The Fires of War Rekindled

Early spring, in the third month.

In the season of awakening, no one noticed that the slaughter within the Federation had begun again.

Having barely survived the harsh winter and recovered from the threat of death, the Federation forces were once again met with a fierce attack from the undead army. This time, the Federation forces were almost completely annihilated before they could even put up a fight. Under Angela's command, in just over ten days, a total of twenty cities were reduced to ruins, and all the inhabitants perished. Meanwhile, the undead army had nearly tripled in size, its proliferation as rampant as a plague, a truly horrifying sight.

This fruitful victory was largely due to the orders given by Li Lin beforehand.

Although Li Lin refrained from further slaughter in order to regain Power of Manipulation, instead ordering the Undead Legion to surround and block all communication with the outside world, his actions were interpreted differently by outsiders. From their perspective, the Magic Empire needed these people as slaves and subjects. Therefore, some who had fled to the mountains returned to the cities, believing the worst was over. They thought the days ahead might not be as good as before, but at least they could save their lives.

But they didn't realize that the real darkness was only just beginning.

The undead army needs no rest; even if they suffer losses, they replenish themselves at a rate dozens of times faster. They fight day and night on the lands of the Federation, killing every human they can see. But no one knows or notices any of this. The border regions of the Federation have long been sealed off by the undead army, and no one can escape this country shrouded in death and destruction.

However, all of this was merely a prelude.

Our next target is Kudel.

Sitting in the hall, Li Lin explained his plan to all the Seven Ring Spirit Envoys.

"The Sea-Encircled Country will assist us in the attack. We must completely wipe Kudel off the map, and the same goes for Lalia. The Five-Nation Alliance must be utterly destroyed, and targeting these two nations is the best option."

"Your Majesty, why not attack Dideyasi first?"

Miu'erkasi stepped forward, bowed respectfully to Li Lin, and then asked.

"The Xialuo Kingdom is already at its weakest point and has nothing to fear. However, our greatest enemy right now is still the Temple of the God of Justice. Why don't you eliminate Dideyasi first and completely sever their hopes from the Book?"

"Given the current situation, this makes no sense."

Li Lin shook his head.

"Catherine is already my loyal subordinate, so attacking Dideyasi now would be a very unwise move. Even if we ultimately win, it will be meaningless. It will only scatter their resistance forces, making them even more difficult to annihilate. If we eliminate the relatively weaker Kudel and Lalia first, then the forces resisting us will gather towards Dideyasi, and at that time, we will be confident enough to wipe them out in one fell swoop."

"Or they might wipe them all out in one fell swoop."

Beika pushed up her glasses and coldly added another possibility.

"Master, your plan is risky, and please don't forget that you are currently the only Arcane Mage in the Magic Empire."

"Miss Nisi is here too."

Nia added at the opportune moment, "In fact, after becoming a formal Arcane Mage, Nisi received a summons from Her Majesty the Elf Queen to return to the Land of Elves to assist the army in reclaiming lost territory. Considering that practical combat experience would be of great benefit to Nisi's growth, Li Lin did not stop her."

"Then let's say one and a half."

Beika clearly did not change her mind because of this.

"Those who managed to escape our pursuit are the elite of the elite. Master, what makes you confident in eliminating these elites? Will you rely on the undead army? Or on that saintess? The God of Justice will return to the Prime Material Plane. What other methods does he possess? We don't know. How will you prepare to face a series of unknown threats?"

"I'm telling you, you're still as boring as ever."

Kalin yawned and stretched helplessly.

"Whatever tricks he has up his sleeve, do you think you can lose?"

"Didn't you already lose once before?"

"Well..."

Faced with the maid's cold, expressionless question, Kalin was stunned for a moment, then shrugged.

"Back then, it was because the Seven Ring Spirit Envoys n't there. Look, now we're all together, aren't we? Who cares how many there are? Do you think they can take care of all seven of us at once? What do you say, Anna?"

"Um!!"

Upon hearing Kalin's question, Anna coughed lightly and nodded vigorously.

"... The enemy... must... be eliminated..."

"Boring voluntarism is not the focus of our discussion."

Beika frowned slightly, a cold glint flashing in her glasses.

"My master has failed once already, so what guarantees his success this time? That's all I want to know. The Power of Manipulation is immense, but the destruction of the Magic Empire wasn't solely due to it. Arcane Mage have also died from exhausting their Power of Manipulation. There were thirteen Arcane Mage could sacrifice themselves back then, but now only one remains. What will be done? I simply want an answer."

"Oh?"

Upon hearing this, Kalin's eyes narrowed, and an invisible, sinister atmosphere began to permeate the hall.

"Judging from your tone, you'd love for you to lose, you cold-faced woman?"

"Ahhh, everyone, please don't fight..."

Yi Aier shook his hand, trying to ease the awkward atmosphere.

"Beika is just worried about her master, there's no need to worry so much, and besides... and besides..."

As she spoke, Yi Aier turned her pleading gaze to the smiling but Suoxiate, who simply smiled back.

"It is not proper for a maid to comment on her master's rights and wrongs or decisions without permission. However..."

At this point, Suoxiate paused, a rare occurrence for her. She glanced meaningfully at the expressionless Beika and Kalin, who was frowning with some disgust, before turning to Li Lin.

"As a weapon, I still hope to gain your complete trust, Master. Therefore, I also hope to receive your clear response. Your confidence cannot be based solely on the gathering of the Seven Ring Spirit Envoys."

Li Lin.

As the only Weapon Spirit among them who hadn't voiced her opinion, Nia stood beside Li Lin, gently calling his name. At this point, Li Lin had to make a decision. Even then, Li Lin maintained a gentle smile, seemingly unwilling to say anything more. Until Nia sighed softly and shook her head.

"Based on my guess, is your optimism about the battle situation due to Miss Angela's presence?"

"That dangerous familiar?"

Upon hearing this, Beika's brow furrowed slightly for the first time, almost imperceptibly.

"Please forgive my rudeness, Master, but I don't believe that dangerous and brutal familiar can bring any good to the Empire. Even if you don't ultimately fail against the Five-Nation Alliance, you will still fall at her hands. I don't think it's a wise and rational choice to place the hope of victory on a capricious and brutal familiar whose true nature is unknown. Yes, her ability to create an undead army is necessary for the Empire at present, but..."

"If the gods truly intervene, no matter how many undead creatures there are, they will all turn to ashes before the holy light."

Li Lin finally spoke, taking over Beika's remarks.

"Thank you for your kind reminder, Beika. I understand the power of gods, just as you do. They are called gods because they possess power beyond human comprehension. You're worried that if we attack Dideyasi now and are instead outmaneuvered by the God of Justice, then we'll have suffered a complete defeat, right? The Scourge Legion may seem numerous, but if they are completely wiped out, our Magic Empire's military strength will be reduced to zero. That's your thought, isn't it?"

"..."

Beika didn't say anything more to Li Lin's words, but nodded slightly, her expression still cold and indifferent, as if whether Li Lin was right or wrong had nothing to do with her. Li Lin, however, didn't care about Beika's attitude and looked at the second maid standing beside him.

"Yi Aier."

"Ah, yes, Master! What is it?"

What is the status of weapon research and development?

"Ugh... The development is proving to be a real problem, and mass-producing these weapons will also take time. To be honest, Ringwraith City is already short-handed; we can't find enough people who can use magical weapons in combat."

"Currently, the population of Ringwraith City is less than 100,000, and those who can directly participate in combat are even fewer than 30,000."

Suoxiate added to this.

"Our army currently numbers 540,000, but 523,000 of them are undead creatures directly controlled by Miss Angela."

"Although the possession experiments are progressing rapidly, due to the difficulty in finding suitable materials, there are currently only five hundred Imperial mages who have been truly transformed into living beings, which is far from sufficient to build up combat power."

Nia also gave rather pessimistic figures.

"But then again, if I had to accept living people as prisoners and soldiers, I'd rather be among the dead."

Kalin then offered her own perspective.

"At least they can play a significant role before the final battle. If we exchange them for prisoners, they'll probably rebel within three days. I don't want to see that kind of terribly troublesome thing happen."

Although Kalin's speech was as casual as ever, it got straight to the point.

Capture them was absolutely out of the question, especially now. No matter what methods Li Lin and his group used, or even the books, they couldn't make these people kill each other. After all, thanks to years of propaganda from the Five Five-Nation Alliance, its inhabitants had long regarded mages as completely different beings, much like elves and dwarves. To them, mages were aliens, not humans. Therefore, they would never help the Magic Empire attack their own race. It was precisely for this reason that Li Lin had no intention of leaving Five-Nation Alliance alive; keeping them alive would only cause trouble later, and killing them all would bring peace and quiet.

However, the current situation in the Magic Empire is not optimistic.

Soldiers can be produced through training, but mages are different. No matter how talented they are, there's no time to skip the process of understanding magic and solidifying their basic knowledge. This requires a significant amount of time. Roughly estimated, even if the Magic Empire wants to build its own true magic legion, it will take at least five years. Otherwise, hastily deployed mages might end up killing themselves before even engaging the enemy.

Indeed, the undead army is incredibly easy to build and recruit, making them a near-invincible force. However, they are not without weaknesses; they too can be purified by holy light and destroyed. They are not living beings, and precisely because of this, once their weaknesses are exploited, they are easily eliminated. Just like in the previous battle, Catherine, with the magical artifacts given to her by Li Lin, was able to wipe out ten thousand undead creatures in a single strike. If a god were to intervene, their power would naturally surpass that. While annihilating over half a million undead creatures at once sounds like a fantasy, if the opponent were a god, then anything is possible.

Of course, gods could indeed do this, but it wasn't easy. Otherwise, with the God of Justice appearing twice in the Prime Material Plane over such a long period, he would have long since wiped out Angela's undead army. Especially during the war with the Federation, the complete annihilation of the undead army would have had a decisive impact on the battle. However, even under those circumstances, the God of Justice was still beaten half to death by Li Lin and then thrown back into the Upper Realm.

However, just as Beika had anticipated, once all the elite forces gathered in Dideyasi, it would truly be the final battle. At that point, the God of Justice, forced into a corner, might very well unleash his most powerful weapon. After all, what is considered the strongest is also the weakest. The Magic Empire's undead army was now common knowledge, and the God of Justice wouldn't be so foolish as to be unaware of this. Of course, such power would also bring irreparable damage and loss to the Prime Material Plane, but if it could annihilate hundreds of thousands or even millions of undead soldiers in one fell swoop, then it would be far too worthwhile.

Moreover, the Upper Planes are currently ruled by the God of Justice alone, and the other gods can only restrain him in secret. They do not have the power to suppress or punish him, which further increases the risk of this possibility.

"You should know that after my last death, my soul went to another world, right?"

Hearing Li Lin's words, the Seven Ring Spirit Envoys were somewhat bewildered, not understanding what he was trying to say, but they still nodded.

That world is completely different from our world.

Li Lin spoke with a smile.

"They don't use the power of magic, but a power called technology. Although it seems similar to magic to me, there are still differences. Moreover, there are no gods in that world. Although there are various sects, the clergy there don't know any divine arts and can't heal others."

"That's really strange."

Kalin reached up and scratched her head.

"If there are no gods, who created those humans? Did they jump out from a crack in a rock?"

They believe they evolved from monkeys.

"Puff..."

Upon hearing this, everyone's expression changed slightly, as if they wanted to laugh but dared not.

"Monkeys? What kind of imagination does that take to come up with? Just because those animals, like humans, have two arms and two legs? Then we elves would be monkeys too... Ah, I finally understand why that brat called me a green-skinned monkey!"

"In that case, it would be more believable to say that it evolved from Balor, since humans are as cunning as devils."

"Regardless, that world severely suppressed the power of magic. Even though I traveled to that world and gained a physical body, I could only use low-level spells. To use high-level spells, I had to use magic circles and Magic Tattoo. That's where I met Angela and brought her to our world."

Although Li Lin's words were completely unrelated to the current situation, none of the Seven Ring Spirit Envoys interrupted him.

"I think you've all seen it too, Angela possesses immense power."

"That's true."

Nia nodded.

"In terms of ability alone, she is no less capable than some Lesser God. Based on my observation, with Miss Angela's abilities, dealing with Lesser God and Intermediate God should not be a problem."

"But she is an undead being."

Beika pushed up her glasses again, a gesture she seemed to always make when she spoke.

"She is not alive. Whatever she is, she could not possibly be a match for the God of Justice, who has become Greater God, unless she is also Greater God. However, Miss Angela is clearly not a god."

I agree with you.

Li Lin crossed his arms, his expression unchanged.

"However, I don't think that's the problem. Just as our world has gods, that world also has something similar, and the little guy is one of those similar beings."

"Angela... what is that...?"

Anna tilted her head curiously and asked, her large, dark eyes fixed on Li Lin with a simple and curious expression.

"I must keep this a secret."

At this point, Li Lin spread his hands with a wry smile.

"Because I made a promise with the little one, this is her secret, and I won't say anything more unless she tells me herself. However, I can assure you that I have already considered all your concerns. But I am confident that these problems will eventually be resolved. We will ultimately achieve victory and regain our place and position in this world. As for Angela, I can tell you definitively that the power she is currently displaying is only one-tenth of her full strength."

As he spoke, Li Lin stood up, and noticing his movement, the Seven Ring Spirit Envoys immediately stood at attention.

"Yi Aier."

"Yes, Master."

"I'm entrusting those five hundred mages who have regained their physical forms to you. In the meantime, I need you to build enough magical war chariots for them. The rest of the work can be postponed for now."

"No problem."

"Miu'erkasi, how is the Black Edge Knights' training going?"

"It went more smoothly than expected."

The female knight clenched her right fist, placed it on her chest, and bent down.

"However, the drawback is that I have to operate it myself; otherwise, these undead creatures still won't be able to achieve the most perfect charge."

"Angela's trip is almost over; you only have ten days to prepare."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Only then did Li Lin take a deep breath. He closed his eyes, then slowly opened them, gazing at his weapons.

"In ten days, we will launch an attack on Kudel. As a rehearsal, I request that all Seven Ring Spirit Envoys mobilized. Let me see how much of your tactics from that time you still remember after a thousand years without a joint battle!"