The armies of the dead had shown their power.

The archers had a harder time shooting these skeleton warriors.

Each skeleton was a genius martial cultivator when they were alive and had the means to avoid the arrows or block them through their power easily.

The stronger ones could even use the shockwave of their slashes to disrupt the flight of the arrows.

Their march was slow and steady. It was as if the undead mocked the useless defenses of these humans.

King Leoric marched at the forefront of the battle. He wore a strange black helm to hide his face and marched at the very center. Two of the finest shield-bearers of the kingdom stood by him but never found the need to block.

“Mages. Inflict terror on them!” Leoric ordered.

The powerful mages stood forward. In their past life, they were powerful martial formation mages. In this life, they were mighty soul cultivators and went by a new title.

Liches.

The dark magic of their souls was drawn out. The madness of Leoric had affected them. And most of them found a reverse passion for their desires.

Those loyal and passionate about their kingdom awakened a wave of mad anger that wanted to purge the enemies who wanted to harm the king or the kingdom. So their passion was corrupted and turned into an obsession.

Those who loved their kingdom with their heart and joyfully defended it became obsessed with keeping it safe. This joy and love became corrupted, and the warriors gave into a fanatical desire to improve the kingdom. That was the only thing that mattered, and they would be willing to sacrifice everything just to please their king and make the kingdom prosper.

Those who were proud of their kingdom had fallen into a deep-seated arrogance that drove them to anger when the kingdom and their king were being mocked or their dignity trampled upon. They gave in to this pride that made them want to punish their enemies.

But in all of this, the mystery of the cultivators of Martsirt had awakened. The souls they had weren’t that of humans. So Dyne had trusted the preparations of Basileus Basileon and initiated the step of making their skeletons.

The souls of these Sprite hybrids made them easily harness the soul by abandoning the flesh and just keeping the Mind and their Spirit. It awakened the elemental properties of their alignment.

The darkening of their emotions gave birth and twisted the powers of the mage. They became mages that relied on their soul as mana. Dark Fire. Dark Lightning. Water. Metal. The common elemental alignment appeared and gave power to many mages. The skeleton warriors applied the same principle with their souls as a power source to fuel the powerful release of energy, similar to the Spirit Arts of Legaia.

And they all released the magic towards the defenses of the mine.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The magic attacked a shield erected by the mages of the fort. But unlike the living cultivators, these Liches had twice and even three times the mana.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The unyielding attacks continued with great immensity until finally…

CRACK...CRACK…

BOOM!

The magic shield collapsed and was easily destroyed.

The mages began to suffer the backlash.

“Impossible! How can they have so much mana?!” One of the enemy mages cursed as he stumbled on the ground and coughed up blood.

The number of enemy mages could not justify the disgusting amount of attacks they made. The soldiers in the mines had a formation that would help them create a shield. But even with such equipment, they still lost.

The attacks raged and destroyed the tall stone walls of the entrance.

Emera acted as she flew and used the distraction to release her wights.

With the warriors defending and retreating, the skeleton knights charged forward and used their power to scale the walls and attack them.

“Ussylys and Chrone! Go!” Leoric ordered, and the pair moved out.

But as they were attacking, Dyne had awoken from his trance.

“Ugh. There are still so many books to read! I’ll browse them next time.” Dyne observed the battles outside.

“What an army. Hey Leoric, I do have a question. They are soul and mind creatures. How do they recover the soul and mental energy they expend in fighting?” Dyne asked.

“What else? Devouring the living!"

“So I need to consider upkeep like in that text-based browser game, Archmage: the Reincarnation, huh? I need to feed my skeletons based on a certain population. Maybe there's a way for me to find a place where we could offer people to be eaten by these skeletons?” Dyne considered.

“Master Dyne… Those are people's lives we are talking about!” Chrone spoke.

“Don’t worry. I’ll be keeping these skeletons full with the blood of our enemies at most! Ethical dilemma solved!”

“You really are insane.” Jedo was just shocked.

“You were planning the same thing to resurrect Yami, remember? You were using the conflict in Voz forest to make them fight."

Jedo was silent and couldn't argue with Dyne's rebuttal.

“As long as it's a game, he will play it. That's Dyne's insanity. But Jedo… Dyne’s path is right. This is Eternity. The Cultivation World. Many righteous cultivators who are strong champions of the light focused on more devious and dark paths. You can't become gods in this world without sacrifice.” Strafe explained.

Jedo remained silent at Strafe's explanation. He had seen the horrors and cruelty of this world that surpassed the world of Legaia. And even then, Dyne and Strafe were generally unfazed by all the wickedness they saw.

Ussylys and Chrone also had joined the battle. But amazingly, the two who the Serpentari had granted special powers had the might that was only slightly better than the more powerful skeletons.

Dyne observed the battle and was amazed.

“What amazing power! I thought these skeletons would be weaker."

"They are not normal skeletons. These are beings that are naturally soul-sensitive. Basileus Basileon really set this Leoric for you that he willed to have these humans be half-sprites!" Strafe explained.

"I guessed that part. But Strafe, you never told me of this path! By abandoning the flesh, they grew stronger!”

“This is a divergent path. For one, they only could do it because they are half-sprites. Being born of flesh and now transformed into beings that focus on their soul gives them great cultivation strength that surpasses their peer. The effects become stronger when Saints or Gods do it. By abandoning one part of their trichotomy, they grow stronger. These undead people became bound by their oath and are transformed into beings without flesh. So their mind and soul are greatly enhanced, making them soul cultivators.”

“No wonder. These skeletons have the strength that matches Ussylys and Chrone. I can’t wait to bring them Legaia.”

“Oh? The walls have fallen. It’s faster than I thought it would be!”

With the wall breached, the skeletons poured in and began to overpower the people. The mages of the fort couldn’t do anything. The shields they tried to erect were decimated, and they all had to use their magic potions to restore the mana. But by then, the creatures had already entered and attacked.

Dyne and his team also took action. They moved around secretly in the mines and made sure that the enemy would only report the presence of the undead.

As the attack grew more intense, most of the defenses mine were breached.

Since most of the fort had been taken, the soldiers retreated to the inside of the mines and began to fortify themselves behind the winding entrance of the cave.

Various large doors made of thick and hard stones were used as doors and were one of the final defenses that the soldiers would use to prevent entry. The doors were always prepared to ensure no monster could enter from the teleportation pad. But now, they were using it to keep them safe while the mages tried to decipher what was wrong with the teleportation pad and used it to escape.

Dyne cursed. This was something he hadn’t considered.

“Relax. They won’t be able to decipher the Dark energy you placed, which barred the path. They won’t be going anywhere soon.”

“Yes. But this eats up time.” Dyne could only sigh.

The walls were thick and strong. Even when the skeleton mages had devoured the soldiers they captured, it still wasn’t enough for them to destroy these thick slabs of stones.

Soon, all parts of the mine, except the fortified area leading to the teleportation pad, had been conquered.

Dyne and the group were outside of the stone wall.

“How’re your skeletons? Have they recovered?” Dyne asked Leoric.

“It seems each skeleton mage needs to consume at least five soldiers to make up for the attacks they made. The warriors only need one or two. But all in all, I need about two or three hundred more men to make them recover their might. I fear that the battle against the Kong Apes will be against our favor.”

Dyne frowned.

“If we could open this path, I could explore the other areas where the teleportation pad takes us. I just need to find a place with more life to use as a sacrifice for the skeletons…”

“But it seems these skeletons can only accompany us for a time. Their souls are constantly wasting away.” Leoric observed.

“Not unless we cultivate an area which can give them more darkness,” Dyne recalled the environment in Voz Forest that Jedo created.

“I can’t do that, Master Dyne. If I were to attempt that again, I would need a Genesis Tree.” Jedo immediately explained.

“I know...”

Dyne then turned to Leoric.

"Can you make them go on a deep sleep? It's possible that we create an environment that can nourish them."

“You mean… there are ways to give them food to eat?”

“I think that’s what the Arc Knights were doing. They were constantly creating a strange area that breeds dark energy. I could do that with a certain chant to bring out the darkness. But I need an area with a lot of deaths, and it's only a temporary solution. It can’t handle the number of powerful cultivators you summoned. In any case, if we can just destroy this rock and get access to the warp pad, it would give me ways to solve our problem.”

“But how? These stones are thick and strong. Only those above martial formation can break this easily.”

“What if Emera moves in?” Ussylys suggested.

“No. It’s too dangerous to send Emera. I’ve seen the number of mages inside. They could hurt Emera.”

“I am willing to die for this.”

“Eh? No way I’m letting my cute little Einherjar die for something as meaningless as that. I don’t want you to die for me but to live for me.”Dyne shook his head.

Despite being a ghost, Emera blushed.

“If only there were a way to get someone from the inside to open. Could we try to persuade them to surrender? We offer promises and a hope of being alive, and they might open this door within a few days.”

“If it’s just that… leave it to me.” Leoric smiled.