"They're here!"
"Prepare for battle … Quick! Grab your weapons! "
"Commander! The left side can't hold on any longer! We need reinforcements! "
Rain poured down like a torrential downpour, mixed with messy shouts. The silver-armored commander Kurka's face was taut, his hand on the hilt of his sword trembling slightly.
After continuously expanding and killing five nobles, the rebel army now had over twenty thousand people. It sounded like a lot, but in reality, over ninety percent of them were civilians who had been swept away and controlled. To the rebel army, it was too difficult to choose soldiers among these people.
Without a large-scale counterattack from the undead, Kulka and his men's attack was relatively successful. It could even be said that they didn't encounter any obstacles towards the end. However, the current situation made him clearly realize that this army that he had barely managed to gather had finally encountered an iron plate that he couldn't afford to offend.
Unprofessional scouts rode back crookedly on horseback and reported the news that 'eight hundred undead have attacked the flank'. The armored undead cavalry and necromancers easily defeated the two thousand vanguard troops. Less than a thousand people managed to escape. Their disheveled appearance greatly shook the farmers who had been 'fighting with the wind' …
Kulka understood the difference between the two sides. He knew that throwing the three to four thousand troops that he had barely managed to arm into the battlefield was no different from seeking death. Thus, he wisely chose to 'strategically retreat' against such stubborn people.
"Send the order immediately! Have the vanguard retreat. We'll return to Tarunhill City to defend! "
Originally, he didn't know much about the art of war, but after personally organizing this kind of rebellion, countless military knowledge had been passively learned and put into practice, which was why Kurka's command of the troops could be said to be 'decent'.
Behind the main force that he was currently in was Tarunhill City. Thus, the advancing troops quickly changed their path of retreat and hurriedly rushed back to the city with the city walls. They then pulled up the drawbridge and closed the city gates, all of them waiting on the city walls.
The human lords had never stopped fighting over the years. Thus, this kind of fortified city with city walls also existed in the territory of the 'lambs'. In the past fifteen years, this city had gone through a total of five defensive battles of varying sizes. In the end, the defending side had always won. And now, faced with the ferocious attack of the undead, Kurka believed that he would be able to stop them.
However, Kurka also knew that the Undead that numbered only "800" wasn't as simple as it sounded. Dusko, who was hiding in the dark, had told him that the undead army had to be at least three times the number of soldiers when attacking a city. When he and the soldiers saw the undead creatures attacking from the city walls, they finally realized how terrifying the number of undead creatures was …
Of the eight hundred attacking undead soldiers, two hundred were light armored knights, and the rest were infantrymen. However, there were seven low-level necromancers and one mid-level necromancer among them. As a result, there were around two thousand low-level skeletons, zombies, and puppets in the army formation.
The black mass of skeletons and puppets surged forward, each of them carrying a piece of stone or wood, forcibly filling a path in the moat!
The siege battle that followed made Kurka break out in a cold sweat.
These undead were very difficult to kill. Arrows were basically useless. Falling rocks broke arms, but it didn't stop them from continuing to climb up. They didn't even need the help of ladders. The light and fast "strengthened skeletons" climbed up the city walls two hours after the siege began. If Kurka hadn't ordered three reserve troops to rush over and suppress them, the city walls would have almost fallen!
This couldn't be blamed on the enemy being too strong. In reality, those skeleton soldiers didn't have any advantages other than climbing fast. Kurka could single-handedly kill an entire troop … However, he couldn't count on these farmers who had just gathered to have enough combat experience. Some of them were still shaking when they saw the zombies. How could you count on this kind of army to fight against the undead army?
"This should only be the vanguard …"
Just as Kulka was frowning, shouts suddenly came from the city walls. He poked his head out to take a look and discovered that the Undead army below the city was being attacked by another group of people. What made people gasp in surprise was that there were more than two thousand people attacking them, and the leader was also an Undead!
"Dusco has also attacked."
Kurka obviously knew that it was Dusco who was hiding in the dark. However, their appearance meant that the current crisis was even more troublesome. When the real undead army came, even if they included Dusco's "Awakened" undead, how long could they resist?
The gasps of surprise on the city walls gradually subsided, followed by waves of cheers. It was obvious that Dusco's troops had unexpectedly repelled the attacking undead and averted this crisis. Kurka heaved a sigh of relief. Seeing that it was already late, he returned to the lord's mansion in the inner city. After dinner, he met Dusco who had just returned from the battle in the conference hall.
The latter's pale face didn't look too good. Although the "Awakened" had also expanded to four to five thousand people due to conquering a large amount of territory, the battle in the afternoon had immediately revealed many problems.
The indecisiveness of the people, lack of equipment, poor overall combat ability, and lack of discipline gave Dusco a headache.
"This is Augustine's vanguard. They can only be counted as scouts. If I didn't have enough people today, I'm afraid I wouldn't have been able to successfully repel them. But when they come later, it won't just be this few. When they attack the city, there might even be thirty to fifty thousand of them. "
Dusco was very familiar with undead battles, but the battle in the afternoon had left him extremely troubled. The battle between the undead was very "intense". Only when one's head was chopped off could one confirm the other party's death. Otherwise, even if they lost an arm or a leg, they could still continue fighting. Thus, although there weren't many "deaths" on the battlefield, many of his subordinates were "crippled" after the battle. When they returned to the battlefield, their combat ability would definitely decrease.
This was only eight hundred enemies. What if tens of thousands of undead came?
Dusco sighed. He didn't feel optimistic.
"Looks like we can't continue to expand our advantage. Right now, we can only fight and retreat. Escaping isn't realistic. We have so many people and we can't even bring food with us. I'm afraid we won't even be able to walk out of the Gondola Mountains. "
Kurka frowned. Humans still needed to eat. Even if he had tens of thousands of subordinates and more than ten villages to provide food, it wasn't a long-term plan to not engage in production and have everyone as a soldier.
"Let's forget about fighting Augustine's troops head-on. He's gathering his troops to invade the outside world. He definitely won't have much time to waste on us. So … we should try our best to defend and stall for time. When the time is right, we can make a strategic retreat. After they pay a certain price, they will probably choose to retreat. "
This was something that Dusco and Kurka had long since come to a consensus on. The difference in strength was obvious. The weak could win against the strong, and the few could win against the many. Anyone could do that, but it also depended on the objective conditions. Right now, the "resistance" actually had no other choice. Being able to lead the majority of their main force to retreat and hide was already considered a strategic success.
The two discussed for a while. Knowing that the situation was grim and that there was no way to turn things around, they didn't say anything else. Just as they were about to end the conversation, a necromancer walked out from the shadows. He ignored Kurka and directly reported an urgent message to Dusco. Around a hundred undead troops led by a necromancer had bypassed the defensive line and were heading straight for the villages behind them.
"Food!"
Dusco and Kurka instinctively thought of this problem. If the food in the villages behind them was contaminated by the "Plague Spell", then the morale of the human soldiers would completely collapse.
If the humans could not hold on, it would be of no benefit to Dusco and the "Awakened" he led. That was why the leader of the Undead Rebel Army informed Kurka and immediately led a group of elites to chase after the enemy!
Kurka's brows furrowed slightly. He stood in the meeting room in silence.
He knew that these undead were essentially his superiors. However, no one would feel comfortable being excluded from the "decision-making circle." He narrowed his eyes and waved his hand to summon his trusted aide. He said in a low voice, "Take some men to inform the other villages. At the same time, keep an eye on the movements of these undead."
"Yes, my lord!"
Kurka touched the hilt of his sword. He knew that he had been poisoned by the "power" and … could not extricate himself from it.
*****
Early in the morning, Nola woke up to the noise of heavy rain.
When she opened her eyes, there was no straw hut in her field of vision, nor was there a hard tree trunk behind her back. She sat up and the linen blanket slid down. The warm and dry room made Nola a little dazed for a moment.
She raised her hand and touched her arm. Her skin was not as wet and slippery as it used to be because of the dew. Only then did she remember that she had followed her tribesmen to each house to take a "bath" yesterday. Nola had never taken a bath since she was a child. Most of the Teflings had never thoroughly cleaned their bodies since they were born.
The feeling of being soaked in hot water made Nola feel unprecedentedly relaxed. She had unknowingly overslept … This was probably the first time in her life that she had slept for more than six hours.
Nola put on the linen robe that didn't have any holes and simply put it on. She picked up the rice bowl on the windowsill and walked out the door. After walking for a few dozen meters, she queued up at the entrance of the mill and received a large bowl of meat porridge. As one of the top twenty youths in the Teflings, Nola received an extra piece of freshly baked bread.
Holding the hot bread, she ran to the "elderly area" where her mother lived. She broke off a piece and ate with her mother in front of the stove.
"Delicious, really delicious … If only you did this earlier, sigh …"
Tears flowed down Nola's mother's cheeks as she ate. She was obviously thinking of the child who had died young. Nola had seen this emotion on many of her clansmen's faces. Ever since Elder Luther agreed to submit to Roddy, they were no longer imprisoned. Yesterday, after following the team to a new village, everyone was given temporary lodgings. After eating three hot porridge meals a day, changing into warm clothes and taking their first bath in many years, the Teflings all felt dizzy. They felt like they were in heaven.
Now, when they looked at Roddy again, there was no longer any hostility in their eyes. Instead, there was more reverence and curiosity. For the uninformed Teflings, they had no idea what the outside world was like. Roddy and these soldiers became their first window into the world …
***
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