The Ruined Death Knight

Shortly after his long sword was engulfed with his mana, Danzel managed to see the outline of some people holding torches.

The people who were in fact the soldiers of arcana were imminently drawn in by the dark green light coming towards them.

"Hmm?"

It took them only two seconds to recognize a figure coming straight at them with incredible speed. If it weren´t for the dark green light, the two soldiers wouldn´t even be able to notice Danzel.

"Enem-!"

Without even finishing his warning shout, Danzel appeared in front of them with his sword raised in the air.

"Die"

Swinging his sword, he cut the two men with a clean swing, killing them immediately.

Those nearby who noticed what was going on were met with an incoming dark green wind that cleaved whoever dared to stand in its way.

"Agghh!

The air blades being two didn´t stop after cutting through one of them, but continued to travel and consume the lives of those behind the first victims.

Those who tried to cut the air blade itself with the use of their mana enchanting the weapons and their bodies only managed to split a wind blade into two smaller ones.

Although it greatly reduced the power of the air blade right afterward, death still came for such people.

The outcome, in the end, was 12 soldiers dying.

For a single move, it wasn´t that bad.

`But compared to their numbers, it´s nothing.´

"Enemy raid! Everyone prepare~"

Seeing that the soldiers of arcana getting back to their senses, Danzel knew he didn´t have much time.

"You all! Use tier 2 magic!" Danzel yelled as he dashed forward and cast his spell.

While the magic caster was preparing their own spells to deal with the charging dark knight, another 50 shadows appeared from the same place where Danzel came from.

Noticing them only having a skull with a pair of gray flames for eyes, a magic caster of the 2nd-tier who was nearby exclaimed with widened eyes.

"Undead!"

Each of that undead aura brought fear upon the soldiers.

They imagine inside their heads the charge of that undead with their long sword cleaving them in two, but that didn´t happend.

The undead instead of charging forward, took a throwing position similar to when one threw a javelin.

Obeying Danzel's command, each and every one of them started casting the same spell.

"Grant O swift death~"

Being in perfectly Syncro, the spell otherwise known as [Death Spear] started manifesting in the hands of the undead.

Just as the name suggested, the dead mana gathered around the hands of the undead and took the form of a spear before hardening and turning into physical form.

Unlike other spells like [Death Blast] where it shot itself to the target, [Death Spear] was meant to be thrown physically.

For a magic caster point of few, such a spell wouldn´t be good at all since most of them lack the physical strength, but to the undead who were mainly a warrior type, it was an advantage.

Not only that, but discarding the homing and flying effect of the spell, required less mental strength to keep it active and the spell itself will be much stronger than the usual spell with those two effects.

So, although it was considered a tier 2 spell, its effect rivaled those of the tier 3 spells.

Once the [Death Spear] fully manifested in their hands, the undead threw the spell like a javelin to their respective target.

Those who weren´t able to react got instantly impaled with one of the [Death Spear], granting them a swift death just like the undead said a moment ago.

The ones who raised their shield met a similar fate and those who only got scratched found the wound area turning black and lost all senses in that area.

The only ones who managed to survive were those lucky enough to stand beside a Great Mage. The barrier that they created managed to stop the spears from finding their target, but at the same time the barrier itself got penetrated.

In grand total, another 36 died with 3 being injured by the decay effect of the spear.

The few mages who stubbornly continued their attacks spells and weren´t hit at all wanted to aim towards the 50 undead for revenge, but before that, a Great Mage who watched Danzel closing in with a speed that even he had difficulty following, issued hastily the new orders.

"Forget about the ones behind! Kill the one charging in!"

Following their instructor's orders, various [Fireball]´s and [Earth Shot]´s were directly aimed at Danzel.

Danzel who saw that, instead of stopping to dodge, raised his shield and became even faster than before.

Soon after the boulders of stone were stone directly at Danzel while the fireballs exploded to where he was.

*Boouggh! Baahm!

"Take that, you bastard!

"Aim towards the other ones! Quick."

All the mages responsible for those attacks shifted their focus on the other undead, but a particular Great Mage who was standing on top of a wagon sensed foreign mana coming under him.

Following where the mana was coming from, he shouted his findings.

"He isn´t dead! Shoot another one on the charging one." The Great Mage yelled before jumping off the wagon.

A second later, the earth under the wagon full of prison was raised up and directly destroyed right through the middle

Seeing that the Great Mage was shocked, he pushed away his shock before focusing in front of him.

What he saw terrified him.

An intense bloodlust spread through the area making the weak-minded ones shake in fear. The one releasing such aura was single handily slaughtering the same mages who cast the spells against him.

The soldiers equipped with swords or spears tried to protect their magic caster, but it was a hopeless attempt that didn´t even save the magic caster a second.

The Great Mages noticing Danzel killing their allies as if they were wheat, imminently sprang to action to stop that mindless slaughter.

But they weren´t the only ones to make their move.

The undead also charged right behind Danzel.

Once they sensed someone of the 3rd-tier, they immediately sprang towards them and started combat. The magic caster who was far away from them managed to shoot their respective tier 3 magic that even managed to destroy few undead.

But once they came near them, the Great Mages had to use more utility-based magic to get out of the melee range of the undead. Some created barriers, some levitate in the air and used the soldiers of the lower tier as meat shields.

Even though the undead was barely in the 3rd-tier, their strength and durability weren´t to be messed around with.

The few magic casters of the 2nd-tier who managed to with the undead with their spells were but a minor inconvenience.

After all, the undead who were of the skeleton-type was practically immortal as long as their head remained intact.

Ice spears that pierced through their armor were ignored and were let inside their armor, not even bothering to take the ice spears out of their body and broken ribs.

The Great mages didn´t find it difficult to deal with the undead, but the time it took them to kill one was too long and the people who died from the undead were starting to pile up.

With the way the undead spread, it was total chaos where strategy found nowhere its way in.

The Great Mages thought that it was a matter of time before they would win.

But a Great mage, in particular, didn´t have the same thoughts.

`That undead aren´t the problem! It´s this one that we will have to deal with.´

The Great Mage, in particular, was the one that was facing Danzel.

His staff had in the tip mana leaking out and that mana, in particular, turned into a mana blade that could easily cut through iron with ease.

"Haaah!" Yelling out loud, the Great Mage swung his staff like a spear in quick succession through the air, each time he swung, a small beam of mana was shot out directly at Danzel.

Danzel though wasn´t fazed by such a sight.

Dashing forward while using [Vanguards Defense], he quickly managed to block every beam with ease while closing in the Great Mage.

Once he was close enough, Danzel thrust his sword, aiming for the melee magic caster's heart.

Not letting that happend, the Great Mage held his staff in front of him and cast a round barrier that went from both tips of his staff.

Danzel sword pierced the barrier, alas it came to a stop.

Putting more strength in his grip, Danzel managed to slowly push his sword further into the barrier.

Seeing the sword with dead mana coming closer to his body, the Great Mage started immediately casting another of his spells.

Once he finished, the Great Mage disappeared from his spot and reappeared 10 meters behind Danzel.

Being now behind his enemy, the Great Mage didn´t let go of this chance and charged a large amount of his mana into a spot.

Once he thrust his staff forward, a much bigger and faster beam appeared traveling to Danzel.

Knowing from the beginning that the magic caster was behind him through the use of [Eyes of the Damned], he turned around with his shield facing the beam.

Once the shield and the mana beam made contact, the force was enough for Danzel to be pushed back a few meters.

"..." Staring at the smoke coming out of his shield, Danzel's ethereal eyes flared up behind his mask.

"Stop him!"

"Don´t let him near the Great Mage!"

"Kill him!"

Soldiers who tried to block Danzel's way were soon met with his cursed sword without even being able to stop his charge toward the magic caster.

The Great Mage would have very much liked to stop the fools running towards their death, but he didn´t have the time to care for them.

Time was of the essence, he knew that he was outmatched but he still had to try.

`The previous attacks seemed to work, but that damn shield is on the way. If this continues, sooner or later I will end up like those 3 idiots. If I want to kill him, it has to be this...´

As he did before, he gather his mana into the tip of the mana blade and waited for Danzel to get closer to him.

`As long as I reduce the range and increase the firepower, maybe an opening will appear.´ The Great Mage though.

He has already done a simulation in his head.

His attack may be blocked by that shield, but considering the power behind his attack, he would then use his short-distance teleportation spell to create some distance between him.

As long as he kept this up, either his allies would come to help him or the annoying shield of the dark knight would give out.

"Hitting two birds with a stone~" The Great Mage mumbled as he watched Danzel closing in.

If it weren´t for enchanting his eyes with magic, he wouldn´t even be able to respond if he was attacked at such speed.

Once Danzel reached the 5 meters, the Great Mage released the charged-up mana and let it explode in a concentrated spot that seemed like his mana blade extending.

But compared to his expectation, Danzel didn´t raise his shield but instead made it disappear into his storage ring.

`What is the-´ The Great Mage got confused for a split second before having a dumbfounded expression.

"Compared to Azrael, this attack is nothing." The Dark Knight said with a cold voice.

The barrier that surrounded him, though cracked, managed to fully negate the Great Mage attack.

"Shit!"

Cursing out loud, he raised his staff and generated a barrier in hurry.

Luckily for him, it was just fast enough to prevent the cursed sword from entering his body.

`I need to create distance.´

While he was casting, Danzel left hand that no longer had the shield pushed at the pommel of his cursed sword, further pushing in the barrier.

The sudden push made the barrier crack even more and let the sword pierce the needle magic caster's chest. Activating the rune in his sword, blood quickly was sucked out of his body

"Ugh~Dammit!" Gritting his teeth, the Great Mage finished his spell and teleported 10 meters away.

Looking at the hole in his robe, the Great mage cursed as he watched the accelerating decay happening.

The wound itself was somewhat shallow, but the decay was fetal as it was near his heart.

"I need to cast recovery magic~! You everyone! Hold this bastard done while I heal." The Great Mage shouted at the nearby soldiers and mages who flinched.

Wasting no time, he started casting his recovery magic as fast as he could.

But before he could even finish, a wind-cutting sound came behind him.

Too focused on his spell, his reaction was slow.

*Krish!

"H-Huh?"

Looking down his chest, all he could see was a spear made out of dead mana piercing directly into his heart.

"Y-You bastards...!" As he felt his body weaken he glanced behind him, only to see one of the undead that had a finished throwing poster staring directly at him. It was clear to the Great Mage that this undead was responsible for the spear going through his chest.

While he was slowly watching his life passing through his eyes, how a noble recruited him after finding his talent, being one of the elites in the academy and one of the few who managed to become a Great Mage at the age of 26.

He believed that he had a great future ahead.

Alas, the reality was cruel.

The only future that awaited him now was the dark green wind blade that soon cut him in half.

Seeing the body fall to the ground and the XP notification appears in front of him.

Danzel felt relieved.

`Here I thought that he stole my kill.´

Swinging his sword to the air, to let the blood of the former Great Mage fall to the ground, Danzel went out to see his next prey.