Book Eater

Chapter 306: Lairon, the Last Day (1)

A swordmaster was fast, but flying magic was far superior when it came to crossing large distances. Magicians also benefited from a wider line of sight as they flew at high altitudes.

As a result, the three of them could soon see the city in the distance as they shot through the air. It was the northwest frontier city in the Soldun Kingdom, ruled by Earl Albert. Theo had met him once in the last civil war when he had stood at Elsid’s side. By the time Theo remembered his face, the trio were already over the Albert estate. From there, they could see the entirety of the city.

Theo took a quick look through Albert City.

“It is a mess.”

There were flames, smoke, and people running away in every direction.

“The attack came from the north. But the situation is too strange for it to be Lairon invading. The walls haven’t collapsed yet, so why are there disturbances inside the city-”

“... Theo,” Veronica’s voice was a low growl. “Look higher and again. It seems like we’ve stepped on the tail of that bastard.”

“What?” Theo followed Veronica’s advice. He triggered Hawkeye, and the shapes of those who seemed smaller than ants were immediately clear.

A man was chasing after someone on a blood stained street and savagely bit his neck. The victim fell with a scream, blood pooling around him. It was a disastrous death, but that wasn’t the end. As blood poured from the torn neck, the victim rose to his feet. He had become a zombie, the most common type of undead.

“Undead! Are they the infectious type?” Theo’s eyes widened as he saw the situation.

Undead warlock familiars could be divided into two major types, manufactured and infectious. The manufactured type were made directly by the warlock’s magic power, while the infectious type were made indirectly. They were killed by other undead or under the influence of special black infectious magic.

Of course, the manufactured type is more common. However, the danger of the infectious type isn’t in the strength of an individual.

One zombie would kill one citizen. Then two zombies would kill two citizens. Four zombies would then attack four citizens... At that rate, it would take less than half a day for the territory to turn into a cemetery filled with more than a thousand undead. This was the reason a necromancer was known as the worst of the warlocks.

However, Theo remained calm. The infection was obviously a threat, but each individual undead wasn’t strong. It was possible for an army with a proper defensive line to take care of them. In fact, the soldiers of Albert City were blocking the undead from outside the walls.

The damage inside the city wasn’t small, but there was a defensive line, as well as guards leading out the survivors. It might be impossible to win, but they could hold on for a few hours.

... Nevertheless, this situation is weird. There are a few high-level undead that appear to be giving commands, but it isn’t very organized. No matter how hurt he is, a 9th?circle warlock wouldn’t be so disorderly.

Theo felt a weird sense of unease. Was this a pandemic to increase power? No, if he wanted that, Jerem would’ve moved faster and more secretly. It was a mistake to draw attention with low-level undead and attract variables such as Theo. Did he want to tie up Theo?

“Theo, what do you want to do?”

They couldn’t just continue watching from above. Theo was troubled for a moment, but there was no choice. If he passed by Albert City, they wouldn’t see tomorrow’s sun. Theo couldn’t sacrifice those lives for his own convenience. If Theo were such a person, godking Nuada wouldn’t have responded to his summoning in the first place.

“Randolph, go to the eastern section of the city and help the guards evacuate the survivors.”

“I understand. What about you?”

Theo smiled at the question and looked playfully at Veronica. “What is the Red Tower’s 8th commandment?”

Veronica looked at him askance. “Huh? A good warlock is a dead warlock?”

Theo grinned. “And the 10th one?”

“Aha, whether it is one hundred or one thousand people, wipe them all out!”

It was a reckless strategy, but it was different when it involved two 8th Circle magicians. They were both one person armies. An undead horde was nothing more than scarecrows.

“I understand. Please don’t get carried away,” Randolph said half-heartedly as he dove downward. Blindly fired magic was, after all, more terrifying than thousands of undead.

They were quite high in the sky, but a swordmaster was made of tougher stuff. Randolph landed safely on the building and immediately shot toward the east side of the city. Meanwhile, the magicians split up responsibilities.

“Veronica, I will take care of the city.”

“Okay, then I’m outside? I was a bit worried, but now I can let it all out!”

Veronica was happy. Her magic, which specialized in large-scale destruction, was difficult to demonstrate inside a city. If an attack spell hit the wrong place once, a disaster worse than zombies would occur. Even magicians who reached the 8th Circle had some weaknesses born from inexperience.

“Theo! Let’s bet on who will finish first!” Veronica created flaming wings behind her.

A sonic boom tore apart the clouds as Veronica shot toward the city limits. She was always like a storm.

Theo gazed at Veronica’s back before shaking his head and looking down.

... The west part of the city is already doomed. The center and south parts still have many survivors. I will focus on them.

The survivors who were being surrounded by the undead took precedence. The eight Circles inside Theo’s body started rotating.

Huuuuuuong!?

His circles roared. In retrospect, this was the first time he had used all eight Circles. Theo had a lot more magic power reserves than any other magician. As his Circles increased in capacity, Theo’s magic power became strong enough to be compared to when Veronica awakened her dragon heart. Then what magic was he going to use with this magic power?

“Lucete!” Theo cried out with a loud voice.

Memorize. All Slots Open. Octuple Casting.

He had never tried this before! Magic power shot into the air as space around Theo distorted. But from that distortion, a light was born.

Success!

He had formed concentrated arrows of light from the debris of divinity that Nuada left behind. A simple flame couldn’t completely stop the undead’s regenerative abilities. It needed the power of a god, who was the enemy of all undead and black magic.

Wuuong- Wuuong- Wuuong- Wuuong-

The golden arrows chased the darkness away from the night sky. Just like the sun rising again, light spread all over the sky.

Ten, twenty, one hundred, two hundred

At first, Theo intended to hold back a little. However, he was soon forced to change his mind when he reached a thousand arrows and still felt like he could make more.

“Won’t I clean all of this up at once?” Theo watched the resplendent scene he had created with bemused eyes.

Kieeeek? Kieeek? Kieeeeeeek! Grrrrr...! Grr... Kuk…

As the divine arrows fell, the undead melted like candles. They couldn’t even endure for a moment. There weren’t many senior undead, but they also stopped moving, unable to ignore the effects of the light. Theo didn’t know that this spell, which mimicked Nuada’s true light wave, would exert this much power.

It might be the aftermath of Mitra turning into a goddess for a moment. Won’t this be enough to face Jerem?

Theo pondered while Albert City fell into stunned silence. As he stood up in a golden sky, Theo’s figure looked holy. Some people fell to their knees, while others stared blankly at the sky.

Theo slowly raised his left hand and cried out, “Go.”

The rest of the golden arrows fell over the city like divine punishment. Later, people would recall the scene. Someone had appeared in the sky surrounded by holy light, and they had poured out a brilliant shower of light to destroy the blasphemous existences.

More than a thousand arrows pierced the undead. It might be different with a death knight or lich, but these low rank undead couldn’t resist the brilliant light as they melted away like ice in the scorching summer sun. Only the undead were annihilated, with no harm done to the living.

After the golden shower, there wasn’t one undead left inside Albert City.

“... It looks like I won the bet.” Theo shrugged as he thought about how he’d made Randolph run around for nothing.

Theo had reached the 8th Circle through many twists and turns. He had only just ranked up, but he realized that his magic had become several times more powerful. He could now be counted among the top three magicians in the entire continent.

“Hmm?” At that moment, a certain undead caught his attention.