Chapter 90 - 72: Sword Immortal?
Chapter 90: Chapter 72: Sword Immortal?
"Captain Yuan, let’s go. We’re taking Rose into the battle formation. The lords have agreed to let us in."
Lin Kong shouted while still a good distance from the squad. Hearing him, Yuan Xiaobo led the squad members over.
After meeting up, they all headed toward the battlefield together.
"Rose, where are you planning to absorb the Death Energy?"
"Right behind the Shield Soldiers."
"That’s a good idea. That’s closest to the zombies, perfect for you to use your ability. But... won’t it be too close?" Lin Kong was a little worried Rose would get hit by some unknown AoE attack.
"Don’t worry. With us guarding him, no one will be able to hurt Rose unless the Commander from the Great Tomb itself charges out." Yuan Xiaobo patted Lin Kong’s shoulder, telling him not to worry.
"Alright, then. Let’s go to the center of the formation! That’s where Rose can be most effective."
"By the way, Rose, should you maybe limit your ability?"
"Why would I limit it?" Rose asked, a bit confused.
"Well... if you absorb too aggressively, the Zombie Commander under the Great Tomb will notice something is wrong, right? Then he’ll stop sending zombies out in waves and just come out to fight directly."
"Isn’t that a good thing? We’d be ruining the zombies’ plan," Yuan Xiaobo said, tilting his head at Lin Kong, not understanding his line of thought.
"I think Rose is one of the territory’s strongest units. Shouldn’t we try to conceal his abilities instead of exposing them all at once? I just have a feeling that wouldn’t be good."
"I can absorb the Death Energy only from the zombie corpses," Rose offered.
"Oh! In that case, we’re fine. Go ahead and absorb as much as you want," Lin Kong said, relieved.
They passed through the phalanx of Crossbowmen and walked through the central combat zone of the encampment, arriving at the Shield Soldier frontline.
The Shield Soldiers were busy holding off the Armored Zombies’ assault. After continuing for so long, the attacks from the rear had weakened and could no longer eliminate the Armored Zombies on their approach.
The elite soldiers were busy dealing with large zombies and had no time to support them. The Shield Soldiers were struggling to cope. Although the damage-taking Shield Soldiers were rotated out with every wave, everyone was growing tired.
Just then, Lin Kong and his teammates arrived behind the Shield Soldiers.
"Rose, go on. It’s all you. Also..." Lin Kong whispered, "Be careful not to absorb the Undead Aura from the living zombies."
He glanced at the Shield Soldiers’ predicament and changed his mind. "Well, absorb a little bit. Just enough to weaken the zombies. Don’t go and suck them dry."
Rose nodded, rooted his body into the earth, and activated his skill, "Devour Death."
He could, in fact, activate the skill without rooting himself into the ground. But for some reason, Rose had grown to like planting himself firmly before absorbing. According to him, it added a sense of ceremony.
But no matter what posture Rose used to unleash "Devour Death," the effect was as powerful as ever. This was especially true after Rose reached level 10; all his skills gained an additional 100 meters of range, and his absorption speed increased significantly, making him even more effective against Undead Creatures.
The moment Rose activated his skill, the effect was immediate. All the Death Energy from the Death Zombies within a 200-meter radius was sucked into his body. The Armored Zombies in front of the Shield Soldiers instantly grew weaker, and their armor became much more brittle.
The Shield Soldiers easily dispatched the few Armored Zombies before them. They didn’t think much of it, simply assuming the support from the rear had gotten stronger again.
After the zombies were wiped out, the Great Tomb paused for a moment before once again sending out large zombies and Armored Zombies.
It was as if it was short on troops and needed to marshal its forces, or perhaps it was waiting for the army outside to catch its breath.
The zombies continued their previous attack pattern: flinging Armored Zombies, who were then ganged up on and killed.
Armored Zombies charged the shield line, with more than half of them being shot down by the Crossbowmen along the way.
Large zombies walked slowly toward the shield line, casually tossing more Armored Zombies as they went, only to be focused down by Mages, beheaded by assassins, and slain on the spot by the onslaught of attacks.
Lin Kong’s squad, meanwhile, stood quietly behind the shield line, watching the battle up close. They were a stark contrast to the chaotic fighting around them, like spectators from another world.
Rose was overjoyed. Death Energy was not only his source of power but also his main source of experience for leveling up. It was rare to have an opportunity like this to absorb Death Energy so leisurely, without anyone bothering him.
The zombies organized two more attacks like this, and then the Great Tomb fell silent.
"Huh? What happened?"
"Why are there no more zombies?"
"Is it over before we even saw the Zombie Commander?"
"Ha! I told you the guides were exaggerating. Zombies aren’t that scary. Just add some Holy Water and you’re done."
...
The lords at the rear of the encampment found the situation very strange and began to discuss it animatedly.
Before they could reach any conclusion, the Great Tomb slowly began to rise, revealing a massive tomb door.
THUD... THUD... THUD...
A series of loud bangs came from the door, and with each one, the huge stone tomb door shook violently.
CRASH—
The stone tomb door fell to the ground, and a large zombie nearly 10 meters tall appeared before everyone. A massive horde of Armored Zombies and large zombies poured out from behind it.
"It’s coming out," Rose, who had been single-mindedly absorbing Death Energy, suddenly said.
"What’s coming out?" Lin Kong asked subconsciously.
"The Zombie Commander. The strongest zombie in this Great Tomb. I can sense it; he’s about to emerge," Rose said, his tone grim.
"Do you need to sense it? Can’t you just see it?" Lin Kong was speechless. He pointed toward the Great Tomb, from which zombies were still pouring out of the doorway. The large zombie hadn’t moved since stepping out of the tomb.
"No, not him. He’s not big enough!" Rose looked at the large zombie and shook his head, indicating that it wasn’t the final boss he had sensed.
"What do you mean?" Lin Kong’s mind couldn’t process it for a moment.
Just then, the Great Tomb rose again with a deafening roar. No, wait! One corner of the Great Tomb was tilting up.
A gigantic, withered arm stretched out from beneath the ground. It grabbed a corner of the Great Tomb and lifted it. Then another hand emerged, bracing itself against the earth, and a giant zombie over 50 meters tall crawled out from underground.
After standing up, the giant zombie didn’t put the Great Tomb down. Instead, it crouched, picked it up, and gently placed it on the ground nearby.
From the deep pit left behind by the Great Tomb, dozens more large zombies, each about 10 meters tall, crawled out one after another.
"I think you were right. Our earthquake Magic must have damaged their tunnels, causing the zombies to trickle out as if constipated. Now the dam has finally burst."
"I think you were right, too. The zombies were definitely sacrificing themselves on purpose. I refuse to believe they were this huge from the start."
...
Seeing this scene, the lords at the rear of the formation were already speaking incoherently. Their brimming confidence had turned into overwhelming worry. They were no longer confident they could conquer this Great Tomb.
Once all the large zombies had crawled out, the giant zombie led the charge, striding toward the encampment.
"Quick, shield wall, defen—" a lord shouted, but he was cut short by a slap to the back of his head.
"Defend my ass! You want to bunch up and get wiped out by a single slap?" the lord who hit him said furiously, then bellowed, "Everyone, spread out! Spread out! Form small squads and fight freely!"
"Everyone, isn’t it time to send in the heroes? If we wait any longer, we won’t even have the chance."
"Also, anyone who wants to run, leave now. Don’t wait until you can’t leave and don’t dare to fight. If you want to go, you can’t take your troops. We need the cannon fodder."
After saying this, the lord led his heroes toward the battlefield. Clad in armor and wielding a long saber, he looked to be a capable fighter himself.
The remaining lords looked at each other and quickly made their decisions.
"My apologies. I don’t see much hope of winning. I’ll be taking my leave."
"Me too. Sorry, everyone."
...
Seven lords left one after another. True to the request, they didn’t take their troops, only leaving with their personal heroes.
In the blink of an eye, only a little over 10 of the allied lords remained. It wasn’t that they weren’t afraid, but they saw that Li Hua’s expression was calm, without a hint of panic.
Most of these lords were from the vicinity of Li Hua’s territory. Last month, most of them had been beaten by Li Hua while fighting over the daily recruitment rights at the Recruitment Office. They knew full well how formidable he was.
"Brother Li, there are no outsiders here now. Tell us, can you handle this? If you say yes, we’ll charge in right away. If you say no, we’ll know to retreat."
Li Hua looked at the surrounding lords staring at him and gave a helpless smile. At first, he had only wanted to intimidate the neighboring lords so they wouldn’t mess with him. He never expected them all to become his fanboys, hanging on his every word.
"Alright. Since you trust me this much, I’ll take care of that giant zombie at the front."
"I won’t bother with the other zombies. I’ll leave them for you to get some experience."
"Great! With your word, we can rest easy."
...
"What do we do? We don’t seem to have a way to deal with that giant zombie." Upon seeing the giant zombie appear, Lin Kong and the others immediately huddled together to discuss their options.
Yuan Xiaobo studied the giant zombie carefully and said, "I don’t sense the same oppressive aura from that giant zombie as I do from a true Commander. He probably isn’t a legendary-tier hero. I could probably hold my own against him. I doubt he could hurt me, but if he hits me, I’ll definitely be sent flying. By the time I run back, the battle will probably be over."
"He has too much energy inside him; I can’t drain it all at once. If he notices me, I’ll probably be splattered with a single slap." These were the words of Rose, the Death Devourer.
While everyone was struggling with what to do, Mirus pointed to the lords at the rear of the formation. "Look, the lords are starting to flee!"
Lin Kong and the others followed Mirus’s finger and indeed saw lords leaving one by one on horseback with their heroes.
"Maybe we should retreat, too. This is their battle. If the lords themselves are running, we don’t have to stay here and figure things out," a squad member suggested.
Yuan Xiaobo and Lin Kong hesitated.
Just then, a bright light flashed from the rear.
At the same time, a whistling sound rang out. SWISH! A treasured sword, shimmering with motes of light like starlight and pulsing with Sword Qi, streaked across the sky, soared over the battle formation, and pierced through the giant zombie’s head.
Watching the flying sword rapidly return to where the lords were in the rear, Lin Kong’s jaw dropped in astonishment.
"A Sword Immortal?"