Chapter 73: Beast tide (2)
Thud, thud, thud!
The ground trembled as if a mighty army was charging forward.
All the undead, including Alex standing on the wall, stared intently ahead at this moment.
As the clock struck midnight, all the mists of Eldoria dissipated, confirming that these mists existed because of the Lords, not as a natural feature of Eldoria itself.
Alex scanned the horizon, now clear. From nowhere, a dense horde of beasts had appeared, surrounding the castle.
These included armored rhinos, giant black gorillas over ten feet tall, colorful pythons, and even some massive mammoths.
These were just the creatures Alex could identify; many more bizarre and unknown species were present, all with eyes glowing red, seemingly driven mad, launching a fierce assault on Alex's castle.
Giant birds in the sky shot beams of light, and flocks of crows executed kamikaze attacks on Alex's castle.
"Kill!" Alex raised her hand and shouted commandingly.
If this was all the beast tide had to offer, Alex would be profoundly disappointed. The creatures were merely Standard level; not even a Commanding level beast was in sight.
In contrast, Alex's forces were formidable. The sky above the castle was filled with hundreds of gargoyles flapping their wings, hundreds of ethereal specters floating around, and even a dozen bone dragons.
The ground teemed with thousands of various undead—bone beast werewolves, Skeleton Soldiers, zombies, and death conquerors.
This was the first time Alex had amassed such a large undead force at the castle, a scene far more awe-inspiring than the beast tide itself.
Beast tide? A joke!
Alex scoffed coldly, ready to show these beasts what a real undead tide looked like. No need for defense; an offensive strike was more fitting.
As the forefront of the beast tide approached, the undead clashed with the horde. The beasts seemed formidable but couldn't even break through the undead's ground blockade, not to mention that Alex's aerial undead forces were the main strength.
Standing on the wall, Alex looked up to see more magical beasts rushing down from the snowy mountain in the distance. She turned to see the same happening in the Dark Forest behind her.
It seemed this beast tide was not as simple as she had thought. The initial wave was probably what all Lords faced, a standard beast tide, but what followed likely varied based on the castle's location and the Lord's overall strength.
Alex unleashed fire magic from the wall, attacking the magical beasts in the sky. After using about a third of her Mana Points, she pulled out her scythe and used dark magic to teleport directly from the wall to the ground.
The beast tide was not particularly strong, providing Alex with a perfect opportunity to hone her combat skills. Moreover, using her scythe to kill beasts would directly transform them into undead, while other beast corpses were summoned by the necromancers on the wall.
As the battle continued, Alex's undead army only grew larger. For some Lords, the beast tide might be a disaster, but for Alex, it was an excellent opportunity to grow stronger.
Beasts below level 9 were transformed into bone beasts by Alex, while those below were summoned as regular undead.
These beasts, all below level 9, fell easily under Alex's enhanced abilities from the Bone Throne and her scythe's double properties—almost like slicing through butter.
At this moment, Alex was merely using her scythe for basic attacks, not even needing to resort to magic. The beast tide stood no chance.
Alex could only kill one beast at a time, but Arthur was merciless. His Withering Space skill instantly annihilated swathes of magical beasts.
As magical beasts from the Frostwind snowy mountain and the Dark Forest, two major forbidden areas, joined the fray, the overall strength of the beasts increased.
Now at Commanding level, Alex led the undead from the rear on her own.
A massive white bear charged at Alex, its powerful swipe shattering Skeleton Warriors on either side. The bear, with eyes blazing red, lacked intelligence like a typical beast, relying solely on brute force.
As the bear swiped at Alex, she deftly dodged and countered with her flaming scythe.
Tingling!
The bear, momentarily confused by the sound from the scythe, paused, its red eyes flickering with doubt.
Why am I here? Why am I fighting this girl?
Before it could ponder further, Alex's scythe slashed a massive wound on its side, the flames charring the flesh. In pain, the bear swiped at Alex again.
Bang!
The force created a crack in the ground, but Alex had already vanished.
The bear noticed a red magic circle under its feet, too late to react as a towering pillar of fire engulfed it. Then, several black spears flew into the flames, impaling the bear.
The pain of the soul-piercing spears brought the bear fully to its senses, its eyes clearing of red as it tried to speak. But the surrounding flames vanished, the magic circle turned gray, and the bear, impaled and burning with eerie black flames, was overwhelmed.
The bear felt its life force rapidly draining.
Yes, this gray magic circle was Alex's Undead Summoning Magic. Alex had been under the misconception that it could only be used on corpses, thinking it was a non-damaging skill.
What if it was used on living beings?
The answer was now clear: while living beings couldn't be summoned, their life force would rapidly decay until death.
This meant that Undead Summoning Magic could indeed harm living beings, with a slight restraining effect to prevent escape from the magic circle. A healthy bear might have broken free instantly, but now, severely injured, it couldn't escape.
It could only wait to die quietly within the summoning circle.
As the bear died within the circle, a massive Skeletal Demon emerged and joined the battlefield, charging at the surrounding beasts.
Alex couldn't double summon from this beast because her current level of Undead Summoning Magic didn't allow for doubling Commanding level corpses—only one could be summoned.
[Congratulations Lord, you have killed a level 1 Winter Ice Bear, gaining 240 experience points.]
Nighttime double experience—what a thrill!
With so many beasts, it was exhilarating!