Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Of course, this change was not a long-lasting one. The Holy Light abided by the Holy Rules, and even though it was not the strongest in the world, it was definitely the purest. The purer the Rules, the harder it was to alter them, and even if it was a domain created from the Eternal Light Spell, it merely allowed the change between Light and Dark to last a short while.
But even a split second was enough for Lin Li.
In that split second, the Holy Light became the Gloomy Dark.
In that split second, Lin Li was the incarnation of the gloomy dark itself, a Retribution Knight born from the Gloomy Dark. None of the Death Knights could go against his wishes, and everything became much more simple—he could easily brand their soul fire using his mental strength.
The most straightforward and effective method of controlling an Undead creature was to use one’s mental strength to leave a brand on their soul fire. This was much easier than a blood oath or a Soul Contract as no spells or rituals were needed. All it needed was a little bit of mental strength, but this was provided that the mental strength was not met with resistance by the other party.
Of course, this nearly instantaneous way of doing it had a fault as the brand would weaken over time and eventually vanish. The Undead creature it controlled would thus be freed as a result.
However, this was not important to Lin Li, as his motive was merely to have these 20 Death Knights protect him for the time being. This was the Scar of Death, where there were countless creatures born from the Dark, after all. Dangers hid at every turn along the way; who knew if he might suddenly be surrounded by hundreds of Vampires again? He would be stuck in a predicament if he did not have the Death Knights’ protection.
Thus, Lin Li spared their lives when he used the Eternal Light Spell, and used the domain energy of the Eternal Light Spell to change the Holy Rules of the Holy Light instead. He turned the Holy Light into the dark in a split second, and then used that dark energy to control the 20 Death Knights.
He did not need a long time, either. A couple of days would be more than enough, and if he could find the Gloomy Dark, it would not matter even if the Death Knights were no longer under his control.
All of this happened and ended within a second. Nobody but Lin Li knew what had actually transpired.
Even a seasoned Archmage like Adelo only knew that the young mage had used magic of devastating powers in that second, but he was perplexed as to what happened with the 20 Death Knights.
But whatever it was, he definitely needed to change his original plans.
According to his plans, this young mage and his companions, as well as the four Bandits including Reggie, were supposed to be sacrificed when they destroyed the altar.
But now, Adelo dared not even think of doing that…
Sacrifice a mage who could use a level-21 Legendary magic and control Death Knights? That was crazy…
The advance party suddenly became incredibly powerful after the Death Knights joined. They had been running away to escape the thousands of Skeletal Warriors previously, but their journey through the Scar of Death was now unbelievably smooth. Even the largest groups of Skeletal Warriors could not withstand a blow from the Death Knights, and often all they heard was a crushing sound before the Skeletal Warriors turned into a scattered pile of bones.
As Lin Li looked at this landslide victory for their side, he could not help but secretly feel thankful that he had taken the Multicolored Potion earlier and had studied the Eternal Light Spell prior to this, and also thankful that Ujfalusi’s Tide of Death had bought him those three minutes of time earlier. If something had gone wrong in this whole process, he would have been squashed into a pulp by these Death Knights…
“Mage Felic, look…” The advance party moved at an astonishing speed, and they had passed through the danger zone filled with Undead creatures in just under two hours. After they carried on for another 200 meters or so, Adelo stopped suddenly.
Lin Li looked where Adelo was pointing. There was a lot of weeds, something uncommon in the Scar of Death, growing underneath the mountain wall ahead of them. Amongst the weeds was the opening of the cave that looked like a beast opening its maw; a chilly aura came from within the cave…
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“Indeed…” As Lin Li stopped in his tracks, he knew immediately that Adelo had not been spouting nonsense—the aura coming from within the cave was the Gloomy Dark’s aura that he was familiar with. It was profound and mysterious, just like the nature of the Dark itself…
The opening of the cave was unusually narrow, and even the Death Knights had to abandon their Shapeshifters to continue on foot. They wore heavy black armor and held swords crafted from ice, and when they walked into the cave, it was like a drop of cold water in a boiling pot of oil, making the oil sizzle immediately…
Everyone felt the earth shaking as swarms of Skeletal Warriors appeared from the ground with their eerie white bones and swinging machetes. The silence in the cave was broken all of a sudden; just like how the fights with Undead creatures usually were, there was no shouting or screaming, only the mind-numbing sounds of weapons hacking away at bones.
A dense black fog continued to come from deep within the cave. Many Hell Ghouls and Liches hidden in the fog fired Deathfire Bombs at them…
“The heck…” Lin Li was shocked by the sudden attack as the Undead creatures that had appeared just now were vastly different from the ones outside, be it the Skeletal Warriors or the Liches. These Skeletal Warriors were at least level-8, and the Liches were even somewhere near level-18.
What kind of an existence was a level-18 Lich? Even Bhaskar that had used a Death Sentence back in the Shadowglen was only level-16…
Lin Li chanted spells with all his might as he angrily complained, “Damn it, it’s the Gloomy Dark again…”
This fight lasted for a whole hour, and Adelo was near the point of exhaustion before these Skeletal Warriors close to level-10 had all been wiped out. However, the Hell Ghouls and Liches hidden in the black fog did not seem harmed at all, and, for some reason, disappeared as quickly as they had appeared. When Lin Li was done with the Skeletal Warriors and wanted to deal with them, he could not find even a trace of them.
Don’t let me bump into you again…
Cursing at them internally, Lin Li never thought that he would not only bump into them shortly afterward, but more than once as well.
Honestly, the advance party had been bumping into them continuously throughout their nearly half a day’s journey. Each time there had been an influx of Skeletal Warriors sprouting from the ground and many Hell Ghouls and Liches hidden in the black fog, all the while hurling Deathfire Bombs at them with an infuriating half-heartedness as though they were only doing so just for the sake of being there.
The advance party had entered the cave in the afternoon, but they were still stuck in the maze-like tunnel all the way until the evening. In Adelo’s words, they had only traveled less than 10 percent of the journey, yet their party encountered more than 20 battles. Every fight was as big as the next one, and they never won easily. It was always a few hundred Skeletal Warriors, a few dozen Hell Ghouls, and a few Liches who fought merely for the sake of being there. Although they did not lose anybody in these fights, everyone was nearing exhaustion, including Lin Li.
Fights of this level were the most torturous as they always thought they had lost all hope, and that they would never be able to see the end of their enemies. Lin Li even thought that someone was bound to be driven to the brink of insanity if this continued.
“Mage Adelo, we can’t carry on like this. Let’s have a talk.” After one of the fights, Lin Li really could not bear it any longer, and silently pulled Adelo aside to talk during a break.
“Well…” Adelo hesitated before he nodded quickly.
He was a man of reason, after all, and he knew very well that they were all in this predicament together. If this young mage was to meet with any harm, Adelo’s life would not be smooth sailing, either. Even though he had the Teleportation Scroll that could protect him, he would not be able to face Teacher Cheyenne if he failed his task…
Moreover, this young mage was a worthy partner indeed—capabilities aside, the 20 Death Knights alone were the strongest amongst the advance party, and the success of his mission depended on them.
Hence, Adelo did not hesitate for long.
“Alright, Mage Felic. If you insist, I can tell you the truth…
“I’m here at the Scar of Death to complete a task given to me by my teacher. My teacher is called Cheyenne. He is the Legendary Mage of Aminya City, but not many know that he was the previous patriarch of the Malfa Family. He had already been to the Blackstone Mountains many years ago; after that, he would return every year to stay here for some time…”
“I knew it…” Lin Li was not really surprised to hear this, as he had long guessed that the Malfa Family had close relations to a Legendary Mage. Now, Adelo was merely confirming his suspicions. However, he was not expecting this close relation to be of such a level—if Cheyenne was the previous patriarch of the Malfa Family, wouldn’t that make him that idiot Harvey’s grandfather?