Chapter 231: Chapter 226: Cruelty Chapter 231: Chapter 226: Cruelty Orlina trembled slightly as she recalled the suffocating scene from before. Their city of Ansel was home to a temple district dedicated to the benevolent human gods, led by the Lord of Morning Glow. There were at least three Gold Rank archbishops, and thanks to the divine defensive formations of the temples, they could have withstood attacks from Soul Intent Level.

However, that very defensive power was shattered in an instant by a skeletal hand, rendering the entire temple district flattened. As such, Orlina hypothesized that the perpetrator was, very possibly, a legend.

“We must go, the sooner we leave Ansel City, the better. We can’t stay here any longer. The effects of the Undead Cataclysm have covered the entire city, and its duration will likely outlast the norm.”

Orlina issued her commands in an irrefutable tone, providing horrifying reasons for her orders.

“The undead that have resurrected so far are extremely weak, there are just a large number of them. But as time goes on, these undead will gradually grow stronger. If we procrastinate, high-level undead will eventually emerge, and by then we won’t be able to escape.”

“We obey your orders, Miss Orlina!” Upon hearing Orlina’s words, the twenty-plus guards quietly echoed in unison.

“Let’s go, leave the basement. Seal all the stone doors and don’t let any of the undead in the escape tunnels come up from beneath the castle.”

Facing this staggering turn of events, Orlina calmly issued various commands, returning to the castle with a group of guards. Her eyes were lit up with the magic of the mage.

Second-Circle Magic, Mechanized Mind. Only a sixteen-year-old girl could rely on magic to keep herself calm and prevent her own breakdown. She had to lead her younger brother away from here.

“Roars!”… Returning to the castle, the group had just left the basement and sealed the stone door leading downwards when they heard roaring from all around the castle and smelt a disgusting stench in the air.

“Miss Orlina, there should be a number of guards still in the castle. Should we gather them?” Hearing the inhuman nocturnal roar, a guard suggested, “This way, our chances of escaping Ansel City will also be greater.”

“Gather all the remaining forces in the castle without causing too much commotion.” Holding her brother’s hand, Orlina calmly issued the command.

Just then, strange and dense footstep sounds accompanied by gradually amplified roaring came from several surrounding corridors. The stench in the air became stronger and stronger.

“Sister.” The child who was holding her hand let go of her palm and clung to her thigh – low-level mages need to use chants and gestures.

“Good boy, Balk, don’t be afraid, these are just some low-level undead, the guards will deal with them soon.”

As the girl spoke, a dozen staggering figures appeared in the corridor reaching out to them.

“Anna!” “Tony!”… Seeing these strangely behaving figures wearing familiar clothes and bearing the familiar faces that they greeted every day, several young guards screamed in surprise.

Because the monsters rushing at them, their faces alternating between green and white, were wearing the servants’ clothes of the castle.

“Kill them all, aim for their heads.” Orlina, her eyes sparkling with mage’s light, commanded.

“This…” Three young guards looked at each other in hesitation. It was hard for them to raise their swords against people they knew.

“Innocent birds who have never been to the battlefield, nor experienced killing.” However, only three young guards felt this way. The other ten or so older, stronger guards charged at the castle servants turned walking corpses as soon as they appeared.

These experienced guards swung their swords and chopped off the zombies’ heads easily, their faces stern, showing no hint of hesitation or indecision.

“Even if you see familiar faces, do not hesitate. To kill them is the best way to set them free. Their souls are trapped in the bodies of the undead, suffering torture, and even lose the qualification for eternal life in the realm of the gods they believe in.”

To those three guards who didn’t rush forward, Orlina frowned but didn’t scold them. While maintaining absolute rationality, she knew that it wasn’t the best way to handle the situation, but to explain to them what these walking corpses were.

“The Undead Cataclysm is not an offensive magic, so it won’t cause direct harm to any creatures or buildings. However, when it first takes effect, a thick Death Qi will surge, strong-bodied normal people can resist it.

But some physically weak adults, as well as some elderly people and children, will have their life essences extinguished under the impact of the Death Qi, fall and die, and then stand up again in the form of the undead.”

“Teacher Sad!” Seeing one of the walking corpses whose head had been cut off by a guard, the child recognized his identity and shouted with a sobbing voice.

That man was an elegantly dressed scholar, his neatly trimmed white hair and beard were now in a mess, his neat and tidy robe was stained with blood, and his head, filled with a look of torment, rolled on the ground.

“Be strong.” Orlina patted her brother’s hair and didn’t make any pointless gestures like covering his eyes.

Even commoners wouldn’t be overly afraid of corpses. In this world, death is a common occurrence, with too many entities that could easily rob humans of their lives.

As nobles, their ability to withstand this must be stronger than that of commoners, even if he is just a child, he must face this bloody and brutal scene head-on.

The undead summoned from the earth by the Undead Cataclysm were mostly low-level skeletons, thus they lacked the ability to break through the thick bricks and stones underground to enter the castle.

Hence in the castle, the only undead were the commoners who died from the Death Qi impact when the lich unleashed the Undead Cataclysm. The undead produced from the corpses of these commoners were essentially slaughtered when faced with the Bronze Three Level guards.

Once she realized this, Orlina began to lead the guards in clearing out all the undead in the castle. After all, even ordinary corpses could produce a type of troublesome creature – vengeful spirits that could resist regular sword attacks.

… After spending some time cleaning up all the detectable low-level undead in the castle, Orlina led her brother, Balk, to the main seat in the castle’s great hall, overlooking the throng of people below.

This was all of the living beings in the castle – nearly fifty Bronze-level guards, two Silver-level guards who held the Knight Title, and… a robust cook holding a blood-stained spoon, a coachman brandishing a machete, a gardener carrying a pair of large scissors over a meter long…

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read