"Ugh!"
Kaelin’s muffled groan of pain violently yanked Raine back to reality from the torrent of grief. Her Arm Armor had been torn open by a sharp Bone Claw, and blood was steadily seeping from the wound.
The battle was rapidly deteriorating. Sodden’s Great Shield was firmly pinned by five or six skeletons. He roared repeatedly but couldn’t immediately break free. Winnie was backed into a corner, her Arcane Force Field completely unable to push away the overwhelming swarm of skeletons. Meanwhile, after sustaining her injury, Kaelin’s movements became increasingly strained and clumsy. She endured the intense pain and struggled to parry a heavy blow, but due to the confined space, her Longsword got stuck between the ribs of a skeleton, impossible to pull out in time.
In a split second, quick as a spark of Flint, another skeleton sharply seized this opening. It ducked suddenly, nimbly slipping through the gap beneath Sodden’s Shield, and launched a heavy punch straight toward Kaelin’s unguarded midsection!
"Not on my watch!"
Raine’s pupils constricted. He dashed forward with a lunge and successfully blocked the ruthless strike with the flat of his blade. It was also during this exact moment of clash that Raine unexpectedly noticed an anomaly in the behavior of the skeleton that had initially scratched Kaelin.
It attempted to attack again several times, raising its Bone Claw amidst gusts of wind. However, just as it was about to touch Kaelin, it acted as if being yanked back by an invisible Power, ultimately smashing violently into the adjacent rock wall. Its attack trajectory became chaotic, its accuracy dropping drastically.
At first, Raine thought this was just a mistake in the chaos, but he soon realized it was no coincidence. The skeleton’s entire body trembled slightly. The eerie blue Flames dancing in its eye sockets appeared exceptionally erratic, as if it was experiencing some intense inner struggle. It seemed to be resisting the urge to attack Kaelin.
Startled by this conclusion, Raine paused, his gaze immediately falling onto Kaelin’s bleeding arm. He noticed that whenever the skeleton neared Kaelin’s blood, it would instinctively shrink back. Was it Kaelin’s blood that it feared? This thought flashed like lightning in the dark night, causing Raine’s eyes to light up.
Kaelin’s ancestor, Garson Ice Trace, was the supreme Commander of this fortress—the master to whom all the Sharp Wolf Soldiers had sworn absolute loyalty. Could it be that upon its Perception of the Commander’s descendant’s Bloodline, this Undead soldier’s residual loyalty—previously suppressed by Negative Energy—was awakened by Kaelin’s blood? Could it not bear to stain its Bone Claw with the blood of the Commander’s Bloodline?
With this thought in mind, Raine immediately called out a warning, his voice ringing out with exceptional clarity amidst the fierce battle. "Kaelin, they recognize your Bloodline! This might be the key to our escape!"
"My Bloodline?"
Kaelin paused in surprise for a moment before sudden comprehension dawned on her. She had also noticed the abnormally behaving skeleton and its struggle-filled attacks. She had initially been somewhat puzzled, but with Raine’s reminder, she immediately realized what was happening. Whether or not her Bloodline could truly awaken these brethren warriors corrupted by darkness, this was their only chance to reverse this desperate situation.
She took a deep breath, as if inhaling all the courage and conviction into her lungs. Right after, she raised her bloody arm high, allowing the warm blood to drip down her Arm Armor, blossoming into eye-catching splotches of dark red on the dusty ground.
"Warriors of the Fenglang Clan! Look at me!"
Her gaze was resolute, and her voice carried unquestionable pride. "Within this arm surges the will of Garson Ice Trace, and the blood of the Commander who once stood beside you to take an oath here!
"Look closely! Is this blood still as searing hot as it was back then?"
The skeletons’ offensive abruptly stalled. Countless eerie blue Flames danced wildly, as if desperately trying to pierce through five hundred years of fog to recognize that familiar and noble presence. Kaelin took a step forward, stepping into her own drops of blood, her voice resonant and powerful.
"I, Kaelin Ice Trace, am the Bloodline of Duke Garson! Flowing through my body is the same boiling blood as when he made his vow!
"Beating in my chest is the exact same determination as yours—the willingness to die for the glory of our Clan and for the homeland behind us!"
Her gaze burned like a torch, sweeping across the trembling skeletons before her voice suddenly pitched higher.
"Look at yourselves now! What drives you to raise your arms? Is it the vow of no retreat that echoed through the clouds back then? Or is it that wicked Energy that desecrates the dead and tarnishes your glory?"
Her questioning thundered like a sudden storm, exploding within the cranial cavities of every skeleton. Their bones emitted violent CLACKING sounds. Some skeletons even began smacking their own skulls with their Bone Claws. Kaelin’s voice dropped, becoming low and solemn, emphasizing almost every single word.
"My ancestor, your Commander, Garson Ice Trace, fell here alongside you so that the children of the future would never have to face the Black Tide again! He fell so that the banner of ’Fenglang’ could flutter proudly over the frozen tundra forever!
"But now, someone wants to drag this very banner into a meaningless quagmire of war! They want to personally tear apart the peace you exchanged your lives for!"
She stepped forward again, nearly brushing against those trembling Bone Claws.
"Warriors! Recognize this Bloodline! I came here not to disturb your peaceful slumber, but to take up the mantle of the protection you left unfinished!
"If you end my life here today, you will be personally strangling the hope you defended with your flesh and blood!"
Kaelin’s burning gaze swept past those hollow eye sockets, as if trying to look directly into the souls they once possessed. "Awaken! In the name of the vows you once swore! And then, step aside for me!"
Raine, Sodden, and Winnie naturally wouldn’t truly allow Kaelin to walk defenseless toward those struggling Undead. The instant Kaelin stepped forward, Raine—along with Sodden, who tightly gripped his Shield Axe, and Winnie, whose fingertips flickered with the faint glow of Arcane Magic—flanked Kaelin, shielding her from all sides. Fortunately, Kaelin’s declaration—brimming with the Power of her Bloodline and sincere emotion—did indeed play a crucial role.
Inside the front hall, the thirty-plus skeletons that had previously been seething with murderous intent now completely ceased their attacks. Their tall skeletal frames trembled violently, giving off scraping CLACK-CLACK sounds. Some twisted their postures, their skeletal arms tangling wildly together as if fighting against some invisible Power. Others dug their finger bones fiercely into the nearby rock walls, causing shards of crushed stone to shower down with a CLATTER. The eerie blue Flames in their eye sockets flickered unsteadily, clearly undergoing an unprecedented chaos and struggle.
Seeing this scene, a trace of reluctance and compassion flashed in Kaelin’s eyes. But she knew well that any hesitation now would not only waste the precious time these warriors had bought with their sheer willpower, but also be a betrayal of their sacrifice. She quickly exchanged glances with Raine and the others. No words were needed; they all understood their next course of action.
"Go!"
Raine shouted in a low voice. The four of them seized this fleeting opportunity. Ignoring the chaotic Undead behind them, they sprinted at full speed down the main corridor that connected the front hall to the fortress’s main gate. This corridor was similarly littered with the scars of fierce past battles and the scattered, broken bones of Magical Beasts. Perhaps influenced by the chaotic state of the skeletons in the front hall, the skeletons inside the corridor also exhibited similar signs of struggle, falling into a state of total disarray.
The group did not halt their steps, leaving only one thought in their minds: they had to reach the fortress’s main gate as quickly as possible to confirm whether a path of survival leading to the outside world still existed!