Damon, who had soared up into the air, immediately began spreading the magic of darkness over a wide area.
The question was whether the party could hold out while he took control of the entire undead legion, but Damon
was not particularly worried about that.
“Most of them are low-grade undead like skeletons and ghouls, so there’s no need to pay them much mind.
I see a few specters and dullahans, but they’re no match for Death Knights……”
With the Death Knights at the fore, the party formed a circular defensive formation and prepared
for the undead legion’s assault. Soon, a fierce battle broke out between them and the undead legion.
Crack.
Two ghouls were cut in half at the waist by the longsword Kasim swung, collapsing in a heap. But undead
were not beings that lost their fighting power even if their bodies were torn apart. A ghoul with only its upper body remaining stretched out its sharp
claws, trying to rake Kasim’s leg. But the seasoned Kasim turned his body slightly and
kicked the ghoul’s head clean away.
Thud.
The kicked ghoul flew for a long while before colliding with an approaching skeleton and tumbling down.
Beside him, Mitchell was swinging his sword in all directions, carving two wights to pieces.
Already, the floor was black with the broken and severed remains of undead.
Most of them were the work of the Death Knights. Though they were of the same dark lineage,
the undead charged at the Death Knights and Winslot without hesitation. But because the difference in combat power
was so overwhelming, they were destroyed and sent sprawling as soon as they rushed in. Behind the members, who were relying
on their sturdy armor to weather the blows, the Sentinels were absorbed in providing covering fire.
Whoooosh.
The arrows fired without pause pierced precisely through the heads of ghouls and skeletons. But
undead did not die immediately even if their heads were smashed. Seeing ghouls charging in with two or three arrows
stuck in their skulls, the Sentinels’ expressions hardened. However, the ghouls
failed to break through the party’s defensive line and ran out of strength. Of course, several members allowed attacks from ghouls or
skeletons to land, but because their armor was so sturdy, not one of them
was wounded. However, Kasim knew very well that armor was not omnipotent.
“Everyone, be careful not to get surrounded.
No matter how sturdy your armor is, if you’re surrounded by them and knocked down, it’s over.”
Even without Kasim’s warning, the party knew that fact well. If a sword was thrust precisely
into a gap in the armor, even a skeleton with weak combat power could kill a Sword Master.
That fact had been proven through long years of war, and for that reason, soldiers on the battlefield
had a duty to protect the backs of the high-ranking knights on their side. Following that principle,
the members covered one another and kept pushing back the undead legion.
“Hah!”
Mitchell, having split one ghoul vertically in two, used the momentum to swing his sword horizontally.
The wight caught in it had its waist neatly severed. A foul smoke
rose from the severed wight’s brass-colored body, but Mitchell paid it no mind and sought his next target.
At that moment, a familiar warning sounded in his ears.
“Be careful!”
Startled, Mitchell turned, and saw a dullahan just as it was thrusting its sword at him.
The longsword swung by the dullahan was aimed precisely at the seam of the armor near his shoulder blade.
Mitchell, tempered by long practical experience, reflexively twisted his body and prepared to counterattack.
But the dullahan’s follow-up attack never came. An arrow flying in from behind buried itself precisely
in its head, and the dullahan’s body stiffened for a moment.
Mitchell did not miss the chance and split the dullahan’s body diagonally apart.
Thud.
When he turned his head, Illumina was nocking an arrow to her bowstring with an anxious expression.
A faint smile rose on Mitchell’s sweat-streaked face.
“Thank you, Illumina.”
Illumina smiled gently and loosed the arrow with a practiced motion. The arrow buried itself precisely between the brows
of a wight aiming for Crancia’s back. Watching that, Mitchell
joined the melee once more. Taken one by one, the undead legion was utterly weak, but
because their numbers were so great, they could not help being overwhelming. The party was gradually growing exhausted.
At that moment, Damon’s voice suddenly rang out. Unlike usual, it carried an eerie feeling,
and at just the right moment, it covered the whole field.
“By the authority of darkness, I command you. Army of darkness, obey my command.”
As soon as the shout ended, a chilling light covered the surroundings. The light was so intense that the party
had to hurriedly shield their eyes. A moment later, when the members opened their eyes, the situation was completely over.
The undead legion that had been launching a ferocious assault had finally stopped attacking.
The ghoul that had been stretching out its sharp claws was frozen in that very posture, and the dullahan that had been struggling,
holding its head in one hand and a blood-red rusted longsword in the other, no longer moved.
After a brief silence passed, the undead legion began lining up in orderly ranks.
Creeeak.
Watching that, the party let out a sigh and gathered themselves. A large number of
undead were still swarming in, but as soon as they arrived, they were being suppressed by Damon’s magic.
They went and lined up behind the undead legion that had already formed ranks.
There were so many of them that the watching members clicked their tongues again and again.
“To think we’d fight the undead I’d only heard about……”
“One by one, they’re nothing special, but there are so many of them that they’re hard to deal with.”
Shrekheimer, who had been listening, threw in a word.
“This much is nothing. During the Dark War, each corps held by the army of darkness numbered several dozen
times more than this. It is fortunate that all of you are so exceptionally skilled that we did not have to witness anything unsightly.”
A look of puzzlement spread across Crancia’s face.
“Anything unsightly?”
“What lowered the soldiers’ morale the most during the Dark War was seeing allied soldiers who had been killed
turn into undead and charge at them. Because they had only just become undead, their combat power was relatively high,
and because they had been comrades until moments before, it was difficult for the soldiers to cut them down unless they steeled their hearts considerably.
Of course, as time passed, their bodies twisted and they turned into ghouls.”
The members listening were left gaping.
“Th-that happened?”
Shrekheimer silently nodded. In the meantime, most of the undead swarming in had been suppressed.
After confirming that they had all been subdued, Damon descended to the ground with a pale expression.
“Whew. This is exhausting. No matter how pathetic each one is, there are just too many of them……
My dark magic has been consumed quite a bit.”
Damon sighed as he looked at the undead legion lined up in orderly ranks.
Even by a rough count, there seemed to be easily twenty thousand. And even as he watched,
undead continued to swarm in, so it had to be considered an army beyond imagination.
“Still, since it was magic of the same lineage, controlling them wasn’t that difficult.”
As Damon shook his head, Shrekheimer approached his side.
After glancing at the undead legion, Shrekheimer looked at Damon.
“How do you intend to deal with them?”
Damon did not answer, as if thinking about something. Unable to endure it, Shrekheimer asked again.
“There seem to be too many to recover the dark magic from them. And we don’t have the time for that, either.”
Damon turned his head and smiled.
“I have a good idea.”
Damon beckoned to Olivier. Without a word, he approached Damon.
“By now, the Luminous clan must be in the middle of fighting the orcs, correct?”
Olivier silently nodded.
“Most likely.”
“Contact Grand Elder Schneider immediately. Tell him to stop the fighting and retreat.”
At Damon’s words, Olivier’s eyes widened. For prideful elves, retreating from a battlefield
was unimaginable. He stared at Damon as though he could not understand.
“Th-that cannot be done. We elves……”
Damon firmly cut Olivier off.
“Where I lived, there was a saying: use barbarians to subdue barbarians. In other words, it means using barbarians to
defeat barbarians. To put it simply, think of it as using monsters to defeat monsters.”
As if he had realized something, Olivier’s face brightened.
“Th-then you mean to use those undead to deal with the orcs……”
Damon smiled and nodded.
“Exactly. I was having trouble figuring out how to handle them anyway. Since the orcs
happened to invade at just the right time, it’s a good thing. So contact the Grand Elder and have him pull back the troops.
If the elves rest while those things and the orcs smash each other’s heads in, and then clean up the battlefield afterward,
wouldn’t that minimize the sacrifices of the Luminous clan?”
Olivier nodded frantically.
“Understood. I will contact the Grand Elder immediately.”
He promptly took out a crystal orb and attempted communication.
Withdrawing his gaze from Olivier, Damon now gathered the Death Knights.
“You are to command them and teach the orcs who have trespassed into the Elven Forest a lesson.”
Helbertron, who had been listening, glared as if displeased.
“You’re telling us to command that filthy rabble of undead and fight nothing more than a pack of stinking orcs?”
The words “Aren’t you all undead anyway?” rose all the way to his throat,
but Damon held them back and coaxed them.
“As you know, they do not have the ability to distinguish enemy from ally.
Therefore, it seems you must control them so that they do not accidentally attack the elves.
And it’s not as if I can entrust this to that stupid Winslot, now can I?”
“Damn it, fine.”
The Death Knights grumbled nonstop as they walked toward the undead legion.
Watching them, Damon issued an order to the undead legion. They would now recognize the Death Knights
as commanders and obey their orders. A moment later, Olivier’s voice was heard.
“I have finished contacting him. He says he will gather the Sentinels and withdraw.”
“Good.”
Damon smiled and turned around. The Death Knights had already taken command of the undead legion
and begun moving. Since they were all composed of undead, at the very least, it did not seem likely that the Forest of Death
would harm them. There was no reason for man-eating trees to target undead they could not eat……
“While you’re at it, use them to widen the path through the Forest of Death as thoroughly as possible.”
“Damn it. Understood.”
“Then go have yourselves a splendid fight……”
The brusquely speaking Death Knights soon disappeared into the Forest of Death.
Behind them, undead soldiers plunged into the forest in an endless stream, one after another.
That line continued until the party finished reorganizing and moved toward the Dark Portal.
Through magical communication, the Sentinels intercepting the orc warriors began to retreat in an organized manner.
They withdrew without leaving the slightest trace, but the orc warriors quickly realized it.
At the unexpected situation, Chieftain Patar was bewildered. They had been paying many sacrifices
to break through the defensive line, and now the elves were withdrawing of their own accord. But since it was good for them in the end,
he gave the order to advance without delay.
“Chwiik. Advance.”
In order to sweep away the Luminous tribe located deep within the Elven Forest, they had to break through the defensive line,
and for that, now that the Sentinels had withdrawn, it was the perfect opportunity. Receiving the order, the warriors of the Patar tribe
plunged into the forest with a ferocious air. Unlike before, the Elven Forest did not block
their steps. Freed from the trouble of having to fell trees, the orc warriors began to
cut across the forest at high speed. However, they had not gone far before they were forced to face an enemy they could never have imagined.
“Enemy! Chwieeek!”
Seeing undead soldiers suddenly spring out from within the forest, one orc squad leader let out a warning cry.
But when the dullahan at the front swung its rusted sword and struck his neck,
the warning cry quickly turned into a scream. Behind it, countless undead soldiers
burst out from the forest. Without hesitation, they slammed into the flank of the advancing orc warriors.
Boom, kaboom.
The forest soon turned into a fierce battlefield between orcs and undead. The skeletons’ rusted swords and the ghouls’
sharp hooked claws split the armor of the orc infantry and tore their flesh apart. Because of the unexpected attack,
the orc warriors at the front fell in droves. Though flustered by the ambush, the orc warriors
soon formed ranks and attempted to counterattack.