Surviving The Fourth Calamity

41: Chapter 41 The Battle of the City of the Black Rose 41: Chapter 41 The Battle of the City of the Black Rose The tranquil morning in Kexlote was shattered by a deafening explosion as the Legendary Knight of the Noble Temple launched war with a heaven-shaking, earth-shattering sword strike.

Hill and Alice threw away their breakfast and rushed to the living room window to look down.

This Fire Attribute Legendary Knight split the sky with a slash of fiery light.

Sadly, he was facing the Undead Tribe, who had burned and been burnt for over a month.

As this Legendary Knight flew into the air, cloaked in red light, preparing his ultimate move, the back-row Magisters didn’t hesitate to cast fireproof barriers for the defending Knights raising their shields.

Any Undead Mage players who had been in a city battle had all learned this magic barrier against fire.

After dozens of Undead Sky Knights perished, the Legendary Knight’s mightiest sword strike was easily caught, without even triggering the city wall’s defensive magic.

Amidst the cheers of the Undead Tribe, the Legendary Knight furiously swung down several more swords.

Unfortunately, under the protection of the fire barrier, the tens of thousands of shield-bearing Sky Knights took the blows, losing only a few hundred more lives.

Dionysio didn’t allow the Legend to continue making a spectacle of himself in the air and quickly switched in a Metal System Legendary Knight.

This one indeed caused much more damage, killing thousands of Undead at once.

Sadly, people swiftly emerged from the cottage behind, filling in the gaps left by the fallen.

“Meow~ How many people are in that house?”

“A hundred thousand or so!”

“Meow?”

“That deity has control over space and can easily create a space inside the house to accommodate tens of thousands.”

“So powerful!

Meow!

Hill, is this the one you’re afraid of?”

“I’d fear a god!

This one’s just a bit scarier.

Look down, the thousands of Magisters standing behind the Knights!

These are all at my grandfather’s level!”

“That can’t be!

You’re lying!

Meow!

They can’t possibly be that strong!”

“Because they’ve just become Magisters!

They’ve barely learned a few spells.

Give them some time to settle down and they’ll have the chance to study.

So don’t run off, okay!

They’re outsiders and don’t fear natural aversion.

Even if they killed you and the world despises them, suffering bad luck every day, they can still return to their own world!”

“They’re at best slightly stronger than Hill!” Alice said stubbornly, “I’m almost as good as Hill!

Meow!

I can run away!

Meow!”

Hill looked at the obstinate cat: “There are hundreds of thousands of Magisters there!”

“Wuu~~ I’ll be good, I’ll stay in the territory when I get back.”

He picked up Alice and walked back to the couch: “Finish eating quickly, then we’re going up.

It’s clearer from above.”

“Meow~ The ship is moving.”

Hill tilted his head to look outside: “This is heading to the Undead Tribe’s territory.

They can’t start a fight here.

William hasn’t even shown his face, just wait for the Divine Descent at the end!”

The Airship moved swiftly, and as Hill carried Alice to the upper hall, they had already arrived above Black Rose City.

Hill looked down and saw much more excitement here.

It seemed like the idle and hostile players had all gone to William’s side.

Black Rose City, which was not originally the most populated, was left with only fifty to sixty thousand players.

But fortunately, the Legendary Knight leading the team here was also of the Fire Attribute.

The Black Rose Family had set up wooden platforms as high as the city walls scattered behind them, with tens of thousands of Priests standing atop them.

Hill looked down and saw a Loli Priest nimbly hopping between the platforms, directing the Priest players.

He turned to Fran: “Grandfather, can you hear the sounds below?”

Fran tinkered with the Crystal Ball: “Let’s see, without the Legendary Mage, we can go a bit lower.”

The Airship gently glided beneath the clouds to a spot where those below could easily see it and slowly came to a halt.

The voice from the amplifying Array gradually became clearer.

The ship finally stopped right above the block of priests.

Hill noted that the players below quickly became aware of the Airship.

He heard the clamor punctuated with someone shouting, “Baldy boss!

There’s a broken ship overhead the priests.

Should we shoot it down?”

Hill quickly climbed to his feet, walked onto the deck, and waved down from the ship’s side.

“No worries!

That’s Hill!

Here to watch the battle!” Baldy’s hoarse voice rang out.

“Did you get that shot?

The beautiful youth holding a white cat!” a loud female voice called out.

Hill gasped, having forgotten he was still holding Alice!

He hurried back inside.

Below, a wave of girls sighed in disappointment.

Adrian asked him with a smile, “What are you afraid of?

This ship moves fast, they can’t hit us.”

Fran interjected: “You’re still not as cautious as Hill.

Those thousands of Magisters out there have done nothing but cast fire barriers!

No idea what they’re planning.

Just hope that fool below doesn’t get killed.”

Hill said, “I’m not afraid that the ship can’t dodge; I just don’t want to be the one testing out their moves and taking the bullets for them.”

The same voice that had cheered about the white cat just now called out again: “To the left!

Dispel!

Dispel!

Can’t you hear?

I’m telling you to dispel!”

Hill looked down and saw the fierce Loli calling herself the Old Age Striking King.

She leapt nimbly, keeping an eye on the health of the Sky Knights up front.

“What’s going on in the middle!

Don’t just randomly heal!

Save your mana!”

“Left side, heal up!

Right side, dispel!

Is my voice not loud enough?

Can you understand human speech or not!”

Hill looked at the baldy commanding the Sky Knights to raise their shields upfront—he didn’t dare say a word.

He just mechanically repeated, “Raise shields!

Heal up!”

The elderly, brutal voice then rose, “Those who resurrected, move faster!

Are your legs shorter than mine?”

Adrian suddenly lamented, “Ah, the women of the Undead Tribe!”

Hill wanted to laugh: Was Adrian reminiscing about the days he was teased by female gamers?

Fran didn’t want to deal with them and kept staring at the players in the city.

Adrian asked in confusion, “Teacher, what are you looking at?”

“Their Mages are slowly moving.

That idiot just knows how to stand still in mid-air and hack away.

Knights really don’t have brains!

Can’t they look down for once?

They’re dispersing according to attributes!”

Hill quickly lowered his head to study closely.

Actually, it’s no wonder that this Legendary Knight hadn’t noticed anything.

The players weren’t honestly wearing robes.

They were dressed in all manner of fashion, slowly walking around the city like ordinary residents out for a stroll.

That Legendary Knight would probably get angry after just one glance, as no one seemed to take his attacks seriously at all.

If it was a Legendary Mage, then seeing people congregating towards six points, no matter who was below, he would become alert.

For Mages, the Pentagram Magic Circle and Hexagram Magic Circle are always the most sensitive matters.

Pentagrams are generally used for protection, while hexagrams are for attacks.

Hill took in a sharp breath, “A Hexagram Magic Circle based on tens of thousands of Magisters should easily wipe out a Legendary Knight, right?”

Fran nodded towards the window, “They’ve built a Magic Tower in the center of the city.

The one that looks like the Bell Tower on the outside.”

Hill looked at the gleaming Crystal Bell Tower.

It was not apparent at all.

But if Fran said so, he must have noticed something.

He looked closely, little by little.

The players had many clever tricks up their sleeves.

The magic lamps radiating light within the crystal walls made the outer curtain wall reflect a dazzling light.

Anyone looking would instinctively move their eyes away, focusing only on the clock at the very top.

The perfect refraction effect.

Physics sure is wonderful!

On the other hand, the huge clock, its hands moving, made Hill glimpse a flash of magic runes.

If one didn’t understand Alchemy Magic, they might mistakenly think these were runes inherently part of the Alchemy Clock.

Only a high-level Alchemist like Fran would notice something amiss in such a subtle detail.

Fran said quietly, “If these are Undead Tribe techniques, they sure learned them quickly!

If it wasn’t that they’re still not familiar with setting up the Array, and people constantly calculating the array connections atop the Bell Tower, I wouldn’t have noticed it.”

Adrian said with much emotion, “We wouldn’t think of disguising a Magic Tower as a bell tower!

The very existence of a Magic Tower is meant to be a deterrent!

The idea of hiding it has never occurred to anyone in tens of thousands of years.”

Hill said, “They’ve fought each other so many times, they know each other too well.

That’s why they like to use some sneaky tactics.”

“It seems it was prepared for their enemies from the Undead Tribe; who would have thought it wouldn’t be used?” Fran mumbled, “It’s come in handy against this foolish Knight.”

Adrian suddenly said, “Does every city of theirs have something hidden like this?

If they understand each other so well, they’d all have to be on guard!”

“As long as there’s money, their thinking is quite flexible,” Hill said.

“It doesn’t seem like they will use it today, does it?” Hill noticed that the crowd gathered had slowly begun to disperse again.

“That fool still has some fight in him!

After all, he is Legendary; not so easy to kill.” Fran sneered, “Wait until he’s tired, a bit slower on the uptake, then the Undead Tribe should be trained enough.”

Hill noticed that a group of Mage gamers had donned robes, replacing the group of Magisters who had been relentlessly erecting fireproof barriers on the city walls.

“This really is quite the spectacle!

They even know to wear robes to fool people,” he said.

“Anyone paying attention could spot it.

They’ve been at war for over a month now, how could there still be ordinary people in this city?” Fran pointed at the Fire Element Legendary Knight, “Knights of the Fire Element are generally simple-minded; they only know how to brawl.

Those of the Metal System would fare a bit better.

Earth ones are usually on the defensive and would not come out to attack others.”

“The Sky Knights at the front of the Undead Tribe are also from the Fire and Earth elements,” Adrian said.

“Their commander does seem to understand well.”

Fran wondered, “Which one is their Magician commanding?

They even know how to use a Hexagram Magic Circle.”

Hill shook his head, “I don’t know, Chattering is an academic; prefers Potion Brewing.”

“The Priest’s commands are quite fierce!” Adrian suddenly said.

They had been listening to the Old Age Striking King’s rants this whole time.

After watching for so long, they also started to grasp the tactics: apparently because resurrection took time, Knights whose health dropped to a quarter were ordered to fall back and let someone else take their place.

But some always wanted to wait until the last moment, and without exception, they all got called out and scolded.

“Fall back, fall back, An Idler!

Do you want to die?

Or do you expect me to chase after you to heal?

Dream on!

Get to the back quick!”

“Keep it up, A Baba!

Your dear mama wants to see how you plan to die!”

With his chin propped on his hand, Hill spent the day smiling amidst the Striking King’s cursing.