Book 4. Chapter 21: Longwei and Fhesiah - Undead Punishment

Book 4. Chapter 21: Longwei and Fhesiah - Undead Punishment

Longwei laughed as he swung his glaive through the skeletal knight, a thin layer of valor coating his blade. The enemys armor was no match for his blade, shredding through and slicing through the monsters core.

Once again, these enemies have only numbers! There is no skill, no courage.

Yiming pierced several ghouls near him, his stabs and slashes with both precision and speed.

When they are both unliving and unthinking, they have no need for courage, Im afraid. Numbers and resilience are powerful on their own.

Bedwyr road on his spectral horse, leaping through the ranks as he swung his war scythe. The man had unending endurance, swinging his weapon with mechanical precision. His paladin aura covered the [Warrior Brotherhood], protecting them from the deathly energies with his faith.Updated from novelb(i)n.c(o)m

A wave of noxious gas approached their army, only for the many Emberborn to suck the energy toward them. Their odd flames of the unliving brightened, many of them releasing enhanced attacks or spells. A few Emberborn used non-death based attacks or magic spells, or simply used empowered melee strikes against the enemy undead.

Some skeletal warriors now fought for the Alliance, Morwen having taken control of them. Her undead priestesses released their own haze, turning the undead that fell near and converting the disgusting creep beneath their feet into their own domain.

Hundreds of javelins and arrows rained down on the enemy, many of the undead falling prey to the venomous auril of the reptile beastkin. Most of the undead Longwei faced were already weakened, either from venom or from the many magical attacks the emberborn rained down on the enemies.

Longwei continued fighting through undead with his sworn brother, the two friends having sworn an oath to fight at the others side. Like the peach tree oath of their great leader Guan Yu, his Guild was encouraged to become like brothers and fight together to accomplish their goals.

Yiming was good at the things Longwei wasnt. For everything else, their wives handled the rest.

His glaive cleaved through enemies with ease, his valorous blade sharp. The large lizard man, Vesuvius, fought on the other side of the battlefield with his brethren, swinging an even larger glaive. Longwei was envious.

Brother, how can I get bigger? That lizard man is outdoing me!

Yiming laughed, as he cut down another ghoul. When we reach Tier 2, many valor users get bigger when cladding themselves. Some of us go for a more condensed and speedy option, however.

Longwei knew his brother in arms would go for the speedy option. But he knew that bigger was better. Everyone knew that!

Bedwyr sliced through a large skeletal knight with his scythe. It looks like a large enemy approaches. Because it cannot call the bones of the fallen thanks to my wife, it is pushing here on its own to absorb the bones. We must destroy it.

Longwei was ready. Im just getting warmed up! Lets do it!

Yiming sighed. There are plenty of enemies coming to us, why must you look for more? Still, a little foresightfulness today can prevent struggles tomorrow. Let us push through and deal a decisive blow.

Longweis class was [Red Tiger]. An evolution of the Warrior class, Longwei believed he received the rare class due to his unyielding determination and martial prowess. Cladding himself in his valor, he traded blows with his enemies, getting stronger as the fight continued.

Yimings class was the [White Horse], which symbolized his speed and agility, as well as his wisdom. His feet glided over the ground as if riding to battle, his glaive moving with both precision and speed. He would build up his valor over time, able to release much of it in bursts of speed and powerful attacks.

The three of them charged the monstrosity, finding Vesuvius, Jarrix, Roxo and Darris joining them. Their entourage cut through the undead, Bedwyr keeping them protected from the deathly energy and gases.

Longweis valor cladding could protect himself, but if he expended it just for protecting against the fumes, he may not have anything left for the enemy.

A large wave of undead had moved to flank them and cut them off, but Morwens undead met them, preventing them from barring their path. Ghouls and skeletal knights clashed with one another, Longwei not wanting to figure out friend or foe.

Seven bone golems were gathered around the bone monstrosity, and they were bigger than the usual. The bone and flesh construction was disgusting, but the bone golems were nothing more than a large skeleton with thicker bones and no spaces between them.

He laughed. Perfect! One for each of us!

Yiming groaned. Make sure you target their core, Longwei. This is not a duel.

Bedwyrs deep, cold, scratchy voice was quiet, but could easily be heard over the din of battle. Amarr, bless our weapons so that we may bring judgement to the wicked.

A cold flame flickered around the seven warriors weapons.

Vesuvius frowned. Hey, what gives. I shoot hot fire out of this.

Bedwyr shrugged. Should still work. Its magic powered by the gods.

The seven charged their opponents, the large creatures ponderous. Longwei gathered his mana and used his skill, [Tigers Roar], followed by [Tigers Fury].

A wave of magic echoed out from his roar, increasing the strength of his allies temporarily. His skin became red, beginning to build up his strength based on how long he had been fighting.

Longwei talked a big talk, but he knew the enemy in front of them was a big challenge. Then, they must face the bone monstrosity: an even bigger one. The possibility of death was high.

He summoned his inner strength. He drew his courage and bravery from within, thinking of how he must be strong to protect his brother and their wives. How this glorious battle would bring them to greater heights, he just had to meet this battle with iron-clad determination.

There were many other branches beside the large arms, and scanning it with her divine sense, she almost thought it might be able to stand up or at the very least lean in a direction, reaching quite the large distance.

Many of the blighters were hanging off the tree, hundreds of them.

The massive number of blighters released another wave of noxious gas, and Ophelia moved to intercept, to release another [Consecration] to burn away the poisons, protecting the large army.

I got it this time, sister. The lions are taking care of it this time for Jake, arent they?

She received a mental nod from Ophelia, and the flame blazed on her [Torch of Hestia]. She fanned the flame once more before separating it, and infusing it with her Dao.

Her spirits will was made manifest, her path a part of her very being. She compressed it down to a tiny flame, and it took on a golden hue, reflecting the inviolability of life. She sent the small flame at the incoming gas.

Like a candle banishing the darkness, it pushed the gas away, causing it to split down the sides of the armies. The gas now dissipated ineffectually, rather than weakening and poisoning their allies.

She had finally fully integrated what she learned from Hestia about the flame of life that first day they met. Fhesiah had only unlocked a fraction of the power of the Goddess, until she witnessed Jake summoning Hestia on Highlands.

The second flame of hers that pushed away the dragons breath, Fhesiah had pushed forward her understanding, becoming more able to recreate it. Previously, she had only been able to add properties of the flame to her fires of creation. Now, she could use her flame to protect and exhibit the sanctity of life.

She pulled the flickering flame back to her, and pushed her Qi through the demonic runes on her fan. Unlike the magical focus Jake and Ophelia used for creating runes, or Jakes functions, each rune behaved like a heavenly energy stencil and only made them more powerful and efficient. As a tradeoff, it seemed she was unable to combine them into a larger spell of her own.

The runes floated above the fan as they completed, and she quickly ordered them into the proper formation as they began echoing the truths of the dao, infusing her spirit and manifesting her will.

Ophelia added some of her Nordic runes into the formation. The meanings, or results of the runic phrases meant to enhance the flames and increase the amount of energy. It was fuel for the flames to consume, an accelerant.

A golden sun formed as she raised it above her head, the flickering flame joining it. She put a lot into this flame, knowing the importance of dealing a significant blow. She knew another wave of undead was about to roll in, protected by the trees themselves.

The heat from her miniature star was significant, enough that the creep beneath her floating feet was lit aflame, burning back several meters. She knew if the reptile beastkin were here, they would be shouting exclamations of awe and glory. A shame they were missing it, but they will hopefully see it again later.

She launched the orb at her target, the large tree nearly three hundred meters away. The sphere followed the ground at a rapid pace, crossing nearly sixty meters per second; well over a hundred miles per hour.

It followed the curvature of the world, staying about 2 meters off the ground. The creep was burned away in a large radius, creating a clear path a dozen meters wide as the flame went, and the flame continuing to spread and consume it.

The blighters in the trees all turned to it, casting their spells. Black bands of hexes and curses floated toward it, only for them to be consumed as fuel. Her spirit wavered as dozens of them collided with her flame, but she held onto her conviction with fierce determination, infusing it with even more of her will.

Some blighters even leaped into the way of the sphere from up in the trees, only to be consumed as well. The orb was both brighter and larger now as it neared the tree.

The large tree seemed to try to move its large arms to attack or block its assailant, but it was far too slow to do anything meaningful. It struck the base of the tree, exploding in a nova of flame that stuck to the undead tree like glue.

It wrapped around the massive tree in a blissful embrace, the unliving entity moaning in pain. The heavenly flames went up and around the tree, the fire brightening as it consumed the undead filth. It spread to the branches where many blighters were standing, eradicating dozens of blighters in mere seconds.

Of the over ten-story tree, nearly a third of it was engulfed in her bright flames. It spread upwards with every passing moment.

Ophelia used her runes to enhance her voice, Double-time, people. The path has been cleared. Let us assault our target!

The march of their armys speed increased with a rapid beat of the war drums, rushing to add attacks against the tree. She watched both the tree itself and deep into the forest with her divine sense, as she began spinning a new flame with her torch and fan once more.

Her heavenly fire was now burning deep into the tree, and it was looking like her flame would be fueled forever by the trees undead taint. Suddenly, she felt a powerful malevolence coming from deep in the jungle.

A black energy surged through the forest through the ground, and grew up and around the tree, coming from the roots. Her flames were smothered where it touched, the undead flesh and bark being replenished.

She sent what she had of her current flame, infusing more fire. Ophelia activated her [Hearth of Hestia], adding the goddess divine flames to her own, before sending it at the tree to fight the evil energies.

Her new sphere of flame was different, but it slammed into the blackish energy that had reached nearly two stories up. The explosion ripped a large chunk of the tree out, the flames merging with the powerful flames above.

The malevolence pushed against the flames, but they held. Heat rose, and the flames continued climbing up the tree, as well as pushing down against the malevolence. After a time, the black energy receded, the flames winning.

Fhesiah did her best to scan the tree in the center of the jungle, it just barely being within her range. This defense had a cost, and it would not be able to do it again for a time. She could tell that the tree in front of them had grown slightly to replenish what the tree had lost somewhat as a result, but it was burning just the same.

A wave of undead, complete with dinosaurs, came from both sides of them to prevent their armies from attacking the tree further. This target was as good as won for now, but she knew the others would have a little more trouble overcoming the creep and the trees ability to self-heal.

Thankfully, since their tree absorbed the malevolence from the center of the jungle, they would not have to power through this for a time. They would not have to fight through the tree being healed by an external source.

She and Ophelia were simply uniquely suited to destroying an undead tree. Their flames purged the undead filth, the fumes unable to stand a chance against them.

Ophelias runes then changed to red, slowly. It looked like Jake was beginning his own assault.