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Jeremy's grandfather was a servant in the noble's house but due to some unfortunate incident, he lost his position.

Their lives weren't worse and they were still able to live nicely even after that incident.

When Jeremy was born unlike other children he didn't cry at first and his body was quite hard which was horrifying for his family.

Moreover, the newborn calf of two months could break a finger if he clutched properly.

As he grew, his body ached due to pain in his joints.

They felt that he was quite abnormal and decided to look for medics.

After so many twists and turns, a hidden doctor was able to assess his physique and informed his family that he was blessed with a heavenly exoskeleton.

For a mediocre family like them, it was more of a curse than a blessing. So, they decided to keep it secret until he grew up and had enough strength to back himself.

Since they were just servants of nobles previously, they weren't adept in fights and none of them were awakened ones and they didn't want to take a risk of hiring a teacher who could guess about his physique.

…..

After being plastered to the tree trunk, Jeremy appeared with a fiery expression.

He hadn't let go of his sword and leapt towards the horned boar and swung his sword with all his might.

The boar dodged the moves while Jeremy's sword tore and destroyed everything.

Alex sighed seeing Jeremy's mindless swings.

Jeremy had a good brain but becomes dumb when comes to fighting.

"Jeremy, don't move so much and just stay there," Alex shouted.

"But didn't that mean, the boar would crash on me?"Jeremy asked with disbelief.

"Just do what I say?"

Jeremy followed and stood at his place while the boar darted towards him aiming its horn at him and trying to tear him.

"Jeremy take a deep breath and drag your right foot back while tightening your grip. On my mark lean forward, and stab."

Jeremy nodded while keeping an eye on the enemy.

"Now!"

Jeremy heard Alex's voice and followed his advice.

As soon as Alex's voice fell, Jeremy pressed his left foot forward and moving his shoulders back a little, he stabbed forward with all his strength.

WHOOSH!

Like an invisible arrow that had been shot, something struck the boar and before it could react, something went past him.

With the remaining momentum of the boar, it charged toward Jeremy but it split into two halves and went in two different directions.

Jeremy was amazed by his attack and stared at his sword.

"Woah!"

"What was that!"

"Did I do that?" Jeremy shouted happily.

"That's what happens when a human fights properly instead of jumping around like a monkey."

"Your body is less prone to injury so most of the time you use your body as a shield and fight head-on."

"In this period, I will teach you to focus and control and there is no better way than learning by practical experience, isn't it?" Alex smiled.

Jeremy didn't know why but Alex's smile felt like the smiling cast by Devil when he whispers into one's ears tempting one to commit an evil deed.

Alex and Jeremy went deeper into the forest while fighting with the monsters.

Alex was doing his job, which was more of babysitting than actual fighting.

Alex was surprised to see when a squire rank wolf sneaked an attack on Jeremy and bit his shoulders but the teeth of the wolf were struck and it wasn't able to tear off Jeremy's hands.

If it was anyone else, the hands might be ripped apart.

Alex healed Jeremy after Jeremy killed the wolf.

Alex didn't know whether it was due to the wolf being a cub or Jeremy's body being too hard in the actual sense.

After several hours of fighting, they thought of retreating and taking a rest.

Alex saw that Jeremy had completely let down his guard and noticed the rustling sound in the bushes.

As he scanned his surroundings, his eyes widened and his image flickered.

Jeremy suddenly felt a strong hold on his neck and shrieked in panic.

"Kyakkkk!"

BOOOM!

Jeremy was thrown back like a rag doll by Alex and in the previous spot, he stood and had a big crater.

Jeremy stood up to see a Mace-tailed monkey standing in front of Alex.

They had large ball shapes of stone at the end of the tail with which they struck their opponents.

The Monkey roared and spun his body.

His tail shot like a whip aimed at Alex.

Alex jumped back somersaulting in the air while shooting an ice spike at Monkey.

The Monkey swung his stone ball and blocked the block of ice.

The Monkey leaned forward with his arms and ran towards Alex.

Alex stomped his foot and a small trap struck the monkey's arms and he was stuck in the place.

It saw a jaw-shaped stone with sharp-edged biting its hand. It grimaced in pain and swung its tail to break it down but at that time, a vine shot from the ground and held the tail.

"Stone Bullet"

A small piece of pebble shot toward Monkey and went past its head bursting its head.

Alex turned his head and ran towards Jeremy.

"These monkeys always come in a bunch. More might be on their way, let's go." Alex spoke and pulled Jeremy.

Darkness was already descending over them and Alex didn't want to fight with dozens of them with handicaps imposed on him. At present, he could only use a fraction of his strength and cannot reveal everything.

SCREECH!SCREECH!SCREECH!

Alex heard screams and roars from the back and saw hundreds of Mace Tailed Monkey chasing them.

All the branches of the tree were laden with monkeys jumping to and fro from one tree to another.

Alex stopped in his tracks and threw spells.

The ground behind them rumbled and huge walls of ice emerged which was followed by a blizzard sweeping the Monkeys while freezing them wholly.

272 Chapter 272:Undead Outbreak

After a long run, they were finally able to get rid of the gang of monkeys chasing them.

"Haa...Haa.."

"Hushh!"

Jeremy slumped down on the ground while resting his back on the tree trunk and breathed heavily.

The first day had already squeezed every ounce of his strength, and the last run exhausted everything he had and now Jeremy thought that he couldn't even lift his fingers let alone walk.

Alex stared at the deadweight who was on the verge of dying and put down his backpack.

He wondered if he should cast a spell to replenish his stamina but shook his head.

This was all a part of training to temper one's body.

Alex took out the things from the backpack.

It contains a tent big enough for him and Riya to snuggle in but Riya refused and brought her tent.

"Riya, guard the place while I chop some meat and cook the food," Alex muttered and rolled his sleeves to get to work.

Alex lit the firewood and roasted meat, adding a bit of seasoning and species with a pot to make stew.

Alex used the boar and antelope meat to make the meal and after finishing his job, passed a bowl to Jeremy while taking another bowl, he placed another near the firewood.

Riya's figure materialised out of the shadow and she sat beside Alex.

Riya took a mouthful of stew and licked her lips.

She thought that his Lord could cook so well while she couldn't even cut things properly.

She was only proficient in cutting humans and monsters but not food.

"My Lord, did you notice something?" She asked with a solemn expression.

Alex nodded and said, "Those Monkeys weren't chasing us, rather they seemed to be running away from something."

"And yeah, can't you freely call me Alex like in the academy?"

"Oops! Sorry." Riya struck out her tongue with a cute expression.

"Alex, do you think perhaps they were running away from the undead?"Riya spoke while looking at Alex's solemn gaze.

Alex pondered for a moment carefully and spoke" Riya, I think our assumption may be wrong this time. Maybe we are not the target but the entire batch of second-year students may be the target."

Riya's eyebrows trembled a little and she fell into deep thought.

"Riya, what did you observe while scouting the area? Did you find any odd spots?" Alex asked

"A little north to the location where the monkeys attacked, I felt an ominous aura," Riya answered.

Alex and Riya started to discuss the matter but stopped in their tracks when they heard the sound of bells.

TANG!TANG!TANG!

Alex and Riya quickly got up from their seats when they heard the ringing of the bell.

"Signal of retreat from the higher up."

Before they departed, they were instructed to rush toward the Bark Village if they heard the sound of the bell.

This signalled that there had been an emergency and everyone asked to return.

"Wake up that dimwit." Alex stood up and started packing the things.

He felt that this night may be too long and too dark.

...

In the Bark Village, The Professors who were stationed were keeping tabs on the scores.

All of them would take shifts and would keep a watch on nearby students.

Each of them was given a location where they would observe from behind and would act if the situation arises so that they can try to prevent casualties as much as they can.

"Everyone listen to me." A Professor came hurriedly and shouted, "I have encountered undead on my way and they seemed to be coming here from all directions."

All the Professors were startled by the news and hurried out of the building.

Neon was in charge of the second year as a whole and acted quickly.

"Go and ring the bell. Sent scouts to bring back the students safely. Also, send the call for help to Gawaffin Stronghold quickly."Neon spoke.

"Professor Neon, they are also coming from the other direction. It seems that they are trying to cut off our retreat."

"Shit! What kind of mess did we step in?" A Professor grumbled.

"Inform the guards stationed here. Everyone forms a defensive wall and asks the guards to form the defence while we Professor will try to bring the students. Some of you start the attack and keep them at bay so that the students could approach."

"Open the south gate so that undead mainly flock from there and use the others to take the students in."

Neon and others issued the command and divided the teams and rushed ahead.

The 120 guards stationed in the village under Celestine, a Legendary rank warrior command, acted swiftly to form watchtowers with magical help and started to prepare for the battle.

....

After transferring for an hour, Alex, Jeremy and Riya reached the front gate and were startled to see the huge amount of undead flooding the village.

Earthen and large check posts had been crafted by mages to keep the situation in check.

"How will we get in?" Jeremy was puzzled at the sight of the undead.

Skeletons of monsters, beasts and humans seemed to be flooding the entire place.

Alex stared at the hoard trying to find a less dense post and found a narrow passage near the walls where a group of Professors were keeping them at bay.

It leads to the western gate of the village.

Alex found many students have already returned and taken their posts in defence and offence.

There were archers and mages firing shots.

"I will take the lead and cut the path. Riya, take Jeremy and get inside." Alex muttered.

Riya nodded.

Alex raised his sword and slashed.

A large gust of wind blew and all the hoard were immediately blown away.

Alex cast a mini tornado.

The strong squall of wind sucked the skeletons towards it. Their bones were dismantled and flew into it.

Swish!

The minor skeleton army was all sent flying by Alex.

Alex swung his sword, cutting through the hoard and reaching the passage leading to the gates.

On the way, he found many Disciple-rank undeads led by a Master rank blocking him away.

Alex poured his mana over the sword to engage.

BOOM!BOOM!BOOM!

Small chains of explosions resounded and all the skeletons before him were burnt and engulfed in fire.

The Master rank undead tried to defend but it was instantly vaporised by a strong blast leaving behind a hollow crater on the ground.

"Don't stand, get in." A Professor shouted.

Alex nodded seeing the clear path before him and rushed forward.

Like the swift wind, Riya and Alex passed through the fire pulling Jeremy like a doll.

Alex cut the remaining ones in his path with a piercing thrust

DUSH!

Rumble...Rumble...

The ground beneath him vibrated and bony hands along with claws emerged from the ground.

Alex jumped back and pulled Jeremy's hand from Riya, slammed his body at them and broke them into pieces.

"Kykk!"

"Arghh!"

Alex used Jeremy's body to slam the undead brutally without any tint of mercy using Jeremy's body as a meat shield.

Meanwhile, Jeremy could only scream and curse Alex in his mind.

273 Chapter 273:Undead Outbreak 2

"You sure come in handy. I don't need to use my sword and dirty it on these rotten and filthy bones." Alex nodded in satisfaction.

Riya pitied Jeremy. She already had an inkling feeling that Alex was going to use him like this.

The trio safely entered the village and without wasting time, they ran towards the frontline to offer a helping hand.

...…

A man wearing full body armour came forward and shouted"My name is Celestine and I am Captain of the Guards stationed in Bark Village. We have relayed the news to Gawaffin Stronghold. Reinforcements will arrive as soon as possible. Currently, we are surrounded by undead from all sides so do everything in your power to survive until then."

"Now, all of you brace yourselves for the battle ahead."

"This might be your first war but don't forget all the things you have learnt till now. Your current self is more than enough to deal with everything. Leave the stronger ones to us and take care of the minions."Professor Neon spoke, trying to ease their tension.

"Archers aim and load your bows and crossbows," Celestine ordered.

All archers loaded their bows and crossbows and took their aim.

"Fire!"

Soon, a barrage of projectiles rained down on the undead swarm destroying the forefront of the undead.

Alex swept his hand and rows of fireballs hovered above him and aimed at the nearest undead.

"Defend the walls as long as possible, don't let me breach the lines," Celestine shouted and rushed ahead.

Howell!

The sound of the clattering of hooves sounded.

Some students were foolish enough to think that reinforcements arrived quickly and rejoiced but Alex's face became solemn.

The sound of the horse grew closer and the Professor's and guards' expressions stiffened seeing a horde of undead riding on horses led by a Death Knight.

The Death Knight leading the charge had black skin and black smoke emerged from his head. He wore metallic armour with a sword in his hand.

Two pairs of green eyes shimmered on its obscure figure.

All the ones behind him seemed to be knights when they were alive and the coordination seems to be quite good for the undead.

Alex felt uneasy seeing them.

After exchanging blows with the never-ending undead, bones started to pile up at the base of the protective wall which started to raise the ground level, which the undead used as leverage to climb slowly.

Celestine and Neon decided to assault them, the group, first before they could get a foothold.

Swish!

A spell shot out towards their group but the Death Knight stood up from its horse and lunged forward while swinging his sword.

The spell was cut into two halves by his slash, much to Neon's surprise.

Neon accompanied by others fired multiple shots one after another.

Their attack was able to take multiple undead knights but those who were left alive started to haul towards them.

The Death Knight leading the front of the charge commanded the troops skilfully and led them towards the Gates.

His sword cut through their attacks skillfully.

Celestine and his guards who were at the front prepared themselves and on getting the signal collided with them.

CLANG!CLANG!CLANG!CLANG!

Metals collided with each other.

Celestine drew his sword and engaged with the Death Knight in the frontal battle.

The horse under it collapsed from Celestine's relentless attacks and The Death Knight flew into the air and crashed on the ground.

The Death Knight rose from the ground and stared at Celestine furiously.

Meanwhile, the guards with the support of magicians clash against the knights.

From the piles of scattered bones, an undead emerged with a broken sword and taking the chance pierced one of the guard's backs.

The guard grimaced in pain and slammed his elbow on the skull of the undead, hacking it into pieces.

At that time, the undead knight drew in his sword and stabbed the guard's chest.

Spurting blood, the guard collapsed which was followed by many others as they were surrounded by undead.

The Magician Professors were already sweating profusely while supporting others.

The Professor from the Martial Arts department also found themselves in a helpless state.

They fight while keeping an eye on the safety of students.

In this situation, some were even thinking of sneaking out and escaping from the place alas there was no escape route there.

While the Professor and guards were trying to keep the stronger ones at bay, the weaker ones were able to get past them.

Moreover, with the emergence of Death Knight who was a legendary rank more and more Epic ranks were starting to flood the area led by legendary ranks undead.

The weaker ones were being taken care of by students.

Seventy per cent of the students were able to return to the village and out of them, many directly ran away hiding in the straw huts or buildings in fear.

Many weren't able to overcome the physiological burden and fainted on the spot as many students were dead tired from hunting all day while others gritted their teeth and squeezed everything to fight for survival.

Alex's spells made holes in the skull of the undead but until the top portion was completely blown away, they were still charging.

As the battle began, many students who were approaching the place changed their minds.

They thought the village was attracting the undead and gathering there might be a bad idea so they went back to the forest to hide somewhere.

Whether this idea was good or bad, only the future can tell.

Alex noticed the collapse of a line on one of the sides. Stomping his feet, he pushed forward.

Alex covered his sword in mana and drew a cut.

A long wide blade of flames descended on the group of undead burning them the entirety after slicing them into species.

A long line of fire was formed which made the undead afraid to cross the line.

Alex saw the group whose faces had become due to exhaustion. He noticed Joey and Dave in the group.

"Thanks!"

"I thought I was gonna die."

They thanked Alex while staring at him with respect and reverence.

He cast a healing spell over them under their astonishing gaze.

"I have been blessed by Goddess so I can use a minor healing spell. Don't think too much." Alex spoke humbly and looked at Joey.

"Have you seen Hurt?"

Joey shook his head.

"I am here from the beginning and I haven't seen him enter. Maybe he is still in the forest." Joey replied.

Alex frowned a little.

'There is no way Hurt would be stuck in the forest. His prowess was more than enough to go through the tides of the undead.'

"Did he go with a team?"

"No, he is alone," Dave spoke this time.

Alex turned his head quickly as a monster undead leapt through the wall of fire and pounced on Alex.

Alex didn't shrink back and stabbed his sword forward.

The monster opened its maw to take a bite but the sword went over the upper part of the maw making a hole.

Alex kicked its chest bone and its whole body was sent flying after being separated from the neck and crashed at the other undead.

The maw still clattered, closing its jaw.

Alex pulled his sword and stomped on it, crushing it into pieces.

274 Chapter 274:Undead Outbreak 3

The guards at the frontlines were starting to sustain injuries due to the large influx of undead making them restless but they kept on fighting.

Celestine and The Death knight clashed against each other sending powerful blasts one after another.

The others seemed to be affected by their fights.

With the fall of each undead, small dark fumes emerged and mixed with the air forming a small miasma.

The miasma blended in the air perfectly and was inhaled by everyone which slowed down their recovery.

The others realised that they cannot go on like this and had to find the necromancer who was in charge of this undead.

Celestine's sword glowed and with a swift motion, he chopped off the Death Knight's arms.

The Death Knight used the other arm to throw a fist but Celestine dodged and kicked it away sending it flying.

Celestine dived forward and pierced the Death Knight tearing it into two halves.

Celestine wiped off the sweat after dealing with Death Knight and was about to return to the gates when he saw black smoke gathering at a place.

His brows furrowed after seeing the phenomenon.

A black fire brunt and a figure emerged from the ashes.

The manifestations drew everyone's attention and as the figure emerged everyone shouted in unison.

"Lich!"

CLAK!CLAK!CLAK!

The Lick muttered something and a deathly aura emerged from it.

The undead that had been killed and their bones that had been piled up started to join up and they started to crawl up.

"Ahhh!"

The students screamed in horror.

The undead started to rise and attack again.

And under Lich's wild area spell effect, they seemed to be getting a boost.

The students were horrified after witnessing the scene.

With great difficulty, they took down the undead group but now most of them were brought back again by the lich.

Neon and Celestine joined up and attacked the Lich but it summoned much undead that kept them at bay.

Alex noticed the situation getting worse.

To completely get rid of the undead, one needs to destroy them thoroughly with light magic.

"Riya, don't restrain yourself anymore. The situation is becoming perilous." Alex shouted.

"Take care of the students here and I will support the front," Alex ordered.

The Professor's side seemed to be in trouble and they badly needed to be treated.

Riya heard Alex's voice and pulled back the current dagger and took another shining pair of daggers.

Riya's eyes glistened as she drew her dagger.

Cut!

The undead before her were cut apart like paper.

Swish!Swish!Swish!Swish!

Riya's image flickered and the undead fell one after the other.

A trail of glint lingered as she passed by the undead following which they fell on the ground like a doll.

Alex left everything to Riya and rushed towards the guards and Professors.

...

BANG!BANG!BANG!BANG!

While Celestine was stopped by the group of undead, Neon fired spells one after another.r more chapters, please visit panda-n(0ve)l.com

Lich raised the staff and a barrier was formed that took the shot one after another.

Lich, fiery eyes glowed and it hit the staff on the ground.

The crystal embedded in the staff shone brightly and dense darkness extended on the ground for a radius of 500 metres.

Celestine and Neon noticed the dark mass on the ground from which many pairs of hands emerged.

Their expressions stiffened as they looked around.

The darkness extended from the ground and covered the sky above, trapping them inside a sphere formed of darkness and cutting them off from the outside world.

Their vision was cut off entirely as they found themselves in pitch dark space without a single ray of light.

"We seem to be trapped in some kind of domain." Neon assessed.

"If this a domain cast by that Lich that means we are in trouble. I can feel my power getting weaker and this place gives me the creeps. I just want to get out of here no matter what?" Celestine spoke and raised his blade, slashing upward.

Swoosh!

A crescent arc went up and cut through the darkness covering them but it was soon closed by darkness again.

At that time, they felt a tingling sensation and soon found hands touching them.

Neon raised his hand and formed a sphere of flames and threw it up

The rays from the sphere burned away the hands of darkness and shook them away under him while lighting up the whole place.

But Celestine was unable to get rid of it and was starting to get affected.

At that time, The Lick formed an arrow of darkness and shot at Celestine.

Celestine, who was trying to cut off the hands of darkness coming at him, swung his sword rapidly.

Due to the entire place being covered in darkness except for the faint light coming from the sphere, he was unable to sense the attack and the arrow struck its chest.

Celestine found difficulty in breathing and his body seemed to be frozen for a moment.

He tried to move but found that he had been affected by the curse and had lost his vision.

He started to panic. His senses became dull and anxiety overwhelmed him.

He started to swing his sword like a madman.

An undead was about to slash straight at his face but Neon intercepted it forming a barrier before Celestine blocked the attack and used a rock spell to smash the skeleton head into pieces.

"Celestine don't lose your focus and calm down. Let's retreat for now."

Neon voice sounded in his ears and he nodded.

The undead didn't have mana, which made it hard for Celestine to sense them so he had to rely on his ears to deal with them.

...

Everyone was fighting with everything they had trying to survive. The guards, professors and students were already giving their all but the students were inexperienced in fighting on such a scale which led to the collapse of the line.

The guards and Professors did their best to protect the students who were fighting alongside them. These cause them to suffer grave injuries while succumbing to death after being ganged upon by the undead.

The guard's number dwindled from 150 to 118.

The most difficult thing was that there were only three clerics or healers in their group and there were just too many for them to attend and they didn't have enough time to heal everyone.

The guards and Professor were being pushed back by the growing number of undead while the guards focused their attention on knights who pose a greater threat to the students who could only deal with disciples rank and at most Master rank while each knight was at Epic rank or above.

Seeing that they would only suffer more casualties in this manner, the guards and professor decided to retreat to a safe distance and engage in guerrilla warfare using all the house and natural defences to take on them.

The undead who were pushing the guards back suddenly found themselves under the barrage of light arrows.

BAM! BAM!BAM!BAM!

The undead started to burn and emit a screeching groan.

"Light Spear!" Alex shouted.

Hundreds of spears of light manifested all around him and shot towards the undead horde.

"Use The Light affinity spells if you have, if not use fire spells to burn them into ashes," Alex shouted.

275 Chapter 275:Undead Outbreak 4

The spears were struck on the ground forming a defence line. Many low levels of undead were afraid to move towards it and were instantly brunt as they came near it.

The spears persisted for some time before disappearing.

The undead who were Epic rank and above were affected a bit even so they braced themselves trying to breach through it.

For them, Alex summoned the swords of light and passed them to the guards and asked them to use swords against the undead.

Seeing their sceptical look Alex spoke"I am going to be a Holy son soon. The light sword contains sacred blessings of light granted to me by Goddess Rebecca. It will persist for three minutes but if you pour your mana into the sword, it can last quite longer"

Alex's words brought them some relief and as they wielded the sword of light, the undead became restless as the light could erode a part of them.

As the guards poured mana into the sword, it glowed more vibrantly.

They remembered Alex's words and those who knew to add fire to the attack, sliced the undead with the fire attack.

The bunch of undead were instantly cut apart like pieces of butter.

The undead carried the energy of darkness and the higher level used weapons imbued with the energy of darkness that could corrode weapons and damage them and the sustained wounds from those weapons were difficult to heal naturally.

The swords carried sacred light which neutralized the aura of darkness and rendered them useless.

The Professor cast fire attacks on the undead and slowly started to shake them off a little.

They knew that the current situation was temporary and unless they got rid of the Lich, the tide wouldn't be turned in their favour.

So, the retreat was the only option for them.

Several minutes passed by as the guards pulled back first. Alex repeated the rain of light attacks which gave them some leeway.

Some were frantically swinging their swords left and right to protect themselves while moving back.

Alex was doing his best to help them and support them on their retreat.

They needed to take care of Lich who was summoning undead like a boss monster.

Witits's death, only weaker ones would remain.

...…

Neon and Celestine were trying to find a way to escape.

Celestine's blindness was comparable to crippling him and he had to rely on Neon's voice to move forward but this wasn't as easy as it looks.

Neon was defending both of them from the Lich and its minion's assault and mainly was focusing on defence while Celestine was swinging his sword after pinpointing the direction of the sound.

Neon cast a large sphere of golden light around them that protected both of them while the undead surrounded them from all sides and attacked them leaving no area for retreat.

Exhaustion was evident on Neon's face as the barrier consumed a great amount of mana.

At that time, the darkness surrounding them was pierced and bright light twinkled.

A hole appeared above them.

Swish!

A ray of light shot from unknown directions and it went past the barrier crafted by Neon and fell on both of them.

A warm and pleasant sensation engulfed their body, shaking away the exhaustion.

Dark fumes emanated from their body and the blind curse of Celestine was dispelled by the light.

The wide areas spell of Lich also had a weakening effect on them, which was dispersed entirely by the light.

"My vision was restored and on top of that, I am feeling more energised than before," Celestine spoke while looking up at the beam of light.

The undead surrounding them have swept away and become pieces of dust and a radius of 20 metres around them was devoid of the undead.

THUD!

With a loud noise, a boy descended before them and spoke calmly, "You are fortunate enough to have me, otherwise you two are going to die today."

Neon heard the familiar voice and looked at him with a surprised expression and a certain memory clicked in his mind.

"How did I forget that you are the Holy son?"

Neon laughed bitterly.

In the current grim situation, Alex's power can turn the entire situation around.

His presence was a blessing in disguise for them.

"Holy Son!" Celestine mumbled with a curious gaze.

He didn't know about the recent affairs that transpired in the capital and he didn't ask further due to the current situation.

"If I can support you, can you deal with the Lich?" Alex asked.

"If you can nullify the curse, I think we can beat him?" Celestine replied.

"You have to make it quick. Healing and nullifying the curse of two legendary ranks is too much for me so try to finish this as soon as possible." Alex spoke.

"Moreover, even though I have healed, don't forget that you are still not at your peak," Alex reminded them.

Celestine nodded and stepped ahead while Alex and Neon followed him by providing support.

Alex summoned light blades and many blades appeared beside him.

"Charge!" Alex shouted as he ran with Neon.

Alex drew his sword and slashed the sword imbued with light magic and instantly beheading three Master ranks.

An Epic rank jumped up at him but the light swords stabbed into its arms and legs pinning it on the ground while another blade pierced its skull wiping the entire skeleton from existence.

When he looked in the other direction, he found two legendary ranks of Death Knights walking towards them.

Celestine jumped at one while the remaining ones were left to deal with by Neon and Alex.

Neon stepped forward, "Ice Fury."

A white beam of light was shot, flying towards the legendary Death Knight that was running towards them.

The Death Knight swung his sword.

The attack was deflected by its swing but a portion of the attack froze its body parts dealing significant damage to the body.

Alex raised his sword and stabbed in its direction.

BOOM!

The ground erupted as the attack hit the Death Knight pushing it a few steps back.

The Frozen bones on it were broken by the attack and the attack had damaged some portion of its body.

The Death Knight roared in anger and stared at Alex to kill it and slashed its sword at Alex.

Neon fired a projectile at the Death Knight attack.

A loud crash reverberated in the air and from the dust, Death Knight emerged and brandished his sword while closing on Neon.

Neon panicked a little after seeing The Death Knight drawing near him and hurriedly cast a barrier.

The Death sword clashed against the barrier. The barrier cracked as the tip of its sword pierced the barrier.

"Damn!" Alex muttered and tried to defend Neon.

The barrier was weakened by the darkish aura on the Death Knight's sword.

Alex tried to parry the attack, but the Death Knight's strength was too much for him to bear.

With a pained cry, both Alex and Neon were sent flying by its attack.

Alex's body landed dozens of metres away and rolled on the ground for a few meters before stopping.

Alex's body was wracked in pain as he rolled on the ground but he got up quickly and healed his body while also healing Neon's body.

"Divine Blessing."

Neon felt his strength rising and his body seemed to be full of vigour.

"Professor, let's cast the dual spell," Alex suggested while casting a light barrier around them through which Neon continued to cast spells.

Neon was at a loss for words after hearing Alex's suggestion.

For dual spells, both the user should be compatible with each other and the difference in the realm shouldn't be great otherwise if the spell became unstable it may explode harming the caster.

"I can take the burden. Let's not waste time on useless thoughts." Alex pleaded.

"But what spell do you want to try?" Neon asked.

"Let's mould fire and ice spell."

"What!!" Neon almost screamed and stared at Alex in shock.

Mixing two elements of opposite nature was quite suicidal.

The Death Knight was already on their tail.

Neon and Alex backed away from his assault and both of them flew up into the sky.

Neon knew that Alex was quite capable but honestly he was a bit afraid of Alex's suggestion.

He was saving his ultimate attack for Lich that's why he was trying to kill the death knight by saving mana and Alex's suggestion had given him a way to take down Death Knight without wasting all its mana.

Alex also had the same thoughts. After finishing things here, he needed to do some other things so he cannot afford to heal Neon fully and recharge his mana to peak nor can he spare so much of his energy here.

"Okay, let's do it."

Neon muttered, closing his eyes, and starting to cast a spell while trying to match Alex.

Alex raised his hand and tried to match Neon's tempo.

Alex knew that merging spells wasn't easy but for an experienced caster like him, this was nothing.

He tried to merge the spell with Neon.

Alex cast an ice spell while Neon cast a fire spell.

At first, both of the spells tried to compete with each other but under Alex's mastery, it started to blend.

White light illuminated and a fiery sphere was formed with an icy interior.

The Death Knight noticed the mana fluctuations and raised his chin slightly.

The greenish flames in its hollow socket flickered. It was a high-level undead and it was a bit sensitive and had some intelligence compared to other undead.

It raised its sword which was covered with a blackish aura to slash above.

"Flames Of Ice."

Both Neon and Alex shouted.

A huge sphere appeared with contrasting energy that was shot at the Death Knight.

A blackish blade ascended and collided with the sphere but it was overwhelmed thoroughly and clashed with Death Knight.

WHOOSH!

A pillar of flames rose from the ground which erupted into waves of flames on the ground.

The darkness covering the place was momentarily eroded by the attack.

BOOOM!

The undead nearby collapsed and burnt into ashes and as the flames expanded, much to everyone's surprise, it was extinguished and the flames were frozen.

The epicentre of the attack was also frozen along with the pillar along with Death Knight.

A small red tint could be seen inside the glacier of ice which started to enlarge followed by a thundering eruption.

BOOOOOOOM!

The ground shook and trembled.

Even Celestine who was battling with another Death Knight was baffled by the spontaneous blast which shook the place.

The explosion swept away the place converting the entire vegetation into barren land.

Neon almost jumped gleefully.

"We did it." Neon spoke with gratitude but frowned on getting no reply.

He looked around to see that Alex had already escaped out of thin air and a small voice lingered.

"My work is done, I am going back."

"Huhh!" Neon was confused by Alex's voice but the confusion turned into shock when he felt a strong fluctuation.

His eyes widened when he stared at the back to see something coming towards them leaving behind a trail of light.

"Is it reinforcements!"

Swish!

A rustling sound echoed and everyone noticed a trail of fire moving ahead tearing the air before it just like a meteorite.

An arrow splitting heaven and earth descended from the sky aiming straight at the Lich.

The Lich was startled by the sudden attack that appeared out of nowhere and tried to defend themselves but it was too late and the strength imbued in the attack was too much for it.

The arrow collided against him directly and swept him away leaving behind nothing.

Another explosion shuddered the place leaving behind a huge crater of nothingness.

Celestine who finished off the Death Knight glanced at the figure of the man that appeared.

"Commander Zach!"

Their commander was a Mythic rank Archer and many even referred to him as Godly Archer in the stronghold.

Although, it was a bit exaggerated and there were many archers better than him but their Commander skills weren't worse compared to others.

Killing a legendary rank Lich in one shot. Only their commander could do something like this.

After Zach's arrival, the reinforcements arrived riding on a tamed beast and killing their way.

Without the Lich, the stronger undead surrounding them ceases to exist leaving behind minor ones who were taken care of quite easily.

Neon was the first to show up before Zach but his eyes didn't reflect gratitude.

"Commander Zach, thank you for saving us from the current predicament but let me ask you something."

"How can you not report to us that this region is filled with the undead? This place is too dangerous for the students to take a test."

Zach heard Neon's words filled with grievousness and frowned.

"I have sent a messenger that something odd was happening around here and we have spotted a few undead here. The situation wasn't that worse which is why I left the decision to the academy but who knows so many undead would rise and attack today."

Neon's expression was distorted and he asked in a panicked tone"What do you mean, you sent a messenger? We didn't get any?"

"Did someone intercept it?"

Zach and Neon spoke simultaneously.

Beads of sweat formed on their forehead.

"We need to get the students out of here immediately." Neon muttered.

"First let's get them to the stronghold," Zach advised.

....

The order to retreat was announced shortly.

First, the students who were present would be evacuated quickly while the troops would search for the remaining ones.

There were many missing and many of them were injured.

There was an atmosphere of horror and panic as everyone's lives were in jeopardy.

Jeremy ran towards the figure that stood on the heaps of bones.

A murderous aura leaked from her sending a chill down the spine of everyone who tried to approach her.

Witnessing the scene of slaughter caused by a beautiful lady was a horrifying scene for those who fawn over them.

"Riya, I can't find Alex. He seems to be missing. I hope that nothing bad might have happened to him." Jeremy spoke worriedly.

"Don't worry, he will be alright," Riya said while staring deep inside the forest.

"He might have some loose ends to tie."

277 Chapter 277:Soul Swapping

While everyone was either evacuating or getting treated, a certain figure sneaked out during the confrontation.

Chilly winds blew and the darkness of night was at its peak. The atmosphere was eerie and the silence of the night was occasionally broken by the sounds of insects and the rustling of leaves.

Amid the darkness of night, a shadow flashed through the trees moving from one branch to another.

As he passed through the trees, a soft breeze blew and the leaves of the trees swayed to and fro.

The winds were gentle but filled with coldness and a long silent atmosphere prevailed as if signalling the forthcoming of a storm.

Gentle winds brushed past his cheek as Alex went deeper and deeper.

"Is this how ninjas feel when they jump from trees? Why do I feel that I am moving like a monkey rather than a Ninja?" Alex whispered.

[Host, please focus on the things ahead. Your leisurely mood might kill you today. There is no plot armour for you and your luck is quite terrible compared to others. If you didn't have memories of your previous life, you are nothing more than cannon fodder.]

"At least, this cannon fodder lives a better life than you who is just stuck in my head. Unlike me, what can you do?"

"Can you eat, drink, and enjoy beauties?" Alex snorted and stared at the screen.

==============

[Quest]

Investigate and eliminate the root cause of today's trouble.

Reward:30 Stat Points.

Failure to finish the task could impact not only Kinley but the whole world in the future.

===============

Alex got the notification during the battle with Death Knight.

His eyes almost popped out from his socket seeing the quest.

30 stat points meant 15 levels. At his current, the stage where even finding prey to kill was hard enough for him and this undead didn't have him anything as they didn't have any life force to be converted into experience points.

And on top of that, the task was of epitome importance.

The Goddess can't interfere in this world and case of troubles can only give oracles which are too hard to decipher.

In a way, even if their daughters were going to be killed they cannot do anything and watch from the sidelines.

Interfering in world affairs would cause them to be punished heavily and in severe cases turned into Mortal.

But Alex was an exception. His presence was in itself taboo and after various experiments even though the Goddess directly talked with him and gave some hints, there was no punishment implemented on them.

Still, to be on the safer side, they decided to use this system to signal things in case of trouble.

And Alex could already imagine the severity of the matter from the quest cause, those stingy ladies wouldn't give a quest unless the future of the entire world was at stake.

Alex mana sensors could not only detect people but also sense abnormality in the mana flow in a region.

As the fight with the undead progressed, the first thing he did was to search for the Necromancer that might have hidden away.

But to his surprise, he couldn't find any Necromancer around the radius of 5km.

Necromancers can summon undead and could sustain them until their mana run out but they couldn't use them to attack from a greater distance.

Alex noticed a faint black miasma in the undead and also noticed that many of them had rotten skins and they looked as if they had been sucked dry, indicating that many of them died recently.

It seems that the miasma coming from them had turned them into undead.

Alex followed the mana sensor and searched for the location where the Mace-tailed Monkey chased him and found trails of miasma leading deeper inside the forest and now he was following the trail.

Though he was in the vast wilderness, he found that the place was quite silent and devoid of creatures.

The place should be filled with monsters and beasts but it was quite empty.

He guessed that most of them had either been killed or turned into undead.

Alex who was discerning his surroundings suddenly felt strong mana ripples.

His ear perked up.

"Someone is fighting ahead!" Alex muttered and sped up through the dense forest.

As Alex drew closer, his eyes opened wide with disbelief as he saw the scene of the ongoing battle.

Before him, a Lich was commanding his undead troops to fight the enemy and it was none other than Hurt in himself.

"What the hell?" Alex's eyes stuck on Hurt who was engaging in a bloody fight.

His figure had been dishevelled and his body had many wounds while his clothes had been in tatters.

But more than that the strength he was showing was a legendary rank.

===========

Name:Hurt[Seymour(Soul Swapped)]

Class:Battlemage

Talent:Void Interference.

Potential:Superior.

=============

Alex was too stunned after witnessing soul-swapping that the importance of void interference became dull in his eyes.

He had studied so many arts. He knew about possessing someone but soul-swapping was something out of his wildest imagination.

The information was completely different from what he had seen previously.

'Soul Swap, what does it mean? Is it a talent or is Hurt already dead and someone is residing in its body like a parasite.'

'What if the soul of a guy had the power to change from one body to another?'

Alex wanted to scold himself for all these kinds of outrageous thoughts and if he heard this thing from someone else, he might have beaten that guy badly.

Alex observed Hurt's movement trying to figure him out.

The undead tried to attack Hurt but they were unable to reach out to him.

The Lich also fired many spells but none of them could pierce through the Hurt defence.

Hurt raised his hand and shot huge bolts of lightning.

The Lich was alarmed by it and struck its staff on the ground.

Many undead rose from the ground that stood before the Lich acting as barriers trying to protect the Lich from being fried.

Huge flashes of lightning descended upon them and the bolts struck the undead that stood before Lich, burning them into ashes.

"Shit!" Hurt cursed in anger as he noticed that this attack was taken by the Lich's henchman.

Alex noticed Hurt's frustrated expression.

Void talents were the rarest of all. You can mould the space around yourself and can attack going beyond the physical barrier by distorting the space around the object.

For example, someone threw an insanely large fireball the size of a planet at you and to destroy it, you can just form a black hole in the middle which would suck everything it thought you couldn't achieve this kind of feat even at overlord rank

Even though it can allow the user to attack transversing the space, there was still a flaw in it. One cannot mould the laws of space if the object was living or made up of organic material.

So, in a way, the Lich used the undead as the meat shield restricting Hurt from directly attacking the Lich.

Alex contemplated whether to engage and help Hurt or to watch from the sideline. He was unaware of Hurt's nature and his motive and didn't know whether he will turn out to be a foe or a friend so he needs to be cautious or else he may be disposed of by this guy.

There is no heaven-defying genius who could reach legendary rank along with mastery of space here. It's not some kind of novel but real life and even geniuses had some limits.

The battle between Hurt and Lich was at a standstill and none of them was able to find a way out to destroy the other side's defence.

Hurt knew that the Lich had the tactical advantage and could summon the undead endlessly.

Hurt cannot drag the battle long but he was helpless as he wasn't able to approach the other party.

Hurt who was striking at the undead coming at him sensed a certain someone and for a moment he was taken by surprise.

Alex also noticed something strange in Hurt's behaviour and suddenly heard a voice.

[Alex, help me. We need to get rid of the Lich along with trouble up ahead.]

Alex's jaw almost dropped to the ground.

'Telepathy is this guy, a Saint realm powerhouse.'

Alex's heartbeat fastened as soon as he heard the telepathy.

Only those who reached the Saint realm would be able to use telepathy which means this guy was at least at the Saint realm or in the worst-case scenario, he might be above it which was quite absurd.

'No, it might be a skill or a spell.'Alex shook his head trying to calm himself.

"Just who are you? Are you a 20-year-old kid studying at the Academy?"

[Can't you keep your questions aside for now? I will die if this goes on]Hurt voice rang in his mind.

"You want me to help? What if you killed me after everything is over to keep your secret? I am sure you are not an ordinary guy and if you turned out to be a villain then doesn't that mean, I will be committing a grave sin."

[I promise that I will not hurt you. You can rest assured.]

"Promise my ass. I don't believe in fake promises. Swear an oath in the name of Goddess that you will not kill me or hurt me in any way."

[You…]

Hurt felt infuriated by Alex's imprudent words.

[Alex, you know that I can pull you into a mess quite easily and make you their target. The only reason I asked for help is to get rid of the curse. You have received strong blessings from Goddesses.]

Hurt spoke in an annoyed tone while flying up in the sky throwing spells at the undead while many steel vultseeker chased after him.

"You dare threaten me. If you have guts, you can try. I know my ability and if I want to leave even a Mythic rank couldn't trap me." Alex snorted.

In terms of escaping, he was one of the best, after all, many times he tried to flee away from the Demoness Goddess of war.

Hurt gritted his teeth in anger. Mana's oath wasn't that simple and once he swore, he would be bound by it.

There may be many scenarios where things go wrong and in a case where Alex gets possessed by evil, he had to fight Alex, and at that time wouldn't he be in grave danger?

Failing to comply with the oath will lead him to a miserable ending. He was unfortunate to get caught by the curses which were eroding his strength as well as consciousness.

He was sure that if it were someone else, he would have already fallen into the grasp of Lich.

"Fine, I accept your terms." Hurt screamed while flying in the air.

Alex's lips curled upwards. He had already tied the rope to the neck of the scapegoat.

Alex dusted his hand and got up from the branch.

Raising his hand, he tapped on his forehead.

A small sword-shaped tattoo appeared due to Alex's touch which started to fade away.

After staying at the academy for a few days, to maximise the output of his training Alex had sealed his and Riya's strength to early master rank.

Yes, he had been fighting while holding back even in the case of Legendary rank Lich before.

At first, he was going to undo the seal but after getting the quest, he was sure that there was bigger trouble ahead and he had to save his strength for later.

A surge of power erupted from Alex.

A crackling sound was heard. All the joints in his body rattled and a sense of euphoria rose in his body.

Alex's strength started to rise and finally stopped in mid-Epic rank.

===============

Name:Alex Von Stan

Species:Human

Rank:Mid Epic Rank

Level: 4

Exp:150

HP:308/328

Mana:610/840

Strength:177

Agility:174

Stamina:170

Vitality:164

Magic:168

Stats Points:12

Active Skills:Eyes of Truth Lvl 1, Mana Sensor, Emperor Charisma, Emperor Pressure, Lady Luck's Blessing, Heal, Restore, Goddess Buff

Passive skills:Piercing Thrust Level B, Iron Heavy Swordsmanship Level B, Abyssal Slash Level B, Grand Martial Art Level D, Mighty Punch Level B, Spell, Five Elemental Breathing Technique Level A, Kinley's Knight Swordsmanship E, Partial Concealment F

=============

Alex looked at his stats with satisfaction. His rank may be Epic but his stat points were in between mid and peak Transcendent rank.

If compared according to his understanding, a normal legendary rank had stat points of 180 in each and stronger ones, a little more.

So, he can at least take on the weaker legendary ones like the Lich.

Only after the experience, Alex knew the true value of stat points without stat points, he would even struggle to take down a Transcendent rank.

The Goddesses were right to limit it otherwise if this went on he may take down a supreme in Mythic rank, because of additional stat points.

Alex added four stat points to magic and looked ahead.

"Fire, in the hole," Alex shouted and lunged forward.

Alex's body is covered in bright Light shot forward towards the Lich.

BOOM!

An explosion shakes the whole place, blowing away the undead.

Beams of light glistened in the air and bombarded them on the ground creating a chain of explosions.

Just before they could react, a huge greatsword, 20 metres tall rose in the sky and fell over them.

"Hehehee!You have been rampaging for a while and I have to hold back and behave properly. Isn't it blatant injustice?"

Slash!

The huge great sword was swung horizontally which uprooted all the undead and sight before Alex was entirely cut off.

Alex pulled the great sword and rested it on his shoulder, which seemed as light as a feather in his hands.

279 Chapter 279:Sweeping Away Legendary Rank Lich

Alex spun his body around and with strong momentum, he threw the huge greatsword towards the Lich.

The Lich's eyes flickered and it pulled all the undead nearby to stand before it.

The greatsword sword rolled on them and crashed against them with a loud blast like waves of sea clashing off the seashore

The greatsword emitted a bright golden light that enveloped the whole area.

The entire area was lit up as bright as day which dispelled the darkness in the place.

The blinding flash of light was enough to blind even Hurt who closed his eyes in fear of going blind.

The undead were rendered harmless and eroded by the bright golden light.

As the light slowly dispersed, the Lich was crawling on the ground with burns all over its body trying to get to its staff which had fallen.

Its body was barely recognisable and its feet trembled as it tried to get up.

All the undead summoned by him were already dispersed by the light.

The Lich looked around frantically and wailed miserably.

DUUUSH!

The Lich who had let down his guards suddenly saw a sword pierce its chest.

"Sorry bro better luck next time," Alex spoke with an amusing smile.

A bright sacred light filled with holiness erupted from the sword and a pillar shot from the Lich.

The Lich struggled to get out but the bright light from Alex overwhelmed it.

Dark mist emerged from him which was cleansed by Alex and the Lich was finally taken down easily.

Hurt landed beside Alex who saw him taking down Lich easily.

Alex turned back to see Hurt miserable appearance, the wounds on Hurt were corroded by miasma which seemed to be invading him and would lead to the decay of tissue if not treated properly.

"Let me heal you," Alex murmured and placed his hands on Hurt's shoulder.

Hurt body glowed from head to toe and large fumes evaporated from his body.

Alex cleansed the wounds with holy power first and then healed the wound.

"Were you bathing in dark power? Just how much miasma did you swallow?"

"If I wasn't present here, you would be gone case and might have lost more than an arm?" Alex warned.

Hurt lips twitched a little as he spoke"If not for inhaling this much miasma did you think I would beg for your help?"

"The holy power in your body is purest among all the people I have seen. Only the Pope or the Saintess have such powers."

"Ohhh!" Alex's lips curled upwards seeing his boasting.

"That means you have met the Pope."

"Yea…No, no!" Hurt shook his head and closed his lips. He was just an inch away from digging his own grave but little did he know it was too late.

"Tell me, are you Hurt or someone else who occupied Hurt by swapping his soul?"

Hurt's eyeball widened and his face became as pale as a sheet of paper.

His immediate reaction was to kill this fellow but he remembered that he had taken an oath.

As he was taken by surprise for a moment, he felt a gentle pat on his shoulder and he raised his chin to look at Alex.

Danger…Danger….

A warning siren rang in his mind.

How does a harmless little rabbit feel when it was left in a cage occupied by a huge predator and the predator was staring straight into the rabbit's eyes with killing intent?

The feeling of despair, despondency and sorrow of being unable to see the next day flashed before its eyes.

Countless emotions would run through the rabbit's mind. The combination of these sentiments might even confuse the harmless rabbit as it was unable to discern its own emotion.

But it was sure of one thing, Death was standing before it and glancing at it.

That was the feeling Hurt was feeling, he wasn't unaware of this emotion as he had gone through this feeling countless times but he was lucky enough to survive till today.

But today might not be a lucky day because before him stood someone that had gone beyond the realm of humans.

It was not a battle of strength but rather a battle of psychology. Hurt could see the strength of Alex's soul.

Before him, stood a man with a cruel smile covered with a bloody aura from head to toe which wasn't less fearsome than a bloody demon.

It wasn't a soul but rather an impenetrable fortress on which even an Overlord couldn't put a scratch and on top of that, the nasty bloody aura that was engraved on its soul like a tattoo indicated the countless number of Overlords crushed by him.

His whole body trembled and his legs turned soft like jelly. He was already overwhelmed by the bloody aura from Alex and knew that he didn't even possess a chance to fight him as Alex could just kill him by exerting the strength of his soul.

Alex stared at Hurt who seemed to have lost his will to live.

Just now, Alex let Hurt take a peek into his soul and seeing Hurt's reaction, he was sure that Hurt was able to get a glimpse of things that lie deep within him which prove that Hurt was a powerhouse above the Mythic realm.

The thing he did was the battle between two souls which was quite dangerous as the loser might get hurt badly if both sides fought seriously.

Alex could engage in a soul battle only in a radius of five metres, unlike the powerhouse who could do this from long distances so as soon as Hurt raised his head, Alex began the battle and gained the upper hand.

Alex pointed his blade at the Hurt throat and said"You have already witnessed something you shouldn't have. You have two choices."

"Either die peacefully or fork out everything about yourself. I promise you as long as you tell the truth and don't prove to be an evildoer, I will turn a blind eye and will not pursue the matter of soul swap."

Hurt dimmed eyes glowed as he stared at Alex's sincere expression and laughed bitterly.

In his five hundred years of life, he hadn't thought that he would be forced onto his knees by a brat who might have got a second chance like him.

Who knows, maybe the boy before him might turn out to be someone he knew before.

With this thought, Hurt told his story.