Ardan Wayne

“Bartram went for complex and ended up making a lot of mistakes. We will keep it simple. Let the horde do what it does the best,”

“Overwhelm the enemy,” said the lean man, looking at the model of Greltheaven.

“Bartram was also this confident, but he had lost and lost badly,” said the woman, with grief in her eyes.

“Bartram was one good fighter, but he could not lead. I will not make the mistakes he did, which alone gives us a better chance against our enemy, who didn’t have even a tenth of our numbers,” he replied and grinned.

“We have to win the city. The command wants control over the river route,” said an old woman with staff.

“The command will have what it wants by dawn,” replied the man.

….

I turned and looked at the army gathered below me. The total twenty-five thousand, thirteen hundred and seventeen people.

All armored to the teeth and ready to battle.

Especially twenty-two thousand. All of them were in uniforms, standing in a neat line. Ready for the battle.

I could see the fear and nervousness in their eyes, but there was also conviction and a will to protect the city.

They will fight; they have been training for more than a month for it. They have become a proper army.

I turned my eyes toward the mercenaries. Many had stayed; we also had newcomers. They are survivors from the other cities; they reached us after the battle was over.

While many had left, nearly half of them have stayed. They had joined the army and mercenary groups, while few had picked up different professions.

Now, they are volunteering themselves to fight.

It would have been great. If those who left had stayed; it would have helped us tremendously.

Still, the current army is much more powerful, than what we had pieced together last time.

My eyes stopped on one mercenary. I had not expected her to join the battle and wanted to order her to go back, but I didn’t. I need every person for the battle, even if that person is someone I care about.

“Is she really ready?” I asked.

Barb is standing with her team. She is armored and has a red saber in one hand and a round blue shield in another.

There are seven people on her team, all of them from Mayhurst. Unlike her, they are the veterans of many battles. Which is good; they will protect her, if she is in danger, which she certainly will.

It is a battle, after all. Nobody would be safe in there; not even Stone or me.

“She is ready,” Hugo replied, sounding confident.

“She is talented and has been practicing nearly every hour, in the past month. I would be surprised if she didn’t get the combat class after the battle,” he added.

“She will need to survive the battle first for that,” I said, to that he said nothing.

She is not powerless. She is Lv. 25, and while she doesn’t have a combat class or skills associated with it, her attributes make her strong. Not to mention, the fire, she could breathe.

I hope it will be enough to help her survive the battle.

I looked at the rest of the mercenaries and volunteers, before turning back. According to the latest information; the undead, would be here in an hour.

We had made all the preparations we could. Even so, we could not say we could defeat the enemy. They are strong and bring large numbers and this time, they will be prepared and informed.

Hun!

I was looking at the preparations when I saw Stone coming toward me. He looks a little funny wearing the oversized armor and that massive tower shield hanging on his back.

I had ordered a size-adjusting armor and weapons for him, but they will take time to come.

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“Is everything good?” I asked. “Yes,” He replied before his expressions turned serious.

“Once again, I advise you not to take part in this battle. If you got caught, everything will be over,” he said. It is not the first time; he has said those words to me.

“I know, but my being in the battle would be helpful, too. They will be a focus on me; it will provide us an advantage,” I replied. It looked like, he wanted to say something, but he didn’t.

A few minutes passed and finally, I could see the army.

If it had been a day, I would have been able to see it, minutes ago, but it is midnight and the one without any moon. Even the stars have been blanketed by the clouds; the only light there is from the crystals and spells.

Every minute the horde got closer and closer, becoming bigger, till it was less than two miles away from us.

“Fuck, it's huge!” said Lt. Colonel Hiren as he looked at the horde, which had finally stopped a mile away from us.

Saying it is huge would be an understatement. It had more undead in it than we have people in the city. Everywhere I looked, I saw the undead and for a moment, my heart, got overwhelmed with fear.

The horde stayed unmoving for a few seconds before the man walked forward. He is a slim man with a tall physic and long blue hair.

He is handsome in a rugged way and has a black army saber at his waist. It is the same design as mine, but unlike mine, it had three gems embedded in it.

He is Ardan Wayne, a spell blade and likely the leader of a horde.

Three hours ago, the merchant state had informed us about him. We didn’t have information about him being on the continent, but he is here, and he has experience in leading the battles.

He had been doing that for the past two years, with a good record.

The man is a good leader and an even better fighter. The information the merchant state had provided about him stated that he was about at Level 35.

He had not come forward alone; eight people came behind him. Six we were already aware of and two, I recognized immediately. Necromancer Trudell had fought in Riverbell, while Martin Bal was spotted in Panar.

The eight aren’t the only powerhouses. I am sure, there would be more. Even with such a big horde, they wouldn’t bring only eight powerhouses.

“Lord Silver, I hope you have been well,” said Ardan Wayne.

He spoke from the distance, but I could hear him as if he was in front of me.

I felt a tap on my shoulder from the single hand of Lt. Col Hiren and a spell from Mage Osward. I nodded at them gratefully before turning to the enemy.

“Unfortunately, I had not been. Commander Wayne. Your people had damaged my city and killed my people; it will take us quite a while to recover from that,” I replied and could see a faint surprise in his face, which he quickly controlled.

He hadn't expected me to be truthful. Likely expected me to show fake confidence.

“We couldn’t be blamed for your mistake, Lord Silver. If you had accepted our generous offer. You and your city would have been far better conditions, than it is right now,” he replied.

“Bastard, we defeated you!” cursed the people around me.

“I will not hold that against you and will offer you the same conditions again. Surrender and we will spare everyone you love, your staff at the legacy and even your guards, including the elder-blood,” he offered.

“This, I cannot accept,” I replied.

“Then we will fight, and I promise you. The consequences of it would be so bad for you, that you will regret not accepting my offer for the rest of your life,” he promised and took out his saber from his waist.

“Attack!”

He roared, pointing his saber forward. The horde moved forward like a tide, but not a single one of us retreated, seeing such massive force.

“Attack!” roared Stone.

Boom Boom Boom

Immediately, the cannons begin to shoot the fiery death at the undead. We had replaced most of the cannons. The new mounted cannons are good; better than the ones we had used last time.

Due to the big support, the wall provides; its cannonballs are bigger and thus provide greater destruction.

Size isn’t everything. There are cannonballs smaller than my thumb, which could bring a hundred times greater destruction. Unfortunately, we didn’t have money, most of our cannonballs are standard.

Still, they are creating quite a destruction.

“Let’s go,” said Stone, and we climbed down the wall.

Soon, Stone, Lt. Col Azalea, and me standing in front of an army of twenty thousand covered in a faint mist.

Some even have their faces and hands covered in the paint.

Not all twenty-five thousand going to attack the undead with us. Five thousand will remain to defend the wall. It is much less than we would like, but we don’t have enough people.

“Three hours is all we have. If we don’t defeat the enemy in three hours, then we will lose the battle, but we will not with the world's bravest people fighting with us.”

“We had won the battle with a tenth of preparations last time and we will win it again, without a doubt!” he said.

Thud Thud Thud!

The soldiers begin to hit their feet on the ground in the affirmation. Stone smiled and turned toward the gate, while I and Captain Azalea took our place in the army.

The gate is open, and we can see the undead are coming. They do not care about the mines we had laid out or cannonballs and spells showering on them; the only thing they care about is reaching us.

Seeing them so close; I wanted to run away. I took a deep breath and steeled my heart. There will be no running away, we will fight the undead and we will win.

The plan is rather straightforward. It was to kill their powerhouses and pillars, so one would remain to control the horde.

It could either make them retreat or leave the horde on us, which we could deal with. If there is none one, to enhance and direct the undead.

The plan may seem simple, but execution of it will be complex. We will need to stop the undead from overwhelming us, which will be a difficult task, seeing their numbers are over ten times of us.

We will need to give our powerhouses a chance and time to kill the enemies’ powerhouses.

There is no letting the enemy inside the city. That would be our defeat. The undead won’t make the mistake of coming close to the establishment. That is the only thing we have that could wipe out a large number of them.

So, this will be the only battle, and our chances of winning are thin, but we will be going to try our all.

The undead got closer and closer. The mines are killing a lot of them, but there seems to be barely any effect on their numbers.

It didn’t make me feel good, but I didn’t move my eyes away from them. I watched it all.

“Charge!”

Finally, Stone gave the command, and we charged out of the gate toward our enemies, with only victory in our hearts.