Knights and Magic Wand

The night vision goggles turned darkness into a blurry green screen, the soft cracking of dry branches echoed in the soldiers' footsteps as they advanced.

The knights surrounding Leon did not wear night vision equipment; they were "Wandering Souls" who could see things in the dark that living people could not.

The headset continuously reported the position and status between various units.

The rapid march lasted a long time, Leon's excellent sense of direction allowed him to constantly estimate his distance from the giant peak.

Suddenly, Canis, walking beside Leon and holding a machine gun, slowed his pace.

"This feeling..." The Young Master of the Wolf Family aimed his weapon at the distant darkness. "There's something underground, not alive, in huge numbers!"

Leon narrowed his eyes and issued a warning through his earpiece: "Everyone, be aware, there might be living corpses hidden underground. Prepare for battle!"

But before he could finish speaking, gunfire erupted abruptly from the forest on the left, firelight flickered in the direction of the church platoon, and screams indicated that troops were already under attack.

Withered claws burst through the ground, figures seemingly awakened by the living roared out from the soil, pouncing on soldiers everywhere.

The ground surged like a living creature, countless undead crawled out from the soil, screams tore through the night, the entire forest boiled into chaos.

Leon pulled the trigger, shattering the Corpse Ghosts emerging from the shadows, side-stepping to smash a leaping undead monster from the treetops, the shards of Garner burst like ice chips, causing the semi-crystallized body of the undead monster to fly out.

Amidst the commander's orders, the troops in the forest tightened their formation, bursts of gunfire whistled, piercing through the undead, the exploded corpse fragments and crystal shards illuminated the dark bushes and withered trees like fiery sparks.

It seemed endless corpses kept rushing from the darkness ahead, as if all the dead in this land had gathered in this forest.

Leon suddenly realized this was the enemy's warning signal, akin to the alarm techniques commonly used by mages.

The stealthy infiltration intentions likely had failed, Leon ordered the surrounding church troops to cover the flanks, no longer being cautious, he immediately led the Holy War Knights to abandon the advantage of long-range firepower, directly charging headlong into the dark tide of corpses, striving to open a path quickly before the enemy's army could react.

As the magic surges ahead became increasingly clear, Leon and Olivia's efficiency in slaughtering at the front became more urgent.

Suddenly, a series of piercing screams rang out in the dark forest filled with firelight, a sense of danger coming from behind forced Leon to halt his steps.

The command to report the situation was like a stone sinking into the sea in the channel, only hearing the surrounding troops attempting to move closer to the center requesting.

"Other units follow the knight platoon, keep advancing, I'll handle that!" Leon stopped their intentions.

He let Canis continue leading the advance and immediately called Olivia to rush at full speed towards the position plunged into silence.

Even before approaching, Olivia smelled the strong scent of blood.

Leon halted and lit the Guardian Spirit Holy Lamp.

In an instant, hundreds of mutilated church soldier corpses were scattered around the woodland.

The fully armed warriors were slaughtered without any resistance, yet there was no sign of anything on the ground that appeared capable of killing them except for the corpses of Corpse Ghosts and humans.

"Be careful!" Olivia furrowed her brows, suddenly sidestepping to slash down an unseen presence.

Just slightly slower than her, Leon spun around to swing his gun blade, Molten Flame flashed through, destroying the oncoming wind attacks from various angles.

Then a crisp fracture sound occurred, and in the next second, he felt a sudden void beneath his feet.

The solid ground instantly collapsed, the surrounding soil rose like a giant mouth, enclosing them amidst deafening rumbles.

Combat magic!?

"Hold tight!" Leon shouted.

Light Wings extended, he lifted the girl behind him, leaping into the air.

——Boom!

The earth layers clamped like beast jaws suddenly collapsed with immense force, the forest's dead trees were toppled like waves, shaking the ground tremendously.

Leon vibrated the joints on his back, flying higher, looking down at the scene like a mountain flood, he was filled with dread.

This level of a spell far exceeded the imagination of ordinary spellcasters, if not for his timely evasion, he might have been crushed into paste by this terrifying mass.

"...I thought I'd have to crush more ants to find you..."

A rasping voice like the scraping of bones echoed throughout the woodland, surprisingly understandable to Leon's Felu Language.

"Out of respect for a Mage Lord... Let me see how you could earn the Venerable's favor." In a corner of the woodland, starlight-like glimmers flashed, Leon instinctively dodged as danger arrived, plummeting into the woodland.

The seemingly harmless ray-like Condensed Light chased his trajectory into the forest blindly, blinking and disappearing, but the whole row of trees swept by it was cut in half amidst rumbling collapses.

Retreating far away, Leon, drenched in cold sweat, commanded all units in communication to stay away from this place, then retracted his Light Wings and hid in a depression.

He suspected he might have accidentally encountered Valary himself, but the opponent's provocation seemed unlike something a Pride Demon would say.

Olivia abruptly pushed Leon aside, meeting his gaze with only a quick glance, then threw down her local weapon, wielded the Holy Sword, and dashed swiftly into the forest.

Leon raised an eyebrow, realizing, with tacit understanding, he immediately unfolded his Heavenly Wings again.

"I accept your challenge! Wizard!"

Shouting in return, he activated Boiling Heart, soared to the treetop tops, wielding his gun blade swiftly towards the location where the spell had been cast.

Sensation of phantom pain at his waist, he briefly glimpsed an illusion of being sliced in half, then spun to throw a Netti Card into the forest once more narrowly avoiding it.

The roar of the Exotic Realm Bear shook the earth, the frenzied Horror Mountain Bear charged in the direction of radiation, according to Leon's will.

The eye sockets of the half-concealed skeleton undead flashed with crystal.

Summoning School? Interesting spells, but is that all?

The Witch Demon's spinning finger bones clicked rhythmically, seemingly endless mana poured into the ground underfoot.

The dead trees blocking the giant bear's path instantly came to life, the expansive life force urged countless branches to entangle the bear monster's limbs and body, yet continuously broke, one snapped, two snapped, three..... countless massive trees intertwined with the bear monster until only fruitless roars remained.

An explosion rang from behind the Witch Demon, though slightly surprised that native soldiers drew near, he didn't even bother to turn his head.

...Overconfident.

The flames hitting his back drew a U-shaped arc, re-directing back to where they came from.

Yet without hearing a scream, he was slightly perplexed.

But before he could turn his head, his neck bone broke.

The horned skull spun, the simultaneous cracking sound allowed Kazak to see his adamant star steel-like bones shattered by a Z-shaped perfect slash.

How is this possible?

Ah..... so it's the Holy Sun Forbidden Guard....

The skull fell, the invincible sword blade immediately pierced through the head, pinning it to the ground.

Watching the crystal eye pop out, Olivia stepped down to crush it and finally let out a suppressed breath, pressing the earpiece.

"It's been dealt with."

Upon hearing the success, Leon halted his sprint, retracting the conspicuous Light Wings, he recalled the roaring Callisto and headed towards Olivia.

....It seems the opponent has astonishing mana but lacks practical combat experience... The thought barely arose, but upon seeing the bones beneath Olivia's feet, the sudden greying scenery around halted his steps, nearly provoking him to curse.

"At the same trap twice, I must lower my estimation of you, had you flown away initially, I might not have caught up to your speed....

As you willingly used yourself as bait, how am I any different...."

The raspy voice echoed again, yet this time, it seemed especially mocking within the warped space.