Chapter 28

Translator: Exodus Tales

Editor: Exodus Tales

“Tabdak… Tabdak…!”

As the clattering of a horse’s hoofs resounded in the air, Fang Zheng, riding a white horse, charged straight towards the undead army like a storm. The undead creatures instinctively turned their heads upon hearing the clattering of horse’s hoofs, looking behind them. But, it was too late because Fang zheng had already arrived before them!

“Argh!”

Looking at the scene before his eyes, Fang Zheng brandished his sword without a moment of hesitation. A streaking golden sword energy flew from the sword, crashing heavily onto the Necromancer in front of him. Whereas the necromancer’s body shivered upon suffering the heavy blow from Fang Zheng before it was crushed into piles of bones that flew everywhere. Its staff fell on the ground as the dark glow surrounding it grew dimmer. At the same time, several of the nearby skeletal archers stood in front of the necromancer and raised their bow, aiming at the enemy before them.

Swish!

At the same time, the pure white warhorse under Fang Zheng disappeared in a flash while Fang Zhen rolled on the ground without a moment of hesitation, dodging the first salvo of arrows. Immediately after, Fang Zheng raised the sword in his hand and slashed it hard before him.

Crusader Strike!

BOOM!

Several cross-shaped symbols erupted suddenly, drowning the skeletal archers in explosions and dust while tearing a gap in the encirclement forcefully. The undead were also taken aback by this surprise attack. Nonetheless, they turned around hastily to resist the attack from the periphery.

“Maintain the enchantment and focus!”

Since one of the three necromancers had been knocked down by Fang Zheng already, the Weakening Spell that was working perfectly normal also started to have some problems.

Whereupon another necromancer, who had mastered the core of the enchantment, shouted immediately in a heavy voice, sensing the unstable fluctuation in mana. At the same time, he began chanting a spell in low voice, raising his staff and aiming it at Fang Zheng. But what this necromancer had not expected was that before he could even complete the spell, Fang Zheng also raised his sword, pointing at him.

What does he want to do?

The necromancer, looking at Fang Zheng’s movement, couldn’t help but be stunned. There are several undead giants and skeletal soldiers between this young man and me, does he still want to make a move against me?

However, the necromancer felt as if his soul had been hit by a hammer before he could even finish thinking. Suddenly, everything went dark before his eyes. Then, the necromancer was seen lowering his head as if he had fallen asleep, after which he remained still.

Do it! 

Glancing at the second necromancer, who was standing like a puppet, Fang Zheng rolled to one side without a moment of hesitation, dodging the skeletal soldiers’ attacks from behind. The skill that he had just used was the paladin’s skill from WOW, Repentance. This was a skill that could force the target into a paralysis although it was only useful against undead, demons, dragonkin, and giants… And as luck would have it, this place was most abundant in this!

“Argh!!”

Right at this moment, Knight Conan finally rushed over from the other side. His combat power might not have been as strong as Fang Zheng, but as a knight who had gone through many battles, his combat experience was still very rich. As such, when Fang Zheng caught the attention of the other undead creatures, he immediately made his move, attacking the final necromancer.

Since the necromancer, who was acting as the core, had already been paralyzed by Fang Zheng and the other two necromancers could care less about him, the already unstable Weakening Spell was completely doomed, it cracked and burst like a bubble.

“Everyone, hurry up and rush out now!”

After having lost the suppression from the Weakening Spell, the Templar Knights, who had been surrounded by the undead creatures, pulled themselves together immediately and began to break out of the encirclement.

And naturally, Fang Zheng would not let go of this opportunity after laying such a successful attack. The holy energy gathered again before the golden, holy power burst suddenly with the wave of Fang Zheng’s sword like a hurricane sweeping through everything. In the next moment, the holy glow congealed into several dozen long swords by Fang Zheng’s side and flew out in every direction in the blink of an eye. The undead creatures encircling Fang Zheng screamed and were reduced to ashes the instant the swords of light pierced through their bodies, burned by the holy flames.

When Fang Zheng lowered his sword, the only things remaining by his side were the flickering white flames burning non-stop and the ash fluttering in the air. The ash drifted in the air like snowflakes before they settled silently on the ground. And on Fang Zheng’s side, the several dozen swords of light that spread out with him as the center, circled slowly. They began to dim before disappearing into thin air.

So strong!

Whether it was the undead creatures or the Templar Knights waiting for rescue, or Knight Conan, everyone gasped a breath of cold air at the sight of this scene. It must have brought to attention the fact that the undead creatures besieging the paladins weren’t ordinary undead creatures. They were the most loyal guards under the Lich. In terms of strength alone, the weakest skeletal archer was strong enough to fight with the regular soldiers. This was why the elite Templars were besieged here. However, they had not expected that the sudden reinforcement would be so powerful that undead would be reduced to ashes in just the blink of an eye. Even if they, themselves, were facing these damn monsters, perhaps they wouldn’t be able to finish them so easily.

Of course, they didn’t know that Fang Zheng wasn’t responsible for creating this situation. In fact, it was a result of many things. First, the royal crusader sword art chosen by Fang Zheng had its own holy light, which itself could restrain the undead creatures. In addition, the Skybreaker in his hands also buffed the sacred damage by 100%. This was still nothing. It shouldn’t have been forgotten that Fang Zheng had equipped Arthas’ Soul Stone which increased the damage to all undead creatures by 50%, and the Holy Guardian title he was equipping also provided 100% damage increase against the evil organizations. In this way, Fang Zheng’s attack damage to undead creatures was over 250% for each attack. This degree of attack damage could basically instantly kill ordinary undead creatures.

The undead changed their tactics quickly. Very soon, a giant undead charged at Fang Zheng. It opened its mouth and let out a furious roar. At the same time, it raised the club in its hand high and smashed it down hard on Fang Zheng.

BOOM!

When the wooden club in the undead giant’s hand was coming down, Fang Zheng, on the other hand, rolled backward. The huge wooden club almost brushed past Fang Zheng’s afterimage before crashing heavily on the ground. However, before the undead giant could raise its club again, Fang Zheng, who had just dodged the attack by rolling backward, suddenly dashed forward. The Skybreaker in his hand drew a beautiful and dazzling arc of holy light, swishing through the air diagonally. In the next moment, the undead giant suddenly stopped moving after a flash of silver glow. Its head slipped down its neck as its enormous body fell back on the ground with a loud crash.

“Good swordsmanship!”

The pupils of the leading middle-aged knight constricted at the sight of this sword. He wasn’t surprised by Fang Zheng’s previous sword arts at all. After all, there were all kinds of sword arts in this world; some were inherited, some were obtained through adventure, and some even devised a set of sword art themselves. And because of this, these sword arts weren’t surprising no matter how mighty they were. Perhaps Fang Zheng’s previous attack might give ordinary people just a scare, but in the opinion of the majority of really strong experts, it was powerful; nothing more, nothing less.

Only, Fang Zheng’s counterattack after avoiding the undead giant wasn’t visually striking or anything; it was just an honest display of his swordsmanship, crisp and neat, without the slightest bit of extra movements. As the popular adage goes, while the connoisseur recognizes the artistry, the layman simply enjoys the show, it was the same; fancy kicks and punches were only suitable for emphasizing the magnificence. A real battlefield was always cruel and direct, far less fanciful than those shown in the movies or described in the novels. Not to mention that although sword arts were essential for victory, one’s fundamental skills were also taken into account to judge the real strength of an expert.

However, now was really not the time to talk with each other. The situation of the battlefield had been suddenly reversed after Fang Zheng’s unreasonable intrusion. At present, one-third of the undead creatures had been wiped out already. Even the necromancers and undead giants, their main force had been wiped clean by Fang Zheng. And after having freed from the suppression of the Weakening Spell, the remaining Templar Knights were finally able to bring out their original strength to full display.

As such, the identity of the hunter and prey was reversed in the blink of an eye. The Templar Knights, who had their asses handed to them by the undead creatures were not surrounded by their own prey. And after having lost the protection of the necromancers and the deterrence of the undead giants as the main attack force, the other undead creatures cut down by the knights, neat and clean.

“Thank you very much for your assistance!”

Only after the crisis was lifted that the leading middle-aged knight came forward and nodded to Fang Zheng kindly, staring at Fang Zheng.

“It’s really rare to meet a companion here. I am the Commander of the Thirteenth Division under the Bishops’ Conference, Marth. May I ask you…”

“I am Fang Zheng.”

Fang Zheng smiled, looking at the man before him.

“I am a Squire Knight of Starlight City church. I came here with Great Knight Shidon to rescue, but unfortunately…”

Having spoken of this, Fang Zheng glanced about before shrugging his shoulders helplessly.

“Something seems to have gone wrong and we were separated. But fortunately, I met Knight Conan…”

“Very fortunate indeed.”

Marth nodded upon hearing Fang Zheng’s answer. Just a short while ago, he had already dragged Knight Connan to one side for questioning. Naturally, he had a certain understanding of Fang Zheng’s identity. Marth was greatly taken aback when he learned that this young man was actually a Squire Knight. As a matter of fact, the last attack displayed by Fang Zheng was of a very high standard; it cut straight to the point without the slightest extra movements. If this sword wasn’t a handiwork of a long time veteran of the battlefield, Marth would not have believed it at all. The fact that Fang Zheng was so young made Marth wonder, even more so.

After all, the swordsmanship displayed by Fang Zheng might be magnificent and powerful but it could still be explained by his profound knowledge. But what caused him to be in a state of disbelief was the fact that a teenager had such a thorough understanding of the sword. Even if one practiced the sword from his mother’s womb, it was still impossible to achieve this.

Of course, it would have never crossed Marth’s mind that the reason why someone was so skilled was that he had died God knows how many times while treading a fine line between life and death.

“Sir, the battlefield has been cleaned.”

While the two were talking, the knight, who was in-charge of cleaning up the battlefield, trotted all the way to their side and handed over a few, dark, crystal-like things after a respectful salute.

“A middle-grade spirit crystal!?”

Marth, looking at the crystal handed to him by his subordinates, furrowed his brow before he reached out and picked up one of the black crystals that were about the size of the thumb. This was a spirit core left by undead creatures after their death. In fact, all living things on this continent possessed similar things. But, it depended on the species. After their death, monsters and undead creatures would leave behind spirit cores due to the influence of magic. And human beings and animals needed to absorb the soul through special means for them to form a spirit crystal.

Of course, this method was dangerous, cruel, and forbidden. Only necromancers would use this method to absorb strength.

The spirit cores were very valuable. They could be used as the energy core of an alchemy structure; they could also be used to supply energy to array and teleportation arrays. Judging by the quality of these spirit crystals, they would fetch a fortune if they were sold to an alchemy shop or the mage guild.

“This is your spoil, Mr. Fang Zheng.”

While speaking, Marth handed the spirit core over to Fang Zheng. Fang Zheng was checking it out and was about to say something when a “Ding”, the system prompt, suddenly rang in Fang Zheng ears.

[Detected a valuable convertible item. Do you want to use it to recharge?]

What?!

Fang Zheng was stunned at the sight of this system prompt.

Recharge?!