Kashi returned to the Maggots with a complacent smile. Up ahead, Absalon led the troops into battle against the undead. The general’s wartime expertise was on full display as he expertly commanded the Rosendun, Merrihiem, and Serisis’ armies. He somehow blended all these personalities into a coherent whole that overwhelmed the undead army with chilling precision and discipline.
Currently, everyone was involved in the battle aside from the lieutenants, and the five guild leaders. These people stayed behind just in case Kashi needed help. Fortunately, Kashi resolved the situation and safely returned.
“How did it go? What does she want?” Leila took the lead to ask.
“An alliance.” Kashi chuckled when he saw their stunned expressions, and quickly explained the details.
“I see.” Leila’s brows softly furrowed as she looked at the distant Chaos Order army. “Do you trust them? Are you sure she isn’t lying?”
“She isn’t lying about the gate at least,” replied Kashi with a shrug. “Most of us here won’t pass the test. But, that does not mean I trust her. No, I think it’s more accurate to say I don’t trust the Chaos Order. They’re not the type of organization to jeopardize the grand scheme for some mere profit.”
Darius Alshmeer took a step forward, brows furrowed in a tight frown. “Then, what do you plan to do, Kashi-dono? Surely we won’t work with these monsters?”
Kashi looked at the indignant centaur. He could understand Darius’ apprehension. The Chaos Order inflicted too much chaos and suffering to the centaurs. The centaurs wanted nothing more than to tear the Chaos Order to shreds. Still, this was not the time.
Kashi sighed and then looked at the crowd. “Listen, I know that you’re all itching to tear the Chaos Order a new one, but you must not forget our objective today.” Kashi jerked his thumb towards the sky, drawing the group’s attention to the strange ball-like phenomena. “Our objective is to prevent Razznik’s return, not to destroy the Chaos Order. We cannot afford to get sidetracked or we will lose everything.”
Kashi knew this was not enough to placate the angry lieutenants, so he added, “Their day will come. As long as we continue on our path, we will eventually clash. I won’t stop any of you, then. I promise.”
Darius’s frown eased up, and he nodded. “Got it. We shall await that day.”
Leila, however, was more concerned by the present. “What’s the plan? Do we just send everyone out on a treasure hunt? I don’t like the idea of splitting up the army.”
Fortunately, Kashi shook his head. “No, we won’t be going with them. Our job is to defend this place. We can’t let a single undead reach Oni Hill.”
“Huh? The undead?” Hektor voiced the group’s confusion. They all saw the undead as an annoying side note to the Chaos Order battle. Why did Kashi suddenly make it seem like they were the main threat? “Why?”
Kashi chuckled. He was not shocked by their confusion. No living person knew the true terror of Oni Hill. The mechanism that rendered all prior invasions useless. Kashi glanced at the menacing mountain, and explained, “Oni Hill is not as simple as it appears. The Demon King before Razznik put many mechanisms in place to protect himself and the undead that called the graveyard home.”
Kashi turned to look at the distant undead. “One of these mechanisms only functions when Oni Hill senses a large number of foreign lifeforms on the island. Once the condition is fulfilled, Oni Hill turns into a blessing for the undead. Any undead that reaches Oni Hill’s gates automatically evolves into a much stronger lifeform. For example, a mere skeleton becomes a Draugr Knight. A Draugr Knight might become a powerful Dullahan, and so on. Invasions are a large event in—I guess it’s called Drakase now. I wager word hasn’t gotten around the island yet. Give it a few more minutes. This place will soon be overflowing with more undead than you can count.”
Leila drew in a sharp breath. She did not doubt Kashi’s report as Razznik was once the Demon King. If anyone knew the intricacies of Oni Hill, it was Kashi and Suzuki.”
“Isn’t that even more reason to work with them, though?” Hektor asked as he scratched his head in confusion. Military strategy was not his strong suit, but surely it was always better to have more bodies on your side… right?
“Nah, we can’t trust our backs to the Chaos Order or the other parties,” Kashi softly refuted. Defensive battles were different from offensive battles. During defensive battles, a single chink in the formation could destroy the entire army. Offensive battles had a lot more leeway since the enemy was usually on the backfoot, or fleeing. “It’s best if we let them cause chaos in the island to lure a few undead their way. We’ll stay to prevent the rest from reaching Oni Hill.”
Stryke scratched his cheeks. “Still, it would be bad to let them get all the loot. It might help the guilds skyrocket past us.” As the leader of the raid team, Stryke knew too well the importance of good loot. For most gamers, L.N.E was a simple numbers game. Having better loot meant they would win in a fight. It was one thing if a guild monopolized a single farming location, but if thousands of adventurers gained numerous high-tier loot, that guild would definitely pull past their competitors.
“Hehe, don’t worry. I took that into account.” Kashi laughed as he patted Stryke’s shoulder. “You’ll be leading a small party to pack up some loot for us.”
Stryke shook his head. “Our inventory is too small. We can’t compare to their manpower.”
“I wouldn’t send you out without a plan, would I?” Kashi revealed a mischievous smirk as he took out a small framed painting. The nearby Syèl’s eyes widened with recognition. That was the ‘pocket painting’ or ‘pocket,’ that could store items. “Here, check this out. No matter how many they are, those guys will be limited by their inventory space. You don’t have to worry about that. Just pour some ki into this painting, and you can put in whatever you want. It has a limit, but it’s pretty big, and—” Kashi flicked his fingers and a dozen more paintings appeared in his hand. “I’ve got about sixty of these left. Should be more than enough.”
Stryke’s eyes twitched as he happily accepted the ‘pocket paintings.’ Why was he still using common sense to gauge Kashi’s capabilities? The man was a monster. It was best to just assume Kashi ad an answer for his sanity.
“Ah, that’s not all. Stryke, open your World Map.”
Stryke, having learned his lesson, obediently opened his system world map and then made it visible. As expected, most of Drakase was covered by fog since he had neither explored those areas nor received a map from anyone.
Kashi, meanwhile, seemed to look past the fogs of war. Instead, he tapped several areas on the map, and instructed, “Mark here, here, here, and here.” After Stryke obediently placed the markers, Kashi nodded. “We don’t have a lot of time to waste here. I’d say we can only mess about for a few hours before we get overrun by the ancient, slumbering undead. Take a small squad and raid the dungeons at these locations. Oni Hill looks unchanged from the past, so these places should also be the same. They’ll have the best value for time spent.”
Having finished with Stryke, Kashi said, “Now, it’s time to discuss both our defensive strategy, and who will go into Oni Hill.” Kashi took out a rink and called Absalon. “Absalon, sorry to disturb you, but can you come to the back. We need to tweak our strategy.”
Absalon replied without any delay. “I’ll be right there.” The general temporarily handed command to Blade, and then swiftly retreated from the frontlines. He promptly charged over on his stallion and then dismounted by the group. “What is the matter?”
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Kashi quickly explained the current situation, from the Chaos Orders’ alliance to the defensive battle. “What are your thoughts?”
Absalon’s brows furrowed in thought. “If we’re just relying on ourselves, then we will require a wall as a deterrent.” He glanced at Syèl and asked, “Do you think you’re capable of summoning a wall that large? It will have to block the entire range.”
Syèl shook his head. “Alone? Definitely not. But, it should be fine as long as I have some support.” He then glanced at Kashi and added, “I’ll also need looots of blood. Like a lot !” He frowned as he glared at the undead. “I can’t rely on those guys since they don’t bleed.”
Kashi nodded. Orez was teeming with several wildlife that Syèl could sacrifice. As long as it wasn’t one of the endangered species, Kashi did not have too many qualms handing them over. Having dealt with Syèl, he turned to Absalon. “Anything else?”
Absalon nodded and then gestured at the Rosen guildmasters. “I’ll need them to stay behind. The undead might have some powerful captain that they need to assassinate.”
“Makes sense.” Kashi looked at the guildmasters. “Psynosius, Dawg, Matt, Cyanide, and Paragon, are you guys okay with that? I can’t force you to do anything.”
DogFighterPro chuckled as he flipped a coin, and then caught it. “Lady Luck thinks I should stay here. I’m sure you’ll get some good stuff for us.”
“Of course.” Kashi took out a scroll and tossed it to DogFighterPro. “When the time is right, you guys jump in there. I’ll bring you straight to the top for the finale.”
Matt Just adjusted his glasses. He fixed Kashi with a hard glare as he brandished his newest rifle. “Don’t you dare die. We still have a lot of work to do.”
“Naturally,” Kashi promised with a laugh. During the few days in Orez, Matt had sparked an unlikely friendship with the dwarfs, who were enamored with his firearms. The creative dwarfs had already begun modifying the weapon to utilize mana instead of gunpowder to increase its versatility.
The dwarfs did not do this purely out of the kindness of their hearts. There was a reason dwarfs became the best inventors on the continent—their inherent disadvantage when battling close range against the bigger species. Aygorzi’s half-giant dwarfs did not overly suffer this disadvantage, but several millennia of ingrained instinct made it so they sought effective ways to kill opponents from a distance.
Firearms was a technology the dwarfs lost long ago, but they easily reverse-engineered Matt’s previous rifle and then began discussing ways to improve the design.
Matt Just was not the only person to have benefitted from the dwarfs’ ingenuity. Each of the guildmasters wore new armor with outstanding effects and options. They also sported crafty weapons that had more than one hidden function, inspired by Kashi’s style.
“Okay. So, those going in with me are Syel, Shokō, Shadow, Larsial, Hektor, and Zuri. Jade, you’re going back into Orez now. You’re the only one I’m not sure can survive on her own in there.”
Jade pouted, but she could not refute. If it were not for the fact that she had Rider’s spell, Kashi might not have considered bringing her at all. After all, Jade’s strength lay in her brain, and not her fists like the rest of the muscle-headed crew.
Kashi sent Jade to Orez and then turned around. He saw the Chaos Order steadily marching towards them. For whatever reason, the Chaos Order chose to compress the army and press through the Maggots’ formation.
Absalon’s brows furrowed as he felt this was a naked provocation, but Kashi listlessly waved his hand to calm the general.
Kashi waited until the opposing commander reached them, and then greeted with a smile, “You guys want to pass, right? Go ahead. Forgive us if we can’t trust our backs to you.”
The commander sneered. To think that the famed Kashi of the Daeben was such a coward. Without saying a word, he brushed past the daeben. Then, with a wave of his hand, the rest of the army followed.
Absalon glared at the commander, but shouted nonetheless. “Pull back! Let them pass!”
The soldiers did not understand the order, but they ceased their fighting and pulled back, allowing the Chaos Order to pass through and engage the undead.
Kashi glanced at the armies at either side. As expected, Brilith and Sonic took a small group with them to the gate, while their armies excitedly pushed back the undead. Both sides’ warriors were eager to go plundering.
Kashi waited a few seconds until both the Chaos Order and the other armies had pushed about thirty meters ahead, and then suddenly raised his hand . Vwoong! A portal suddenly appeared and spat out dozens of monsters. “Now!”
Syel was never one to waste time. The Vampire Prince quickly beheaded the monsters with blood blades, and then placed his hand on the ground. A giant mandala appeared beneath Syel as he exploded with overbearing manna.
Gugugugu!
The Chaos Order, the other armies, and the undead all stared in shock as a massive rumbled shook the earth for miles. They stared in disbelief as a three-meter thick wall slowly rose from the ground. Furthermore, this wall shockingly spanned several miles!
Blood leaked from Syel’s bloodshot eyes as he struggled to support the immense mana required for the task. “Kashi! I need that support!”
“Drix! Take them!”
Following Kashi’s shout, bolts of lightning streaked across the wall. To the onlooker’s shock, several mages appeared along the wall, as if teleported. These mages did not waste time and immediately placed their hands on the growing wall. Syel had already accomplished the most difficult part: activating the spell. Now, they just had to supplement the spell with mana to ensure it completes.
With the mages’ support, the pressure on Syel massively decreased. The halben grinned and then poured his full attention into completing the spell. Within seconds, a giant, thirty-meter tall wall with battlements and stairs for access stood divided the Maggots and Oni Hill from the rest of Drakase.
Kashi, however, was not done. “Daeben! Fortify the wall!”
Drixlia charged out once again, this time transporting Larsial’s daeben to various points across the wall. The daeben dipped their hands in paint and then rapidly drew giant sigils on the wall.
The ‘Fortify’ rune activated shortly after, causing the stone wall to adopt a near-metallic sheen as it grew multiple times tougher.
Everything happened too fast. By the time the various leaders could react, the massive, strengthened wall already stood steadfast as if mocking them. It only took one glance for the leaders to know that it would take them several minutes of launching their most powerful attacks to break down that wall.
“Ka—" Far away, Sonic roared as his eyes burned with rage. “Shi!”
Bang!
Kashi grinned as he slid to a stop after blocking Sonic’s foot that was aimed for his skull. “Hehe, you’re pretty fast, Sonic.”
“What do you think you’re doing!?” Sonic was pissed off. He wanted to slaughter Kashi, but Shokō’s sword kissed his throat, while Shadow silently stood at his back.
Kashi laughed as he rubbed his sore arm. He had to admit Sonic was the real deal. “Don’t get angry. It was the only way to ensure our victory.”
Grrt…
A two-meter flower broke out from the ground. The petals peeled off to reveal an incensed Brilith. “Explain yourself, or I will kill you here!”