"What? Tang has been taken away? What's going on?" Dao Lao hurriedly asked.
"From what I've gathered, just now, two Dak elves flew over from the Cross Camp. They're logistics personnel from there, coming here to apply for new ingredients to make Elven biscuits."
"When they arrived here, the soldiers in charge of registering them happened to be the same guards who registered us earlier. So, when they heard that these two were also from the Cross Camp, they told them about our group coming to repair the zombie soldiers. Then, the two elves immediately requested to see us. Because, they hadn't heard of any zombie soldiers going out of control in the Cross Camp!" Paladinod quickly explained the situation.
Upon hearing this, Haoyun couldn't help but shudder. He knew that their impersonation of Cross Camp soldiers was likely about to be exposed. So, he quickly called out, "Tang! What's happening there? What's the situation now?"
"Huh—" Biscuit Tang just let out a heavy sigh through the communicator, without making any other sound. Haoyun and Dao Lao knew that Biscuit Tang was probably fully occupied with the questioning by the Dak soldiers, unable to respond to them. This also indicated the severity of the situation over there.
"Paladinod, where are you now? What's the situation there?" Dao Lao immediately asked.
"Since my task is to be on guard, I didn't stay at the inn, but concealed myself outside. I'm currently hiding not far from where Tang and the others are, and I've already informed other team members to be on alert. But it seems like Tang's explanations aren't satisfying them. Our identities are likely to be exposed soon! Moreover, the Dak guards have surrounded the inn. It seems difficult for us to escape from here!" Paladinod replied. From his tone, it was evident that even though he had a chance to escape now, he seemed to have prepared himself to face life and death with Biscuit Tang and the others.
"Paladinod, don't act rashly! See if you can divert the attention of the Dak soldiers and rescue the others. Or simply shadow everyone in secret, and when we come out, we'll figure out a way. The others shouldn't act rashly either! Try to avoid conflict with the Dak soldiers as much as possible, ensure your personal safety first, and then we'll figure out a way to rescue you!" Dao Lao immediately issued orders upon learning of the situation there.
Then, Dao Lao turned to Haoyun and the other two elves beside him and said, "We need to prepare for battle too! If necessary, we'll have to force our way out!"
Haoyun and the two elves nodded in understanding, immediately preparing to remove the restraints on their feet and readying themselves to forcefully leave the maintenance center.
But at that moment, the warehouse door suddenly creaked open with a grating sound. So, just to be safe, the four of them quickly resumed their limp and powerless standing postures, ready to see who was coming in first before continuing their escape plan.
"Hey! Why hasn't anyone from the later department come to oil the door? At this rate, this damn door will rust through!" The annoying voice was unmistakably that of the detestable zombie repairman.
"Opportunity's here! Everyone, follow my lead!" Seeing the repairman enter, Dao Lao's eyes lit up immediately.
"In the middle of the night, this esteemed repairman has to come down personally to inspect the warehouse, hmph! Could it be that these useless zombies will open the door themselves and run out? Whose brainless idea is this regulation? They really have nothing better to do!" The repairman grumbled as he checked around the warehouse.
"Hey! Hold on one more night! Starting tomorrow, I'll only need to repair you during the day shift, without having to take care of your useless living habits at night!" The repairman teased, then walked back to Haoyun, ready to give him a few more hard knocks on the head before continuing his night patrol in the adjacent warehouse.
"Clang! Clang! Clang!" Three satisfyingly heavy blows.
"Look at you, you trash! How do you manage to make me hate you to the bone every time I see you? Hmph! I have to dirty my hands repairing such low-grade zombies!" Before the repairman finished speaking, his neck was twisted into a pretzel shape from behind by Dao Lao.
Seeing the repairman collapse to the ground with his life extinguished, Haoyun immediately leaned down and, with the Blade of Speed and Passion in hand, fiercely smashed it against his helmet. "Damn you! You love hitting my head so much, don't you?! You want me to keep hitting you? I won't stop until I smash your skull!"
"Haoyun, that's enough! You've practically flattened his damn head already! Hurry, we really need to prepare for Plan B this time!" Dao Lao interrupted Haoyun, who was beating the repairman's corpse, and swiftly snatched the dagger from Haoyun's hand, quickly releasing the restraints on everyone's feet. For a heavenly weapon like the one from above, dispelling such low-level binding spells from the mortal realm was as easy as flipping a hand.
After Haoyun spat fiercely at the repairman's body, he said, "What exactly is our Plan B?"
Dao Lao threw the death control token found on the repairman to another passing elf and pointed to the surrounding zombie soldiers. "They're our Plan B."
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Haoyun immediately understood Dao Lao's meaning, so he said, "Hey! I wonder how much trouble we'll cause by doing this?"
"At this point, who cares! Besides, they're the ones controlling the zombie soldiers, it's none of our concern. All we need to do is take advantage of the chaos to enter Blackstone Castle and help Biscuit Tang and the others escape from Cold Moon City," Dao Lao said indifferently in the private chat channel.
Then, Haoyun turned to the two elves and said, "Fortunately, the two who unexpectedly joined us are also Dak elves. You both should be fine, right?"
"No problem. Based on the information Biscuit Tang obtained earlier and what I witnessed myself, this token and the incantation are the key factors in controlling these zombies. Personal proficiency in dark magic is only auxiliary. And to be honest with you, I have also attempted to practice dark magic of the death element before. Although my skills are not very advanced, they should be sufficient for our needs!" replied the elf holding the token confidently.
"Very well! Then I'll leave it to you two to control these zombie soldiers! Form a small team and have them immediately attack the Moonlit Inn to help Biscuit Tang and create an opportunity for their escape. Then, have the rest of the zombie soldiers launch an assault on Blackstone Castle and kill anyone who gets in their way!" Dao Lao swiftly issued the battle instructions.
"Haoyun, we'll protect them. Keep an eye out for those Dak elves holding death control tokens, especially the ones with purple-red tokens. As soon as you see that token, snatch it away immediately!" Dao Lao quickly issued combat orders.
Haoyun anxiously said to Paladinod and the others, "You must hold on, try to keep the Dak soldiers forced in place, help is on the way!"
The elf did not exaggerate earlier. He raised the dark advanced death control token high and loudly recited the spell, quickly awakening all the zombies in the warehouse. Haoyun and Dao Lao were also not idle at this time. Using the terrain map drawn by the system, they quickly rushed out of the warehouse. After cleanly knocking down a few guards outside, they smoothly used the key held by the zombie repairman to open the doors of several other warehouses he was in charge of.
Although this was the heavily guarded Cold Moon City, the number of guards and the level of security in the logistics area, where the zombie maintenance center was located, were quite different from the military command area and the weapon manufacturing area. Therefore, under the command of the elf, the hundreds of problematic zombie soldiers originally stored in these warehouses quickly rushed out of the zombie maintenance center's gate, and in a frenzy, headed in the direction of both the Moonlit Inn and Blackstone Castle.
It must be said that the response speed of the zombie maintenance center to deal with emergencies was quite impressive. As soon as these hundreds of zombie soldiers suddenly started moving, personnel from the supervisory department immediately dispatched someone holding the purple-red token to the gate of the maintenance center, attempting to regain control of this group of rampaging zombies.
However, how could Haoyun and Dao Lao, who were prepared, let those Dak elves succeed? As soon as they saw several Dak military officers, distinguished by their cloaked armor, appearing alongside their soldiers, they launched an attack. Although there was a team of soldiers with the Dak military officer holding the purple-red death control token, how could they be opponents of Haoyun and Dao Lao? Dao Lao's suddenly elongated staff swept horizontally, sending the entire team of soldiers flying. Immediately after, the zombies that followed tore them into pieces as they groaned on the ground.
Naturally, Dao Lao wouldn't waste the newly acquired token. So, he tossed the token, shimmering with a purple-red light, to another accompanying elf. The elf understood immediately and followed Dao Lao back into the warehouse area of the zombie maintenance center, releasing more waiting-to-be-repaired zombie soldiers.
In this way, while the Dak elves had yet to react to what had happened, Haoyun and the others, taking advantage of the quiet night, swiftly formed an army of nearly a thousand zombie soldiers and zombie flying beasts. They rushed out of the zombie maintenance center and split into two groups. One group followed the road behind the maintenance center straight to Blackstone Castle, while the other group headed towards the Moonlit Inn.
"Woo—! Woo—!" The sound of bone horns echoed in the logistics area in the dead of night. Many Dak soldiers who received orders immediately rushed towards Blackstone Castle, trying to intercept the sudden rampage of the zombie army for unknown reasons.
It must be said that even though the zombie soldiers controlled by Haoyun and the others were problematic, their combat power was not affected in the slightest. Even though most of these zombie soldiers could only fight unarmed against the incoming Dak elves, they still managed to overpower them with brute force alone. What's more frightening was that this group of zombie soldiers, after entering combat mode, even knew to pick up weapons discarded by the Dak soldiers. This meant that after arming themselves, their combat effectiveness almost returned to their normal level.
"Haoyun, there's a team of zombie soldiers in the three o'clock direction. Deal with the guy controlling them at the back!" Dao Lao commanded Haoyun through the system while deflecting two charging soldiers.
It's worth noting that Dao Lao did not use his weapon as a divine weapon during the battle but allowed his light weapon to fight in its normal state. Dao Lao did this to prevent himself from standing out too much in the night battle, avoiding drawing too much attention that could affect their subsequent infiltration into Blackstone Castle. Of course, for Haoyun, who was still only a novice user of the Blade of Speed and Passion, he didn't need to consider such issues at all. He just had to get the job done.
"Received!" Haoyun, upon receiving the message, immediately leveraged his exceptional speed advantage. Utilizing the dimness of the night, he skillfully avoided the areas illuminated by the firelight, swiftly maneuvering around to the rear of the team of zombie soldiers. With lightning speed, he severed the throat of the Dak soldier who was focused on commanding the zombie soldiers in battle. As the leader fell, the squad of zombies lost their coordination, swiftly falling victim to the frenzy of the rampaging zombies, meeting their demise on the spot.
Due to Haoyun and his team's sudden attack, they caught the Dak elves completely off guard. This allowed the zombie army to advance smoothly into the military restricted zone in front of Blackstone Castle. However, the situation here was entirely different. Because the vicinity of Blackstone Castle was under constant high alert, there were more heavily armed soldiers stationed here, along with various roadblocks and dozens of towers equipped with giant crossbows to block the way. Additionally, there were dozens of large flying beasts capable of both aerial and ground combat.