Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
The soldiers above the city walls watched nervously as the pitch-black waves of Undead Creatures gushed toward them.
On the other hand, Rhode was extremely calm because he understood the approximate structure of the enemies. This Undead Army consisted of low-level troops. Even though the Country of Light’s scouts didn’t find any clues about the enemy’s numbers and formation, he knew that the situation wasn’t as complicated as they thought. Each squad consisted of 100 Skeleton Soldiers and a Death Knight was responsible for 10 squads. Rhode deduced that the Necromancer who led this Undead Army was between level 40 and 50, which was based on the 30,000 troops formation. This was common sense for the players who had fought the Country of Darkness. Back then in the mid-stages of the game, the Undead Army had up to tens of thousands of troops as vanguards. But, in fact, they would be glad if most of the troops belonged to their own forces. This was because they would always have the most number of low-level troops due to their snowball strategy. Of course, if one were to include the soldiers between level 5 and 10 that the Necromancers awakened from their graves, their total number would reach a billion… But that would be meaningless.
This was why it was common to see a player pointing at an Undead Army with a million troops and said that there were only thousands of them. They only considered the troops that belonged to the Undead Army and neglected the presence of the worthless troops that were awakened from their graves.
Compared to the army that Cullen led to attack the Land of Atonement, which consisted of the Gargoyles, Bone Griffins, Vampires, Skeletal Trolls, and a Night Wyvern, this bunch of enemies now wasn’t even worth a mention. If Rhode wanted, he could jump over the city wall, slash his way through, and end everything after annihilating the Necromancer. Although the Undead Army would scramble after losing their commander, this wasn’t Rhode’s territory or the Munn Kingdom, after all, so he didn’t give a damn. But… he had no interest in doing his utmost for the Light Parliament.
He was better off seizing the chance and eliminating the Light Parliament.
Rhode swept a glance to Gillian and the latter turned around upon sensing his gaze. Both of them exchanged a look and Rhode gestured to the orderly.
“Get ready to attack.”
“Huh?”
The orderly looked in astonishment and subconsciously gazed ahead.
“The Undead Army is still a distance away. Why are we attacking so soon? Isn’t this… too quick?
He hesitated and at this moment, Rhode repeated.
“Get ready to attack.”
“Yes, Sir.”
Even though he didn’t know what was going through Rhode’s head, he quickly retrieved the bugle from his belt and blew.
Oo… Oo… Oo…!
The bugle echoed in the entire defensive line loudly. The soldiers were as baffled as the orderly and couldn’t understand the meaning behind this command.
The enemies are like black dots in our eyes now. Why must we get ready to attack so soon?
Some of the soldiers turned to the tower to check if the orderly was mistaken. But shortly after, the dazzling flare affirmed that this was undoubtedly an order to launch their attacks.
Despite their doubts, the soldiers held the duties to obey orders. If it was necessary, they would even leap over the city walls and into their deaths. Shortly after, the other towers were also lit with flames. The bugle sounded once again and the soldiers raised their bows instantly. The Country of Light had learned how to deal with the Undead Creatures after losing that many manpower previously. Their soldiers drew their flame arrows and pointed. However, they weren’t paying particular attention to the enemies. Instead, this was just their instinctive behavior as soldiers. In fact, it would be meaningless even if they released the arrows because they wouldn’t be able to hit their enemies.
“What’s going on? What happened?”
On the northern battlefront, the Light Parliament was also surprised to hear the bugle that signaled the launching of attacks because they felt that this was too early. They would normally start defending when the enemies were approaching the city walls… This should be the standard way. But now, the enemies hadn’t even entered the danger zone yet.
Is your brain rusty? The enemies are still so far away. The soldiers can’t possibly keep their bowstrings drawn for half an hour.
“It seems like an order by the young overlord.”
“What a joke. He wants to get ready for attack? He must be kidding.”
Unlike the southern battlefront, the commanders on the northern battlefront disregarded Rhode’s command and signals. However, Rhode wasn’t under the command of the Light Parliament and vice-versa. Even if the commanders were doubtful, they couldn’t do anything about it.
“What does General Bill say about this?”
Andre asked the adjutant. He held the sword hilt and and gazed forward with knitted brows.
“General Bill says to observe the situation and not act rashly.”
The adjutant said and shook his head. Logically speaking, this was the correct response. But…
“Inform the rest to get ready for battle.”
“Sir?”
The adjutant gazed blankly upon hearing Andre’s command.
“I don’t think that man is here to mess with us, especially in this situation. Undead Creatures are unlike humans. Perhaps the man has some ideas. Go!”
“Yes, Sir.”
The adjutant nodded, turned around, and scuttled to pass down Andre’s command.
The soldiers of the southern battlefront swiftly drew their bowstrings despite not knowing the reason behind Rhode’s order. Then, before the generals and representatives of the anti-parliament forces understood the reason, they received the answer—the Undead Army had quickened their pace.
The pitch-black Skeleton Soldiers clutched swords and shields in hands and strode forward in large strides. The calm, quiet river had turned into a raging wave!
“Oh lord. How are they this quick?!”
The soldiers were baffled. The Undead Creatures weren’t mortals, so their maximum speed could even be comparable to the speeding Cavalrymen. Moreover, the possibilities of them being left behind and causing chaos to their formation were minimal due to their strict discipline. In the blink of an eye, the Undead Creatures that were far away had bolted forward!
“Get ready to attack!”
The commanders of the unprepared northern battlefront instantly ordered in panic. At this moment, Rhode extended his right arm and swung down.
“Do it.”
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Countless flame arrows were released into the enemies like a storm and scarlet flares erupted almost immediately. Even though the effects of these flame arrows weren’t as effective as the fire elemental arrows that Lapis created, they shouldn’t be belittled too. The tips of the arrows were soaked in kerosene that was specially modified. Not only would they light up and spread instantly, but their burning duration was also long. Moreover, the putrid corpse oil on the Undead Creatures were the best fuel for ignition.
However, this wasn’t able to stop the Undead Creatures’ aggression. Although many of the Skeleton Soldiers had crumbled, their formation remained perfect without any signs of letting loose. Then, Rhode gave another command.
“Do it.”
Agatha and the Ocean Elves raised their arms. Shortly after, pure water element powers coalesced in their hands. They pushed forward and the powers transformed into a force that engulfed the land. Then, in a series of rumbles, enormous cone-like pillars of ice struck out from the snowy field. They spread forward with sharp edges pointed at the Undead Army.
The first few rows of Skeleton Soldiers were crushed by the pressure from the rear and the ice pillars penetrated their bodies mercilessly. If they were humans, their attack would have failed completely. But this was nothing to the Undead Army. Their eyes burned with spiritual flames and they neglected their companions beneath their feet. They only had one goal!
The ice pillars couldn’t resist them for long. They were like layers of thick glasses which shattered quickly after the Undead Army continued to push forward.
The soldiers were scared witless despite them standing safely above the city walls. Logically speaking, the Undead Army wouldn’t be able to climb up the walls immediately even if they had arrived at the bottom. However, their aggression was too terrifying, which gave the soldiers an illusion that they would make the entire city wall collapse and the soldiers would be submerged in the pitch-black wave.
Although the soldiers had heard about rumors, they finally realized how terrifying the Undead Creatures were after experiencing it for themselves!
Rhode swept a glance to the restless soldiers in the defensive line. In fact, it was great news for him that the soldiers didn’t toss their weapons and flee immediately…
“Gillian.”
Rhode let out an inward sigh and nodded to Gillian. The latter smiled.
“Got it, Master!”
She placed two of her fingers between her lips and blew a sharp whistle.
“Alright, little ones. It’s time for your show!”
The Magma Guards strode toward the edge of the city wall and gazed at the Undead Army. Then, they lifted their right arms, aimed at their targets, and hurled their flame spears like javelins!
Bam! Bam! Bam!
The flame spears streaked across the air and erupted a series of explosions as soon as they struck the enemies. As fire elemental creatures, the might of their flames was much stronger than the flame arrows that the soldiers released. The Undead Army slowed down immediately and many burst into bits from the explosions, causing their tight formation to be scrambled. However, the cannon fodders that served as vanguards were mostly weak corpses that they had awakened from the previous battlefields, so the losses weren’t much at all. If they were to be judged according to Rhode’s card values, they would be around 1 to 2 points in offense and defense, which was completely worthless and could only be relied on for quantity to gain the upper hand.
They finally revealed their ‘true identity’ under the bombardment of the fire elemental creatures. They lost their advantage in quantity and crumbled against the fire elemental creatures’ attacks.
“Oh! Oh! Oh!”
The soldiers above the city walls cheered loudly. Just a few moments ago, they were scared witless, but now, their confidence had boosted and they had forgotten all their worries completely. They hurriedly drew their bowstrings and launched another wave of attack.
It seems like everything is going rather smoothly.
Rhode gazed at the scene in satisfaction. He didn’t activate the Holy Maiden Statues because the cannon fodders wasn’t worthy of them. Moreover, the Ocean Elves and Magma Guards were more than sufficient to take them down. Unless the Undead Army pushed his forces back, he wouldn’t activate them. After all, the enemies would be prepared since they already knew of their existence from the previous battles. Rhode didn’t come here for a war of attrition. If it was possible, he wished to end everything quickly.
On the other hand…
Rhode squinted at the far distance ahead. The Light Parliament had previously rejected his proposal to pay for the rights to use the Holy Maiden Statues and now it seemed like they would be begging for help anytime soon. But would begging be enough?
I wonder how well those idiots from the Light Parliament are doing now.
