Do you have a problem with necromancers?

Chapter 109 The Legion of Wraiths
Of the three fortresses of Fahre, Raven's Fortress has the most complete and comprehensive defensive facilities.

The city has its own underground water source, so there is no need to worry about the enemy poisoning it from outside; it also has enough food to last for nearly two years, so it can last a long time even if it is besieged for a long time; there are even special life priests and death priests inside, who can heal the soldiers' wounds and purify the corpses.

After visiting Ravenburg, one of Fahrenheit's ancestors proudly declared it "a fortress that will never fall."

This inexplicable flag was really annoying, especially after Renn checked the family history before leaving and found that Ravenburg had never fallen in history, he immediately had a bad feeling that "it was about to come true".

The next morning, before the others had even set off, Aurora had already climbed to the highest peak in the vicinity to survey the surrounding area from the top.

From here, you can already see the outline of Ravenburg in the distance, nestled among the mountains, as quiet as a giant tomb.

The Fahr family's territory in the Serpent Mountains consists mostly of these small geographical units divided by the mountains. Due to the extreme inconvenience of messenger travel, even extremely important military intelligence can only be delivered by ravens.

Before the noble alliance departed from Eagle Keep, the last letter Raven received from Raven Keep claimed that Raven Keep was surrounded by the savage army and urgently needed reinforcements from the territory.

Aurora looked out and saw small black dots moving on the walls of Raven Castle, seemingly guards on a routine patrol.

“Something’s not right,” Raine suddenly whispered in her ear through their soul connection.

"What's wrong?" Aurora asked, puzzled.

"Where is the attacking side's camp?" Renn asked.

Aurora looked closely and found that there was indeed no siege camp on the opposite bank of the river surrounding Raven Castle.

“But perhaps it’s just the perspective?” she suggested another possibility. “Maybe the siege camp was built in a location we couldn’t see, and it just happened to be blocked by Raven Castle?”

“Impossible.” Renn immediately denied this. “If Ravenburg cannot be completely surrounded, it means that the people inside can break out at any time, sneak around to the back of the attacking camp to launch a surprise attack, or allow reinforcements to enter Ravenburg without any pressure.”

“Hmm…” Aurora pondered, “So what do you think is going on?”

“Further confirmation is needed.” Renn summoned one of the raven trainers in the group, released a raven, and sent the letter of inquiry to Raven Castle.

Ravens are intelligent creatures, capable of traveling back and forth between points A and B. A is the location where their owner released them, and B is a location they've memorized through training. Before the noble alliance set off, Renn had Darion assign several raven trainers to the ranks, carrying ravens specially trained for communicating with Raven Keep.

That afternoon, the released raven brought back a letter from Ravencastle, saying that the savage army was still fiercely attacking Ravencastle, and the war supplies in the castle were being consumed rapidly. It requested that the Fahl family send knights to help as soon as possible.

This makes the situation seem quite bizarre.

Because Aurora's reconnaissance confirmed that there were no signs of the distant Raven Castle being besieged.

Could it be that the message sent from Crowburg was actually sent back by the enemy?
“Sir, that’s impossible,” the raven trainer explained to Raven. “Ravens are extremely sensitive birds. If a stranger were in the raven house and tried to forcibly take away the letter they were carrying, it would inevitably cause the raven intense anxiety or even terror. Animals can’t hide their thoughts, and I can definitely tell if something is wrong with them.”

Ryan looked at the raven perched on his arm. The bird was preening its feathers with its beak, showing no sign of tension or unease.

“What if the crow trainers of Ravenburg betrayed us?” Renn asked. “Or what if they were under a spell?”

The crow trainer was silent for a moment, then asked blankly:

"what?"

Clearly, this old man, who had spent his entire life dealing with ravens, knew nothing about the concepts of "betrayal" or "magic."

Raine waved his hand, indicating that the crow trainer could leave.

Soon after, a raven took flight from the top of the castle, a letter written by Renn himself tied to its leg, and flew towards Raven Castle.

Hidden within its jet-black eyes was a barely perceptible hint of deep blue.

That is the soul fire of an undead creature.

In the original game storyline, because Marquis Fahel opened the gates of Eagle Castle, the savage army encountered no decent enemies and rampaged through the Fertile Lands.

Once the expansion was officially released, players were teleported to the Land of Fertility, where they faced a series of high-level enemies, including wolf riders, snake trainers, and shadow assassins. As for the final boss, the Wild Elf King Kaellik, he was the final boss of the Hard Mode 100-player raid, the most difficult raid of the expansion at the time, and only elite raid groups from three professional guilds managed to defeat him.

Raine had never fought this hundred-man stronghold, but he knew very well that the Savage threat was a formidable enemy that required the combined strength of the entire River Bend province to defeat. The military forces of Ravenburg, Fahl, or the Fertile Lands alone were absolutely insufficient to defeat it.

The reason for organizing the noble alliance to penetrate deep into the vicinity of Ravencrest was twofold: firstly, to find out the Wild Elf King Karlik's trump card, and secondly, to transmit more accurate intelligence back to the Fertile Lands. Otherwise, people would still think that the wildlings were just here to "make a quick buck and leave," and that the same thing could happen again, with Malorne and the Nightshade Legion shifting blame to each other, and the nobles of the Fertile Lands scrambling to push others to the front lines.

With the enemy posing no threat, everyone focused on internal strife.

The controlled ghoul raven began to descend. In its undead vision, there were no siege positions around Raven Castle below, only guards constantly patrolling the walls…

Ok?
Raine suddenly noticed that although these guards were lifelike, they were not actually any physical entity, but rather strange figures with their own light and color.

Although they appear to be living people at first glance, upon closer inspection, one will find that their expressions and movements are completely synchronized, so precise that it is as if they were copied and pasted from the same batch of slides.

Suddenly, the raven lost its balance.

Some force, like an invisible rope, pulled it directly from its flight. Before Renn could regain his balance, he found that the raven had been grabbed by a large hand.

The owner of the large hand was an elven warrior. He wore a helmet made from the skull of a beast, and his face was covered with a messy, white beard. His pale blue eyes held no emotion of the living, only a will as hard as steel.

Renn frowned slightly. If I remember correctly, this should be...

The next second, the elven warrior's eyes widened suddenly, and some kind of sinister illusion began to attack the raven's soul along the line of sight.

If the raven were still alive, it would have almost no resistance to this illusion and would be immediately brainwashed and controlled. But the dead are immune to illusions, so the elven warrior was only slightly taken aback before realizing that what he held in his hand was not a living raven, but a manipulated corpse.

He squeezed the raven's fingers hard, crushing it into a lump of rotting flesh, and Raine's undead vision was instantly cut off.

Can't go wrong.

They are the Legion of Wraiths.

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The field of necromancy is vast and profound, and it is divided into many schools of thought.

For example, Ragnaros's Great Resurrection spell aims to resurrect the dead as closely as possible to their appearance in life. Another example is the common Scourge, which focuses on resurrecting a larger and more powerful number of undead creatures. Strictly speaking, neither is inherently superior; they simply have different focuses.

The Wraith Legion was not designed for sheer numbers and power, but rather for damage resistance and immortality. It lacks the infectiousness and aggression of the Scourge, and cannot mass-produce undead wraiths, but each wraith becomes extremely difficult to kill.

First, their extremely high physical resistance means that most knights' and militia's attack methods are ineffective against the vengeful spirit army. Like monsters in East Asian horror films that defy the laws of physics, trying to kill them with swords or guns is utterly impossible; only Taoist magic might have some effect.

Secondly, it possesses extremely strong regenerative abilities; as long as it isn't killed on the spot, it will heal all its injuries after a period of time. Although the specific healing mechanism remains a mystery, Raine, being a seasoned necromancer, speculates that the Wraith Legion itself is entirely composed of death magic, and the blue bar that can be restored is the red bar, thus possessing an infinite self-healing ability.

In short, the best way to deal with the vengeful spirit army is with a mage army. However, unlike elves, humans have difficulty organizing a well-organized caster force. Therefore, they can only resort to the second best option: relying on Ellina and Bersalia's spell vaporization abilities to bombard and suppress the vengeful spirit army on the front lines.

Of course, before that, the nobles of the bountiful lands must at least be made aware of the enemy's strength, so that subsequent strategies can be implemented. Otherwise, no matter how much foresight you have, if they treat your words as mere idle chatter, it will be useless.

The noble alliance left the castle and continued their advance towards Ravenburg.

As the group drew closer to Raven's Keep, the number of savages lying in ambush along the way dwindled. This clearly meant they were getting closer to the army of vengeful spirits, as most living people in this world loathed and feared the undead, even the savages. Rounding the last bend in the mountain path, the valley plain where Raven's Keep was located lay ahead.

As everyone looked ahead, they saw countless wildling warriors arrayed in front of the main gate of Ravencrest. At the very front, riding a skeletal horse, stood a burly elf warrior with a full beard, who was also the leader of the wildling army—the Wild Elf King Karlik.

A spirit that has been brought back to life.

"Look, look!" Karlik shouted in a sinister voice, "A bunch of rabble, a bunch of cowardly cripples, dare to appear before our Legion of Wraiths!"

Upon hearing the name "Legion of Wraiths," the militiamen immediately became restless.

Raine immediately pushed through the crowd and stepped forward, shouting:
"The people of the Fertile Land will never yield! Take your lonely ghosts and go back to the depths of your mountains! The Fertile Land is not for you damned creatures to covet!"

"Ha! You arrogant cripple!" Karlik sneered. "You have no idea that behind us lies a terrifying evil that is about to return to the world. It will eventually devour you, and it will devour us, but you will die before us."

The knights' expressions suddenly tensed. They interpreted the "terrifying evil" the Wild Elf King spoke of as something like the undead scourge.

But Raine and the ancient heroes knew that the other party was actually referring to the White Walkers.

The White Walkers have an extremely strong interest in flesh and blood, as evidenced by the bone totem poles scattered across the rainforest peninsula. If one transforms into a vengeful spirit, there will naturally be no corpse, making one a last priority for the White Walkers. However, this doesn't mean one will be spared; it simply means dying a little later in the final moments of the world's destruction.

"Lord Faher!" the knights around him urged, "Order the war as soon as possible! Once the militia realize that the enemy is undead, their morale will plummet!"

After a moment of contemplation, Raine suddenly drew his sword and said:
"charge!"

He gave the order, and the knights shouted and led their militia in a charge towards the other side. The two sides quickly clashed.

Although vengeful spirits appear to have physical bodies, they are actually translucent spiritual matter, as difficult to tear as rubber. Whether it is a slash from a sword or a thrust from a spear, the attacks are almost always deflected or bounced off the spiritual matter.

The knights, clad in full armor and skilled in martial arts, were able to hold their own against these vengeful spirit warriors, but the militiamen were no match for them at all—especially after the other side adopted a fearless and willing-to-lose attitude, many militiamen began to hesitate, holding their spears but not daring to charge forward.

Renn stood silently at the rear, watching his own lines gradually retreat and be forced to huddle, while the enemy seemed unharmed no matter how hard they attacked. Several knights and nobles who had retreated from the front lines rushed to Renn's side, crying out in terror:
"Let's retreat! We can't kill these undead at all; swords and blades are completely ineffective against them! If we continue fighting, we'll be wiped out!"

Raine completely ignored him. He knew that if he shouted for a retreat, the militia's line would immediately collapse. They would scramble to escape faster than anyone else, or even turn back and charge their own lines, at which point there would truly be no way to turn the tide.

"Eileen, Bertha," he said calmly, "stop them."

Ellina stepped forward first, her hands crackling with brilliant purple arcs of electricity, instantly leaping between the knights and militiamen on the front lines and accurately striking countless vengeful spirits.

The spiritual energy that could withstand the slashing of swords and blades was directly pierced and destroyed by lightning, and the air was filled with the smell of burning.

The vengeful spirits, missing arms or half their bodies, screamed shrilly and retreated frantically, quickly putting distance between themselves and the knights and militiamen, creating a large open area between them.

Taking advantage of the situation, Bersalia unleashed a powerful Burning Cloud spell, creating a scorching wall of fire that separated the two sides of the battlefield and prevented them from engaging in a prolonged and intense battle.

"Retreat!" Renn shouted the order. "The rear guard becomes the front guard, retreat in an orderly fashion! Anyone who disrupts the formation, kill!"

Most of the militiamen obviously didn't understand what "the rear ranks becoming the front ranks" meant, but the commander's calm and collected orders made them subconsciously feel that the situation was still under their control. In addition, the phrase "kill anyone who disrupts the formation" prevented them from losing their minds and rushing around recklessly. Instead, they took advantage of the fact that the enemy behind them was separated by the wall of fire and quickly turned around and ran back along the original route.

The knights also escorted Renn away at a rapid pace. At this point, rescuing Ravenburg was completely pointless; the important thing was to bring back the crucial intelligence that "the enemy is the Legion of Wraiths" so that the Marorne family and the Imperial Legion could quickly seek help from the Spellcasters' Guild.

Otherwise, once the Legion of Wraiths leaves the Serpent Mountains, the Land of Fertility will truly be doomed, and Eagle Fortress will certainly be unable to withstand these undead.

During the retreat, it was impossible to maintain any formation. The unarmored militiamen ran the fastest, quickly leaving the knights and nobles behind. Some had already disappeared from sight, while many others, after running a distance, realized that the enemy was not pursuing them from behind and gradually calmed down.

In a place like the Serpent Mountain Range, staying by the Knight's side offers the best chance of survival. Otherwise, if you encounter an enemy ambush on the way back, without the Knight leading the charge, do you expect your other militia comrades to fight alongside you? They'd be lucky if they didn't leave you behind as bait.

As Raine led his troops back, they continuously received returning scattered militia members along the way, and their numbers quickly grew again.

"Raine!" Aurora called from the side, "The pursuers are here!"

Raine quickly turned around and saw a large number of cavalrymen suddenly charging down from the hills and forests behind him.

Wolf riders, a combination of savages riding giant wolves, were far superior to human mounted cavalry in terms of endurance, carrying capacity, and charging speed. Only in complex terrain did wolf riders demonstrate agility, mobility, and intimidation that human knights could not match.

Using the momentum of their downhill charge, the wolf riders instantly plunged into the ranks of the noble coalition. The savage cavalrymen wielded heavy wooden and stone flails, capable of smashing a man's head in a single swing. The giant wolves beneath them were even more ferocious, biting militiamen in the waist and then violently shaking their heads, the victims seemingly caught in a hurricane of sharp teeth, quickly torn to shreds.

The knights hurriedly raised their shields and stepped forward, trying to use their lines to prevent the wolf riders from breaking their formation, but a certain hero was faster than them.

Wielding twin swords, Fatin charged into the wolf riders like the wind. She nimbly dodged the giant wolves' gaping jaws, retreating while using her ankles to push off, her waist spinning rapidly in the air. The bright light of her swords, like a full moon, shattered the flail swung by the wolf rider, and the blade cleanly tore through his leather armor.

The wolf rider's chest was slashed open by the scimitar, and his entire body suddenly burst into flames. The giant wolf beneath him was also charred by the flames, howling and struggling wildly, as if it wanted to have a street dance before it died.

The knights were greatly encouraged by the sight. These barbarian wolf riders were indeed fearless, but the giant wolves were inherently afraid of fire and were completely uncontrollable. Once they were hit by Fatin's magical scimitar, they were basically finished off... So they all shifted their tactical focus from killing the enemy to restraining them, and then waiting for Fatin to come and deal with them one by one.

Another whistle rang out from the jungle, and the wolf riders quickly turned their mounts around and retreated back into the mountains.

All that remained at the scene were numerous gruesome corpses, and the faint sobs and wails of the wounded.

“Raine, we can’t abandon them.” Fatin, who had sheathed his sword, returned to Raine’s side. Looking at the wounded who were sad, fearful, or numb, his eyes showed pity. “They were wounded for the Fachel family. If we leave them here… you know what will happen to them.”

“Oh, don’t be silly, Fatin,” Berthalia sighed. “Are you going to send the living to help transport the wounded? That will severely slow down the march, and more militia will die as more pursuers catch up—many of them wouldn’t have had to die.”

Fatin was speechless. Her moral compass couldn't accept abandoning her injured companion, but she had to admit that there was simply no way to help them right now.

In the era of slave legions, she had faced the choice of whether or not to sacrifice a small portion for the collective many times. No matter how reluctant she was, she had long since grown accustomed to it. But thinking of Renn's secret profession and his endless stream of wondrous methods, she still couldn't help but lower her voice and plead:
"Raine, your flesh magic... you can save them, right?"

“They’re not Fahre’s subjects,” Renn frowned, speaking in a low voice as well. “The price I’m paying for this is the risk of my identity being exposed, don’t you know that?”

Of course, Fatin knew. She bit her lower lip slightly and said:
"Consider it a debt I owe you."

Ryan was immediately shocked: You actually want to owe me a favor?

I resurrected your body, I dragged your soul from the River Styx, and everything you have belongs to me. How can you use my things to exchange for my favor? Isn't that a bit shameless?

Dia, who had remained silent the whole time, suddenly interjected:
“Raine, if it’s just a minor injury, you can continue with the group without treatment. But those who are seriously injured, even if they are saved, will most likely suffer from disabilities or other problems. I don’t think their territories will be willing to take them back. Perhaps they can serve the Faher family. After all, even if you win this war against the savages, you will need people to replenish the losses in your territory.”

These words convinced Renn. Along the way from Ravencrest to Eaglecrest, more than a dozen castle territories, large and small, had been destroyed. Rebuilding the castles afterward was relatively simple; the real difficulty was restoring the population of the territories.

Without sufficient territory and population, it would be impossible for a few knights granted titles to defend these castles.

“Dia, you’re something else,” Raine said with a strange expression, “You can occasionally offer some useful advice.”

"I'm only considering things from your perspective," Dia explained modestly.

Fatin, who was standing next to her, gave her a grateful look.

Raine sighed, took a bottle of flesh essence from his pocket, and handed it to Fatin, saying:

"Drip it on the most fatal wound of a dying person; one drop can prolong his life. Do not use it more than once."

(End of this chapter)