Chapter 58: Depressing Victory
When the Zombie Lord was hacked into pieces, the zombie horse went wild. They attacked the living being in their sight, no longer fighting in order.
At this time, Tang Shaoyang also went wild. He aimed only at stage 2 and stage 3 zombies. Letting his people take care of the rest.
As for the zombie warrior, they were able to put them down after a combination of great efforts between humans and apes.
The battle continued for the next three hours. With the help of the Fogged Ape Tribe, the zombie horde was wiped, indicating the first victory of the Tang Empire.
[Congratulations! You have completed the Quest to Conquest!]
[You have gained the rewards, Level +1, Skill Point +10, and 1 million Game Coin.]
[Tang Empire Castle (smart base) has leveled up! A new feature has been unlocked!]
[10 million Game Coin has been distributed to the treasury.]
Not only him, but the surviving people also received a notification. The rewards they got from wiping out the zombie horde.
However, none of them were happy about it. They had their heads hung low as more than half of them fell in the battle. Even Tang Shaoyang stood there without words or any excitement.
In his first battle, he got the result he wanted. They won but he did not like how he achieved the victory. He lost many people, indicating he was not good enough.
But he knew it was not the time to show his depressed mood. He had to lead the remaining people, making sure the same thing would not be repeated again.
"It was my fault!" A dejected voice entered Tang Shaoyang's ears.
He turned around and Zhang Mengyao was just as depressed as him. Yes, it was his general, she blamed herself for the casualties.
Tang Shaoyang shook his head and rubbed the girl's hair, "All on me! I am the leader, it's me who is supposed to be blamed!"
"B-but... But it was me who made the strategy... A-and..."
"Stupid girl! I am the leader and I approved your strategy! Without my will, we will not implement your strategy, so stop blaming yourself! It was me who was incompetent!"
Zhang Mengyao shook her head, "Please choose another to replace me! I don't deserve to be Supreme General!"
Tang Shaoyang fell silent when he heard this. Not expecting the girl to break at her first battle. But then, he realized that even though she came from a military background, it did not mean she had experienced the real war. Losing many people in her first battle as a general, it was enough to put her in a tough spot.
"Stupid girl! Let's talk out later! We have to go back now! The people in the base must be anxious!"
He decided not to talk it out now. It would be useless to comfort her now. She was in the state that she would not listen to anything he told her because this was the moment she felt guilty the most for the people who died in the battle.
Looking at the surroundings, Tang Shaoyang remembered that he could use the zombies as a sacrifice for [Spirit Summoning].
As if Zaneos the Demon Swordsman could read his mind. He spoke to him.
—Don't bother to waste your time to summon another spirit. It will be for sure you will be able to summon a stronger spirit with a big sacrifice, but can you subdue it to make a contract?
—A stronger spirit also has high pride. You would not be so lucky to meet a spirit like me or Karan. You might lose your life instead, so just focus to get stronger before thinking of summoning another spirit.
—Tomorrow, we will start the training from the basics. You have the strength, but you are not able to use your strength properly! You were fighting with your brute force, what a waste of your strength.
Zaneos made a long speech in his head and he found Zaneos was right. He could summon another spirit but could he make the spirit sign a contract with him?
But it would be a waste of sacrifice material if he just let the bodies rot in the street like this.
'Is there a way to preserve the bodies? Origin might have a way to preserve the body or I can make a giant fridge in the base? It will cost Game Coin, but it's worth it,'
On the way back to the base, Tang Shaoyang was thinking of a way to preserve the bodies.
"Boss, I am sorry!" Lu An approached Tang Shaoyang.
The young man also felt as guilty as Zhang Mengyao. He blamed himself for the people who died during the battle. He was late in bringing the reinforcement, too late as the zombie horde almost broke in the base.
"Hmmm... So what made you late?" Tang Shaoyang did not accept the apology instantly. If the young Lu An made a mistake, he deserved to be punished.
If Zhang Mengyao's mistake was from her lack of experience in a battle, Lu An's mistake was completely different. He was tasked to bring the reinforcement and the reinforcement was supposed to come in an hour. But he was five hours late.
However, Tang Shaoyang knew there must be a reason for that. That was why he decided to listen to Lu An's story.
"Hah... It was because of another zombie horde! I don't know what happened, but a zombie horde surrounded the Fogged Land..."
Lu An told everything. It turned out there was a zombie horde besieged the fogged park. The Fogged Ape Tribe was also in a war against a zombie horde.
It took him a long time to breach the horde to reach the fogged park. In the end, with his call, Pride decided to abandon his home and answered his call.
Pride took all his people with him and went to help Tang Shaoyang. But it took them a few hours to break through from the horse hence the reinforcement came late.
Soon, they arrived back at the base. Pride immediately approached him, "Your Majesty..."
Before Pride could finish his words, Tang Shaoyang raised his hand.
He looked at Lu An and put his hand on the shoulder, "Your apology is accepted and your mistake is pardoned! Go inside and get a rest!"
After that, he turned back to Pride, "You helped me to defend my territory! It's time for me to help you to take back your home!"
Tang Shaoyang did not enter his base. He decided not to rest, he decided to vent out all his depressed mood to the zombies, in a battlefield.
To his surprise, Zhang Mengyao reacted the same way as him.
"Let me follow you! I am not going to rest until all zombies are eradicated!"
Tang Shaoyang did not lower his voice and he did not plan to hide Lu An's story from the rest of the people. They deserved to know all of this hence the conversation between him and Lu An was heard by them.
Knowing there was another zombie horde. They decided to help the Fogged Ape Tribe.
"Let me join as well, Boss! Our Ape friends helped us, it's time to repay them!" Zhao Zhong braced himself to step forward.
"Me too! I will join and kill all those bastards!" Wei Xi gritted his teeth and stepped forward. Hatred could be seen from his eyes as he lost his friend in the battle.
Along with that, all of them decided to join another fight. The battle had not over yet.