Chapter 161: The Tide of the Undead and the Encounter with the Old Enemy

It was a cloudy day, and there was a light rain when we just set out from the royal city, but it stopped quickly.

The road is no longer muddy, but it is still not good weather, it is cloudy now.

Rand's convoy was traveling on the King's Road.

When Rand came to the royal city, this road was very deserted.

When I went back, it was quite lively, but it was quite troublesome with people coming over from time to time to get close to me.

But it wasn't completely a waste of time. Although I couldn't sleep on Olenna's lap, I did get a lot of information.

For example, some anecdotes about the Frost Moon Kingdom.

For example, the issue of the heir to the Marquis of Black and Brown, or the daughter of so-and-so being abducted by a wild boy, or which noble young man was favored by which noble widow.

Of course, it's not all anecdotes, there are also some things related to Rand.

Many great nobles naturally could not accept that Rand had completely snatched away all the limelight from the younger generation. In fact, since the civil war in the Frost Moon Kingdom began until now, few of the old nobles could match Rand's limelight.

But when the current generation of old nobles grows old, we can't really let Rand, a newcomer, impact the domestic political landscape.

By then, the military leader of the Frost Moon Kingdom would be a small viscount. Would that be reasonable? When a large-scale battle is encountered, for example, the orcs and trolls will no longer be satisfied with small-scale looting, but will launch a full-scale attack, or the Southern Kingdom will launch a full-scale attack on the Northern Alliance.

The Frost Moon Kingdom saw that the old men were too old to lead the army, and there was only one young man, Rand, who could be used. Is that reasonable? Do these nobles and the royal family have no face? Therefore, they prepared a "god-making" plan and selected some young heroes. Of course, these heroes were mainly examined for their background and strength.

Gilded in the local conflict with the Southern Kingdom that was sure to follow.

For example, Shelan, the eldest son of the Earl of Bucks.

Rand discovered that Shelan was very famous among the younger generation of the Frost Moon Kingdom, not only because of his handsome appearance, but also because of his strong abilities in all aspects. It seemed that the Earl of the Stag had a very high level of education.

In fact, the domestic nobles wanted to leave Rand out of this event. After all, if Rand were to come to the fore in this conflict again, then the younger generation would be truly unmatched.

But the problem is that Rand's Crescent Territory borders the Kingdom of Rensa, and it cannot be completely separated. At best, Rand cannot be allowed to be the commander.

But now the looting order signed by the king has not been lifted, and Rand can participate in the war in the name of looting.

And then again, when the friction really begins and a troublesome war situation arises, who should be trusted? At least the nobles who have seen the Rand Guards in the Royal City have already made some judgment.

When they had traveled about half the distance, many nobles had already left because they no longer wanted to go along the way, so the size of the caravan was slightly reduced.

The road here has become difficult to walk on. It was very flat when we came here, but now it is full of potholes.

And it was obviously man-made.

The convoy's speed gradually slowed down, and everyone became alert.

Soon, a shadowy figure appeared in front.

It is a cloudy day now, with thick clouds blocking some of the sunlight.

The eyesight of the top professionals is better. After lifting the carriage curtain and looking out for a while, Ellie said, "It's the Scourge Cult."

Sunlight is harmful to the undead. Strong sunlight can kill ghosts, but it cannot kill zombies and skeletons.

However, strong sunlight is still harmful to zombies and skeletons.

Unfortunately it's cloudy now.

Although there were still some tiny bits of sunlight reflecting on the ground, it had little effect on undead creatures like skeletons and zombies.

"Sure enough, there is no way to avoid this trouble." Rand muttered to himself while leaning on the velvet cushion in the carriage.

Unlike Rand's helplessness, the soldiers of the Royal Guards were excited. They had not had the opportunity to use their long-trained martial arts for a long time.

From the time they set out from their hideout until now when they were about to return, they had not had a chance to show themselves.

Now the opportunity has finally come.

Rand knew what these warriors were thinking. He stepped out of the carriage and looked at the nobles who were ready for battle. This time, Rand was the only one who brought so many personal guards with him to the royal city. The other nobles might have brought a few people with them, but most of them were servants such as cooks and maids. They also had guards, but not as many as Rand.

But even so, if all the guards were gathered together, there would still be several hundred people.

Rand did not intend to do so. The guards' strength was uneven and difficult to command. Moreover, these nobles might not be willing to hand over the guards to him for command.

Rand glanced at the black and brown Marquis.

The Black and Brown Marquis was still traveling with Rand, so he was still in the convoy.

He was the person with the highest title and the highest military prestige present.

Rand's military prestige was certainly not the highest among the nobles present. The top military achievement of the Fifth Legion in the civil war naturally belonged to the Black and Brown Marquis.

As for military ability, at least this black and brown marquis who discovered Rand's talent must be superior in everyone's eyes.

In fact, Rand also highly recognized the ability, skills and character of the Black and Brown Marquis.

At this time, the Black and Brown Marquis also looked at Rand and nodded to him.

It seems that the Black and Brown Marquis has no interest in commanding.

Rand walked to the Royal Guards who had quickly formed a battle array and ordered, "Infantry, dismount! Crossbows ready!"

Although on the surface, these eighty-six people look like cavalry, but in fact the magic steel armored soldiers in the hideout are still not very good at horse riding. It is certainly possible for them to travel on normal days, but charging on horseback or even completing tactical actions is simply difficult for them.

The guards in silver armor and dark red cloaks quickly dismounted and strung their crossbows.

As the hideout economy developed, it was natural for the guards to be equipped with crossbows as secondary weapons, rather than bows which were more troublesome and required training.

Sizzle——

After the sound of the crossbow being strung ended, Rand ordered, "Fire!"

Crossbows tentatively covered the area ahead where the cultists were active.

Some skeletons were knocked down, and some zombies were pierced by crossbow arrows, but the crossbow arrows did too little damage to the zombies.

"Start the fire!" Rand continued to order.

We had previously speculated whether we would encounter attacks by cultists, so we naturally made a lot of targeted preparations.

For example, a lot of materials were purchased from the Torch Church.

The arrow of the crossbow was coated with the kerosene of the Torch Church, then ignited and fired.

This time it worked much better, with lots of zombies and skeletons falling.

But Rand's heart was sinking.

This time, this group of cultists seemed to be well prepared. As the cultist undead army approached, Rand could gradually see their numbers. There were too many of them!

Do all necromancers like the human wave tactic? Most of them are low-level skeletons and zombies, but there are really a lot of them, and even the weakest skeletons still need to be hacked by soldiers to kill them.

People have physical energy consumption.

But the undead don't seem to have any such concerns.

Rand leaned close to Ellie's ear and said, "Can killing the cultists stop the march of the undead?"

“The undead that have lost control will spontaneously attack the living.” Ellie replied in a low voice, “It seems like it’s my turn to take action.”

As the only high-level warlock present, Ellie is probably the only one who is good at dealing with human wave tactics.

The mages in this world are mostly used as turrets. Even though Ellie doesn't like this, it doesn't mean she doesn't know turret spells.

"Give it a try."

Rand had no idea what level Ellie's full-strength attack was. In fact, Rand had little idea of ​​the fighting power of this quirky girl.

Ellie also keeps saying that she is the weakest and most advanced professional.

Long golden brown hair, ice blue eyes, and an oak staff inlaid with scarlet gems.

The magic ball filled with destructive energy that appeared in Ellie's hand made the nobles present realize that this was a top-level spellcaster.

When in the royal city, Ellie was taken by Rand to attend a masked ball. With just one appearance, she conquered all the nobles present with her unparalleled temperament and demeanor.

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Now when Ellie walked out of the carriage, she was still wearing a mask, but this did not prevent these nobles from recognizing the girl.

Is such a perfect girl actually the most advanced spellcaster?

Moreover, the relationship with Rand does not seem to be a simple employer-employee relationship.

Even though it was inappropriate, many nobles could no longer suppress their jealousy.

How come Rand gets all the good things? The ball shot out and then exploded, shattering a large number of skeletons and zombies. The shock wave also knocked down many undead.

Taking the light mortar PP89 as an example, the range is approximately 145 meters to 2700 meters, and the killing radius is 12.9 meters.

Ellie's single-handed spellcasting is far from achieving this effect. To truly achieve the power of a mortar, an entire group of mages needs to cast the spell together.

Rand had seen this during the civil war: a spell cast by an entire mage regiment was equivalent to a mortar bombardment, but in this era it was already extremely exaggerated. The killing radius was 12.9 meters, or πr, which was more than 500 square meters, enough to smash an infantry phalanx.

Ellie couldn't achieve this effect alone, but every time she cast a spell, dozens or even hundreds of undead still fell.

But this is already extremely exaggerated. Once one attack is launched, a large number of undead will fall down. These undead do not understand why they should use the dispersal formation when facing a bombing.

In particular, unlike the mortar, Ellie's magic ball can control the direction, but it seems that only Ellie can do it. The other adventurer mages that Rand has seen can't do it.

After Ellie blasted a few times, she stopped casting the spell and walked over to Rand: "I think we should run."

"It's amazing that you can cast the spell so many times in succession," Rand praised.

Ellie's face darkened, and she felt that this was not a good thing to say: "No, it's not that I have run out of mana, but the number of opponents is increasing. There is no point in fighting."

Rand stood on the top of the carriage and looked further, and found that there were still undead joining in from afar, with an overwhelming momentum.

"Prepare to break out and make those nobles throw away all their baggage." Rand ordered.

At this time, there was no stupid noble who insisted on confronting Rand. It seemed that everyone had an intuitive feeling about the number of undead.

"Knights, clear the way." Rand continued to order.

The White King's personal guard in brown armor closed his visor and raised his lance.

At this moment, a man in a black robe covered in green flames rose above the undead army. The man in the black robe slowly raised his hand and pointed his withered finger in the direction of Rand.

It seems that the top cultists have appeared, and it is clear that they have no intention of letting them go.

The skeleton in front was burning with green flames.

"Start the fire," Rand ordered.

Naturally, there were some guesses from the beginning, and Rand certainly made sufficient preparations.

The White King's personal guards who were leading the way in the front were suddenly covered in the characteristic flames of the Torch Church.

Although it was a bit like roasting oneself in a big fire, it had a very good effect on the undead. Even those skeletons burning with green flames would be annihilated in an instant when hit by a knight burning with normal-colored flames.

After the knights charged out for a while, they began to charge back, and the infantry guards temporarily took over the responsibilities of the front line.

Fifty people are nothing in the tide of undead, but they are enough for a breakthrough. The nobles also have their own guards, so the flanks will not have any problems in a short time.

If the current situation remains unchanged, most of the nobles should be able to rush out with the main team.

But it is estimated that some damage is unavoidable as the number is too large.

The current situation is that one side is the legion and the other side is the tour group. The difference in numbers is too great, and Rand doesn't have much to do. If he hadn't prepared the materials of the Torch Church from the beginning, the losses would probably be even greater now.

The number of these Scourge cultists was really large. Rand now suspected very much that someone in the royal city had provided them with intelligence, allowing them to speed up their ambush in advance, otherwise they would not have brought out so many undead.

But it's quite stupid. I don't know why they didn't choose to hide the undead shadows in the bushes and woods on both sides of the road, but blocked the main road from the beginning.

If they had ambushed both sides from the beginning, rushing out together would have caused a huge mental shock. But now, after Ellie's bombing and the charge of the Fire Knight, no one was too scared.

A green fire ball was dropped from the hands of a Scourge cultist flying in the sky, but it was blocked by Ellie's magic ball.

When the breakout was almost halfway through, some mid-level undead began to appear, such as the Skeleton Knight.

They were still no match for the Fire Knights, but their flanks were occasionally breached, causing damage.

I don’t know if half of the people will be alive after running out.

Rand did everything he could, but familiar nobles continued to fall. As he had attended many balls and banquets in the royal city, Rand became familiar with many nobles and had chatted with them.

But at this time, the undead will not care whether you are a noble lord or a noble lady.

Just looking back, some familiar faces suddenly disappeared. There were still countless undead armies around, which still made Rand feel a little depressed.

At this moment, Ellie suddenly frowned, took off the mask on her face, and pressed it on Rand's face.

Then, Rand was puzzled to find that the temperature of the air had risen by several degrees.

And it shouldn't be an illusion.

It is cloudy now, and there is no sign of the sun coming out again. The sky is covered with thick clouds.

But why do I suddenly feel the temperature is high?

Are the Scourge Cultists up to something again?

It was Olenna, who had been guarding nearby, who explained: "It's the Crimson King."

"What?"

"It's Karin, the Crimson Queen, the Saint of the Torch Church, the Destroyer of Nurturing Blood. She once captured a cult leader named Rand."

(End of this chapter)