The forest at night was originally very quiet. Aside from the occasional crackle and pop from the campfire, the only sound was the frequent yawning of Levinel.
He sat by the fire, leaning on his staff with one hand and supporting his chin with the other, his eyelids already beginning to fight to stay open.
After all, he was no longer young, and staying up late was becoming increasingly unfriendly to him.
Just as he was about to sneak his eyes shut for a quick nap—
“Hoot, hoot—”
A flock of birds was suddenly startled from the distant trees, flapping frantically into the night sky as if frightened by something.
Levinel's eyes snapped open, his previous drowsiness vanishing in an instant.
He squinted in the direction where the birds had been startled, the laziness in his gaze replaced by a cautious sharpness.
“...It seems we have trouble.”
Not long after he spoke, dozens of stumbling figures could be faintly seen approaching from deep within the nearby forest.
Their movements were stiff and sluggish, and some had eerie blue flames burning in their eye sockets.
Levinel immediately woke the others.
Selby woke up the moment he sensed the commotion.
He was an extremely alert person to begin with, not to mention that in this kind of wilderness environment, he only dared to sleep in a light state of consciousness.
As soon as he woke, he saw Levinel's solemn expression. Following Levinel's gaze into the distance, Selby's brow instantly furrowed into a tight knot.
“Could these be...”
“Yes, undead.” Levinel's face looked rather grim, his tone heavier than ever before. “And for so many undead to appear at once, there must be a necromancer pulling the strings from the shadows nearby.”
Selby quickly stood up and asked in a low voice, “Can you locate them?”
Levinel closed his eyes to sense for a few seconds, then shook his head helplessly. “No, their presence is masked. I can't capture any trace of their magical aura at all.”
These words carried significant weight.
Either the other party's methods of concealing their presence were peak-tier, or their strength was far superior to his.
Whatever the case, it was not good news.
“This is trouble.” Selby drew his longsword, the blade reflecting the cold light of the campfire. He turned and ordered the two newly awakened young knights, “Get your weapons ready. Prepare to engage the enemy.”
“Yes, sir!” The two knights instantly snapped awake, the sound of their swords being drawn ringing out sharply in the night.
By the campfire, Shiruya crawled out of her tent with sleepy eyes. Seeing everyone looking as if they were facing a formidable enemy, she immediately guessed that something was wrong and quickly stepped forward.
“Uncle Selby, Uncle Levinel, is there anything I can do?”
Her tone was earnest, carrying a stubbornness that said, “I know I am the weakest, but I don't want to be a burden.”
Selby waved his hand, about to say something, but he was interrupted by Levinel's chuckle.
“Don't be so serious, Selby.”
Levinel smiled warmly at Shiruya, his tone relaxed.
“Actually, I really do need Shiruya's help with a big favor.”
Shiruya's eyes lit up instantly. “Really? What is it?”
“You are a half-elf, so your affinity for magic is higher than ours.”
Levinel said seriously, “Try your best to sense if there are any magic fluctuations nearby that differ significantly from the surrounding environment. That place is very likely where the necromancer is hiding.”
“Just do your best; don't put too much pressure on yourself,” he added, his voice filled with the characteristic care of an elder. “It doesn't matter if you can't find anything. Safety first.”
“Okay, Uncle Levinel!” Shiruya nodded vigorously and immediately closed her eyes, focusing intently on sensing the surrounding flow of magic.
Seeing this, Selby did not object further.
Levinel was speaking the truth; a half-elf's magical affinity was indeed a notch above a human's, making Shiruya far more suited for this task than anyone else.
After arranging things for Shiruya, Levinel turned to look at the young man on the other side who was also wearing a mage robe—his apprentice, Phelin.
“Phelin, join me. Let's use our spells to clear out some of those undead first.”
“Yes, Master.” Phelin gripped his staff, his expression far more serious than Levinel's.
The distant undead had already wobbled to within a hundred meters.
Levinel and Phelin raised their staffs simultaneously, their lips moving rapidly as they chanted lengthy incantations.
Faint blue, translucent magic circles hovered in front of them, and fist-sized fireballs condensed within the arrays.
“Boom! Boom! Boom!”
More than a dozen fireballs, dragging crimson trails of flame, crashed into the horde of undead. The soaring firelight instantly tore through the dark night of the forest, illuminating the closing undead.
Among the undead, there were not only walking corpses covered in rotting flesh but also pale bodies that looked as though they had just been dug up from graves.
However, the majority were still skeletal undead.
The walking corpses struck by the fireballs burst into raging flames, their flesh sizzling with a sickening sound as it burned.
Unfortunately, these undead felt no pain at all. Even while engulfed in flames, they continued to shuffle forward stiffly. However, the burning bodies dragged down their speed, making their movements noticeably slower.
“Tsk, these things burn better than I expected,” Levinel muttered, though his hands did not stop.
Meanwhile, Selby had already charged out with his sword.
“Starlight Slash!”
With a soft shout, a pale blue light erupted along the blade. A crescent-shaped sword light swept past, slicing a rotting corpse clean in half.
Unleashing the full extent of his Silver Rank mid-stage strength, Selby maneuvered through the undead horde. His sword light danced, and the undead collapsed one after another.
Before long, he had cleared out an open space around himself.
Levinel watched Selby tearing through the enemies and couldn't help but feel astonished.
“When did Selby break through to Silver Rank?”
He remembered that Selby was only at Bronze Rank mid-stage when they last met. How long had it been since then for him to jump a whole rank?
“It looks like I can't lose either.” Levinel pulled back his surprise, lifting his chin. “After all, I'm a proper Mage. I can't let a Knight show me up.”
With those words, he abruptly increased his mana output. The magic circle in front of him suddenly expanded, and a dense volley of fireballs shot out one after another.
The dense rain of fire pressed heavily against the undead line. A massive number of walking corpses and skeletons crumbled to the ground amidst the flames, halting the advance of the undead entirely for the moment.
Rate on N.U.
