Chapter 86: Soldiers Against Soldiers, a Fleet of Carriages Strikes the Commander

The collective casting of spells by over a hundred mid- and high-level mages was awe-inspiring! In the blink of an eye, more than a thousand corpses and blood-red skeletons were felled. The calmness and precise timing of the commanders atop the city walls left the necromancer lurking in the shadows heartbroken. With just the first salvo, a vast number of resources were lost—most of the corpses utterly destroyed, and the blood-red skeletons either completely ruined or shattered to pieces, all of which would require significant spiritual energy to restore. Even working through the night, he alone would be hard-pressed to repair even a third of them.

Yet if what he felt just now was only heartache, the next moment brought utter despair.

A dense black cloud of arrows shot furiously from the city walls, more terrifying than any seven-star spell. The sounds of arrows piercing flesh and heavy thuds filled the air without end. Several Undead Guards mixed among the army soared skyward, but before they could complete their ascent, their bodies were riddled with arrows, halting them midair before they plummeted back to the ground. Though such physical damage could not truly threaten these high-level undead, their fall instantly ruined any chance of a surprise attack, rendering the sacrifices of the corpses and blood-red skeletons utterly meaningless.

Worse still—

No sooner had the Undead Guards been blasted down than dozens of powerful magical auras surged atop the city walls! The incoming barrage that would meet the bone dragon was even fiercer; except for one Undead Guard making a second charge, the others were clearly restrained.

“Well done!” Xu Wen's face broke into a rare smile as he saw the group of six-star heroes successfully hold off eight of the Undead Guards—some frozen in place, some dragged by quicksand traps, others bombarded relentlessly by archers and crossbowmen. “Archers, stand by for orders! Everyone else, unleash your full power! Eliminate the Undead Guards first and foremost!”

“He Chen? The powder!”

“Coming!” He Chen couldn’t be bothered to tidy his cauldron, sprinting over immediately. After more than an hour using several complex methods, he had successfully refined no less than seventy batches of phosphorus powder.

“Is that enough?”

“Yes! Find a safe place and recover your energy.”

“No need, I can still fight!” He Chen’s eyes shone with excitement. Having heard Xu Wen rallying troops atop the walls earlier, he was itching to join the fray. Not waiting for any objection, he dashed to the edge of the wall and joined the ranks of mages.

Xu Wen let him be without further comment.

He summoned a squad of soldiers, instructing them to tie small packets of phosphorus powder to their arrows and target the Undead Guards.

This tactic soon proved astonishingly effective on the battlefield! With a few fireballs, the Undead Guards marked by the powder burst into conspicuous flames upon impact, their bodies igniting after each explosion.

Seeing his concoction put to such critical use, any trace of discontent He Chen harbored toward Xu Wen vanished instantly, and he directed his golden fiery wind wheel exclusively at the Undead Guards.

The seven-star Thunder Mage, having previously battled these Undead Guards, knew well their fearsome resilience. Yet, aided by the advantageous terrain of the city walls, the defenders found the fight surprisingly effortless.

Every capable fighter atop the walls contributed; after several rounds, two of the eight Undead Guards were destroyed, with neither Zhang Ke nor the Thunder Mage having yet revealed their true strength.

It was then that—

“There! They’re coming from over there!”

“And on this side too!”

Alarmed voices rose from both flanks of the city wall. Xu Wen’s brow tensed as he quickly scanned the far ends of the defenses. By torchlight, he saw masses of corpses and blood-red skeletons swarming in from several hundred meters away.

“Hmph! Fools,” Xu Wen sneered coldly. He had anticipated the necromancer would try to exploit the narrow space atop the walls after failing in a frontal assault.

But it was futile.

From the very start, he had ordered a long, clear stretch to be secured atop the walls, torches lit, and specialized mages and warriors posted on alert.

Pressuring from those spots would only hasten the undead’s demise.

Before the enemy could approach, quicksand traps sprang up. As the dense ranks of corpses and skeletons slowed and stepped into the traps, devastating group spells rained down upon them, one after another.

Any undead that broke through were immediately met by a line of archers and crossbowmen who loosed their arrows without hesitation.

The entire eastern wall became a bastion suspended above the ground, an ironclad bulwark that easily held the undead at bay.

“These weaklings…”

“To think they would dare—”

“Damn it!!”

Hidden in the darkness, the necromancer felt the psychic bonds with his Undead Guards snap one by one. His face grew ever more ashen, fury in his eyes turning to savage malice as he glared at the relentless battle on the city walls, unable to accept being defeated by a group of mages below the seven-star level.

“If word gets out that I, a necromancer, couldn’t handle a bunch of nobodies… where would I hide my face?”

Gritting his teeth, he gazed at the dense piles of corpses below the city, his anger mounting. In a short time, he had lost a huge number of corpses and blood-red skeletons, and even many Undead Guards. Without reinforcements, he would undoubtedly receive the smallest share of credit.

His eyes flashed, and with a cold snort, the necromancer quietly ordered the remaining corpses and skeletons, then melded into the night, disappearing from sight.

“The number of corpses is thinning,” remarked the Thunder Mage with a hint of relief.

Zhang Ke could hardly contain his delight, shouting “What a victory!” Not a single Undead Guard escaped; without them, the corpses and skeletons below posed no threat, and the situation on both flanks was stable.

Throughout the battle, over ten thousand undead had been destroyed with not a single casualty among the defenders—a miracle compared to the results at **** Town!

Sensing more and more eyes turning his way, Xu Wen’s expression grew stern. “It’s too soon to relax! Stay vigilant, intensify your attacks, wipe out the remaining undead, and clear the battlefield! This was only one necromancer’s assault group—three more remain. We must prepare for the next brutal clash before they can converge!”

“Yes, sir!”

Though he spoke of brutal fighting, Xu Wen knew in his heart that the attacking necromancer would not retreat easily.

A necromancer with Undead Guards possessed the strength of a seven-star archmage. In past campaigns, each necromancer had been supremely arrogant.

A necromancer is a battle group unto himself!

He bows to no great power, nor admits defeat to the weak! If bested by a mighty foe, he considers it a lifelong humiliation—defeat by the weak is simply intolerable.

In the recent engagement, Xu Wen had deliberately hidden the strength of two seven-star experts, winning the battle with only six-star power, and using the necromancer’s own tactics—matching troops to troops, sacrificing pawns to slay the general.

He had prevailed thanks to the advantage of terrain, the presence of two seven-star champions, and the flawless coordination of many strong warriors, mages, and soldiers.

But the enemy knew none of this…

Given a necromancer’s pride, the foe would not call for help from his peers, but would instead gamble on a desperate reversal.

If Xu Wen’s calculations were correct, the enemy’s refusal to withdraw the undead, despite their futile losses, meant he had his sights set on the backdoor Xu Wen had intentionally left open.

Xu Wen glanced at the tens of thousands of anxious civilians outside the city, their nerves frayed by the sounds of battle. The ironclad defenses he had arranged left only one vulnerability—toward the outer city.

…Now, it was only a matter of time before the enemy took the bait.