“People of the Blood Rose territory, I, Lothar, Lord of Blood Rose, the first Legendary Rank knight of the Blood Rose family.
Today, here, I swear on my family's honor that I, Lothar, will surely block those demons outside the Blood Rose territory and never let that day's tragedy repeat!
My people! Pray for me! Pray for the undead!”
Fully armed and mounted on a crimson rose warhorse, a specialty of his domain, Lothar, the Lord of Blood Rose, stood beneath the castle and made his oath to the panicked citizens surrounding him.
Last time, he had failed to uphold the honor of his ancestors, almost allowing the Blood Rose territory to be destroyed under his watch.
This time, he was determined never to let the tragedy happen again, and his ambition was no longer confined to the Blood Rose territory.
Lothar slowly turned his head, looking in the direction of the imperial capital, and whispered softly.
“After this, there will be only one empire in the world, and that is the Blood Rose Empire.”
Lothar tightly gripped his longsword with his right hand, suddenly raised his head, and shouted at the top of his lungs.
“My people, to fight the demons, we need a more powerful force of justice!
Do you still remember those undead from before? They descended from the heavens, they drove back the demons, they gathered the dead, and they healed the wounded. The undead are a force of justice!
My people, pray with me, and sing praises with me!”
Although the commoners of the Blood Rose territory did not understand what madness had suddenly possessed their lord, the undead had indeed saved them, so they did not resist.
After all, to them, faith was the cheapest thing. As long as it could buy them a few loaves of black bread—even the lowest quality kind—they would gladly offer their faith to a lump of slime.
Lothar knew the nature of these commoners well, so he did not care whether their faith was sincere. Bone Guard One had promised him that his only job was promotion; as for whether the faith was genuine, the undead would handle that.
Thus, Lothar pulled his horse's reins, causing his beloved mount to raise its head as well, while he held his longsword high and shouted.
“Great Lord of the Undead, representative of peace in the myriad worlds, walking mercy of the mortal realm, supreme Lord of the Undead, we beg you to look down upon us with favor and grant us the power to expel the demons!”
After Lothar finished shouting, the surrounding citizens chimed in, repeating his words.
“Great Lord of the Undead, representative of peace in the myriad worlds, walking mercy of the mortal realm, supreme Lord of the Undead, we beg you to look down upon us with favor and grant us the power to expel the demons!”
In the next instant, a magic circle manifested beneath Lothar. Eerie ghost fires rose one after another from within the circle, drawing gasps of surprise from the surrounding crowd.
Behind him, Lady Windsor's heart clenched in anxiety.
However, standing inside the magic circle, Lothar had a look of pure comfort on his face. What a wonderful sensation it was; power was continuously flooding into his body.
Chen Xu's necrotic Dao principles were transforming this Legendary Rank knight in a gentle manner.
Before long, a powerful aura erupted from within Lothar, representing the immortal power unique to the Mythic Rank.
This scene left the surrounding commoners dumbfounded, and Lady Windsor, standing behind him, opened her mouth wide in shock.
“Is... is this a miracle?!”
But the miracle granted by Chen Xu was not over yet.
“Neigh!”
The necrotic Dao principles transferred from Lothar's body to the mount beneath him, sinking into the warhorse.
The warhorse's muscles began to wither, and its head rapidly shriveled, revealing pale bone. Yet, its aura skyrocketed, elevated to the Mythic Rank in a mere instant.
Chen Xu's transformation of the warhorse was not nearly as gentle; it was incredibly fast and direct, which caused the beast to feel an agonizing pain.
Fortunately, the languages of humans and horses were different. The screeches of pain emitted by the warhorse were interpreted by the surrounding humans as cries of excitement from its sudden surge in strength.
His confidence bursting with his newly gained strength, Lothar pointed his longsword forward. The warhorse galloped, charging toward the distance where the demon armies were about to descend.
Behind him was a sparse troop of Blood Rose guards, the only survivors left after the last demon invasion.
If they had to rely solely on this army, a single Hellfire falling from the sky might wipe them out completely, without even requiring a demon lord to lift a finger.
However, as this army followed Lothar's footsteps and marched forward with the courage to face death, tall skeleton heroes began to slowly emerge around them, one after another.
Under Bone Guard One's orders, they teleported to this location one by one, merging into the ranks of the Blood Rose army.
“Hey, Greybones, why do you think Boss Bone Guard One wants us to accompany this human in such a boring play?”
“How should I know? I'm a mage class, not a warrior class like you guys. How would I know what you melee players are thinking?”
These skeleton heroes did not understand Bone Guard One's reasoning, but that did not matter. Skeletons only needed to obey.
As skeleton heroes materialized one after another, expanding the troop of a hundred into ten thousand and soon nearly a hundred thousand.
A precious substance called faith began to be produced within the Blood Rose territory. This was exactly what Bone Guard One had hoped for, and what Chen Xu desired.
Since Heaven had temporarily withdrawn its troops, there was no reason for the undead not to accept this faith.
The appearance of the undead also dragged the demon armies into a bitter, prolonged battle.
Skeletons did not frighten the demons, but the terrifying plague that accompanied them—capable of causing a demon's entire body to fester—struck true fear into their hearts.
This time, however, the demons discovered that the plague did not seem as potent as before. Although it still weakened their bodies, it did not immediately rot their flesh and sever their limbs, stripping them of their combat capability instantly.
Thus, the undead and the demons clashed, engaging in the most primitive slaughter across every battlefield.
Unbeknownst to the demons, the corrupting flowers swaying beneath them were frantically devouring the plague in the air.
It was precisely under the influence of the corrupting flowers—a dual-Dao hybrid produced by crossing the Dao of Blankness with the Corruption Dao principles—that the plague from the Source of the Plague was greatly weakened.
But Chen Xu possessed more than just an undead army.
Across various battlefields, projections of Necrotic Archmage Towers were cast. Beams of bright light shot from their spires, deploying batches of summoned undead warriors onto the battlefield.
These transcendents, gifted with the ability to resurrect, acted with extreme boldness, unleashing their full potential on the battlefield.
Furthermore, beyond the world, within the Cosmic Sea, allies from the three paths of the Immortal, Martial, and Yokai had also arrived at the battlefield.
With the three paths arriving together, along with the Black Knights and the Ten Yin Lords on Chen Xu's side, they were not at a disadvantage in terms of the number of Eternal Rank powerhouses.
Watching these suddenly appearing prodigies who hailed from the three paths of the Immortal, Martial, and Yokai—all of whom belonged to Dao Lord-level forces—the Hell Archdukes felt a chill run down their spines.
A massive war was on the verge of breaking out.
Meanwhile, within Heaven, the Lord of Heaven finally made his appearance.
This ruler of Heaven, the foremost God-King of the current era, issued the command to set out after inspecting his expeditionary forces.
Woooh~~~~~!!!
Hundreds of massive horns blew in unison, declaring a message to the myriad worlds.
Heaven had set out. The Great Expedition had begun!
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