Chapter 533 Our War (XV)
Physical undead (non-player) and intangible energy entities such as souls, ghosts, and revenants are often collectively referred to as "undead creatures".
Regardless of whether they have consciousness or wisdom, undead creatures basically have a relatively "complete" soul or entity, and have a certain influence that can interfere with the material plane.
The undead cannot be called undead creatures. A more appropriate description would be: the soul fragments left behind by the dead.
For example, in the incident in New Seeley Town (the "Invisible Townspeople" series of quests, chapters 490-496), the souls of the victims trapped in the cemetery. If it were not for the intervention of the ancient gods' will, those weak souls would have long since turned into fragments and dissipated, and would not have been able to cause any interference to the material plane.
It is difficult for most ordinary people to be successfully transformed into undead creatures after death. Only a very small number of special individuals who had extremely strong mental strength during their lifetime and had suffered serious injustice and had strong resentment (obsession) can stubbornly remain in the world in the form of souls after losing the protection of their physical bodies - such as Mrs. Marion who once depended on the wooden sculpture of a baby, or Toby Bennett, the genius space spellcaster born in Moses Port, or Carl Lawrence who possessed a devil's soul during his lifetime.
Over the past millennia, the vast majority of victims of the church's strengthened authority, countless babies drowned at birth, countless civilians cast into hell by the "unclean" rules, were not as "lucky" as Mrs. Marion - death could not bring them the power of revenge, they could only accept their fate in silence, die in silence, disappear in silence, and sleep in silence.
What an unfair fate can leave them with... perhaps only when their weak souls are blown away by the wind, there are one or two extremely weak and tiny soul fragments that carry the obsessions of unwillingness, hatred, and reluctance, and sleep forever somewhere.
With the sealed object as the core, this huge magic circle was constructed with the strongest mental power under demigod. It consumed a large amount of mental power every second it was running, amplifying the forbidden magic "Necromancer" hundreds of times. The summoning range spread rapidly around with the Storm Holy Land as the core, extending almost covering the entire territory of the Nosk Federation.
The tiny soul fragment carrying the last obsession of an innocent life "heard" the powerful soul-summoning spell and gradually awakened on this land.
"Death to the Blasphemer!"
The enraged Sky Knight recalled his sacred spear and charged bravely against the black magician who had desecrated the holy land.
"ha!"
Under the huge magic circle that covered the sky, the suspended black magician sneered and said, "Solo Enoch, look down and tell me what you see?"
Sky Knight Solo Enoch had no intention of listening to the other party's instigative words, but below was the holy land he had guarded for hundreds of years, and it was difficult for him to ignore it.
Subconsciously looking down, the legendary guardian of the Holy Land of Storms showed a look of astonishment.
Countless tiny, weak soul fragments that can only be seen by extraordinary people are rising from all over the earth beneath their feet.
"why is that?!"
Solo Enoch stopped suddenly and looked around helplessly.
Under this sky, as far as the legendary strong can see, countless soul fragments of the dead responded to the call of black magic, rising from the earth quickly, slowly, densely, or scatteredly.
These shattered soul fragments are too weak, and dozens of them put together are not as conspicuous as a complete soul, but... there are too many of them!
"Are you afraid, Solo Enoch?" The evil black magician's mocking voice echoed in the sky: "Are you afraid of how many innocent dead people on this land meet the requirements of the Requiem?"
"--shut up!"
Solo Enoch roared and controlled the griffin to rush towards Yang Qiu.
During this delay, Yang Qiu's mental energy, which he had used to construct the magic circle, had been restored by more than half with the support of 200,000 anchor points, even though it required continuous consumption in the operation of the magic circle.
With his palms open, surging magic power that seemed to be condensed into substance exploded in front of the approaching Sky Knight, and the violent shock wave knocked the murderous legendary knight back hundreds of meters.
"Since the ancient times when the gods revived and natural disasters struck, the black magic of 'Requiem of the Dead' has become a forbidden magic that cannot be used without permission. As the guardian of the Holy Land of Storms , you naturally know why this black magic is forbidden."
Yang Qiu raised his hand and waved it lightly, tearing through the dimensional barrier in front of him.
"The barriers of the material plane have become thinner. Even the most ordinary and weakest humans, with their last bit of unwillingness before death, can still exist in the world as soul fragments. If the "Dead Soul Requiem" does not carefully limit the summoning range, it is very likely to bring about a disaster no less than a second-level disaster."
From the crack in the huge dimensional barrier leading to the dimensional demon world, harpies, bone wizards riding bone dragons, and headless knights riding bone griffins emerged and swarmed towards the sky knight who was flying backwards.
"So you see, I have indeed strictly limited the summoning boundaries...but your church is so good at giving people surprises." Yang Qiu said sarcastically.
"You lunatic!" Solo Enoch yelled, "Do you know what you are doing?!"
"Ah... of course." Yang Qiu turned his head to admire the star-like soul fragments pouring in from all directions, and laughed unscrupulously: "Someone has to make your church pay the price for the thousand years of suppression, right?"
The Sky Knight roared and chopped the harpy into pieces, then rushed towards the huge magic circle in operation, trying to destroy it.
"That won't do."
Yang Qiu once again threw out a large ball of pure magic power, which exploded directly in front of the Sky Knight and knocked him away again.
The Sky Knight, who was spinning and flying backwards for hundreds of meters in the sky, was horrified to find that...there were more soul fragments as far as he could see.
The Holy Land of Storms beneath your feet, and the mountains, plains, and grasslands farther away; dense or sparse star fragments rise into the air one after another, and rush towards the huge magic circle hovering above the holy land persistently, fearlessly, and without hesitation.
Inexhaustible and endless.
On the Gordon Plains, the Nosk spellcasters who were fighting with the undead army looked around in panic, staring in amazement at the tiny soul fragments that were as faint as fireflies in the eyes of the extraordinary, but still stubbornly emitting the light of soul fire, rising from the earth and flying to the east as if called by some force.
In the Rhine People's Army, Ms. Gloria, who was assisting the artillery in locating the enemy spellcaster, looked up in shock at the soul fragments that were passing over the camp like a meteor shower.
“He actually used this move… That’s right, with Yang’s almost endless mental power, only he can use this move…”
In the capital of Kashmir, the court wizard employed by the royal family rushed out of the palace and looked solemnly at the dots of bright lights rising everywhere in the capital.
In the city of Saint Kanega, the three gallows leaders who were personally leading their men to raze the "Unclean Quarantine Zone" were staring in amazement at the huge groups of soul fire rising from the quarantine zone.
In addition to being the leader of the resistance organization Gallows, the assassin Bazel also holds an important position in the Adventurer's Guild to earn funds for the resistance organization's activities. He has a sharp eye and should not be unable to recognize the soul fragments.
There were tiny fragments of soul rising into the air both inside and outside the city, silently leaving in response to some kind of call. There were especially many fragments in the quarantine zone.
"——Let's do something."
Bazel, who had originally intended to be just a supervisor, let out a breath, walked to the wooden trailer, picked up a shovel, and strode into the crowd that was dismantling the shed.
In Narasi Harbor, Jeremy K. Bancroft, a wood carving collector whose mental power had crossed the threshold of transcendence but who was unaware of it, looked up in amazement as he watched swarms of fireflies that could actually flicker with tiny lights even in broad daylight flying over his old house.
"Oh my god...what is that?!"
The old butler, who saw nothing, also looked up at the sky, then looked at Jeremy in confusion.
In Kashmir, the Principality of Lionel, and more than 20 other countries and regions that joined the Nosk Federation, countless extraordinary people witnessed a large number of soul fragments responding to some kind of call and rising into the air, flying towards the Holy Land of Storms.
In the Holy Land of Storms, the priests, monks, clergymen, and knights, the most powerful people in the Nosk Federation, looked at the sky above their heads with different expressions, which was becoming brighter and harder to look at.
As the gigantic, sun-blocking magic array appeared on the horizon, the number of soul fragments rushing towards the sky had reached hundreds of thousands... no, millions.
Millions of fireflies rushed one after another into the huge, slowly operating magic circle.
Higher up in the sky, a terrifying, even larger shadow quietly emerged, its mere existence enough to make people tremble with fear .
What’s even more creepy is that the firefly fragments pouring into the sky are still endless!
Beneath the clouds, the sky was dotted with tiny stars, almost eclipsing the sun.
The Storm Pope was furious. The cardinals of a small principality like Lionel, who could make tremble in fear with just a stomp of his feet, rushed out of the temple, and tried to attack the black magician in the air who was preventing the Sky Knight from making any progress.
But…it didn’t go so smoothly.
The Nightmare Butcher flew too high, an altitude of five thousand meters exceeded the range of the alchemical cannons in this world, not to mention conventional means of attack.
It is also unrealistic to use griffins, airships and other means - it is like the Nightmare Butcher who possesses endless magic power. While maintaining the operation of the magic circle and intercepting the Sky Knights, he still has the energy to attack the airships that try to approach, or the ascetics riding on griffins.
More than tens of millions of soul fragments poured into the magic circle, and the cardinals had to take the risk of using the power of the storm and taking off into the air to besiege the Nightmare Butcher.
The evil black magician seemed to be waiting for them to approach, and with a grin, he opened a palm-wide space crack that led to the void.
Three cardinals were caught off guard and inhaled the air, falling from the sky.
The other cardinals were frightened and fled in haste.
Another legendary fighter from the Church of the Storm hurriedly returned to the holy land via the teleportation array. Just as he was about to join the aerial battlefield, he was shocked to find that high in the sky, a huge phantom formed by the transformation of the magic array and the condensation of tens of millions of soul fragments had already taken shape.
It actually looked like... a baby with its arms and legs curled up and crying loudly!
He is just a semi-energy body between reality and illusion, but he already has an aura close to that of a demigod; his airspace cannot be violated.
Not only did the Sky Knight Solo Enoch, who had been fighting for a long time, land in despair, but even the Nightmare Butcher who was maintaining the operation of the magic circle also retreated a thousand meters away.
"Another strong man has come? What a pity. No matter who comes now, he can't stop."
Yang Qiu happily glanced at the holy land below, raised his body to an altitude of seven thousand meters, and hid behind a phantom that was gradually condensing into a solid entity.
The soul fragments that continued to flow from all over the Nosk Federation were still endless, blocking out the sun and the sky.
The number of soul fragments thrown into the magic circle exceeded 15 million, 20 million, 30 million...
Even Yang Qiu himself could not calculate how many innocent people's obsessions responded to the call of "The Requiem". High in the sky, the baby statue that intimidated this world... took shape.
The baby, with his limbs curled up, his fists clenched, and the umbilical cord still attached to his belly button, let out a cry.
The crying sound penetrated every corner of the world like an invisible sound wave, seeping through the entire Holy Land of Storms and reaching the ears of millions of priests, monks, and believers.
After the crying sound, the huge image of the baby, which brought together the last bit of obsession of more than 30 million innocent people, disappeared like a bubble.
The magic circle that completed its mission and the seal in the core of the array simultaneously melted away.
The soul fragments of the dead are so weak. Even if the millions of ordinary lives that disappeared silently in the tide of history are barely put together, they can only maintain the power of demigod for a few seconds.
And this... is enough.
The Storm Sanctuary, a place that is as prosperous as any big city—is littered with corpses!
Yang Qiu slowly descended to the ground, and two legendary warriors blocked his way.
Seeing that the Nightmare Butcher, who should theoretically have been exhausted, was still full of energy, the two legendary fighters felt depressed.
Yang Qiu glanced at the holy land behind the two of them, as if he understood something, and smiled, "The Storm Pope is gone?"
Solo Enoch and another legendary fighter changed color when they heard this.
"If the Storm Pope is safe, he should come to destroy me, his great enemy, and restore his prestige, instead of you two coming forward. Let me guess... Is my head enough to qualify me to succeed the next Storm Pope?"
"It would be best if you knew yourself." Another legendary fighter said coldly.
"ha."
Yang Qiu admired the holy land behind the two men, which had suffered heavy casualties and only had about 10% or 20% of the people alive. He restrained his smile and said with a little regret: "After a thousand years of cause, the 'result' is just like this... It seems that no matter which plane the 'heaven' is, it is equally ruthless."
“Although I don’t understand what you are talking about, I still don’t mind that you caused such a disaster. It is unbelievable that a demon like you can survive in this world.” Solo Enoch said hatefully.
“Ha, hahaha! Hahahaha!”
Yang Qiu couldn't help but burst into laughter.
Yang Qiu laughed for more than a minute before he stopped.
"This is the funniest joke I've ever heard, Sky Knight." Yang Qiu wiped the tears from his eyes and raised his hand, "Why didn't your church feel confused when it sent more than 30 million innocent people to hell? Why didn't you go crazy? Why do you still have the nerve to show off in front of the world?"
"You--!!" Solo Enoch was furious. He stretched out his hand into the void and grabbed. The divine spear took shape in the void and was held in his palm.
"Do you think I'm quibbling?" Yang Qiu sneered, "Then why didn't your God protect your Pope and the righteous messenger who is closest to the Lord of Storms?"
Solo Enoch's expression froze in anger.
"Don't listen to him! Enoch!" Another legendary fighter shouted immediately when he saw the bad situation.
"Or maybe your gods can't intervene either?" Yang Qiu chuckled and said, "I am not a believer of a righteous god, and I have never attacked the Holy Land of Storms. I just returned all your sins. Your gods can't intervene, is that right?"
The two legendary fighters were no longer willing to talk and attacked Yang Qiu from the left and right.
"Okay... then - leave a decent pope for the Storm Church, and the True God won't stand a chance."
