Dark Fantasy: Magical Eye Knight – Chapter 217

Chapter 217: The Army of Corpses

 

The deathly wail crashed against the mountains and cliffs, shattering into countless echoes. The eerie moans, sobs, and screams coming from all directions pressed down on the living, crushing their sanity bit by bit.

 

“Don’t retreat! If this falls, the Empire will be on the brink of collapse! Defend it even in death! You can do it! Push forward-!”

 

The Paladins’ exhortations were supplemented by priestly prayers and holy poweral incantations.

 

In the face of the biting blizzard, their lips turned blue, and their fingers kept curling up, but they forced themselves to straighten them.

 

Before them, troops wearing leather-padded, iron-reinforced armor fought tooth and nail to keep the undead horde at bay.

 

“Pour it on!”

 

“Aaargh!”

 

At the officer’s command, all soldiers, regardless of rank, lifted their voices and splashed buckets of holy water over the ramparts.

 

Despite it being daytime, the sky was dark thanks to the thick clouds. Ironically, the ground was brightly lit, radiating light from below.

 

Sizzle!

 

Hiss!

 

As holy water, instead of boiling oil, was poured, massive white smoke billowed out, and the zombies melted like they were touched by acid.

 

The stench of burning corpses was sickening, but the icy breeze sweeping from the cliffs dispelled it like an illusion.

 

The holy water, which could have saved dozens of lives, was swiftly gone, and the amount of undead it destroyed was also astounding.

 

The zombies, their limbs engulfed in white flames, raced out with a fervent hatred for the humans, like moths drawn to a campfire.

 

As the corpses crumbled into ash, the higher-level undead began to advance.

 

They were Dullahan. Headless knights, each holding their own head in one hand and wielding a monstrously large weapon in the other, charged forward.

 

Heeheeheehee!

 

Blue flames erupted from the nostrils of their skeletal horses, kicking up dirt as the Dullahan propelled them onward.

 

The black mist that had been swirling around the undead’s feet, increasing in volume with each passing instant, suddenly rushed upward as the Dullahan charged.

 

Swoosh!

 

The black mist billowed up the cliff and collided with the ramparts of Keonitra castle, as if it were a sentient being.

 

White sparks and blinding lights exploded along the border as the mist met the holy power embedded in the ramparts.

 

Then, five mounted Dullahan appeared from the black mist, trampling it underfoot.

 

The five headless knights charged, flinging back the sand and rock shattered by the wind.

 

“They’re coming━!”

 

With the knight’s cry, the Dullahan landed on the wall. The impact caused the stone slabs that formed the floor of the wall to sink, and the stone turned black.

 

The Dullahan, with black smoke streaming from their shoulders and backs, shook the severed heads in their left hands, eliciting thunderous roars.

 

“Surrender your miserable lives, heathens!”

 

“Silence, you cursed abomination! The sun will never set!”

 

A Paladin, roaring back, issued the order.

 

“Cast the nets!”

 

Julia and the castle had properly identified the Dullahans and the Death Knight as the heart of the undead army before this attack. Countermeasures had been planned in advance, and they now shone as nets fell on the Dullahan.

 

Clang!

 

The nets, which cut through the wind with a tight, mesh-like pattern, were made of holy water-soaked iron. Six of them, dripping with pale, shimmering liquid, aimed at Dullahan.

 

Kyaaaaah!

 

The five mounted Dullahan swerved to escape the nets, causing the line they had formed to break. Two of the headless knights were caught in the nets and dragged from their steeds.

 

“Impale them!”

 

“Charge!”

 

Swords, axes, and spears flew towards the two Dullahan. All of the weapons were blessed by priests, radiating a white light.

 

The two struggling Dullahans were abruptly extinguished. However, the remaining three were neither caught in the nets nor ejected.

 

The Dullahan, enraged by the loss of their comrades, galloped across the wall.

 

“Ugh, ugh—cough!”

 

One soldier was crushed in half by the skeletal warhorse’s hoof, instantly killed. Dozens more soldiers were decapitated by the skeletal warhorse’s teeth or had their upper bodies cleaved in two by the Dullahan’s axes and spears.

 

“Yaaaah!”

 

A courageous soldier charged at a Dullahan, raising his holy sword high. The headless knight thrust forward with his lance.

 

The lance pierced the soldier’s chest with incredible speed and efficiency.

 

The Dullahan didn’t stop there. The headless knight raised the long haft of its lance, its huge frame concealing its might.

 

The impaled soldier was launched into the air, propelled by the speed of its skeletal horse and the Dullahan’s enormous might.

 

The sight of the dead soldier, impaled and dangling his limbs, was clearly visible to all the living on the wall.

 

As the Dullahan swung its haft, the impaled corpse sailed through the air, spraying blood on the dozens of troops standing in its way.

 

The soldiers crumbled, overwhelmed. The living were so shocked by the scene that their bodies trembled, and they couldn’t move properly.

 

“Worship the sun━!”

 

At that point, two Paladins, one on each side, assaulted the Dullahan with loud roars. Their names were Sir Oldeheim and Sir Deruka.

 

Sir Deruka’s longsword penetrated the skeletal steed’s flank, removing the source of its corruption, while one-armed Sir Oldeheim aimed at the severed head clutched by the Dullahan’s left hand.

 

The skeletal steed gave a long, piercing neigh as it sank to its knees, and the headless knight, caught aback, swung its haft violently with its right hand.

 

Clang!

 

The Dullahan’s haft and Sir Oldeheim’s blade collided in a thunderous clash, sending shockwaves across the air. The Dullahan, Sir Deruka, and Sir Oldeheim were all floored.

 

Despite the anguish that must have gone through his body as he slid across the stone floor in his armor, Sir Oldeheim sprang to his feet and cried loudly.

 

“Do not despair in the face of darkness! To think of oneself as living is the Lord’s message, much more so than life after death! Rise and fight.”

 

The living felt their skin crawl with his distinct, almost frantic cry. The troops, who had not stopped fighting but had been temporarily startled, lifted their shields again and charged at the zombies.

 

“Yaaaah!”

 

“Death, to the stake!”

 

“Fear, to hell!”

 

“Burn!”

 

The castle was transformed into a chaotic battle, a mix of priestly prayers, shouts of encouragement, and death rattles.

 

“Graaaah!”

 

A long sword swept across the ground, aimed at Sir Deruka’s legs. Sir Deruka slid aside, just missing the blade.

 

As she rolled, she reached for a small circular shield strapped to her waist and stuck her left wrist through it.

 

The Paladin raced forward with holy power, the buckler protecting her left forearm and the longsword in her right hand.

 

Clank, clang, clang!

 

Three thrusts, a parry, and two dodges. Sir Deruka, who had narrowly chosen life over death, wielded her sword in the right hand.

 

The Dullahan responded by raising the severed head in its left hand. Its jaw, joined by threads of decaying flesh and sinew, opened, letting out a breath of chilly air and corruption.

 

“Guh!”

 

Sir Deruka, while having her buckler to shield her face and upper body, was nonetheless attacked in her exposed places.

 

Seizing the moment, one-armed Sir Oldeheim brought his left hand to his mouth and began reciting a prayer, a golden cross forming in his hand as he spoke.

 

The Paladin flung his glowing left palm forward, slamming it against the earth.

 

“In the name of the sun, be gone!”

 

A brilliant light erupted. The light was warm and blinding, like sunlight itself. The Dullahan, who had stopped exhaling the chill, screamed and staggered back. But the headless knight didn’t simply retreat.

 

Its emerald eyes, filled with rage and pain, flickered as the Dullahan drew back its shoulder and hurled it forward.

 

A flash of light. Puff! Looking down at the foreign thing, Sir Oldeheim noticed a sword sticking from his abdomen.

 

The elderly Paladin, grasping the weapon in his left hand, spoke through broken lips.

 

“I suppose I’ve gotten old. I could not see a single lance.”

 

“Sir Oldeheim!”

 

“Not me! Charge!”

 

Sir Deruka, who had cried out in surprise, raced at the Dullahan, tears running down her cheeks as she obeyed Sir Oldeheim’s orders.

 

Seeing the charging knight, the Dullahan tried to pull the spear out, but the spear blade wouldn’t budge from Oldeheim’s abdomen.

 

Sir Oldeheim’s skin was adorned with golden letters that flowed from his chest, over his shoulders, and down to his elbows, firmly binding the Dullahan’s haft.

 

The golden letters flowed to the Dullahan’s spear shaft, binding the headless knight’s entire body tightly.

 

Oldeheim, his face pale and devoid of any blood, smiled.

 

“It must be tedious for a fellow knight to be headless. Ahahaha!”

 

Before the Dullahan could even react, Deruka’s blade, imbued with holy power, cleaved the Dullahan’s upper body in two and shattered its head.

 

One of the mounted, headless knights was annihilated. Only two Dullahan remained, and even those appeared to be on the point of collapse as the Paladins and knights launched a joint assault.

 

At that point, one of the Dullahan, brandishing a gigantic double-bladed axe while fighting a desperate rearguard action, released its stored energy and slammed it into the earth.

 

Boom!

 

The wall shook as if an earthquake had struck, and soldiers who lost their balance fell on their backsides or tumbled over. Seizing the opportunity, the two surviving Dullahan retreated from the wall and fell off the edge.

 

However, the true attack was not an earthquake-like shockwave.

 

“Gwaaaargh!”

 

With a guttural roar, a swarm of corpses and zombies surrounded a single draugr.

 

The same thing was occurring everywhere. Zombies swarming over ghouls or draugr swiftly created a horrific mass of flesh, foul fluids, and blood.

 

The black mist clung to the disgusting heap of flesh. The mass’s surface began to melt, and in an instant, arms clothed in scarlet muscle and decaying flesh erupted.

 

“Kyaaaaah!”

 

The enormous corpse sphere, formed by the fusion of corpses and zombies, began to roll forward, swinging its hundreds of arms.

 

The sphere, crushing even its own kind as it rolled, simultaneously grew in size, and collided with the wall.

 

Boom!

 

The ramparts collapsed, scattering stone fragments and dust like a cloud. When the corpse sphere collided with the divine-infused wall, it shrank in size as dozens of corpses burned and dropped away.

 

However, unlike the ramparts, which could be replaced by the priests’ waning energy, the corpse sphere possessed an infinite supply of undead behind it.

 

Boom!

 

Four more corpse spheres collided with the wall and burst into flames. But the wall, now significantly weaker, was barely holding them back.

 

Seeing the damaged ramparts, cracked and uneven, the knights and paladins shouted orders.

 

“Fall back! Fall back and form ranks!”

 

“Where are the priests? Priests!”

 

“Pour holy water as you retreat!”

 

“Archers! Archers, prepare to fire!”

 

The archers, who had not retreated, notched arrows onto their bows. They had very few arrows remaining. So, the remaining archers notched three or four arrows at a time and aimed them at the corpse spheres.

 

Twip, thwip, thwip!

 

Two of the corpse spheres rolled forward with inexorable velocity.

 

“Fire!”

 

Swish, swish!

 

As previously, dozens of dark streaks sliced through the sky. However, their numbers were substantially lower than before.

 

The arrows that hit the corpse spheres caused one of the piles of corpses to collapse. But the other one kept rolling and crashed into the gate.

 

Rumble!

 

The stones tumbled with a loud roar, causing one side of the ramparts to crumble.

 

Black mist filled the space left by the fallen rocks, pouring forward like a tidal wave. So did the undead.

 

Kyaaaaah!

 

Eeeeeeeek!

 

Wraiths shrieked as they swooped over the sky. The soldiers’ brains were muddled by the weird noise, which was supposed to numb their senses, inspire fear, and drain their desire to survive.

 

Below them, dead children, their small bodies writhing, surged forward. The children, who had died before they could even live their lives, still had most of their skin intact, but their lack of a beating heart and the sprouting blue and black veins made them horrifying.

 

The soldiers, appalled by the grotesque look of the zombie children, began to retreat, long spears at the ready.

 

Thud!

 

A knight leapt from the ruined ramparts and swung his sword, his silver hair flowing behind him.

 

The torrent of magic gathered in the blade transformed into light energy in an instant. The area exploded with such intensity that it seemed as if the sun had descended to earth for a moment.

 

Dozens of zombies and wraiths were shattered and scattered by the light, and a radius of several dozen meters was as clean as if it had been swept by a broom.

 

“Your Highness!”

 

“Long live Your Highness!”

 

The warriors, with their lives saved, shouted the name of their rescuer.

 

Julia, her sword at her side, estimated her remaining energy.

 

‘Six more times.’

 

That was the number of attacks, like the one she had just launched, that she could still handle. However, given the number of zombies still there, it was tragically inadequate.

 

And the crisis facing the Temple and the Empire had only just begun.

 

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