Chapter 166: Chapter 166: The March of the Skeletons

A skeleton horde emerged out of the tomb.

The heroes of old, including Domekas, who tried to attack the king, rose as a skeleton.

The power of the knights that emerged filled the entire chamber, and it began to tremble. With so many skeletons releasing powerful cultivation strength, the living accompanying Dyne struggled to breathe.

The scene was so frightful that many were petrified and couldn’t believe what they saw.

King Leoric laughed as caused and called out to more graves that didn’t rise at his beckon. But now, the dark passion from the soul of the Afarit fueled his soul. And so, King Leoric managed to activate the powerful Soul cultivation talent hidden all these years.

Strafe was stunned. He knew Leoric would be a gifted soul cultivator, but his ability to command and urge others of their vows was just amazing.

“What a man! No wonder the Afarit wanted to drive Ciroel to insanity. It wanted the power of this man! If they could control him, they would not only have an army, but the dead will also become part of an undead army!”

“As expected of Basileus Basileon.” Dyne was celebrating. He had made an NPC an official ally.

“All of you, follow King Leoric. Remember the plan. You guys have to show yourself and make known the movement of the undead to Martsirt. Or should I say, Tristram? Now that we have successfully created a skeleton army, we have to inform Molibius that he has to use this as an excuse to kill and massacre all suspects. The Pope has to follow him at the start. But Molibius has to time a moment and accuse the Archbishop Lazarus of Dark Magic and go after the other Bishops who Spirit Stones could control.” Dyne gave a set of commands to those present.

“We have a secret talisman that we can use to communicate a few times.”

“Good. Use it to tell him now. I never brought this up because I haven’t met Abrellam and didn’t acquire all his nice toys. And we didn’t have the time to make plans since I wasn’t sure this would work in the first place. But after confirming the king’s charisma, we greatly deviated from our plan. This will, of course, all be used to our advantage.” Dyne explained to Ardnula and Chrone.

“I- I see. I will inform them. I have a message talisman to the Pope as well.” Chrone volunteered.

“Go on ahead. I still have a business to settle here.” Dyne then turned to the only ghost who remained.

Lachdagonan watched with a pained expression as the armies moved out. The words of Ciroel hurt him. The king was right. Even the descent of the king to this maddened state was his fault.

“What are your plans, Lachdagonan? Will you stay here and sleep? All alone and dishonored?” Dyne laughed.

“You have turned a good king bad!”

“You have repaid a kind king with disgrace. I’ve already shown you what the king is up against. Does he have a choice? Don’t you know that if it wasn’t the king who called all these warriors to life, the Afarit might have come here and corrupted your soul? Haven’t you noticed how it was that some of the older souls were not present? They have already returned and ventured to the afterlife. The Afarit and the wickedness that challenges this place have tainted the journey of the soul. You will rise, sooner or later.”

Lachdagonan was silent at Dyne’s words.

“Then what can I do? The king did not call me to serve him. In truth, I want to serve him as well. But I have forsaken my vow and have even been cursed. My betrayal to the good king has affected my soul.” Lachdagonan sighed.

“I can feel it. King Leoric’s curse is quite vicious. In the king’s wrath, he destined you to live as a ghost. You have no body to contain your soul to like those skeletons. You are cursed to live a half-life as a ghost until the martial cultivation in you depletes itself.” Dyne laughed.

“That is my curse?!” Lachdagonan was surprised.

“Yes. You can’t go back to your ghostly slumber, can’t you? You would need to reform a body. The king cursed you to be a ghost so that you would need to devour the living to survive. You believed the king to be wicked and without honor. So he cursed you to live a life that will have no honor.”

“Then I suppose you have the answer…”

“But of course! Your body is only slightly different from Emera. Follow me. I know of a place that can fuel you. You won’t have to eat righteous men to survive. Following me will give you plenty of enemies. Also, I sense that there is a way for you to reform your body.” Dyne smiled.

“What?”

“You can devour ghosts. I have been in a castle where ghosts lived. Not only can you feed there, but I think that place can make you stronger and even give you a form. Not only that but following me can allow you to regain your honor. With my powers as a Valkyrion, I can lead you and help you fulfill the oath you broke! Maybe Leoric will even withdraw the curse he set on you.”

Lachdagonan finally became hopeful.

“Then let it be so. To fulfill my broken oath to my king, I will make an oath to you!”

“Good! Then vow to be my Einherjar!” Dyne smiled.

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The march of the undead led by King Leoric continued and was soon spotted by the empire. The light of day had returned, and just when everyone thought the nightmare of the assassinations the night before would end, an army of undead had suddenly appeared near Martsirt.

More than two hundred skeletons marched and were led by a strange, powerful man that somehow created a dark atmosphere over the kingdom of Martsirt. No one could tell where these monsters came from and how they reached the region so fast.

The Serpentari panicked and marshaled their forces which were spread all over the region, and gathered them there. Of course, the rest of the castles and the rest of the nobles also did the same.

Within Martsirt, the Pope held a secret meeting with Molibius. This was unnoticed as the entire castle was marshaling its forces to defend against the skeleton army that brought fear upon the castle.

“Those are… the corpses of former knights who have awakened to fulfill their oath with the king?!” Molibius was shocked.

“Indeed. I couldn’t believe Chrone’s report too. If we don’t believe it, it states that this skeleton army will head for the secret passage leading to the region near Trithefert. That army will be used to invade the cave where the Afarit was born.”

“If that’s true, then we must also make preparations.”

“Chrone has given me some suggestions as plotted by Dyne Valliant.”

“Oh? Then this should be impressive. That boy is a genius.”

The slow march of the Skeletons reached near the region of Martsirt. The armies of Martsirt gathered and began to prepare for the attack. The scouts have reported that the skeleton army has martial cultivation that exceeds a Martial Formation level 3!

The horrifying reports drew everyone to prepare for combat.

The Serpentari leader watched in terror. It was then that he finally confirmed the nature of the assassin who had entered. He had sent for men to communicate with Archbishop Lazarus, but while he could ensure that the Archbishop was alive and kept sending signals, the great distance just couldn’t allow them to send messages.

Those who were sent to travel mysteriously vanished. Even the message talismans were useless.

It was then concluded that something had happened to the warp pad, which damaged it.

Facing such terrifying threats, the kingdom had begun to unite and act together. Even the Serpentari had no choice but to send his forces to defend themselves from the possible attacks of the skeleton army that marched from afar.

Deep inside the Serpentari castle, the tall man who was the leader of the Serpentari had gathered the core group who had been manipulating all of Martsirt from the shadows. These top officials had close associations with the Afarit’s soul stone.

“Afarit Mephisto prepared greatly for this ambush! It had known the location of our master for some time! We cannot retreat from this! This Afarit plans to devour us all!” A general of the Martsirt army declared.

“We’ve lost quite a number of men! Ciroel also lost great warriors. We have to unite!” The General ordered.

“There were traitors among us.” The leader suddenly revealed.

“You’ve read the reports. There were people who we thought were under our control who turned out to be double agents. Molibius claims that the king has given him authority since an assassination attempt happened. But our own spies inform us that the king could be missing. And now… a skeleton horde appears. So we have a lot to deal with.” The Serpentari leader listed their issues.

“We have to lay low for now. Molibius and the Pope have gone insane, and our movements are severely limited!” Another high-ranking kingdom official explained.

“Afarit Mephisto must have planned it. That Afarit knew that the Arc Knights would have such evil secrets, and he used this kingdom to kill them! From now on, we must be very careful in using our abilities.” Another powerful cultivator in the kingdom was added.

“Sir! Emergency report!’ A soldier stepped in.

The Serpentari leader frowned.

“Speak!”

“The Skeleton army! It retreated!”

“What?!” The room echoed in surprise.