537
Chapter 537
The Song of the Crouching Flame spoke while looking at Prince Leo.
"Are you the prince?"
Leo nodded at the dignified words of the Song of the Crouching Flame.
"Yes. But why is the Bird tribe here...?"
"It was Zeke Draker's request."
Prince Leo's eyes widened at the Song of the Crouching Flame's mention of Zeke Draker's request.
'The reinforcements Zeke Draker sent were the Bird tribe?'
It made sense that Zeke would send reinforcements since he supported the recapture of the Rom Empire and put himself and Carus forward.
However, it was hard to understand why he would send the Bird People, who gnashed their teeth at the Empire, as reinforcements.
The Song of the Crouching Flame, seemingly not wanting to talk with the prince for long, put his helmet back on and turned toward the castle walls.
RUMBLE!
Blue flames erupted from the back of the Song of the Crouching Flame's armor as he flew into the sky.
He threw explosive spears at the advancing monsters along with other Bird People warriors.
BOOM! BOOM!
Explosions from the Bird tribe warriors' throwing spears echoed everywhere.
The armor they wore was an ancient Sky People relic excavated by Zeke, and their spears were newly developed modifications of Dark Elf weapons that Zeke had brought from the Inverted Tower.
The combination of the Sky People's powered suit and Dark Elf spears doubled their power, allowing even small numbers to stop the monster army's advance.
Leo finally came to his senses as he watched the Bird People warriors take flight again to block the monster army.
He stood up and shouted at the dazed knights and soldiers.
"Reorganize the units while the reinforcements hold them back!"
Daria Calvi also came to her senses upon hearing Leo's voice.
She began issuing orders to her subordinate knights according to Leo's command.
"Teams 1 and 2, defend the walls! Team 3, take the wounded inside the castle! Team 4, gather supplies!"
The reinforcements breathed considerable life into Thermo Fortress.
The relief of not being abandoned and the hope that they might survive and return home got them moving again.
However, the monster legion soon adapted to the Bird People warriors' explosive spears and began advancing in smaller groups.
This allowed those in the back to advance even if those in front were caught in explosions.
Watching this situation from the air, the Song of the Crouching Flame set off his flare.
WHOOSH!
Smoke rose into the air.
Immediately, something charged from the side.
THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD!
Over hundreds of armored Centaur warriors charged toward the monsters.
"SWEEP THEM AWAY!"
The Centaur warriors who charged in with that thunderous cry raised their horse-slaying swords and swept through the monsters.
SLASH!
The massive horse-slaying swords bisected the monsters' bodies in one stroke.
The monster legion quickly began to crumble under the side attack.
Being split up to avoid the throwing spears worked against them when facing the Centaur warriors' attack.
CRASH!
The Centaurs freely wielded their horse-slaying swords and shot arrows, ravaging the monster legion.
The dark mages controlling the monsters from behind panicked and gathered them back together.
That's when the airborne Bird People unit began throwing spears again as if they had been waiting for this.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The monsters caught in the explosions were scattered to pieces without even crying out.
As the monsters fell into chaos, the Song of the Crouching Flame shot another flare into the sky.
This time, the Beast kin of Crosstel who had been hiding in the back charged at the dark mages controlling the monsters.
"GROWL!"
The Beast kin, who had powerful bodies rivaling monsters, were natural-born warriors requiring no special training.
They all wore sturdy breastplates and gauntlets.
These were Beast kin-specific armor produced in the Southern Islands.
Developed to allow combat without hindering their savage nature, it let Crosstel's Beast kin’s rampage even more ferociously.
CRUNCH!
The Beast kin’s teeth and claws tore the monsters to shreds.
At the same time, they used their animal senses to find the dark mages, rushing to tear out their throats.
"AAAARGH!"
The dark mages who hadn't expected the path to be cleared so easily collapsed screaming as they were attacked by the Beast kin.
After the dark mages fell to the surprise attack, the monsters they had been controlling began moving erratically, freed from their control.
"GROWL!"
The monsters gathered in tribal units led by mutant individuals and engaged in a slaughter with monsters from different tribes.
"RAAAAR!"
Monsters that lost control disrupted the legion's formation everywhere.
The Apostle of the Abyss commanding the monster legion had no choice but to order a retreat given the situation.
THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD!
The monsters advancing on Thermo Fortress changed direction and began withdrawing.
Watching this from the air, the Song of the Crouching Flame sent another signal.
It was a signal to the Centaurs and Crosstel's Beast People to return without pursuing the enemy.
It was important to prevent these highly savage races from getting carried away with excitement.
Fortunately, the Centaurs and Crosstel's Beast kin returned to the fortress according to the Song of the Crouching Flame's signal.
Thanks to their help, they managed to overcome the critical moment.
When the battlefield temporarily calmed, Leo and Daria had the wounded knights and soldiers treated and rested.
The reinforcements sent by Zeke brought not only troops but various supplies, including antibiotics made by Feinan Pharmaceuticals and Naga potions.
Infection claimed the most lives on the battlefield.
Feinan Pharmaceuticals' antibiotics could raise the survival rate of the wounded, making them very welcome supplies.
Leo finally caught his breath as he looked over the wounded receiving treatment.
But the problem was the coming night.
'How should we deal with the army of death advancing with undead…?'
What concerned him were the corpses of monsters killed in today's battle.
Though they were just corpses now, when night fell and the army of death arrived, they too would become undead attacking the fortress.
Then the Song of the Crouching Flame approached Leo with other Western Alliance forces.
As commander, Leo bowed his head and expressed deep gratitude to the Western Alliance forces who helped them.
"If not for you all, this fortress would have fallen today, and all these soldiers would have been sacrificed. As commander, I express my deepest gratitude."
The Song of the Crouching Flame maintained his stern expression despite the prince's thanks.
He slowly spoke.
"Don't misunderstand. We didn't come to help the Empire, but to sweep away the Abyss bastards who captured and conducted horrific experiments on our kind."
Due to the Bird tribe ghetto issue, the Song of the Crouching Flame, who had to wage war against imperial forces for a long time, wasn't particularly pleased with Prince Leo and Thermo Fortress's imperial army.
From their perspective, Prince Leo was just another imperial enemy like Castro Pollock.
But given the Bird People's trait of clearly distinguishing favors and grudges, they couldn't refuse Zeke's request after he had helped them.
Additionally, Crosstel's Beast kin, a crucial part of the Western Alliance, couldn't refuse orders from Zeke, whose influence had strengthened by inheriting the Blood King's power.
Though not as much as the Beast tribe who could be called ancient Beast kin, they couldn't completely escape the Blood King's dominion as his descendants.
Though the prince flinched at the Western Alliance forces' continuing hostility, even this was welcome given the current situation.
Leo set aside his pride as prince and spoke to the Song of the Crouching Flame.
"We somehow overcame the monster army with your help. But when night falls, the undead legion will appear again. With our current forces, it seems difficult to stop that army of death."
What made the undead legion terrifying was that their numbers increased the longer the war continued.
Usually, forces should decrease with continued warfare, but the undead legion was the opposite.
Whether allies or enemies died, the undead soldiers never decreased in number.
The Song of the Crouching Flame snapped his beak shut at Leo's words.
Then he turned around silently.
"Our role ends here."
With those words, the Western Alliance forces returned to their camp.
Leo and Daria couldn't say anything about the Western Alliance forces' attitude.
Since it seemed the Western Alliance forces had no particular solution against the undead army either, Leo and Daria focused on strengthening their defenses.
Still, all they could do was temporarily block the broken walls and prepare as many fire arrows and oil to light against the undead as possible.
And so night fell again.
Leo and Daria climbed the walls with tense expressions to look out over the fortress.
An eerie energy swirled over the quiet battlefield.
TAK! TSK! TSK!
And at some point, the fallen corpses on the battlefield began rising one by one.
GRRRRRR!
Making grotesque sounds, the corpses walked toward the fortress.
Leo ground his teeth at the sight.
He shouted to the soldiers.
"The undead are coming! Fire arrows at them!"
Without distinguishing archers, all knights and soldiers brought crudely made longbows, lit their arrows, and shot at the undead.
WHOOSH!
Hundreds of fire arrows pierced the approaching undead bodies.
GRRRR!
The undead with fire arrows stuck in them continued approaching the fortress walls.
Seeing this, Daria shouted to the soldiers.
"Pour the oil!"
Soldiers ladled oil from cauldrons and poured it on the undead hit by fire arrows.
The oil caught fire and the undead bodies began burning completely.
SCREECH!
The completely burned undead could no longer move.
Leo and Daria commanded the soldiers and knights to burn approaching undead with fire to immobilize them.
Just as they were holding out effectively, something appeared from the enemy camp.
CLACK! CLACK! CLACK! CLACK!
A skeleton legion with real armor and weapons, not just raised corpses, was advancing.
Leo clenched his fist seeing the skeleton legion numbering over thousands.
'Damn it...'
None other than Durahan was leading the skeleton legion.
Liches floating in the air assisted Durahan while commanding dozens of wraiths noisily flying around.
A real undead legion that could no longer be dealt with just fire arrows and oil had appeared.
TSK! TSK! TSK!
As the army of death passed, fallen corpses rose again to become soldier zombies following them.
By the time the army of thousands reached near the fortress, their numbers had doubled.
The floating liches raised their bony fingers toward the fortress.
SCREECH!
With their terrible screech, the undead soldiers charged at the fortress.
CLACK! CLACK! CLACK! CLACK!
Skeleton soldiers led zombie troops advancing on the fortress.
Leo signaled to prepare fire arrows again.
But then.
TSK! TSK! TSK! TSK!
A red energy enveloped the approaching skeletons and zombies, and they suddenly stopped advancing.
CLACK! CLACK! CLACK!
The skeletons rattled their jaw bones noisily and shook their bodies.
Then they suddenly changed direction and began walking back to where they came from.
CLACK! CLACK! CLACK! CLACK!
As the skeletons and zombies moved away from the fortress, the liches screeched again.
But the skeletons ignored them and kept marching forward.
And when they faced the army of death again, their eyes glowed red.
CRUNCH!
The skeletons began attacking other skeletons with their bone swords.
GRRRR!
The zombies also attacked other undead, preventing them from approaching the fortress.
Leo and Daria watching from the walls gaped at this unexpected situation.
"H-how is this possible...?"
Then Leo noticed something.
An alluring woman in a red dress was floating in the air, hands raised, pouring out red energy.
It was the blood magic of a Royal Vampire, nobility of the demon realm.
Vampire Queen Carmilla had appeared on the battlefield.