Chapter 35 : Thunderous Momentum

Thunderous Momentum

"There!"

Dohr pointed his heavy sword toward the forest. Following the direction he indicated, everyone looked over, and soon they, too, spotted the two flickering soul fires.

"Finish them!"

Feeling pressured by the threat of this archer, Dohr gave the order to kill without hesitation.

The warriors immediately launched their charge, and several archers quickly loosed their arrows.

Swish, swish, swish!

The arrows reached the forest in advance, followed by a series of crisp collision sounds.

Clang, clang, clang!

It was the sound of arrows striking metal. Hearing the strange noise, Dohr sensed that something was wrong, but it was too late to stop his dozen-odd subordinates who were already charging forward.

"Die!"

The leading swordsman swung his long sword, but it was blocked by a fine steel shield engraved with an olive branch battle standard.

"What?!"

He was stunned—what appeared before him wasn't an archer at all, but rather several heavily armored warriors wielding steel shields and sharp swords!

What happens when warriors charge against a formation of heavy warriors in defensive stance?

The answer was obvious.

Squelch!

With a quick counter thrust, a Skeleton Warrior stabbed his sword into the swordsman's abdomen. As pain radiated from the wound, the man saw a pair of empty eye sockets in the skull, with two blazing blue flames burning within.

"For the Queen!"

He pulled the sword from his enemy's abdomen and swung again, this time slashing the swordsman at the neck—an instantly fatal blow.

That was just the first. The still-oblivious crowd dashed en masse to the shield formation the Skeleton Warriors had formed, attempting to overpower them by force.

Their charge failed to break the shield wall, and their blades barely left shallow marks on the shields and armor, while every Skeleton Warrior counterattack claimed a life.

The Skeleton Warriors wore the best armor and carried the best shields of the Otto Kingdom. In terms of equipment, the Skeleton Warriors utterly outclassed their opponents!

In the first wave, they lost six men in an instant. Seeing these sudden heavy-armored skeletal soldiers slaughter their companions, the rest hurriedly halted their charge and quickly retreated.

"Skeletons!"

"They're monsters—a whole pack of monsters!"

Their ranks broke apart and they scattered.

Hearing his subordinates' miserable howls, Dohr couldn't help but look farther off, where he saw twelve skeletons, each clad in Otto Kingdom Royal Guard armor, stepping out one by one.

Clang, clang, clang!

The Skeleton Warriors struck their steel shields with their long swords, producing a crisp, ringing sound that to Dohr's ears was like a death knell.

Watching the formation of skeletons emerge, Dohr felt like his entire worldview was collapsing.

"Otto Kingdom soldiers! No, that's wrong. They're skeletons, but...not quite... What... what are these monsters?!"

Dohr was already stunned with fear. Some of his men managed to run back to him, while others fled desperately into the woods.

Swish, swish, swish!

Again came several sounds of arrows tearing through the air, and several returning warriors were shot and killed midway.

As for those running into the forest—

A black shadow flashed repeatedly among the trees, and soon the ones who fled there screamed in agony.

"Monster!"

"Help, aaah!"

"No, please don't—urgh!"

Each scream crashed against the survivors' already fragile mental defenses. In an instant, only six people remained, including Dohr himself.

"W-what happened..."

Dohr's voice trembled as he watched the Skeleton Warriors approach step by step, his mind stuck in a loop.

The other five clustered in front of him, as if drawn together by fear.

But at that moment, one of the skeletons lifted its sword—and a tongue of flame appeared at its tip.

"That is—!"

Dohr's pupils shrank. He felt a surge of deadly peril.

"In the name of the Queen!"

Boom!

A tremendous explosion echoed, and the shockwave hurled Dohr through the air. When he rolled to a stop and looked back at the spot, only shattered, charred fragments remained within the roaring flames.

Just moments ago, this group of more than twenty men had been laughing wildly—now, all of them were corpses.

Seeing this, Dohr was dumbfounded. Faced with the uniform silver-armored Skeleton Warriors, he had no idea how to react.

Facing the stunned Dohr, the skeletons didn't advance further. They formed up in the distance, their hollow soul flames staring at the fallen Dohr.

"Ahhhh, save me! I don't want to die!"

One human wailed in agony. Dohr looked over instinctively; this was a man injured in the explosion—unlike the others who'd been blasted to ash, he was "lucky" to lose only a leg.

But as Dohr watched, his body began to tremble.

"B-big bro, save—"

Crack!

The sound of bones breaking—an enormous black monster approached slowly. As it passed, it casually stomped on the fallen survivor's head, crushing it.

Looking up, Dohr finally saw the full form of the black monster—a black skeleton dripping with fresh blood. At first glance, he almost wet himself in terror.

By now, of the thirty men he had brought, only Dohr survived.

"U-undead army!"

Dohr was so terrified he lost all coherence. At that moment, a voice spoke up.

"Are you satisfied with this outcome?"

Serea's chilling voice rang out. Hearing it, Dohr swiftly raised his head to see Serea smiling at him.

Witnessing the sudden massacre by the undead, not only Dohr, but also Lola and the controlled elves, were completely stunned.

"Your Majesty, your subordinate is late. Please forgive me, My Queen."

The black monster knelt before Serea, and all the skeleton warriors knelt in unison as well.

Seeing this, Dohr's expression froze solid.

"Rise. You did well. Leave the rest to me."

As she spoke, Serea approached Dohr step by step, while the Skeleton Warriors surrounded the area, cutting off any escape.

"I'm really irritable today. Next time something like this happens, I'd better keep my cool."

Serea muttered to herself, drawing a short dagger from her waist as she walked.

"It's rare for me to handle things personally. Don't let me down."

Seeing the girl steadily approaching, Dohr scrambled backward, gasping, muttering to himself,

"It was you! You summoned these monsters! You're an evil necromancer!"

"Necromancer? Call me what you want. Weren't you so proud just now? Why so cowardly now? Get up and face me!"

Serea taunted, but Dohr kept dragging himself back, until he bumped into something behind him.

Looking back, he saw Lola, still bound.

Under threat of death, Dohr's mind raced. He recalled that Lola had just been warning this mysterious girl to leave, which must mean they had some connection!

Seizing his last hope, Dohr sprang up and grabbed Lola.

Pressing his greatsword against Lola's neck, he shouted at Serea,

"You—you stay back! One step closer and I'll kill her!"

Seeing Serea stop, Dohr believed he was right.

But in the end, all he got was—

"Hmph hmph, you actually want to use such a trick against me? All I can say is..."

Serea suddenly lunged.

"You chose the wrong target!"

(To be continued...)