The legendary Moonlight Sculptor

V52C2P1 - Catastrophic Backfire

"This is bad."

Crebulta had served as a fine commander of the 7th Legion so far.

He was popular within the Hermes guild; he knew how to command an army and was officially ranked 8th based on level.

He was at a loss for words when he saw Weed kill Calcus and roam through the 4th Legion.

"I knew he was powerful. I suspected that he had a few tricks up his sleeve, but to think his skills were this advanced…"

It wasn't just a matter of a couple of skills or hidden equipment.

Weed flawlessly blended the strongest traits of multiple classes into wondrous battle tactics.

Crebulta was envious of Weed, who seemed to shine so brightly, and especially so because of the way he masterfully used all of his classes and brought out their maximum potential.

"He's probably more powerful amidst the undead. I won't have a chance one on one."

Crebulta had prepared a trump card for this battle.

Demon armor Kranossa.

An armor that retaliated to any attack by dealing five times as much damage to the attacker as they had dealt to its wearer. It caused their own attacks to lead them to their demise.

"It won't be too useful since he's a Lich, but I know that Heiller has prepared the holy sword."

A veteran with the holy sword, supported by a reliable warrior.

Crebulta whispered to Heiller.

- Crebulta: Let's make a joint attack.

- Heiller : Alright. I will head over.

…

The 6th Legion's commander, Gross, had rallied up all of his forces and was galloping with excitement.

"Charge through! We are close to the objective!"

The army overcame the plains of zombies and skeletons, as well as the resistance of the northern users.

- Crebulta : Calcus was taken down by Weed in a surprise attack. All men stay alert.

The news was conveyed through the commanders' channel, but it could not stop the charge of an entire Imperial Legion.

The surroundings were filled with northern users and the undead. They were already riding towards Weed and could no longer get off the tiger's back [E/N: referring to the idiom "riding on the back of a tiger and finding it hard to get off", where you can't stop halfway through].

"Dumb Calcus. I knew he would die sooner or later."

While he was busy commanding the army, he watched the video of the battle between Calcus and Weed.

"Calcus got complacent and went down totally unprepared. Even if he had fought properly, he would still have lost due to the Lich's special traits."

Calcus the Butcher.

Due to the nature of his class, the more he killed, the more his combat abilities improved and the higher number of skills he could use. It seemed rather fortunate that he died without using all of them.

"I should be able to do better than him. I don't really have much of a choice anyway."

Gross had no guarantee that he would win, but he did not expect to lose either.

His class was Warrior!

When raiding boss-level monsters, he stood on the frontlines ahead of all the other Hermes Guild members.

Warriors could withstand an enemy more than 10 times stronger than themselves, as long as they were geared with reliable equipment and supported by priests.

"We will win as long as we don't die. If we manage to stick close to Weed long enough to appear on broadcast, we'll be heroes."

A confidence born from surviving the most ferocious of attacks.

The 6th Legion's numbers had been cut in half after taking heavy casualties from Farmer Miretas and the elven users.

The core military forces were still standing, but in terms of military strength they could not last until the end of the battle of the Garnav Plains.

"We are going to be annihilated anyway. Let's just charge with all our remaining forces"

Gross's decision was to commence a final charge to end the battle.

The idea of going down in a blaze of glory boosted the morale of the 6th Legion.

"It will be jackpot if we capture Weed with our hands, and if not… At least we will be praised for putting up a good fight."

"Our accomplishment will be recognized greatly if the Haven Empire wins."

"We might even appear in an ad."

The ranked users under the 6th Legion were also thinking the same.

The warriors led by Gross were obsessed with fighting.

"If the empire is defeated we will be dead anyway."

"Alright then. Plain and simple."

Hence it was decided to follow through with the all-in strategy.

None of them looked back as they led the blazing charge.

They darted through the northern users and the undead in a straight path, without worrying about their forces being dispersed or about the front and back halves of their formation being separated.

"Weed. We have come!"

"We are the invulnerable 6th Legion. The heroes that will end the battle of the Garnav Plains!"

The Hermes Guild members and the Imperial troops approached menacingly, gradually closing the distance.

"Weed! We have come to punish you for your arrogance."

Gross used the Battle Cry skill.

"I, Gross, the Imperial Army's best Warrior, will cut you down!"

His cry spread across the battlefield.

His speech sounded archaic and downright cheesy, but the thrill of shouting such words before the start of a battle was something that only those who had done it could understand.

Weed, who was wreaking havoc amid the 4th Legion, soared up into the sky and cried!

"I was waiting for the strong to challenge me. Are you ready to relieve me of my loneliness?"

Gross's face brightened suddenly.

He had planned to shout one more line before he headed into battle.

But unexpectedly, Weed played along with his hero roleplay.

Gross pulled out his sword and gripped it tightly with his hand. He tossed away the sheath carelessly.

"It is my pleasure! I have come for what will be recorded as the most intense battle in all of the Versailles continent. The loneliness that you feel in the absence of a worthy opponent is over, I will be the one to make your blood boil."

The confident war cry was crystal clear.

"Amusing. Remnants of Darkness!"

Weed chanted a basic spell and surrounded himself with darkness.

"Torido!"

He called for Torido, who was in battle, as well as for his True Blood Clan, to fly alongside him.

He summoned an escort of bats, and nimbly called for the Bone Dragons as well.

"Summon skeleton archers!"

He fully decked the back of the Bone Dragons with skeleton archers.

It was not very effective and added little to combat ability, but it was an impressive scene that further cemented his position as the leader of the undead legion.

Weed was playing to the broadcasters, portraying himself as the best of all necromancers.

"Come forth. I accept your challenge!"

An appearance befitting the final boss.

The Haven Empire was usually the one portrayed as the villain, but things were different this time.

"Good. Let's end this! Haaaah!"

Gross sprinted towards Weed, letting out a war cry.

The northern users and the undead stepped out of the way, creating a path for the two to connect.

Weed raised his skeleton staff high, and chanted his spell.

"Wander through pitch darkness in excruciating pain. The dead will be at your side in the abyss…

"Reign of the Dark Spectres!"

During the brief conversation, he had recovered all the life force and mana that he had lost in the battle with the 4th Legion.

He entrusted the remaining northern users and undead with finishing the 4th Legion, whose formation had already been broken.

Weed buffed himself with reinforcement spells, boosting his physical and magical abilities.

The spell that he prepared was a composite spell of magic and curse attacks.

Dark spectres emerged from the ground and enveloped Gross.

This spell could only be activated under the condition that the location was a place where death had occurred. But once that condition was fulfilled, it was impossible to evade.

"Urgh!"

Gross sensed that something was amiss as he observed the ground covered by darkness. The instant the spectres surged up, he changed directions and evaded to the side.

"Those who fought against Weed before warned not to think of him as an ordinary user, or even as a good person. He was said to be sly, clever, shameless and arrogant…"

Gross was alert and attempted to avoid the spectres. However, they flew quickly and chased after him.

< Horrifying Spectres from the hell of darkness have emerged.

Spectres born from darkness are powerful enough to consume even light.

They desire human bodies.

Those whose Life Force drops below a certain level will transform into small spiders… >

Gross was reflexively reading the message windows swiftly.

As a warrior it was a natural habit to be aware of any damage taken by spells that he sees for the first time.

'Do these dark spectres cling to enemies and attack? Such a petty way of…'

An that moment, when he was scanning messages quickly with his eyes and thinking.

*Sheeeeeeeeeek!*

Something was piercing through the dark spectres and was approaching Gross.

"What is that?!"

He deflected it instinctively.

*Clunk!*

He successfully defended against it as it crashed into his shield and knocked back his entire body.

He was proud of himself for his decisive counter, but the attack had contained tremendous strength.

'What kind of attack was that? Surely it was from something at least on the level of a boss monster.'

*F-f-f-f-f-wooooosh!*

At that moment, along with the sound of a whirlwind, a ferocious attack came from the front lines.

Weed in Lich form was moving among the spectres, his skull becoming visible on occasion.

"I cannot differentiate the attacks."

Gross hid behind his shield.

"Will of Retaliation!"

*C-c-c-c-c-c-c-clunk!*

< Your Mystical Shield bursts with intense deflection power.

89% of your innate physical resistance is applied.

Intense resistance!

All damage will be absorbed and converted into extra Life Force for 10 seconds. >

'Kukuku. Those attacks won't work now.'

Unknown horrifying attacks were hammering away at his shield.

He could hear Weed's voice coming from the front.

"You are pretty good!"

Gross wanted to yell in delight.

'So you cast a magic spell and immediately rush for a surprise strike? It's a good maneuver to catch your opponent off guard, but it only makes me stronger..'

The effect of Will of Retaliation was to temporarily absorb all damage taken.

< The deflection power has left the Mystical Shield.

1,381,291 damage has been absorbed and converted into extra Life Force.

This extra Life Force will persist for 29 seconds.>

Gross was amazed.

'What an outrageous amount of damage. Endurance and defense were not applied, but still…'

1,300,000 damage was not an amount that could be accumulated in such a short time, even when raiding a dangerous boss-level monster.

'Now comes my opportunity.'

Gross was aiming for a single counter-attack. He threw his shield away and advanced forward.

"Intense sword slash!"

The skill gathered all the user's power and split the enemy in a flash.

Nothing was visible, but he was certain that the enemy stood in front of him.

He released all the energy that he stored up, and at that moment;

*Shluk!*

He felt something crumble at the tip of his blade.

Gross' heart overflowed with excitement.

'Did… Did I really kill Weed, just like that?'

It was a single strike, but a powerful one, which could be more than enough to kill Weed.

Even if he didn't kill him, it would at least be a deep injury. However…

< You have killed the wriggling skeleton. >

'That was a skeleton just now?'

Weed was behind him before he could notice.

'The psychological process of humans is similar for the most part. I am also fully aware of the warriors' battle tactics. On top of that, Gross, I saw your style of going for one single glorious blow plenty of times in the Hall of Fame.'

The Warriors' winning strategy was to endure and retaliate.

They couldn't last long in a dogfight, so the crucial part of beating this strategy was to trick them into retaliating preemptively.

"Seal of Pain!"

< The target's Life Force recovery is restricted. >

"Intensified bleeding."

< The damage suffered by the target increases. >

He applied two curse spells and began to beat the crap out of Gross.

"Heraim Fencing skill!"

Ruthless swings landed right on Gross' body.

Everyone was watching Weed and his spectres battering Gross.

"Weed-nim is winning!"

"Hurray for the Arpen Kingdom!"

The northern users shouted and the Hermes Guild members from the 6th Legion joined the battle without hesitation.

However, they were only being taken down one by one as Weed raised more spectres.

The Doom Knights, curse spells and northern users all combined to throw the 6th Legion into chaos.

The Imperial Legion was stronger in terms of overall military power but could not exercise its full potential due to Weed's interruptions.

- Crebulta: More Doom Knights will emerge, so we cannot drag this out any longer. Let's wipe out the undead all at once and end this battle once and for all.

This message popped up on the commander's guild chat.

The 3rd, 4th, 6th, and 7th Legions had arrived first, and the rest of the commanders were approaching as they cut down resisting northern users.

Even as Calcus was falling in battle and Gross was being battered, most of the Haven Imperial Army's core military powers were arriving.

Crebulta wished to take charge together with Heiller, but soon changed his mind and asked for assistance from the others.

- Max: Is Weed really that powerful?

- Crebulta: I have observed him, and he is at an unbelievable level.

- Heroid: I don't believe that we can't push through with a frontal assault.

- Crebulta: Due to the Lich's Life Drain skill, we can't deal any damage with just a dozen people. He uses curses and dark spells violently. Calcus got taken down in a close-range fight, but look at the way he fights against Gross… I cannot seem to find a weakness.

The other commanders also recognized that this battle was one to decide the supremacy over the continent.

- Slater: Alright. Don't try to hog all the glory. Let's carry out an organized all-out attack to take them down.

Slater, commander of the 10th Legion.

He was advancing quickly through the path that had been cleared by the 4th Legion.

- Max: We will arrive in 3 minutes, bypassing all the wriggling skeletons. When are all the other legions expected to arrive?

- Slater: We'll be there in 5 minutes. Don't try to clear the skeletons and zombies. Gather up all the users first, then proceed with an aerial charge.

- Fromy: I can certainly get there too with that method.

- Heroid: I can see our path to victory. We will ambush and take down Weed, then proceed to wipe out all the remaining users that are clustered around the other Legions. We don't have to think about what comes after that.

- Crebulta: I assume everyone prepared their holy equipment and also has relics handy?

The commanders were all fully prepared, even though there was no detailed mention of what they needed to have at their disposal.

Calcus, who died early, would have also had them in his inventory. As for Gross, he only geared up with defensive equipment because he was a Warrior and would have a difficult time taking Weed down with just his own attacks.

- Heiller: A Lich raid all together… I think we could make a pretty awesome video out of this.

- Slater: I fear that the battle may end too quickly, haha.

While the commanders were settling on a plan, another voice joined the discussion.

- Dain: The 19th Legion will also participate.

The 19th Legion led by Dain.

This was a legion mainly comprised of Central Continent users, and not of Hermes Guild members.

- Heiller: Has the 19th Legion arrived?

- Dain: Yes, we have broken through with ten thousand users. The core of our forces are tailing behind.

Dain was the weakest out of all the commanders in terms of level and combat skills.

She governed the Kallamore region with stability and was reported to have fought exceptionally in the current battle. Even so, there was an overall atmosphere among the commanders, undermining Dain.

- Heiller: Great. Select the best soldiers to aid us.

- Dain: Roger that.

(To be continued)