The dark army continued to erge from the portal and march towards the ground connecting towards the Temple ground.
At first, it was just the Coven who could see in the darkness as their sights allowed them. The Emberdon Champions also used their powers to pierce through and see the darkness.
They were shocked at the scene of the army. The enemies outdid them by several folds. And it was their first ti to see such strange shadow creatures.
The army of Shadow creatures ca to light as it neared the Temple. The light from the Temple was illuminating everything around the area. Although the light wasn't very bright, it was sohow able to illuminate the area nearly half a kiloter from the Temple.
"What foul beasts are they?! And there are Champions among them!" Derus asked. The Champions had gifted zal and his family ssage Orbs. They were like ssage Talismans but could only work a short-range. The orb communicated with all key mbers of the Steele family.
The servants and knights who stood guard all began to tremble as they saw the coming forces. They could hear the fearful cries of the Emberdon family.
The knights and servants near the Steele family mbers turned their eyes to the reactions of their lords.
"This is way below my expectations! This is too weak!" Branze noted as we watched. He was positioned at the very passage of the middle doorway.
"Yeah. That's it? That's what we're facing?" Aron frowned.
"Champions? And here I thought I'd be facing Commanders..." Diana sighed.
"Maybe after we kill them, the next challenge will appear," Martha suggested.
"No. I'm pretty sure that the two trials are happening together. But it may be that whatever intelligent leader of this army is commanding the stronger ones to be situated at the back. After all, the portal has not yet sent in all of the forces." Kyros guessed.
"Are you all mad?!" Derus shouted at the top of his lungs.
"We should be thinking about retreating!"
The Steele family turned at him for a split second, and there was silence.
"So anyway, if the enemy is reserving the stronger ones, the best way is to slay the ones that are here as fast as possible."
Derus was about to shout again when Faye stopped him.
"Brother. Relax. Don't let the enemy's numbers deceive you. Rember. We have a Temple that can restore us! If we keep bombarding them with powerful spells and recover, we might be able to stop them easily. Rember that child who lost her limbs? She was able to grow it back! Perhaps that is what they are counting on." Faye reminded Derus.
"Sister Faye is right, Brother. That should be why the Steele family isn't nervous."
"...Hm. So in the end, it's going to be us who will do the dirty work?" Derus frowned.
"Can I go first?" Aron asked.
"I want to try." Branze volunteered.
"Please. A son will bury the father, not the other way around. I will go first!" zal volunteered.
"No, . I still need to feed Puff."
"I wish to test the theories and might of a Paladin." Diana spoke.
"Hey, hey, hey! This is my Temple! I should give it a go!" Kyros complained.
The ranks of the shadow beasts were now organizing themselves an arrow-shot away from the Temple and began to growl and screech.
"What are they talking about?" Derus asked Faye.
"I don't understand what they an by going first, dear brother." Faye scratched her head.
"I think they are arguing over who of them will fight first," Triona answered.
"Fight first? As in defending those open doorways? There are four doorways. And they are already positioned there. Although the one Branze is standing on would be the first to be attacked."
"No. I ant, they are arguing over who will charge and attack that dark army first." Triona added.
"Charge? No way. Don't be stupid." The rest of Triona's siblings chorused.
The Steele family kept bickering.
"Alright! How about this! We let the Champions decide! Which one? Champion Derus, which one of us?" Kyros asked.
"Erm... zal?" Derus didn't know what they were talking about and decided to go with zal.
"Hahaha! Good choice!" zal laughed.
"Wait! He doesn't know what we are talking about!" Aron argued.
"Does it matter?" zal laughed.
"Kyros?" Branze asked his son.
"Fine..." Kyros shrugged his shoulders.
"I hope that the Emberdon Champions will consider next ti." Diana frowned.
"Grandson, I will need your help. Can you throw over there? The higher you are from, the better." zal laughed.
"Alright. Buckle up, grandpa!" Kyros dove down, and the chains wrapped around zal. Kyros raced towards the sky with a swift motion and began to spin around several tis in the air. zal was spinning and spinning as he was still tied to the chain, and Kyros was moving higher and higher.
KACHIN!
The subtle sound of the chains disconnecting was heard, and the Emberdon Champions were horrified at the sight of zal being hurled like a stone that catapults throw.
The shadow creatures saw the lone knight being tossed to them.
"Are you insane?!" Derus shouted to Kyros.
"A little." Kyros smiled and watched his Grandfather's figure.
zal had always been at level 30. However, because of the high cost of the Class Change to be a Paladin, he never could afford it.
But when the power of True Cut was realized, zal learned that among the powers that they all had, they had the ability to cut through anything.
And this included the seals that the multitudes of gods and fallen have set. The truth of the Blessing was that it only 'unlocks' the power that the gods have sealed or superseded the limitations that were placed on all mortals. But zal didn't need that.
In short, zal, Branze, and Aron didn't need to undergo a Class Change.
A powerful force erupted and applied the simples skill that Paladin's had.
A round wall covered zal. But suddenly, a shocking scene appeared.
The force energy soon leaked out elental energy.
Paladin was a hard road to walk upon, for it requires warriors to be exposed to a massive amount of Holy energy. By constant communing with Holy, the Force of the user slowly is reford and becos Holy itself.
But this form of practice was only possible with two elents. Holy and Dark. They are the only elents that can transform a person through exposure.
And yet, zal's force energy beca Earth Energy. zal transford into a teor falling from the sky.
"Impossible!" Three Emberdon Champions cried out together as they witnessed the impossible scene.
"As expected of an old man who spent his entire life trying to change his Force energy into holy. With his foundations in Force-to-elent, a little source of magic, and he can already do this. I wonder how strong he will beco if he starts reading." Kyros laughed.
Deep in the darkness, the shadows watched as the rock was falling and laughed.
"Destroy it." A cold voice echoed deep in the dark.
Several shadows jumped high using their force energy. One had the form of a human wielding a large two-handed sword. Another had the form of an orc carrying a massive ax. And finally, a lizardman carrying a large spear jumped.
All of them were peak Captain levels, and their form of darkness allowed them to perform a gliding form of flight that carried them to the high sky.
"Foolishness. Earth cannot defeat the darkness. What is the neutral earth to us formless darkness?" The cold voice laughed as the three dark weapons of the captains struck the teor.
SPLAT!
The three captains were pulverized from the falling teor, and parts of their limbs and body parts could be seen being scattered.
"WHAT?!" The cold and detached voice shouted in great horror.
"Idiot." Kyros laughed.
"Grandfather spent his life trying to turn his force into Holy to be a Paladin forcibly. Finally, when he officially beca a Force Paladin he achieved it. But now, with that little core, he can create powerful earth energy imbued with holy."
The teor continued to fall. But this ti, the laughing shadows were scattering. But it was too late.
BOOM!
The teor landed and exploded out. What was amazing was that the teor didn't create a deep crater on the ground where it landed, but the earth moved as if alive and was like a wall pushing forward to the nearby creatures.
"ROAR!"
The shrieks of the dying shadows could be heard as the walls kept pushing.
Several Captains acted imdiately and attacked the approaching wall.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The consecutive attacks made from all sides caused the moving earth wall to collapse.
A shallow crater was present, and zal was standing with his sword and shield ready.
The shadow creatures were enraged and charged at zal.
But as they stepped forward, a strange force attacked them, and the shadows began to stumble and were dispersing.
"AHHHH!"
"ROAR!"
The pained shouts of the Shadows could be heard the mont so of them moved in the ground under zal.
The Captains who stepped forward felt the power rage, and they all jumped back.
Many shadows that charged died, and so managed to retreat back but looked as if they were greatly injured.
"Remove your dirty sandals. You are standing on [Hallowed Grounds]." zal laughed.
The Emberdon Champions were shocked at the scene.
The knights and servants of the Steele family were all rejoicing and shouting in great joy.
"Hmm. Show off." Aron laughed.
"Grandfather imdiately grasped the best way to use the Basic Earth Cores. His skill in wielding elents and adding holy onto them is double my own." Branze smiled.
"What a novel idea, Grandfather has. But I still think the Paladin's Path is superior." Diana comnted.
"So this is the Patriarch of the Steele family. As expected of this family of freaks." Martha praised.
chiel was applauding, but she couldn't help but sense an imnse sense of fear.
"Strange. Why am I so afraid of him?" chiel wondered, but she could not help but desire to know one thing. She turned over and asked Hunter.
"Um... Sir Hunter. How strong are Lord Aron and Lord Branze compared to Lord zal?"
"Hmm... They all have their strengths. If we are talking purely of combat, Lord Aron will win. But Lord Branze has always bested Aron given a little more ti. Lord Aron is strong in offense, Lord Branze in defense, and Lord zal is in the middle of the two extres." Hunter explained.
The more chiel heard the more she could not help but feel a deep sense of fear.
Champion Ressi approached Kyros, who was flying nearby.
"Master Kyros... What was that?" She was also skilled on Earth magic and never heard of soone creating such a powerful and holy earth!"
"Oh. Allow to introduce to you the birth of a new job class in the Planes World.. We could call it an Earth Force Paladin."
Reviews
All reviews (0)