Chapter 89 - 71: Zombie Game
Chapter 89: Chapter 71: Zombie Game
The battle instantly reached a fever pitch.
Several Armored Zombies were thrown one after another into the formation of the long-range Crossbowmen.
The lords hadn’t anticipated this move from the zombies, and the long-range Crossbowmen were positioned too closely together.
The Armored Zombies that crashed into the crowd were like tigers among a flock of sheep, launching a one-sided slaughter against the Crossbowmen.
In the blink of an eye, the ground around the Armored Zombies was littered with fallen Crossbowmen.
"Spread out, spread out!"
"Crossbowmen, fall back!"
"Melee units, go support them! Kill those Armored Zombies!"
...
A series of commands echoed from the rear of the battlefield.
The panicked Crossbowmen began to retreat to the rear of the formation, while elite troops from the flanks moved toward the center. For a moment, the lords’ position fell into chaos.
At the same time, from the Grand Necropolis’s side, tall zombies and Armored Zombies also began moving toward the position.
As they walked, those tall zombies would grab nearby Armored Zombies and hurl them into the lords’ battle formation.
"Don’t panic!"
"Take out the tall zombies first, then deal with these normal ones."
Seeing everyone in disarray, Li Hua shouted.
"Right, right, right!"
"Take out the tall zombies first."
"All ranged units, attack now! Focus on the tall zombies!"
...
At his shout, the lords regained their composure and immediately deployed their troops to launch a fierce assault on the tall zombies.
In front of the Shield Soldier line, the zombie horde had already begun its attack.
The Shield Soldiers, wielding massive shields, planted them on the ground to form a shield wall. At the same time, they used a skill to reinforce it, making the wall a single, solid entity with the ability to reflect damage.
The Armored Zombies clawed at the shield wall for a long time, not only failing to break through but also suffering considerable injuries themselves.
This cumbersome defensive method was perfectly suited for dealing with creatures of limited intelligence like zombies.
The Blade and Shield Soldiers, who held a shield in one hand and a blade in the other, had a much harder time.
They had to constantly block the zombies’ claws with their shields while simultaneously slashing at them with their blades. It was hard to say how effective it was, but in the eyes of onlookers like Lin Kong, they looked extraordinarily busy.
Furthermore, because they couldn’t retreat, their lack of room to maneuver clearly limited their effectiveness. They were only able to use half of their full strength.
Fortunately, by coordinating with each other, they didn’t retreat a single step. Before the tall zombies got close, the overall defensive line was relatively stable and hadn’t been breached by the Armored Zombies.
Behind the Shield Soldier line, the Crossbowmen had already withdrawn further back, out of the tall zombies’ throwing range, and were regrouping.
Between the Crossbowmen and the Shield Soldiers were the Armored Zombies that had been thrown by the tall zombies.
The slain Crossbowmen had all been turned into Walking Dead, and they now shuffled toward the crowd, their heads lolling.
A group of burly men in armor, holding scepters, was slowly approaching these zombies.
They were all glowing with white light, and the light from their scepters was especially blinding. A single blow from a scepter knocked a Walking Dead to the ground. Three more blows, and even an Armored Zombie was felled.
Then, one of them would drop to one knee and chant a spell over the fallen zombie.
"Rose, is the Priests’ purification effective?"
"Yes, most of the Death Energy has been neutralized. Only a small portion is flowing back to the Grand Necropolis."
"It’s a shame the purification process is so cumbersome. It can only be done in the rear. There’s no time to purify zombies on the front line before the energy is sucked away by the Grand Necropolis. If we had more of them, we could purify as we fight. This battle would be much simpler."
The tall zombies, who were slowly advancing behind the Armored Zombies, were now being focused down by the Mages. Colorful Elemental Arrows, Elemental Balls, and Elemental Missiles exploded on their bodies, creating quite a spectacular sight.
The tall zombies shrieked under the assault, grabbing nearby Armored Zombies and flinging them wildly toward the Mages, but they were all cut down by the elite troops surrounding the Mages.
In the end, the tall zombie never even reached the Shield Soldiers before it died.
Without the threat of the tall zombies, the other troops were freed up to surround and attack the Armored Zombies in front of the Shield Soldiers, wiping them out in no time.
"Whew~ That gave me a scare. We almost capsized in calm waters!"
"Yeah, thank goodness Lord Li reacted so quickly, or we would have suffered a huge loss."
"It’s nothing. At most, we would have just lost a few more Crossbowmen. It’s not a big deal."
...
For the entire battle line, it was a close call, but they had pulled through without any real disaster.
The lords breathed a sigh of relief. Some praised Li Hua’s quick reaction, while others tried to downplay it.
Regardless of the lords’ petty schemes, the Grand Necropolis sent out more troops.
Same composition, same formula. The same number of tall zombies and Armored Zombies once again approached the lords’ battle line.
Only this time, the lords had revised their strategy. The shield wall remained at the front, unmoving.
The Crossbowmen stood far back, beyond the tall zombies’ throwing range, and opened fire. Since their range was longer, they could cover about two-thirds of the distance between the shield wall and the Grand Necropolis. The zombies only needed to advance a little to be within their firing range.
The tall zombies continued to hurl Armored Zombies as before, but this time it had almost no effect. The Armored Zombies were dispatched by elite troops the moment they landed. Only a few unlucky souls were accidentally knocked to the ground.
This time, the zombie horde was annihilated before it even reached the shield wall.
However, the Grand Necropolis paid this no mind. As soon as one wave of zombies was wiped out, it would send out another. The Crossbowmen were left panting with exhaustion, nearly out of arrows. The Mages’ firepower also gradually became less dense as they began taking turns to recover their Mana.
Lin Kong watched this scene and couldn’t help but click his tongue. ’Tsk~ Looks like that Zombie Commander is determined to upgrade itself by going for something big.’
Beside him, Yuan Xiaobo was itching for a fight, looking like he wanted to jump in and go all out.
"Captain Yuan, what are you trying to do?" he asked, quickly grabbing Yuan Xiaobo.
"Uh... Shouldn’t we be helping out? Lord Li was so welcoming; we should give him a hand, right?" Yuan Xiaobo genuinely wanted to go fight for a bit. To him, these Armored Zombies and tall zombies were the perfect targets to warm up with.
"Seriously, what’s your hurry? Don’t you see the heroes standing next to the lords haven’t even moved? If you go up there, you’ll just be stealing the show and making people unhappy," Lin Kong reasoned. "Besides, if anyone should go, it’s Rose. Look at him, he’s trembling from holding back."
Yuan Xiaobo looked at the Death Devourer beside him. Sure enough, his eyes were tightly shut, his fists were clenched, and the leaves all over his body were rustling with a faint tremor.
"I just see all this Death Energy being absorbed back, some of it dissipating, and another part being purified by those Priests. It feels like such a pity."
He paused for a moment, then added, "Such a waste!!!"
"Tsk, tsk. See?"
Yuan Xiaobo couldn’t help but nod in agreement, then turned back to Lin Kong. "How about we go ask if Rose can stand behind that group of Shield Soldiers? Rose really looks like he’s struggling to hold back!"
Lin Kong looked from side to side, then pointed at himself. "Me?"
"Who else? Didn’t we agree that you’d be the diplomat on the Human Lords’ territory?" Yuan Xiaobo blinked his big, sparkling eyes.
Lin Kong glanced at Rose again. The withered leaves on his body were trembling even more violently, looking like they were about to fall off.
At that moment, another wave of zombies emerged from the Grand Necropolis on the battlefield, only to be wantonly slaughtered by the lords’ armies.
"Alright, I’ll go ask. If Rose can absorb the Death Energy near the battle line, it would be good for them too. It would prevent an uncontrollable enemy from appearing in the end."
Meanwhile, the lords were also discussing the Grand Necropolis’s obviously moronic behavior.
"Everyone, I feel like the zombies’ behavior is a bit off."
"What’s wrong?"
"We’re not actually playing a game here. Even the guards at a Recruitment Office know to deploy all their forces to defend their base. Why are these zombies being sent out wave after wave?"
"Maybe when we lifted it out of the ground, we damaged the Grand Necropolis’s passages, making it difficult to deploy troops?"
"Hmm... That’s possible."
"Possible my ass! Look, every time a wave of zombies appears, they come straight out from underneath the Grand Necropolis all at once. If the passages were damaged, how could it be so smooth?"
"How is that smooth? Isn’t it more like being constipated? One wave comes out, then there’s a long wait in between?"
"Pah! Jiang Sancai, can’t you come up with a better analogy?"
"Actually, I also think there’s something wrong with the zombies’ behavior."
"Ha! See? I’m not the only one who feels something is off."
"But I don’t think we can rule out the possibility that something is wrong with the Grand Necropolis."
"Could it be that the zombies are doing this on purpose? I read in a guide that zombies can absorb the energy of other dead zombies around them."
"We know that. Didn’t we use Holy Water?"
"Maybe we didn’t use enough?"
"So how are we supposed to use it? Have the front-line Shield Soldiers sprinkle Holy Water on the zombies? Holy Water is expensive! Are you paying for it?"
"But..."
Just as the lords were endlessly arguing, Lin Kong arrived.
"Lord Li, we have a small matter that we might need your help with."
Li Hua wasn’t participating in the lords’ discussion. Instead, he was listening to them argue with a calm detachment, like a bystander watching something that had nothing to do with him.
"What is it? Tell me."
"It’s like this. There’s a member of our team who specializes in purifying the aura of death. He’s sensed that the zombies’ energy is being absorbed by the presence beneath the Grand Necropolis, so he wants to help out and has requested to go onto the battlefield."
"That’s great news!" Li Hua clapped his hands after hearing this and said loudly, "Everyone, listen to me for a moment."
"Does Lord Li have a good idea?"
"It’s like this. I brought some guests today, and one of them can purify the aura of death. Seeing that we can’t handle the zombies’ death aura, they want to go to the battle line to perform a purification. They sent someone to ask for our opinion, to see if we agree."
"That’s great! But... what’s the fee?"
Li Hua looked at Lin Kong, signaling for him to step forward and answer.
"No need, no need. It’s rare to see such a grand spectacle, so we’d like to participate and contribute our humble efforts to eradicating the zombies. There’s no charge this time."
"Oh—" For some reason, the lords’ voices held a hint of disappointment.
"Then go ahead. Just don’t disrupt our battle formation."
A lord who seemed to be the leader of the group stepped forward, spoke, and waved his hand to dismiss Lin Kong.
Lin Kong didn’t take it to heart. He turned and left to report back to his team members.