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Regardless of whether or not I planned on telling Nicole, the most pressing matter now was the Undead horde left behind by Umbra. Even though these creatures were not more than Four-star, and were now weakened by the sunlight, they still numbered over a hundred thousand. But if it was just a matter trying to run away, we could still manage. The only problem was how to convince Nicole to come with us.

However, events would soon prove even more troublesome than I had initially thought.

I assumed that Umbra’s death would lighten our load significantly, but something happened that exceeded my expectations… the village was now destroyed.

Not long after Umbra died, the ground began to quake. The ground in the center of the village began to crack apart first, from which a sickly green draconic head suddenly emerged. Its emergence sent the rocks and even the buildings above it flying into the air and towards the villagers.

“Save us… ahhh….”

A number of the more unfortunate villagers yelled before they were unceremoniously squashed by a landing debris.

The giant draconic creature opened up its gaping maws, and spat out an eerie green mist that slowly rose into the air, blotting out the sun soon after. The sheer thickness of the green mist prevented any sunlight from reaching the village beneath. In other words, the Undead were no longer weakened in day.

As the giant draconic creature continued spewing forth fumes, the village of Lyon was slowly engulfed in that strange green mist. Those villagers fortunate enough to be alive were horrified at what they saw, scrambling head over tail to evacuate from the village. Even a fool could tell that a giant dragon-looking creature and his mystery green smoke was not a good sign.

Unfortunately, they were but ordinary people. They had neither Fighter’s Aura, nor mana. Furthermore, the sheer size of that creature meant that the damage to the ground had spread quite far. Cracks and rifts abound, the villagers could barely get a steady footing, let alone run. The proximity of the creature also meant that a significant portion had been exposed to large quantities of the fumes. Soon, they began to exhibit worrying symptoms. Vomiting; Breathing problems; Weakness in the limbs; Lightheadedness; and etc…

“Not good, the mist is toxic! Everyone, get on your air filtration tools!” A natural-born commander, Zurnalin quickly realised what was up with the fumes before even the villagers.

Assassins often had to embark on difficult missions that sometimes required one to traverse through toxic environments. Naturally, given that the Dark Elf soldiers I brought with me were all Assassins, they each had a tool to filter the air on them. Its appearance resembled that of a gas mask back on Earth. The difference being that this gas mask operated on a magical array to filter the air, one that was powered by a mana crystal contained within.

As Demon Hunters, Nicole and Neneth often encountered such situations as well, so they both had tools to filter the air. Jill, a seasoned Thief, had all manner of strange contraptions on her being at all times, so she was covered as well. Fortunately, all of us had the mind to put on our gas masks right away before the green mist reached us, else there might have been casualties already.

“Master, that mist is called the Veil of the Dead, an area spell Necromancers use to block out the sunlight. Not only are Undead not affected by the sun while under it, they are even strengthened by the spell itself. The level of strengthening has to do with the thickness of the mist.” Jezsere explained as she retrieved two gas masks from her dimensional ring, and put it on herself and Ann.

Having done that, she continued on by explaining the origin of that draconic creature. “That creature is a Dracolich, a gigantic, Undead, landbound Dragon. They are created from an amalgamation of Undead magic and Witchcraft. Based on the thickness of that mist and its sheer size, it should be at the peak of Eight-star…”

An Eight-star Peak Dracolich?! Curses. Why is such a monster hiding underneath this tiny village? And for it to be right under our feet as well… why haven’t I noticed it till now?! When it did infiltrate the village? How did it even burrow under the ground without causing a stir… Unless! It was already beneath the village to begin with!

As of right now, the village of Lyon was in ruins. The remaining villagers were all slowly dying, collapsing to the ground weakly, not even able to make a sound at this point.

“Master… that mist has the ability to turn living creatures and corpses into Undead. I’m afraid those villagers are going to die soon…”

Having just said that, a portion of the nearly lifeless villagers started to cough violently. Shortly after, they puked out a mouthful of black blood.

Seems like the village is really done for. That means, barring Ann who is with us, the only person who should be alive right now is the traitor. Maybe it was that traitor who summoned that damned Dracolich!

“Nicole, we need to leave this area right now!” As I said that, I steeled my voice. Now wasn’t the time for Nicole’s willfulness. She was coming with us, even if I had to use force to achieve that.

“All right.” Perhaps it was because she herself had confirmed the demise of the village, but she was surprisingly agreeable this time. “Let’s find a point we can break through. I wish to contact my teacher as soon as possible. Hopefully he can remove this threat before it spreads to the other regions.”

“Everyone, we’re breaking through the west!”

The fact that we were finally in agreement was perfect. I immediately gave the order to our forces. The strongest of the Assassins promptly took up positions in the front to clear the way for the rest of us. Quick like the wind, they covered the distance of a hundred meters in a blink of an eye. Their dancing daggers, enhanced with magic, easily sliced a path through the Undead horde.

While the Undead were indeed strengthened by the mist, that did not save them from the fate of being destroyed by a bunch of Eight-stars.

It’s working. We will definitely break their siege and leave this godforsaken village!

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.

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