Why Did You Summon Me?

The voice was not loud, but it pierced through the ding so clearly, and every one of the students heard it. It automatically stirred a something strange in their heart — a surge of confidence and trust.

The mysterious call had even roused Mr. Bear and Zakum the fox, jolting them both from their rage. Suddenly imbued with a new sense of purpose, the two colossal beasts charged north, barrelling through as many undead as they could in order to clear a path to safety for the students.

The city was still surrounded by a wall of toxic smog, so the students could not run back there. Hence, an open space that was close to the defensive line they had earlier would have to become their temporary abode.

The undead quickly realized what the students intended to do, so they rushed north as well. Soon, the area was filled with the bloodthirsty undead. The number of students was by no means comparable to that of the undead army; they resembled a mosquito hovering next to an elephant!

It was a truly frightening scene. The students had not gone far before they realized that no one could save them; their hearts sunk as they spotted a sea of undead waiting for them. The undead blocking their way were so many that they resembled a thick black wall from afar. This dreadful barricade barred the students only route to the city.

The students’ hopes had been dashed. Their pace slowed, and some female students burst into tears.

The fatigued Northern exchange students gathered around their bald leader. As they gasped for breath, their curious eyes turned to their leader.

The bald leader smiled and said, “Even if it’s oor fate tae die ‘ere, we die as proud Northern men deserving thae Southern boys’ respect! A’right. lads, git ready… ‘N’ charge wi’ me!”

The students with acute hearing suddenly picked up the faint of something tearing through the air. They raised their heads — prompting others to do the same — and saw spinny golden longsword rip through the toxic smog surrounding the city.

It crashed right at the center of the undead army, embedding itself deep into the ground.

A ring of gold light burst out from the sword and spread outward like a shockwave. The undead caught by the light were instantly incinerated into ashes!

When the gold light dispersed, every undead north of the city had died. The students were shocked to see the empty patch of land in front of them. The hopeless situation had been reversed in just a second!

“Good. The students are finally free from harm, for now,” said the Engineer Walker with relief, watching the students through a large magical screen. It showed live footage from one of his surveillance marionettes; this type of marionette was used to view the situation at the frontline.

When the Voidwalkers that Tisdale summoned arrived from Da Xue, the Engineer Walker had hurried to meet them. The magical screen showed Mr. Bear and Zakum the fox guarded the students, who were fleeing north. The worst had passed, and the Voidwalkers heaved huge sighs of relief.

“It is not for nothing that they refer to you as the ‘Sword Saint’,” said the Sorcerer Walker with admiration.

The voice the students had heard and the terrifying longsword strike they had witnessed had both come from the Second Voidwalker. This Voidwalker was from the late Rohlserlian Age, but information on him in historical records was scarce. The tale about this fabled Sword Saint that people were most familiar with was one where he was said to have killed two million enemies, with one sword strike.

Who would have expected this legend to demonstrate his skills after thousands of years of silence? The move was quite basic to him, as well. All he had done was infuse his longsword with his golden combat chi and threw the longsword at the undead as hard as he could. It was a technique so rudimentary that even a squire could do it with ease!

That strike had displayed power as destructive as that of a large-scale Forbidden Spell, annihilating millions of undead in seconds, opening a path for the students to escape!

“Well, I guess that legend which states that you slew two million men with one strike was no exaggeration,” the Engineer Walker said.

“Humans aren’t as stupid as undead; they won’t stand still and make it easy,” the Knight Walker said.

The Second Walker had once again denied the accuracy of the legend; however, a keen observer would realize that he did not deny the ability to perform such a feat. If the humans he fought had a penchant to move in groups, then he really would be able to level two million of them with a single strike.

“That was a really powerful blow, but the trouble has only just begun,” the Engineer Walker said, with worry evident on his face. The reckless students might be safe, for now, but the undead had changed their goal. They realized that they had lost too much manpower on this small group of students, the undead abandoned the pursuit and turned their attention back to Arfin City.

The Knight Walker’s attack was so frightening, it almost sundered the sky. However, the number of undead was still too high, and Arfin city was still surrounded by toxic smog. The city’s defense barrier was gone, and its guards had long since fled their posts.

At the moment, Arfin City’s only line of defense was the Engineer Walker’s marionette army, but they were only five hundred in number. This could not be compared to the sea of undead still alive. Five hundred marionettes were not even enough to encircle Arfin city!

Not only was the lives of Arfin City’s residents in danger, but the students outside the city, who had just been saved, needed someone to lead them back into the city!

The Knight Walker pondered for a while and said “The Engineer Walker and I will remain to protect the city. Sir Caveman Walker and Sir Sorcerer Walker, the two of you shall escort the students to safety. As for that dragon… I’m afraid it has expended all its energy in that unnecessarily flashy performance.”

“Hold on a second! Didn’t you say you only have power for one strike?” The Engineer Walker asked, visibly worried.

“That attack used only half of my power,” the Knight Walker replied calmly and picked up a longsword from the ground. Then, he walked towards the undead army.

The rest of the Walkers shot each other a puzzled look. They shrugged in unison shortly after, and the Engineer bolted after the Knight.

“I guess it’s on us now, buddy. Do you think our armor can hold against that corrosive smog for long enough?” The Sorcerer Walker asked the Caveman, whilst making a show of checking his armor to ascertain its durability. “That fog probably covers at least a thousand meters, so for the sake of our armor, I hope you’re a runner.”

“Runner? Why do we have to run?” The Caveman Walker asked in confusion. “Am I a joke to you?”

A golden mirage of the Caveman Walker suddenly appeared and grabbed the Sorcerer Walker from behind.

“H-hey, what do you think you’re doing?” The Sorcerer Walker exclaimed in alarm.

“Remember: the key to a safe flight is balance,” said the Caveman Walker. He raised his arm and hurled the Sorcerer Walker across the sky like a discus.

” If I had learned to cast a Levitation Spell when I was alive, I wouldn’t have to blast off like this… ” The Sorcerer Walker’s voice echoed from the horizon.

“Ooh, now it’s my turn!” The Caveman Walker muttered to himself and scanned his surrounding for a building tall enough for his own “flight”. His eyes lit up when he saw the Arfin City Church’s brand-new cathedral.

Ever since Da Xue’s founding, Arfin City had developed rapidly with its population soaring every year. As the number of residents—and therefore, worshippers—grew, the Church enjoyed a boost in monetary contributions enough to build a new cathedral next to their original, decrepit one. Not only that, but they also built a soaring tower named “The Staircase to Ascension”, which quickly became a city landmark.

Unfortunately, at the moment, the new cathedral had lost all of its holy, elegant glory as droves and droves of asylum seekers squeezed into the building with all their might.

The Caveman Walker hopped from one rooftop to the other, making his way to the cathedral. He looked at the tower and grinned gleefully, bending his knees forward before leaping into a high jump all the way to the wall of the tower.

He climbed to the top and looked at the horizon from his vantage point. He could not see where the Sorcerer Walker had gone to, but he could see a small troop of Revenants galloping towards the students.

He hollered in the barbarian’s language, “Fear not! I am here!”

He pushed his feet against the tip of the tower and leaped to the direction of the Revenants!

He was so forceful that the entire tower shook mildly as jagged lines cracked from the spot he had taken of, spreading all the way to the tower’s body. A few debris even cracked off and fell onto the head of two hapless fellows below.

It was fortunate that the tower was at least sturdy enough to remain upright after the Caveman had used it as a springboard…

The Caveman Walker, who was coursing through the sky, adjusted himself and landed exactly in the middle of the Revenants like a bomb dropped by a fighter plane. With a boom, a large crater erupted out from the earth and the Revenants sank into the crater.

What came after was pretty predictable—just another one of the Caveman’s R-rated, gory fight scenes. The Caveman Walker was without a weapon, and with his bare hand, he tore through the enemies and ripped them apart.

As the Caveman Walker had fun, the Sorcerer Walker realized he had been thrown over his target destination. Still coursing through the sky, he suddenly felt powerful bursts of energy pulses. A few of them were eerily familiar, like the icy-flame combat chi which only the Warrior Walker could have performed.

“What’s going on? I thought they’re in Duat!” The Sorcerer Walker mumbled to himself.

The bursts never ceased. Instead, they seemed to have intensified as seconds passed, which worried the Sorcerer Walker more and more. Finally, he took out an expensive scroll with an advanced guided-transportation spell written on it from his storage pouch and used it to travel to the direction of the energy pulses.

That was how he met the Scholar Walker.

“What happened to Arfin City in the end? Safe, I hope?” Baiyi asked, stopping the flashback since he already had a grasp of what had happened by this point. All he needed right now would be a conclusion.

“Yes, yes. Safe, of course! The Knight Walker still had one strike left to make, didn’t he?” The Engineer Walker replied weakly with a hint of regret. “But to make the most use out of his one strike, that fella had forced me to send out all of my marionettes into the field as a lure for the undead to gather around, to maximize his area of attack. Yea, sure, the day is saved, with most of the residents and Da Xue unharmed… I just sure wish I could say the same for my precious creations! It did not matter what model they were, he just cut them all through! Sniff, that’s ten-years-worth of hard work from everyone in the Engineering Faculty!”

“Cough, I’m glad that’s the loss,” Baiyi replied flatly before adding, “But what happened next? Who managed to pull the two realms apart again?”

“I suggest you direct your question to your two most treasured children,” The Scholar replied.

Baiyi instinctively turned to stare at Tisdale and Mia, forgetting that other girl who openly called him “Papa”.