Ninety: Victory

The wraith was formidable, likely at the level of a third-rank elite, and perhaps already close to the fourth rank.

But even fourth-rank power was far from invincible.

In this world there might be men who could stand against ten thousand, yet the fourth rank did not reach that height. By this world's standards, the first through third ranks were merely lower soldiers; only at the fourth rank did one enter the stage of middle-grade warriors.

Even someone as strong as Lyon could not withstand Karen's undead tide tactics, let alone the wraith.

So although the wraith's charge was imposing, it held only for a short while before Karen's undead legion quickly suppressed it.

Under the mad assault of more than seven thousand undead, each fearless in the face of death, the army of Moonworship City was likewise subdued even faster after its initial charge.

After all, the wraith was not truly Lyon, and he could not command an army as Lyon did.

Thus, once their hot blood had been spent, they were swallowed by the sea of the undead. Soldiers kept being slain, and if matters continued in this fashion, total annihilation was not far off.

Although the wraith's side was suppressed with brutal speed, he had indeed bought Lyon a chance to break free.

While the wraith drew the bulk of the undead legion's fire, Lyon led his elite underlings, protecting Dima as they carved a path out of Karen's undead host.

As a fourth-rank warrior, Lyon's combat power was still terrifying. Even though the earlier fighting had greatly drained him and reduced his strength to some extent, it was still not something undead of the first or second rank could withstand.

With the wraith drawing away most of the undead legion's attention, Lyon successfully broke through Karen's forces.

Having fought his way out of the encirclement, Lyon did not immediately withdraw with his people. Once clear, he could not help turning back to look at the wraith, who was wearing his helm and slaughtering the undead in a frenzy.

At that moment, an urge seized Lyon, an urge to go back in and pull the wraith out.

Dima stepped forward and patted his shoulder. "Let's go. Don't look back. This is the path he chose!"

Lyon murmured, "If only back then I had noticed those nobles' scheme in time and protected his family... perhaps he wouldn't now be so bent on death after the failure of his plan."

Dima let out a sigh. "No one can control everything. And this isn't your fault either. From the moment he decided to move against the nobles' cake, he should have known what was at stake and prepared for that possibility. He didn't. He overestimated the nobles' bottom line.

"It may not sound pleasant, but the bitter fruit was indeed of his own making.

"You've stayed with him through all this chaos for long enough. You've already avenged him. Even if you were at fault back then, it has long since been made up for.

"Besides, he had actually prepared himself from the very beginning to die once the plan succeeded!"

In truth, the wraith's rebellion had its reasons, or rather, he had been forced into it by the nobles.

Back then, all trade between the Wraith and the Silver Hand on the kingdom's side had been firmly controlled by the nobles, and the profits the wraith received were only what the nobles left behind.

This left the wraith, who was in charge of the project, deeply dissatisfied, after all, the money from trade with the Silver Hand was meant for military use.

So the wraith had intended to cut the nobles out. But that move provoked a fierce response. To protect their own share, the nobles used every possible method, even threatening him with his family.

And in an accident, the wraith's family died at their hands.

It was precisely because of this that once the wraith had secured a trade route outside noble control, he rebelled outright and began plotting revenge by any means necessary.

In the end, with Lyon's help, the wraith succeeded in taking his revenge.

As for the frontier trade plan of the wraith, it had in fact received Lyon's support, though the main reason had not been personal gain.

Moreover, after the incident in Moonworship City a few days earlier, the wraith had already resolved that once the plan succeeded, he would exchange his own head for Lyon's innocence.

So at this moment, even though Lyon knew full well what would happen if he kept watching, he simply could not tear his gaze away.

On the other side, the battle on Karen's territory was also gradually drawing to a close.

One by one, the warriors at the wraith's side fell, until only the wraith himself remained in combat.

Yet in the end, the wraith did not die miserably beneath the undead's encirclement. When he was the last one standing, Karen brought the undead beside him and strode up to the wraith's face.

Karen could not bear to kill the wraith. He did not know that this man was the wraith's leader, but he knew that the man's status must be unusual. If he could be won over, it would bring Karen enormous benefit.

After extending an olive branch several times and receiving no reply, Karen's patience finally wore away. He simply struck the man unconscious and had him captured first, to be dealt with later.

On the other side, Lyon and Dima, upon seeing this, brightened at once.

"So long as he's not dead, there's hope. Wasn't this necromancer raised up by One Arm? We can have One Arm go try him."

With that, the two of them turned and left in excitement.

Their departure brought this war to a complete end on Karen's battlefield.

And after this battle, Karen, as the final victor, saw his strength surge once again!

...

Karen

Age: 16

Race: Human

Power: Second Rank, Elite

Skills: Basic Swordsman Techniques, Level 3, Max Level, Battle Aura Seed: Activated

Heavy Strike, Level 13, 871/5000, amplifies the power of a slash by six hundred percent, can unleash up to six consecutive heavy strikes

Eye of Insight, Level 3, 11/5000, can penetrate the information of beings at third rank and below

Corpse Manipulation, Level 5, Max Level, beyond the manipulation of corpses, it has no practical combat value

...

Karen, Lord

Territory owned: Land of Death

Territory level: 3

Territory energy: 182,280

Territory buildings: Large Graveyard, 1; Small Tombs, 120

Corpses available for conversion: 912 corpses of rank 0, 2,763 corpses of rank 1, 421 corpses of rank 2, 11 corpses of rank 3, 1 corpse of unknown grade

Undead owned:

Rank 0 undead: 1,856

Rank 1 undead: 2,513

Goblin Skeleton Mages, Rank 2: 70

Goblin Skeleton Warriors, Rank 2: 186

Beast Undead, Rank 2: 9

Special Undead: Iron Bone, rank 2, ordinary; Alice, rank 2, ordinary; Skeletal Boar, rank 2, trash; Blood Claw Eagle, rank 2, ordinary

Rank 3 undead: 20

Little Green, rank 3, elite; Galen, rank 3, elite; Shadow, rank 3, elite; Kira, rank 3, ordinary

...

This was Karen's current status. Although territory energy had previously been spent by more than one hundred thirty thousand, thanks to the slaughter, he still had over one hundred eighty thousand in hand.

There was no need to mention the spoils in corpses, undead, and the like. Karen himself had also gained a massive amount of personal energy, enough to reach rank 3 elite without any problem.

And these gains were only the beginning. Once Karen swept through the Goblin Forest, his strength would rise again in a terrifying leap...