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‘Damn it, he got away! Right, Yoyo…!’

Starry spun around at once.

The Feast of Light continued to pour down its sacred radiance over YoyoPink, and that faint yellow flame that once surrounded her could not withstand the purity of the holy energy. It flickered, dimmed, and was finally drawn into her body as a clean, golden spark.

“Yoyo! Are you alright?”

YoyoPink slowly shook her head. “I’m fine… just a little dizzy.”

***

Somewhere on the Crimson Plains.

A shard of crystal hidden behind a massive boulder began to tremble unnaturally. Five seconds later, a man materialized out of thin air, ripples of energy spreading from his form.

“Those lunatics…” Shade muttered under his breath, still shaken by what had just happened. He had always believed that the ring’s skill rendered him invincible, and that belief wasn’t unfounded. After all, he had stolen it from a treasure chest guarded by a Unique boss.

Even among Unique-grade items, this skill was a supreme one. The description stated that it could release a black barrier that severed all attacks from the outside world.

As for its durability, Shade had never met anyone capable of breaking through it. Yet today… he had almost fallen there. Still, since he had already thrown the object, his purpose was achieved.

That faint yellow flame wasn’t an attack. It was a special kind of Soul Flame.

The Soul Flame was the life essence of an undead being. As long as that flame remained unextinguished, the undead could resurrect endlessly from it. Thus, simply tossing the flame onto their bodies would be enough. The undead army above would sense it and, like humans spotting a diamond mine, turn their gaze and charge back greedily.

Given that the Shadow Overlord’s Duplication ability had limits, most of this expedition’s troops were undead. This plan was bound to work.

As for what would happen if the Soul Flame were planted in a human body… He vaguely remembered his master saying that a powerful soul flame could devour its host and transform it into one of the undead.

He had been too desperate at the time to notice what exactly it became. He wondered if it would cause permanent effects on players.

Come to think of it, the undead army should be returning by now, shouldn’t it?’ Shade looked toward the distant black tide of the expeditionary forces fading into the horizon. His expression darkened. “Damn it, hurry up and come back already!”¹　

***

* **Wynwater City.**

After Mentor Sheen disappeared, the undead mages began bombarding the city walls relentlessly. It wasn’t that they didn’t want to send the vanguard to hold the line, it was because nearly every frontliner had already fallen.

At this point, defense could only rely on the walls.

The Skeleton Mages’ attack range extended roughly forty yards. Once they reached that distance, they halted and began chanting spells, forming a semicircle that surrounded the city gate in blazing magic.

From atop the walls, ranged attacks gained extra projectile range. With Wynwater City’s walls standing five meters tall, the archers’ effective range was increased by roughly twenty percent, just enough for them to start hitting the monsters.

As for the mages’ Pyrestorm spell, it couldn’t be cast from there; unless they jumped down into melee range, which, needless to say, none dared to do, at least not anyone from Wynwater.

Fortunately, the NPC archers joined in the barrage, allowing the Skeleton Mages to fall at a decent rate.

Of course, the main firepower still came from the Magic Crystal Cannons. Each blast unleashed over five thousand damage, vaporizing more than a dozen Skeleton Mages at once.

Some players even pulled out plain longbows or makeshift weapons to launch attacks from above.

Without their class-specific gear, the weapon attributes didn’t apply to them, but at this point, any bit of extra damage helped.

Even so, the city gate’s durability was visibly plummeting. When it dropped to about seven percent, the magical assault finally ceased. Every last Skeleton Mage had been wiped out.

The players let out a collective sigh of relief. If the gate had been breached, they would have had no choice but to defend the city with their own bodies. Even if they died themselves, they could not let an important NPC fall. Without the functional NPCs, what meaning did a city even have left?

The next enemy wave had yet to arrive, this was a brief moment of respite.

Beneath the walls lay piles of gold coins and scattered equipment. No one picked them up, since the city gate remained tightly shut.

“General Aegis… the Magic Crystal Shells are depleted,” one soldier reported hesitantly.

“What? You’re telling me we’ve run out of ammunition after just a few undead?!” Aegis grabbed the man by his collar, glaring furiously.

“I… I’m not lying, sir! We tried to make every shell count, but two of the cannons exploded from overuse! Otherwise, how do you think the gate even held this long against the horde…?”

“…I see.” Aegis released his grip, expression hardening.

“Brother… can we really hold out?” Elna asked worriedly.

Aegis let out a hearty laugh. “Hah! What are you afraid of? I’ve been through worse! As long as people still stand, this city won’t fall!”

Before the next assault began, a world announcement dropped like a bombshell.

Flowerdance City… had fallen? But the game had only been running for a week! Would all its players now become wandering souls, unable to respawn?

At that moment, the next wave of enemies arrived. There were fewer than two hundred this time. Many players sighed in relief, this number was far smaller than the previous waves. Maybe the gate wouldn’t even be broken this time.

But as the enemies drew close and their true forms came into view, everyone’s faces stiffened. At first glance, they resembled undead cavalry, but in truth, each was a fused abomination of half-human, half-skeletal horse, bound together as one corpse.

“Undead Centaur²… damn it! There’s so many of them!” Aegis muttered under his breath.

Seeing the NPC general looking tense, Drake raised an eyebrow. “Spark, go check their stats.”

“Uh… boss, it’s not that I don’t want to, but the gate’s still closed, how am I supposed to check?” Spark replied sheepishly.

“Useless! Then jump down! You’re full HP, you won’t die from a little fall!”

“Even if I survive the fall, I’ll be trampled to death! Wait… look, boss, the NPC’s going down!”

Aegis pressed his hand against one of the merlons and used it as leverage to vault gracefully over the parapet, landing firmly on the ground below.

Elna, having just finished casting buffs, stared down with worry written all over her face.

“Holy crap, is he planning to take on a thousand by himself?!”

Aegis landed steadily on the ground and shouted, “Open the gates!”

Though the soldiers hesitated, they obeyed his command. The general knew exactly what he was doing. Against these Undead Centaur, the gate’s remaining durability meant nothing, it would crumble in seconds and crush morale even further.

Someone had to stand and hold the line.

Seeing the gates open, the players rushed out after him. After all, when even the defending general was charging into battle, it could very well be the final fight, and they weren’t about to miss a chance to grab some loot!

As the centaurs thundered closer, high-level players finally managed to read the monster attributes:

Upon seeing those stats, Cloudsworn’s eyes nearly popped out. “No wonder Flowerdance City fell! These things are completely busted!”