointed them.
Although the latest-model assault rifles in the private soldiers' hands could break through zombie defenses to a certain extent, dozens of bullets had little effect on the zombies.
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