Chapter 57: The Price of Annihilation

A grotesquely twisted face loomed directly before her. Little Eagle thrust her sword forward, striking the target squarely in the abdomen.

Had this opponent still been human, such a blow would have been sufficient to fell them, yet it was not so now.

“Roar!”

The target roared, discarding its weapon to seize the sharp blade impaled within its own body with both hands.

Unlike the living, the undead possessed an inherent advantage: they felt no pain.

Furthermore, manipulated by their creator, they remained utterly indifferent to even their own complete annihilation.

Under such circumstances, each undead was willing to sacrifice themselves, if it meant their companions could succeed in killing Little Eagle.

They proved far more formidable in death than they ever were in life!

While the target struggled to withdraw its sword, an undead creature behind Little Eagle lunged forward, thrusting its weapon directly at her waist.

Acutely aware of the imminent threat, Little Eagle swiftly raised her left leg high behind her, the shoe on her foot now shimmering with a layer of magic.

Thump!

The undead’s fierce lunge with its spear was halted by Little Eagle’s single foot.

The reinforcing magic ensured Little Eagle remained entirely unharmed by the impact.

Had the undead behind her still been alive, it would undoubtedly have questioned its very existence in sheer disbelief.

Little Eagle did more than merely block; she then rapidly lifted the tip of her shoe before kicking down with formidable force.

The horizontally held spearhead was instantly driven downwards by her kick, and in the blink of an eye, her descending shoe pinned it firmly to the ground.

No matter how much force the undead exerted, it proved utterly incapable of reclaiming control of its weapon.

While necromancy transformed the deceased into the undead, it conferred no increase in their inherent strength.

Ultimately, if they were common soldiers in life, they remained mere common monsters in death, possessing only the advantage of numbers.

If this were their total number, Little Eagle felt entirely confident in eradicating them all…

Two sword-wielding undead assailed her simultaneously from both the left and right.

In the very next instant, Little Eagle released her grip, momentarily abandoning her own weapon.

As the twin blades descended, Little Eagle bent low and leaned backward, narrowly yet entirely evading their lethal edges.

Concurrently, she extended her arms in a cross, each hand seizing an arm of a separate undead.

With but a slight exertion of force, the sickening sound of cracking bones echoed. The reality, however, was far more gruesome than the auditory experience suggested.

Little Eagle ripped the arms directly from the bodies of both undead.

The twin swords clattered free from the grotesquely twisted, severed right hands that could no longer be said to ‘grip’ them.

Ignoring the severed limbs, Little Eagle snatched both swords before they could hit the ground, transforming them into her temporary weapons.

With an unmoving stance, she spun both weapons in her hands, imbuing them with raw power as they revolved.

Immediately, the twin blades crossed and plunged forward, each striking an undead creature with its companion’s weapon.

The power she had infused moments before was partially released, causing magic to swell within the undead’s bodies until it erupted from within.

Boom! Boom!

Once utterly pulverized, the enemy would cease to pose any further threat.

Little Eagle understood this as ‘utter annihilation’!

She was, without a doubt, intimately familiar with the means of destroying the undead.

Left and right were dealt with, now for front and back!

With her foot still pinning one, and her right hand now free, the enemies before and behind her were able to launch renewed attacks.

It was worth noting:

Having discarded its weapon earlier, the undead creature in front, unable to bend and retrieve it, simply lunged forward like a wild beast.

Before they could succeed, Little Eagle’s left hand moved backward, while her right hand moved forward.

Her left palm, sweeping behind her, pushed and slapped the sword hilt, sending it careening away.

A spear was longer than a sword; a mere stab would not be enough to strike the undead.

Coupled with her desire to preempt her opponent and deny it any chance of retaliation, Little Eagle acted decisively.

The hand in front, however, required no such intricate maneuver; a direct thrust sufficed.

There was just one crucial detail: she mustn’t forget to retrieve her weapon!

As both swords plunged into the undead creatures, Little Eagle, in that same instant, flung her right leg upward.

Rip!

A distinct sound arose as Little Eagle’s own silver sword, propelled by her powerful kick, slid upward.

Or rather, it sliced upward!

The undead’s torso was bisected from within.

Moreover, the silver sword continued its upward trajectory, severing both its neck and head in a single, instantaneous stroke.

This alone, of course, was insufficient. Both the creature in front and the one behind would soon be utterly pulverized by the subsequent magical detonation.

With these two dispatched, their companions remained.

Before the nascent encirclement could fully form, Little Eagle’s form blurred, vanishing from her original position.

Just then, a sudden gust of wind swept through the air, carrying away even the silver longsword that had been kicked aloft.

When she next materialized in the undead’s sight, Little Eagle stood outside their forming perimeter, her hand tightly gripping the silver sword.

The other two swords?

They had merely been temporary acquisitions, and with the small amount of power infused into them now expended, Little Eagle simply abandoned them.

A Legion Commander, observing her relentless slaughter, found himself convinced that Little Eagle was nothing short of a monster.

Not only did she still possess strength after such prolonged combat, but she had yet to fall into any disadvantage.

As more and more undead fell beneath her blade, the Legion Commander’s concern deepened significantly.

No hint of worry, however, could be discerned on You’s face.

Witnessing the final wave of undead clawing their way from beneath the earth, he exclaimed with unrestrained joy:

“It seems they’ve all arrived!”

You, unlike some of the other Legion Commanders, did not feel a surge of revulsion born from an aversion to the undead.

In fact, his reaction bordered on exhilaration!

You’s current good mood wasn’t rooted in the notion of endlessly deployable undead.

In truth, while necromancy could indeed transform corpses into the undead, the magic itself possessed inherent limitations.

Only corpses that remained entirely intact could be animated by the spell.

For instance:

Even a single severed hand or a detached head was not considered utterly destroyed.

However, if reduced to dust and fragments, then nothing more could be done.

By the same token, those undead pulverized by Little Eagle would assuredly be unable to fight again, being truly dead in every conceivable sense.

You’s delight stemmed from his estimation:

That Little Eagle, despite her prowess, would be unable to contend with such an overwhelming number of adversaries.

After all, the undead present here included not only those Little Eagle had personally slain, but also the soldiers killed by Wang and the demonic horde.

Given how long this battle had raged, to claim that every single corpse remained entirely intact was clearly unrealistic.

Just as You declared with a sneer:

“If not two hundred thousand, then around one hundred seventy to one hundred eighty thousand. You’ll die with them!”

If You believed his taunts would go unanswered, he was gravely mistaken indeed.

“I’ve already slain over eighty thousand. At most, a hundred thousand remain, and naturally, I’ll kill them all too!”

Even amidst her ongoing slaughter, Little Eagle caught a glimpse of the man’s expression out of the corner of her eye, finding him utterly unremarkable.

She had merely spoken a single sentence, yet the smile vanished instantly from his face…

Kill them all!

At any cost!

At this juncture, Little Eagle’s focus was no longer on any individual’s head.

‘I must eliminate these hundred thousand undead! If they breach our defenses and spread elsewhere, everyone will collapse…’

This was the obligation of the strong, and her personal responsibility.

Even having slain hundreds of thousands of enemies by this point, she could not cease her relentless sword swings.

Her sword pierced a body, then shattered it with a burst of magic.

She continued to repeat her established method.

Even as her entire body became drenched in blood, her speed never faltered.

Such a feat could not be achieved by mere physical instinct; Little Eagle was sustaining her state purely through sheer force of will.

Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill…

The longer they observed, the more profound the fear gripping the various Legion Commanders grew.

To have slain eighty thousand and still face one hundred thousand more—the reversal of these numbers sent a chill of dread through their very souls.

Seventy thousand, sixty thousand, fifty thousand… The remaining undead dwindled rapidly.

If anything remained constant, it was the unwavering sight of the demoness’s relentless slaughter in their eyes.

“Ha, ha-huff.”

Finally, for the first time, her breathing grew ragged.

The hand clutching her sword undeniably trembled just then.

Through magic that enhanced his hearing and vision, You did not miss this fleeting moment of Little Eagle’s deteriorating condition.

Even if temporary, it was enough for him to act.

The sword swung out once more. It was at this precise moment that a shadow abruptly detached from the ground, hurtling toward Little Eagle with terrifying speed.

Rip!

It was a gruesome, bloody head, and the sound was its maw clamping down on Little Eagle’s right arm.