Chapter 226: Cruelty

Olinna recalled the suffocating scene from before, her body trembling slightly. Their city of Ansel, especially the temple district, worshipped human deities with the Dawn Lord at the forefront. At least three of the archbishops there were of the golden rank, and relying on the temple's defensive array, they could withstand attacks of the soul level.

However, even such defenses were suddenly shattered by a gigantic skeletal hand, flattening the entire temple district. Thus, Olinna speculated that the perpetrator was very likely a legend.

"We must leave, the sooner we leave Ansel City the better, we can't stay here any longer. The undead scourge's effect covers the entire city, and its duration is likely to be extraordinarily long," Olinna commanded with an irrefutable tone and a terrifying reason.

"The undead that have just revived are extremely weak, only in large numbers, but as time passes, they will gradually become stronger. If we wait too long, even higher-level undead will appear, and by then it'll be impossible for us to escape."

"Following your orders, Miss Olinna!" Upon hearing Olinna's words, over twenty guards quietly accepted the command.

"Let's go, leave the basement. Seal all the stone doors, don't let the undead escape from the tunnels beneath the castle."

Facing such a situation that could drive one to despair, the young girl Olinna calmly issued various orders, returning to the castle with a group of guards. In her eyes, the light of magic flickered.

Second-ring magic, Mechanized Mind. A sixteen-year-old girl, she could only rely on magic to keep herself calm and prevent herself from collapsing. She had to lead her younger brother Clark to escape from here.

"Screech!"... The group, just emerging from the basement and sealing the stone doors leading below, heard roaring sounds coming from various parts of the castle and smelled the nauseating stench of decay in the air.

"Miss Olinna, there should still be many guards in the castle, should we gather them?" Hearing the inhuman howls and roars, a guard suggested, "This way, our chances of escaping Ansel City would be greater."

"Gather all the remaining forces in the castle without making too much noise," Olinna ordered calmly, holding her brother Clark's hand.

Just then, weird and dense footsteps accompanied by increasingly loud roars came from several corridors around them, the stench of decay growing stronger in the air.

"Sister," the child holding his sister's hand let go and hugged her leg. Lower-rank mages needed to use some incantations and gestures to cast spells.

"Don't be afraid, Clark, they are just low-level undead, the guards will deal with them soon."

As the girl spoke, several staggering figures appeared in the corridor, extending their hands and moving slowly towards them.

"Anna!" "Tony!"... Seeing these strangely moving figures, as well as their familiar clothes and the faces they greeted every day, several young guards cried out in shock.

These creatures rushing towards them, with faces pale and blue, were dressed in the castle servants' uniforms.

"Kill them all, aim for their heads," Olinna commanded with a flash of mage light in her eyes.

"This..." Three young guards looked at each other, hesitating. It was hard for them to swing their swords at people they knew.

"Greenhorns who have never experienced battle and killing." However, only three young guards were like this, the other dozen or so older, stronger guards charged at the undead servants as soon as they appeared.

These battle-hardened guards easily beheaded the zombies with swift sword strikes, their faces stern, showing no hesitation or doubt.

"Even if you see familiar faces, don't hesitate. Killing them is the best way to free them. Their souls are trapped in undead bodies, suffering torment, and even losing the eternal life in the realm of their faith."

Olinna frowned at the three guards who didn't charge forward, but didn't reprimand them. Keeping absolute rationality, she knew it wasn't the best approach, but instead explained what these walking corpses were.

"The undead scourge isn't an attack spell, so it doesn't directly harm any creatures or buildings. But when it first takes effect, there will be a surge of dense death energy. Strong-bodied ordinary people can withstand it.

But some physically weak adults, the elderly, and children will have their life force extinguished under the impact of death energy, fall dead, and then rise again as undead."

"Teacher Sard!" The child hugging his sister's leg recognized one of the beheaded undead, crying out with a weeping voice.

It was an old man dressed in a scholarly robe, his once neatly trimmed, meticulous white hair and beard now disheveled and dirty, his clean robe stained with blood, his head rolling on the ground, his face twisted in pain.

"Be strong," Olinna touched her brother's hair, not making any futile gesture to cover his eyes.

Even commoners wouldn't be too fearful of corpses. In this world, the loss of life is a common occurrence, with too many beings that can easily take human life.

As nobles, their ability to endure such situations must be stronger than commoners, even if he is just a child, he must face such bloody and cruel scenes.

The undead summoned by the undead scourge from the ground were mostly low-level skeletons, so they lacked the ability to break through the thick bricks and stones and enter the castle.

Therefore, the only undead in the castle were ordinary people who died from the impact of death energy when the lich released the undead scourge. These undead, born from ordinary human corpses, posed little threat to guards of an average strength of bronze third rank.

Realizing this, Olinna began leading the guards to clear all the undead in the castle, as even ordinary human corpses could give rise to a very troublesome creature - the wraith, immune to normal sword attacks.

...

After spending some time clearing all the low-level undead they could find in the castle, Olinna, holding her brother Clark, sat on the main seat in the castle's great hall, looking down at a large group of people.

These were all the living people in the castle - nearly fifty bronze-level guards, two silver-level knights in command, and others like a robust cook wielding a blood-stained spoon, a coachman with a cleaver, a gardener holding a meter-long pair of scissors...

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