Chapter 695: War Against Fate (IV)

The Undead Army's assault was indeed full of aggression and momentum.

Gazing from above the city wall, the Undead Creatures resembled an earth-shattering, pitch-black dye running on an artist's canvas. Everything on the surface was concealed by the dense, neat, and frightening movements. If they were Humans, perhaps the most elite of soldiers couldn't charge forward as neatly as them. Even though flames were spreading around them and explosions had blasted them away, their pace was still consistent, unified, without the slightest confusion. It was this display from them that the Humans realized clearly that what they were facing was an entirely different existence.

They weren't Humans.

Many archers who had lifted their bows let out shivers. Even though they stood on the solid city wall and had the upper hand, while the Undead Creatures were swiftly vanishing before their eyes, a sense of fear and horror instantly devoured their souls. They subconsciously retreated one by one. They were afraid that the terrifying torrent would sweep them away as soon as they blinked.

They're still too inexperienced.

Rhode shook his head slightly. This was also within his expectations. This was one of the reasons why Humans, Elves, and Dwarves feared facing the Undead Army. Even Rhode dared to face them only with the help of the tall, solid Fortress, and the incomparably precipitous mountain range that had penetrated the clouds. Besides, this Undead Army wasn't the direct army of the Dark Dragon or the four legendary generals under him, but was just a small army of the four legendary generals.

Rhode definitely wouldn't consider this if he didn't have the help of the four Holy Sword Cards, Canary, Mini Bubble Gum, Gillian, Marlene, Lize, and others. Even though he was a player... No, or perhaps, it was because he was a player that he knew how aggressive the Undead Army's frontal attack was. In the game, there were no chances of winning against the Undead Army even when there were millions of players. In fact, it was also the case when Rhode killed the Dark Dragon. Back then, his guild was the number one in the game. Even though he had a large group of elite players under him, he eventually appointed Orchid Heart and Olden Rascal to lead the main army and lure the enemies away from their territories. Then, Rhode would lead thousands of men to carry out their 'backstabbing'.

Of course, it was undeniable that this was also related to the players' level limit back then, which was level 70 and the standard of Intermediate Legendary Stage. Even with the assistance of talents and equipment, it wasn't an easy task to slaughter the maxed level Dark Dragon. Due to this reason, the battle was an intense one. The thousands of elite players suffered huge losses before the Dark Dragon. In the end, only Rhode and four other players survived when the Dark Dragon was taken down. Not only that, but they were also in critical health, where their raid would fail instantly if critters pounced on them and gave a swing of their blades.

Even though there was also a problem with levels, almost all the players admitted that they had never again experienced the formidable assault of the Undead Army even when they leveled up to 85 and faced the Void Dragon's Destruction Army. Although the Destruction Army held more than double the grade of strength than the Undead Army, the players couldn't feel the same amount of 'shock' as when they faced the Undead Army.

Perhaps the first was always etched in one's memories, or maybe the players' levels were too low in the start, which was why there was some deviation from the truth to their memories. But no matter what, based on the fact that even the number one Starlight Guild only dared to ambush from the rear and not confront the Undead Army head to head showed how unmatched their assault was.

This is only 50,000 of them...

Rhode was lost in his thoughts. Although 50,000 Undead Creatures seemed a lot for Humans, they were just slightly more than a battle column in the Undead Creatures' eyes. In order to defeat them, Rhode had to use almost all the trump cards in his arsenal. This time, he didn't make Mini Bubble Gum or Canary attack them. Even though they could eliminate them all in seconds, he didn't dare to.

Yes. He was afraid.

Because he knew that this was still the primary stage of the battle. If he were to display overly powerful strength and garnered the attention of the four legendary generals, he would be doomed for sure. Although Mini Bubble Gum and Canary were on equal footing with the four legendary generals, the problem was that they lacked the legendary artifacts they had in the game and their battle strength would fall by one-third at the very least. They might be able to hold off one versus two with the legendary generals. But if more than two legendary generals were present... The results would be devastating.

This was why Rhode had chosen to hide them away. It would be great enough for Mini Bubble Gum to be kept hidden in the team and cast defensive spells to protect the soldiers once in a while. On the other hand, Canary's biggest responsibility now was to destroy the Necromancers' protection barrier and interference spells and not show herself. This was also why Rhode had chosen to partner up Marlene and Gillian. At least for now, he wasn't willing to attract the attention of the four legendary generals. Wasn't the flow of RPG games usually to first kill the critters, chief critter, medium BOSS, huge BOSS, and finally the hidden BOSS? He wouldn't be that foolish to provoke the hidden BOSSes at this stage. Only after the situation had stabilized and the four legendary generals were fully occupied would he summon Mini Bubble Gum and Canary.

As for now... they were better off doing simpler jobs.

"Do it!"

Rhode dwindled his train of thoughts and ordered firmly. At this moment, Marlene finally launched her attack!

Her incantation had come to a full stop. Her fair, slender finger also reached its final destination and she pushed her hand down!

Surging magical powers dispersed in a mysterious rhythm and they quickly showed their values.

The vast, flat ground before the Undead Army trembled, cracked, and struck out razor-sharp boulder thorns that formed an incredibly solid obstacle, which ripped through their formation. Many Undead Creatures were punctured by the ambush of the boulder thorns and vanished into powder instantly.

But this was only the start!

"All right, all you cute little skeletons!"

Gillian said in a ringing, lively voice as she emerged in the pitch-black sky. This fox-eared young lady hovered above the city wall, placed a finger on her lips, and revealed a cheeky smile. Then, she stretched her right hand forward.

"Now's the time to head home for dinner, alright?"

A scarlet card appeared and spun above her palm. Then, she raised her hand and crushed it!

———!

The scarlet card shattered into bits. At the same time, a gigantic, scarlet dazzling ritual circle shone, spun, and expanded with Gillian in the center.

Magic Symbol—Seven Hells.

That was a scene plucked out from a dream.

The Undead Creatures rushing forward came to an abrupt halt. They lifted their heads subconsciously to gaze at the illusionary beauty transformed into their most terrifying threat. Blaze flickered. Then, countless fireballs emerged from within it.

In the blink of an eye, the fireballs linked up and blasted toward the ground in an arc trajectory as though a lashed whip. A string of dazzling, gorgeous barrages filled with the hunger for murder and destruction expanded in the sky. Then, this magnificent rain of flames descended and engulfed the Undead Army.

This time, the Undead Army were completely rooted to the ground.

In fact, individual fire balls weren't powerful, but they were lethal with their massive quantities. An Undead Soldier could defend against one or two fireballs. But, what about three, four, even five of them? In an instant, the one-sided warfare had flipped around. The Undead Soldiers charged forward with their raised weapons despite the fire balls erupting on their bodies, but they collapsed one after another in a string of flares.

"Damn it! Useless pile of trash!"

Saiborn berated. He extended his arm and grabbed the panicky Vampire who was hugging a white cat in his arms.

"What are your Necromancers doing?! Didn't they learn to interfere and cancel out the enemies' spellcasting in school?! Dumb*ss! A bunch of dumb*sses! What are they doing?! Damn it, how did this happen?! Say something, you bastard!"

"S-Sir, please calm down..."

Schrodinger cowered and gazed at Saiborn's fuming expression. He didn't know how the situation turned into this. The Necromancers had been through strict and tough training. In such a battle, they held essential importance because everyone knew how terrifying the Necromancers' large-scale spells were. Therefore, Necromancers held crucial roles within the Undead Army. Not only were they needed to protect the army from spell attacks, but they also had to detect and counteract the enemies. They would immediately take actions to disrupt enemies from casting spells whenever they sensed that the enemies were charging up to release large-scale, lethal spells.

This was the reason why Saiborn was this furious. He had left the safety of this army in the hands of the Necromancers and those bastards couldn't handle this duty properly!

"S-Sir, this isn't our problem... I-It's their powerful Mages who oppressed our defenses!"

"Powerful?"

Saiborn glared coldly at the Vampire.

"How powerful can they be? Aren't all your Necromancers in the Inner Circle? Don't tell me those shameless Humans are stronger?!"

"I don't know, Sir. But, our spells have indeed been suppressed... And can't be released!"

"Damn it..."

Saiborn pushed Schrodinger aside. He lifted his head and scanned the Fortress. The constant problems left him worried. It seemed that the enemies were well prepared for this battle. Besides, if what that useless Vampire said was true, it wouldn't be easy to find formidable presences who could suppress the Necromancers. Although Saiborn had a lot of complaints about Schrodinger...

The Death Knight couldn't ponder this question anymore. The spiritual radiance in his eyes glinted. He jumped off his warhorse and drew a glaring, purple radiance in midair with his sword. Then, the blade emanating purple radiance collided with the scorching flames.

"———!"

The flames devoured Saiborn's presence instantly, leaving a deep, ghastly mark on the ground, and blasting the Undead Creatures in its path into ashes.

The radiance vanished.

Saiborn emerged once again, but he appeared miserable. His armor was stained with filthy smoke and his cape was burned with several holes. He lifted his head to the sky and gritted his teeth tightly. A fox-eared young lady was seen floating leisurely in the night sky. Behind her was a dazzling, spinning magical ritual with countless fire balls launching from within. At the same time, Saiborn witnessed the coalescing energy in its middle. Then, another matchless beam of flames launched out and tore the ground.

This time, Saiborn felt entirely powerless. He could choose to continue their assault, but he couldn't guarantee that he would succeed. Even though most of the Undead Creatures were still present, this horrible terrain had limited their advantage in quantity. Both sides were tall, precipitous mountain ranges, where Undead Creatures couldn't possibly climb over them. The only way left for Saiborn was to restrict the Undead Army within the empty space before the Fortress. It was apparent that they couldn't disperse to avoid the attacks under such a tight space.

"... Retreat."

Saiborn lowered his head and made a hard decision.

The Undead Creatures slowly retreated while the soaring Bone Griffins flew away swiftly. But Rhode kept his vigilance at the highest level. He lifted his head and fixated his vision at the distant horizon. All the way until Saiborn's Undead Army vanished entirely from the horizon, Rhode nodded in satisfaction and turned to his subordinates.

"Well done."

"Hooray!"

The soldiers on the city wall cheered in excitement. They tossed the weapons in their hands and hugged one another tightly. Many of them were newly joint soldiers and had never fought in battles between Humans, not to mention a war with the Undead Creatures. In fact, many of them fell into the pit of desperation when they first witnessed the countless Undead Creatures. If they weren't standing on this solid city wall and had the help of Mini Bubble Gum and Canary, perhaps their limbs would be so weak that they sat paralyzed on the floor.

"R-Rhode, did... we win?"

Marlene watched in disbelief while Rhode shook his head.

"This is only for the time being. The Undead Army won't give up so easily. They merely retreated to regroup after facing our unexpected ambush. Don't think that we won this battle without breaking a sweat. We have just taken advantage of them and they will present a bigger threat after stabilizing their footing."

Rhode paused and turned to Marlene.

"Inform Old Walker to report to Golden City once more. I hope to understand the current battle progress and rough direction of the Undead Army. Also, get the soldiers ready for temporary breaks and replenishments. The night is still long. They won't give us too much space to breath the next time they're here."

Rhode turned around and looked into the distant, pitch-black horizon, where endless darkness had shrouded everything.

"The battle has just begun."