Chapter 696 - War Against Fate (V)
Chapter 696: War Against Fate (V)
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Even though the Undead Army had retreated, Rhode didn’t let loose. He simply praised his subordinates and got them to quickly get prepared for the upcoming wave of attacks. Frankly speaking, the soldiers were still too inexperienced. Just a few days ago, less than one-tenth of the 3,000 soldiers were his original troops as he didn’t find suitable candidates. It was only until Orchid Heart was summoned that he slowly built on his army. He was always a cautious person, especially after he had managed a player guild and understood the dangers of blind expansion. Even though it wouldn’t be a problem for him to form a 10,000 troops army with the population in his Fortress, this would cause a huge problem for him without sufficient team leaders, commanders, equipment, and foodstuff. Besides, they wouldn’t have camaraderie without training and cooperation, so what was the point in having such a huge army since they would scramble to a pile of loose sand in war? Rhode had no intentions of leaving the Fortress, so he put himself into defending the city walls. It was due to this that even with the threat of the Undead Army, he only recruited 3,000 soldiers who were most fitted and that was sufficient.
But this was just the beginning.
It had been a long time since the Light Mainland and Darkness Mainland broke out into a war. Currently, only the Eastern Plains, Battle Angel Army, and Holy Knights from the Church would occasionally eliminate Undead Creatures, Demons, Cultist, and others. As for ordinary Human armies, they didn’t have the experience of fighting against Undead Creatures at all. It was still the same even for Rhode who had several experienced, senior soldiers who had left the military. They were basically the same as the newly joined soldiers in the face of the Undead Army. Fortunately, Rhode had no intentions of making these soldiers the main forces against the Undead Army. If not, the Fortress would have submerged into a sea of flames without Gillian and Marlene around.
And now, it seemed like they were effective. The Undead Army had retreated temporarily while the soldiers found their confidence. But Rhode knew that he had wasted a lot of resources—Gillian’s ‘Seven Hells’ would require a day of cool down so she could only use ‘Sulfur River’ and earth-shattering fireballs. But without the enhancement from the specialized spell, the damage of the fireballs would be decreased significantly. Rhode had also activated the alchemy statues in order to resist the Bone Griffins. The Soul Cores in the alchemy statues were the Human Soul Cores he had collected in the Southern battle, so they were basically defective products that would last up to five hours. Besides, Rhode was sure that the enemies wouldn’t send out Bone Griffins the next time since they were aware of his alchemy air force. He would most probably face the Gargoyle Legion in the upcoming battle. He actually had intentions of not awakening the alchemy statues so soon. But judging from the capabilities of his soldiers, perhaps they would collapse in fear as soon as the Bone Griffins dove toward him, so he had no choice but to call upon the alchemy statues for support.
On the other hand, even though Marlene was a Mage in the Middle Circle, she didn’t have it easy against the Necromancers. If it weren’t for Canary who was secretly suppressing the Necromancers’ spells, perhaps Marlene would have become useless. If that continued, she couldn’t possibly bring harm to the Undead Army with the spells that she had mastered. Moreover, Marlene wasn’t a perpetual motion machine either and her spiritual energy would also deplete. On the other hand, the strength of Sol’s group was too limited against the huge volume of Undead Creatures. Rhode had assigned Sol’s group the duty of sweeping the Undead Creatures who had arrived at the city walls through bombardments and they performed well.
As for Canary and Mini Bubble Gum, Rhode decided not to send them into battle before confirming the main direction of Balende’s attack in order to prevent any accidents. This was also why the effectiveness of their presences were also limited.
The only fortunate aspect was the Holy Maiden Statue. As a legendary artifact, it could maintain itself after it was activated until Rhode shut it down. It was generally stronger than most ordinary magic tools; if not, its title as a legendary artifact would be of no purpose.
Rhode shook his head and sighed. In the game, he didn’t need to consider morale at all. If his soldiers were players, they would have jumped for joy at the sight of Undead Creatures because it would bring them a whole chunk of EXP and he didn’t need to motivate them or encourage them at all. Back then, Rhode’s only concern was to constrain his subordinates from being overly excited. In here, not only did he need to ensure his subordinates wouldn’t flee from their positions, but he also needed to think of a way to boost their morale and ignite their beliefs in victories. Rhode felt that this was a tragedy…
But this was still fine too. After putting in some effort, the soldiers’ morale was boosted and there were visible changes in them, where they were no longer as timid as before. Even though their morale was still fragile, he knew that the victories from battle after battle could strengthen their confidence. This was only the start.
This was too strange.
Vidal puckered his brows. The reports indistinctly revealed an odd taste. Their attacks were supposed to be raids, and even if the enemies were aware, they should be prepared hurriedly. However, the reports sounded as though all the enemies were aware of their plans. How was it possible?
Some of the commanders like him weren’t even aware when the battle would start. It was during one fine day when they were called in and given this order out of a sudden, which left even the commanders flustered. This was why it wasn’t possible for the enemies react so swiftly. In fact, the battles in the Country of Light proved this point. The reports had shown that the Country of Light couldn’t even put up proper defenses and was completely overrun by the Undead Army. Currently, the Undead Army had passed through the Red Leaf Riverbank that was regarded as the major road, which was much faster than he predicted. Vidal was sure that if this continued, the battle in the Country of Light would end much quicker than expected.
But why is the Munn Kingdom so hard to crack when we’ve already taken down almost half of the Country of Light? Are the people of the Munn Kingdom that adamant? Are they able to remain unperturbed in the face of the Undead Army’s attack? This is… too illogical.
At this moment, Vidal could only wait for the report from Paphield-Grenbell. Up until this moment, Saiborn hadn’t send any information to him.
Does this mean that he has succeeded? If that’s the case, I should consider gathering the troops and focusing our attack on that battle line.
“Reporting, Sir!”
A Necromancer rushed into the room with a crystal ball emanating pale blue spiritual radiance in his hands. He gazed at Vidal and gave a deep bow.
“I’ve received news from Saiborn.”
“Oh?”
The spiritual flames in Vidal’s eyes glinted. Then, he took over the crystal ball and placed it on the table before him. Shortly after, Saiborn’s face emerged on the surface of the crystal ball.
“Saiborn? How’s the situation? Have you broken through the Paphield-Grenbell defensive line?”
“…”
Saiborn hesitated for a moment.
“I’m sorry… Sir Vidal. We…”
Saiborn clenched his teeth. It was apparent that he didn’t wish to describe the situation with such jarring words. But, he had no choice.
“We… have been driven off…”
“What?!”
Vidal sulked instantly. He glared at the crystal ball and the spiritual flames burning in his eyes were as though about to melt it. After a few moments, Vidal let out a long, heavy sigh as he fixed his eyes on the Death Knight.
“Give me the details!”
He yelled at the top of his lungs.