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[LFTAW] Chapter 321: Moon Breathing
🕑 Added 2024-11-16 01:48:11 +0000 UTC"Go! My undead!"
Amid Khajiit's proud shout, hundreds of undead slowly emerged from behind him.
They appeared human at first glance, but their bodies were incomplete as if already decayed—clearly zombies, low-tier undead.
GROOOAAA—!!!
Like an undead army, they let out beast-like growls as they swayed and stumbled forward in groups, heading in Riezel's direction.
Upon seeing this, Riezel remained silent, but Clementine couldn't help but clap her hands, looking impressed.
"Impressive, Khaj! You managed to summon all these undead without a sound! How many are there? One hundred and fifty?"
Just like Ainz, Khajiit was a magic caster specializing in necromancy.
Naturally, since his expertise in necromancy wasn't on Ainz's level, Khajiit couldn't use the most terrifying aspect of necromancy—a magic that could cause instant death.
Nonetheless, Khajiit was unmistakably an expert at controlling the undead.
First of all, Khajiit's undead army was summoned with a 3rd-Tier Magic called 'Create Undead', which allowed him to use corpses as a medium to create or summon undead, turning them into his servants.
However, since it was only 3rd-Tier Magic, Create Undead could produce only one undead per cast.
Considering this, Khajiit must have been hiding in the cemetery for a long time, gradually accumulating over one hundred fifty undead. What truly impressed Clementine, however, was his ability to control over one hundred fifty undead at once.
Certainly, any magic caster specialized in necromancy could create undead, but creating them was one thing, and controlling them was another.
Riezel, for example, could create an unlimited number of combat-ready mechanical dolls if he wanted, but the number he could actually control with precision was only about a hundred.
Controlling creatures or magical beings required significant mastery, and magic casters specialized in necromancy were no different, as the number of undead they could control after summoning depended entirely on their own ability.
While stronger undead reduced the number of undead a magic caster could control, weaker undead allowed for a larger number to be controlled.
Given that zombies were low-tier undead, a magic caster with decent skill could easily control a dozen or more. Even so, the ability to control one hundred and fifty of them at once was, in fact, a feat that even Khajiit, who specialized in controlling undead, would have struggled with.
In that case, why could he succeed?
It was simply because of the magic item he held, an item named the 'Orb of Death' that was imbued with several necromancy-related effects, such as accumulating negative energy, summoning undead, and even amplifying necromancy magic spells, enhancing its wielder's control over undead.
Relying on the Orb of Death, not only was Khajiit able to dominate and control over a hundred undead at once, using them in battle, but he also gained incredibly powerful undead, far superior to low-tier zombies.
Before long, two massive silhouettes appeared behind Khajiit's undead army.
Standing about ten meters tall, they resembled vicious giant beasts, with bodies made entirely of human bones, long necks, thick limbs, a pair of bony wings, and long tails.
If flesh were to grow on them, they would become legendary creatures known to all—dragons.
ROAAARRR—!
ROAAARRR—!
Two undead beings known as 'Skeletal Dragons' spread their bony wings, lashed their long tails, and roared at Riezel.
"Hahaha! Did you see them?!"
As the two Skeletal Dragons appeared, Khajiit's confidence seemed to skyrocket, and he couldn't help but burst into laughter.
"Behold my Skeletal Dragons! They are powerful undead with absolute magic resistance that's nearly impossible to find, even if you search the entire continent!"
"And I, I have two of them, thanks to the Orb of Death!"
Khajiit raised the Orb of Death toward Riezel.
"Before E-Rantel turns into an undead city, I'll make sure you become food for my Skeletal Dragons!"
Upon hearing this, Clementine immediately protested.
"Didn't we agree that he's mine, Khaj?!"
Clementine was actually daring to argue with Khajiit, who had summoned two Skeletal Dragons and was bursting with confidence as if these two massive undead weren't even worth her attention.
"Hmph!" Khajiit showed a disgusted expression. "Since he's found his way here and might interfere with my ritual, I'll take the chance to get rid of him myself. If you're not happy with it, then come at me and face my undead."
"Tch, I'm not playing with undead... I feel like my taste would just drop..."
Clementine mumbled angrily, glaring at Khajiit as if considering whether she should deal with her ally, who was planning to steal her prey, before taking her time with Riezel.
However, Khajiit didn't notice, and Riezel didn't care.
Riezel calmly watched as the horde of zombies growled and walked toward him, then glanced at the two Skeletal Dragons roaring in the air.
Slowly, Riezel placed his hand on the hilt of his sword.
"Unfortunately, this cemetery is quite important. If it gets ruined, I'm sure many of the dead won't find peace and will probably become like these things."
Riezel's voice was soft, but it clearly echoed as he stared at the massive horde of zombies.
"So, to avoid ruining the cemetery, I won’t use magic."
"In exchange, let me show you a power that doesn’t belong to this world."
"That’s why you shouldn’t blink."
With that, Riezel adjusted his breathing.
"Huuu... Haaa..."
When the loud, thunderous sound of Riezel’s breath filled the air, both Khajiit and Clementine noticed something was off.
They could feel the atmosphere around Riezel's body shift as if he had merged with the moonlit night, his entire being radiating a peaceful, mysterious, and serene aura, as though a full moon had risen behind him.
Before long, Khajiit and Clementine sensed an unprecedented, lethal threat emanating from Riezel's body.
"KHAJ!"
Clementine couldn't help but scream as her usually composed face twisted in response to Riezel's peculiarity.
"KILL HIM! KILL HIM NOW!"
Khajiit immediately gave a sharp order, causing the numerous zombies, along with the two Skeletal Dragons, to charge at Riezel.
Rumble—!
With rumbling sounds, the zombies hurriedly ran in groups, their footsteps trembling the earth.
ROOOAAARRR—!!!
ROOOAAARRR—!!!
Roaring together, the two Skeletal Dragons descended from the air, their massive limbs hitting the ground, shaking it and sending dust into the air, creating shockwaves that swept across the entire cemetery.
At this very moment, the cemetery transformed into a battlefield, a place where hundreds of undead charged toward a single person.
He stood alone against the overwhelming zombies, his figure looking fragile.
He faced the roars and shockwaves from the Skeletal Dragons, his clothes fluttering as they rippled and swayed in the chaos.
Nevertheless, his back remained straight, and his silhouette was anything but small.
"Total Concentration - Moon Breathing..."
Riezel's sword, usually kept sheathed, was slowly drawn from its scabbard.
As the sword was drawn, several crescent moon-shaped blades formed.
"Seventh Form - Mirror of Misfortune, Moonlit."
Swish!
As the undead army got closer, Riezel finally swung his sword, unleashing a crescent-shaped blade of light as bright as the moon that expanded outward.
It spread in a fan shape, cutting through the undead army ahead, unleashing numerous straight and curved slashes along the ground that cut through many zombies, leaving a trail of smaller shockwaves in its wake.
Rumble—!
In an instant, all the zombies were torn apart by the slashes, shattering into pieces of rotten meat that flew through the air.
ROOOAAARRR—!!!
ROOOAAARRR—!!!
At the same time, the two Skeletal Dragons were also hit by the slashes—it was as if they had encountered a nuclear explosion, swallowed by the intense radiance of the slashes.
They slowly shattered.
They slowly disintegrated.
By the time the numerous straight and curved slashes had left five deep crevices in the ground and torn up the area in front of the mausoleum, all the undead had been obliterated and vanished without a trace.
"AAAHHHHHH—!!!"
Meanwhile, Khajiit was sent flying by the shockwaves from Riezel's slashes, tumbling across the ground for a considerable distance before crashing into a gravestone, cracking it in the process.
With a stupefied expression, Khajiit watched in horror as his undead army was destroyed, seeing the two Skeletal Dragons he had been so proud of obliterated in an instant.
"No... NO! THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING!"
"HOW COULD HUNDREDS OF ZOMBIES GET WIPED OUT IN AN INSTANT?!"
"HOW COULD TWO SKELETAL DRAGONS BE TAKEN DOWN WITH ONE ATTACK?!"
"THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE!"
"IMPOSSIBLEEEE—!!!"
In the howling wind, Khajiit screamed hysterically, desperately trying to deny what he was witnessing.
Truthfully, his reaction was normal.
Anyone else in his place would have found it hard to believe, even terrifying, especially after seeing the two Skeletal Dragons get destroyed so easily.
It couldn't be helped.
After all, not only did Skeletal Dragons have absolute magic resistance, immune to any magic of the 6th Tier or lower, but as skeletal creatures, they were also resistant to slashing and stabbing attacks.
If one wanted to deal with Skeletal Dragons, the most effective way would have been blunt attacks, a direct impact, while slashes, like what Riezel had done, would have been almost impossible to cause significant damage to their bone-structured bodies.
However, the reality proved otherwise.
Riezel instantly destroyed both the Skeletal Dragons and the one-hundred-fifty zombies, all falling victim to his storm of slashes.
