A cold wind with a putrid stench blew against us. Dark clouds gathered in the sky, and the drizzling rain didn't seem romantic at all. The muddy ground and damp weather would only increase stamina consumption, which was obviously beneficial to the undead who didn't know fatigue.
"The target is about to reach the second line of defense."
"Has everyone retreated? How many people are left in the first line of defense? "
"There are still two squads who can't retreat in time. We've done our best."
"May the Holy Light protect them. How's the second line of defense?"
"It's not good. The temporary defensive barrier can only buy us some time."
Numerous battle reports came in like scraps of paper. It was the same every time a war suddenly broke out. There was little good news and a lot bad news.
Among all the bad news, there was probably one good thing that Link did before he died. He brought over three thousand soldiers from the Giant Rock Heavy Infantry with him. Normally, that would be three brigades of elite heavy infantry. They were divided into three squads to seal off the entrance of the canyon. They even set up scouting outposts and patrolled the area.
When the undead arrived, the outposts and patrol routes that they set up inside the canyon became the first line of defense. However, nobody expected them to be able to defend the canyon.
When Salima took command, she didn't ignore these Gold-ranked Warriors who were originally enemies. Instead, she sent out reinforcements in hopes that they would retreat as quickly as possible.
"After all, every bit of strength belongs to the living. As long as we can save them, we'll do anything to save them!"
The vice commander of the Giant Rock Heavy Infantry, Shan, was a giant with barbarian bloodline. Currently, he was helplessly listening to the commands of his "enemy."
The moment that the Undead Emperor descended, the civil war in the Sala Dukedom became meaningless. In the face of the Undead Calamity, there was no difference between loyalty to the royal family and loyalty to Marquis Taric. After all, they were all fighting for the living.
Shan wasn't an idiot. He knew that if he returned like this, just the assassination of Prince Link would cause the royal family to vent their anger on him. Right now, the only way to survive was to make as many contributions as possible on the battlefield.
Of course, the prerequisite for this was that the living had to win this war. Otherwise, the Sala Dukedom would be destroyed, and there would be no need for revenge.
In my opinion, "Blood Spear" Salima had a terrible reputation due to her record of massacring entire cities. However, looking at the current situation, she was indeed capable. At the very least, she was ruthless and was willing to pay a heavy price.
The ruins were located in the mountains and valleys. If the undead wanted to come out, they would have to go through a rather long mountain road. So, she sent out a suicide squad to blow up parts of the mountain road and set up many defensive lines to stop the undead from advancing.
An army's marching speed was determined by the slowest soldier type. The regular undead army with skeletons wasn't fast, and with the addition of mountain roads and slippery rain, their speed was even slower.
A landslide, as well as a landslide caused by man-made explosions, was an excellent weapon for delaying an army's advance. The undead army's natural disadvantage made it so that they were moving slower and slower.
And against the undead's patrolling bone dragon knights and death knight generals, even if they were lucky enough to successfully complete the task of blowing up the mountain path, these warriors who were tasked with delaying the undead would never be able to return.
In Starwood City's temporary command center, Salima only sent out her own subordinates in order to achieve as much consensus as possible, as well as to avoid wasting time at such a critical moment.
"Do your best to save an ally who was once my mortal enemy" and "prioritize sacrificing loyal personal guards." Although this sounded noble, it was actually quite foolish in terms of military strategy. However, in a temporary alliance that didn't trust each other, this was quite a commendable style. At the very least, Salima now had the image of a fair and trustworthy leader.
Perhaps this wouldn't be very effective in uniting the living, who were already filled with conflicts, but it was still much better than "the leader of the allied army who fell into a trap" and "a bastard who sent others to their deaths." At the very least, it would reduce the possibility of internal strife.
"Did Salima have any famous generals before?"
"She didn't. How could she possibly have a general who was a local domain lord in a small country? What, you think she's quite good? "
"… Perhaps she'll have one in the future."
That's right, I had high hopes for this little Blood Spear. It seemed that others were underestimating her.
To be honest, even I wasn't confident that I could do better than her. At the very least, I was unable to send out my personal guards. I gave them vague missions that would only serve as cannon fodder to stall for time.
If I really had to choose between my friends and my enemies to make a "necessary" sacrifice, I would unhesitatingly allow my friends to survive, even if they were the minority. I was no saint, and I would never deny that I had a selfish side.
But I was getting off topic. So many sacrifices were only for the sake of stalling for time. And time on the battlefield would forever be a priceless treasure. Being able to instantly make such a decision meant that Salima's abilities as a general were already above average.
"Hurry up, hurry up! Are there no more earth element mages? Scrolls or wands are fine! Reinforce the city walls for me! Adventurers, don't be stingy. No matter how much money you have, you'll need to be alive to earn it. Keep a tab on the wall sculpting scrolls you use. The Sala Dukedom's officials have already agreed to reimburse you! "
The sturdiness and height of the city walls would be the defenders' lives. Although earth element mages were the most common of the four major elemental mages, they had already used up all their mana in constructing the city walls. Left with no other choice, we didn't even spare the random adventurers' scrolls and wands.
Scrolls and wands were used one after another. The earth around Starwood City was dug up, and the newly constructed city walls were piled higher and higher. Fire mages baked the city walls in the rain, reinforcing them for the second time.
* Boom! *
"That idiot who's using fireballs to heat up the city walls, throw him out! We're already in a situation like this, and he's still causing trouble for us! "
It was a rookie mage who had used a fireball to dry the mud. However, the fireball blasted a huge hole in the mud, and he himself became a mud man. Although I could understand noobs' ability to twist orders, I could probably give a thumbs up and praise the idea of slowly baking a small fire into a large one. However, the others wouldn't be so good-tempered.
"The twelfth section of the southern city walls has been reinforced. Next up is that one!"
A young magic swordsman pulled out his gray magic sword. The magic sword that had just been stabbed into the ground had already lost its luster. He immediately swapped it for a spare Olivia's Magic Box before heading to the next section.
The most eye-catching members of the city wall repair team were probably the four elemental swordcasters. Although they weren't very skilled at controlling the elements, they were still capable of manipulating the earth to form walls. Not only that, the heavy infantry also had magically-powered weapons and equipment, so they had an almost limitless amount of mana to reinforce the city walls.
Of course, when considering the upcoming battle, the Boulder Rock heavy infantry squad didn't use up too many logistical resources. They were hurriedly preparing their armor, replenishing their food, and adjusting their weapons in preparation for battle.
Cold rain fell on these muscular men's faces, but their movements didn't change at all. Only such cold and emotionless soldiers were the most trustworthy. In the upcoming battle, they would definitely become the main force. As professional soldiers and the protectors of this country, it was impossible for them to retreat. And, their companions who had already sacrificed their lives yet still refused to retreat made me reevaluate the actual combat strength of this "unknown" army.
News of the undead army had already spread. However, in order to avoid shaking the army's morale, the news of an Undead Emperor in the Undead Calamity didn't spread. After all, not everyone had the courage to face such dire straits.
With such a calamity looming over our heads, many adventurers responded to the government's summons by taking out their magic scrolls and staffs and accepting the government's orders. Unfortunately, earth-type magic scrolls to reinforce the city walls were rarely used in adventuring. The task of reinforcing the city walls still fell on the shoulders of the four elemental swordcasters.
Not only that, the Four Elemental Swordcasters were also able to display their abilities in more and more complicated situations, which made them more and more popular.
"Tsk, they're only reimbursing Wall Sculpting scrolls? A three-circle scroll is ridiculously cheap. How thoughtful of them. Are they trying to prevent people from lying about high-level scrolls in order to take advantage of the situation? "
"… At such a critical juncture, only you would do such a thing. Hey, hey, hey, why are you so shameless? Are you really intending to lie about your expenses at such a time? Do you have any shame at all? Even the villains aren't as ridiculous as you, you're the villain of epic heroes! "
"Hmph, what a pity. If my earth archmage classmate Kaid was here, these low-level scrolls wouldn't even be needed. He could directly perform the miracle of constructing a city in one night."
"It's a pity that he's not here … Hey, hey, hey, you're trying to change the topic! Do you really want to scam money and profit off of a country's calamity? Can't you at least have some self-awareness as a positive character!?"
Starwood City was the only way to block off this mountain path. If Starwood City was broken through, there would be endless plains where there would no longer be any natural defenses to stop the undead army from invading.
And once the undead army split up and spread out on the plains, massacring the undead and replenishing their numbers, the Undead Calamity would snowball and increase exponentially in number. Salima's judgment was absolutely correct. It would be meaningless for us to run anywhere in the plains. Reinforcing this small city and blocking off the undead army while waiting for reinforcements from other cities was definitely the only choice we could make.
[… Have you introduced the background yet? Are you trying to steal my mission? Do you really not want to answer my question about scamming money that much? Even if you want to scam money, you should at least do something high-class. At the very least, create a stock market disaster or something so that they'll remember it for ten years. Why are you scamming money for drinks? Don't be like someone who's worked for more than ten years and finally got promoted to a department head. You're so excited to use your family's taxi tickets to show off to the company as a special benefit … I can't say anymore. You're so pitiful and embarrassing!]
"Of course, Salima's choice is correct, but whether or not she can do it is another matter. Based on my many years of experience of being scammed, not to mention an Undead Emperor, even any famous Undead Lord wouldn't be able to handle it. Yep, that's assuming nothing unexpected happens."
"Are you pretending you didn't hear me? Forget it, say whatever you want … "
I ignored my System's sarcasm and pretended not to see the silly cat's evil smile. Meanwhile, I couldn't stand the cold as I stood on the city walls, so I pulled my cloak tighter around me. This battle was truly going to be difficult to fight.
Yep, we were currently dealing with serious matters. Let's just pretend that we didn't see any of those trivial matters.
I didn't even need to mention how troublesome Undead Emperors were. Although Undead Emperors were only at the SemiGod level in name, using this as a standard, I and Aillé could be called Undead Emperors when I was at my peak. However, it wouldn't be too difficult for us to kill off weaker True Gods when we were at our peak. Everyone above Myth rank would be SemiGods, and the power levels in the mortal plane would be ridiculous.
"This reinforced city wall is more of a psychological effect …"
That's right. Although they seemed to be doing their best, I didn't have high hopes for them at all. The bone dragon Knight vanguards circling beneath the dark clouds had already announced that we had lost control of the air. A tremendous amount of undead would easily fill in the newly dug trenches. The reinforced city walls would be unable to stop a full-powered charge from bone giants and death knights. Not to mention, there was also an Undead Emperor … an Undead Emperor was basically a strategic nuclear weapon. Who knew what she would do?
I agreed with Salima's judgment. Strategically speaking, defending Starwood City to the death was the only solution. However, I didn't have high hopes for Salima's efforts, as the tremendous difference in combat strength would be difficult to make up for.
"It would seem that I still have to personally act. I feel that Zero will probably be quite excited to see me. Perhaps the battle will directly escalate."
"Even if she doesn't see you, doesn't that mean it's not an all-out battle? Just look, doesn't this look like a field trip? "
The silly cat, who was taking a nap on my shoulder, opened her eyes. What she saw in her eyes was a desolate gray mountain range. Countless undead were slowly advancing. There were ghouls, gargoyles, zombie warriors, skeleton archers, banshees, Abominations, and all sorts of famous undead. The Legend-ranked undead Winter Demons that I had met that night were also among them.
However, no matter how many undead there were, the black army remained silent and resolute. Only the sounds of skeletons moving could be heard. For an undead army, this could only mean that there were many mid-level and low-level commanders capable of controlling every single noisy skeleton. An Undead Calamity of this level would be far more difficult to deal with than I had expected.
The next instant, a white bone arrow shot towards me, instantly destroying the silly cat's clone. That was the end of our information sharing. We didn't even know where that arrow had come from.
"Damn it, don't you know that battlefield reporters have the right to travel safely!? Although many of them are part-time spies, and many die mysteriously every year … "
My nonsense didn't help the atmosphere at all. The silly cat had an ugly expression as she faced such an Undead Lord. Of course, it was also possible that her face had turned pale from anger after her clone was destroyed.
"There aren't as many low-level undead as there are mid-level undead. This undead army hasn't reached its limit yet. As long as they have enough corpses, their numbers can instantly increase by ten times … no, a hundred times! A thousand times! "
Obviously, using precious soul sacrifices in exchange for low-level undead's permission to enter the mortal plane wasn't worth it at all. Only the elites would be able to enter the mortal plane. As for cannon fodder? The undead army never had to worry about a lack of soldiers. They only needed to fight one or two battles.
Seeing such an army, I was no longer worried about whether or not Salima would be able to defend this small city. Instead, I was worried about whether or not Salima would be able to survive the first wave of undead attacks.
And this kind of situation made me decide to take the initiative to interfere.
"Since we've already entered the realm of war, let the 'war' begin. Let the undead become the enemies of the undead. Awaken, my leader of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse."
While I was doing my best to protect my image, the silly cat who had already changed job class to a spiteful servant appeared again.
"… Four Horsemen? You have three other creations of the same level? When did you make them? Why don't I know? "
"Heh heh, of course you don't know. That's my top secret … Stop biting me! Can't you act cool in this day and age? You'd be cool if you had the Four Heavenly Kings as your subordinates. Look, the word 'war' doesn't sound cool at all. How cool would the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse be! How cool would that be! Perhaps one day, I'd really create another Plague Knight, Death Knight, and Famine Knight to make up the Four Heavenly Kings! At that time, when we meet an enemy army, all four Horsemen will be riding on top of a mountain and looking down on the enemy. They'll be able to strike fear into the enemy's hearts without even fighting. That'll make the enemy feel so much like an antagonist boss. How cool would that be? "
"Stop talking, you jinx. I already have an ominous premonition. According to your usual style, you'll never become a cool Knight. You'll only become a perverted gentleman with no morals!"
"Everyone needs to have dreams! Even if those dreams are destined to never come true! "
"… You already know that you won't be able to come true, so why are you still struggling!? There's no such thing as miracles. As an African who only knows how to be unlucky, you should just calmly go hunting with your spear. "
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