24 Slaughter Fes

Soon, the rest of the team's member start to join the battle.

Melissa and Rionne chant their magic while being closely protected by both Steven and Alfred.

Sasha and Zohar are defending both sides of the team's flanks, respectively. At the same time, Dina and Luccio supporting them from behind using their long-range weapons to shoot at the Zombies that is getting too close to those two.

The horses are also following too, all of them is being supervised by Aurel, whose races could establish some kind of spiritual cordial relation with some animals.

While the team's rear position is secured thanks to Arno, who is guarding it flawlessly.

They currently try to regroup with Victor and Ryson, both of them already at far ahead. They proceed in a quick fashion as they don't want to get immediately surrounded by the swarm of Zombies which numbers are still in the thousands.

Meanwhile, Victor and Ryson still in the middle of their own fight. The Zombies didn't stand a chance against the combined strength of a Level 2 - Saint and a Level 6 - Grandmaster experts. Ryson had killed many Zombies with his powerful swing and martial skill, while Victor, who was not holding back his strength even for a bit, dealt massive damage to the enemies.

Every time he slams his Warhammer to the ground, dozens of Zombies were immediately turned into a paste. Also, something unexpected happens because of him.

Arno could see it, even from far distance. Victor's powerful aura that constantly radiating from his body is causing a minor interruption to the energia's link between the Zombies and the one who's controlling them, the sealed creature.

The sealed creature's energia is extremely strange, Arno had never seen anything like that before. It was heavily modified and mixed with an unknown form of matter, making it really violent, volatile, and somehow hideous.

He didn't know what it was, but this unknown matter feels rather suspicious. Arno decides to keep a mental note about it.

The creature utilizes it's hideous energia which further amplified by an unidentified technique to powering and controlling the Zombies. But because the creature's insufficient strength and distance limitation, the link is extremely fragile.

Even though it was not strong enough to cut it off completely, Victor's aura able to reduce the amount of control that the sealed creature had on the Zombies. The Zombies movement becomes slower and heavy, their strength is also decreased for a little bit, some of them even stopped their activity completely and just standing still, frozen. All of those effects definitely gave the team a huge advantage.

Victor probably already realized something weird happen to the Zombies by now, but he may not knows what's causing them to be acting like that as he cannot see or sense the energia's link. He was not sensitive enough to found the link.

Actually, besides Arno, Aurel could also felt the link too. As it has mentioned many times before, Aurel is a white elf. She was really sensitive to any kind of mana or energia movements. But she could only sense it vaguely.

Bzzzt!!!

.

Bzzzt!!!

Suddenly, a huge violet thunder grazed across the skies while being accompanied by loud sound.

Duar!!!

Then, the thunder fell and strikes at the Zombies near Victor's position, obliterating outstanding amount of them at once.

That thunder magic was cast by Melissa. She's a thunder/lightning - magician, just like her teacher, the Jetsun Academy's principal, Roger Greyson. Hence, most of her offensive magic has thunder or lightning attribute.

Every living being's mana/energia pattern is unique and different from one another, including their natural affinity with the element.

Elemental attributes are one of the universe laws, and they are extremely important to both mages and warriors. Both mages and warriors need to pick and learned the correct cultivation technique that also has the same elemental attribute as them.

According to the people of Greysia's common knowledge, warriors could learn a cultivation technique that has different attributes as they didn't really need to interact often with the elements, but the future of their cultivation path will be extremely hard and difficult. While mages absolutely couldn't do that, because their future will be completely blocked. Moreover, the basic design of all magic spell that existed in this realm revolved around the usage of elemental attributes. Hence, they need to interact more with the elements, especially the one they had an affinity with.

Most people only had an affinity with one element, but there exist some people who had an affinity with several elements. Arno himself is one of them.

He has an affinity with three elements: Dark, Thunder, and Fire.

That is why, most of his martial technique and skill revolved around those 3 elements, even all of his once-famous sealing skills had something to do with the dark element.

During ancient time, people who had more than one elemental's affinity was highly sought after by many powers and factions to be nurtured as a future strong expert. The reason is that they were extremely versatile in comprehending the universe law, thus, making them able to raise their cultivation ranks more quickly than people who only had an affinity with one element.

But of course, it was not always necessarily like that. After all, the success of cultivation journey still depends on many other important factors, such as; luck, willpower, talents, tenacity and so on.

Currently, there is a lack of people with several elemental's affinities. Arno had found about it when he scanned the realm just after he wakes up.

The team is a primary example of that. They were made up by the people who have only one element, even though basically all of them are individuals with great talents. Putting aside the other members, even the likes of Melissa, Rionne, Victor and Ryson, each of them only had one element's affinity.

Arno does not know the actual reason, but if he tries to guess, it might have something to do with the decrease of energia density all over the world.

That means it was Arno's fault, partially.

--------

Back into the battle.

Arno scanned the whole situation with great interest.

The team already regroup with Victor and Ryson, and now, continuing their breakthrough towards the palace. Along the way, the team members fought the Zombies onslaught with an extreme measure, as they're avoiding to over-extent themselves. Unlike the living being, the Zombies which classified as an undead creature has unlimited stamina, something that is impossible for the members to have. Also, they had no fear at all. Thus, they will not hesitate even against powerful opponents.

That is why, even after the team's overall kill counts had reached staggering numbers, the Zombies didn't care about it and keep attacking them, constantly.

"HAH!!!"

Alfred shouted as he uses his shield to bash a Zombie that has got closer to both Melissa and Rionne's position, and once the Zombie fell to the ground, he quickly cut off its head.

Aurel, who's supervising and protecting the team's horses just behind Melissa and Rionne, was flustered because that particular lone Zombie came from the team's right flank that should have been protected by Zohar.

"Zohar!!! Could you defend the flank like, properly? You just let a Zombie passed through your side!" she complained with a loud voice so that Zohar could hear it.

"Goddammit, elf! I'm doing it well, okay! It's just that... These nasty shits keep coming in... Ugh" Zohar is in the middle of a fight against several Zombies at the same time when he heard Aurel's complain and then he angrily replied back.

On his mind, he believed that Melissa and Rionne are strong enough to defeat a lone Zombie. Besides, there are Steven and Alfred nearby protecting them too. So he thought Aurel was just exaggerating.

But after being reprimanded, he decides to not get complacent, in fact, he is now exuding his entire strength and raise his performance on guarding his side of the flank. He clad his short-bulky body with green fighting aura and keep smashing the Zombies in front of him with his Warhammer.

"Don't you worry, dwarf. You've got this lady's help, after all." Dina assured him with some jokes mixed in her words.

She was tasked to support him defending the right flank since the start of the battle. She attacks the Zombies with her small crossbow and sometimes, move into a position close enough to allow her using the short sword on them instead. Her hit and run tactic provides great help to Zohar.

"Eihhh... Why did I have to be paired with another elf..." Zohar sighed heavily.

On the other hand, the situation on the left flank was completely the opposite of the right as Sasha and Luccio did an outstanding job on defending the left. The pair are surprisingly able to complement and communicating well with each other during the battle.

Not a single Zombies able to stand against the combination of Sasha's spear prowess and Luccio's arrow.

Sasha's combat movements are extremely elegant and graceful, really different compared to her rude and rather rough normal manners. And she's actually followed the advice that Arno had given her at the academy a few days ago. Instead of radiating her aura all over the place, she's now focusing it on a single point in her spear's head which also aligned with her attack direction. It proved to be really effective. She's able to penetrate several Zombies that are lined up together vertically, with one spear thrust.

This result astonishes her. She feels grateful towards Arno in her mind because of it. Sasha now is even more energized in battling the Zombies.

Arno, who watched her from the rear, also satisfied with her. He actually learned this simple yet profound spear technique from a super expert a long time ago, that expert also happens to be a spear user and was dub as the greatest spear master during that time.

He had witnessed the very same expert used the technique to penetrate through the fabric of space and directly strike at a target located hundreds of miles away. Though Arno admits it because he was not a spear user and also not proficient in using them, the advice he gave to Sasha is not as profound as the real technique used by the spear expert, but Sasha's result proved that his advice is not bad at all, more or less.

Arno then turns his sight at Luccio, and he was the one who caught Arno's interest the most, even more so than other members.

In his entire lifetime, Arno had never seen or knew someone who can use a bow as skillfully as Luccio, right now.

Arno watched as Luccio grab an arrow from the quiver on his back with extreme calmness, then he placed the arrow's tail on the bow's string and pulled both of them steadily yet mightily. Finally, he released the arrow shortly after he found the target, and doing it decisively without a shred of hesitation. The whole process makes Arno greatly impressed.

Not only that, the way of how Luccio's fight is interesting as well. He nimbly moves to different positions almost instantly, while simultaneously keep shooting arrows at the Zombies in quick succession and with 100% precision. Even to the point where he reduces his distance to the Zombies and fought at close range using the bow. From all of this, Arno could regard Luccio's proficiency in archery was unrivaled.

Although Luccio could only manage to kill the weaker Zombies, he also successfully dealt critical damages to some of the stronger Zombies, enough for Sasha to finish them off.

Overall, the pair's battle scene is very entertaining to watch.

"OXOXXXX {Thunder Judgement}"

"XOXOXXX {Holy Javelin}"

Both Melissa and Rionne cast the strongest magic spell in their possession almost simultaneously. Because they couldn't fire the magic at the nearby enemies due to the presence of allies, so instead, they directed it towards the Zombies at a far distance.

Bzzzt!!!

.

Ziiing!!!

A thunder streak and several shining arrows of light flies towards a large group of Zombies that are located far away from the team.

The thunder immediately impacts the ground before electrolyzing every Zombie within a radius of 30 meters.

Meanwhile, the light arrows struck directly at each of the Zombies bodies and vaporizing them completely into dust with its holy property.

Judging from the earlier sight. Besides Victor and Ryson, both Melissa and Rionne are those who are racking the most kill counts among the team members.

Their magic spells have an area of effect property, that means the spell could deliver damages to huge numbers of enemies inside its effect's radius. But the spell's preparation and chants are especially long so they couldn't cast it within a short time. Moreover, the consumption of mana in order to use that kind of spell is extremely huge, that is why there is a limit on how many times both of them able to use it before they're running out of mana.

When Arno was still in the middle of watching the team's performance, he was suddenly being interrupted once again, and this time by another group of Zombies coming from behind. These Zombies came from the direction of the gap. The previous group already eliminated swiftly by Arno, which is why he had some spare time to watch other members fight.

'Back to the job, I guess.' Arno thought in his mind while shrugged.

Then, he prepares the Levantine on his right hand and waits for the Zombies to get closer.

The team actually wasn't just staying still, they also move towards the palace while fighting the Zombies, but their pace is rather slow. It did not take a long time for the Zombies group from behind catching up to them. However, those Zombies won't exist anymore soon.

----

Steven, who was positioned right in the middle of the team formation, currently focusing on the task he was assigned to, which is protecting both Melissa and Rionne. Both of them are mages and extremely fragile if they were exposed to a close-range confrontation. Therefore, they need to be protected at all cost, especially since both are very important individual. Steven wasn't assigned alone, Alfred was there too.

Since the rest of the members did well defending their respective post, both Steven and Alfred didn't get much of action. Even though their situation seems to be safe and sound, they did not get lazy or complacent at all. In fact, both of them now are very vigilant and keep maintaining their focus. They would immediately react if something urgent happens.

When Steven is keeping his vigilant sight at the left flank where both Sasha and Luccio fought the Zombies, something from the rear position suddenly attracted his attention.

It was the scene of Arno fighting a large group of Zombies, single-handedly. The battle scene almost shocked Steven to death.

Different from other member fight's scene, which looked like a proper battle where many flashy skills were deployed and explosions happen everywhere while accompanied by noisy loud sound. Arno's fight completely didn't look like that at all.

What Arno did was just swing his ominous jet black sword once the Zombies is near, and it was only a simple swing without being backed up by any skill or martial arts. But it is enough to create an attack that blasting winds and scatters lots of dust, then once numerous Zombies was hit by it, their bodies quickly disintegrated into several pieces as if they were cut cleanly and precisely by an invisible sharp blade.

Arno swings his sword several more time and he looked very leisurely and casually when doing it as if there was no urgency at all. In a short time, hundreds of Zombies in the rear were completely eliminated.

That was completely a massacre instead of a battle. It was the only thing that Steven could think of right now.

Arno then simply turn his body and walking back towards the team's direction while leaving behind the ground that was now filled by the Zombies body parts.

Steven, who still in the dazed state is staring hard at Arno. A moment later, Arno gave him a nod and a smile. Steven didn't respond, instead, he quickly averts his eyes and gulps down his saliva, nervously.

Actually, even though Arno looked relax outwardly earlier, in reality, he was struggling inside as he was concentrating on controlling his power to execute the sword's strike. Because it is extremely difficult for someone as powerful as him to lowering and controlling his massive strength. A simple normal strike powered by even 1/3 of Arno's total Divine Overlord's strength could create another valley 3 times the sizes of the one where the team is currently located at. That is why he must be extremely careful when doing it.

Originally, Arno's intended strike should have been much more weaker, but it seems the Levantine still amplified the power behind the strike. But Arno didn't pay further attention to it, whatever happens already happened anyway. Besides, Steven is the only one who had witnessed the scene earlier as the other members are too preoccupied with their own duty, so it will not become a problem.

.

Roar!!!

.

An unknown roar can be heard once again, it looks like the roar is supposed to be a signal intended for the Zombies.

The Zombies become more erratic and furious, all of them rushed directly at the team without care of anything else.

The strange was, the Zombies now even ignored the members that guarded the flank and charged straight towards the team's middle position where Melissa, Rionne, Aurel, Steven, and Luccio are located. Most of the members were stupefied, they didn't know what happen to the Zombies.

Steven and Alfred already prepared, but they wouldn't be able to hold these massive numbers of Zombies. And Aurel can't fight properly as she also needs to supervise the horses. Melissa and Rionne's magic will surely hit their own ally in this close distance.

"Quick!!! Fall back to the middle!" Victor shouted loudly, beckoned the rest of the members to moves towards Melissa's position immediately.

The rest of the members also didn't waste any more time. They quickly withdraw towards the middle and gathered near Melissa.

"Damnit!! What the hell happens to them?" Sasha cursed frustratedly, they still far away from the Palace and yet the Zombies is acting weird again.

"Don't know... They charge straight at Melissa and Rionne, that was so weird." Dina replied her, she's also frowned as she looked at the Zombies horde.

"Calm down... Let's handle these Zombies first to alleviate some pressure, then we'll think of our next move." Melissa calmed her team and ordered them to continue keeping the Zombies at bay.

She though the situation now has turned for the worse, but she needs to remain calm.

"Roger that..." Alfred complied to Melissa's order as he fought the Zombies along with the rest of the members.

'Tch... That creature is getting impatient, huh? I guess it's enough then... Alright, let's end it.' Inside his mind, Arno has decided on something.