Chapter 90: Red and White

Ge Ben Lan City, Mage High Tower.

In the reception hall, a woman dressed in splendid robes stood proudly atop the spell circle.

She is the mistress of the Mage Tower, the sister of Yinbu Tu Kingdom Regent Grand Judge Lai Ao Rui Er, a level‑14 Protection Master—Mi Ci Li.

Her milky‑white feathered robe shimmered with dazzling magic, countless Runes formed within that magic and then merged into the ground spell circle.

Her originally sensual red hair gradually turned white, wrinkles appeared at the corners of her eyes, and a pallid dusk aura emerged.

Outside the spell circle, Ke Long stared expressionlessly at Mi Ci Li, only his clenched fists betrayed his inner feelings.

He was worried.

A few days earlier, he received a verbal message from Naimi Xisi and immediately ordered a thorough investigation of the underground seals of Ge Ben Lan and De Gen.

Sure enough, the seal of Ge Ben Lan showed signs of loosening; for unknown reasons, lacking the power of the Abyssal Sacrifice Ritual, the seal began to lose vitality for an unknown cause.

Even Mi Ci Li did not notice.

Fortunately, Ke Long discovered the seal's loosening and personally came to Ge Ben Lan City to discuss countermeasures with Mi Ci Li.

The ritual Mi Ci Li was performing at that moment was the seal‑repairing ceremony.

Unfortunately, the seal was built with divine power, and to repair it, Mi Ci Li's own lifespan began to be drained by the spell circle.

Within the spell circle, Mi Ci Li looked at Ke Long, her pallid face bearing a smile as she said, "May I ask a favor of you?"

Ke Long was startled for a moment, then asked in a deep voice, "Anything, Mi Ci Li."

Another wrinkle appeared on Mi Ci Li's face, and an abnormal red flush spread across her pallid cheek.

"May I ask you to leave, Ke Long? I don't want you to see me like this."

Mi Ci Li's soft whisper pierced Ke Long's heart like a knife; he trembled slightly, nodded, turned, and slowly walked out of the High Tower.

But he did not know that.

After he left the High Tower, Mi Ci Li's entire white feathered plumage turned vivid red, and the protective Runes instantly shifted, becoming entirely different Spellcraft Runes.

Evil incantations rang from Mi Ci Li's mouth; her hair turned bright red again, the wrinkles vanished, leaving only smooth skin.

"I'm sorry, Ke Long. This is necessary." A tear slipped from Mi Ci Li's eye corner, and the spell circle beneath her glowed with an eerie light. — The Sai Si Ke army finally mobilized; on a gentle, warm afternoon, scouts learned of a marching force not far beyond the canyon.

On the barren, barren plain, a dense black army spread across the land like a winding river.

At the summit of the Tuma Ci Mountains, Naimi Xisi stood on a cliffside boulder, his dim yellow vertical pupils like an ancient still well, gazing down upon everything.

In the joint forces of Sai Si Ke and Sai Er, the vanguard consisted of countless Undead, many of which were zombies faintly clad in Yinbu Tu Kingdom armor; they were frontline fallen soldiers, reanimated into Undead by Sai Er's mages using necromancy.

Five massive black golems stood within the sea of Undead, appearing to be forged from a non‑smooth black metal that absorbs light.

The golems overall resembled strange, gigantic Skeleton robots, fog filling the hollow spaces between the skeletal frames, and their elongated arms ended in sharp metal claws.

A grim, skull‑shaped head was mounted on its broad torso; however, the construct seemed to lack a neck, moving slowly and silently, drifting above the ground without disturbing anything.

Behind them were nearly three thousand Sai Si Ke soldiers; the dragons' superior sight allowed Naimi Xisi to spot, within that army, a mage clad in a red robe and, beside him, a handsome man wearing black tyrant armor.

The man rode a skeletal horse with extreme elegance, like an ancient noble, his skin unusually pale, bearing a massive two‑handed sword on his back.

"A vampire?" Naimi Xisi frowned; he had assumed another Necromancer was commanding the Undead, but it seemed to be that vampire general.

Five‑ring Divine Spell—【Comprehend Legendary】! Naimi Xisi unleashed a Divine Spell, attempting to obtain more information about that vampire.

"Black Duke Du Ke, the mastermind behind the Sai Si Ke Commercial Alliance, a level‑14 Undead, acting under the command of Sa Za Si·Tan to aid the allied forces."

Naimi Xisi clicked his tongue lightly; vampires are extremely fast, immensely strong, and possess various dark‑type spell abilities, making them one of the mages' most disliked opponents.

Then he glanced again at another red‑robed mage, casting 【Comprehend Legendary】; however, as the Divine Spell completed, the red‑robed mage suddenly stared toward Naimi Xisi's direction, and a powerful prophetic magic shattered Naimi Xisi's spell.

Several mages seemed to accompany the red‑robed mage; after breaking the Divine Spell, those mages instantly concealed themselves, their whereabouts within the army unknown.

Several arrow towers and catapults on the cliff were already in place, and the kingdom's soldiers stood ready to rain down attacks. "Prepare!" the Squad Leader did not issue the attack order immediately after the front‑line Undead entered range; he knew bows were the least effective weapon against Undead.

But the bows they prepared were different.

Each arrow's tip was wrapped in flammable oilcloth, soaked in a barrel of oil; the soldiers drew the arrows, ignited the oilcloth tips, and fierce flames flared instantly.

Attack!!

At the Squad Leader's command, countless fire rains poured from the cliffside arrow towers; the zombies on the ground were struck by the arrows and ignited, their rotting bodies already filled with volatile gases, intensifying the blaze.

The catapults were also loaded with ammunition: heavy metal spheres etched with intricate magical Runes.

These metal spheres were alchemical explosives purchased at great cost by the Yinbu Tu Kingdom; upon impact they produced an explosion comparable to the Fireball Technique.

The catapults' massive force surpassed that of bows; in the summer Tuma Ci Mountains, gusts of sand‑laden wind swept through the valley, greatly reducing bow effectiveness, yet leaving the catapults unaffected.

The tremendous force instantly hurled the metal spheres, which struck the Sai Si Ke soldiers' ranks at extreme speed.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Violent explosions erupted instantly; the impacts of five metal spheres created five terrifying blasts, fierce flames instantly devoured many soldiers, and metal fragments propelled by the explosions killed numerous unlucky souls.

Those five bombs alone reduced Sai Si Ke's forces by a full thousand soldiers.

Unfortunately, the Sai Si Ke army also noticed the power of the cliffside arrow towers and catapults, and the hidden mages within their ranks acted.

They employed the 【Super Magic Extension】 technique, gathering one Fireball after another and hurling them at the cliffside catapults; each Fireball exploded violently on contact, igniting the unlaunched alchemical explosives and causing an even larger secondary blast! A "Boom—Boom—Boom" reverberated through the entire canyon, shaking the summit's boulders, which tumbled down the gorge and shattered.

The destruction of the arrow towers and catapults did not panic the troops within the fortress; facing the mage‑filled Sai Si Ke army, they were already prepared.

With no obstacles, the Sai Si Ke army quickly reached the canyon entrance; the several‑kilometer‑long canyon was extremely wide, and they were not at all concerned that the Yinbu Tu Kingdom's forces would collapse the peaks and bury them under falling boulders.

But the kingdom's army had anticipated this and employed a more concealed and secure method, establishing a second line of defense.

Above the canyon, the mountain peaks were criss‑crossed with nearly a hundred slender magical ropes, woven with magical energy, capable of supporting multi‑ton boulders.

Seeing the Sai Si Ke army enter the canyon and advance toward the fortress at its end, soldiers in the middle of the cliff used pre‑prepared steel to restrain the boulders and then slid them into mid‑air.

They cut the ropes, and hundreds of massive stones rained down, striking the densest part of the army.

The red‑robed mage's position was also a target; he let out a cold snort, raised his hand toward the sky, and began chanting a spell.

Five‑ring Evocation—【Force Wall Technique】! A vast Force Wall unfolded above his head, and the massive stones slammed into the transparent wall, shattering into several medium fragments.

The unscathed red‑robed mage glared angrily; had his scout not been a useless fool, the Yinbu Tu Kingdom's troops could not have constructed the fortress so quickly.

A ruby staff materialized in his hand, its tip pointing skyward; the ruby gem emitted a powerful magical blue beam into the heavens, followed by dark clouds, flashing lightning, and thunder, as bolts of lightning struck down from the sky, slaying the cliff‑side soldiers one by one.

Five Spell Circle Evocation technique—【Advanced Thunder Summoning Technique】! Behind the fortress walls, countless flaming arrows were shot again, but without the height bonus and with the headwind, these arrows couldn't even reach three hundred yards.

On the wall, Luo Jia wore a stern expression; only by truly facing it could one feel the pressure brought by the endless Undead, let alone those five terrifying demonic statues.

He glanced at Sgena beside him, feeling quite depressed; this useless woman had been sticking to that priest's side, not knowing what use she was; at this critical moment, that priest had run off who knows where, leaving only this woman claiming to help him.

Damn it, what can she help with? Seduce those Undead? Fortunately, there's also the giant azure-foot dragon serpent recently reclaimed by that priest; with his help, we still have some fighting chance.

Watching the army approach the wall, Sgena stretched her limbs, somewhat eagerly extending her arms.

She was about to revert to her true form, as the cunning Juan Ce Long himself had permitted.

The Undead finally entered the frenzied, dense arrow barrage range, using their fearless bodies to carve a path for the soldiers behind wielding siege equipment.

The Kingdom army's soldiers waited on the wall, heads raised; this would be a gruesome meat grinder battle.

The next moment, in Luo Jia's eyes that seemed about to curse, Sgena leapt into midair, her petite figure instantly turning into a huge shadow.

The putrid stench spread, and the terrifying Dragon Might instantly overawed the entire battlefield.

(End of chapter)