Published at 7th of May 2026 7:17 am

Chapter 1719 The Real Battle

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The mana barrier surrounding Amberfall was complex.

It was made of several interconnected barriers that utilized the principles of the School of Warding and rune magic.

A distinct property of the barrier, and also one that made it very practical, was that it allowed attacks to pass through from within while blocking all attacks that were hurled at it from beyond.

It was why the soldiers were able to continuously attack the undead horde below with conventional weapons and magical projectiles. At the same time, no matter how hard the undead monsters tried to claw or bite their way through the barrier, they failed.

House Fireborne had invested a lot of resources into erecting this barrier. A single Mana Core Magus could not hope to break through it. If two Mana Core Magi combined their attacks, their chances of breakthrough would increase, but it was still not guaranteed.

As for what would happen if three Mana Core Magi came together and attacked the barrier with their most powerful spell... that was unknown. It hadn't been tested out yet.

However, as long as only two or fewer Mana Core Magi attempted to destroy the barrier, it would hold. As fate would have it, only two beings at that power level were currently leading the ground assault. One was an undead knight, while the other was a Magus who could not cast spells.

However, there was one tiny flaw in the city's defensive barrier. It only reached a few meters underground. Beyond that, there was no protection.

The city's sewer system just so happened to be located far beneath the reach of the barrier...

Osbert knew about this detail. He had spent a considerable amount of time in Amberfall, gathering crucial intel. Although his previous mission of sowing discord within House Fireborne and igniting a rebellion had failed, the information he had gathered during that time still came in handy.

In fact, it was that very information that now allowed him to breach the city's defenses.

That was why Holden had so easily given up control over the undead horde and handed it over to Osbert. He knew that there was no one better to lead the

ground assault than the one-armed cultist.

Osbert also knew where the key nodes anchoring the vast barrier around the city were hidden. While King Maximilian held the artifact that controlled it, that wasn't the only way to bring the barrier down.

If all the key nodes were destroyed, the barrier would crumble.

Just thinking of the reactions on the faces of the Amberfall Magi when the barrier dissipated brought an expectant smile on the cultist's face.

He watched as the undead horde violently climbed atop one another and tried to reach the battlements, only to fail. He noticed how the Magi stationed on the wall desperately hurled spells and arrows at the monsters below.

It was all but a diversion. The real battle was already underway elsewhere. Osbert had sent four groups of infiltrators. The groups contained half a dozen orcs, and each group was led by an orc at the Mana Vortex Rank.

These groups were small and were less likely to draw attention. Or perhaps, they were likely to complete their missions completely unnoticed, given how all the Magi were focused on the undead horde.

Their directive was simple: covertly approach the nodes and destroy them.

Once the nodes were destroyed and the barrier came crumbling down, Osbert would send the full might of his army into the city and butcher everyone inside. And in the off chance that the orc raiders failed in destroying all the nodes, it would still heavily affect the structural integrity of the barrier. The one controlling the barrier - Maximillian - would be fiercely overwhelmed.

After that, it was only a matter of external pressure to destroy the barrier. "Just you wait, Maximilian," he growled in a low voice.

"Just you wait..."

***

For the first time since the fight began, Balthazar was forced to fight on the defensive.

Before Holden had joined his enemies, he was still able to handle Diggory and the undead knight on equal footing. His black flames, after all, had prevented the knight from venturing too close to him.

But since the newcomer's arrival, things had gotten excessively difficult for Balthazar.

A pair of whips made of black flames whipped around him as he deflected the necrotic projectiles from the two necromancers. The flaming whips allowed him not only to defend but also to create enough space between him and his enemies.

One after another, he deflected or evaded ice, poison, and dark necrotic projectiles hurled at him from tricky angles. Defending against so many attacks at once required all of his focus. And that was why he was unable to see the undead knight sneak up behind him.

By the time his senses warned him of the impending doom, it was already too late. In that moment, he knew that his enemy's plans had changed, and they were willing to sacrifice the knight to bring him down.

The towering undead knight, under the concealment of Diggory's artifact, arrived behind Balthazar. The latter's eyes widened, his senses screaming at

him to evade.

But between a volley of projectiles coming at him from the front and the undead knight attacking him from behind, there was barely any space or time

to make a move.

Balthazar's eyes gleamed with a ruthless light as he swung the whips in a different direction. At the same instant, he pivoted and turned around, leaning

at a precarious angle.

Slash!

Hot blood sprayed in the twilight sky and fell to the ground. However, Balthazar had managed to evade certain death. Instead of the knight's sword severing his head from his body, it ended up cleaving a deep, diagonal gash

across his torso.

Balthazar's expression turned utterly ferocious as his hands turned into a blur. The next moment, the two flaming whips coiled around the undead knight, covering every inch of its rotten figure.

With a deafening roar that shook the clouds, Balthazar applied pressure to his hands and tightened the whips. He infused mana into the spell, and the black flames burned brighter and hotter.

With a violent jerk of his hands, the whips violently shredded the undead

knight's body.

At the same time, Diggory's face turned pale, and he coughed a mouthful of blood. His connection to the undead knight was severed!

Holden didn't remain idle. Knowing that Diggory was momentarily weakened,

he instantly moved.

This was the perfect moment to bring the enemy down.

In a heartbeat, he appeared behind Balthazar and struck him with a killing blow!

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