Chapter 138 Fortail

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Eldamar departed silently, marking the end of their idyllic life. Now, they had to go to Fort Soleil. Lhorne had already left with the troops and marched to the fort before Lily. He had asked Lily to catch up with him on horseback as soon as possible. Lily adorned her armor and weapons before setting out.

"Stay safe, alright?" Mattheus said. He was tasked with guarding Edenthal, and it must have been painful for him to be left behind while his comrades went to fight a massive war. Lily asked him to come with her, but he refused, saying someone had to guard their home.

Lily rode her horse to Fort Soleil with Alith and Sana. They met up with the liberation army several days later.

"Greetings, Lord Lily. I have been waiting for you," Edelweiss said. Behind her were rows of patients waiting to be healed by the only blessed healing mage in the elven country. Lily scanned the area and saw that the injuries were not too severe. At most, there were broken arms and deep gashes on their sides.

“Greetings, Lord Edelweiss. I see you aren't too busy this time."

"Yes, thanks to the siege weapons provided by the dwarves, we could reduce the casualties," she explained but stuttered. "I am unsure about the details; you must ask Lord Alistar."

"I see. I shall go to the Headquarters then."

"When will the Golderite be done? That Eldamar is taking his sweet time lazing around in Lily's place!" an elven knight yelled in frustration. His mentioning of Eldamar like that was getting on Lily's nerves, but she let it slide as she sat down in a chair reserved for lords.

"Oi! Watch your tongue," Alistar reproached him with his eyes. He then turned back to them with a warm smile and greeted them. "Greetings, Lord Lily. How's Lord Eldamar?"

"Oh, he departed for the dwarves' territory two days ago. I think he should arrive there any day now."

"My apologies, Lord Alistar. Those undead have been attacking us every day now. If not for the liquid fire Lord Edelweiss brought with her, this fortress would have been overrun," the general interrupted them. Lily tilted her head at the rudeness.

"We have a very limited supply of that liquid. Could we ask the dwarves to send more?"

"No, we could not. That liquid was in an extremely perilous dungeon. If we wanted to get that liquid, we might have to send Edelweiss and Lily again."

"Lord Alistar, I apologize, but how is our situation?"

"Yeah. Ever since we arrived here, the undead have been attacking us every day. Moreover, unlike the previous ones, they sometimes send archers too."

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Whoa! Every day? No wonder all of these generals felt agitated. They fought those swarms of undead every day! Wait a minute. How did they do it? Dungeons needed time to replenish their troops. They could not afford to send out so many troops every day. Their spider dungeons respawned every month for every small spider, and even then, it didn't reach more than three hundred.

"Lord Alistar, if they send the usual swarm every day, wouldn't that mean we kill about three thousand troops daily? How could the undead afford it?"

"This has become clear now. All those skeletons were summoned using magic. That's why they appear every day and didn't drop EXP or feystones."

"Summoned? I never learned such a thing in the curriculum. Can it be done?" Lily asked as her eye widened in surprise.

"You've been summoning fire dragons, haven't you? I believe it's the same principle," Alistar replied. It was the first time he had seen my fire dragon in the Abyss dungeon, but just by looking at it, he concluded that the skeleton was the same. Well, he might be right. When my fire dragon was defeated, it didn't drop any feystones.

"But if that's the case…."

"Yeah, the enemy is extremely powerful. Even you could only last about an hour with that dragon, right? But these skeletons could last up to a month.

"We believe the enemy also used corruption to slow the degradation of the summon."

"I see."

"Moreover, it was apparent that the enemy was getting stronger. Their summon was getting harder."

"Should we attack now?"

"We need the Mythail regardless. We cannot survive for long in the corrupted land without sealing the leylines leakage."

KRING*

An alarm bell rang out from the sentry tower to us. We turned our heads at once, but Alistar and the other general merely facepalmed.

"Lily, get out there and try to reduce injuries. Edelweiss was nagging at me for weighing human lives and supplies, but we don't have unlimited supplies. Try to reduce it as much as possible, but don't use your fire dragon yet. I believe it should be used when we assault Northlangard later."

"Yes, sir." Lily saluted, but Alistar smiled wryly.

"No need for that. We are equal here."

"I will do it regardless. I think you are a fine commander, Lord Alistar." Lily smiled and took off.

Beyond the wall lay a relatively small swarm of undead. It marched toward our position and was met with a barrage of purification arrows from our side. Several mages used their feystone and cast fireballs, and the blaze roasted the skeletons, which evaporated in a burst of light.

"There doesn't seem to be anything I can do…" Lily muttered. But I disagree. Alistar said he wanted to preserve his supplies, so I cast several fireballs and helped the army with their feystones and arrows.

Lily then directed me to a bundle of skeletons bunched up near the wall with ladders on them. I blew the ladders up. Then she pointed toward a Vargmuth, and I killed it too, as it tried to climb the wall. Three fire arrows were all that was needed to kill it.

"Lord Lily, the fire witch, helped us!" The soldiers commented beside us.

"She doesn't need to waste her power on these minions. They might attack more frequently, but their army is worse than before," one of the captains muttered.

"'Fire witch?'" Lily stared at one of the soldiers.

"We bear no malice, Lord Lily. We simply are in awe of your expertise in fire magic." One of the guards tried to defend their friend. Lily stared at them coldly before letting them slide. "Are you tired, Lord Lily? We prefer for you to spend your strength when it truly matters."

Lily looked at me with a questioning glance, and I swooshed my tail, saying that I was okay.

"It's fine. This much is not enough to tire me out. Lord Alistar asked me to help out, but he also asked me to save my bigger spells."

"I see. Your help is appreciated." The soldier smiled, and less than an hour later, we finished off the swarm.