The graveyard was dimly lit, mostly shrouded in mist or fog, with only faint moonlight partially visible through the clouds. It created an eerie atmosphere.

  The sparse trees around the graveyard were all rotten, gnarled, and old, almost as if they had recently died or were currently in the process. Other than that, the graveyard was uneven and mossy, with exposed coffins, and the entire environment felt like it was decaying.

  Eric, Lyria, and Livy could see within the graveyard a group of corpse-like, undead figures spread everywhere.

  They seemed humanoid but decaying, with exposed bones, ragged clothing, or decaying flesh, and long, dark, matted hair or tendrils. Their features were mixed but largely grim and skeletal.

  Lyria and Livy’s expressions turned awful as they could smell the disgusting rotting stench from afar—though it wasn’t that far, only a few dozen meters at most—and the smell was unbearable.

  They quickly covered their pretty noses with white towels, stepped back, and slowly hid behind Eric.

  Eric didn’t mind what the little girls were doing as long as they didn’t stab his kidneys from behind.

  He was currently most interested in what he was seeing.

  If he had to be honest, these undead had actually surpassed the undead cosplay and pictures he had seen in his past world, which was shocking, as he came from the advanced 21st century!

  But nonetheless, the smell was so revolting that his initial plan to become friends with the Undead Legions had to be postponed.

  Maybe when the undead or he managed to find some top-tier perfume, then there might be a possible future between them.

  At this moment, all five Mana Wielders of the town, except Jarvis, were fighting with weapons in their hands.

  Three of them were fighting one undead, and the other two were fighting another. Although these undead seemed very slow and couldn’t land a single proper hit on the Mana Wielders, they weren’t falling down quickly either, almost as if their bodies were made of steel.

  Eric, Lyria, and Livy soon noticed another strange thing.

  Within the dim moonlight, though they couldn’t see all the undead, they could see at least a few dozen. These undead were spread across the area, standing still in their places and not attacking any Mana Wielders, even as the Mana Wielders decapitated other undead.

  Perhaps their brains had already been conquered by maggots, making them clumsy and dumb.

  The town’s Mana Wielders were quite amazing and extremely fast. Sadly, due to the fog, it was difficult to see their skill. Eric, Lyria, and Livy felt pity, but overall, these Mana Wielders could easily take care of these brainless, rotting humans without Bella Noll’s help.

  "Oh my, Cooper bastard is fighting,” Riya suddenly commented. “He’s really become one-handed—serve him right!" She laughed, enjoying the suffering of others.

  Riya had calmed down after roughly checking Eric’s condition. He was healing at a rapid pace, though all his body parts were extremely drained and tired, as if he had gone through extremely harsh full-body training. But this was nothing to him. Though, due to his current terrible condition, he could no longer fight these undead—she doubted any of them now even wished to get close to the disgusting stench the undead were emitting.

  Eric nodded while checking out Cooper.

  Cooper was currently fighting with a heavy sword in his left hand, and it seemed he had removed his right wrist entirely.

  Fighting alongside Cooper was another man who looked somewhat similar—clean-shaven, a bit healthier-looking, and wearing a long-sleeved white shirt, a dark vest, and dark pants.

  Eric guessed it was Cooper’s brother, Stuart Eldridge.

  Eric didn’t hate Cooper—he didn’t like wasting time or energy on hating anyone for too long, but if he managed to become a Mana Wielder before leaving the town, he would definitely remove the entire Eldridge family. Otherwise, this ‘noble’ family was bound to create ‘noble’ troubles for the orphanage after Bella Noll died.

  'Hm... I should pass the Mana Sensing Training to Hannah and Wilburn. They might be talentless according to the old granny, but it’s still better than nothing.'

  Stolen novel; please report.

  Eric, Lyria, Livy, Bella Noll, and Jarvis Laroche silently watched the other Mana Wielders’ battle.

  The reason Jarvis didn’t join in was that it wasn’t necessary. If either team were in danger, he could swiftly provide support.

  Just as Eric was hoping someone would give him a bucket of popcorn—out of nowhere, there was a thunderous roar from deep within the graveyard.

  Bella Noll’s eyes narrowed. Her guess had been correct—the leader was born tonight, but this leader of this Umbroxia turned out to be a mid-stage Rank 2 Creature!

  Eric, Lyria, and Livy felt their bodies vibrating just from the sound waves.

  Eric was amazed. The new undead was definitely a minor-elite boss!

  Riya said worriedly, "Can Grandma defeat it?"

  Eric, Lyria, and Livy turned toward Bella Noll almost simultaneously, but Bella Noll’s eyes were focused far away in the distance, so they also turned their gaze there.

  A certain coffin far away was pushed open.

  Eric couldn’t see properly, but he felt the coffin was pretty big and placed nearly at the center of the graveyard. It seemed well-maintained, so it probably belonged to someone important.

  Jarvis’s expression changed. “Great-Grandfather!” he cried out with pain and remorse.

  His face was completely pale—he hadn’t thought this event would disturb a Mana Wielder’s corpse, as all the undead so far had been mortal corpses.

  'Oh… It’s his ancestor,' Eric acknowledged in his mind.

  The creature shoved aside the top of the coffin and crawled out.

  After coming out, it roared again—this time so loudly that it shook the dead trees within the graveyard.

  Eric, Lyria, and Livy felt their bodies quivering, not from terror, but from the shockwaves of these wild howls. Thankfully, their ears could still take this level of assault.

  As the creature crawled out, dark curtains—like shadows—rushed in from everywhere and tried to merge with the newly awakened undead.

  Bella Noll could clearly see the remaining Umbrixa Death Energy rushing toward the Rank 2 creature and merging with this Umbrixa leader.

  The five Mana Wielders no longer had the courage to fight further and quickly regrouped with Jarvis and Bella Noll.

  All the Mana Wielders were filled with panic and alarm—they could clearly see that the newly awakened undead was their town founder, Chris Laroche! And what was even worse was that he was a mid-stage Rank 2 Warrior!

  Mortal undead were already tough to kill, but now a Rank 2 had appeared. Perhaps even if that creature sat back and did nothing for an hour, they still wouldn’t be able to injure it, no matter how much Mana they Imbibe into their weapons—and they didn’t even have much Mana left, as they had been protecting their minds from the foul energy’s influence.

  They were filled with trepidation and dread. If they couldn’t take down the Rank 2 undead, they would have to flee the town immediately, in the middle of the night. Without a doubt, a cruel massacre would soon take place, countless mortals would die, and the entire town would be reduced to ruins.

  They looked pleadingly at Bella Noll, as only she could deal with this. Even Cooper wore the same expression; he needed to do whatever was possible to protect his own Eldridge family first before anything else.

  “M-Madam B-Bella…” Jarvis Laroche stammered, his teeth chattering.

  He felt this was the most dreadful nightmare. The town his own great-grandfather had founded would be destroyed by his own hands! What kind of cruel joke was this?! Even his grandfather and father, who were already dead, wouldn’t be able to swallow this peacefully!

  Bella Noll sighed. She was already planning to use her best attack, but now she needed to pour a considerable amount of Mana into it as well—otherwise, she wouldn’t be able to eradicate a Rank 2 Mana-Wielder Undead. Their Constitution stat was much higher than it should be, nearly reaching the early stage of Rank 3. The only good thing was that, compared to a Mana-Wielder, it wasn’t a Mana Beast Rank 3—or else, it would’ve been a completely hopeless matter. Even ten of her couldn’t harm, much less defeat, a Rank 3 Mana Beast.

  Bella Noll stepped forward and began walking toward the center of the graveyard, toward the Umbrixa leader. Her steps were calm, and she tightly held her blade, Juliane, in her left hand.

  All the remaining undead had started gathering behind their ‘leader.’ They were like soldiers waiting for their commander to guide them to gore.

  The Rank 2 undead kept swallowing the black shadows merging with him. His body bulged, growing bigger and bigger—within moments, he reached 11 feet in height!

  Bella Noll didn’t even flinch as she entered the gate. She halted some distance away from the new 11-foot undead. Her left hand held her blade, and her right hand grasping the hilt, ready to be drawn—but she didn’t. She paused, holding that posture.

  Eric and everyone else near the gate watched in shock.

  Eric's eyes bulged at such a large humanoid creature. It was nearly twice his height! He suddenly felt his height was alright—no, it was too little for this world!

  The creature's presence was so creepy that even the large graveyard, which was already gloomy, suddenly became gloomier. Almost as if a black ocean had been dropped inside the graveyard, covering everything.

  Even the three Mortals present could feel the vile, nasty presence or aura, though thankfully they could still see clearly.

  Eric, Lyria, and Livy had never seen or heard anything like this, nor had they imagined it possible. While they were shocked, they didn’t notice—all six Mana Wielders beside them were trembling with horror and fear to the point of losing control, while they, mere mortals, remained completely fine.

  There was not a single trace of fear in Eric, Lyria, or Livy, nor did they panic, almost as if this were an everyday sight for them.

  Riya, too, missed noticing this strange situation, as she was also gaping at the sight of such a large, 'living' humanoid creature for the first time.

  The 'fear'—or rather, the 'pressure'—that the Mana Wielders faced was psychological in nature and could not be guarded against by Mana.

  The mid-stage Rank 2 Chris Laroche, Umbrixa’s Undead leader, was something between a Mana Wielder and a Mana Beast. It didn’t possess the Spiritual Pressure that Mana Wielders could wield, but it had the psychological pressure that Mana Beasts carried.

  This pressure could break lower-capability beings into utter dread and fright, rendering them unable to resist, much less fight, and even if they could fight, they wouldn’t be able to use their full strength.

  The current Rank 2 Undead Leader was releasing this pressure unconsciously and uncontrollably.

  Bella Noll hadn’t done anything to shield Eric, Lyria, or Livy from this pressure, yet they were completely fine. And since everyone’s focus was on the upcoming battle, none noticed such an odd occurrence.

  After completing its full transformation, the towering Chris Laroche Undead strode toward Bella Noll, as if it knew who to target first. The Mortal Undead followed behind the Rank 2 Undead Leader, maintaining a gap of just a few meters.

  Bella Noll didn’t move and held her posture.

  She suddenly sighed with unspoken sorrow.

  While slowly caressing the blade handle with her right hand, she murmured, "Juliane, I guess I need your help one final time. I will follow you soon—in a few more years. Wait for me..."

  The blade trembled as if it recognized Bella Noll's emotions, and with full acceptance of its death, it spoke with an emotion that only Bella Noll understood.

  ‘Take your time, I will wait for you!’

  Bella Noll chuckled at Juliane's resolve and patience and didn’t speak further.

  Suddenly, the dark area brightened with white light, which startled everyone, including the undead.

  They all focused and noticed that beneath Bella Noll’s feet, a translucent white circle had appeared out of nowhere. It encircled her within a radius of two to three meters.

  It was mystical, magical, and mesmerizingly beautiful. Various strange symbols were marked all over it, and it whirled around gently.

  It almost looked as if it were the only light present in that dark, eerie place.

  The giant Undead paused—then roared at Bella Noll with rage, as if suddenly sensing a massive threat from the tiny woman before it.

  It charged toward Bella Noll with violent, heavy steps that shook nearly the entire cemetery.

  Undead minions followed behind, but they weren’t as fast as the Rank 2 Undead, who swiftly appeared in front of Bella Noll.

  The moment it appeared, it raised its right hand and punched toward Bella Noll with its bulging, rotting fist.