Ronda

"Four and a half hours more," said Lord Darius, looking at his watch.

"Don't worry my lord, we will reach there on time and conquer and nothing and no one could stop us from that," I said to the man, who was clearly nervous, but hiding it with skill.

It is his first time leading the battle.

However, he won't fight, nor does he need to. He is a lord; his presence alone is enough.

"Father is right, my lord. With the force, we are bringing; Greltheaven would have no choice, but to bend its knee in front of you," added Javier.

Lord Darius nodded, with a pleased smile on his face.

"Any reply on our newest offer?" he asked a moment later. I had told him, not to do it, after the first offer. Knowing it was useless, but the man didn't listen.

"Rejected," I replied.

We had offered Cardin a deal. If he surrenders the city. He rejected it.

"Have our spies found anything?" he asked with worry, returning to his eyes.

I shook my head.

There are a few things that have made me worried. The most being that bastard keeping, his trusted mages in the city. Especially that Geomancer, that brought out the alchfire.

It is the thing we fear the most.

If they have it; then it could wipe out our army. That would be terrible.

We had asked the merchants about it, but the bastards are mum. They have stated directly; that they wouldn't share any information with us unless it is about the undead.

"I will keep asking," I replied after a few seconds of silence.

It took quite an effort to place the spies in the enemy's army, but even they didn't seem to know anything.

Silver is good at keeping important information contained.

We tried to breach it, but not a single person in his inner circle responded to our advances.

"You do not need to be worried, my lord. Even if they have more alchfire orbs; we have made enough preparations to deal with them,"

"We have brought the geomancers with us and have people, with danger sensing skills,"

"With such preparations; they wouldn't be able to blindside us," reassured Javier.

"Let's hope, so," replied Lord Darius and sighed.

A lot of it riding on the success of this mission. If they were able to conquer Greltheaven. They will get a legacy and control over the river route.

It will be like controlling half of the region, which will provide them with wealth, influence, and safety.

They wouldn't be reliant on the one city alone.

Most importantly, if I am able to give, the lord Greltheaven. He had promised me Riverbell. He said that, just before, I left the city with the army.

I want Riverbell; it will make me a lord.

I pushed those thoughts away and turned to Laris beside me. "Any news?" I asked him.

"The battle in Port Midlet is still continuing. Silver's army, had entered the Panar to fight the undead," he replied, and a relief flooded into my heart.

That boy in Port Midlet is doing good. Keeping the horde of million undead at bay.

I hope he will wipe them out, like how Silver did yesterday. It would be great if he was able to wipe out even 60% to 70% of them.

The rest of them, even if came at us, we will be able to deal with them.

As for Silver, it won't matter, even if he retreated safely from Panar. As long as I got control of the city, he wouldn't be able to do anything.

Instead, he will have to do what we want. Since his legacy would be in our control.

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Just thinking about it, makes me want to smile brightly.

I didn't, of course. I am the leader of the army; I need to maintain my composure.

…

Undead came at us from all sides, roads, alleys, and roofs. Houses, some even broke the walls and windows to come at us.

There is not a single place, from where they are not coming.

I looked at them as I moved toward the enemy. The biggest cluster of them, with over a thousand undead pillars and other powerhouses.

Rip!

The first undead appeared in front of me, and my rapier moved. Cutting it into two without stopping.

My men had also moved into the action and begun hacking the undead into pieces.

It was smooth at first, but soon, the undead showed their greatest advantage and slowed our pace.

The numbers.

All they needed was seconds to slow our charge. Our speed had turned that of walking and more undead were coming, to slow us down further.

They had enveloped us from all sides. There is not a single direction, in which they aren't coming.

Hun!

My rapier moved, and I hacked one undead after another when I felt all the hair on my body rise up.

Bang!

I opened my mouth, but an explosion occurred before I could even form the word.

A moment later, the blackness disappeared, and I began to hear the sounds again.

I looked at the bloody gore, covering me. There is a layer of green energy protecting me.

It is what saved me from the explosion; that would have torn the holes through my body.

Bang Bang Bang

I was looking at it when I heard more explosions around me. Undeads are exploding, wanting to kill us, before we could hack them to pieces.

It is a proven strategy of the undead and now, with the communication blockade, it has become even more effective.

Earlier, there used to be a communication net covering all.

The moment one senses the undead exploding. They would be sent out a message and a protection spell from the mage would cover them.

Now there is no communication.

We have placed the mages strategically; they could sense the danger and cast the spell to protect our men, but this approach isn't as effective as the communication net.

In our current condition, it is the best option we have.

"Kill the enemies!" I roared and began hacking at the undead at an even greater pace.

There is only one effective way to deal with it. Kill all the undead.

When there will be no undead, nothing will explode.

The explosions were occurring on every side, but it didn't stop us.

We are killing the enemy as we move forward.

We will not stop, till we reach the big group of undead and wipe them all out, including the powerhouse hiding there.

A minute passed and then another, when we reached them. There are thousands of them, and they came at us like the tide.

For once, I am grateful for the narrow space; it is creating barriers for them.

Hun!

I was killing the enemy when I saw a mass of powerful lightning appearing in front of me. The same lightning that Lich had used against me.

I had a leveled-up, countless times since then, but even now, I am powerless against it.

All Grade 4 spells are dangerous to me.

Bang!

The shield appeared and stopped the attack.

"There are two Lv. 30; a mage and warrior," said Shaun, before leaping into the roof of the house and firing the spells at the enemies.

The pillars also revealed themselves and our mages moved to fight them, while I and others hacked the undead as we moved forward.

There are a lot of enemies, but we are killing them.

Still, I could see my people were suffering. Getting injured and dying. The rate feels greater than in the last two battles.

My heart pained, seeing that, but I controlled my emotions and kept killing the undead.

Hun!

Minutes passed when the warriors started to come out. Seeing their numbers, my expression couldn't help but turn serious.

"My Lord, I think you should retreat," advised Lt. Ross

"Thank you, for your advice lieutenant, but I will stay," I replied. The man opened his mouth, but closed it, seeing the expression on his face.

Retreat isn't an option. I have to fight, for myself. For these people, I am leading.

A few seconds later, he walked ahead to fight against the enemy coming toward us.

One by one, the officers moved to fight the enemy powerhouses, till only I had remained.

Hun!

Another minute passed when two more warriors came out of the undead and they were coming directly toward me.

It's clear; that I am their target.

The officers noticed them instantly and tried to stop them, but couldn't.

The enemies, they were fighting held them back.

The same happened with Shaun. He attacked them with the spells, but the enemy mage reacted and protected them with the defensive shields.

He might have been able to do something. If he had been fighting with the mage alone, but he was also holding back a Lv. 30 warrior.

A few seconds passed and the undead fighting me began to retreat.

"You guys retreat," I said to the soldiers around me.

"Lord Silver, the enemies are strong," said the young orc, looking at two people coming at me.

"Don't worry about them; I will be able to handle them. You guys just make sure, that no undead would come to disturb me," I said.

Hesitation appeared on their faces, but they nodded and retreated.

Leaving me alone.

I turned ahead and looked at the enemies, who had entered the empty space.

There are two of them. One is human, while the other is an orc.

The human man looked to be in his early thirties. He is tall, over six and a half feet tall, wearing light armor and having a straight sword in his hand.

He is an agility fighter; it is clear by his physique and weapons.

The grey orc beside him is shorter, with a classic orc physique. He looks to be in his late thirties.

He is heavily armored, from helmet to shoes, and holding a saber thinker than my arm in one hand and shield in another. I would need to be really careful in fighting against him.

These two are pre-Lv. 30.

They were part of Panar's forces and had been here for over six months.

Saying fighting with them would be hard, would be an understatement. There is a good chance; I would be pinned to the ground within seconds.

Yesterday, I had fought against one pre-Lv. 30 and barely able to defeat him.

Today there are two of them.

While I had gained three levels. They did not give me the confidence I would like to have, but it didn't matter.

They are the enemies, and I will have to fight them.

If I did not, they would attack my officers, who were already busy fighting. So, dying or getting captured isn't either; I will have to kill them, or at least keep them occupied.

It is the only way; my men and I will survive.