Chapter 161: A Gamble

"Idiot."

Rhode sneered after listening to the devil worshipper.

As a summoner, as long as Rhode was willing, he could feel, see and hear whatever his summoned spirits sensed. Naturally, the things that Celia heard were heard by him as well. Regarding the devil worshipper's arrogance, Rhode did not have much time and interest to comment, but he understood what it was thinking. Under normal circumstances, the devil's worshipper method would be considered effective, but it was too bad he was facing Rhode. Celia then received a command to 'maintain and delay it' and Rhode returned to focus on the problem in his area.

The ghouls had physical bodies; this frightened the mercenaries in the beginning. Their solid body was impervious to any direct attack, and the rotting, rancid appearance was obviously much more disturbing than the translucent undead. Initially, this caused the mercenaries to hesitate slightly and suffer some injuries, however luckily Marlene and Lize used magic in time to turn the tide.

"Hee-ahhh!"

Shauna shouted and parried the attack from the Ghoul. The rusty sword appeared weak and brittle but the power that came with it caused the red-haired mercenary to struggle a little. She cursed under her breath and quickly retreated backward. At the same time, she twisted the rusty sword and swept it off from her. Before the ghoul could react, she managed to cut into the ghoul. Her sharp sword left a deep gash on the chest of the ghoul. Disgusting, dark green, fluid gushed out from within, emitting a pungent smell. If this was a human, they would be long dead. However, wound like this to a corpse that had already died was meaningless. The ghoul merely slowed down in its movement by the attack, but the burning flames from the sword blade managed to stop it from moving. Suddenly, a flaming dagger flew from the side and pierced the ghoul's brain easily. The flames suddenly turned violent, and in a blink of an eye, the whole of Ghoul's head turned into a huge fireball. The ghoul finally dropped its weapon, took a couple of steps forward and collapsed on the ground.

Shauna let out a long sigh of relief. She glanced at Joey by the side. The thief cheekily gave a thumbs up to the red-haired mercenary.

"Thanks for that."

"You're welcome."

Joey smiled. Then he drew out two more daggers and turned back to the front.

"I didn't think that these guys would be so weak. I used to think they're pretty strong."

"They're indeed pretty strong."

Shauna looked down at the potion pocketed at her waist. She was different from the newbies like Joey, Shauna had once led her men to battle undead creatures, so she knew how strong they were. Just like the sword attack from before, if it happened previously, it wouldn't be of any use. The reason why they could damage the undead was because of the effects of the potion. If it's not for these mysterious and odd concoctions, the situation probably wouldn't be this relaxing.

However...

"We are still far from Leader and the rest."

Shauna raised her head and looked at Rhode.

Different from the mercenaries who required boosts from potions, Rhode didn't use any potions to boost flames on his weapon. But this doesn't mean he couldn't eliminate the undead creatures. In fact, after Rhode entered the battlegrounds, the undead creatures immediately started to retreat and fall apart in front of his eyes. As Shauna raised her head and looked towards Rhode, she saw him raising his sword and slashing downwards.

Although his sword didn't touch his enemies, the ghouls were constantly crushed by a gigantic hammer that fell from the skies. In an instant, they turned into a pile of mashed meat. Even those undead creatures in the rear faced the same impact. The powerful impact caused the ground to splinter and crack. The shockwave swept the slower moving undead creatures and threw high up in the air. When they landed on the ground, the already damaged corpse smashed into pieces, scattering their body parts around.

You could say that Rhode alone covered more than half of the efforts placed by the whole defensive line. The mercenaries that followed behind had nothing to do. But they didn't dare to slack off because Rhode issued them a command to assist in defending Lize and Shauna, in order to make sure they were fine.

As for Marlene's side...

A deafening roar resounded.

The dazzling light twitching on Marlene's right index finger smashed the into darkness suddenly. An afterimage connected the ghouls' bodies, just like an electric snake that slithered amongst the undead creatures. Afterwards, the 'electric snake' erupted, sweeping the undead creatures off their feet. They flew up into the sky, their scattered limbs and bodies carried sparks as they fell to the ground. From a distance, it appeared like a meteor shower.

Those mercenaries who stood in front of Marlene turned pale. They looked at one another and subconsciously moved backward —- right now they weren't sure to stay closer or away from the maiden behind her.

Seemed like she's doing fine.

Rhode nodded his head and looked into the middle of the defense circle. He saw Anne with her shield raised as she guarded Christie. Anne kept her guard up and observed the surroundings, just in case the enemies ambush them.

Everything is going as planned.

After scanning through the whole defense circle, Rhode revealed an icy cold smile towards the darkness in front of his eyes.

Summoning undead monsters wasn't an easy job. No matter if it were the ghouls or normal undead, if there was a necromancer, then Rhode wouldn't have used this method to destroy the undead army. After all, the necromancer's powers belonged to themselves. As long as the necromancer wished, then he could create any amount as he pleased.

But the devil worshipper was different. To put it simply, they were just 'errand boys' for the devils.They gain favor from their masters when they do their deeds for them. The undead creatures were the same. The devil worshipper had to place the spirit and corpse on the summoning ritual. Then, through a ritual, they had to "request" the devil to help turn these corpses into undead monsters. If the devil was in a good mood, everything would be fine. But if the devil was in a bad mood, rejecting their worshipper's suggestion was a small matter. If they liked, the devil might even turn the devil worshipers themselves into undead monsters on a whim.

That was why Rhode wasn't a bit worried that the devil worshipper wouldn't appear. If he wasn't mistaken, the devil worshipper would use the powers of the undead monsters to expand the hell chasm and send Christie straight to hell. This means that the more undead monsters he loses, the harder for him to reach his goal. Now, the devil worshipper lost more than 50% of its forces while Rhode did have any casualty. Rhode suspected that the devil worshipper would explode in rage once he finds out that he lost so much without gaining anything at all.

Rhode guessed it right.

"Damn it! Damn it all!"

At this moment, a shadow hidden at the corner started to curse and swear. He looked at Rhode in front of him with abnormal rage in his eyes.

Just as Rhode had predicted, this worshipper was already thoroughly enraged.

He couldn't be blamed for such reactions. Afterall, everything that happened was out of his expectations.

Frankly speaking, when Rhode brought his mercenaries to this village, he didn't give a damn about these children. As a devout devil worshipper, he would naturally give priority to the execution of his master's commands. Thus, even though his blatant actions attracted the attention of the humans, to him, it wasn't considered a bad thing. Rather, he felt that these innocent mercenaries came at the right time to fill his void. If he could kill all of them, all of his monsters would rise up in power and he would complete his objective at the same time.

But Rhode's performance was out of his expectations. Not only did he bring an angel, but he also brought his master's target. This made him very nervous. And he could clearly see the similarities between Rhode and the girl which made him very doubtful if Rhode and the girl had no relations.

Even so, his master's errand must still be achieved no matter what. That was why he chose to continue attacking even though it costs him his monsters. At the same time, he deliberately diverged his forces to attack the villagers with the aim to weaken Rhode's forces.

Of course, he understood that these mercenaries were strong. Destroying them required a lot of effort. But the higher the risk, the sweeter the rewards. Everyone knew this logic.

Initially, he intended to merely observe the situation. But Rhode sent out Celia, which forced him to take his chances — The angel's spirit and body was considered one of the best offerings. If he could kill this angel and offer her to his master, then sacrificing all his undead monsters would be worth it. If he succeeded, he could even be his master's number favorite and receive an enormous reward.

When he thought about this, he finally gave in to temptation.

But it seemed that the situation wasn't as perfect as he thought...