Dozens of miles away, the Borderland defensive position.
Holy light slowly gathered in Seraphina’s palm, forming a blinding stream of light. The light wrapped around Seraphina’s entire body, and she flew off in the direction the scout had pointed earlier.
‘Yisela’s aura is so faint.’
Seraphina had once planted a protective spell on Yisela—a special ability unique to Sheng Nu, allowing her to sense the other’s exact location and condition within a radius of fifty miles.
But now, that connection was slowly breaking apart.
Her heart was filled with anxiety.
When Seraphina saw the once-strong defensive position appear before her eyes, she came to an abrupt halt, her pupils suddenly constricting.
The position she saw before her was a eerily silent ruin.
The once orderly and solemn Knights Order formation had vanished without a trace, replaced only by corpses lying crisscrossed on the ground.
Their armor was shattered, weapons scattered everywhere. Some of the dead still maintained their battle posture—kneeling on the ground, both hands gripping their swords tightly.
The defensive fortifications in front of the position had been torn apart by a violent force.
Shattered stones mixed with charred soil, and the air was thick with a pungent, choking smell of blood.
There was also a stench left by residual dark magic.
That odor was like seawater that had gone foul for a long time, sticking greasily to the nasal passages, impossible to shake off.
Seraphina’s throat tightened instantly.
This wasn’t even a battle.
It was a one-sided massacre.
“How is this possible!”
Seraphina’s voice carried a faint tremor.
What level of attack could cause such a brutal situation?
The Knights Order had at least three gold-rank knight commanders stationed here, and there was also a platinum-rank defensive barrier in place.
Even facing a platinum-rank magic beast, they shouldn’t have been completely unable to fight back.
Unless… the opponent had diamond-rank combat power.
This thought was like a bucket of ice water, pouring from the top of Seraphina’s head all the way down to the soles of her feet.
She took a deep breath, desperately suppressing the shock in her heart.
Seraphina’s hands quickly formed seals. An immensely powerful surge of holy light magic burst from her body into the sky, condensing high above into a giant eye emitting a gentle yet oppressive radiance—the Eye of Holy Light.
The eye slowly turned, scanning every minute detail of the entire battlefield.
Charred craters, broken flags, trampled holy emblems!
Every trace left behind seemed to silently tell of the fierce battle that had occurred here.
The Eye of Holy Light continued to extend its gaze to the edge of the battlefield.
Then, the eye caught something.
Seraphina’s body stiffened, and a cold sweat broke out on her forehead.
In the shadows cast by the ruins, a tall figure was pacing leisurely back and forth.
That figure was draped in tattered pitch-black armor, covered in scratches and cracks from long ago, as if it had crawled out of an ancient battlefield.
In its hand, it held a great sword wrapped in ominous black energy. The mist rising from the blade twisted and writhed in the air like a living creature.
Frost.
But the most terrifying thing wasn’t its equipment.
It was the aura radiating from its entire body.
It was a chilling, suffocating deathly aura that seemed to want to devour everything alive.
It didn’t even need to move. Just standing there caused the surrounding air to grow cold, and a thin layer of frost formed on the surface of the rubble.
That was something that only existed in legends—a death knight.
And around it, five figures radiating the oppressive pressure of high-level platinum-rank magic beasts stood silently, like loyal guards.
“A death knight!”
“And five platinum-rank ones!”
Seraphina muttered to herself, her voice thick with disbelief.
How could such a thing be possible?
How could magic beasts of this level appear in this place at the same time?
A death knight was a legendary undead creature, forged by sacrificing tens of thousands of living souls.
A platinum-rank magic beast was enough to destroy an entire town.
Such a combination would be a catastrophe in any country.
Why were they appearing on the border of the Holy Light Kingdom?
A thought flashed through Seraphina’s mind like lightning.
‘Could it be commanded by the Mo Wang himself?’
No, that wasn’t right.
Hadn’t that Mo Wang girl been beaten back by Yisela and retreated deep into the Monster Forest?
Moreover, the Mo Wang had always hated the Undead Race with a passion; many of her subordinates had been converted by the undead. How could she possibly mix with the undead?
Then who was it?
Who had the ability to mobilize such terrifying power?
A series of questions exploded in Seraphina’s mind, but there was no time to think carefully now.
Because the Eye of Holy Light had captured another scene.
At the other end of the battlefield, two platinum-rank magic beasts were charging with clear purpose toward Yisela’s direction.
They were running extremely fast. Yisela was fleeing for her life.
Seraphina’s face turned pale instantly.
No time.
She made a decision immediately, touching her fingertip to send a beam of holy light communication straight to the Temple of Holy Light.
The connection was quickly established, and the other end transmitted the Temple Master’s calm yet somewhat heavy voice.
“Temple Master Teacher!”
Seraphina spoke very quickly, her voice barely concealing her anxiety.
“The Borderland defensive position has been completely annihilated!”
“A diamond-rank death knight has been found on site, along with five high-level platinum-rank magic beasts!”
“I request an immediate call for aid from all countries!”
There was a brief silence on the other end.
The Temple Master’s voice came again.
“I have received the intelligence you sent.”
“Seraphina, stay where you are immediately and await reinforcements.”
“Remember, no matter what happens, you must absolutely not let that death knight enter the town area.”
“You must do your utmost to disrupt it at the Borderland, delay its time, and wait for reinforcements to arrive.”
“But Temple Master!”
“Yisela and the others…”
Seraphina was about to continue when the image captured by the Eye of Holy Light made her forcibly swallow the rest of her words.
The two platinum-rank magic beasts had already crossed the last defense line.
They were…far too close to Yisela.
“Temple Master, I…!”
Seraphina’s voice began to tremble.
“Seraphina.”
The Temple Master’s tone turned heavier.
“This is an order.”
An order.
Seraphina closed her eyes.
She cut off the communication, her fingers trembling.
This was the first time in over a decade that she had disobeyed an order from the Temple Master.
But she felt no regret.
‘I’ll apologize to Teacher when I get back.’
‘If I can make it back.’
Seraphina opened her eyes. Holy light converged beneath her feet, about to transform into a streak of light that would shoot toward the direction Yisela had fled.
Just then—
“Boom——!!!”
A muffled roar, as if from the depths of hell, exploded without warning right beside her ears.
That sound didn’t come from outside—it exploded from within her bones, from her blood, from the deepest part of her soul.
It pierced through her eardrums, through her skull, detonating directly in Seraphina’s consciousness.
She turned her head in terror.
That towering death knight had somehow already blocked her path directly ahead.
It hadn’t even moved—no, it had moved.
But its movements were so fast that Seraphina couldn’t see them clearly at all.
One second it was at the edge of the ruins, the next it was standing right there.
The space around it twisted violently.
With it as the center, a black energy storm visible to the naked eye erupted with a roar, flinging rubble and dust within a hundred meters into the air.
That great sword, dragged on the ground, was slowly lifted by the death knight.
Just that simple action triggered a violent tremor in the surrounding space.
Something was wrong.
Seraphina’s heart sank to the bottom.
Undead, even high-level ones, rarely possessed such clear intelligence and purpose.
Most of them just acted on instinct—killing, devouring, and converting.
But this death knight, from the moment it appeared, had a very clear goal.
To block her.
To prevent her from leaving, from providing support, from saving Yisela.
Who could it be?
Who was controlling all this from behind the scenes?
Who was so determined to kill Yisela?
Seraphina clenched her fists. Holy light gathered in her palm once more, this time even fiercer and more resolute than before.
She looked up at the figure standing in her way. Her golden eyes reflected the eye sockets burning with ghostly green flames.
‘Whoever you are.’
‘Don’t think you can stop me.’
The battle was about to begin.
And what Seraphina didn’t know was that this battle would push her into a desperate situation.