"So you’re telling me that if we want to leave this forsaken place, we have to clash head-on with that damn Black Tide Embers?"
Sodden knitted his thick brows, his gruff voice laced with anxiety. "Can’t we just make a mad dash for it? Go around that thing?"
"It is an amalgamation of Negative Energy... It harbors an instinctive, ultimate hatred for the living..."
Garson’s voice carried an unquestionable tone. "Its Perception will lock onto you... It will drive all the Undead under its control to pounce on you...
"As long as it exists... you cannot bypass it... Eliminating it... is the only way forward..."
Garson’s words severed any lingering hopes of a lucky escape.
The group exchanged glances, a mixture of tension and resolve spreading through the team.
They had no other choice. They had to confront the source of the darkness; it was their only way out.
But the problem undeniably circled back to the beginning.
The Black Tide Embers was located in the most expansive Unyielding Hall, surrounded by a boundless sea of Undead. This was simply an impossible task.
The path ahead promised only death.
Kaelin gazed at the warm Wolf’s Oath in her hands, feeling the Power flowing within it, her heart filled with bewilderment and helplessness.
"Silly child..."
Just then, Garson’s deep and tender voice echoed in her mind once more.
A giant skeletal hand landed carefully on her pauldron, as if afraid its cold, hard bones might hurt her.
"How could I let you... and your friends... face the remnants of the Black Tide alone..."
His voice carried unquestionable firmness, brimming with benevolence. "That should have been our destiny... the unfinished war from five hundred years ago... It shouldn’t be your burden to bear..."
He stared at Kaelin with his faint blue eye sockets, that light seemingly able to dispel the gloom in her heart. "Nor will I ever allow them... to profane my Bloodline..."
"Grandfather..."
Kaelin looked up at the towering yet gentle skeleton. Thousands of words caught in her throat, ultimately turning into a single, choked call.
She knew full well that once the Black Tide Embers was eradicated, the Negative Energy sustaining her ancestor’s residual will would also dissipate. Her grandfather, with whom she had finally reunited, would truly fall into Eternal slumber.
Reason told her she should let her ancestor rest in peace, but emotionally, she couldn’t bear to let go of this brief reunion. She still had so much to say and so many stories to tell.
Beside her, Raine, Sodden, and Winnie empathized with Kaelin’s complex emotions, yet they couldn’t help but feel an irrepressible surge of exhilaration.
If this army of Human Race Undead led by Garson became their allies, it would undoubtedly tear open a rift of hope in this otherwise entirely hopeless situation!
From their brief clash just moments ago, it was clear that these Human Race Undead, who knew how to coordinate in battle formations, possessed combat prowess that was not inferior to the Skeleton Beasts acting on mere animalistic instinct—in fact, they were even slightly superior.
"Child... your objective is singular... Eliminate the Black Tide Embers..."
Garson’s mental projection pulled everyone’s thoughts back to reality.
"Leave the rest... to us... We cannot approach the source of that Negative Energy... It will corrupt and attempt to regain control over us... but as for the Skeleton Beasts on the perimeter... we will hold them off."
His deep voice subsequently grew more solemn.
"You must be fast... As time passes... those Embers will inevitably pour out more Power... attempting to manipulate our wills once more... I do not know... how long I can hold on..."
At this point, his tone filled with absolute resolution. "But I do know... as long as my will hasn’t dissipated... as long as the will of any Undead Soldier is still burning... we will fight for you until the very last moment!"
"Thank you, Grandfather!"
Kaelin had a million words of gratitude in her heart, but she still only spoke this single sentence, nodding heavily.
"Silly child... I am your ancestor... Shielding you from the wind and rain... is only right and proper..."
This time, Garson finally reached out with his phalanx bone to lightly touch the tips of Kaelin’s burgundy hair. That minuscule gesture was filled with wordless satisfaction and doting affection.
Having secured a glimmer of hope, the group didn’t dare delay for a single moment, immediately sitting down on the spot for their final rest.
They knew very well that what came next would be the final battle of this adventure. There was only one goal: to destroy the Black Tide Embers at all costs!
During their break, Raine silently bandaged the wound on his palm. To him now, this didn’t even count as a scratch.
Kaelin sat closely beside her ancestor, utilizing this final, precious time to quietly talk to Garson.
She spoke of the current peace on the Northern Snowfield, of children running and playing freely under the sun, and of all the major and minor events that had occurred within the Clan over the years.
She also talked about her childhood, her first hunt, the first time she swung a sword, and everything she had ever heard about her ancestors...
She was like a child eager to share everything with a long-lost relative, wishing she could compress five hundred years of time into this brief moment.
Garson’s giant skeleton stood quietly beside her, his head tilted slightly, the faint blue Flames flickering gently as he earnestly listened to her every word.
He didn’t interrupt; his massive skull only gave a slight nod occasionally, as if to say, "Grandfather hears you. That’s wonderful."
This interwoven picture of a skeleton and a young girl, of death and vitality, of silence and confiding, carried an indescribable sense of sorrow and warmth that deeply etched itself into the hearts of Raine and the others.
It wasn’t until Garson saw Raine and the others finish their preparations, stand back up, and regain a measure of sharpness in their eyes, that he slowly raised his massive skull.
He leaned down and picked up the mottled Giant Axe by his feet—the weapon that had accompanied him in battle until his death and still bore the scars of war. His skeletal fingers lightly brushed over the axe blade, as if whispering something to an old friend.
Then, he turned around to face the Undead Soldiers standing silently in the hall, his gaze sweeping over the faint blue Flames in their hollow eye sockets one by one.
In this moment, he was no longer Kaelin’s gentle grandfather, but had once again become the Fenglang Commander who commanded three thousand Clan elites, fighting to the death without retreat.
"Children... my bravest Undead Soldiers!"
His mental projection was like a beating war drum, striking against the residual consciousness of every Undead Soldier. "I know... you are already very exhausted... yearning for Eternal slumber...
"But at this very moment... the Shadows of the Black Tide wriggle once more... Those beasts we personally slaughtered... their skeletons rise again... attempting to defile everything we hold dear..."
He raised the War Axe with his giant skeletal arm, pointing directly toward the Unyielding Hall. His voice abruptly soared, carrying a heaven-shaking battle intent: "I! Garson Ice Trace! Will absolutely not allow them... to once again encroach upon the peace we protected with our flesh and blood... Our war... is not yet over!"
"ROAR—!"
An invisible, furious roar reverberated on the plane of consciousness.
The faint blue Flames in the eye sockets of all the Undead Soldiers abruptly erupted with astonishing brilliance.
Under the combined effects of Kaelin’s Bloodline call, the radiance of the Wolf’s Oath, and Garson’s supreme prestige, their residual wills erupted with their final Power, thoroughly suppressing the corruption of the Negative Energy.
They gathered around without hesitation. Even though they had no weapons in their hands and no Armor on their bodies, their tightly clenched Sen Bai Bone Fists exuded a murderous aura that was not the least bit inferior to those of the past.
For a moment, it was as if the entire space was trembling violently, shaking the dust from the fractured dome to fall with a steady RUSTLE.
Their will was simple: kill those Magical Beasts! Completely destroy the Black Tide! For the oath sworn five hundred years ago!
"Warriors of Fenglang!"
Garson’s voice was like an unsheathed Sharp Sword, echoing back and forth through the ancient vestibule. "We killed them once before... and we can kill them a second time!"
His giant War Axe swung forward, carrying a might capable of crushing all things:
"Reform the ranks!
"Follow me—
"To our final battle!"