Three hundred years.
With the help of the soldiers sent by King Arthur and the Academy to protect Lyons, the night watchman, and the priests in the city, Lyons's defenders were able to assemble a fighting force of three hundred people to invade the dungeon. Every church in the city received a divine command to get involved, and the gods decided to see the undead exterminated forever.
The unit only accepts people who are at least level 20, as everyone else will be killed quickly and join the undead army. Just like many soldiers will stay behind to protect the citizens in case monsters come through the rift; if they fail, evacuate the city.
From what Gwen had seen, Arthur had no doubt that they would succeed; the possibility of a glorious and heroic battle instilled hope and courage in the prince. Her brother lived for moments like this.
Gwen was less enthusiastic as the royal army gathered at the entrance to the dungeon, removing the guards and digging up the buried entrance. "Nihog..." Where did she hear such a name?
"That's Walter's real name." Gwenhoff turned to Mrs. Thrall, her famous beauty now tarnished with grief and anger. The priestess has summoned two [Balder's Daughters] and is preparing to summon a third.
"There must be some other explanation," insisted Anne at her side, casting a spell on herself in complete denial. "Maybe he was manipulated?"
"Annie..." Gwen whispered. "I'm sorry, but it's true. The priests of Hel confirmed that their goddess herself identified him as a dangerous undead."
"It's Hale, she's not trustworthy." Annie protested, albeit weakly. Deep down, Gwen knew her friend understood the painful truth. "It can't be him..."
"The prophecy compares him to a black dragon, eating the roots of Yggdrasil, devouring the corpses of the wicked, and taking the dead to another world after Ragnarok..." Mrs. Thrall's eyes were fascinated by this terrible thing. Betrayal made red. "But he never believed it."
A black dragon?
Li
o
m. "Could Walter be a dragon in disguise?"
"Father killed a dragon named Fafnir, which could turn into a human being." Arthur said with a smile. He was excited at the thought of killing a maggot, while Ragnell and Morgan both stared at him in frustration. While Gwen understands that his carefree attitude is a mask to placate his troops, it unnerves some.
"All this time, he..." Mrs. Salt covered her face with her hands, unable to finish the spell. "I'm such a fool...I should have seen..."
"He's been hiding for over thirty years," Gwen reassured her. "this is not your fault."
"I allowed a snake into our city, and now he has poisoned it," the priestess replied angrily, her calmness replaced by bitterness. "I trust him!" I trust him!"
Gwen remained silent, letting her vent her anger.
"He healed me, Your Highness." The priestess took a deep breath and wiped away her tears. "Am I a guinea pig to him? Does he kill people to make the potion?"
"I don't know," Gwen replied. The necromancer struck her as a deluded madman who believed his own lies; it wasn't out of the question that he actually wanted to help someone, if only to assuage his guilt.
Maybe it's all a lie.
In the end, none of it mattered. Walter Tye was a murderer and criminal, ready to threaten the entire city if pushed to his last resort. We can't let him escape anymore.
"Can you teleport us in?" Gwen asked one of the Royal Elites [Battle Mage], though she didn't have high hopes.
"The powerful shield will prevent us from teleporting to a certain point below, and the magical protection will only become stronger as we move downwards," the wizard answered.
"All teleportation effects, or just ours?"
"Only ours." In this way, the undead can still summon reinforcements. "Above a certain point, the guardians of the gods prevent all forms of magical transport and divination."
"Godly ward?" Gwen immediately connected the facts. "'root'."
"Nyhogg the serpent is also prophesied to eat the root of Yggdrasil," Lancelot announced. "Some analysts say his success heralds the beginning of Ragnarok."
"Where did you learn that?" Gwen asked, causing everyone present to panic. The threat of Ragnarok terrifies everyone; no wonder the gods require all their servants to participate.
"Calvert studied the prophecies found in the Pale Serpent's castle." the royal knight replied calmly, as if repeating a script. "He believed that the fraternity took its name from this legendary creature, which its founders regarded as a symbol of immortality."
How could an order older than Avalon respect a shopkeeper? Something wasn't right.
Mrs. Searle's eyes turned to iron. "I will open the way," she said. "All priests, follow me. We are going to melt the stone as deeply as we can, right into their rotting hearts."
Having heard enough, Arthur nodded and raised his gleaming sword. Above them, cracks in the fabric of space were slowly expanding, and purple mist seeped in.
"Hello everyone!" Arthur shouted. "Today we fight not for Avalon, but for all of Midgard!" The forces of Ragnarok are facing us, but we will face them without fear! Because if we die, We will dine in Valhalla!”
Almost everyone shouted back except Annie.
However, to Gwen's horror, she coughed up black blood.
The ceiling shook as Hagen summoned his ghostly steed. He activated his perks, twining his mace through the ice and darkness. "[Guilty Aura], [Frost Poison]."
The Dulahan gathered their troops in a huge mausoleum on the third level of ruins. The underground vault is 300 meters long and 80 meters wide, high enough for a flying man to enter; three huge stone bridges span the entire hall, and are surrounded by pits full of tombs. Undead, golems, goblins, elementals, and other monsters swarm each level, with the largest force protecting the stairs leading downstairs.
The spirits freed from the [Death Coach] have invaded the ruins, either haunting the area as ghosts or possessing the tombs. At the same time, stone tablets were hung behind the undead army, and each stone tablet contained a [dark soul] bound by the chief's scepter; the slime crucible also continued to produce more monsters, and the defenders did not hesitate at any cost.
Tears were shed on Helheim everywhere, and a nasty purple mist filled the dungeon, eroding the power of the living. While Hagen's units are immune to its effects, their visibility decreases over time.
Their enemies would have no choice but to move through this area if they wanted to reach Nastrom in time to interrupt the ritual. The other tunnels were either abandoned, booby-trapped, or were too small to allow only a small force to pass through.
As for the dungeon, Hagen had to evacuate everyone except the golem. The ritual has spread throughout the dungeon, threatening anyone trapped inside; the blood of the living is drained, and the souls of the undead are ripped from their physical shells.
The ghost string emerged from the ceiling. The ghost had returned from his reconnaissance.
"So?" Hagen asked.
"They'll be here any minute," Gustrin said. "They used the [Molten Stone] spell to bypass level 2 and target level 3 directly. They split the army into two, one led by the royal family. I think there were 400 men in total, maybe less."
"Army composition? Average?"
"The first force is mainly warriors and thieves, and the second force is more spellcasters and summoners; most people seem to be in their 30s, with some elites in the middle. There are too many priests and judges to suit Advanced reconnaissance.”
As Hagen had predicted, they would leave their wizard behind. Hagen guessed that the second force would continue to support itself with summons, only entering combat prematurely when the first wave was threatened with massacre.
Although the royal army had the advantage of terrain and stronger magic, the undead far outnumbered them. So far, the Dullahans believe their odds are roughly even.
"We're going to play the attrition game," Hagen said. "We don't need to win, just delay them; the longer the battle lasts, the worse it is for them. The skeletons and orcs are on the left, the Duke is on the right; Ghost String, you, the ghost, and the multi-worm swarm, you move to them of the rear, aiming for the commander. We put the Linnom behind to protect the entrance to Nastrang as the last line of defense. If we hold this line, we will win this game easily."
"Easier said than done," the ghost replied. "One of their elite is Lancelot of the Lake"
"That 80-level boy?" That's bad. A warrior of this high level is worth an entire army.
"There was something wrong with him," Gustrin explained. "It wasn't just the level. I felt like my will was weakened in his presence, like he might be charmed if I got too close."
Automatically [confuse] ghosts? But Hagen only knows that the classes with this power are [Death Lords] and...
"No undead creature can approach Lancelot," Dullahan ordered, unwilling to take the risk. "Not even our elite. Send some slime and puppets to keep him busy. We can't kill him, but his first priority is to protect the prince and princess. We can control him."
The Duke captures the right bridge, commanding a horde of dragons, zombies, and flesh golems; while orcs guard the left bridge, their skin covered in spell tattoos. Hagen and a group of elementals guard the central staircase, summoning demons. Slime squirmed among the graves, hungry for flesh.
They arrived with a bang.
Literally, they blew up the entrance to the tomb with spells and explosives, and then hordes of men and women poured in from the upper floors. [Archers] wielding flaming bows, [Warm Mages] wielding axes, heavily armed [Heavy Knights], sneaky thieves equipped with swords and crossbows, singing bards... some help the inquisitors and priests help They, cast light spells to illuminate the tomb and provide visibility.
As soon as the soldiers stepped onto the bridge, they immediately triggered the trap set by Walter. Symbols appear beneath them, instantly killing or driving the weak-willed to madness. Other runes unleashed fiery explosions that blasted knights and archers into a bloody, bloody mess. The archers and spellcasters among Hagen's forces unleashed a barrage of spells and arrows, and the attackers retaliated with projectiles of their own. The ghost string floats across the ground below to complete its mission.
The attackers who survived the first trap immediately seized the initiative and divided into three forces to capture the bridge.
The force attacking the right bridge was laughably smaller than the rest, but the knight in shining armor at the helm exuded overwhelming power. Hagen recognized him as Lancelot of the Lake, and every instinct in Dullahan told him to avoid the knight as he had avoided the satyr. Help the Inquisitor support him, clearly eager to slaughter the undead.
As for the central and largest army... Prince Arthur himself led it, covered in blue plate armor, holding a shining sword in one hand and a shield in the other. He rides on the back of a white horse, supported by knights.
…
Cavalry, underground?
Hagen could not believe that the prince could be so arrogant. At least Dullaha
The mount is a phantom, more maneuverable. Besides, the prince's horse itself resembles a supernatural creature, some kind of half-angel, shining unicorn...
"Take it!" Prince Arthur ordered. He was riding at the helm, with a heavily armed knight behind him. Immediately, the king's army tried to cross the bridge, and the bards sang to them; they screamed like madmen, and couldn't find anything better than an attack by the crowd.
These martyrs are all the same. A foolish pursuit of death in the hope of a posthumous reward. They would rather win glory and threaten their team's chances of winning than follow an effective strategy.
nausea.
Hagen raised his hand. Winged demons, ghosts, and air elementals flew above the trenches to flank the warriors on the bridge. They focused on throwing unarmed soldiers into pits where ravenous undead emerged from their graves. They quickly devour anyone unfortunate enough to fall into their clutches and then begin crawling out.
However, much to Hagen's horror, the arrows and spells bounced off the prince's skin like wind blowing off a mountain. The demon's spear shattered as it tried to pierce his hide, and his shining sword carved a swath of destruction ahead. This all-conquering, unstoppable force slowly carves its way through the central bridge, with a savage woman wielding an icy ax following behind him like a shadow.
As for Lancelot on the lake, he was even worse. Clad in armor, he walks like a whirlwind, wielding a powerful two-handed claymore that sweeps through everything in his path. No tricks, no spells, no fancy moves. He's just strong.
In fact, Hagen could have sworn he was punching him; if the Royal Knight had gone all out, he would have reached the other end of the bridge long ago, but he was in no trouble. Two powerful flesh golems, one of which was created from the remains of the slain Earthling Ryoma, engaged him; yet his sword sliced through their thick skin like butter.
For some reason, the undead avoided him. They did not turn to fight their own kind, but even when Lancelot came within range, they did not attack him. Even Duke looked a little uneasy. He gave up the opportunity to flank the Royal Knights and instead focused on his own guards, impaling one Inquisitor and deflecting the staff of another. Unlike everyone else, the goblins had the bridge to their left covered, their hail of arrows and suppressive fire preventing the attackers from gaining even an inch of terrain.
"(Called Black Hound)," Hagen said, as two hazy mastiffs appeared beside him. With his phantom horse riding the air instead of the stone, Dullahan rushed forward, meeting the intruder with his weapon. Ghosts and [Dark Souls] follow him, a ghostly wild hunt ready to devour the living.
Hagen struck a knight hard in the face and took aim at the prince.
He couldn't wait to be called the regicide.
Judging from the commotion, her brother was already engaged in battle with the defenders.
From the vibrations below, the ceremony became more and more intense. time is limited.
Gwen led a small force of twenty men through the cramped catacombs, holding her sword with great anxiety. The princess transforms a royal mage into her and puts her in charge of the second wave; this will distract the undead and their soothsayers while the princess and an elite force will bypass the battlefield via tunnels, interrupting the ritual directly.
In addition to the core team she raids the dungeon with (replacing Walter with the more anxious Percy), she's supported by two Inquisitors, a Battle Mage, and an Elite Knight; each of them carries a torch Seeing in the dark. She favors quality over quantity, and one elite force will aim directly for Walter's throat while others keep his minions busy.
"Are you okay?" Take
u whispered to Anne, low enough that no one was listening; or at least that's what he thought.
"No," she replied. The Witch was by far the most frustrated of the group. "I feel uncomfortable..."
"You should stay," the archer replied bluntly. "You are weak."
Gwen would have agreed if they didn't need a boxer, and Annie was one of their best.
"I can still kick your ass, idiot," the witch replied grimly. "It's not a disease, it's just the thought of..." She bit her lower lip.
"You don't have to do it yourself," replied the archer, who had been protecting her since they entered the dungeon. "I can help you. Just cheer me up."
"I don't want to 'hurt' anyone, Wulong. I just want a good ending."
She was too kind for this world. Still, compared to Percy, Anne is a model of stability. "Why did you join?" Gwen asked the former squire, nervousness showing in every step he took.
"He killed Sir Sigurd, but then he helped me," the young man replied, "I...I know it's strange, but I don't think Mr. Tay is that bad."
"You don't think so, or you don't want to admit it?" Gwen asked sharply. In retrospect, she realizes that a lot of Walter's "help" was a manipulation tactic; even saving her from the giant was probably a failed assassination attempt.
"I think he's a good guy in a bad situation," Percy replied more firmly. "At least I'd like to believe he is. I want to try to put it out there, even if... you think I'm stupid, Your Highness?"
"No." But they'd already tried talking once, and it ended in bloodshed.
The group finally exited the tunnel and entered a dark, massive slab of stone supported by two rows of crimson pillars. The flicker of torches revealed the mosaics on the walls, and purple smoke seemed to seep from one end of the T-shaped hall through the stone.
The Inquisitor and Knight go first, activating their [Spell Purification] and Defense to clear the way. When they were sure the area was clear of the undead, they gestured to Gwen and the others. Mrs. Salter walked in front, her eyes full of cold determination, followed by other spellcasters. Gwen and the archers conclude the parade.
The princess remained alert, staring at the wall through which the mist had penetrated. "That's where the undead energy comes from," one of the Hell's Inquisitors confirmed her thoughts. "I can feel."
"Melt the wall," Gwen ordered the caster. "The Necromancer must be behind it."
"You know," Wulong said thoughtfully, readying his holy bow. "We never found the actual loot."
"Is that all you care about?" Percy snapped, more disappointed than angry, "Money—"
Blood fell to the ground next to Percy's head.
The shock rendered Gwen motionless for a moment, and the squire died beside her, his body magically turning to dust. She hears Annie's scream and notices a clawed mummy emerging from the shadows. How did he sneak up?
The assassin's hands stabbed at Gwen's throat, moving as fast as a panther.
She had no time to raise her sword; he was already upon her.
"Gwen!" Wu Wu walked in front of Gwen faster, pushed her behind, turned his body into a shield, and prepared his bow.
Before the Earthling could fire his arrow, the mummy grabbed him by the throat and pierced his jugular vein, nearly decapitating him. Wulong fell on his back and a pool of blood flowed out within seconds.
However, he gave the team plenty of time to mobilize. Gwen raised her sword, parrying another claw attack, pushing the assassin back with a stab, while Salt sprang into action to tend to Wulong's wounds.
At the same time, a swarm of white rats entered the room through the hole in the hall, immediately surrounded the royal knight, and penetrated into his armor. The warrior screamed and fell on his back as the ravenous rodents devoured him alive.
A purple ghost, one that Gwen had seen more than once helping the dead, slipped out from under Annie and entered her body from behind before she could cast the spell. Behind Gwen, the princess heard an explosion and a body being thrown against the wall.
Piece "Mo
ga
e!" cried Gwen, her heart suddenly fearful for her half-sister's life, and she glanced in her direction.
Morni shot the battle mage in the back, hit him in the head with a fire spell, and pushed the body against a pillar. She immediately cast another spell on an Inquisitor, but failed to bypass his [Spell Clearing] protection.
This betrayal horrified Gwen, who thought she was possessed... until Morgan spoke.
"Kill the Inquisitor!" the witch ordered the rats to eat the knight, and then surrounded the priests of Hel. Then her sister turned back to Gwen.
Fangs sprouted from her lips; her skin became deathly pale, her eyes crimson, and her fingernails transformed into black claws. She retains her beauty and deadly grace, but now looks more like a roaring beast than a human being.
"What's wrong, Gwen?" The vampire monster with the face of her half-sister smirked at the princess. "Your amulet doesn't sting?"
A vampire.
How about it? She was walking in the sun just a few hours ago! She was...
"Always," Gwen said in horror, realizing. "You're with them all the time."
"Your Highness, follow me!" Mrs. Salt ordered, raising a light shield to separate them from the dying Take.
surrounded by u. She managed to sew up the wound, but the archer was losing so much blood that any blow would have killed him.
"Your bastard sister is dead," Morgan taunted Gwen. "She screamed like a whore when I took her flesh for myself, and she rotted in Helheim for months. Now, Spock, capture the priestess alive."
Not answering.
"Scared?" the vampire repeated.
"God...is back..."
It took Gwen a second to recognize the speaker.
"You can talk?" the ghost attached to Anne said from her lips, half surprised and half worried.
"I...I did something..." the mummy named "Ghost" whispered, his hoarse voice full of malice. "I've done...sweet and terrible things..."
The undead hummed and laughed softly. He let out a laugh of pure dark bliss, slowly circling the horrified Gwen, feigning predatory hunger. Its claws radiated deadly energy, and in the reflection of the claws, the princess saw Percy's trapped soul.
"Your blood... I remember... you... and the people of Earth..." The mummy assassin's expression turned into one of pure, unbridled hatred. "You killed me!"
The undead claws rushed towards Gwen's throat, slicing Surt's magic shield. The room was in chaos, swords clashing.
