Elite Mages’ Academy (Web Novel)

Chapter 225: Holy Soul Summoning

Xiao Lin felt that he might have underestimated the enemy’s IQ. Did he have to be targeted in such a manner after only a slight provocation?

He had to execute the Phantom Step to the fullest, but it was also a very tiring endeavor because he needed to display dozens of footwork combinations in the shortest amount of time.

From the perspective of those bystanders, Xiao Lin was either creeping, advancing, retreating, or moving sideways, with each and every movement appearing as smooth as the flow of water. He did not pause at all because he would surely be struck if he stopped for even a brief second.

Even so, many attacks were still difficult to dodge. After all, the Phantom Step is only the most basic level of body techniques. The dozen or so footwork combinations still had blind spots when facing an attack of such magnitude.

Holy Soul Summoning!

Xiao Lin finally used another skill that was attached to the Holy Soul Sword. The long sword contained the soul of a swordsman, and as long as enough blood stained the weapon, the dead soul within the sword could be activated.

Xiao Lin had killed enough enemies during the earlier fierce battle on the beach. The blood on the blade had not dried up yet and it was the perfect time to activate the skill.

He felt the sword in his hand tremble violently. A low, soft whistle was let out, but was soon drowned in the sound of the howling air friction in the battlefield.

Then, Xiao Lin saw a gaseous mist emanating from the sword. It underwent a rapid change in the air and soon condensed into a completely human appearance. It was a fully armed swordsman, and the heavy armor on his body looked very old, though the épée in his hand glimmered with a cold light.

Xiao Lin tried to get a clear view of that guy’s face through the helmet, but was disappointed to find only a dark, unknown gas inside with two twitchy light green flames. He was very familiar with that kind of flame, for the undead skeletons in The Final Land had the same flame too. After the ordeal, he asked Song Junlang and Lilith about the flame and found out that it was called the soulflame. It was just like Earth’s will-o’-the-wisp and was a typical characteristic of the undead.

Xiao Lin could not help but purse his lips. Although it sounded holy because Lu Renjia named it the Holy Soul Sword, it was plainly obvious that the summoned being was a dead soul. Dead Soul Sword might be more apt a name although it bore little resemblance to an ordinary skeleton soldier.

Of course, he was only making a casual remark to himself. Although Planet Norma abhorred undead creatures, many colonial academies treated the undead as nothing more than a more unique branch of the magic arts.

Xiao Lin was originally worried about whether he could command that undead creature, since he had ample experience in The Final Land and knew quite a bit about the undead. The undead person’s identity or profession became irrelevant after death, because all their consciousness and memory would not be retained once they became the undead.

However, Lu Renjia was a relatively reliable person and would certainly not give a dangerous sword to Xiao Lin. When Xiao Lin hesitated, the undead swordsman also stood in a daze. Spear and axes rained on his body like and yet he still remained motionless. His tattered armor seemed old, but his defensive ability was surprisingly high.

‘Help me defend against attacks.’

Xiao Lin tried giving out an instruction in his heart and soon saw the undead swordsman suddenly raising the heavy sword up high. Xiao Lin subconsciously stepped back a couple of steps to go into a defensive posture, but the next second, the swordsman’s épée had smashed down at the spear and axe in the sky.

Xiao Lin breathed a sigh of relief and finally figured out the method to control the undead swordsman. It seemed that there would be no need to worry as long as the Holy Soul Sword was in his hand.

The subsequent journey became easier with the undead swordsman’s presence. Although its movements seemed a bit clumsy and many attacks could not be blocked, the big undead man was like a human-shaped shield blocking Xiao Lin from the front.

The armor on the undead man’s body was considered to have a high defensive ability, with no gaps in each segment. However, there was no mask on his helmet. Xiao Lin’s worries soon manifested when he saw a spear being thrust right through the face of the undead swordsman some ten seconds later.

The swordsman simply took out the spear, threw it on the ground without making a sound, and continued forward seemingly unimpeded. That scene scared everyone a little, whether it was the monitors, instructors, other students, or enemies still on the fortress.

The natives of Planet Norma were not fearless. Even sturdy orcs with their aggressive nature had their own subjects of awe and fear. The undead was hated by the entire Planet Norma, including the orcs, because the Normans considered the undead to represent bad luck and disaster.

At that moment, Chen Dao’s also felt that the long-range attack by the fortress had been suppressed to its limit, so much so that there was even a relatively long period where they gave in. Xiao Lin was not going to let such an opportunity go of course, so he sprinted at full speed, and finally reached the base of the fortress wall.

This fortress looked rather strange, and as the architects who came with the ship mentioned earlier, the orcs’ craftsmanship level was quite low. Of course, the merfolk had no idea how to build basic buildings either, so those half-fish humanoid creatures usually live in the open air or in the water. Therefore, only the orcs could have built the fortress.

Orcs prefer not to have everything look exactly the same, and they were predisposed to some unique ideas even when building a fortress. However, such creativity would often be regarded as retarded back on Earth.

For example, many decorations such as animal teeth and bones were inserted into the wall of the fortress, perhaps to show the unique beauty and courage of the orcs. Professor Dai also said that the warriors within the orcs’ beastkin would display bones of their animal prey as a sign of their glory.

Xiao Lin finally understood why those architects suggested they just use the agility scroll to improve their climbing ability in order to scale the fortress. If they wanted to climb an ordinary wall using only their bare hands, it would be useless no matter how high their agility was, unless they had something like a floating spell. Sadly, such a spell was a high-level one that many were not yet able to master.

The fortress wall was not like a normal wall. Animal teeth and animal bones inlaid there could be used as support points to scale it.

Xiao Lin tried to grab the nearest tooth. It was about as thick as his thigh and seemed quite firm after he tried gripping it. Thus, he no longer hesitated to jump up after grabbing hold of the beast’s tooth, after which he began climbing according to the arrangement. His sense of balance, jumping ability, and climbing skills had improved considerably thanks to the 40 agility points.

The undead swordsman had no such agility and was weighed down by a full body of armor. Xiao Lin was worried that the swordsman would unwittingly crush the animal teeth, so in the end he gave instructions to the swordsman to stay at the gate of the fortress and wait quietly.