Devouring Monarch: Rebirth of the Profane Phoenix - Chapter 501

Chapter 501: The End Times – I
Destruction.

The horizon of Wolfsheim, once a beautiful coastal city and such a captivating place, is now filled with fire, screams of terror and bloodied corpses. Once the undead horde began their advance, the sky turned black, and the sea became corrupted from their dark aura.

Asura’s figure blurred between the huge bone battleships, his blade and wings fluttering to avoid their magic and aggression.

‘Damn it!’

An undead lich flicked his finger, creating a black bolt that glowed with a dull green glow.

Like a shooting star, it shot towards Asura’s heart. The lich stared at him with dull eye sockets flickering with blue flames as if laughing at him. Asura’s body darted around the sky as if trying to avoid the green tracing light, flapping his wings as the bolt of dark energy followed him.

“Helia!”

“I’m here!”

A blast of white flames, like a cloud of mist, spread from her palm, devouring the dark bolt.

“Asura, they’ve attacked the fort walls!” Helia’s voice echoed through his mind, using the communication gem in their rings.

“What?!”

He turned to the sea behind him—a vast expanse of the ocean now turned black, covered in flames, bodies, and destroyed ships. However, they killed thousands, tens of thousands.

The losses were mounting, and the undead slipped past the Drakkur coast and broke onto land.

‘How could the enemy know our lands so well…’

‘Were we naive to think we could win?’

An enormous hole ripped open Wolfsheim’s wall, and thousands of zombies rushed through the gates, devouring everything living inside. Yet despite their intention, the knights led by Danos and his brotherhood of knights stopped them. Humans face the undead with their wavering morale. Yet, the undead felt nothing. Their eyes glowed brightly in green or yellow, filled with malice and insanity.

“Hurry, block the openings! Drag the wounded away to the priests before they turn!” Danos shouted to his brothers-in-arms.

Thanks to their efforts, they saved thousands, but tragically, that also means thousands have already died. Danos pulled back to the walls after his ship sank, and using his magic to protect the sailors from the corruption, he dragged them here. Yet now, his body felt heavy, mana low. He needed to rely on his brothers. Yet hearing the screams coming from above, around, and beyond.

“Oh goddess, have mercy on our land.”

Danos turned towards Wolfsheim. A battle raged on there. Helia had commanded the surviving knights and soldiers to retreat, leaving behind all those too wounded. They couldn’t risk more dying than they already had.

This battle wasn’t about a clear victory but survival. Verana and Verena stood in the western fleet and held back a second legion from overwhelming the entire city.

In a moment of reprieve, the knights killed the last zombie and began to block the walls with wooden planks and magical cement that instantly sealed and became hard.

“What must we do, Danos?” Manfried’s bloody face looked grim—their eyes turned to the Stage Eight and Nine undead dragons currently fighting against Asura and his wife, Xavida.

“The Queen rides on a dragon to buy us time, the King fights with enemies all around, so we can manage this amount!”

Frustration filled the hearts of the knights. For the first time since the eastern failure, Asura gave them his trust. Thus, this feeling of defeat became hard for them to swallow. Even more so than losing to him.

“They have grown stronger… perhaps if they weren’t left alone, we might have lost…” The eldest son of Count Barchon looked towards the North. On an undead ship, Lord Juro, his friend, led a charge of desperation. Count Barchon’s son Alex was a noble who stood beside Danos and Asura’s knights. Despite his reputation as a playboy, he fought to the end.

Thus, Danos added him as a Vice-Captain to their knights.

“Alex, did you manage to find Lord Alexander, or Sir Belial?”

In the initial chaos, the undead suddenly launched massive cannonballs of unholy flames that destroyed half the fleet. When Danos thought they were going to die, Lord Juro flew over him and dragged the enemy ships with his battleship. Then, while casting a powerful barrier to protect everyone from being consumed by darkness, he ordered a temporary retreat as the dwarven cannons destroyed the enemy’s catapults.

Because of Lord Juro, most of the southern fleets survived.

“Lord Manfried, Lord Danos, I only know the pair are alive, but where I cannot be sure! Forgive this useless knight!”

“What do you mean?! Hurry and get your wounds checked; we don’t have until long before the next wave!” Manfried shook his head in frustration and pushed away to find his father when the horn blew out another warning.

“They’re here!”

“Knights, gather yourselves, if you die here today, I will personally greet you in the afterlife and cut your heads off!” Danos staggered, his breathing heavy, yet there was no other hope…

“Do not fear, have hope young knights.”

A gentle voice came from above the wall before a golden light suddenly spread across the entire wall. A strange woman wearing a mask appeared and then suddenly spread her arms before the light began healing them all.

She wore a simple white cloak, but she was beautiful. Her silver hair fluttered as her magic flowed. Silver eyes watched everyone, and her magic enveloped everyone.

“A saintess?!”

The holy magic emitted from her body instantly began to heal all their wounds.

“Be at ease, little ones,” She spoke calmly. “You’ll fight the zombies without worry. Fight, and I shall save your lives.” The girl pointed forward.

***

“Haha, look! Another bastard down!” Verena grinned widely as she swung her heavy blade toward the zombie rushing at her. With perfect accuracy, it struck home within the monster’s right eye socket. Rotten blood spewed out as the body dropped into the waters below.

“Careful!”

A volley of bloody arrows flew over Verena’s head, and Verana’s hair turned crimson from using her vampire bloodline. Her lips curled up into a smirk when she saw how many zombies were closing around Verena’s smaller frame.

‘Fifteen at once.’ Verana could feel pride swell inside herself; however, she didn’t show this emotion outwardly.

“Little sister, be wary—you are the admiral!”

Her words fell on deaf ears since Verena was too busy killing these undead beasts. She even decapitated several by cleaving through the spine of each undead and slicing them diagonally. Then, after dispatching three more enemies simultaneously, Verena stomped atop one of their corpses and laughed like a madwoman.

“Sister, how is the battle?”

“The East is in shambles, the North decimated. While the South barely holds.”

“I see,” Verena mumbled with a dark groan, then watched another wave of undead approaching. “They don’t end… my arms feel sore.”

Verena took her blade and thrust it deep within an undead’s chest cavity. The thing let forth an eerie shriek as it tried desperately to grab onto Verena’s arm before collapsing limply upon the deck of the ship. “Big sister… this battle, is it futile?”

“I cannot say…”

“Ha, you speak too much nonsense!” Verena shouted out happily before jumping up into the air once more, landing amongst dozens of charging zombies.

“If we can win, then I should fight harder, like he is!” Verena gestured wildly towards her right, where Asura held off multiple massive undead sea serpents.

But unlike before, instead of watching helplessly without power, Verena could now help. “Fire the cannons!” She called out before a blade sliced her arm, knocking her off balance. “You filthy Bog rat!”

The battle was intense even in the west, where the Silvaran fleet remained unhindered.