On the 8th of May, Tasman's army was basically assembled. The Undead soldiers gathered from all over the country were stationed near the capital under the leadership of the feudal lords. More than ten thousand Undead soldiers were lined up outside the city walls, but they were far less noisy than the human troops preparing for battle. If one were to look over from the city walls, the only difference one could feel was the rows of tents and the occasional walking crowd.
The Undead who did not need food were not 'perpetual motion machines'. Although the entire Undead army did not have any troops to transport food, every Undead needed to absorb Tasman's unique 'aura of death' to maintain their own energy.
The 'aura of death' near the capital was extremely rich, but once they left the Gondola Mountain Range, the Undead would also face the problem of energy consumption. Because of this, the Undead Parliament had been debating for a long time.
After all, ever since the Undead appeared in the Gondola Mountain Range, it had been more than seven hundred years since they left this area, which was rich in 'aura of death'. The Undead who went out on missions could nourish themselves with crystal fragments, but a large-scale march could not be so extravagant. Even though Augustine had long since given the solution of large-scale replenishment using magic arrays, the Parliament was still debating about it.
After all, this was also a kind of 'logistics', and every decision had to offend countless nobles.
Fortunately, the situation in the Parliament had gradually become clear. Augustine's constant pressure had brought the discussion to an end, and the second batch of conscription and Undead conversion missions had been confirmed, indicating that the war was about to enter a new stage.
But no matter what the higher-ups decided, Lord Poch, as the 'Shepherd', was very distressed about the mission targets.
He had just given a series of targets to the stewards of his territory, and it was already good enough that they could complete these missions, which were more than in previous years. Who knew that they would make things worse … He would probably have to take out most of his savings over the years to fill this hole.
All lords were greedy. Although he was extremely reluctant, Poch was not stupid. At this juncture, if he did not complete the mission given by Emperor Augustine, the name of this territory might change next year …
He knew very well that he was just a puppet of the Undead Empire, so he had never thought of 'establishing his own territory' or 'breaking away from control'.
"I still can't avoid it when it's time to bleed …"
Tagni City was a small town without even city walls. However, for a baron like Porch, it was prosperous enough. At this time, the house he was in was dry and comfortable because of the fire. It was much more comfortable than the houses in the supermarket that the civilians lived in.
Porky had been troubled by the past few days, and now he just wanted to relax. But just as he got up, he heard the faint sound of a bell outside the house.
The town's bell would only ring during major festivals or sirens. Pocky was stunned for a moment and was about to walk out of the house to take a look when he saw the butler rushing into the house with a panicked expression.
"Master, there are, there are, there are enemies attacking outside …"
"Enemy? What enemy? "
Pocky frowned. It wasn't like he had never fought a war before. Sometimes, conflicts between nobles needed to be resolved through a few battles. But at this crucial moment when Augustine the Great was preparing to send out his troops, who would be so blind as to jump out and cause trouble?
"Why are you panicking? Inform Bolami and the Horton Knights and have them resolve the problem immediately! "
There were two powerful knights in Baron Poch's manor and close to a hundred private soldiers, so there was no need to fear any ambush.
"But, but … Bolami and Horton were just found dead in their bedrooms!"
"What did you say?!"
Pocky couldn't stay calm anymore and grabbed the butler, "What the hell happened! Tell me clearly! "
"Master, I don't know what exactly happened. Just now, there was a huge commotion outside the town. It was said that thousands of soldiers were attacking. I wanted to inform the two knights to get ready, but the servants found that they were all killed in their own bedrooms …"
"Dead?"
Pocky immediately realized that this was a premeditated attack. He immediately picked up his longsword and asked the butler to gather the remaining private soldiers together. Under the protection of more than fifty soldiers, they mounted their horses and went to inform the necromancer guarding the place. But before he could leave the manor, Baron Pocky saw a crowd coming from all directions …
"Why … are there so many people?"
He had tens of thousands of subjects under his rule, but these subjects were scattered in various villages. It was impossible for them to gather together on a normal day. Now, there were at least two thousand people in front of him, and the small manor was completely surrounded. Even if most of these people were holding farming tools, Lord Pocky felt a deep sense of despair.
"Traitor! The culprit! "
"Butcher who colludes with the undead!"
"Disgrace to mankind!"
The slogans of the crowd made Baron Pocky's expression change. Recalling that the messages from the surrounding butlers seemed to have been delayed in the past few days, he suddenly realized that there might be a collective rebellion in the territory under his rule …
But at this time, he didn't despair. He immediately ordered his private soldiers to get into formation and had more than ten mounted guards cover him, ready to break out of the encirclement.
However, before they could break out of the encirclement, seven or eight grayish-white "skeleton soldiers" walked out of the manor shakily. They charged straight at the approaching farmers and were slashed to the ground without any suspense.
"See that? This is the evidence that he colluded with the undead! "
"Destroy the traitors! Give me back my freedom! "
"Kill! Kill all the traitors! "
The sudden appearance of these skeleton soldiers became the fuse of the battle. Pocky knew that he had probably fallen into someone's trap because the necromancer guarding the territory would never do such a stupid thing. But now, he could only brace himself and break out of the encirclement. However, not long after he rushed into the crowd, his warhorse was tripped by a bone spur that appeared out of nowhere. Pocky fell to the ground and was immediately captured.
Until now, the necromancer who was supposed to be guarding the territory did not appear … Pocky understood that the other party probably realized that the situation was irreversible and directly gave up on him.
He looked at the excited crowd in front of him, and all his words turned into a sigh.
"Finally … the world is going to change."
The lord was roughly tied up. After falling off his horse, a few of his ribs were broken, but the crowd around him didn't care about his feelings. There were even people who slapped him a few times when he was being pushed.
"Exploiting our pigs!"
"Vampires!"
This group of commoners clearly no longer feared their lord's authority. Their incessant shouts had convinced them that 'their lord is a traitor'. Their leader, Kulka, who used to be the leader of the hunters, had already taken off his simple leather armor and donned a set of shiny silver metal armor as the others clustered around him.
Pocky could recognize that it was a set of mithril light armor that he had collected. It was obvious that this commoner who had been elected had the identity of a leader that everyone had already recognized, and Pocky … had become a stepping stone for him to rise to the top.
"Fool … You don't know who you're going against! You will all be consigned to eternal damnation and become fertilizer for the soil! "
Finally, the tied up Pocky saw Kulka on the second floor of the manor's balcony. He endured the intense pain in his body and cursed him. But Kulka, who was being watched by thousands of people, did not choose to respond to him. Instead, he shouted to the people below who were looking up, "Remember this day! From today onwards, we will be the only free people in this land! "
"Long live freedom!"
Pocky understood that these people might not necessarily be doing it for the so-called "freedom", but more likely because of his lord's increasingly harsh oppression. However, when coupled with the skeleton soldiers that had just rushed over, these people had no choice but to believe the so-called "truth".
Pocky knew that necromancers were definitely behind this, but … would these people really succeed?
The longsword slashed horizontally at him, and this baron would never have the chance to find out the answer.
*****
"The rain is getting heavier."
Akasha tugged at the raincoat on her body and sighed.
"Be careful not to let the rain wet your clothes. The temperature is low at night, and hypothermia is a big problem." Roddy reached out to help her tighten the belt, and then muttered to himself, "Actually, it's better if the rain gets heavier …"
"To be honest, living in this kind of environment every day will probably cause mushrooms to grow on their bodies. How can these people endure it?"
Merinthra walked freely in the rain. The raindrops were separated by an invisible barrier, and even her hair couldn't get wet.
"Their winters are very dry. You'll miss this kind of weather again. Let's not talk about this, we're almost at the target. "
Roddy glanced at the "map" in front of him. After the "demon subspecies" escaped last night, the team followed the traces left by it today. Merinthra confirmed the direction according to the magic mark she left behind, and when they got close to the target, Roddy's "Tracking: Demon" immediately showed its effect.
He saw a dense patch of marks on the map, and a rough count, there were more than a hundred of them.
However, these marks relied on color to distinguish the strength of the opponent. With Roddy's current strength, this patch of "demon subspecies" was basically gray or white, which meant that they posed no threat to Roddy at all.
"Everyone be careful later. The target may be other groups, so we need to hide our movements as much as possible." Roddy turned his head and explained the battle plan, "Cavalry, pay attention to outflank the enemy. Infantry, don't form a formation, just charge as fast as you can. Akasha, tell your mages to do their best to hide the team … Remember, our goal is not to kill, but to control the situation as soon as possible. "
Roddy turned his head and said to Merinthra, "If possible, try to make sure no one dies."
He had a feeling that these guys were far more important in Tasman than the "lambs."
"Don't worry."
Merinthra snapped her fingers in response, her expression relaxed.
"Alright, everyone, get into position."
Roddy did not waste any time and waved his hand to start the operation.
Akasha immediately used her mind to order the ten accompanying Necromancers to start casting spells. Barriers quickly spread out, blocking the rain. The air became dry, and the surrounding sounds became much quieter. The barbarian soldiers began to organize their armor and weapons in an orderly manner.
Everything was going smoothly, but …
Akasha frowned slightly and took a deep breath.
Ever since entering Tasman, she felt as if she could always feel a special aura in her breath. Now, this special magic rhythm seemed to become more and more obvious, but she could not describe what it was exactly.
Turning her head to look at the High Elf Mages following her, Akasha felt that their bodies had become much more agile after coming to Tasman. The female Magician who always followed her seemed to move with more vigor in her eyes.
Why was this?
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