Chapter 232: Chapter 227: Emblem Chapter 232: Chapter 227: Emblem The Scourge of the Undead are not caused by direct attacks, making Orlina somewhat frustrated as she surveyed the hall filled with over a hundred ordinary people. Their hopeful eyes were turned toward her – gardeners, chefs, servants, carriage drivers – all from Ansel Castle.

As the effects of the mechanized mind had faded, the noble lady was now deeply troubled. The most rational approach would be to leave these common people in the castle while she and her guards, who had cultivated their fighting Qi, escape to Ezreal City for refuge.

However, she couldn’t bear to leave them behind. Being left in a place enveloped by the Scourge of the Undead meant certain death for ordinary people – a fate too cruel and heartless.

On top of that, the ordinary people working in the castle had relatives; be it their fathers, sons, or husbands, they were all warriors who had dedicated their lives to the Cecil family. That’s how they earned the qualifications to work within the castle.

Therefore, the noble lady made her decision: she would not abandon any ordinary person in the castle. She was determined to escape the doomed city with everyone.

…

When the gates of Ansel Castle opened, the ground trembled slightly. Two knights, their armors shrouded in the dim light of fighting Qi, brandished long spears, and charged forth on dragon-blood warhorses.

They were the only two Silver Rank knights in the castle, and now they were tasked with opening the path for the escape of Ansel’s retinue.

Behind these two Silver Rank knights, twenty Bronze-level cavalrymen, clad in heavy armor and riding horned horses, followed suit with their own spears.

But none of them had the glow of fighting Qi. Human Qi cultivation, when it reaches the Silver Rank, can be externalized to reinforce weapons, armors, and even mounts.

As for Bronze-level, the fighting Qi could only work on oneself but could still take one’s physical abilities beyond ordinary humans.

Following Orlina’s orders, the twenty-two knights wielding extraordinary powers swept away the low-ranking undead creatures—skeletons, walking corpses, and ghouls—that were lingering at the castle gate.

After clearing the visible undead, one of the Silver Ranked knights signaled to the guards on the castle wall that the area was safe.

Then, an earth dragon, nearly ten meters long with rough armor-like skin, pulled a fully enclosed golden metal carriage. It rushed out of the now open castle gate with unstoppable momentum
After crushing the remains of the low-ranking undead that had been killed by the knights under its massive body, the earth dragon charged onto the fog-filled, sinister street with the encouragement of its driver.

After this earth dragon carriage left the castle, seven more identical carriages thundered out of the castle one after another.

Once all the earth dragon carriages had exited, the remaining knights on horned horses charged out of the castle gate. Some dispersed to the flanks of the convoy, while others hung back to guard the rear.

After riding for a while, the eight earth dragon carriages arranged themselves into a 2-3-3 formation. One of the Silver Rank knights at the front stopped and waited for the last three dragon carriages to pass him. He signaled his mount, which was much larger than the bronze-level knights’ horned horses. Then, he followed behind the convoy to bring up the rear.

From the top of the middle carriage in the second row of the convoy, Orlina, the daughter of the Ansel family clad in a loose mage robe, was vigilantly observing her surroundings with a magic staff in hand.

“Necromantic fog.” The green-eyed blonde girl looked up at the grey fog in the sky with a worried expression. Thanks to her wide-ranging reading, she knew what this fog was – an accompaniment to the Scourge of the Undead.

“It should be noon, the time when sunlight is most brilliant.” Orlina murmured to herself. Unfortunately, under the blanket of the grey fog, visibility was less than fifty meters, with not even a ray of sunlight visible.

If there was sunlight, those incessant skeletons and ghouls that swarmed towards them wouldn’t need the knights to act; they would just go up in smoke.

“Ooh! Ooh! Ooooh…” At this moment, Orlina faintly heard the mournful cry of a woman. The young woman’s face darkened instantly: “Vengeful spirits!”

As her words echoed, in the grey fog surrounding the convoy, various transparent figures of all sizes emerged, freely meandering through the low houses on either side of the road.

Suddenly, the team of cavalry protecting the convoy was thrown into a disorder. The living have an innate fear of the dead, especially those that can move. The sobbing of the woman from the grey fog further intensified this fear.

“Trouble!” Seeing the disorder among the troops, Orlina took a deep breath, then used a simple spell: Amplify. This made her voice audible to everyone in the team.

“Keep calm; these are the lowest level of vengeful spirits. All of you have cultivated your fighting Qi, so they can’t hurt you. Don’t be afraid.”

Hearing Orlina’s call, the chaotic cavalry slightly quieted down. Yet, a good number of them were still in a state of panic as ordinary swords wouldn’t harm spiritual bodies.

“Ah, they are attacking!”

Just as the commotion had abated amongst the team, the accumulating vengeful spirits – drawn to the sensations of the living – poured toward the Earth Dragon carriages like an avalanche.

These vengeful spirits are low-level undead born out of ordinary human souls. Apart from immunity to ordinary swords due to their spiritual bodies, they posed almost no danger to humans with extraordinary powers.

However, for ordinary people, these spirits were unstoppable monsters. Therefore, when the attack began, terrified screams resonated from around the seven outer Earth Dragon carriages. Having retained a certain level of human intelligence, these vengeful spirits knew their boundary. As for those seemingly impenetrable steel carriages, they just needed to pass through them.

Only the carriage surrounded in the middle remained silent. First, because the outer carriages had caught the attention of most of the vengeful spirits, and second, due to the presence of the Silver second rank mage, Orlina. After witnessing the spirit’s attack, the young girl threw caution to the wind.

Crimson Flame Sphere, flame burst, fireball magic, lightning spell… These spells, capable of dealing additional damage to spirits but causing great disturbance, were unleashed.

…

“A swarm of ants!” The noise of the magic blasts as Orlina and the knights fought against the tide of vengeful spirits drew the attention of a cloaked figure high above Ansel City. This figure, carrying a bone staff, was a “Skeleton”.

Every bone of this figure, etched with dense runes, directed its gaze on the Earth Dragon convoy, then, without any flesh on its jaw, it parted it, making it seem like it was laughing.

“I seem to have found something interesting.” The Lich, standing hundreds of meters high in the sky, looked past the thick necromantic fog, its gaze focused on an emblem on the Earth Dragon carriage.

Then it turned its head to look at a Dark Knight standing next to it, enveloped in a heavy armor of Death Qi, riding a skeletal warhorse and armed with a long spear and a sword at his waist.

Due to the faceguard, the Lich could only see the blazing Soul Fire at the knight’s head. But that didn’t matter. The Lich’s gaze lingered on the knight’s breastplate.

There was an emblem on it, an emblem identical to the one on the carriage of the Earth Dragon convoy below.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read