Assassin's Chronicle

This time, Anfey was much more cautious. The necromancers had brought their entire army, which had one, or possibly several, senior necromancers. This was not like the other battles. This was the matter of life and death. Anfey thought the necromancers would not go through so much trouble for someone as insignificant as him, but it was still better to be safe.

When a man was looking for something, sometimes it was easier to simply stop looking and let the thing come. Anfey, Suzanna, and Riska were following the zombies, and discussing amongst themselves what the necromancers wanted. However, they could not dream of a possible answer. When Riska was changing the angle of the Eyes of the Sky, one of the coordinates was slightly off, and what appeared shocked all three of them. Even Anfey could not keep calm anymore.

An army appeared In the Eyes of the Sky. The soldiers marched in close formation, the tips of their spears gleaming under the sunlight. This wasn’t just a scout. This was the main body of the army. Flags fluttered in the wind, weaving into a sea of red, black, white, blue, and gold. According to Anfey’s source, Shansa Empire had recalled thirty thousand of its elite soldiers. Now it seemed like the news was right. Even as he watched the army march through the Eyes of the Sky, Anfey felt intimidated by the army.

The army kept marching. Behind the infantry were thousands of men on horseback. Compared to the infantry, the formation of the cavalry was looser. Flags with a black scorpion flew over the cavalry. This indicated that these riders belonged to the fearsome Magic Scorpion Cavalry Legion. Like the Sacred City Palace Guards of Maho Empire, the Magic Scorpion Cavalry Legion consisted of elites among elites. It was mainly tasked with the safety of Shansa Empire’s royal family. Only a legion of similar prowess could slow this legion.

Hundreds of mages followed the cavalry. The Eyes of the Sky was too far away for Anfey to tell exactly what rank these mages were, but if they were serving in the army, they had to be at least senior magisters. What was more shocking, there were five carriages among the mages. Those who could afford carriages must be exceptionally powerful.

Anfey took a deep breath. He realized he had severely underestimated the necromancers. He didn’t know when the Shansa army had reached the Transverse Mountains, but the necromancers knew the army’s route very well.

What he was seeing made Anfey realize how limited his resources were, and how powerful the Evil Mist was. Clearly, the Evil Mist either had spies among the Shansa army, or they had been watching the Shansa army very closely since the army set foot in Transverse Mountain.

Anfey knew that he had underestimated how powerful the necromancers were. The Shansa army had thirty thousand men, and the necromancers would not be this ruthless unless they knew they could defeat the army. Suddenly, the skirmishes seemed stupid and useless. A thousand zombies were a terrifying number: What would happen if the necromancers turn all thirty thousand men into zombies?

Riska had tried to figure out the necromancers’ plans, but now, it didn’t matter whether they wanted to build a graveyard, create a killer zombie, or collect Death magic. They would have no trouble achieving it with thirty thousand zombies in their hands.

"What should we do? Should we warn them?" Riska asked. A few days ago, Shansa Empire was one of his greatest enemies. Now, he was considering helping them.

"No. Let’s wait. It is going to be a good play," Anfey said.

"A play?"

"Let’s keep watching," Anfey said. "Don’t attract any attention from the necromancers..."

Before Anfey could finish his sentence, he heard screaming and yelling off to his right. The scout must have already encountered the zombies, and was at a disadvantage.

The sound of drums, powerful and intimidating, echoed through the valley. Soldiers of an elite army never expected ambushes. However, being an elite army, its soldiers were able to prepare themselves for a fight as soon as they were given the order. On the other hand, the necromancers never planned to ambush the army, either.

A powerful magic surge ripped through the air. As far as the magic touched, all the tree branches lowered to the ground, and leaves fell from the branches. The grass bent down, as if a large foot had just stepped onto the grass and forced it to the ground.

Anfey felt his body growing heavy, and almost fell off of the branch. He reached out and grabbed a nearby branch with his right hand, and grabbed Riska with his left hand. Suzanna was sitting on branches, but the magic did not affect her. However, she appeared shocked.

"It’s gravity magic!" Riska called suddenly.

"Isn’t that a forbidden spell?"

"It is," Riska said. "How did they know it?"

No one could answer his question. In the distance, a dark gray ball of light raised above the tree crowns and exploded in the air. Thousands of sparks scattered throughout the forest. Riska frowned, staring at the sparks. Clearly, he did not know what kind of magic it was.

"Can you use the Eyes of the Sky?" Anfey asked.

"Yes. We are far enough from the scene," Riska said as he released Eyes of the Sky. "The Shansa soldiers are in big trouble."

Anfey didn’t feel anything when Riska said that the Shansa soldiers were in trouble, but saw that it was something different. In the Eyes of the Sky, he saw that all the trees were bent into strange shapes. The trunks held their shapes, but the branches had all broken off the trees under the pressure of the magic. Compared to the trees, the people were much weaker. The soldiers writhed on the ground. Their armor, once providing protection, now turned into the source of their suffering. Some of the more powerful men were still standing, but they could not stand straight.

Forbidden spells could not distinguish between friends and foes. The soldiers were affected, and so were the zombies. However, Anfey could tell the zombies were still moving towards the soldiers. Even though the zombies’ movements were slow and difficult, they could still attack. The Shansa soldiers, however, could hardly move. It was almost impossible for them to win this fight.

Magic Scorpion Cavalry Legion was in obvious trouble as well. When the spell took effect, only a few soldiers jumped off of their horses. Most horses were crushed under their riders, and the riders in the cavalry legion were heavily armored. Because of this, the soldiers could hardly stand, even though they were carefully selected elites.

A single forbidden spell was enough change the outcome of the battle. Anfey finally learned how powerful and terrifying senior magisters could be. If this continued, the Shansa army would be decimated.

Suddenly, a bright light shone from one of the carriages. The light expanded and covered the entire area in a few seconds. The soldiers pushed themselves off of the ground as the light touched them. They didn’t immediately attack. Instead, they began organizing their armor and weapons. The attack was surprising, and they had lost their horses, but the riders did not panic.

An old man with a long, white beard stepped out of the carriage. He was grasping a magic staff, and the gold light came from the staff.

The mages pushed themselves up as well. Another old mage walked over to join the first one. He did not say anything. Instead, he raised his hand and pointed towards the distance.

There was no change in the environment. Riska moved the Eyes of the Sky several times before finding a wall raised out of the earth.

"Brilliant," he murmured. "Brilliant! Now the Shansa army has the advantage." He was very excited, and the Eyes of the Sky disappeared with a flicker.

"Why?" Anfey didn’t understand why it was so brilliant. An earth wall was only an intermediate spell, something even Anfey was sure he could do in a few weeks.

"Magic has time limit, and forbidden spells are no different," Riska explained, grinning. "The necromancers wanted to use the gravity spell to briefly disable the army, and kill as many soldiers as possible to create more zombies."

"So?" Anfey still could not figure out why it was so brilliant.

"What is the most precious thing? Time! If the army could hold off the zombies until the magic wore off, they could fight again. The zombies are affected by the increase in gravity as well, and there was no way they could climb over that wall. Not even killer zombies." Riska rubbed his hands together and smirked, "This is a real magic duel. Using intermediate magic to cancel out the effects of forbidden spells is a brilliant, brilliant move."