ctnovel Chapter 10 The Enemy is at the Gates
Chapter 10 The Enemy is at the Gates
Two days later, at dusk, outside the town of Adela.
The town's sturdy brick walls faintly glowed with magical light, a sign that all defensive magic arrays had been activated.
The guards and patrolling militiamen moved back and forth on the city wall, all looking tense but still maintaining order.
As a small town with a population of only a few hundred, Adela Town's defenses are clearly far beyond normal levels. However, considering that the town's so-called "border" refers to its connection with the Dark Realm, everything makes sense.
In reality, Adela Town served a function similar to a fortress or garrison. There were many such towns along the long border between the Western Kingdom and the Dark Realm.
On the distant land, a dense shadow, like a black tide, is spreading steadily.
People often say that dark clouds loom over a city, but there really were dark clouds looming over that army, making it look like the end of the world was coming.
As the last rays of the setting sun disappeared from the horizon, the Kuroshio Current arrived just in time to reach the outskirts of Adela Town.
Adela is a small town, but it is fully functional. The town is neatly divided from the inside out, with a rigorous plan, which allows it to respond quickly.
At this moment, the roads, farmland, and pastures outside the town were covered with emergency traps. All civilians had evacuated into the town to take refuge, while the town guard and militia were guarding key locations throughout the town.
The town is surrounded by an eight-meter-high wall. Although the height is not particularly outstanding, it is reinforced by an engraved magic circle, making its defense quite formidable.
There was an arrow tower on each side of the heavy main gate. The militiaman Martin was standing on one of the arrow towers, holding a longbow, staring nervously at the dark army that was already lined up on the other side of the moat outside the city. The makeshift traps outside the town did almost no hindrance to them.
Martin was the middle-aged militiaman who led the patrol when Youche was first discovered; he was an old member of the militia. His personal combat strength was at the LV7 level, making him a formidable fighter in the militia, which numbered just over a hundred men, and he also held the position of vice-captain.
Even for Martin, this was the first time he had ever seen a large army of the Dark Races. The glorious deeds he always boasted about when he drank, the so-called battles he had fought against squadrons of Dark Races, were in reality nothing more than escaping from a few scattered Dark Races that had just been revived by corruption.
Now, those combat units called Corpse Rotting Corpses, which had scared him into fleeing in terror with just five or six of them, are nothing more than the most numerous and insignificant cannon fodder in the dark race's army besieging the city.
Behind the dense array of rotting corpses, there were countless warriors of even higher-level dark races, emanating a twisted and chaotic aura. Their very presence was enough to overwhelm the militia's garrison.
Martin was actually considered relatively well-off; the lower-ranking militiamen around him were mostly seeing a real dark race for the first time, and their fear was naturally far greater.
Fortunately, the entire town was enveloped in a flowing, hazy light. This light shielded the town from the encroaching dark clouds and subtly encouraged the town's soldiers, inspiring even the newly selected recruits to muster their courage and grip their weapons tightly.
But soon after, the dark races began their attack.
The ranks of rotting corpses advanced in an orderly fashion. Facing the barricades and traps blocking their way outside the city walls, these mindless soldiers did not hesitate and charged straight at them, using their own flesh and blood to wear down the town's defensive fortifications!
Corpse Corpses are dark racial units that are revived and mutated from the corpses of humans and other races after being tainted by filth. They have neither intelligence nor potential and are pure cannon fodder who are not recognized as part of the dark race.
Therefore, using them to clear paths during wartime is naturally the best approach, which is also the consistent strategy of the Dark Races in their advance.
"Throw stones! Fire arrows!!"
Faced with the advance of the dark race, the town naturally took action. With the commander's order, the militia on the city walls drew their bows, and along with the deafening roar of the catapults inside the city, unleashed a furious barrage of arrows at the ranks of the rotting corpses!
Arrows rained down, but they were ineffective against the rotting corpses, which were nothing more than mutated bodies.
The catapults, however, launched specially made rocks imbued with explosive magic. Each time they hit the rocks, they caused a violent explosion, successfully tearing apart the neat formation of the rotting corpses.
But those rotten corpses that were blown away, as long as they weren't completely shattered, would quickly get up again and rejoin the attacking force, as if they were immortal.
In contrast, the town's explosive catapults quickly went silent after a round of firing, and even the defenders' arrow rain became sparse, seemingly exhausted.
Thus, under the onslaught of the dark races, the rudimentary defensive fortifications set up outside the town were quickly demolished, and the rotting corpses were even preparing to use their own and their companions' bodies to fill the trenches.
However, the time that the town had been waiting for had come.
Above the city wall, two LV15 town guard captains were observing the formation of the rotting corpses. At this moment, they noticed that there was indeed a special individual shrouded in black aura at regular intervals within the rotting corpse formation.
These individuals were originally identical to other skeletal corpses, only revealing the black aura within their bodies when they were injured or attempted to heal themselves, thus distinguishing them from their companions.
The two captains exchanged a glance, then shouted, "Now! Archers, fire! Execute order number two!!"
Upon hearing the order, the archers of level 5 and above in the town guard and militia drew arrows from their quivers, each shrouded in a faint, holy light, and fired them at the individuals shrouded in black mist within the ranks of the rotting corpses!
"Whoosh—"
This time, the rain of arrows was much sparser, but the accuracy was significantly improved, especially as they landed on the rotting corpses shrouded in black mist.
Arrows circling the points of light pierced their flesh and blood, and then, like gunpowder, stimulated the black aura on these rotting corpses, causing them to explode along with their flesh and blood!
If more than three arrows hit the same rotting corpse, its flesh and filth will be pulverized, rendering it unable to revive.
The muffled thuds echoed in all directions, and the army of rotting corpses was once again hit by a wave of attacks.
More importantly, after those rotten bone corpses shrouded in black energy fell, the once orderly, fearless, and single-mindedly offensive rotten bone corpse army began to show obvious signs of chaos!
Most of the rotting corpses seemed to have lost their backbone at this point, abandoning their original orders to fill the trenches and attack the city walls. They began to wander around in place, dazed, and were then blown to pieces by the exploding stones that began to fall again.
"BOOM—!!"
Corpse corpses themselves lack intelligence, so when marching, special individuals hidden within them are relied upon to convey commands and provide additional buffs.
The "Holy Light Arrow" that has been simply soaked in holy water is far less effective than the genuine product, but it is enough to cause the primordial power within a special rotten corpse to go out of control, and its cost is far lower than that of a real Holy Light Arrow.
Seeing the results of this attack, the two captains exchanged a glance, both showing surprise and delight.
That person's tactics actually worked!
However, before they could celebrate for long, they saw two more black tides emerge from the dark race army outside the city and surge toward the city wall.
This black tide is filled with dark beasts with ferocious appearances and various body types, as well as ghosts with twisted and elusive forms!
The two commanders' expressions changed drastically: "Everyone, take cover!!"
The next moment, the black tide surged violently and crashed hard against the city wall!
"boom--!!"
……
At this moment, in the town center, inside the main tower fortress.
In the small conference room on the lower level, Youche and Baron Grammer sat facing each other, arguing about something. The baron was even a little agitated, occasionally letting out a low growl.
Even the guards outside the door were a little puzzled. Although You Che's background was mysterious, the Baron clearly trusted him and had accepted almost all of his arrangements over the past two days. This was the first time they had a significant disagreement.
However, they didn't eavesdrop on the argument; they simply did their jobs diligently, while the argument between the two continued inside.
"...I'll say it again, you cannot go to the front lines now!"
Despite facing intense pressure from Baron Grammer, You Che remained unyielding:
"You are our strongest fighter. We absolutely cannot waste our energy on insignificant grunts. Instead, we must prepare to deal with the commander of the dark race!"
Ignoring the Baron's murderous gaze, You Che continued, "The commander of the dark race is at least level 40. Only you can deliver the fatal blow! If you want to win this battle, you must listen to me on this point!"
The baron stared at You Che: "But if I don't take action, those squad leaders you mentioned are difficult for others to handle! I can't just sit here and watch my soldiers die, even though I'm capable of fighting!"
Yu Che then said, "What do you think I've been doing these past two days besides setting up defenses? I've already found the right people to deal with those guys."
The baron was taken aback: "Oh?"
You Che then pressed the bell beside him to convey the instructions, and the door to the small conference room was quickly pushed open. The young militiamen he had seen before led three people with different appearances into the room.
The three were a female magician wearing a classic dark hat, a male priest wearing a simple robe, and a thief whose gender was obscured by his black clothing. Judging from their demeanor, none of them were ordinary people.
But Baron Grammer stared at them several times to make sure, and finally couldn't help but press his forehead.
Of the three, the highest-ranking priest was only LV6, which wouldn't even qualify him as a squad leader in the militia.
"...These three people are your 'suitable candidates'?"
Are you planning to have them perform a suicide pact?!