I was a lord farming, how did I become an emperor?

Chapter 374 Asking for help
……

……

Gunle was the first to break through the shield wall and plunge into the ghoul horde.

The battle axe swept through the air, instantly splitting the head of a ghoul in two.

"Kill!"

The roar echoed through the mountains and forests, and more soldiers from the vanguard regiment surged out!

They wielded battle axes and longswords, each swing taking a life!
No one was afraid; their hearts were filled with nothing but the desire for money and glory.

Ghouls are dangerous to ordinary people, but for soldiers who have drunk the potion, this is an opportunity.

With Rhodes's attribute bonus, even ordinary soldiers can easily kill ghouls.

For young soldiers, if they could cut off enough ghoul heads, they might be able to exchange them for a bottle of Knight's Roar Potion and gain the opportunity to become a true knight.

The soldiers of the vanguard regiment were exceptionally enthusiastic, closely following in Günler's footsteps.

The battlefield turned into a meat grinder, and the surviving ghouls were harvested like wheat.

The air was filled with a strong smell of blood and decay.

Black blood stained the entire forest until the last ghoul fell, and even the setting sun hid below the horizon.

"You little brats, keep barking at us!"

Gunle wiped the blood off his mask, took off his helmet, and spat fiercely at the surrounding ghoul corpses.

He then raised his battle axe and roared loudly.
"Victory belongs to the Flame Dragon Empire!"

"Long live the Flame Dragon Empire!"

"Long live the Flame Dragon Empire!"

The soldiers cheered in unison, their voices echoing through the mountains and sky.

The townspeople fleeing on the distant hillside stopped in their tracks upon hearing the sound.

"The Flame Dragon Empire's legions have won?"

"Those terrifying monsters were defeated by them?"

Shock and joy appeared on the faces of the townspeople, who couldn't help but look back.

Just then, a giant eagle flapped its wings and fell from the sky, frightening everyone into retreating and scattering in all directions.

"Stop!"

A deep, resonant voice rang out, "I am Lark Eaglefeather, the Giant Eagle Knight of the Skyfire Legion of the Flame Dragon Empire, here to deliver the Empire's orders!"

Upon hearing the sound, the townspeople immediately turned around and only stopped when they saw a soldier in leather armor sitting on the back of the giant eagle.

"The ghouls in the town have been temporarily eliminated, so you don't need to run away."

"It's really been wiped out!"

The townspeople stared wide-eyed, their faces beaming with the ecstatic joy of surviving a disaster.

"We're saved!"

"We can go back now!"

"Thank you! Thank you, Flame Dragon Empire!"

"You are all heroes!"

Cheers erupted, people embraced each other excitedly, women wept with joy, and some even knelt on the ground to pay homage to the soldiers.

"You should thank our Holy Emperor of the Flame Dragon Empire, the Dragon Rider, His Majesty Rhodes."

The giant eagle rider shouted, "It was his mercy that allowed him to send troops to save you; otherwise, you would all have turned into those disgusting monsters called ghouls."

"Thank you, Your Majesty Yanlong!"

Long live His Majesty the Emperor!

……

Excited expressions of gratitude rang out, and the giant eagle knight raised his hand in acknowledgment.

"Quiet."

"Although the ghouls have been eliminated, the town is no longer habitable. We need to remove all the corpses from there."

The giant eagle rider's gaze swept over the young man and woman. "We need laborers to move and burn corpses and clean up the battlefield. Who's willing to do it?"

As the words fell, the townspeople looked at each other in bewilderment. Some shrank back unconsciously, while others stepped forward voluntarily.

"I go!"

A man in tattered leather armor stepped forward. "Those ghouls killed so many of my brothers. I'm going to burn them all with my own hands!"

"I am coming too!"

"And me! I will avenge my husband!"

……

In the blink of an eye, more than a dozen figures stepped forward, most of them guards of the town.

"very good,"

The Giant Eagle Knight looked at the first soldier who stepped forward and said calmly, "Then you'll be in charge of these men from now on."

"We will provide food, and you will also receive some of the loot we clear out."

As soon as the giant eagle knight finished speaking, some people in the crowd began to stir.

"Those who still want to join, please gather back in front of town."

The giant eagle knight snorted and said no more. He patted the giant eagle beneath him, and the eagle flapped its wings and flew westward.

……

……

On the battlefield outside the town, soldiers and recruited laborers carried the corpses one by one onto carts and into the ditches dug nearby.

A dozen or so wizard apprentices were busy around the pile of ghouls.

Ghoul corpses are also a kind of material for spellcasters.

A wizard apprentice held an ordinary Soul-Binding Orb, absorbing the scattered necromantic fire and soul fragments around him.

The souls of these ghouls that were wiped out have been shattered.

If not collected in time, it will pollute various places over time.

Plants will wither and rot, wild beasts will become abnormally ferocious, and corpses affected by this will even be transformed into undead.

After collecting these soul fragments, they can be sent back to the Abyss Wizard Tower to refine evil spirits, becoming raw materials for nature sprites.

"I never thought I would have to worry about having too many materials."

The wizard apprentice sighed.

He looked at the mountain of ghoul corpses and shook his head.

"These were once our kind. Necromancer magic is truly terrifying."

"What's terrifying isn't magic, but people, especially those evil ones."

"That's what another wizard apprentice said."

He is collecting the fangs, claws, and spines of ghouls.

Claws and fangs can be crafted into arrows, ghoul fangs, and daggers, which possess natural corrosive and poisonous damage.

Although it is useless against other ghouls, it can be used as a reserve of supplies.

After all, the Empire's enemies won't always be just ghouls.

The spine has excellent magical conductivity, making it a very suitable material for wands.

Of course, it's impossible to collect every single one of these mountains of ghoul corpses.

Wizard apprentices are searching for something hard and rich in magic.

The black pus and blood flowing from the ghouls are also being collected by some people.

These materials all contain magic and can be used to make enchanting materials.

Add a small amount of these materials to the enchanting potion.

It does not affect the enchantment itself, and it can save some costs.

Only after the wizard apprentices have collected the materials will the soldiers light the firewood and burn the corpses.

The corpses of ghouls are rich in oil and low in moisture, so when they burn, the flames are exceptionally strong, illuminating the night.

If it weren't for the disgusting smell and the toxic black smoke it produces when burned, these would be excellent fuels.

"Let's go, next pile of corpses."

The wizard apprentices turned and walked toward the hillside.

There are at least ten thousand ghouls attacking Morningmist Town, and there are more than a dozen such piles of corpses.

However, after walking only a few steps, one of the wizard apprentices suddenly sensed that something was wrong.

"and many more!"

He immediately stopped and looked up, his eyes fixed on what was ahead.

"There seems to be magical activity ahead!"

After being reminded, the other wizard apprentices also realized something was wrong and looked warily at the corner ahead.

"alert!"

The soldiers on guard immediately drew their longswords and pointed them forward.

The magical fluctuations grew stronger.

The air began to distort, forming a vortex.

The next second, a figure appeared in a disheveled state, staggering and falling to his knees.

Like the wizard apprentices, she was a woman wearing a robe.

The woman's robe was tattered and stained with blood.

His face was as pale as a dead man's, and his forehead was covered in cold sweat.

"Remote teleportation!"

A wizard apprentice's eyes widened, and his hands immediately flashed with fire and lightning.

The other wizard apprentices also prepared for battle. "Don't attack!"

The woman struggled to suppress her physical discomfort and proclaimed loudly, "I am, I am Coralie Greenbranch, a witch under the command of Duke Ancientwood."

The woman struggled to lift her head. "Ghouls are besieging Ancient Wood Castle. I've come to ask for help!"

……

……

The figure of Black Flame swept across the city sky, and countless people below knelt down to pay their respects.

These are all refugees rescued by the Yanlong Empire's army.

There were people from the ancient Mu Kingdom, as well as from other duchies, totaling nearly 70,000 people crammed into a small border town of the ancient Mu Kingdom.

Some of these people are serving the legion here, while others will be reassigned to the rear in the future.

Everyone knew in their hearts that they had been saved by the emperor who sat on the back of a black dragon.

Therefore, every time the black dragon flew through the air, everyone would kneel down and worship until the dragon's figure disappeared.

After a while.

Black Flame flapped its wings and landed in the castle behind the city.

This place was originally the lord's castle, but now it is the army's command post.

"His Majesty!"

Rows of guards saluted respectfully.

Rhodes waved his hand and walked straight into the castle's council hall.

Chris was standing in front of the long table, looking at a map.

Upon seeing Rhodes arrive, he immediately stood up straight and bowed, "Your Majesty."

Rhodes nodded slightly in response, his gaze fixed on the map.

The gray flags represent cities completely destroyed by ghouls, while the red flags represent cities on the verge of danger.

"Your Majesty, you should not come to the front lines."

Chris said seriously, "You should stay in the back."

"If I hadn't come here, I don't know how many more people would have died or been injured."

Rhodes was still looking at the map. "Those dragons are the key to destroying the ghoul offensive, and only I can control them."

Even so.

Chris said firmly, "I also hope you stay in the rear."

Rod looked up at Chris with a smile and said, "Don't worry, this place is the same as the back for me."

"If those necromancers really want to kill me, you can't stop them."

He paused, then smiled.

“Carlos and Linda are with me, and I won’t be landing, so there’s no need to worry.”

Chris sighed and gave up.

"What is the overall situation on the front lines now?" Rhodes asked.

"We have captured seven towns surrounding Ancient Wood City."

Chris pointed to the location marked on the map.

"We have saved everyone we could, and everyone has been moved to the rear."

"Right now, we only have three towns serving as our forward reconnaissance outposts,"

Chris paused for a moment and said, "All three towns have high ground, offering a wide field of vision and making them advantageous for defense."

"As for the other towns in the surrounding area that were not attacked, we also sent troops there to help them retreat," Chris added.

Rhodes nodded and looked at the location of Ancient Wood City on the map, where gray and red flags were superimposed.

"Has Ancient Wood City completely fallen?" Rhodes asked.

"It's a bad situation."

Chris's expression turned serious. "Our people used the eagle to observe the inside."

"It was a hellish place, full of corpses and ghouls, with no living people in sight."

"The only place where there are still signs of life is the castle of the Duke of Gumu."

"Ancient Wooden Castle?"

Rhodes was somewhat surprised and pressed for an answer: "What strength does Ancient Wood Fortress possess that could withstand an attack by tens of thousands of ghouls?"

"According to information we obtained from the surrounding nobles, he is said to have several members of the Church of Nature and Life by his side,"

Chris speculated, "Perhaps those church members possess some powerful magic?"

"It seems they aren't entirely useless."

Rod said something rather irritating.

The churches of the Holy Council were previously very active in the Western Union.

The Golden Lion Kingdom and the Redwood Kingdom are understandable, since they didn't have close ties with the church before.

However, many of the other ducal nobles were involved with the church.

But now, all those church members have disappeared, as if they've vanished into thin air.

Otherwise, the ghoul plague wouldn't have spread so quickly.

The only plausible explanation is that the Holy Council intends to use these undead to weaken the Eastern Continent and Rhodes' army, and then launch a surprise attack.

Therefore, Rhodes needs to preserve the strength of his legion.

"Any trace of a necromancer?" Rhodes asked Chris.

"No."

Chris shook his head slightly. "We haven't found it yet, not even in Ancient Wood City."

“They must be nearby, otherwise those ghouls wouldn’t have planned to attack the Principality of Ancient Wood.”

Rod said, frowning.

Without a necromancer or leader to command them, these ghouls will not only scatter to hunt, but will also attack each other.

Instead of launching large-scale attacks on a city or town as is currently the case.

What are those necromancers up to?

Rhodes pointed to the map thoughtfully, "Where are the remaining ghouls?"

The Flame Dragon Empire has already fought more than a dozen battles, large and small, and killed nearly 200,000 ghouls.

But this is just a drop in the ocean compared to the millions of ghouls.

Among the ghouls that were killed, the strongest were only some giant ghouls.

Like having your head crushed by black flames.

They are enormous and incredibly strong, but they are still just ghouls.

Rhodes had a premonition.

I always felt that those necromancers were holding back some big move.

So Rhodes has been searching for traces of those necromancers—at least Lomisa hasn't appeared yet.

She must be planning something.

It is worth mentioning that Rhodes learned a lot of information from the captured church priests.

It was the Church of Dawn that conspired with Lomisa to kill Emperor Agna.

The aim is to weaken the dominance of this world's will—which Rhodes prefers to call the world's destiny.

Emperors like the Shattered Rock family brought order to the world and ensured its stable development; they were favored by the will of the world.

Similar to the ancient emperors in Rhodes' previous life, they were said to be chosen by Heaven.

Of course, this destiny is not directly interfered with by the world's will.

It's more like a natural selection process; results are achieved, and then the world's will recognizes, or even likes, them.

The church wants to destroy this order, weaken this fortune, and plunge order into chaos.

Only in this way can faith spread and the gods intervene.

However, during this process, Rhodes launched a surprise attack, thwarting the Holy Council's conspiracy.

It seems that the Church of Magic and Death is plotting something again.

Chris also fell silent.

After a long while, Rhodes spoke up: "Once the battlefield is cleared, let the legion retreat."

Land contaminated by the undead is of no use to Rhodes.

What Rhodes needs are people, and the Flame Dragon Empire has enough land to support them.

There are hardly any living people left in the Principality of Ancient Wood, so there's no need for the army to remain here.

The ghoul army will not continue to expand as long as humans do not provide resources.

Once the Yanlong Empire's army has rested and has sufficient supplies, it will be timely to reclaim the land.

"All troops retreated under alternating cover."

"All food and supplies have been moved away,"

Rhodes paused, his eyes turning cold. "As for those who don't want to leave, let them stay and feed the ghouls."

"Understood, Your Majesty."

Chris answered respectfully.

He immediately turned around and began to relay the orders.

Rhodes stood in front of the map, his brow furrowed.

Just as Rhodes was deep in thought, the guard Cerf entered and respectfully reported,

"Your Majesty, a witch has been sent back from the front lines. She says that Ancient Wood Castle has come to request assistance."

(End of this chapter)