End of the Magic Era
Chapter 91: Fear

After a short spatial distortion, Lin Yun once again set foot onto the Bone Plane.

The dark crimson crescent moon had already fallen, but the gloomy sky was still giving off a suffocating feeling. As a sea of black clouds was covering the land and cold breezes carrying a rotten smell were blowing past, Lin Yun couldn't help pulling at his black robe. The soft and damp soil under his feet that was mixed with rotten weeds and dead leaves was emitting a disgusting stench.

The surroundings of the Dark Iron Vein were filled with a sea of Skeleton Warriors, and although the Bone Devil was still sleeping underground, the death aura it was emitting was tangible. Even Lin Yun felt that the atmosphere was suffocating. This kind of high-level undead was very powerful, its strength nearing the High Mage Rank, and it could create a crushing pressure simply by emitting its death aura.

Fortunately, Lin Yun didn't have any intention to provoke the Bone Devil on this trip.

Lin Yun's target was the sea of Skeleton Warriors.

Lin Yun had cast Detect Undead the second his feet touched the ground.

'Ten thousand Undead Warriors at the very least…' Lin Yun was a Great Mage now, so his detection spells were far sharper than before, and he also had a better understanding of the black wasteland. In a short moment, all the nearby undead creatures appeared in Lin Yun's mind.

The entire black wasteland and over ten thousand Skeleton Warriors were divided into several dozen areas of various sizes. Apart from the Bone Devil's area, Lin Yun marked the others as hunting grounds.

The first one Lin Yun went for was the nearest area from the Plane Path. Nearly fifty Skeleton Warriors were gathered there.

Lin Yun chanted a few lines and a Flame Barrier instantly rose up, followed by a Flame Burst landing exactly in the path of the Skeleton Warriors. An explosion thundered out as flames blossomed amidst the dozens of skeletons.

At that moment, only flames could be seen in the sky as they fell onto the black wasteland. About a dozen skeletons were unable to move, and they eventually turned to ashes from the unforgiving heat.

Right as he cast that Flame Burst spell, Lin Yun was already prepared. Two lights, one blue and one red, were spiralling around him, the Ice Fire Shield. Lin Yun knew that a Flame Barrier couldn't completely stop the undead lifeforms, which were unafraid of death. He would have to endure the crazy counterattack from the Skeleton Warriors now that they had been alerted.

Sure enough, a dozen skeletons were already on the move before the flames of the Flame Burst fell down. The flaming barrier was unable to stop their path. After initially losing some among their number, they quickly rushed out of the Flame Barrier's encirclement. They were less than fifty meters away from Lin Yun.

Lin Yun kept chanting, casting one Flame Spear after the other at the Skeleton Warriors at the forefront. He then started to retreat while preparing another Flame Burst.

Lin Yun had only been using Fire Magic so far.

Those combat techniques came from – Explanation of the Max Formula –. The Flame Tyrant believed that in a fight against the undead, it was better for one to use Fire Magic, because firstly, Fire Magic itself was the bane of the undead, and secondly, using a great amount of Fire Spells would rouse the Fire Elements in the surroundings, increasing the elemental affinity for fire magic.

This would create an environment suitable for a mage's battle which would not only increase the might of Fire Magic, but would also weaken the undead.

That battle strategy could sum up the entirety of the Flame Tyrant Max's life experiences of battling the undead.

After falling back for ten meters, Lin Yun's Flame Burst was ready to be cast again. Now, he was only waiting for those skeletons to approach so that he could bathe them in fire.

But, at this time...

The group of Skeleton Warriors that was rushing towards him suddenly stopped. Moreover, their Soul Fires all twitched, just like candle flames flickering in the wind. It looked like they would extinguish with just the slightest disturbance.

Then, the Skeleton Warriors started retreating.

"What the!" Lin Yun was shocked by the change, but he couldn't just watch them. Almost as if it was a reflex, Lin Yun forcefully interrupted his Flame Burst as he was about to chant the last sentence and turned it into a Flame Barrier instead.

The Flame Barrier rose up, yet the retreating skeletons didn't hesitate at all, rushing straight through the raging flames.

None of the Skeleton Warriors turned back, as if they felt that Lin Yun was more frightening than a Flame Burst or a Flame Barrier... as if they would rather go through the Flame Barrier than turn around and confront Lin Yun.

The damage dealt by the Flame Barrier was shocking. With the active Fire Elements, the power of that Flame Barrier had risen an entire rank. Thirty Skeleton Warriors went in, but less than ten came out. Lin Yun only had to use a few more Flame Spears to deal with the remaining Skeleton Warriors.

Lin Yun couldn't understand why the Skeleton Warriors who were rushing at him suddenly turned around and ran away.

'Their Soul Fires were flickering, what did it mean? If I'm not wrong, that would only happen to the undead when they are on the verge of death or are completely terrified,' he recalled.

'They certainly weren't on the verge of death. They were running very quickly when they turned around, they must have had plenty of energy,' he reasoned.

'But if they weren't on the verge of death, wouldn't that mean that they were utterly frightened?'