Chapter 384

There is no day or night in the world underground, only eternal darkness.

This perpetual gloom makes the underground more oppressive and eerie compared to the surface, and for the holy city of Itkazar, this oppressive atmosphere has reached its peak at this moment.

This relatively small holy city is now surrounded by a vast, dark army.

The army of the Dark Alliance, personally led by the Lich King, Perone, which consists of 50,000 undead, 20,000 goblins, monsters, and beasts forming the cannon fodder units, and 15,000 soldiers composed of illithids and dark dwarves.

They are besieging Itkazar, which has a defending force of less than 8,000.

In addition to the main force of mostly iron-rank troops, the Dark Alliance boasts nearly 200 silver-ranked experts and seven golden rankers, which include four death knights, two illithid warlocks, and one dwarf warrior.

Nearly half of these silver and gold experts were promoted in the past six months.

This surge in strength gave the Lich King the confidence to challenge the Hermetic Alliance and the force besieging Itkazar represents more than a third of the entire strength of the Dark Alliance.

The Lich King is entirely determined to capture this holy city at all cost.

The Dark Alliance army has besieged the city for three days.

During these three days, they have launched four major assaults.

Although they still haven't breached Itkazar, they've put tremendous pressure on the city's defenses and its garrison.

Anyone with basic military knowledge can see that, while the city's defensive barrier still has plenty of energy left, the garrison inside has already suffered heavy casualties.

Under repeated attacks from the Dark Alliance, Itkazar have already lost more than half of its defending troops, and their morale has plummeted to a dangerous level.

If not for the locals steadfast faith within the Goddess of Death, and if not for the fact that most of Itkazar's soldiers are devout believers, many would have already considered fleeing through the teleportation array.

Moreover, there were no more supporting reinforcements.

Apart from Blade City, the remaining ten city-states that were not besieged were relatively small in size.

Not only were they not strong enough to provide significant support, but they also had limited capabilities in aiding the five member states currently besieged by the Dark Alliance armies.

Itkazar has received the most support, but against the overwhelming and more powerful Dark Alliance army, these reinforcements have been exhausted with each successive attacks.

The Dark Alliance, comprising of fifty unified underground city-states, far surpasses the strength of the loosely structured Hermetic Alliance, which has only seventeen cities.

Around the city walls, discarded equipment lay strewn across the ground, while blood stained the earth in shades of black and red. Corpses, purified to prevent them from becoming undead, lay scattered outside the city or were stacked on the walls and incinerated by the local defenders.

The stench is nauseating.

Alas, there was no way around it...

No one knows if these purified corpses might rise again with the next attack from the Dark Alliance, transforming into undead and rejoining the battle.

Meanwhile, in the Dark Alliance's camp.

The Lich King Perone is polishing a heavy, gold-embellished black tome, whilst waiting quietly for something.

The book's cover is adorned with bone patterns and symbols of death, with a faint divine power flowing over it.

However, upon closer inspection, one can also see an inappropriately fitted dark gray shadow gem embedded in the book.

The Lich King channeled his power into the shadow gem, causing the entire book to emit a faint glow.

Then, as the glow spreads out, for a moment, the entire undead army of the Dark Alliance bowed their heads in reverence.

This is a genuine divine artifact, the Book of Death.

And it is precisely because of this artifact, the Lich King can fully control the undead, making the Hermetic Alliance hesitant to use their own undead army.

As the Lich King manipulates the Book of Death, a death knight suddenly approaches him.

The Death knight knelt on one knee and solemnly reported:

"Your Majesty, the envoy we sent to Itkazar to negotiate their surrender has been executed by the High Priest of the Death Church. They displayed his body on the city wall and publicly cremated it..."

Hearing this, the Lich King Perone paused momentarily.

After a few seconds of silence, he sneered and said,

"Understood. Since they refuse to surrender, we will proceed with the final assault."

"Pass the order: the entire army is to attack the city! After the city falls, soldiers are allowed to plunder for three days!"

At the Lich King's command, the roars of the underground monsters echoed across the battlefield, and the entire Dark Alliance army mobilized.

However, unlike the previous staggered assaults, this time around, the tens of thousands of troops surrounding Itkazar launched a full-scale attack.

The goblins led the charge, driven by the undead. Wielding crude weapons and carrying makeshift ladders, they rushed towards the city walls with fierce cries.

Behind them, 50,000 well-armed and fully-equipped undead soldiers marched in organized formation...

The ground trembled as the gathered fallen undead exuded an aura of evil and cold, forming a vast, ominous fog that permeate through the air.

Then, as this ominous fog further spread within the battlefield, the corpses that were previously purified by the priests to prevent reanimation, all began to rise once again under some sinister power, before joining the undead army.

In an instant, the already massive undead army swelled even further!

The goblins, monsters, and beasts that had died in previous attacks were now transformed into stronger fallen undead, joining the ranks of the undead horde.

Witnessing such a terrifying spectacle, the local defenders stationed on the Itkazar's walls were visibly shaken, as their already low morale further plummeted.

Whereas, the Dark Alliance's vanguard quickly reached the base of the city walls.

Their movements echoed with the determination inspired by the Lich King, manifesting in heightened morale. They unleashed a newfound ferocity in battle, driven by an insatiable hunger for the souls of the living.

The defenders of the Holy City, exhausted by the repeated assaults, found their resistance as futile like eggs thrown against a rock.

After killing a few goblins, they were quickly overwhelmed by the ever-increasing waves of monsters and undead...

The dark army, like a tide of ants, surged to the base of the walls, raising ladders and climbing to engage in a lopsided battle with the remnants of the Hermetic Alliance.

Seeing this, the chief of Itkazar, standing on the wall, turned pale. He looked at Neil, the High Priest, who was simultaneously controlling the city's defensive barrier and praying with closed eyes, and said anxiously:

"Master Neil! The Dark Alliance is launching their final assault. Even with reinforcements from other cities, we have fewer than 5,000 soldiers left! Master Neil, we cannot hold out any further if no more reinforcements arrive!"

Yet High Priest Neil remained calm.

He slowly opened his pure eyes, his clear gaze meeting the eyes of the Lich King Perone across the battlefield.

Seeing the look from the wall, the Lich King's eyes, burning with ghostly flames beneath his demon mask, flickered.

He raised his right hand and made a thumbs-down gesture.

Nonetheless, High Priest Neil ignored the Lich King's taunt as his gaze passed over Perone and his dark army, focusing on a distant point... and a certain emotion washed over his face.

"Our reinforcements have arrived."

He said gently.

Following the High Priest's gaze, the chief of the Holy City looked southeast.

There, a rising cloud of smoke appeared on the horizon...

A peculiar cavalry, composed of elves and crypt spiders, had entered his sight.

— 384 —

[ REINFORCEMENTS HAVE ARRIVED ]

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