Leave a comment

Round two: start!

The two combatants, Ferti’nier and Karlston, charged at each other without exchanging a word. Countless shadow figures burst forth and launched themselves at Karlston, yet the skeletal mage could control the density of the toxic fumes within his Territory.

He swiftly focused his fumes into an almost viscous state, dissolving any flame-clad shadow that leapt his way. As a result, his own Territory had shrunk significantly. What was once a two hundred meter diameter Territory was now merely ten meters wide.

This battle had only just started, but both sides roughly had an understanding of the other now. Simply put, Karlston’s Territory was a direct foil to Ferti’nier’s own.

Naturally, Ferti’nier’s real Territory was stronger than Karlston’s, but this wasn’t her body she was using. It was a temporary one handed over to her when Mo Ke fled to the abyss of his soul. That also meant that this body would eventually start to reject her.

While she had only been in control for a short duration, she was already starting to feel the strain on her control. Since taking over, she had been fighting non-stop. And even with all the souls she had devoured thus far, the fierce opposition Karlston put up had upped the rejection from this body a level.

At this rate, this wasn’t going to work, was what she quickly realised. However, Karlston’s Territory was too powerful for her to end the battle quickly. Situations like this where two Territories directly countered each other actually weren’t that rare. While there might be an endless variety of Territories in the world, there were still broad similarities that had counters to them.

Karlston was a skeletal mage that specialised in long range magic. Ferti’nier, on the other hand, performed well in both melee and long range. But because Karlston had strengthened his own Territory’s corrosive strength by tenfold when he shrunk it, even Ferti’nier wasn’t able to gain an advantage over him in close range. At the same time, her long range attacks were hampered by her current body.

Territory countered; magic restricted; Ferti’nier was beginning to find herself at a disadvantage.

Karlston, on the other hand, was very confident in his own strengths, especially in his condensed toxic Territory -even an ordinary demigod wouldn’t be able to get out of that unscathed, let alone this Fallen Angel who only had her strong Territory going for her. With his enemy’s weakness firmly in his grasp, he pressed ever forward, peppering her with his spells till she did not even have the chance to mount a counter-offensive.

(TL: I’ve decided. I’m capitalising Territory. Would make it easier to read, especially when I actually use the word territory to describe land…)

If there was a silver lining in this dire situation, it was that Ferti’nier still had the advantage of flight. She wasn’t afraid of him suddenly taking to the air, though dodging constantly wasn’t an option either.

There was no time for hesitation anymore. With her priorities sorted out, Ferti’nier summoned the Devil King Idol.

At the same time, Karlston fired off his third beam of toxic fumes, only to find that the skies above him had darkened all of the sudden. A gigantic golem was descending from the skies, and its target seemed to be him…

Thanks to Ferti’nier’s timely decision, the green beam ended up fizzling harmlessly against the Devil King Idol. Finally operated by an overlord, the Devil King Idol’s defenses had risen to that of a proper demigod. The greenish beam that had terrorised those before her now seemed more like a child’s water gun -harmless and ineffective.

Failing his special attack, Karlston hurriedly evaded the Devil King Idol’s attack. A deafening boom rocked the area. Just as the Devil King Idol touched down, it immediately leapt off the ground, causing a mini-earthquake.

While Karlston might have avoided being turned into a pancake, Ferti’nier had no intention of letting such a powerful foe off the hook so easily either. Driving the Devil King Idol relentlessly forward, she quickly sent another stomp his way. Caught off guard, the skeletal mage could only scramble once more to evade the attack.

Now that his strongest attack was ineffective, he was truly out of cards to play…

In order to live, he had no choice but to turn tail and run. As he did so, he cursed incoherently to himself. Ordinarily, this invasion of Sable Radiance should have been a done deal. The fact that someone as powerful as Ferti’nier even existed in such a backwater was a miracle in of itself. In fact, never in his wildest dreams would he have expected to bump into a Devil King Idol here, where the laws of the world weren’t even complete…

In order to speed up his escape, he extended his Territory to its fullest. Bearing no heed to the costs, he charged ahead in a straight line, all the while dissolving any creature in his way, Undead or otherwise.

Ferti’nier continued hounding the fleeing mage. Now that she was the one in the driver seat, the Devil King Idol was at full power, countless purple arcane markings crawled across its otherwise pitch black exterior.

The appearance of these arcane markings immediately turned the otherwise lumbering golem into an agile killing machine. Compared to that third-rate trash when Mo Ke piloted it, this Devil King Idol was practically an olympic gold medalist!

Boom. Boom. Boom.

The Devil King Idol sprinted at full speed, each step accompanied by a thunderous boom. Wherever it stepped, the ground would rend asunder, massive rocks were strewn in all directions, crushing any unfortunate low level Undead it came into contact with… and these were just unintentional attacks!

With the Devil King Idol’s unexpected appearance and Karlston’s subsequent fleeing, the battlefield was up for grabs once more. While Karlston’s interference had caused quite a stir initially, look at him now… forced to flee like a whipped dog.

Whether by sheer coincidence or divine providence, Mo Ke was stabbed by Nicole right before this crucial fight. Had it not been for that traumatic event causing him to flee into the depths of his mind, this battle would not have proceeded so smoothly. Had this been Mo Ke who was fighting Karlston right now, he would have probably died already. Even if he had handed off control of his body to Ferti’nier, his conscious state would have caused a high level of rejection for Ferti’nier.

In other words, the fact that Karlston had to flee like a mouse from a cat, that was all thanks to Mo Ke being a shut-in!

Pressured to the utmost, Karlston did not even have the presence of mind to choose a direction to flee in. He merely ran forward, as far away as he could from Ferti’nier. With his mind dead set on escape, his speed was nothing to scoff at. Even with Ferti’nier piloting the golem at full speed, it was unlikely she would catch him in the short term…

Each time she tried to attack him, he would nimbly dip out of the way as if he was the mole in the whack-a-mole machine.

Just like that, the game of cat-and-mouse continued till, finally, the Devil King Idol expanded over half of its energy, at which point a turning point occurred…

In his single-minded desire to escape, he had unknowingly fled to an artificially depressed, circular clearing. Just from the surroundings, one could tell that there used to be a volcano here, it was just flattened for some reason or another.

However, all that wasn’t important to Karlston. All he knew was that if he did not run faster, that giant monster behind him would flatten him into a pancake. Yet when he stepped into the clearing, he felt a certain object in his robe react. The more he got closer to the center of this clearing, the more the object in his robes heated up, even rumbling at the end.

Fully occupied with fleeing for his life, he had no time to spare for such nonsense right now. Still, the constant stirring might prove to be a hindrance in the future… Not wasting any time at all, he reached into his pocket and retrieved a white orb the size of a baby’s fist. He immediately thought of tossing the annoying object, but the moment that thought crossed his mind, he remembered the mission given to him…

When this orb heated up, that meant that the dimensional link was near… those were the instructions given to him by a certain personage. Once the rumbling got to the point where it was at its highest, all he had to do was toss the orb at the center of the dimensional link, following which the orb would automatically explode, opening up a rift in the dimensions for a minute…

However, by the time he recalled the full instructions given to him, it was too late. He was now at the center of the dimensional link, orb still clutched in his bony-white fingers. A blinding light flooded the surrounding area. Soon after, a massive pillar of fire pierced the heavens from where Karlston stood. Naturally, he was reduced to cinders in the high heat…

Ferti’nier was still chasing Karlston at this point. This enemy of hers had proven a formidable one, and there was no way this she-devil would allow him to recover, now that she had him on the run. She was starting to feel the rejection from Mo Ke’s body grow stronger by the second. At this point, even she couldn’t tell how long she would be able to stay in charge. All she hoped was that she could sweep away all the obstacles before Mo Ke awakened. The other Undead overlords did not matter -only Karlston had to die now!

Yet at the same time when that fiery pillar burnt Karlston to cinders, it also affected Ferti’nier who was in the vicinity. Constantly battered by the resulting dimensional energies, even the Devil King Idol, with its Demigod-tier defenses, was starting to overheat. Not only that, there was now what looked like a black hole standing before her…

Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

LINK HERE

Leave a comment

The war was finally in full swing, the overlords of the Undead kept a close eye on the Demonic Fire Igneous Giant’s movements, avoiding him as best as they could. Back when they first learnt of his existence through that death knight, there was nothing concrete to attach this enemy. Now that they had seen him first hand however, they knew they were in a world of pain. At that size, he was basically invincible within his own class. Other than a demigod, the only ally that could match that giant was the overlord bone dragon… Unfortunately, they did not bring along a bone dragon this time…

However, their obsession with the overlord giant was, in of itself, an error. The strongest enemy here was actually Ferti’nier.

The she-devil flew right into the densest gathering of Undead overlords, and upon entering within two hundred meters of them, she deployed her trusty ultimate technique…

Territory: Wraith of Purgatory!

Raging black flames burst to life, sealing off any avenue of escape for her enemies. Countless shadows, clad in nether flames, lunged at the unsuspecting overlords, each of them resolved to take down their enemies in a suicidal explosion…

Just like that, over ten overlords were taken down in mere seconds. Such was the power of her Territory, Wraith of Purgatory. As the name suggested, it burned like the flames of Purgatory, and was as stealthy and unpredictable as a wraith. Her Territory, in essence, was capable of summoning assassins to kill those unfortunate enough to be caught in her Territory.

At the end of the day, Ferti’nier used to be a demigod herself. Her powers might have dropped a tier, but the destruction she could bring wasn’t something a mere overlord could comprehend!

Immediately, the tables had turned on the Undead.

It was only when the souls of those overlords flew into the waiting palm of Ferti’nier that Karlston finally understood how powerful his enemy was… From the very beginning, she was the one who held the keys to this battle.

(TL: To be honest, I’m a little tilted by this author’s use of over ten blah blah blah. Over twenty blah blah blah. It reeks of poor planning. Sometimes, I do not know if he really means 10, 11-19, or 11-infinity, so I’m left guessing based on the next few paragraphs. There have been a few times where over ten just meant ten. This time, apparently, he meant anything under the sun that is above ten.)

Territory: Bone-melting Demise!

At the same time as he charged at Ferti’nier, he deployed his own Territory, a two hundred meter diameter Territory of sickly green fog. Anything that came into contact with the fumes were progressively dissolved, whether Undead or living. The speed of dissolution wasn’t particularly quick, but if one did not depart immediately, even an overlord would be reduced to a puddle of black goo within a minute!

Seeing Ferti’nier kill off over ten Undead overlords in one move, Karlston knew he had to pull out all his stocks. This Territory of his wasn’t just a walking acid fog, it also had the ability to focus the toxic fumes into a concentrated beam to target further targets. When focused as such, its dissolving speed was multiplied by at least a factor of ten.

With a wave of his skeletal staff, Karlston fired off the first volley at Ferti’nier. From the very beginning, Ferti’nier knew this black-robed mage was no simple overlord -who would have thought that he was at the peak of the Overlord tier as well. Warriors at this state were just a hair’s breadth away from being a demigod.

If an overlord’s defining trait was his understanding of the world’s laws, and the formation of a Territory, then a demigod could face the laws of the world itself with his physical body. The Demigod tier was about forging a divine body. The degree to which a demigod could withstand the laws of the world depended on the completeness of this divine body.

At the peak of the Demigod tier, the demigod would have the ability to match a lower-ranked deity. The difference between the two was that the former lacked a proper divinity. A deity’s divinity was like the keys to the system. An overlord only had the ability to temporarily rewrite the laws of the world, but even that was being generous; a more accurate description would be to influence. Those with divinity had the ability to rewrite the laws of the world on a long-term basis.

Even so, the world and its laws were set down by the Creator. Like where there was light, there would always be dark. Like how water extinguished fire, and how the earth nourished the plants. These were fundamental tenets of the world. Even if a deity were to evolve into a prime deity, he still couldn’t change such fundamental laws permanently. However, he could still change the laws for a long term, and at a large scale. He would just have to pay the corresponding price.

The moment that green beam was fired, Ferti’nier instincts told her that she must not allow that to hit her. Yet just when she was about to dodge, a gigantic figure suddenly stepped in front of her and blocked the beam for her – it was the Demonic Fire Igneous Giant!

With his impregnable defenses, he reached forth and blocked the beam with his right arm. He had thought it would burn him at most. However, the moment he blocked the beam, his entire right arm started to drip to the ground as black goo… The corrosive ability of the beam was just too strong. Not only had it dissolved his right arm, it was now trying to invade the other parts of his body as well!

There was hardly a match to be found anywhere for this overlord giant’s defenses under the tier of Demigod. Even the mighty pure-blooded blood drakes, known for their unstoppable physical strength, might not be able to break his defenses. But that only showed how truly deadly Karlston’s beam was. If this corrosion was allowed to continue, he would most likely lose half his body in the process, crippling him in the best scenario.

Before the corrosive beam could spread past the giant’s right arm, Ferti’nier suddenly flew towards the giant, and upon reaching the area joining his shoulder to his arms, she pulled out Shadowfang and gave a decisive chop, severing what remained of his arm which fell to the ground with a deafening boom…

While Shadowfang might just be an Epic-grade weapon, it was forged from the fang of the first werewolf. As the former divine steed of the Moon Goddess, the first werewolf, Nightblade, was a divine beast himself. A fang from such a being was never going to lose to a mere overlord.

“That skeleton isn’t someone you can handle. I need you to take care of the other overlords instead.” Said Ferti’nier as she floated above the severed stump of the overlord giant, eyes glued to Karlston as he approached them. Without waiting for the giant to reply, she sped off in Karlston’s direction with a powerful kick off.

Met with such a fierce response, Karlston fired off a second beam at his opponent. Unfortunately, in her flying state, Ferti’nier was a lot nimbler: she easily avoided the beam with a twirl. In order to fire these beams, he had to concentrate the fumes from his territory, meaning that with each beam, the toxic fumes in his territory got thinner. Mighty as his attack was, even that had its own limitations.

Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

LINK HERE

Leave a comment

Countless lava spewing spikes pierced out of the ground, and right at the overlord death knight. His steed wasn’t able to fly, so evading such an indiscriminate attack was especially difficult. However, that was only the beginning of the attack. The body of the giant itself began to sprout spikes, turning into a rocky porcupine in mere seconds.

In order to avoid being skewered, the overlord death had no choice but to evacuate from the giant’s arm. However, the moment he tried to take a single jump forward, the spikes immediately dived at him, cutting him off. Still mid-air, he had no choice but to make the difficult sacrifice of abandoning his steed to protect himself. Using the skeletal horse as a springboard and shield, he leaped off its back, finally pulling himself away from the giant.

Unfortunately, his horse wasn’t so lucky. Not even given the chance to neigh, it was summarily turned to dust by the numerous spikes…

Yet just because he had avoided the wave of ground spikes, his troubles weren’t over either. Immediately after the ground spikes ended, the next attack came crashing down from the heavens!

The skies turned dark above him, but by the time he noticed this, his fate was sealed. With no way to maneuver mid-air, there was no avoiding the massive palm flying down on him…

“Boom…”

Every action the Demonic Fire Igneous Giant took elicited a deafening groan from the earth. As the giant palm slammed down on the overlord death knight, both the skies and the earth shook from the massive shockwave. The surrounding lower-starred Purgatory creatures were all thrown off balance as well.

By the time the giant lifted up his palm, the overlord death knight beneath was an unrecognisable mess…

“ROOARR!!”

Victorious, the giant howled into the heavens. Around him, the other Purgatory creatures joined him in his howling, morale boosted by the easy defeat of one of the enemy’s generals.

With their leader dead, the death knight unit was like a toothless tiger. The overlord giant boldly strode forward, closing the gap between himself and the knights in a few steps. Like an elephant running rampant on the battlefield, wherever the giant went, a death knight would be found flattened beneath its feet…

As of right now, the remaining death knights numbered in the hundreds. Members of this elite cavalry unit were at least Seven-star, meaning that if the various clan leaders wanted to reduce their casualties, they had to at least send out Eight-stars. In just the span of a few seconds, a plethora of dazzling long-ranged attacks were thrown their way, swiftly backing the death knights into a corner to be harvested.

This entire opening phase barely lasted half an hour. Barring the scant survivors who managed to escape during the chaos, the vanguard of the Undead were completely wiped out.

Under the command of the various overlords, the souls of the death knights were handed over to Ferti’nier, including the overlord death knight’s soul, which was handed over personally by the overlord giant – a fact which had to be against the rules, to be honest. For her to be able to enthrall them this far with a glance was just unreasonable…

Naturally, she wasn’t one to stand on ceremony. She gulped down the majority of the souls in one go, leaving a small portion leftover sealed up in a soulstone. She then quietly stuffed it into Mo Na’s little backpack while she was still concentrating on mastering that new technique.

Ferti’nier required a massive amount of souls to upkeep herself due to the lack of her own body. Yet no matter how much she ate, she would never rise to the level of Demigod. As long as she stayed within Mo Ke’s body, the best she could achieve was the peak of the Overlord tier. A step might have separated the two levels, but that step was the difference between heaven and earth. When one entered the Demigod tier, they had transcended the mortal realm, they were truly in the realm of the divine at that point.

The most practical benefit of such an evolution was the lifespan of such individuals. A human overlord, even at its peak, only had a lifespan of five hundred to eight hundred years. Human demigods, however, could live over two thousand years!

Right this very instant, Karlston’s main army was about fifty kilometers away from the frontlines. The survivors from the death knight unit had just reported in, bringing with them news of their utter defeat. The sheer anger of learning about their disgrace was enough to send the soul flames in his eye sockets blazing. The news had also stirred up a wave of debate amongst the rest of the overlords gathered. Normally, the Undead would never consider matters such as morale, making them perfect soldiers of war. However, that was only for the mindless ones. Once an Undead gained intelligence, things weren’t so simple any longer.

For this expedition, Karlston had brought around twenty overlords with him, every one of them a proficient fighter with at least thirty meters to their Territories. Yet the moment they heard that their opponent was a massive giant with a seventy meter Territory, they were spooked.

A giant with a Territory of seventy meters… that was undoubtedly a force to be reckoned with -there was no need to look any further for an example than how he squashed the overlord death knight, who had fifty meters to his Territory. The fact that he was so massive also meant that he held an inherent advantage against those of his class…

Then there was still the issue of the Fallen Angel who the Demonic Fire Igneous Giant willingly submitted himself to… Just because they had already died once did not mean they were more willing to die again this time…

Finally, Karlston snapped.

“Enough! I will give you all two choices: advance, or die right now!” Karlston yelled as best as a skeleton could. A moment later, he lifted up his skeletal staff and fired a dark green beam at an overlord zombie. The moment the overlord was hit by the beam, his flesh immediately started to fume and bubble as if hit by a potent acid. He fell to the ground groaning in pain, begging for forgiveness as he tumbled about.

Unfortunately, there was no mercy to be had for him. Out of those dissenting overlords just now, his fear was the most apparent. There was nothing Karlston hated more than cowardice, so who better than him to make an example out of?

Ten seconds later, the overlord zombie was reduced to a pool of black liquid. His exposed soul flew into Karlston’s hand upon a hand wave…

Gulp. He unceremoniously swallowed the soul of his former ally, his soul flame eyes burning ever so brighter. “Now, does anyone else have any objections?”

The gathered overlords fell silent. They had come to realise one thing: while they might have had a powerful enemy ahead, they also had an existence next to them who could slaughter them as well…

Not too long after the battlefield was swept clean of souls, the main army of the Undead arrived, led by the black-robed skeletal mage, Karlston. A sea of Undead, stretching off as far as the eye could see, filled the battlefield. While the Undead weren’t suited to the fiery environment of Purgatory, the Undead gathered here had been specifically chosen for their heat resistance. Tougher Undead like death knights, zombies, and skeletons made up the bulk of the army. There were also various zombified or skeletal versions of magical beasts. What there weren’t were wraiths and the like. They might be immune to physical attacks, but they were also famously vulnerable to the elements.

Even from a kilometer away, their sinister aura was made abundantly clear before Ferti’nier.

As always, she had her arms folded around her chest while she floated mid-air. Her charms held no sway over the Undead below. That wasn’t to say that she had those Purgatory overlords completely under her control either. A key factor to the charm she cast over them was that they already enjoyed a close relation to her in the form of being allies. Her charms were powerful, but they only had the effect of increasing their opinion of her to their utmost limits. Such a hold was tenuous at best. Other forms of emotions might have arisen as a result of this, but should she cross their interests, her charms would most likely fail.

Naturally, such tactics were viable because of how long Sable Radiance had been sealed. Their strongest forces weren’t even at the level of Demigod.

The two leaders of the armies exchanged a silent glance with each other. Neither spoke a word as a deafening silence fell over the battlefield. No one dared move a muscle or breath.

A strong foe! The two parties came to that conclusion at the same time. In order to avoid injuring Mo Na, who had just awoken from having that skill imparted to her, she placed the little devil onto Mournwraith’s back. She then muttered in his ears to take care of the little devil. This upcoming battle was one she had to take seriously. At that point, watching out for Mo Na was impossible. In that case, the wise move would be to have the girl leave the scene from the start.

At the same time as she handed over Mo Na to Mournwraith, Karlston coolly waved his skeletal hand: the Undead army was on the march!

Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

LINK HERE

Leave a comment

The overlord death knight was barely an inch from the wall of nether flames. But he was still a Nine-star, at the end of the day. Even with a hair’s breadth, he managed to deploy his Territory.

Territory: Realm of the Abyss!

A circle of fifty meters burst to life, not only protecting its caster, but also the death knights near it.

With a barrier to protect him, the overlord death knight took the lead in charging into the wall, passing through it unharmed in an instant. The death knights under his protection managed to pass through without incident as well. Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said for those who weren’t protected. The moment they came into contact with the wall, they turned into walking torches.

Yet even when faced with such a sudden turn of events, the death knights proved their mettle as elite riders. Having barely lost a hundred knights, those at the back managed to rein in their skeletal horses, in spite of their powerful momentum.

However, it was also a fact that their charge had been stopped. The wall only managed to kill off a fraction of their numbers, but its main purpose had been fulfilled. Chaos had been averted so far, and precious time was bought. Had it not been for the fact that these death knights were all unfeeling Undead, their morale would have also been affected.

“A Territory that can nullify magical harm?” Seeing that Territory counteract her fires so cleanly, even Ferti’nier was a little surprised. Such a degree of immunity was easily a disaster for a spellcaster due to their lack of physical capabilities. However, Ferti’nier was different. She had no such shortcomings, physical or otherwise.

But there was no need for Ferti’nier to dirty her hands this time. There were a pile of overlords clamoring by her side for a chance to prove their worth to her. For example, that shadow of the overlord nightmare steed who was already pressing his brother to join the battle.

However, there was already another quicker than those brothers. A giant, to be exact.

The skies suddenly darkened as a stifling pressure descended over the battlefield. Then, like a meteor falling from the sky, a black, gigantic figure slammed into the ground. The earth itself cried at his descent, warping as if it was a trampoline for the giant.

A statue-like colossus stood before the overlord death knight. Standing at over twenty meters tall, this hulking titan was the source of that earth-rending impact. As he moved, countless little rocks tumbled off his blackish-red body. So tall was he that even the horizon seemed small to those before him. Despair was the only way to describe his sheer size.

The Demonic Fire Igneous Giant swung his left arm, backhanding the overlord death knight, as if to remind the tiny Undead below how little he thought of him. The very incarnation of the ‘size is everything’ ideal, the overlord giant’s single backhand was powerful enough to stir up a gale force that even destabilized the ranks of the weaker Purgatory creatures around him…

Yet his slap failed to accomplish what he had set out to do. Even though the overlord death knight’s Territory did not have the ability to defend against physical attacks, that did not mean he was out of means either. The backhand might have easily smacked aside a few of the eight-star death knights who weren’t able to dodge in time, but the overlord death knight’s skeletal horse was able to nimbly leap onto the gigantic hand swinging its way. With a swing of his body, the overlord death knight leaned off to the right and slashed his sword down onto the giant’s arm as his steed continued running up the giant’s arm!

Compared to the lumbering elephant that was the Demonic Fire Igneous Giant, the overlord death knight was like an agile mouse, easily navigating its way around the behemoth’s body.

Clearly no one enjoyed having a pest scampering up their arm, and the overlord giant was no slouch either when angered. If his physical strike wasn’t going to work, then it was time for his abilities. The blackish-red veins throughout the giant’s body began to stir. A second later, lava erupted from hundreds of geysers throughout!

Faced with an all-around attack, escape was no longer possible for the overlord death knight. However, there was no need for the Undead knight to evade at all. After all, his Territory was able to nullify a certain degree of magical damage. What was magical damage? Basically, harm caused by energetic attacks like that giant’s ability. His Territory was even able to block a wall of nether flames from Ferti’nier, let alone lava that wasn’t at the level of a Territory attack.

Just like that, the spectacular fireworks display of lava fizzled out the moment it appeared, nullified by the Territory of the overlord death knight.

“ROARRR!!”

His fists had failed; now his lava ability had easily been thwarted as well. Not only that, the pest on his arm was still running amok on his own body… was there any bigger disgrace than this? In order to regain some modicum of respect in front of Ferti’nier, he finally deployed his vaunted Territory.

Territory: Lava Hellscape!

The instant his Territory was deployed, a seventy meter radius around the overlord giant began to rumble. A series of rocky stalagmites pierced through the earth, bringing along with it a geyser of lava. Even though the lava wasn’t going to do much against the overlord death knight, the rocky stalagmites were a physical form of magic and could harm him. As time ticked by, the stalagmites continued rising up from beneath the ground, forming a veritable stone forest as they tried to skewer the overlord death knight. This indiscriminate style of attack was finally able to force the death knight into a corner. On the flip side, being pierced by rock was barely a scratch for the overlord giant.

Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

LINK HERE

Leave a comment

Ferti’nier’s arrival sent a ripple amongst the gathered overlords; regardless of race or gender, there wasn’t anyone who wasn’t bedazzled by her. Like that nightmare steed’s shadow, who hadn’t even spoken to her.

The overlords raised their heads blankly at Ferti’nier as she descended from the sky, Mo Na safely in her arms. The sheer beauty of her figure rendered them speechless. Let alone speak, they did not even wish to waste a single second breathing, lest they missed out on catching a glimpse of her.

“Ahem… this is Overlord Mo Ke…” Mournwraith tried to announce her arrival, but found himself stuck for words when he saw their reactions. Furthermore, his shadow was still whispering to him, “Stop talking, I’m trying to focus on lady Mo Ke!”

But I’m the one talking, not you… Mournwraith griped to himself. Yet was there anything more annoying than someone talking over their idol?

Seeing as the overlords on the ground were too busy gawking at Ferti’nier for the time being, she was more than happy to take the initiative in this negotiation.

“Excuse me but, I’m rather busy.” She unabashedly said, not even bothering to land on the ground as she addressed them from twenty meters in the air. She swept her eyes over the overlords awed by her presence, then continued, “I see that you’ve saved me the trouble of gathering you all up. In that case, let’s go meet the Undead army and be done with it.”

“…” Silence ensued for a merely second before, strangely enough, everyone started shuffling off like a bunch of a minions, a fact that couldn’t help but strike Mournwraith as odd…

“Brother, have you not been listening to lady Mo Ke? Hurry up and gather the youngins already. We need to get rid of those Undead right this instant. I can’t believe we had to trouble her ladyship to fly all the way here -what if her beauty were to get marred because of that?!” Mournwraith’s shadow anxiously pushed his counterpart. However, he seemed to have noticed that something was up with him. “Brother? Are you alright?”

“No… it’s fine…” Mournwraith thought about it for a second but brushed off his concerns in the end. Reassured and a little touched, he could at least see that this brother of his hadn’t suddenly forgotten about their bond just because of Ferti’nier. However…

“Well. Since you’re fine, what are you doing dawdling about for?!”

“…” Mournwraith almost wanted to kick himself at that point for even thinking his shadow cared about him… that Fallen Angel was just too scary…

“Aunty… they seem to be really obedient towards you…” Mo Na’s eyes sparkled as she looked up at Ferti’nier with puppy dog eyes. Furthermore, it wasn’t just her eyes that were extra sweet, that ‘aunty’ was as well; even Ferti’nier couldn’t help but feel a warmth in her heart.

“Haha, if you want to learn how to do that, all you have to do is ask your aunty over here, she will definitely teach you.” Ferti’nier cheekily tapped her on her forehead. The moment her finger came into contact with Mo Na’s forehead, a flood of information immediately surged into her brain. Mo Na herself realised right away Ferti’nier was trying to impart her the skill, so she closed her eyes in concentration.

To that, Ferti’nier smiled and nodded her head lightly: this little devil was quick on the uptake.

In the end, the various overlords took a mere half an hour to gather all the fighters of note in their clans. In this hodgepodge army, the lowest starred combatant was at least Five-star. Even so, the total amount still numbered in the tens of thousands!

Amongst the troops, the largest contributors had to be the Demon Fire Salamanders. Of the lower-starred warriors, they accounted for a third in total.

The Demon Fire Salamanders, out of all the clans in Purgatory, definitely numbered the greatest thanks to the number of Demon Fire Worms swimming throughout the lava pools. There was just no competition there.

Naturally, Ferti’nier had no interest in those beneath her. Plus, the Undead so happened to appear just when their troops had finished assembling.

Faced with a coalition army of the various clans, even Karlston had to take the battle seriously for once. Their army might have been able to run rampant throughout the individual territories, but a combined front was a different story entirely -unity is strength, and all that jazz.

The newly formed coalition army had ten or so overlords themselves. Adding on their numerous troops, even if the Undead army could emerge victorious, it would undoubtedly be a pyrrhic one.

In order to avoid any unnecessary losses, Karlston had especially rushed over to intercept the various clans. Unfortunately, Ferti’nier had acted a lot quicker than he had expected. That and the fact that her charms instantly silenced and controlled the overlords probably made the job of assembling a lot easier than anyone could ever expect. Just like that, the coalition army finished preparing just in the nick of time to welcome the Undead army -truly a bit of serendipitous coincidence.

Karlston had brought over three thousand Eight-stars, eight thousand Seven-stars, and finally a combined eighty thousand Four-stars to Six-stars, all of varying races.

Such a showing of strength was why the overlords only arranged for those above Five-star to join the coalition army. At the end of the day, their troops were flesh and blood, meaning every loss required a newborn to replace years later. Furthermore, the newborn might not even match the soldier they were supposed to replace. In comparison, the Undead were just corpses, and corpses weren’t exactly hard to replace…

The unfortunate truth of the matter was that the Undead held absolute advantage here, whether in numbers or quality. Had it not been for Ferti’nier forcing them to prepare right away, the sudden attack by the Undead would have most likely dealt the unprepared clans a serious blow by now.

At the head of the Undead army was a unit of death knights, dressed in a sinister-looking set of platemail, riding skeletal horses. Of the Undead, the death knights had to be the strongest cavalry unit they had. They specialised in charging their enemy lines, scattering apart their defenses while creating opportunities for the foot soldiers behind them. On their own, they possessed immense power, with gale winds-level of speeds afforded to them by their horrific steeds.

The leader of the death knights had initially wanted to open up with a thundering charge down into the devils. However, his hopes were dashed when his plan to reap some souls was met with a decidedly calm and collected coalition army. In fact, it almost seemed like their enemies had somehow gotten wind of their sneak attack, and were setting up in wait for their arrival -was there a traitor amongst the brass? Naturally, that was impossible. Why would the dead ever defect to the living? Just like how they did not accept living troops, the living did not accept the dead amongst their ranks as well.

A coincidence? That would have to be a really convenient one then. As facts would have it, this really was a coincidence… seeing as even Ferti’nier did not expect the Undead to turn up where they were assembling…

However, once an arrow was fired, there was no retrieving it. The death knights had preemptively started off with a cavalry charge before the coalition had even entered their sights. And once a cavalry charge was started, there was no stopping it halfway, especially not in front of the enemies. No longer in the position to care about the details any further, the overlord death knight focused his attention entirely on leading his thousand strong unit into the gathered Purgatory army. No matter what, they weren’t returning empty-handed!

At least… that was what he had hoped would happen.

The overlord death knight’s charge was awe-inspiring, for sure. It had even terrified a number of the creatures below. The Purgatory clans had a cavalry unit of their own as well: the Hellhounds. The job of meeting these riders would naturally fall unto them. In a head-on collision between a thousand death knights and the Hellhounds, the result would be devastating. At least a thousand Hellhounds would have to die in just the first moment!

An overlord would find himself hard-pressed to fight off such a cavalry charge, let alone their subordinates. And that was why their plan was to send off said subordinates in the first wave. Plainly speaking, they hoped to waste the enemy’s first strike on their weaker members, like how one would bait out another player’s stronger skill before striking.

A cruel decision. But it was one that the overlords unanimously agreed upon.

However, that did not include Ferti’nier. She was late to the party, and also the only one who could prevent such a tragedy from happening.

With a calm wave of her hand, a wall of nether flames, spanning a hundred meter long, rose up from the ground with a roar, coincidentally appearing right in between the furiously charging death knights and the Hellhounds. It went without saying that they collided into the nether flames!

The sheer burning power of the nether flames was such that even the overlord amongst them would find it hard to survive, let alone the other weaker death knights who also did not have a means of resisting fire…

Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

LINK HERE