Supreme Magus

Chapter 4496: Knight in Shining Armor (Part 2)

"Brilliant." Jorl pondered. "The undead could have all worn a Harmonizer, but that would have also meant they could be more easily stolen or lost in the chaos of battle. Those artifacts must hold an important secret if the Undead Courts put so much thought into protecting them."

"Of course they do, you foolish sparrow!" Night snarled. "Those are not regular Harmonizers. They carry the mark of my mother’s workings. She must have found a way to further her children’s evolution potential like Glemos did for the Balors."

"So what? They are useless away from a mana geyser." The Storm Griffon shrugged.

’Undead are supposed to be an evolutionary dead branch, and Vurdalaks are part Vampire.’ Orpal said via a mind link to keep the conversation secret from the rest of his underlings. ’It means Upyrs might be a dead branch as well.

’Though if those Harmonizers work on a Vampire, they should work on me as well. If I can find a path toward evolution, then I, you, and all my loyal followers would enjoy the bloodline abilities of my human, Dragon, and Phoenix aspects.’

The Dead King hated to admit the possibility he might be a flawed being instead of the supreme existence he claimed, yet he had no other choice. He needed Jorl’s help to succeed, and the Griffon couldn’t plan their way to success if he wasn’t aware of Orpal’s real goal.

’We’ll take a few, then.’ Jorl replied, secretly hoping the Harmonizer might hold the secret to restore his original life force.

"You’ll pay for this, Bhaz!" The Chosen roared with Orpal’s voice. "Take this!"

What energy was left of Nascent Sprout answered its master’s call and returned to the crystal spear. Night and Orpal added new rune sequences to the Blade Spell and infused it with more mana, turning it into Death Seedling.

The new Blade Spell was carried by a fresh Wailing Wind and possessed a destructive power several times greater. It struck the backline of the retreating Dread Knight, causing a shockwave so powerful that many of them were sent flying despite dodging the actual blast.

"My King!" Anghor cried for Bhaz to retreat. "He’s slaughtering us!"

"A few lives are a price worth paying to expose the Dead King’s new strength." The Dawn King replied. "Rescue the wounded, but don’t stop! Retreat!"

He was the first to follow his own orders, Blood Blinking to the ground and rescuing two injured Dread Knights before it was too late. Death Seedling vaporized the undead steeds, but they were also part of the Dread Knight.

With time and nourishment, they would return, whereas the death of a Dread Knight would have been an unacceptable loss.

The members of the Dawn Court ran for their undeath as the Upyrs gained more ground. As soon as the world energy filled the air again, the Corrupted Divine Beasts’ size and mass gave them an overwhelming advantage over their puny enemies.

Even the most powerful undead like the Grendels could only defend and run.

"This makes no sense." Jorl said as the enemy’s retreat devolved into a rout. "Those are not cowardly humans, but ancient undead. Then why are they scrambling like that? Where is the discipline? Why aren’t they assuming a defensive formation? Unless..."

His bird eyes widened in understanding.

"Order all the troops to stop! It’s a trap!" He clenched Orpal’s shoulder.

Truth dawned before the charging Upyrs, in the literal sense of the word.

As the first wave of soldiers of the Undead Courts retreated, the second wave advanced. It was an orderly line of knights in armor of the purest Adamant that reflected the faintest starlight, making them visible from a great distance.

"Not them!" Orpal cursed. "Not now!"

"Dawnbringers!" A tenor voice rose to cover the din of battle. "Show the traitor child of the Red Mother and her offspring what true darkness looks like!"

The silvery knights raised their arms in unison, and the light from the moon and the stars disappeared. Each Dawnbringer projected an expanding dome of darkness from their body that no sight could penetrate.

Life and Fire Vision were as useless as the night vision each Upyr gained upon turning into a Corrupted Divine Beast. Light was gone, and with it anything their eyes could perceive.

"Dodge!" Orpal yelled. "Throw yourself on the ground! Now!"

"Light the way!" Erril Song, commander of the Dawnbringers, said.

The accumulated light element erupted from the silvery knights’ hands in the form of hyper-focused laser beams. Each blast lasted the blink of an eye, but moved just as fast.

The first row of Upyrs plunged from the sky with large, fuming holes all over their bodies.

Their flesh, bones, and organs had been vaporized on impact. Healing those wounds required vast amounts of nutrients. Without them, what the Upyr regained in mobility, they would lose in vigor.

"Hold the line!" Erril yelled. "Let them come to their death!"

Light coated the armor and weapons of the Dawnbringers, forming a thick, incandescent layer that boosted both their offense and defense.

Dawnbringers were the undead species Baba Yaga had created as a prototype for her first Horseman, the Bright Day. They could absorb sunlight, becoming temporarily immune to it, but the darkness that accompanied them made it impossible to hide their presence.

The Dawnbringers were no Light Masters and couldn’t conjure constructs, but they could coat their equipment with light element and use it as a scaffold for high-density heat rays.

Unlike Nightwalkers and Blood Warlocks, Dawnbringers needed a special kind of armor and weapon to tap into their full potential, and only the Bright Day and Baba Yaga had known how to craft them for a long time.

Dawn had passed down the secret to the Dawnbringers before abandoning her court almost a millennium ago, hoping to set her honor guard free as her siblings had done before her.

Yet her gesture and parting words had only strengthened the Dawnbringers’ oath of loyalty, and they had refused to take part in any activity of the Undead Courts, waiting for their liege to return.

"They are impressive." Zepho Acala said while staring at the line of Dawnbringers cutting the darkness of the night asunder through the surveillance mirror.

"They are also the origin of the expression ’knight in shining armor’, my love." Dawn said with pride. "I can’t believe those fools waited for me for all this time. They haven’t seen me since before the founding of the Griffon Kingdom, yet I only needed to say the word to let them come out of their isolation."

"I’m sure the promise of upgraded equipment and a few Light Mastery lessons sweetened the deal." Baba Yaga grunted.

"It was the least I could do, Mom." Dawn replied. "They are risking their lives for me. For us."

"About that, why aren’t we out there to help them?" The traitorous Ranger asked.

"Because that’s not Orpal. Just a clone." Baba Yaga replied. "There’s nothing to gain from this and a lot to lose. Don’t reveal your best cards until the moment comes. Let the Undead Courts play their role.

"If you keep rescuing them, you’ll shatter their pride, and Orpal will ignore them. He must think of them as a threat if we want him to spread his forces thin and leave himself vulnerable. Also, you’d ruin my trap."