Chapter 77: Decisive Battle
Casper narrowed his eyes as several figures broke away toward the flanks.
"What are they doing?" he muttered.
Joe unsheathed his sword. "Trying something sneaky?"
Casper spat on the ground. "We've got the numbers. We crush them now! MOVE!"
Fifty armed men roared and surged forward.
The distance shrank—400 meters… 350… 300…
Then—
Fwooo—
A single whistling streak tore across the battlefield.
A yellow-aura arrow slammed into a blonde man's neck.
He toppled with a wet choke.
Casper barked, "Run faster! Archers lose accuracy if we move fast!"
He swung a rifle off his back.
"One-third—ready rifles! Wait for my signal!"
His men yanked rifles free as they ran.
At 200 meters—
"Slow!"
Boots skidded. Rifles rose as one.
"Marksmen—position!"
"Target their horses!"
Casper grinned. A dead horse was a dead cavalry.
The enemy vanguard thundered closer—
180 meters…
"FIRE!"
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Gunfire cracked the morning air.
But as the bullets closed in—
THWUMMM—
An invisible dome snapped into existence around the cavalry.
Bullets flattened against it like raindrops on stone.
"W-What—?!" Casper choked.
Before he could react—
Screams erupted behind him.
He spun around.
Over a dozen of his own men lay sprawled in the dirt—throats pierced, eyes glazed. More toppled screaming as arrows sliced through armor.
Yellow-aura arrows rained from both flanks.
"Close combat!" Casper roared. "Closing in is safer than staying still! MOVE!"
He noticed leaves and dust swirling on his left.
"Wind Bind!"
Memphis's voice cracked through the chaos.
Compressed air lashed like spectral vines, wrapping two of Casper's flankers and slamming them into the ground.
Kevin didn't even glance at them. "Ignore them! Kill the archers!"
But—
"Ice Shards!"
Shimmering spikes burst from Miley's palm, shredding two more enemies on the opposite flank.
Someone screamed—
"WIZARDS?! You didn't say there'd be Wizards!"
"SHUT UP!" Casper bellowed, aura erupting around his sword.
The blade glowed red-hot.
Ronald's eyes lit up as he spotted the aura gleam.
"Found him!" He pointed forward. "Sir Jacob!"
Jacob's response was a chilly whisper.
"I'll handle him."
The vanguard hit 80 meters.
"Split," Ronald called.
Quincy and the spear squad veered sideways, opening a straight shooting lane.
Jacob leveled the Aether rifle.
His grip tightened.
BANG!
A hypersonic round tore through the windshield spell and streaked straight at Casper.
His spirit warned him at the last instant.
Casper's face twisted, aura flooding his sword as he swung.
CLANG!!
A metallic shockwave blasted the ground. Dirt exploded. Casper slid back, boots carving trenches. His arm went numb, blood dripping down his lip.
"Gah—!"
Before he steadied—
BANG!
Jacob fired again.
This round hit the ground in front of Casper—
BOOM!
Dust and debris erupted, scattering his men.
"IT'S AN AETHER WEAPON!"
"RUN!"
"TAKE COVER!"
Panic poured through the formation.
Casper's teeth rattled. The battlefield was collapsing.
And worse—
A freezing wave swept outward.
Miley unleashed Frost Pulse, Ice Shards, Freezing Gust—locking legs, numbing joints, dropping men screaming.
Fire followed.
Memphis hurled a Fire Orb, detonating flames across the disorganized ranks.
The smell of burned hair and screams filled the air.
And then—
The cavalry arrived.
Quincy's vanguard speared into the broken front line in a wedge.
"FORMATION M!"
Spearpoints glinted. Horses crashed in like thunder.
Bodies flew. Armor cracked. Men were skewered, trampled, crushed.
"Kill them all!" Ronald roared, charging behind them with Rebecca.
"[Shade Needles]!"
Multiple black needles burst from Rebecca's hand, slicing through fleeing targets with surgical precision.
Felicity unleashed arrow after arrow from the right flank. Fiona mirrored from the left. Every shot dropped another man. The crossfire shredded Casper's formation.
Kevin and Gerald—the two who'd been sent to assassinate the archers—were caught by Alexis, Augustus, Westin, and Scott.
Four Radiant Walkers vs. two.
Kevin and Gerald didn't last thirty seconds.
Casper clashed with Quincy—his red aura overwhelming her. He pushed her back hard enough that her spear bent under pressure.
He was stronger. Faster. Deadlier.
An Expert Rank vs. Peak Radiant was no contest.
But Casper wasn't focused on Quincy.
He kept glancing beyond her—toward Jacob.
Toward death.
"That damned bald sniper…" he spat.
Then something flickered behind him.
A blue-robed youth appeared like a streak of lightning.
"Bolt!"
Electricity blasted Casper's back.
His muscles seized.
"Ambush—!"
BANG!
A round punched through his abdomen.
He staggered, coughing blood, instinct barely saving him from a chest shot.
Quincy lunged, aiming to finish him—
But Casper roared and swung, unleashing a shockwave that pushed her back.
He looked around, trembling.
More than thirty of his men were dead or dying.
Arrows rained. Spells burst. Screams filled the air.
They were being butchered.
"Joe!" Casper roared. "Kill the sniper!"
Joe raised his spear, coated it in a yellow aura, and hurled it with every ounce of strength.
The spear tore toward Jacob—
"Block it!" Ronald ordered calmly.
Rebecca raised a hand.
[Umbral Shield]
A black dome enveloped Jacob.
The spear struck—
THUNK.
Stopped dead.
Joe's jaw dropped.
Jacob didn't even blink.
"I was waiting."
BANG!
A bullet drilled through Joe's forehead.
He hit the dirt—eyes wide in shock.
"NO!" Casper's voice cracked.
Before he could move—
[Shadow Chains]!
Spectral chains erupted beneath his feet, wrapping around his limbs and torso.
He struggled. The chains tightened.
Jacob rode closer, rifle aimed at Casper's skull.
"Surrender," he said softly. Coldly.
There was no mercy in his voice.
Casper snarled. "I'll kill you—ALL OF YOU—"
BANG.
The bullet punched through his forehead, snapping his head back.
His body crumpled.
Silence rippled across the battlefield.
The remaining survivors screamed and tried to flee.
"Don't let them escape!" Ronald yelled. "Not one!"
Fiona, Felicity, and the flanking squads closed in, trapping the remnants in a tightening noose.
Within minutes, all enemies were either dead or subdued.
Jacob exhaled calmly and turned his horse.
"We'll clean up here. Quincy—take your team. Go assist our young Lord."
"Roger!"
Quincy spurred her horse forward, leading the vanguard toward the town gates—
and toward the real battle waiting inside.
…
A few moments before.
Raven and Marcellus stepped into the ruins just as the battle outside the walls started.
Cobblestones lay cracked like old teeth. Roofs sagged or had collapsed entirely, exposing skeletal beams. Tents—bell tents—crowded the town square like a temporary military encampment.
Marcellus frowned. "Bell tents? They've lived here for a while."
Raven's eyes drifted toward the mansion looming at the town's center. "At least a decade."
"What were they doing here all this time?"
"No idea."
Raven pulled out two potions and slipped them into his coat. Then he drew his spear and… began practicing.
He stabbed forward. Spun. Whirled. Lunged to the side. Swapped grips. Practiced footwork. All with calm repetition.
Marcellus watched, baffled. "My lord… what are you doing?"
"Preparation." Raven paused, then added calmly, "If I shout 'Nightfall,' run in a different direction."
Marcellus nodded. "Understood. But should we go meet them? Or will they—?"
"He'll come to us."
Marcellus opened his mouth to question further, but a presence flickered at the edge of his perception. Someone approached—not walking, but streaking forward like a blur.
Marcellus' expression tightened. "He's here."
Raven stopped moving and turned.
A man stepped out of the misted ruins—a middle-aged figure with dark brown hair, handlebar mustache, and cold brown eyes. His gait was composed, yet predatory.
"Ha… they couldn't even do one job properly," he sighed.
Raven's eyes narrowed. I didn't feel him approach at all.
"Are you Jared Duskbane?" he asked.
Jared blinked in surprise. "Oh? You know my name? Hm. Doesn't matter."
Marcellus unsheathed his sword with a sharp hiss. Red aura flared over the blade.
"An Expert Rank swordsman…?" Jared murmured. "Interesting."
Then Jared raised his hand.
"Arise."
Red magic circles flared across the broken ground like burning glyphs.
Skeletons clawed their way out—steel helms, iron armor, rusted weapons. More than a dozen. Reddish light burned inside their sockets.
Two among them towered like crimson giants—two-meter-tall, bones stained the color of dried blood.
Raven adjusted his monocle.
"Expert Rank undead…" he whispered. Their lifeless eyes fixed on him, eerily intelligent.
The rest were Radiant Rank.
Marcellus stepped forward. His voice was even. "Leave the Expert ones to me. Handle the Radiants, my lord."
Raven nodded.
The fight began instantly.
Jared lifted his hand.
"Grave Fog."
A thick, grey-black mist gushed out of the broken soil, swallowing the town square in less than three seconds. Vision disappeared almost instantly.
But Raven's pupils constricted.
His [Mind Eye] activated on reflex, clearing a twenty-meter radius in his vision.
Shapes lurked inside the fog—jerking, unnatural, bone-scraping stone.
A skeleton burst from the side, axe raised.
Raven slipped under the blade, pivoted, and exhaled:
Ice Breath.
Frost erupted in an arc, freezing three skeletons solid. Raven spun his spear—yellow aura pouring along the blade—and shattered them in glittering shards.
"Elapsed Illusion."
A perfect double of Raven burst to the right. Half the skeletons instantly chased it.
Marcellus slammed into the first Expert Undead with an explosion of aura.
The skeleton's greatsword slammed down, shattering cobblestones.
Marcellus vanished in a red blur.
"Step Slash."
He reappeared behind it—his blade drawing a precise crimson line down its spine. Bone splintered.
The second undead lunged. Marcellus met its charge mid-air, blades clashing. Sparks burst as Iron Guard shimmered around him, deflecting the blow.
He landed lightly and moved again.
Jared watched Raven silently through the fog.
"You're fast," he said. "But speed alone won't save you."
A red rune circle lit up beneath Raven.
"Corpse Beacon."
Three skeletons erupted from the soil beneath his feet.
Raven smirked.
He stepped back—and vanished.
Shadow Teleport.
He reappeared behind Jared.
His face twisted—morphing back into his true features.
A slit opened vertically on his forehead.
A golden, lightning-threaded eye snapped open.
"Eye of Destruction."
A spiraling beam of lightning shot straight for Jared's head.
Jared's expression broke. He slapped both hands outward.
"Grave Shield!"
Skeletal arms burst from the mist—forming a bone wall.
The Eye's beam pierced three layers before sputtering out.
"Damn—!" Jared cursed and retreated deeper into the fog.
His voice echoed, warped with malice.
"Wail of the Damned!"
Every undead shrieked at once—an ethereal howl that clawed into flesh and bone.
Raven's lungs seized. His knees buckled.
Marcellus staggered mid-strike, blood dripping from his bitten lip.
"You'll have to scream louder," Marcellus snarled.
His blade ignited in a red aura.
He spun, bisecting one Expert skeleton—bones exploding outward.
Raven staggered as a skeleton lunged behind him—
BOOM!
It detonated.
Raven flew back, rolling across the stone. Blood splattered from his mouth.
Jared laughed.
"I can make them all explode."
"And I can end you with this."
Radiant skeletons closed in—seven of them—encircling Raven with weapons raised.
Raven only gripped his spear tighter.
He uncorked both potions and drank them in one swallow.
Heat exploded through his veins.
Bones hardened.
Muscles tightened.
Blood surged like boiling magma.
Mind Eye spell also activated, accelerating thoughts.
The world slowed.
His Spirit surged. Strength and Agility skyrocketed—straight to Peak Radiant Rank.
Raven inhaled.
And exhaled—
Ice Breath!
A sheet of killing frost enveloped the incoming skeletons, freezing them mid-step.
He swept his spear in a spinning arc—yellow and icy aura merging. Bones shattered like fragile glass.
Jared charged, eyes glowing.
Raven didn't flee.
He jabbed his spear into his own arm—deep enough to bleed—and let the blood drip into the fog.
"Poison Mist."
Invisible crimson mist seeped through the Grave Fog. Jared inhaled it unknowingly.
Raven glanced toward Marcellus and yelled—
"Nightfall!"
Marcellus killed the second Expert undead with a final thrust through the skull. Without hesitation, he turned and sprinted toward the clear side of the battlefield.
Raven blurred—
Shadow Teleport!
He reappeared a hundred meters away, clutching his spear.
Marcellus joined him. "You alive?"
"Barely," Raven muttered.
The fog thinned.
Jared staggered into view—swaying, clutching his chest. Blood streamed from his nose and ears.
"Y-you… pest… What did you—?"
Raven raised a hand, forming his fingers like a gun.
"And I'm not alone."
He whispered:
"Bang."
A crack—sharp as lightning—split the air.
BANG!
A hypersonic bullet punched clean through Jared's forehead.
His skull burst like a smashed melon.
The headless corpse flew back and slammed into a ruined house.
Raven lowered his hand and sank onto the debris.
"That was… a perfect shot."
…