Chapter 303: Must confess even unto death
The undead creature that had been rushing at Troda suddenly changed direction to attack the bandits in Troda’s group in accordance with Han Shuo’s shout and the little skeleton follow up pat.
Troda roared as he shot out a series of arrows at the undead creature. A random few connected, but unfortunately didn’t hinder it at all. This hedgehog-shaped undead creature rammed right into the middle of the dense group of bandits under the little skeleton’s guidance.
Pfft pfft…
The enormous body of this undead creature barged into the center of the bandits. Its sharp spikes pierced through five bandits, three of which were torn apart while two of them flew through the air, impaled on the spikes.
Three hundred gargoyles roared as they flew over, flapping their bat-like wings as they shot forward. Roughly a dozen bandits didn’t even have time to resist before iron hook-like claws mangled their flesh and blood. The dark creatures that couldn’t fly united with the ten evil knights charging down Troda’s bandits under the leadership of the earth and wood elite zombie.
Over a thousand undead creatures of various kinds crashed directly into the middle of the bandits. These creatures didn’t fear death or felt any pain. They used either sharp weapons or claws to crazily assault the bandits.
The skeletal warriors were the weakest among the troop. Their bones often shattered upon impact of a strong collision, except for those whose bodies were at a higher level of defense. The power from the iron bars in their hands was very ferocious, able to create great trouble for the bandits.
The huge hate warriors were even more difficult to deal with. It would take four or five bandits to barely handle one hate warrior. Only fire and lightning magic, in addition to light magic, could deal major damage to these powerful undead creatures. Even though normal physical attacks could cut off the hate warriors’ limbs, they still couldn’t stop the latter from attacking.
The ten evil knights were the fiercest as together they raised huge, sharp white bone spikes with great lethality. A swing of a huge bone spike would sweep five or six bandits to death. The black armor formed from the exotic ore native to the abyss of death was even more resistant to magic, compared to normal armor, while the undead creatures themselves weren’t easily injured by physical attacks. Therefore, the ten evil knights were a nightmare for the bandits. The bandits seemed unable to find a suitable, timely method to deal with them.
Han Shuo stood in the air, activating the bone staff and chanting some obscure magic incantation. Under the thick veil of the Canopy of Necromancy’s green-black fog, water ripples descended from the sky to create puddles of acid bog. The acid bog was harmless towards the undead creatures. But when living people without the the aura of death around them entered, they would be dissolved to the bone.
“Damned stupid pigs you, do you only know to stand there and watch?” Faulke let out a loud curse. He clutched his silver spear and turned to the bandits, shouting, “Aim at them!”
The brutal bandit group of four thousand members really couldn’t be underestimated. Han Shuo had only summoned over a thousand undead creatures, the majority of which were the lowest level of zombie warriors. The power of these zombie warriors was too weak to pose a true threat to the bandits.
Therefore, the amount of undead creatures were too few compared to the bandits. It was simply impossible to exterminate a large amount of these four thousand bandits by relying on few hate warriors and evil knights. Amidst Faulke’s screams and shouts, series of arrows landed amongst the bandits and even the undead creatures. The arrows were basically harmless to the high level hate warriors and evil knights, so most of these arrow attacks didn’t even cause any damage to them.
Seeing the hate warriors have no problem attacking the bandits even when stuck with arrows, the greenhorn archers heaved a visible sigh of relief and unleashed their skills even more fiercely. Now that they had nothing to worry about, the archers became better at deploying the shooting skills learned from their training. The attacks were becoming increasingly accurate. More and more bandits were hit and died from the arrows.
Observing the situation with cold eyes, Han Shuo was startled and suddenly paused the Acid Bog magic. A narrow, twisting path that led to Faulke’s group had appeared next to Troda. The narrow path was enough for only three or four people to enter, but it gave rise to an opportunity to attack Faulke’s group.
“Attack! Kill those damned cowardly soldiers of Brettel City!” Troda pointed towards Faulkee. The layers bandits around him rushed straight at Faulke with Troda beneath the rain of arrows.
The soldiers were becoming used to the fight. They mercilessly shot even more arrows at Troda’s group as they faced the latter’s incoming attack. The charging bandits fell one by one and rolled onto the ground like porcupines with arrows, spears and lances extending out of their bodies, their dying poses varied and exotic.
Halfway up Mount Tali, the leader of the mountain people, tall Fulkin with a high nose bridge was wearing not quite precious armor and at a loss as he watched the chaotic battle at the mountain foot, saying, “What’s going on?”
Fulkin was the leader of the mountain people on Mount Tali. They lived on Mount Tali by mining to trade for living necessities. The group of roughly a thousand mountain people had dropped continuously to less than six hundred throughout endless conflicts. They would have already long been destroyed by the bandits if it hadn’t been for the terrain of Mount Tali.
“I don’t know who that necromancer is, but those soldiers should belong to Brettel City. Hmm, those Brettel bugs actually dare to wield weapons in their hands, I must be seeing things!” Veteran miner Turiaf was tiptoeing on a tall stone, speaking with suspicion as he looked down below.
“I heard that Brettel City got a new city lord. Could it be this is the new city lord really wants to change the whole city?” Fulkin exclaimed involuntarily, a hint of shock appearing in his eyes.
“It’s said that the new city lord is Bryan. He seems to be a necromancer who killed the great swordmaster of the Brut Merchant Alliance. He’s an evil man who’s challenged many powerhouses of the Empire. No one could escape his palm of his hands. He’s never spared a single life in any fight.” Turiaf had recently heard some information from Brettel City thanks to the fairweather merchants. He couldn’t help but speak up now.
Fulkin, the chief of the mountain people on Mount Tali, pondered silently for a bit before opening his mouth to say, “That damnable bandit Troda has killed many of our people. Even my little brother died to his hands. Whatever it might be, Troda’s situation doesn’t look very good now. It seems we won’t have to stay and defend ourselves on the mountain anymore.”
“Fulkin, do you mean to descend down the mountain and fight to the death with Troda?” Turiaf asked, startled.
Nodding his head, Fulkin harrumphed coldly and shouted loudly, “Perhaps today is the time for our revenge. These damnable Troda bandits have killed too many of our people. We must not let him leave Mount Tali alive!”
As his words sounded, Fulkin stepped out from a mountain rock and sprinted downwards at the battle at the mountain foot. The mountain people who’d been hiding behinds rocks and shrubs, all followed Fulkin to charge the area where Faulke’s group was stationed, all of their long accumulated hatred abruptly exploding.
For the Fulkin’s people, the undead creatures were strange existences from another world. It was best not to come in contact with them. These creatures didn’t belong to this world after all, so it’d be a shame if the creatures turned to attack them.
Moreover, there were acid puddles of various sizes on the ground beneath those undead creatures. There were dozens of stark white skeletons freshly denuded of their flesh that were still lying in the acid puddles. The creepy scene was too shocking for them. They naturally wouldn’t be willing to enter such a dangerous place.
Whoosh whoosh!
Two bone spears shot out from an unknown position. Troda suddenly felt pain on his two legs. Dozens of gargoyles abruptly swamped over him. Without waiting for him to react, they grabbed him with their claws, spiraling up with him into the sky.
“My name is Bryan, I’m the new city lord of Brettel City. Very pleased to meet you, Troda!” Han Shuo’s voice rang out elegantly. When Troda finally reacted, he saw Han Shuo’s smiling face looking down at him, while the claws from four gargoyles pierced through his back. These four creatures flapped their wings, not letting him fall to his death.
“What do you want?” Troda was indeed a leader in the bandit world. His face was still vicious and furious as he roared at Han Shuo despite the agony on his bloody back.
“I don’t want anything, only all of your wealth. Spit back everything you’ve pillaged from Brettel City in the past several years!” Han Shuo was in a good mood as he spoke with a soft, happy laugh.
“Kill me! I won’t give you anything even if I die! Haha, you won’t get your hands on this weath!” Troda let out a crazy laugh, seemingly not knowing how to spell the word “death”.
Pfft! Three bone spears nailed Troda’s chest and lower abdomen. Han Shuo said smilingly,
“You seem to have forgotten that I’m a necromancer. In addition to the power ability to control dark creatures, necromancers are very familiar with the soul. Even if you die, I can still extract everything from your soul.”