Chapter 309: The Intentions of the Holy Kingdom and the Slane Theocracy

Swish! Swish! Swish!

Holy white light emerged once more.

Fifty Dominion Authorities were summoned by the Temple Corps, immediately dispersing to the perimeter.

This time, the Dominion Authorities did not scatter to actively attack the undead; instead, they distributed themselves around the entire elite force,

serving both as illumination and forming a simple defensive perimeter at the outermost edge!

With the warnings from Tang Zheng and Kelart,

everyone realized that the undead that had attacked them previously were not acting on instinct, but were being manipulated in a series of harassment strikes.

This proved that their presence had been discovered by the enemy in the shadows; if they continued to hold their ground, they would only be completely surrounded by an overwhelming number of undead!

Low-level undead moved slowly; they had to keep moving to ensure they wouldn't be completely encircled by the massive undead army!

Clementine and Go-Jin led the way at the very front.

Tang Zheng's "Free Will" adventurer party, "Black" Pavel, and "Red" Orland were positioned at the rear of the formation to ensure they wouldn't suffer any unexpected ambushes!

The entire elite force, under the faint light of the half-moon, moved rapidly through the dense night like a sailing ship navigating a dark ocean!

Only the fifty Dominion Authorities hovering above, radiating holy light, acted like candles on a ship's deck, preventing the entire troop from being completely swallowed by the darkness!

Wherever they passed,

the scattered undead were quickly wiped out by the members of the Paladin Corps at the outermost perimeter, without even needing the Dominion Authorities to act.

At the very front of the "Paladin Corps" and the "Temple Corps,"

"Kelart."

Remedios pressed a hand against her sword hilt to prevent the holy sword from clattering against her armor as she moved, her face flushed with annoyance:

"We are too passive right now. Can't we use detection magic to pinpoint the enemy's location!"

Compared to this act of fleeing!

Remedios would rather charge directly at the enemy; she didn't feel they needed the cooperation of those demi-humans at all.

"Also, why must we cooperate with that adventurer named Tang? I don't think marching through the night is a good thing; it will only drain the soldiers' stamina."

"Especially for your Temple Corps!"

The Paladin Corps, through years of training, consisted of the most excellent warriors in the Holy Kingdom; marching through the night was nothing to them.

But the Temple Corps, as magic casters, might not be able to keep up in stamina—though magic casters fought using mana, physical stamina remained vital.

"Huff, huff."

Kelart's breathing was slightly labored; the work of a secretary for years made this kind of forced march combat quite uncomfortable for her.

"The members of the Temple Corps who have mastered detection magic have already cast their spells, Sister."

"Aside from the undead, no other enemies have been found. The enemy is in the shadows, while we are the ones in the light."

Kelart, while moving rapidly, brushed her brown hair back behind her ear and spoke helplessly.

"Even so."

"Why must we cooperate with that Tang?" Remedios grumbled.

In her eyes, her younger sister possessed the sharpest mind in the Holy Kingdom; she had always considered her sister a gift from the gods to the nation.

Intelligence, talent, beauty!

These three gifts were acknowledged even by Her Majesty, the Holy Queen Calca.

Remedios didn't believe that Kelart couldn't come up with a better solution.

"Do you know who our enemy is?"

Kelart's eyes grew obscure as she spoke softly: "That is a magic caster capable of controlling the legendary undead 'Death Knight,' far more powerful than I am."

"Facing such an enemy head-on would result in losses too great to bear."

In public declarations, Kelart was a caster capable of using fourth-tier faith-based magic, but Remedios, as someone close to her, knew very well.

Her sister possessed the power of fifth-tier magic—she had reached the realm of heroes!

"But..." Remedios tried to speak again.

Kelart looked up slightly, her face, usually wearing a gentle mask, showing a sinister glint in her narrowed eyes: "Sister, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!"

"An opportunity to completely wipe out the demi-humans of the Abelion Hills. We need to let those demi-humans die for us, and then use the chance to clear them out entirely."

"Ending the hatred between the nation and the demi-humans that has lasted for hundreds of years—if we can accomplish this, Her Majesty Calca will surely become a Holy Queen that no one, no... that no one in the future will ever be able to surpass!"

As she spoke,

Kelart reached toward the magic belt at her waist, her eyes burning with a touch of madness and fervor.

The faint, whispered murmurs

reached Remedios's ears, causing the conflicted and dissatisfied expression to vanish without a trace.

On the other side,

the "Sunlight Scripture" unit also maintained a steady pace.

Captain Nigun was listening to a report from his subordinate.

"The detection magic yielded no results. The enemy likely possesses means to counter detection," a subordinate reported sternly.

Hearing this result,

Captain Nigun wasn't surprised, but his face remained grim as he waved his hand to signal his subordinate to keep monitoring, his gaze falling toward the direction of the Holy Kingdom's forces.

"Troublesome."

He cursed under his breath.

The "Sunlight Scripture" was a secretive unit within the Theocracy, primarily engaged in illicit activities and tasked with basic missions like exterminating demi-human tribes.

Even though most nations were aware of their existence, cooperating with another nation's military like this

was a first for Captain Nigun.

Perhaps he should treat this as a training exercise he had never experienced before; that might be a decent way to gain experience.

Captain Nigun consoled himself internally, feeling both angry and helpless. The reason they were forced to cooperate with the Holy Kingdom this time wasn't just the threat posed by the undead.

It was also because of the awkward location of the Abelion Hills!

And there was another reason he couldn't tell anyone—ensuring the demi-humans weren't completely wiped out.

How laughable!

That's right, a unit responsible for exterminating demi-humans was now tasked with protecting them.

Captain Nigun's mouth twitched, but this was a joint decision made by the Pontiffs!

According to the Pontiffs, the strategy of maintaining the existence of the demi-humans in the hills had been decided long ago.

If there were no demi-humans,

the Abelion Hills would become a land without an owner, and the Slane Theocracy, the Holy Kingdom, and the Re-Estize Kingdom would end up sharing a border.

Given the resources in the hills, no nation would willingly give them up, which would inevitably lead to the possibility of internal conflict among humanity!

Rather than causing unavoidable losses to humanity, it was better to leave this place to the demi-humans!

"The weak, in order to protect themselves, must ultimately find all sorts of ways."

Captain Nigun thought to himself, feeling both indignant and helpless; this was the necessary "big picture."

This "weak" didn't refer to the demi-humans, but to them—humanity.

That woman, Clementine, was likely arranged to deal with any unexpected situations, specifically to counter someone like Remedios, the Paladin Corps Captain.

In the rear of the formation,

Tang Zheng looked toward the front with interest at Kelart, Captain Nigun, and the others, who appeared united but were actually harboring their own agendas.

He might not know the true plans of both sides, but he could guess a few things.

"The Holy Kingdom, the Slane Theocracy, Zuranon, and even the decimated demi-humans—they all likely have their own thoughts and schemes."

Tang Zheng thought to himself, yet remained very calm.

Those who treat others as fools are the true fools themselves!

Although he was the one who built the stage, Tang Zheng never intended to truly control or lead it from the very beginning.

No matter how meticulous the planning, there would always be loopholes. Rather than wasting time, it was better to let each side follow its own course; he only needed to reap the benefits.

"However."

A smile flashed across Tang Zheng's face. "I really want to see which side will truly take the lead in the end."

"Captain." Anli's voice came from the back of the Evil Spirit Dog, speaking softly:

"Would you like some water? This is water that was boiled earlier and has cooled down."

Tang Zheng let out a heavy breath, feigning a bit of exhaustion, and nodded as he took the waterskin and took a sip.

"Will marching like this waste too much stamina?" Anli kept looking at the pitch-black surroundings, the darkness that seemed to hide countless undead, speaking nervously.

"We have already been discovered by the enemy."

"Only by moving can we prevent being surrounded by a massive number of undead. Fighting in the night is not to our advantage."

Tang Zheng, hearing Anli ask such a question for the first time, stoppered the waterskin and answered patiently.

"The big ones are coming!"

Suddenly, "Red" Orland's ears twitched, and he spoke in a low voice to warn them.

The ground shook.

Three giant balls of flesh, seemingly composed entirely of corpses, appeared in the rear, pursuing the group.

The stench of rot and the wails of the undead instantly became thick and heavy!

Plop! Plop! Plop!

Three intestine-like objects flew out from the giant balls of flesh, wrapping around the conspicuous Dominion Authorities in the formation and dragging them down from the sky, slamming them heavily into the ground.

"Defensive formation!"

Remedios's roar echoed out.

"They aren't low-level undead; they're Corpses of the Inner Organs!" a paladin shouted.

Kelart's voice followed immediately: "Slow down the movement speed; deal with these three Corpses of the Inner Organs first!"

"Leave one to me!"

"Red" Orland laughed loudly, stopped in his tracks, and turned to charge at one of the Corpses of the Inner Organs behind him.

"The one on the left is mine."

"Black" Pavel had already unslung his bow and turned to draw the string to its limit.

"Cuiye, you take care of the one on the right." Tang Zheng signaled.

"Yes!"

The Dryad's yellow pupils glinted with cold light as she raised her staff and chanted in a low voice:

"Rotting Destruction!"

Acidic, corrosive liquid easily melted away more than half of the Corpse of the Inner Organs' body.

At the same time that the three Corpses of the Inner Organs were pursuing the rear, strange undead figures appeared from all directions, rushing over with speed far exceeding that of ordinary low-level undead.

"Paladins, prepare for combat."

"Peach" Isadolo, the Vice-Captain, issued a stern order.

"All Temple members! Cast protective magic!"

The atmosphere instantly became tense.

These figures, moving with speed far beyond normal low-level undead, could be clearly seen under the light emitted by the Dominion Authorities: they were the corpses of various beasts and monsters.

This was a low-level undead collectively known as "Beast Zombies"!

They were formed from the corpses of wolves, snakes, monsters, and various other animals. Although they were also low-level undead, they possessed the resilience of zombies and the agility of animals!

With the undead's ability to ignore fatigue, these Beast Zombies were far more terrifying than they had been in life!

Everyone's expression turned grim.

They had overlooked a serious problem: the Abelion Hills were not just inhabited by demi-humans, but also by various beasts and monsters. The number of these creatures far exceeded that of the demi-humans!

If the Death Knight had also converted these beasts and monsters into undead, then the number of undead would likely be several times higher than they had anticipated!

"No wonder we didn't see a single living creature along the way!" Captain Nigun's face showed a gravity he had never displayed before.

"Kill these undead!"

"For the Holy Kingdom!"

"Drive out the evil!"

"..."

The paladins at the outermost perimeter were the first to collide with the swarm of undead.

The sound of blades hacking into bone, the shrieks of the undead, and the roars of the paladins instantly intertwined!

Tang Zheng stood beside the Evil Spirit Dog, his gaze constantly scanning the dense, surging undead figures in the darkness: "They changed their strategy because they saw us moving?"

"The person manipulating the undead shouldn't be far from here!"

Tang Zheng realized this and first thought of the Alliance Leader, then dismissed the guess.

If it were the Alliance Leader, the method might have been more direct!

It was those two people from Zuranon.

Through his Shadow Clone, Tang Zheng was aware of their existence, but to prevent the Shadow Clone's anomaly from being discovered, he hadn't had much contact with them.

He didn't know much about them in terms of intelligence.

Based on speculation alone, being able to be brought here by the Alliance Leader meant their strength should both be in the Heroic Realm.

"In that case!"

Tang Zheng's hand reached into his loose sleeve and grabbed an Angel Summoning Scroll.

He crushed it with force!

Dazzling holy light suddenly appeared in the sky, transforming into the massive figure of a Dominion Authority.

Immediately after,

Tang Zheng used his own mana to summon another Dominion Authority.

Two massive figures flew out from above Tang Zheng's head, standing at the very top of the entire elite force.

"Mass Defense Strengthening."

"Mass Defense Strengthening."

The paladins in battle immediately felt the power being added to them.

The two Dominion Authorities unleashed this special ability, which was enough to cover the entire troop. The only drawback was that while using this special ability, the Dominion Authorities could not move.

【Experience Bar: 362,396 / 630,000】

Tang Zheng pulled up his attribute panel and scanned the experience information.

The summoning just now had used "Experience Point Casting," consuming 200,000 experience points.

His current situation required him to lower the level of his 【Sword Saint】 class as quickly as possible. Although it was a pity not to be able to kill these undead to gain experience, he had no choice; otherwise, the higher the level, the higher the cost of de-leveling!

(End of Chapter)