After I died, my personal maid rebelled.

The fact that he couldn't persuade Monet to leave the royal city sooner was a thorn in Lucas's side that he could never get out.

Humans are strange creatures. Though we are alone, we always seek out those inexplicable and inexplicable attachments. Perhaps everyone is afraid, afraid that they will die from the poison called loneliness.

Lucas was confident that even if he died in battle, he would be among the last elites to fall. But he also had to survive, kill the enemies who stood in their way, and then take Monet to the next safe zone.

The old soldier blew the dust off his armor and took out a cigar, handing it to Lucas.

"After a couple of bites and a nap, I estimate we'll be ready to go into battle by noon tomorrow at the latest."

The smoke drifted in the sunlight that pierced through the gray fog, dissipating in the cool midnight breeze.

The next morning, as flames raged on the city walls, the man-eating locusts finally breached them. Their boundless wings, carrying a stench of blood, swept across the land that had once been stained with blood.

"Prepare for defense!"

Snatching the smoldering scab from Lucas's mouth, the veteran took two deep drags of his cigarette before stubbing it out, covering his faceplate, grabbing his steel shield and longsword, smoke billowing from the gaps in his faceplate as he roared.

In fact, no reminder from their superiors was needed. In the instant that countless arrows whistled overhead, the dwarves, armed like tin cans, suddenly raised shields taller than themselves, and spears gleaming with cold light thrust out from the shield wall in unison, forming an unbreakable defensive line.

"Following the saint's will, give them death and destruction."

The nuns, wearing bird-beak masks, launched the first attack against the swarming insects.

When the trigger was pulled, the alchemical matrix filled with wind elements was instantly activated, and the deadly virus compressed and stored in the iron can spewed out oily green waves of gas tens of meters long.

The moment the man-eating locusts came into contact with these gases, they plummeted from mid-air with a crackling sound, like a terrible hailstorm.

This gaseous virus is the latest creation of Evelyn, the witch and the new head of the Medical Department.

These viruses are harmful to humans, but in fact, they are harmful to all living things, especially insects, which should not be touched at all...

The ingenious use of viral weapons doesn't stop there. Given the virus's transmissibility, Evelyn had no intention of using extremely high costs to create protective equipment. After all, when humans are infected with the virus, they will at most experience side effects such as vomiting, dizziness, and nervous disorders, which will not endanger their lives.

But for the man-eating locusts, from this day forward, every piece of flesh they devour will be the most deadly poison.

After turning the battlefield into a green ocean, the nuns quickly retreated to a safe area, replaced the metal cans, and prepared to deal with the next wave of locusts.

The incessant rain of locusts from above, pounding against their armor, silenced the Northern soldiers remaining on the battlefield.

Translate this: what do you mean by "stay away from us after the battle begins"? Even the air is green now!

"Cheer up, everyone. It's just a little plague, it won't kill anyone. We need to use weapons like this to deal with monsters."

No sooner had the veteran finished speaking than a deep horn blast pierced the sky, and an endless tide of Blood Hunters surged into the breach on the ground, while the insectoid children in the sky swooped down, letting out a piercing shriek.

But what first attacked the front line was a dense barrage of bombardment spells and the holy light spears unleashed by the nuns.

Now it's the Northern Army's turn to experience the taste of being bombed.

"Spread out, multi-echelon combat teams!"

The sharp-witted veteran roared out the order: multi-echelon combat teams refer to units divided into combat teams of three to six people, which then quickly form an offensive combat team, a defensive combat team, and a reserve combat team.

The attacking teams must advance immediately, and the reserve combat teams will also quickly withdraw from the front line after receiving orders, in order to avoid being subjected to a saturation attack.

A burst of dazzling magic erupted before their eyes. Without a second thought, Lucas, who had been knocked over by the blast, followed the veteran and jumped out of the fortifications. Facing the brilliant light and the trembling of the earth, he roared and launched an attack.

Ten meters, seven meters, three meters...

The Blood Hunter, who had also broken through the area of ​​the Northern Army's arrow barrage, collided with Lucas at high speed. Lucas, whose internal organs were dislocated, coughed up blood and desperately used his heavy shoulder armor to block the Blood Hunter's axe strike.

As metal fragments flew, Lucas turned and swung his sword, cleaving the Blood Hunter in two at the waist. He then quickly picked up his axe and threw it, blowing off the head of another Blood Hunter.

More and more Blood Hunters charged in. Lucas looked at the veteran, who slid in, used his shield to deflect the Blood Hunter's impact, and then turned around and stabbed it in the chest with his sword.

"What do we do next?" Lucas roared.

"What do you mean, 'what to do'? There's no solution to every problem! Just hang in there!"

The veteran roared back, and the two were soon forced to retreat due to the Blood Hunter's frenzied attack. The next round of bombardment arrived as scheduled, with explosions resounding throughout the city, severely suppressing the Northern Army in the fortifications.

At the critical moment, two thousand heavily armored soldiers of the dwarven legion joined Lucas and his men in their attack and launched another fearless counter-charge.

At the same time, some of the battle nuns began to cast life magic, and the Holy Light Spear, which was faster and stronger than the enemy, pierced the sky and drew a curtain of light for slaughter at the location where the city wall had collapsed.

"The dwarves are still quite powerful."

Watching the dwarven legion wielding warhammers and spears, charging relentlessly and holding their own against the Blood Hunters' high-speed assault, the veteran chuckled and slapped the blood and ash off his mask.

"Prepare combat teams, charge! Use Molotov cocktails to disrupt the enemy's attack..."

Even though he understood why he was fighting, Lucas still felt despair during the war. In one attack, a quarter of his comrades in the guard lost their lives, and this was only the beginning.

The Blood Hunter army seemed endless, and the battle lasted from dawn to dusk. There was no time for the enemy mages to catch their breath. When a long arrow pierced through the armor and even tore through his own flesh, Lucas, who was covered in blood from the fierce battle, looked up blankly and saw the battle flag reflecting the gold edge in the burning sunset.

The spineless, arrogant nobles of the Southern Duchy, who could be forced to eat shit by anyone, sent the Southern Army, the last backbone of the entire duchy, to the battlefield in the capital.

The curtain of despair was raised as Lucas raised the shield he had picked up from the ground and pulled the old soldier, who had sprained his ankle, back to safety.

The 30,000 well-trained Southern New Army soldiers noticed the tactical value of the city walls as soon as they entered the battlefield and quickly sent troops to storm the walls.

The dwarven legion rebuilt their shield wall to cover the other troops. A battle nun who was unable to evacuate in time was accurately shot and killed by a sharpshooter from the southern army.

The bird-beak mask fell off and rolled to Lucas's feet, revealing the innocent face of a fifteen or sixteen-year-old girl.

The steam cannons, replenished with shells, roared again. Lucas threw the troublesome veterans into the fortifications, and the bugle calls of the Northern Army immediately rang out from all directions.

Lucas looked up blankly. He knew this signal; it was the signal that the meat grinder had officially started turning.