Volume 8, Chapter 13 – The Moving Great Library

“What in the world are these undead trying to do…”

Upon the wide city wall spreading across the plain, Kelvin Killian—the man once publicly disciplined by the apprentice witch—let out a pained groan.

Some time ago, by order of the Elf King Yelido, he had journeyed with architects from the Elf Tower to the Second Abyss to construct the [Confessional Hall]. Initially, he thought he had offended the First Princess and been exiled to the frontier, doomed to spend his days in boring border duty. Unexpectedly, he had been assigned a deadly, arduous task.

The Confessional Hall was now complete. But when he first activated the hall suspended within the abyssal rift, using the [Farsight] barrier, he glimpsed the black slime at the bottom of the abyss, constantly surging up and down like the rising and falling tides. Even separated by a considerable distance, his instincts screamed that this thing was dangerous—lethally so.

Connecting this to the Chaos the First Princess had mentioned long ago in court, his clothes were instantly soaked with cold sweat. It hadn’t been the First Princess fearmongering to promote the Witch Sanctuary; it was a tangible fact. Beneath the very land they stood on lay a disaster capable of overturning the World Tree Continent.

From that moment, he began to believe the First Princess’s words: beneath the World Tree Continent lay Chaos as vast as an ocean, innumerable and beyond counting.

Though the sea area beneath the World Tree Continent wasn’t larger than the land—indeed, it could be called an inland sea surrounded by nations—he still lived in constant dread. Even an inland sea was enough to inspire despair. He couldn’t imagine how he, or Silvar’s magic chanters, would respond if that black slime climbed up. It was an overwhelming, insurmountable enemy.

He dared not tell anyone this hopeless news. He simply ordered that no one but himself use [Farsight] on the abyss below. Then he daily observed the Chaos’s condition, recording it. Thus he discovered the distance between the Chaos and the Confessional Hall was slowly closing. Panicked, he finally began to attach importance to the new magic the artisans used against invading undead.

Admittedly, he had looked down on new magic. First, it required expensive high-grade magic crystals. Second, the spells it released were only Third Rank. If the same number of magic crystals were used to construct magic arrays, the power would be far greater.

But now, he had to admit that new magic was better suited to fighting the black slime. The World Tree Continent had far too few magic chanters. Against an enemy like the black slime, which relied on numbers, even a high-rank magic chanter casting Sixth-Rank spells to clear the land would see them come back like waves.

Therefore, they needed far more magic chanters to confront Chaos. Under these circumstances, new magic could arm ordinary people with low magical ability, turning them into half-magic chanters. If they could mass-produce such weapons and give them to soldiers who otherwise only wielded spears, it might be possible to form a force capable of contending with Chaos.

Barring unforeseen circumstances, he planned to return to Blossom this month and report to the Elf Tower scholars. But now, a situation had arisen that stole his breath.

The distant plain was covered in a bleak sea of white bones. The dust raised by the undead army blotted out the sun. At a glance, there were at least one hundred thousand. Squinting, one could also see watchtowers rising from the plain. Giant skeletons were hauling stone to build walls. Behind them, multi-headed bone dragons circled in the sky. The dense death aura, even from over five kilometers away, chilled one to the bone.

Three days had passed since the undead arrived. In those three days, they hadn’t attacked. They leisurely built fortifications on the opposite bank. Though Kelvin attempted small-unit raids, they were invariably spotted by the three-headed bone dragons in the air.

Also standing on the wall was a female elf, frowning. She was the commander responsible for defending the southern line in summer. In wartime, Kelvin had to follow her orders.

“If they just attacked, we’d have a hard time holding on. Why besiege us without attacking? Lord Kelvin, do you have any idea?”

“If I knew, I’d tell you.”

Kelvin replied helplessly.

As commanders, they knew better than anyone: if this many undead attacked, they couldn’t hold for even two days. The several three-headed bone dragons in the sky were all Sixth-Rank undead. Even without magic, simply slamming their bodies into the wall would cause massive casualties.

The cold wind of the Land of Exile continued blowing their hair. Kelvin seemed to have a thought and suddenly spoke.

“Do you think they’re waiting for us to hand over Her Highness the First Princess?”

“Are you joking? That’s their scheme—shift the pressure onto Her Highness, make us infight. Not only do we not believe handing her over will make them give up the offensive, even they don’t believe it.”

“Then how do you explain them not acting for so long? I think maybe whoever’s commanding them has business with Her Highness. Though Her Highness lost her memory in the Holy Kingdom campaign, her strength has grown considerably. I saw with my own eyes Her Highness use teleportation magic from Blossom to the Land of Exile—a distance of hundreds of kilometers—in just a few minutes. I’d guess Her Highness is at least Eighth Rank.”

The female elf glanced at Kelvin in surprise. In her impression, Kelvin had been suppressed by the First Princess and should bear her a grudge. Yet here he was speaking well of her. Unbelievable.

“What business could the undead have with Her Highness? Undead by nature hate the living. Seeing living people, they only want to kill them. It has nothing to do with whether Her Highness is Eighth Rank. Perhaps precisely because Her Highness is Eighth Rank, they find her too threatening and demand her. Now they besiege without attacking, afraid of mutually assured destruction, just trying to scare us.”

“What you say makes sense. But you’re not a magic chanter; you don’t understand our yearning for magic. Maybe some undead archmage has questions about magic and wants to study under Her Highness. Her Highness has already surpassed us ordinary people by far—discovering new magic like she did.”

As he spoke, Kelvin tightened his grip on his magic staff. He noticed the circling multi-headed bone dragons across the way had all stopped. The skeleton giants building the wall also paused.

Then, a soldier hovering in the air on reconnaissance duty flew down. His eyes were frantic.

“Sir! The undead are attacking!”

The undead are attacking!

The news quickly spread to all soldiers via war horns. Troops resting within the walls donned armor and rushed to the battlements. Silvar’s unique wyvern knights sortied in force—nearly five hundred of them, two-thirds of the total. They soared into the sky, cleared the wall, and sped toward the undead army.

Before the undead reached the city, these wyvern knights would drop oil barrels and burning stones to impede their advance. Undead feared not arrows or ice magic, but they had a natural weakness to fire and blunt trauma.

In the past, five hundred wyvern knights could significantly weaken an undead force. Low-tier undead lacked intelligence; even seeing a sea of fire, they’d charge straight in. By the time they reached the walls, only rabble remained, easily dealt with by nature magic—specifically, healing spells.

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It was worth emphasizing that Baron Yarua’s city walls stood sixty meters high—the height of a dragon standing erect, just showing its head. Thus, the magic chanters using healing spells often stayed not on the walls but inside the first level within, which had outward-facing loopholes, perfect for casting healing spells on man-high skeletons.

But now, even maintaining flight was difficult for the five hundred wyvern knights. From Kelvin’s perspective, the wyverns beneath the knights were like frightened horses, their heads struggling, letting out sharp, piercing shrieks. Most wyverns couldn’t even fly in a straight line. Due to the dense formation, some collided with comrades and spiraled to the ground, leaving the main battlefield.

“What are the wyvern knights doing?”

The female elf frowned. Her personal strength was low; her talent lay in command.

Kelvin closed his eyes, quietly chanting a detection spell. His face darkened.

“It’s the bone dragons in the sky. Wyverns are dragon-kin; they fear bone dragons.”

“Tch. Can Lord Kelvin shoot down the bone dragons?”

“Impossible.” Kelvin’s answer was bitter yet decisive. “If there were only one three-headed bone dragon, we might try. There are five. Only a magic chanter of Master Mohr’s level could—wait, get down!”

The instant he sensed something wrong, Kelvin grabbed the female elf’s shoulder and threw them both aside. The next moment, something like a meteor, roaring as it came, exploded near them. The violent shaking of the wall made Kelvin feel his internal organs quake. The explosion, so close, obscured his vision with dust. He thought he heard nearby soldiers crying for help, but his ears rang with tinnitus.

He had seen something in the undead army fly toward him, but by the time he reacted, it was already upon them. Lying on the ground, he was stunned and alarmed. Were the undead using catapults? But no catapult could hurl a stone five kilometers with such precision, landing on the wall with its first shot.

He quickly looked at the commander he had protected. His heart lurched. The female elf had fainted from the impact, unconscious.

Damn.

“Oh~ So this is the world of the living…”

Amidst the dust, a hoarse voice filled with emotion rang out. Kelvin, lying on the ground, vaguely heard the sound of hooves. He quickly helped the female elf up and hid her behind him, then continuously murmured magic incantations under his breath, casting enhancement spells on himself. That voice just now was definitely not a hallucination. If his guess was correct, the one who attacked him was a high-ranking undead warrior.

A magic swordsman among skeleton soldiers? Or a dread terror bat? Since there were hoofbeats, it couldn’t be a nightmare knight.

In an instant, multiple guesses flashed through Kelvin’s mind. If it were the former two, he was confident he could parry. But if it were a nightmare knight, the outcome was uncertain. Nightmare knights were often hero-level warriors in life, falling to undead because of unfulfilled ideals. Not only did they retain their former magic and intelligence, but they could also continue advancing in rank after death. Both their magical ability and combat skills were extremely tricky.

“Six hundred years, and the elf territory has advanced this far. Truly a nation blessed by the Holy Son. But this smell is as foul as ever.”

The dust gradually cleared, and Kelvin finally saw the opponent’s appearance. Bitterness surged in his throat. Standing before him was indeed a nightmare knight—over two meters tall, riding a large skeletal horse. Though its flesh was withered and decayed, half its skull reduced to bare bone, its oppressive aura still took one’s breath away.

In terms of raw magic power alone, it probably surpassed him.

Kelvin swallowed. The gray mist emanating from the nightmare knight chilled him to the bone—a sign of death energy eroding his vitality.

“Hmm? Still alive? Unbelievable.”

Noticing Kelvin continuously using enhancement spells to amplify himself, the nightmare knight turned its horse. At that moment, Kelvin noticed the knight’s physical characteristics. It wasn’t human—it had pointed ears.

An elf.

Less than five meters separated them. He was certainly no match. Kelvin’s mind raced. Doing his best not to provoke the nightmare knight, he spoke humbly.

“Sir, since you were once an elf and lived in elf territory, may I ask your name? To become a nightmare knight, you must have been a figure of some importance.”

The nightmare knight stroked its chin, its hoarse voice taking on a playful edge.

“Seeing you can’t defeat me, you want to negotiate? If you hand over that elf named Dofilia, or open the gates and let us in, we naturally won’t trouble you. Though I’d very much like to kill you all, Her Majesty the Queen has commanded, and I must obey.”

Addressing her as Dofilia, not the First Princess?

Kelvin was puzzled. Did these undead not know that Dofilia was the Kingdom’s First Princess?

“Sir, you are also a part of the elven race. Do you not miss your kin? Why ally with the undead? You possess wisdom. With your strength, if you returned to the kingdom, His Majesty the Elf King would surely treat you with honor.”

“Heh, interesting. Do you know my name?”

“Pray tell, sir.”

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Though Kelvin bowed his head slightly in salute, he remained constantly vigilant. He sensed the nightmare knight’s hostility and hatred growing stronger, as if there was a blood feud between them.

“Erhan Alexis Alexia. Your founding emperor made me into this! Die!”

The killing intent in his voice was unmistakable. The nightmare knight’s spear thrust straight at Kelvin’s chest, and the skeletal horse beneath him reared, its front hooves stamping forward. The overwhelming pressure made Kelvin instinctively want to dodge, but remembering the southern commander behind him, he clenched his teeth and deployed a magic shield in the shortest possible time.

“—[Ice Fairy Spiraling Shield]!”

Booom!

A swirling ice-blue shield unfolded before Kelvin. But it didn’t last even an instant. The moment the spear touched it, the shield shattered into scattering ice fragments.

Yet this did not spell Kelvin’s doom.

The enhancement spells he had cast earlier now came into play.

From the start, he hadn’t expected a Third-Rank [Ice Fairy Spiraling Shield] to withstand a nightmare knight’s attack. His goal was to use the shield to obstruct their vision. The real killer move was himself.

The magic staff in his hand glowed golden. A dense holy aura not only enveloped his entire body but also illuminated the breach in the wall. He thrust the staff like a spear, aiming at a tricky angle the nightmare knight couldn’t react to—thrusting diagonally upward from below toward the skeletal horse.

This blow was saturated with holy power. Undead had almost no resistance to holy magic; upon contact, they would turn to dust.

As a magic chanter from the Elf Tower, Kelvin’s own strength was not weak. He had been sent to the border specifically because he possessed the talent for holy magic.

Shluk.

Crack.

First came the sound of the nightmare knight’s spear piercing Kelvin’s shoulder, followed by the sharp crack of Kelvin’s staff striking the skeletal horse’s spine. The Fifth-Rank skeletal horse was as fragile as paper; the holy-power-infused staff shattered its spine in an instant. But Kelvin didn’t stop. Clenching his teeth, relying on the [Pain Reduction] he had cast early, ignoring the spear embedded in his shoulder, he thrust the staff forward again.

The staff, blazing with dazzling light, reduced the skeletal horse to dust and then struck the nightmare knight’s right leg bone. Instantly, the acrid smell of burning flesh and a sizzling sound filled the breach.

But to Kelvin’s horror, he found that this blow, brimming with holy power meant to purify the nightmare knight, could go no further. It seemed the holy power had no effect on the nightmare knight, reducing the attack to an ordinary thrust.

Only the foul smell of burning remained.

“Hmph!”

Though its skeletal horse was destroyed, the nightmare knight didn’t lose balance. It hovered in the air, sneering disdainfully, ignoring the staff pressed against its body. Using the spear that had pierced Kelvin’s shoulder, it lifted Kelvin entirely into the air. Its grotesque face, only half-covered with flesh, was filled with contempt.

“You thought I didn’t notice your little trick? I, Erhan, do not fail at the same thing twice.”

“How can an undead not fear holy magic!”

Kelvin’s eyes bulged. Frantically, he struck the nightmare knight’s chest with his staff again and again, but as before, the knight was unharmed.

“Cheap tricks.”

The nightmare knight contemptuously grabbed the staff and crushed it with one hand. Using the spear, it lifted Kelvin closer and grabbed his head.

“Holy magic of this level cannot affect me. Six hundred years have passed, and your magic has still not progressed. Enough. Kill them all, ask each one where Dofilia is, until we drag that false king from his throne—Hmm?”

The nightmare knight paused. It sensed a second living being nearby, its vitality so vigorous it could not be ignored. It grew alert.

“Who?”

The answer was a pair of crimson eyes that suddenly appeared before it.

A girl with black hair and crimson eyes, of peerless beauty.

Before the nightmare knight could react, it heard the crack of breaking bone—its right hand, holding Kelvin’s head, was severed. Startled, it quickly distanced itself from the crimson eyes before it. But when it reacted again, the crimson eyes had been replaced by the shadow of a hand.

The world spun.

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BOOM!

With an explosive roar and scattered bricks flying in all directions, the nightmare knight was slammed headfirst from the air into the ground by Fia, held by the head. The tremendous force created an even larger gap in the already damaged wall.

But Fia did not pursue. There were too many wounded on the wall. First, she moved Kelvin, whose shoulder was pierced, and the female commander to a safe distance. Then she used [Fairy’s Protective Umbrella] to heal everyone nearby—including, of course, the nightmare knight embedded in the earth. The knight, who moments ago had feared no holy magic, now screamed in agony.

“What is this? How can the Pope of the Holy Kingdom be in the Elf kingdom?”

“Pope? Weren’t you just so arrogant moments ago?”

Floating in the air, Fia looked down at the nightmare knight struggling to rise. Undead felt no pain; the knight struggled because its body had been violently damaged, making it hard to stand. Only after gathering black mist to repair its broken body did it barely climb to its feet. The red gleam in its sunken eye sockets burned with hatred.

“Black hair? A dark elf? How can a dark elf use holy magic?”

“I’m sorry to disappoint, but I’m no dark elf. I’m simply the First Princess of Silvar.”

“The First Princess of Silvar… the First Princess?”

As if realizing something, the nightmare knight jerked violently, his expression twisting with fury.

“The Florenst family! Not only did you steal my kingdom, but today you come to stop my revenge!”

“Oh?”

Fia tilted her head. Her father Yelido’s name included Florenst—it seemed males were called Florenst, while females were called Yushir.

As for the claim of a stolen kingdom, Fia looked the nightmare knight up and down. Noticing his pointed elf ears and recalling that nightmare knights were often hero-level figures in life, perhaps this knight had been killed by her father’s father.

Such a sense of history is quite amusing.

Fia curled her lips.

“Before I grant you death, I permit you to state your name.”

“The one who dies is you! Today, Erhan Alexis Alexia will send you usurping bastards straight to hell!”

Erhan?

I see.

Fia finally understood why the nightmare knight was so enraged. Erhan was the last king of the previous elven dynasty, killed by her father’s father. But the Alexia dynasty hadn’t fallen because of usurpation—Erhan and his father had been tyrannical rulers. Though of the same Alexia family, her father’s father had been the righteous one.

As the nightmare knight thrust his spear upward from below, Fia didn’t even raise a hand. She blocked it easily with [Bee Shield Forcefield], covering her mouth with one hand as she chuckled.

“Is this the extent of your so-called hatred? Because of your own incompetence and tyranny, you lost your kingdom. Now not only have you fallen to undead, but you also turn your weapon against your own former compatriots. Your death comes as no surprise.”

“Mere words from a woman!”

On the other side of the [Bee Shield Forcefield], the nightmare knight’s twisted expression was particularly striking.

“Unable to even break through an opponent’s defense, yet you call me one who relies on ‘mere words’?”

“I am now Seventh Rank! Even if your father borrows the Holy Tree’s power, he is no match for me!”

Not giving up, the nightmare knight reversed his spear and slammed its butt heavily against the [Bee Shield Forcefield]. Since it was only a First-Rank spell, cracks quickly spread across its surface. A sinister grin of triumph crept onto the knight’s face.

“Today, I’ll take your head to him! Just imagining the regret on his face makes me tremble with joy! —[Soul Drain]!”

Without warning, the crimson gleam in the nightmare knight’s sunken eye sockets flared brightly. The light was bewitchingly glamorous, as if possessing a soul-snatching magic.

Seeing Fia behind the barrier not even flinch, the knight’s smile grew even more radiant. He laughed aloud.

“Defensive magic cannot defend against mental attacks! Your carelessness spells your doom!”

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His confident shout faded. Believing his victory was as easy as taking candy from a baby, the nightmare knight reached out toward Fia’s head. But to his surprise, before his hand extended halfway, it met something like a wall.

He paused momentarily.

Was it the previous defensive magic? But after being hit by [Soul Drain], she should be like a living corpse, unable to maintain magic.

Perhaps it was one of those one-time use spells that, unless actively canceled, persisted until mana ran out, the knight thought. He clenched his fist, ready to shatter the shield with one blow.

Until he felt something gripping his throat.

Though he had no eyelids, his whole body shuddered, making a confused motion as if blinking.

“Huh?”

Coming to his senses, he suddenly realized it was Fia, behind the magic shield, making a grasping gesture toward him from a distance. His expression instantly filled with terror.

“How can you still move?!”

“You thought that insignificant spell could affect me? Let me show you what real mental magic is.”

Giving the nightmare knight no chance to speak, Fia abruptly activated her spell.

[Mental Shock]

The crimson gleam in the knight’s sunken eye sockets immediately dimmed. After a second, it slowly recovered.

Sensing something wrong, he hurriedly raised his spear with both hands and thrust at Fia. But another [Mental Shock] struck him, deflating him like a punctured balloon. His body instantly went limp.

When the crimson gleam returned, realizing his body had lost its strength, fear finally crept into his voice. He suddenly understood this was someone he could not afford to provoke.

“What did you do?!”

“Mental magic. Though I’d like to play with you a bit longer, I have other matters to attend to. Since you’re so confident in your strength, how about we play a game? If you can withstand my magic, I’ll let you live. If not, you disappear forever.”

“No… I refuse! I refuse! Let me go! I came only to find someone, not to kill! Let me go!”

“Begging for mercy at a time like this—don’t you find it shameful? As one who was once a king, dying with dignity even at the end would earn outsiders’ respect.”

Sensing the killing intent in Fia’s voice, the nightmare knight, under threat of death, finally abandoned all pretense of pride. The oppressive aura Fia gave off was almost equal to the Queen of Death’s. He had already died once and knew the value of living. His voice filled with desperation.

“Spare me! If you spare me, I’ll submit to you! With a slave contract! No, a soul contract! Spare me, spare me! I’ll give you anything!!!”

“Go beg mercy from the dead.”

With that, Fia used [Forceful Plunder] to strip the nightmare knight of all his mana. Ignoring his pitiful wails, she tossed him like a discarded sack toward the distant battlefield. Then she raised her right hand high.

[Forbidden Spell: Wide-Area Gravity Manipulation].

A mysterious purple radiance rose from the earth. In an instant, the surging undead horde charging toward Yarua City collapsed to the ground. Even the five three-headed bone dragons flying in the air, with long, mournful cries, plummeted earthward. This range covered every visible inch of land—the entire plain was enveloped in terrifying purple light. If one pulled back to a higher vantage, they would see the purple radiance emanating from an arcane magic array covering the ground, its mere sight inducing dizziness.

Fia intensified the gravity. Then, with a crack, the entire ground suddenly sank and split apart. Countless skeletons pressed against the earth shattered. Only those undead with sturdy bodies and those existing as pure energy forms barely survived.

But this was only the first spell. For a magic chanter who had mastered at least five thousand spells, this wasn’t even the beginning.

Her raised right hand clenched into a fist. Fia rapidly completed a massive calculation in her mind. As surging, erupting mana shot from her right fist into the sky, her second spell was already prepared.

[Forbidden Spell: Celestial Canopy of the Divine].

A vast floating city materialized above the battlefield. Immediately, countless magic spires and magical books flying from a vast library filled the sky. Along with terrifying rays and elemental magic descending from the heavens, they transformed the plain below into a hell on earth, wracked by chaotic magical currents.