Chapter 23: Chapter23-The Lord’s Reinforcements, the Fallen Pope

At this moment, on the battlefield, many players were already beginning to mentally collapse because the living corpse army could revive endlessly.

As time passed, more and more major guilds continued to join the battlefield, and the Overlord Guild was no exception.

The guild leaders of the major guilds placed great importance on the situation as well, personally arriving at the battlefield to command from the front.

Even so, the battle remained a brutal stalemate.

They were completely unable to advance even a single step.

The higher-ups of the major guilds could not help but curse at how abnormal this dungeon was.

Monsters that could revive endlessly—how the hell were they supposed to fight that?

They looked toward the distant blood-red royal capital. Hearing the commotion coming from within, their hearts burned with impatience.

However, with such a massive army blocking their path, they had no choice but to continue fighting.

One player after another had their status exhausted and was stabbed to the ground by the living corpses.

After their bodies remained for a few minutes, they turned into white light and disappeared on the spot.

The number of players began to plummet, and the battlefield gradually fell into a disadvantageous state.

Looking at the layers upon layers of soldiers surging toward them like waves from every direction, everyone felt a wave of despair.

Were so many players really going to be buried here?

Just then, a desolate horn sounded.

Woo—woo—woo—

Everyone suddenly turned around and discovered that it was the lord of the Starter Village, leading tens of thousands of City Watch soldiers to the battlefield.

They had also received the information from the coordinates, crossed through that wall of towering mountains, and arrived here.

The lord and the others immediately saw the former imperial capital in the distance. Their expressions stiffened, and complicated emotions filled their faces.

For these NPCs, returning to the old imperial capital was the lifelong wish they had inherited.

But they had never imagined that the old capital had long since fallen and no longer possessed its former glory.

The lord took a deep breath, forcefully steadying his mind, which was on the verge of collapse.

He gritted his teeth and roared, "Soldiers, hold your ground!

"The old capital lies before us. We cannot retreat, and we must not be defeated!

"All troops, form ranks! Enchant your blades!"

As soon as his words fell, the City Watch soldiers took out enchantment potions from their waists and poured them over their blades.

The formula for this enchantment potion had been left behind by their ancestors and passed down from generation to generation.

Today, the lord had brought it out. He believed that this was precisely the moment for it to serve its purpose. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

Hiss, hiss, hiss!

After the enchantment potion was poured onto them, wisps of black flame rose from the blades of tens of thousands of City Watch soldiers.

Tens of thousands of black-flame blades appeared at once.

The lord raised the greatsword in his hand, which burned with black fire, and shouted sternly, "Kill!"

"Kill!!!"

Under the lord’s command, tens of thousands of City Watch soldiers charged toward the living corpse army.

Black and red.

Life and death.

Two sides that had once belonged to the same empire now stood on opposite sides of life and death, clashing violently in battle.

Unlike the players’ attacks, when blades imbued with black flame sliced across the bodies of the living corpses, the wounds they left behind could not regenerate.

After their heads were cut off, the living corpses collapsed directly to the ground. They did not scatter into fiery red dust, but instead died completely on the spot.

Whoosh!!!

The lord slashed down with his sword, and a massive black-flame sword aura burst forth.

Dozens of living corpses had their heads fall to the ground, never moving again.

His eyes were bloodshot, filled with killing intent.

"Avenge our ancestors! Let the dead rest in peace!"

The surrounding City Watch soldiers were fiercer than the last.

Even at the risk of being bitten by the living corpses, they fought with all their might to thrust their swords into the living corpses’ chests.

As black flames swirled, the numbers of the living corpse army began to decrease.

The players seized the opportunity and gradually broke apart the formation of the living corpse army.

...

Inside the royal capital.

John’s figure emerged from the sky filled with snowy mist and crimson fire.

Aside from the blood-gray ash staining his body, he was completely unharmed.

However, after being focused down by those knights in one wave of attacks, he also gave up on the idea of directly charging straight to the heart of the matter.

Now, he had only one path left.

Kill.

Only by killing his way upward could he reach the top of the city.

His figure flashed, and he suddenly landed among the procession below.

The surrounding knights instantly went berserk. Once again, they drew out the blood-fire within the chests of the living corpses, transforming it into bows, swords, sabers, and other weapons.

"Hiss!"

The living corpse knights let out inhuman hisses and pounced toward him.

John’s expression remained as calm as water. He quickly locked onto a direction, then charged forward violently.

With a casual swing of his hammer, he smashed apart the bodies of several knights.

A few blood-red arrows shot toward him from behind, but John ignored them, allowing them to explode against his body.

[-268!]

[+268!]

His HP had only just dropped slightly when, in the very next moment, it instantly recovered to full.

He ignored all attacks and slaughtered his way forward.

Along the road, there were knights and deformed giants blocking his path, but none of them were anything more than a single sword strike to him.

As the blade fell, the heads of knights and giants hit the ground.

Even if they revived afterward, they could no longer catch up to John with his high movement speed.

Along the entire winding road that led upward, John’s figure transformed into a streak of light, charging all the way up.

Severed limbs flew everywhere, and blood mist surged into the sky.

Amid the slaughter, John also discovered some special patterns.

Although the soldiers inside the city possessed the same revival ability as the soldiers outside the city, there was a certain probability to it.

He discovered that only the living corpse soldiers whose chests burned with blood-fire possessed the ability to revive. The others died immediately once cut down.

"God’s Judgment!"

Just as John was slaughtering his way forward, a hoarse roar suddenly came from the left.

Immediately afterward, a beam of blood-colored holy light descended.

In an instant, it became like viscous blood, pinning John’s movement speed in place.

John’s pupils shrank slightly, and he looked to the left.

He saw a mummified corpse draped in tattered papal robes, holding a scepter made from bone joints, walking out from a ruined church nearby.

[Fallen Pope]

[Skills]: Fallen Holy Word, Dark Baptism, Heretic Judgment, Collapse of Faith

[Description]: Once an agent of the holy light, now fallen into the abyss. He still holds authority in his hand, but the source of that authority is no longer the god he once believed in.

...

"A pope?"

John exerted a little force and shattered the layer of congealed blood-colored holy light covering his body.

His figure flashed.

Without wasting any words, he raised his hand and thrust his sword toward the other party.

The pope’s eyes glowed with a dark red light. He raised his bone scepter.

"Fallen Holy Word!"

The next moment, countless whispering voices like delirious murmurs rang beside John’s ears.

His mind gradually began to be affected, and he started to undergo corruption.

Even his skin began to faintly shrivel.

But in the very next moment, Soulrender in his hand suddenly extended.

It stabbed straight into the Fallen Pope’s heart!

[-13,468!]

The pope suffered a heavy injury, and the effect of the Holy Word weakened greatly.

John instantly regained clarity. With a casual swing, he smashed his hammer into the pope as well, adding another burst of damage!

The Fallen Pope’s HP instantly hit rock bottom.

His body crashed to the ground and turned into blood-red dust that scattered away.

It would probably not be long before he revived again.

"Interesting. Looks like I’ll need to strengthen my Spirit in the future."

John was quite envious of the pope’s Holy Word skill. Unfortunately, the other party was currently in a state of living death, making him impossible to devour.

"I’m almost there!"

Glancing at the top of the city, which was only a few kilometers away now, John did not delay any further and continued rushing toward his destination.