Chapter 513: Mage Duel

Translator: imperfectluck  Editor: Kurisu

From a certain standpoint, the battle between Conservation and myself was a classical battle between mages.

Carefully observing the enemy, testing attacks that were more about leaving no chance for reprisal rather than succeeding, looking for any minute signs of weakness, defending against potential enemy attacks and scouting, and repeating this cycle over and over. And of course, there were also sudden attacks that were more than capable of turning into the final killing blow.

That was why a battle between mages would usually be quite boring to watch. Both mages would typically first start by summoning cannon fodder, then cast defensive spells so that they wouldn’t die. Only then would they begin testing attacks against the enemy, or begin by destroying all of the enemy mage’s cannon fodder, or attempt to break through the enemy’s defenses. The first mage who exposed their own weakness would be the loser.

In any battle where there wasn’t an overwhelming power difference on either side, it was quite common for a duel between two Cloud Tower mages to take over two to three hours. And since most mages focused first and foremost on defense and personal safety, this type of duel would typically be quite boring to watch.

But even if Conservation and I were having a classical duel between mages, our duel was still different from all the rest…

My snow and ice wall kept receiving constant attacks. Despite the fact that the vanguard constantly froze into ice sculptures for no discernible reason, the remaining undead forces didn’t retreat at all. That was because the undead lacked emotions such as fear, so they would never suffer from low morale. The will of the Undead Emperor controlling them ruled over their every thought.

“Charge! Trod on the corpses of the fallen and crush that wall!”

The undead army’s will was unified as one. It was as if their will was almost physical in nature, with an invisible Undead Emperor roaring in the void behind them.

A high-level death knight trod upon his own subordinates’ bones, and was the first to reach the top of the ice wall. But before he could be happy about his achievement, the chill emanating from beneath his feet finally froze him into yet another statue.

The very next moment, his death knight acolyte climbed over his corpse, taking another two steps before she also froze into an ice statue. After that, another skeleton general proceeded forward on top of her bones…

Even though this ice wall was like an endless abyss that devoured everything before it, the pitch-black undead army proceeded forward without being shaken in the slightest. It was as if they were an unstoppable army of ants.

“If it’s a river, just fill it with bones. If it’s a volcano, just fill it with bones again. Although this may seem like a foolish strategy, it’s actually quite effective. That’s because all magic needs energy as its source, and energy is never limitless. This is one of the most fundamental laws of magic.”

Since this was a type of spell that required contact to be effective, it could be surpassed simply by covering the wall with bones. If it was an infectious type of spell instead, then the undead would simply use cannon fodder to absorb all of the spell’s curses and negative effects. If it was a spell that restricted abilities or changed natural laws, then the undead would use cannon fodder to experiment and find out all the natural laws and restrictions.

Those were the foundational tactics that the undead used to conquer every country. It didn’t matter to them how powerful or exquisite a defensive magical spell was nor how mighty an attack spell was. As long as the undead had enough cannon fodder to absorb the effects of the spells, even the most powerful of spells had their limits. Even the strongest mage in the world would eventually get tired and run out of mana.

The black flood of the undead proceeded forward slowly yet inexorably. They appeared to be slow and dull, as if you could run away easily from them. However, they wouldn’t suffer fatigue, and would proceed unstoppably. No matter where you ran to, the end result would be the same. This was an Undead Calamity, the greatest plague of all that humans viewed as death itself.

In this battle between us two Undead Emperors, this was still nothing more than small tests of each other’s abilities. Conservation had an almost endless supply of cannon fodder available to her.

Of course, I also had a method to deal with all the cannon fodder, but before that, I needed to counter her magical attacks.

Conservation finished a new spell. A black cloud suddenly flew over from a great distance, and shattered when it got close. This cloud instantly enveloped the entirety of Yongye City, obscuring our vision with black fog.

This dark cloud wasn’t an attack magic spell. Rather, it was a dark and illusionary mist, with countless dark fairies within it spinning illusions. It would be impossible to determine north from south within this cloud. And without vision or a sense of direction, all magical attacks would be rendered useless.

“A unique spell developed personally by Conservation?”

“Yes, this type of spell has never been seen before in the mortal plane. It’s likely that this is a special usage of negative energy as this cloud can even block your eyes that can see through the soul… This fog has the scent of souls. She probably sacrificed some undead subordinates to power this spell. Using soul shards to obscure even soul vision? This is quite a creative spell she’s come up with.”

I nodded and agreed with Harloys’ assessment as my analysis was basically the same. Still, it was so convenient to have a living encyclopedia like Harloys with me as my analyses could instantly receive confirmation. In that case, since I understood the foundational workings behind Conservation’s spell, I could also find a way to counter it.

“Cleanse… no, absorb! Using a soul spell in front of a soul magic expert like myself? What a joke.”

I activated all the world-class Soul Summoning Towers within Yongye City. The soul shards within the dark fog weren’t even able to resist as they were all directly absorbed by Yongye City. This obscuring dark fog actually became an energy source for my personal mage tower. Yongye City’s energy level which had fallen to 90% was instantly restored to 92%. But even though I gained an advantage here, I still felt rather anxious.

“…It’s likely that her next spell is already prepared.”

This was an issue of tempo loss in a battle between mages. Undead Emperor Conservation could personally command her army while also casting spells at me. This was the equivalent of her taking two steps for every one step of mine.

A novice would be happy to have countered one of their enemy’s attacks, but I was having a headache because Conservation had gained the upper hand in being proactive. I knew that if she gained too much of a tempo advantage, I would be unable to deal with every attack, and she would be able to unleash a winning move.

This difference had been present from the very start as both Conservation herself and her undead army were threats to me. She started off with a nearly endless supply of cannon fodder, while I could only counter her every move, which would make things only more and more difficult as the battle dragged on. I would have to counter two moves of hers for every move I took, which would be too much of a tempo disadvantage.

“As expected, where did that giant come from?”

The moment that the dark cloud was dispelled, I saw a tremendous bone giant that had already stepped over my ice wall. This bone giant had originally been heading towards Starwood City to attack it, but when he noticed that the dark cloud had dissipated, he unhesitatingly changed direction to attack this strange city of mine.

Bone giants were quite a common undead type as ordinary giant corpses and bones could create these slaughtering machines. Undead mages typically created bone giants for the purpose of siege warfare only as bone giants attracted far too much attention and were incredibly slow. This would make it easy to attract unwanted enemies, and required a massive mana upkeep to maintain. It would be highly inefficient to create a bone giant just for dealing with a small target.

“No, this is no ordinary bone giant.”

But unlike normally slow bone giants, this silver bone giant was incredibly agile. He actually moved so fast that he was creating shock waves with every step. Neither were his eyes glowing with the typical undead soulfire. Instead, one eye was a magical sapphire, while his other eye was glowing with a laser red beam.

And, he wasn’t wielding a cold weapon like a greatsword or war axe like most typical undead. Instead, he was holding onto a giant flamethrower which was spewing flames. I could see screws and metal boards at his joints where bones should have been, and he was actually wearing a metal suit of armor… and, shockingly, on his feet were wheels and flame-spewing rocket boots!

“…An undead Gundam? Am I in the wrong story? Is this the new undead type that the dragon lich Winlair was talking about?”

I could also faintly sense that many independent souls existed within this monster’s body. This undead bone giant was actually nothing more than a vessel, and the cockpit seemed to be within its stomach. This undead Gundam was clearly something that no ordinary undead magic spell could create. At the very least, an Undead Emperor like Conservation who had remained as a hermit in her Death Plane for countless millennia could never have created this combination of magic and engineering by herself.

I had a terrible premonition the moment I saw this monster. While this undead creature was surely powerful, its appearance represented the most troublesome development of all—either the undead had obtained the ruins’ treasure trove of knowledge from the scholars’ generation, or the undead had allied with whomever possessed the knowledge from those ruins. My enemy was no longer just an Undead Emperor alone.

Perhaps Yongye City’s energy level was too far off the charts, or perhaps Conservation gave him an absolute order, as this half-metal undead giant which was obviously an ace card didn’t go for a direct attack against Yongye City. Instead, he simply proceeded forward after passing the ice wall, attempting to pass through my defense line.

“Timlad will surely love a present like this.”

“The prerequisite will be that you can capture it without damaging it.”

“Of course, that’s easy.”

Any ordinary powerful individual would probably be frightened half to death here, but in our eyes, this giant was still nothing more than a toy. And, it was a toy that seemed impressive, but was unimportant, a failed design.

“Super tactical spell: Turn Stone to Mud!”

I sent this spell towards the earth in front of the giant, instantly transforming the flat earth into a pool of mud. And, an even deeper swamp was created underneath all the mud. The bone giant was unable to slow himself down, so he suddenly jumped up while flames spat out of his feet. He rushed forward with explosive force and kicked his legs with wonderfully standard movements, and then… he cartwheeled in midair and landed directly in the middle of the mud pit.

“Pahaha, nice movements, but he was completely unable to jump over it.”

“Of course not, since bone giants have no muscles. There’s a limit to what magic-guided movement can achieve. He’s only imitating human movements out of instinct and habit. Did he really think that he could double jump in midair like Mario? Did he really think that he could pull off something as unscientific as speeding up three times by wearing a magic hat?”

Yet, I wasn’t happy about this at all, as the energy levels rising in the distance indicated that Conservation had prepared yet another new spell. Not only that—the undead were already beginning to break past the ice wall. She was gaining even more of a tempo advantage.

The ice wall was now densely covered with undead. Conservation’s army’s self-sacrificial spirit was so moving… that I unhesitatingly created yet another ice wall. And having learned my lesson, I made this ice wall taller by two meters and thicker by three meters.

“Just continue, let me see how much cannon fodder you have.”

Although I sounded quite arrogant, I wasn’t as confident as I sounded. This [Hibernation Chill] imbued ice wall magic used up far too much energy. Each ice wall cost almost 10% of Yongye City’s total energy storage. And in order to preserve Yongye City’s safety and combat strength, I didn’t dare to use up more than 50% of the energy reserves here. I wouldn’t be able to use ice walls to stall for time much longer.

And, the most annoying part was that I couldn’t afford to let Conservation maintain her momentum while only countering her moves. That would only make the situation worse and worse for me. We needed to counterattack immediately.

“I’ll go to the sub-tower. Leave the magic duel against her to me. You deal with the cannon fodder first.”

For once, Harloys actually became hard-working. She volunteered for the more difficult task. Right now, Conservation was too far away, so it would be impossible to deal with her. Strategically speaking, it was correct to use Harloys against Conservation and eliminate the annoying cannon fodder first. Still, I was a little hesitant.

“…She’s an Undead Emperor. At least be careful.”

Even with the Yongye City mage tower supporting us, Harloys fighting an Undead Emperor by herself would be quite difficult. Invisible curses, dimensional level and above sealing spells, and unique negative energy spells would all be capable of killing even an existence such as Harloys.

However, Harloys laughed loudly upon hearing this. As she chuckled with a voice pleasing to the ears, she transformed to her adult Gold Elf form, allowing her silky-smooth hair to drag on the ground. This familiar beautiful figure appeared before me while intentionally whispering into my ear. “An Undead Emperor? Who do you think I am? Who taught you your undead magic? I’m a woman who already taught someone that became an Undead Emperor. And now, I’ve finally accumulated enough to become a woman about to become an Undead Emperor. Be careful of her? I’m hoping to achieve a breakthrough by fighting against her!”

Harloys then vanished into the shadows while laughing, and I could finally focus fully on the undead army beneath my city. With such a helpful partner that I could absolutely trust the abilities of, this was a reassuring thing indeed.

“Now then, what spell should I prepare next? It would be best if I can kill off all the mid- and high-level undead at once. Since I have plenty of energy stored in the mage tower, why don’t I spend some of it on a big spell…”

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