Chapter 694: War Against Fate (III)

The string of flares like tiny suns emerging and fading away almost instantly, leaving large holes in the ground. However, the holes were quickly replenished with the Undead Creatures swarming forward like a colony of ants. Although they had lost a substantial amount of fighting strength, they had no intentions of backing off at all!

"Attack! Advance!"

Saiborn pointed his sword at the majestic Fortress. The spiritual flames in his eyes shone brighter. Even though this battlefield situation was out of his expectations, he didn't cower. Since the ambush has failed, we should force our way through! That's the battle style of the Undead Army!

Indeed, the magic arrows had stunned Saiborn, but so what? Magic Arrows were extremely precious, so how many could that young man possibly have in his arsenal? Saiborn had 50,000 troops and they had only lost less than one-fifth of them! How many more magic arrows would that young man have to destroy all of them?

Continue to fire at us.

Saiborn revealed an ice-cold glint in his eyes as he witnessed the flares and explosions ahead. The Skeleton Soldiers around him rushed forward like a massive wave with their swords and shields. This was only the start. The Skeleton Soldiers by the rear had also lifted their bows and fixated their eyes on the Fortress.

"...!"

As though responding to the fire arrow rain pouring from the Fortress, the Undead Army returned the favor with arrows of their own.

"Defensive barrier!"

Lize raised her right hand and commanded. Golden spiritual radiance emanated one after another and connected to form a translucent defensive barrier which protected the soldiers solidly. At the same time, the newly emerged defensive barrier deflected the incoming arrows. The soldiers beside the archers hurriedly raised their shields to prevent any 'fish that had leaked through the net' from infiltrating.

"Tsk. Just the same old stuff from the Undead Creatures."

Rhode curled his lips as the Undead Army pushed through the flames and explosions. He knew clearer than anyone what the Undead Army was plotting. The Undead Army was an expert in a war of attrition and that was their fundamental. It could be seen that Saiborn had intended to sacrifice his troops to consume the magic arrows. Even though the magic arrows were devastating with every arrow basically consisted of the might of a small-scale rockets, they were extremely costly, after all, and Rhode was confident that Saiborn wouldn't believe that Rhode would have too many of them. But...

Rhode revealed a sinister smile.

Indeed. This was true judging by common sense. Magic arrows were expensive and Rhode couldn't afford too many of them. Even if he stored them in his inventory, he wouldn't obtain too many of them in a short while. However, the magic arrows weren't prepared only recently. Ever since the day this Fortress was established, Rhode had been ready for this moment before his very eyes! Apart from producing alchemy equipment and the stone constructs, Lapis's most important job was to focus all her time and energy on the creation of magic arrows! This was also why the speed of her coming up with new inventions wasn't quick. Rhode had requested to place her top priority on making the magic arrows to respond to this situation! Moreover, even though it was a fierce battle, the truth was that Rhode was ready to aim at this situation. He had divided his archers into three squads and every squad would take turn to release the magic arrows. This was why the explosions were constantly happening on the surface. After the shooting from the third squad had ended, it was then considered the end of the wave attack. Through this tactic, Rhode could maintain powers and save time to a maximum. Even though the Undead Army pushed through, Rhode knew that he might gain a perfect victory if they didn't come up with a change of their tactic.

Right now, the amount of magic arrows in stock were enough to last them for up to five days. As long as they hung on during this time, it would surely be enough. On the other hand, it would be another question if Saiborn's Undead Creatures could hang on for that long.

The biggest advantage that the Undead Army could rely on was their ability to manipulate corpses and make them join their forces, which made it difficult for them to lose in the battlefield. This was because they were increasing their forces as they eliminated the enemies. Rhode had fought the Country of Darkness for years and he knew them inside out. The Undead Army's biggest advantage was also their most lethal flaw. Why did the Undead Army's attack stop after the Light Parliament adopted the tactic to defend their deaths? The reason was simple. They lacked sufficient corpses to turn into their troops. Their unharmed enemies hid behind the high walls, while the Undead Army suffered huge damages. Without the replenish of troops, even the formidable Undead Army would crumble.

My city walls are rock solid and I have constant, ferocious firepower. What can you do to destroy my Fortress?

"Sir! Enemies spotted in the air!"

Randolf pointed ahead. Rhode turned to find a large patch of shadow soaring across the sky as though a pitch-black cloud heading toward the Fortress.

So, it's this move.

Rhode twitched his brows. Even though the battle was going on fiercely, he felt laid back and relaxed. Saiborn was only an intermediate commander in the Country of Darkness without any outstanding feats. Therefore, his commanding skills were nothing out of the ordinary, which meant they were all the standard assault moves of the Undead Army. All of their moves in this battle were within Rhode's expectations and it was making it boring for him.

"Don't worry, I have a plan. Pass this order and ignore them."

"Yes, Sir."

Randolf left immediately. At this moment, Rhode extended his right hand and the ring embedded with a scarlet gem on his index finger flickered in a faint magical radiance.

Activate Alchemy Constructs—Divine Unicorns.

"———!"

No one noticed that on the edge of the city wall, peak of the tower, and tall platforms of the Fortress, the decoration-like Divine Unicorns had trembled. The dust that had covered them fell off and spiritual radiance emerged in their lifeless eyes. Then, they expanded their majestic wings!

Boom!

In an instant, hundreds of tall, strong Divine Unicorns stone statues soared into the night sky and split up into groups like birds hovering and dancing in the air. Under the silver-whitish brilliance of the Holy Maiden Statue, the Divine Unicorns emanated specks of light on their body. Shortly after, they streaked across the sky in circles, gathered, and hovered in midair as they glared at the enemies before them.

Hovering before them were thousands of Bone Griffins beating their wings and letting out deep, menacing growls. The Bone Griffins were one of the main air forces of the Country of Darkness. They looked as though their bodies had completely rotted with only a white skeleton left—there were no traces of any flesh or feathers. The pale blue radiance burning in their eyes and the faint spiritual radiance from the edge of their flapping wings reflected the differences between them and pure bone specimens. The pitch-black shade that spread across their white skeleton frame was the truth of them being undead spirits.

"———!"

The Bone Griffins dove in with an ear-piercing screech. At the same time, the Divine Unicorns neighed, beat their wings strongly, and flew forward. In an instant, both sides clashed.

The masses of black and white collided, merged, and broke out in a violent confrontation. The Bone Griffins exposed their sharp claws as they pounced on the Divine Unicorns. The razor-sharp claws failed to leave an obvious scratch on the white, stone-made bodies. As alchemy constructs, the appearance of the Divine Unicorns had been through unique enhancements and modifications. No matter what, Lapis was an Alchemist Master and with the unique skills from the Behermes and her high production standards, even the most basic alchemy constructs wouldn't shatter to such attacks. Facing the Bone Griffins' attacks, the Divine Unicorns thrust their horns forward like cone-shaped battering rams, which punctured their chests and extinguished their spiritual flames of life. At the same time, the Divine Unicorns stomped their hind legs on the other Bone Griffins. In the blink of an eye, the pitiful Bone Griffins shattered to the enormous impact and fell from the night sky.

Everything's going according to plan.

Rhode displayed a smile. If the Bone Griffins were light surveillance aircraft, his Divine Unicorns would be medium-sized attack aircrafts. The parties didn't belong in the same category. At the same time, Rhode let out an inward sigh of relief. Normally speaking, the Bone Griffins were the investigative units of the Undead Army while the Gargoyles were used for air warfare. The Gargoyle Legion was basically the direct subordinate of Death Knights and Necromancers. At this point in time, Saiborn had dispatched the Bone Griffins and Gargoyles were almost non-existent. This meant that Rhode's Fortress wasn't the main target of their attack. If not, the situation wouldn't turn out this way, so it was much better than Rhode had expected. He initially thought that his Fortress was the first line of defense for Paphield and perhaps the enemies might prioritize their attacks. But it seemed like... This group of b*stards totally disregarded Rhode's presence.

But... it was hard to determine if their opinions would stay this way after this battle.

Rhode looked down from the city wall.

After two waves of constant bombards, the front troops of Saiborn's army were heavily damaged. Even though many fishes had slipped past the net of defense, they were swept away by the torrential current of the moat instantly and vanished to nowhere. Up until this moment, the defense was still solid and stable. But Rhode knew that this was only the start of the war and it was going to be a long night.

"Gillian, Marlene. Ready?"

Rhode said softly and the two young ladies nodded firmly. He swung his hand to the left and commanded.

"Get ready for the second part!"

***

Saiborn had never thought that this battle would be so tough. That's right. Ever since he had become a commander, he had never experienced such a headache when he fought with the mortals. The opponent's aggression had forced his head down. He thought that the Bone Griffins' ambush would scatter the defense and attention on the city walls so he could swarm the opponent. But he didn't expect to face so many alchemy constructs... Damn it!

Saiborn was sure that not only was the young man aware of their plans, but he was also prepared for it! It was apparent that the magic arrows had been stored for a long time. In this time and age, every elite squad possessed a formidable weapon. But a regular army definitely wouldn't have so many alchemy constructs. Saiborn was sure that these alchemy constructs were built to deal with his Bone Griffins!

In an instant, this Death Knight was horrified and fuming in rage. He clutched the rein in his hand. His head burned like boiling magma. He didn't know what went wrong. It was a top secret for them to ambush the Light Mainland, where not even every superior commanders knew about. It was impossible for the alchemy constructs to be produced at the very last minute. They must have been built for this moment!

That was an instant when Saiborn had thought of retreating to report this matter to Balende. But his pride as an Undead Creatures took the better of him. It's only a small set back, so must I give up?

"S-Sir?"

Schrodinger's voice disrupted Saiborn's thoughts and the latter glared fiercely at the flustered young man. At this moment, Saiborn suddenly felt something strange going on in the battlefield. The intensive explosions had gradually weakened. He lifted his head hurriedly and gazed at the top of the city wall where torch-like flames were burning. Saiborn revealed a malevolent smile. Of course. He knew what those things were: fire arrows. One of the most common weapons used by Humans against the Undeads.

Instead of worrying about this threatening scene, Saiborn's eyes glinted!

As expected! Their magic arrows are almost used up!

Saiborn felt a burst of excitement rushing into his head. He finally understood the enemies' tactic. It seemed like the enemies had used the powerful magic arrows to delay their advancements and forced them back. In fact, that was indeed effective. Facing this tough nut to crack, Saiborn had temporarily thought of retreating. But it seemed like the enemies were a spent force! They couldn't hang on until we retreat! They've finally used up their magic arrows! Even though the fire arrows could also deal a certain extent of damage to the Undead Creatures, such damage wasn't as significant as the magic arrows. The next thing that Saiborn could do was to make their move! He didn't know if this was a trap or not, but so what if it was? Would the enemies purposely keep their magic arrows and only launch them at a critical juncture instead? I shall let them realize what's the true assault of our Undead Army!

"Attack!"

Saiborn ordered with his sword pointed forward. The Undead Creatures gathered and swarmed forward like a ferocious wave that engulfed its way toward the mighty Fortress!

The explosions had stopped entirely. The rain of fire arrows descended from above and shrouded the Undead Army within. But they were an utterly inadequate measure. The Undead Army braved the burning arrows even as they pierced into their bodies. Some of the Skeleton Soldiers collapsed in a body full of flames, but were immediately extinguished as the wave of Undeads washed forward.

The fish has taken the bait.

Rhode let out a snort. He turned and gestured to Marlene and Gillian.

"Do it."