Chapter 418: Battle before Dawn

Although Vulture's weapon had been bound by Celestina's thorn whip tightly, he continued to stay calm. Instead, it was Celia's emergence that gave him a worrisome premonition. As Rhode had mentioned, this place was under the protection of the Light Dragon in the Munn Kingdom. Although Vulture didn't know how the Angel managed to appear here, he knew that this wasn't a good sign. Although the level of this Battle Angel wasn't too high, it would be enough for her to eliminate his men.

Should I go? Or stay?

Vulture made a decision instantly. He swung the scimitar and its curve blade erupted in pale flames, burning the thorn whip. At the same time, he whistled and gestured his other hand in the air. In a split second, a dozen of Skeleton Cavalrymen leaped off the hills on their horses and they charged towards the chariot and Natasha with their raised weapons. Vulture seized this opportunity to retreat as he brandished the scimitar downwards and struck off the incoming whip.

"How dare you!"

Celestina's shapely eyebrows wrinkled after her attacks were blocked. She snarled and darted forward, brandishing her thorn whip like a powerful whirlwind that shredded all her approaching enemies. As she closed in onto Vulture, she stopped abruptly and flung her whip towards an Undead Soldier nearby. The creature got caught in the thorn whip helplessly and Celestina tossed it towards Vulture. In an instant, the young lady swung her right hand gracefully to launch a viper-like black whip which followed the tossed creature closely.

Who is this woman?

Vulture was taken aback. Although Celestina wasn't too powerful, this move from her showed how experienced this young lady was in battle engagements. In such a chaotic battleground, she was able to estimate her attacking range instantly and control her attacks. Although this seemed to be unimpressive, not anyone could master the enemy's combat skills so swiftly in such a short span of time.

Vulture couldn't help but focus his attention on this young lady clothed in a Chinese-styled dress. He sliced the Undead Soldier in half with his scimitar and swept up an engulfing whirlwind towards her. However, he realized that her long whip had disappeared!

All of a sudden, the sound of a light breeze emerged behind him.

Hmph!

Even though the Undead Knight understood what was going on at a snap of his fingers, he didn't retreat. Instead, he continued to charge towards Celestina with his deadly weapon. A look of disdain was revealed on the young lady's face as she stood on her ground and lifted her skirt with her left hand to greet the incoming 'war chariot'!

At this moment, the scimitar engulfed with pale flames met head-on with Celestina.

This obviously premeditated strike came absolutely quick, which forced Celestina to guard it with her left arm. However, the curved blade cut off her arm with no resistance at all. It continued to hack into her skull and in a blink of an eye, Celestina split into two from the middle.

"Hmm?"

Vulture was dubious that his attack sliced through without any hindrance, like cutting through a block of butter. At this moment, as though it was to answer Vulture's doubts, the young lady's corpse collapsed to the ground and turned into black mist, spreading across the battleground entirely. Then, shadows dashed in the saturated mist.

Shing! Countless thorn whips launched from the mist and wrapped every being in its range like tentacles. Without a doubt, Vulture had his own serving. Although his reaction was fast, his enemy's was quicker. The sharp thorns wrapped the Undead Knight's limbs and furthermore, he realized that his helmet was releasing faint green smoke.

Corrosion attribute?

A shiver went down his spine and suddenly, a bright, red light blazed before him.

Rhode, who had been lurking for a long time, finally struck.

Storm Slaughter appeared once again.

The devastating red illuminations shrouded Vulture like a spider web. The sword beaming with a shimmering aura broke Vulture's defenses and all he could do now was return the favor with his scimitar.

The red, storm-like attack that shrouded the area abruptly stopped and transformed into a radiance before piercing into his chest.

Heyah! If Vulture was a living creature, this blow from Rhode would be enough to claim his life. Also, the difference between their strength was too wide and Rhode's attack in the core was blocked in the last second. Rhode had no choice but to change his line of defense and pierce Vulture's chest instead. Although this inflicted damage, it wasn't critical enough to harm an Undead Soldier of Vulture's caliber. In an instant, Vulture countered with his burning scimitar and brandished it towards Rhode's face. Rhode fell back swiftly and dodged with a roll. Along with this motion, Rhode dragged his sword downwards and slashed a long wound on Vulture's body — Although pain was no longer a concern for the dead, it was still effective in disrupting their movements.

Vulture's scimitar hacked the ground.

Bam. Along with an ear-deafening rumble, the ground before the Undead Knight ruptured. The threatening flames spread across the ruptured ground wildly like a viper forcing its way towards Rhode.

Rhode furrowed his brows because he knew how powerful this damn scimitar was. Its flames were filled with pure negative energy and no living creature had a resistance against it. Rhode pushed against the ground and rolled backwards instantly to flee before the flames devoured him. In a blink of an eye, he disappeared into the mist.

"Hmph!"

Vulture let out a snarl. Even though the black mist slowly dissipated, the Undead Knight had no intentions of hunting Rhode down. Instead, he lowered his head and scanned his torn chest. Under the rotten flesh, pungent blood was flowing. After a few moments, the rotten flesh healed itself and he once again lifted his head towards the sky. He chose to strike before dawn, which was also the darkest time of the day because he thought he could eliminate the enemies in the shortest time possible. However, it seemed that time wasn't enough.

I wonder what's going on at the other side.

Horseshoes clip-clopped.

This was the first time that Grendy had felt this terrified as he gazed at the 30 Skeleton Cavalrymen brandishing their weapons towards him from the hills. The assault of the Undead Legion wasn't as brave and fearless as the humans. Instead, it was another kind of threat. It felt as though it was a deadly sharp blade hacking mercilessly into its prey and the prey had no chance of survival no matter how it struggled. But, even so, Grendy gritted his teeth and lifted his sword like a true warrior. No matter how tough it was, he should face it bravely!

Suddenly, a hand grabbed Grendy's collar from the back.

"Don't mess around, go to the back."

Anne tossed Grendy to the front of the chariot. As the poor fellow lifted his head in a daze and rubbed the back of his head, he saw Anne's slim and tall figure. She stood bravely before him with both hands gripped tightly to her shield. At this moment, the Skeleton Cavalrymen had arrived.

Their weapons filled with deadly aura hacked towards Anne.

"Get lost!"

Anne howled and swung her shield like a ginormous hammer.

Bam! The steel shield crushed the warhorse of the first Skeleton Calvary. The deep, ear-deafening collision and the large impact formed a powerful airflow instantly. Grendy blinked and the cavalry flew away from the crash which brought along the four to five Cavalrymen behind. After all, the Cavalrymen's formation was concentrated and it was impossible for them to retreat completely with their fast charging speed. So, in an instant, their first file suffered a crushing defeat.

"Oh, Lord..."

Grendy stared at the slender figure in bewilderment and he could not believe his eyes. He had been in the Safety Cavalry Team of the Eagle City for some time and he knew that the strength when the Cavalrymen charged was powerful and difficult to defend against. Never did he thought that this young girl could crush a charging cavalry! And she didn't even budge with this stature?

How is this possible?

Both Grendy and Natasha were dumbstruck as they didn't expect the young lady, who seemed ever so ordinary, to possess such incredible powers.

However, this was only the start.

The biggest threat of the Cavalrymen of the Undead Legion was their immunity to the outside world. This blow from Anne would definitely mess their formation if they were human Cavalrymen and even if the Cavalrymen could steady their nerves, it didn't mean that their mounts could too. Animals, after all, were animals. However, the Undead Legion was different because their mount was no longer animals, but pure tools.

Tools had no emotions.

Due to this reason, the chaos that Anne created only lasted a few seconds. The Cavalrymen from the backlines charged through and trampled their companions mercilessly.

A few moments later, another cavalry soldier dashed out from the mist. Anne repositioned her shield in front of her swiftly. Her fingers triggered the shield mechanism to eject a triangular-shaped cone and nailed it to the ground.

They collided head-on.

Clang! An ear-deafening collision sounded when the horse's hoofs crushed onto Anne's shield. However, this overbearing power with the weight of both the soldier and horse still wasn't capable to take down the young lady. Instead, she straightened her body and extended both arms. Then, right before Grendy and Natasha's very eyes, the pair of hoofs lifted and both the horse and man were tossed into the air... Just how strong is this girl?!

But the threat didn't come from the cavalrymen only.

On the other side, the Undead Soldiers weren't let off easy by Celia. With the cavalrymen, they acted to their commander's orders and enveloped from behind her. However, as the Undead Soldiers were only inches away from their target, a cheeky fox-eared young lady stopped them.

"Excuse me, this road is blocked."

Gillian was as calm as water and she continued to display a gentle, witty smile while speaking to the sea of Undead Soldiers before her leisurely. However, these Undead Soldiers neglected her words and continued to advance forward step by step with their bows and swords.

"Be careful, Miss Gillian!"

Grendy and Natasha shifted their attention to Gillian and to their horror, they realized that she was unarmed and defenseless. No matter what, at least Anne had a shield with her. Wasn't this young lady asking for death to challenge them without anything in her hands?

Gillian turned and waved to both of them casually.

"Don't worry, both of you. This bunch of small fries mean nothing to..."

An arrow passed Gillian's ear before she could complete her sentence and pierced through the chariot door beside Natasha. The poor girl shrieked in terror and Gillian's expression sunk as her dazzling, red eyes gazed at her broken strands of pink hair drifting in the night sky. Then, she turned around.

"I thought of letting you live for a while longer. What a pity..."

Gillian stretched her delicate right hand and snapped her fingers lightly.

In an instant, an earth-shattering fireball enveloped their entire world.

What is that?

As Vulture recovered fully from his injuries, he shifted his attention to the enormous blaze in the distant sky and stared in disbelief. The Undead Soldiers that he had sent out crumbled and collapsed thoroughly under the violent rain of fireballs. Undead creatures were fearless to anything except holy powers and flames. The cruel flames burned quickly and devoured the Undead Soldiers like a powerful wave, burning them into ashes. On the other side—damn it, those Cavalrymen had also turned into a pile of debris!

This time, Vulture hesitated no more as he realized his enemy was much stronger than he had imagined. It seemed that his mission was bound to fail and he no longer had the intention to drag this fight anymore. Vulture withdrew from the battlefield swiftly.

The thick, black mist dispersed abruptly.

The Angel flapping her pure, white wings held her sword and pierced towards the Undead Knight in a glaring white radiance. Vulture brandished his scimitar hurriedly and blocked her attack. But at this moment, the thorn whip emerged above him and once again bound on his weapon tightly.

"You...!"

Vulture looked up furiously and this was the first time his eyes were filled with astonishment. The young lady clad in a black dress hovered in the night sky with a pair of black bat-like wings clearly visible on her back.

Demon?

Even though Vulture was an undead creature, his head was in a complete mess now. He couldn't figure out why a Demon and an Angel would join forces together.

However, he didn't have the luxury to consider this question anymore. Celestina tugged her whip and pulled at Vulture's scimitar. In an instant, his wide open arms gave Celia the chance to puncture his body with her holy sword. However, unlike Rhode's attack, no matter how powerful the Undead Knight was, he would never survive holy flames.

At this moment, Vulture finally displayed his powerful side as an Undead Knight. He gripped his scimitar with both hands and dragged against Celestina's strength to block Celia's attack. The holy and undead flames collided and flickered in the exchange of both weapons. Then, Vulture threw a punch at Celia's chest with his left fist.

Even though Celia's attribute had an advantage, her strength was lacking compared to Vulture's by too much. This punch left the Battle Angel shrieking in pain as she was flung through the air. Vulture had no intentions of stopping. After striking Celia off, he gripped onto the thorn whip and dragged Celestina forcefully from the air.

Sh*t!

Feeling the powerful might tugging on her whip, Celestina nearly jumped out of her skin. She intended to release her hands hurriedly but the Undead Knight was just too quick for her. Although Celestina flapped her wings to flee immediately, Vulture's scimitar had brandished in the air.

"Departed howls!"

The pale flames on the scimitar transformed into three large skulls with widened mouths, darting and screeching at Celestina. She knew she couldn't escape and her last resort was to fold her wings and embrace the attack. In the end, she collapsed under the overwhelming flames.

In an instant, Vulture seemed to have the upper hand. But the appearance of the red radiance and Rhode reminded him that things weren't about to end.

"Argh!"

The Undead Knight was well aware of this young man's movements after experiencing a series of ambushes from him. As Rhode brandished his sword, Vulture's scimitar swung down heavily and both weapons collided in a screeching impact. At the same time, Vulture punched his left fist towards Rhode.

Bam! Pale flames erupted from his palms but Rhode dodged his attack. Then, Rhode launched another ambush from the other direction.

Again?

Vulture felt somewhat strange because he was sure that this was the first time they had met. Yet this young man seemed to be so familiar with his battle style and sneaked around constantly. Furthermore, he was also able to dodge his attacks nimbly. This definitely wasn't the result of battle talents and intuition. The only explanation could be that he was extremely familiar with his swordsmanship, which was why he was able to dodge so easily.

Who exactly is this young man?

Previously, Vulture wished he could eliminate this obstacle from his mission, but now, he had gotten so curious that he hoped he could capture Rhode to investigate thoroughly. This young man would definitely be worth the interrogation since he could make both an Angel and Demon exist and work together.

Rhode once again emerged before Vulture, but this time, Vulture didn't defend against his attack. Instead, he embraced it, and that was the trick of an Undead Knight. No matter what, their differences in strength were too huge and he wanted to bait Rhode into attacking in order to seize the opportunity to capture him.

As Vulture expected, Rhode struck towards Vulture's eyes.

Now's the chance!

As the tip of Rhode's sword arrived at Vulture's eyes, the Undead Knight who had lost his balance stabilized himself and brandished his scimitar upwards to strike off Rhode's Crimson Blade. This powerful impact sent Rhode's sword flying and him crashing to the ground.

It worked.

However, as Vulture moved in to subdue and capture his prey, he felt something was off.

There were no signs of fear or panic on Rhode's face. Instead, there was a delightful smile.

Then, Rhode placed his fingers in his mouth while pointing the other hand at Vulture.

A sharp whistle sounded.