Chapter 293: Episode 293

The battle on the Nihalas Plains raged day and night. The Eastern Alliance established an outpost, supplied through a gate, and used the druids’ magic to create a superior surveillance network. The commander-in-chief was Duke Jespein Sgainer of the Ashlan Kingdom, supported by commanders from the most powerful noble houses of the allied nations. All were seasoned veterans, skilled in tactics and strategy, and more than capable of leading the massive army. Duke Jespein, Count Rowaltz, and Viscount Vercaron were particularly renowned for their martial prowess, considered by many to be potential new superhumans. With the four bishops from the Cult of Abundance, their strength was easily a match for the Enais Kingdom’s two superhumans and S-rank raiders.

“Waaaaaaah!”

“Smash their heads! They’re nothing but corpses!”

“Use fire! Burn them all!”

The tide of battle seemed to be turning in the Alliance’s favor. Hyunjun, observing on Taehyun’s orders, watched the army of 600,000 and revised his assessment.

’I thought they’d be no match since Leon absorbed the Tarantula faction, but this changes things. Those four in particular are dangerous.’

From the rear, the four bishops supported their troops, using earth magic to completely dominate sections of the battlefield. Their techniques were unlike any skills he had ever seen, strange and difficult to comprehend.

[A-rank Named Guardian Ragna’s Insightful Eye is being cast.]

[Vision is being shared through Ragna.]

He already had a clear view of the plains. All he needed to do was report the numbers and disposition of the two armies, and his mission would be complete. Ragna meticulously scanned the clashing forces and the druid contingent, his head swiveling. Suddenly, his gaze met that of one of the four bishops, the one who had particularly caught his eye.

Ragna gasped.

“What is it?” Hyunjun asked sharply.

“…I think we’ve been spotted.”

The druid’s eyes were deep and unreadable. It felt as if he knew their exact location but was choosing to let them go. The druids of the East, wielders of unknown powers. They might be more dangerous than the two superhumans. Hyunjun saw the cold sweat on Ragna’s brow and nodded.

“We’re pulling back. We have more than enough information for a report. Taehyun will be satisfied.”

“Understood.”

They were here for reconnaissance, not to reveal themselves as a third party. Hyunjun and Ragna used a movement item and returned to the dungeon.

—

Meanwhile, in the rear of the Alliance army, Diponta, the Druid of Insight, blinked several times before speaking.

“Hmmmm. A Dungeon Master was observing the plains just now. Judging by his familiar’s vision skill, he was here for reconnaissance, but his purpose remains unclear.”

Through the Earth’s Blessing, he had gained the Power of Insight. No matter how far one was, they could not deceive his third eye. Within the Order, his ability was even compared to the clairvoyance of the raider Hyacinth; in a contest of vision, he was supreme.

The three bishops beside him considered this.

“How should we handle this?”

“For now, I believe it’s best to leave them be. I don’t know what faction they belong to, but they don’t seem poised to act immediately. It would be wise to focus on the war.”

“Even so, it is suspicious. A Dungeon Master… It’s possible they’re simply from a nearby dungeon, but… hmmm.”

The longer they deliberated, the more their opinions diverged. Their debate was cut short when Nephelian pointed to the heart of the battlefield.

“Look. It seems the necromancer has finally shown himself.”

“Hmmm, so that is the necromancer allied with the Enais Kingdom. The rumors of a leader of an undead army appear to be true.”

“It seems it is time for us to act.”

A figure hovered in the air above the Enais forces, breathing new life into the fallen. He relentlessly revived the dead soldiers, steadily chipping away at the Eastern Alliance’s strength.

The four bishops split into pairs, fanning out to the left and right as they infiltrated the heart of the battlefield. The first to act was Runtas, the Druid of the Firmament, who strode through the sky as if it were solid ground and extended a hand toward the necromancer.

[Runtas, the Druid of the Firmament, has cast Annihilation of the Firmament.]

[Light imbued with the energy of the heavens rushes toward the designated target.]

Lances of celestial light rained down from above. This was no mere spell woven from mana; it was a technique born from the raw energy of the earth and sky, and it shot with unerring precision toward its target. The necromancer, still feasting on the life force of the Federation army, had no time to flee before the Annihilation of the Firmament struck. In that same instant, a man concealed within the kingdom’s ranks raised a massive shield.

[S-rank Named Keeper, Magdas the Desperate, has cast Trajectory Change.]

[Annihilation of the Firmament now heads toward Magdas.]

The torrent of light diverted, crashing down upon Magdas. He stood his ground, not yielding a single inch as he weathered the celestial assault with his shield.

“So they haven’t just allied with the necromancer, but with the Dungeon Masters themselves,” Runtas muttered, his voice laced with contempt. “To think their main forces are showing up now.”

“The same could be said for you, Runtas!” a new voice boomed.

“What?!” Runtas gasped.

From within the kingdom’s army, the dungeons’ core combatants began to emerge. The four bishops immediately engaged, each taking on a Guardian or a Keeper. Amid the chaos, the necromancer made a casual gesture in the air.

[S-rank Named Guardian, Flyten the Blood-Red Necromancer, has cast Undying Legion.]

[The morale of the undead soldiers rises.]

[All stats of the undead soldiers are doubled.]

This was the skill that forged a truly deathless army. The undead soldiers shrieked, a cacophony of guttural roars and piercing screeches filling the air as their eyes flared with unholy light.

“Kuaaaargh!”

“Kraaaaaaah!”

“Kieeeek!”

A creeping madness began to consume the battlefield. The undead charged relentlessly, their severed limbs doing nothing to slow their advance, sowing terror throughout the Eastern Federation’s ranks. The flustered commanders bellowed new orders.

“Don’t fall back! Cut off their legs so they can’t move!”

“Sir, their bodies… they’re regenerating!” a soldier screamed in panic.

“Dammit! What are the archers doing? Take down that necromancer!”

Every unit, from the archers to the magic corps, took aim at the necromancer, but the dungeon’s main forces formed a protective screen, making it nearly impossible to land a clean shot. In the end, it was an item from a Dungeon Master in the rear that decisively turned the tide.

[Dungeon Master Soohyun Jeong of Cinamol has used Forced Position Change.]

[The positions of the enemy soldiers in the rear are changed to the front of the undead soldiers.]

Chaos erupted. The support troops, who had been unleashing a constant barrage of magic and arrows, were instantly teleported to the epicenter of the battle, thrown into the worst imaginable situation.

“This is where the shield bearers were!”

“Run… ’Aaargh!’ This bastard bit me!”

“Fall back! Retreat immediately!”

The frenzied horde of undead soldiers engulfed the twenty thousand troops, slaughtering them where they stood with no chance to escape. The commander-in-chief, Jespain, seeing the situation spiral, ordered the shield bearers forward to mitigate the losses, but his efforts were met with another crushing blow.

[S-rank Named Guardian, Flyten the Blood-Red Necromancer, has cast Army of Death.]

[S-rank Named Keeper, Magdas the Desperate, has cast Inescapable Wall.]

[S-rank Hero Guardian, Pesla of the Apocalypse, has cast Inferno Zone.]

In a coordinated strike, the enemy’s main forces unleashed their limited-use skills, sealing the escape route. A colossal wall erupted from the ground, trapping the long-range units as the very earth beneath them began to boil. They perished one by one, caught between an impassable barrier and a searing inferno.

“Retreat! Retreat!” Jespain finally roared.

He had no choice but to pull the entire Federation army from the Nihallas Plains. Meanwhile, the four bishops summoned massive tree trunks, using them to vault over the wall.

“Dungeon Masters and their main forces,” Runtas mused, catching his breath. “Combined with their items, they can easily leverage these undead to control the flow of battle.”

“This is no time for analysis,” Nephelian, the Druid of Life, countered sharply. “The Raider unit hasn’t even crossed through the gate yet. We need to focus on the second engagement.”

“I know,” Runtas replied. “Let’s just consider this a light warm-up…”

As he nodded, a chilling killing intent washed over him from behind. Runtas’s eyes widened as he pinpointed its source. In that same instant, a colossal sword plummeted from the sky.

[SS-rank Mercenary, Sword Saint Repild, has cast Falling Sword.]

[Movements are temporarily slowed.]

It was the skill of a new, terrifying power. Staggered by the immense wave of mana, the four bishops desperately cast their own spells.

[Runtas, the Druid of the Firmament, has cast Judgment of the Firmament.]

[Nephelian, the Druid of Life, has cast Miraculous Revival.]

[Diponta, the Druid of Insight, has cast Twisted Will.]

[Pelsuang, the Druid of Souls, has cast Restricted Gesture.]

Their spells erupted in unison. Four techniques, each imbued with the power of the earth, slammed into the descending blade. A spiderweb of cracks spread across the massive sword’s surface. Pouring every ounce of their energy into the counterattack, the bishops finally shattered the falling sword.

“Incredible,” Runtas breathed, shaken. “If there were only two of us, we would have been annihilated.”

“We need to retreat, now!” Nephelian urged. “This way!”

“Understood!”

Without the Federation army to support them, they were no match for the enemy’s full might. They fled through a tunnel of woven trees created by Nephelian. As Runtas, the last to enter, glanced back, his eyes met those of the Sword Saint.

’That one is extremely dangerous,’ he thought.

The young man stood watching them, clad in no armor, his arms crossed nonchalantly. But the lethal aura radiating from him was unmistakable. He was a powerhouse on par with any two of them combined. For a moment, Runtas and Repild’s gazes locked, and then they both turned away.

—

The first battle on the Nihallas Plains ended with the Eastern Federation’s retreat—an outcome no one had foreseen. The Ashlan Kingdom tried to exert political pressure by publicizing the Erneis Kingdom’s alliance with Dungeon Masters and their undead armies, but King Leon van Noah offered no comment, maintaining a stony silence.

The news sent shockwaves across the continent. Nations grew wary of the demon factions, voicing their condemnation. The Gogol Kingdom, which had suffered the most in the last war between demons, officially declared its participation, steering the conflict in an unexpected direction.

Meanwhile, the Eastern Raider unit finally crossed into the West, joining the Federation army and preparing for a second clash on the Nihallas Plains.

“If Dungeon Masters are involved, we can certainly help.”

“For a commission this large, it’s the least we can do.”

“We will handle the dungeon’s main forces.”

The S-rank Raiders—Perun, Hyacinth, Smekline, Kolst, Qun, and Reitzharten—had joined the fray. An additional five thousand A-rank Raiders, hired through commissions, formed a separate unit. They appointed the veteran Hyacinth as their commander, tasking her with countering the enemy’s special items and core soldiers. Furthermore, four thousand more druids arrived to reinforce the existing two thousand, causing their military strength to skyrocket.

“It’s not just the necromancer and his soldiers,” Runtas warned the other commanders. “There is another monster, one on par with Duke Centrix and Viscount Crowell. We must devise a countermeasure.”

“Let’s observe the situation in the second battle,” Nephelian suggested. “We can request more bishops if necessary.”

“No,” Runtas insisted, his voice grim. “I saw him with my own two eyes. That man, Sword Saint Repild, is not an opponent we can face alone. Contact the temple immediately. Request more bishops.”

The emergence of this new powerhouse changed everything. The Church of Abundance dispatched six more bishops, ordering them to seize Golpein Territory.

“If even the demons have joined them, there is no room for hesitation,” declared Archbishop Messiah. “I am sending the Bishop of Light, the Bishop of Wind, the Bishop of Flame, the Bishop of Water, the Bishop of Protection, and the Bishop of Silence. You ’must’ capture Golpein Territory.”

The Archbishop’s command was the will of the earth itself. With renewed resolve, the bishops prepared for the second battle.

—

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