Soul Space, Research Institute Conference Room.
Cumberland stood beside Todd with a somber expression, watching the battlefield replay on the screen.
The giant spherical undead in the scene crashed into the Crusader's shield wall with a loud bang. Flames and lightning struck the undead, but they seemed to have no effect. Countless parasites crawled into the shield and devoured the soldiers who were determined to fight to the death.
Looking at the scene before him, Todd asked in a low voice, "Fifty-five dead?"
Cumberland nodded and said, "Most of the casualties were orcs who were responsible for maintaining the shield wall during the first assault."
Todd paused the video, looked at the strange undead on the screen, and asked, "The previous reports never mentioned an enemy like this?"
Cumberland said definitively, "Yes, I have never seen or heard of such a thing."
Todd stared intently at the screen and said, “An organic core composed of parasites enhances itself by constantly absorbing corpses… In this way, the host becomes the parasite, and the parasite becomes the host.”
Cumberland sighed: "Your Majesty, I am a warrior, I do not understand those profound truths, but I do know one thing, and that is that I have messed up this battle."
Todd waved as he continued playing the video, saying, "I've watched the replay of the entire battle. In that situation, no one could have done better than you. You don't need to blame yourself."
Cumberland: "If only I could be more careful, more cautious..."
Todd waved his hand, interrupting the old knight's self-reproach: "The battlefield is ever-changing; it's impossible to predict every single detail. What a good commander should do is make the right and quickest decisions in the face of unexpected events... Have you forgotten? That's what you taught me..."
Cumberland smiled bitterly and said in a low voice, "Your Majesty..."
Todd continued, "How's it going with the Crusaders?"
Cumberland: "What else can we do... The shamans have united to attack the Knights, because on the battlefield, I ordered the Knights to kill the infected soldiers."
Todd looked at Cumberland: "I can shut them up."
Cumberland shook his head: "No need, Your Majesty. Anyone with a sense would understand my predicament at that time... These shamans will figure this out sooner or later, especially since this is a victory."
Todd shut down the battlefield projection and turned to Cumberland, saying, "This horde of undead is just the prelude to the great war to come. Soon, more and more undead will attack Twilight City. I hope the Knights and the Crusaders are prepared for what lies ahead."
Cumberland straightened up: "As long as I am here, no enemy will be able to set foot in Twilight City."
After saying this, Cumberland bent down and said to Todd, "However, Your Majesty, if you stay in the city, it will greatly help morale."
Todd shook his head and said, "Like I said before, the upcoming battle will not just be our battle; it will be a battle of life and death. We must gather allies as much as possible: the Southern Empire, the Legion of Conflict, the Council of Elders... in short, all forces can influence the outcome of this battle. And I, staying in the city, will not help any of this."
Seeing Todd's resolute intention, Cumberland stopped trying to persuade him: "Your Majesty, I understand... but you are all alone abroad, so please be careful..."
Todd smiled and reassured him, "I can guarantee my safety."
Suddenly, a ripple rose up on the walls of the conference hall.
Wearing a lab coat and sporting dark circles under his eyes, Wayne Dunlop walked into the room.
Cumberland glanced at Wayne, then bowed to Todd: "Your Majesty, please allow me to take my leave."
The latter nodded, and Cumberland then vanished into thin air.
Todd looked at the swaying Wayne in front of him, frowned and asked, "How long has it been since you had a rest?"
Wayne counted on his fingers: "Two days? Three days? I can't remember. Sleep isn't a big deal for me."
Todd said sternly, "If you want to do your job well, then sleep is the most important thing. I don't want to see you collapsing on your research table!"
Wayne nodded helplessly.
Todd softened his tone: "Let's get down to business. You came to see me because of progress in the antibody research for the necromantic virus?"
Wayne said, "You could say yes, or you could say no."
Todd: "Explain in more detail."
Wayne: "We extracted live samples from Marcus, the patient zero, from his central nervous system, and through screening, separation, and culture, we obtained a large number of plasma cells..."
Todd interrupted him: "What about Marcus? Is he alright?"
Wayne paused for a moment, then said, "Oh, he's fine. He had some post-operative stress, but it's nothing serious. Let me continue with what happened before..."
“Through those plasma cells, I isolated a large number of globulins, which have various morphologies such as lectins, precipitins, antitoxins, lysins, opsonins, and neutralizers. I then spent a lot of time screening and classifying these functional morphologies.”
Wayne paused for a moment, then suddenly said, "Your Majesty, do you still remember an experiment I once conducted, the experiment on the weight of the soul?"
Todd frowned; he was a little unaccustomed to Wayne's erratic thinking.
They were talking about virus antibodies, so why did they suddenly veer into the soul?
My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com