Witch Troupe and the Undead

The reason there are three in the Eastern Province is that one of them is the National Military Academy of the small country on the Luster Plain that was annexed by the Empire, namely the one in Lywood County. Another is Sharp Fortress, which was established to deal with the war for control of the Luster Plain and was designed to counter the tactics and advanced warfare technology of the Rada Kingdom's allied forces.

Finally, there's the one in Valley City, which was the original military academy established by the Empire. Of the three military academies, aside from Spire Fortress Academy, the other two are largely similar. They admit only noble children, and the basic requirement for admission is being at least a knight's squire.

Since the old custom of fostering knights as squires in other knightly families no longer exists, the descendants of these knights must spend their squire period in the military academy to inherit the land and armor.

The curriculum includes essential command and management skills, as well as some mathematics and logistics knowledge. However, more importantly, it teaches extraordinary warfare techniques, namely how to rationally utilize extraordinary martial arts, arcane arts, and alchemical equipment in combat, including both individual combat and military formations.

After all, in a world where extraordinary powers exist, it is impossible to completely ignore such powers in war, or simply regard these rare talents as expendable resources or as mere brutes who can only create craters on the ground. Therefore, how to use extraordinary powers, how to expand one's own extraordinary advantages, and how to deal with the opponent's extraordinary powers is a subject that needs to be studied and researched seriously.

This change also developed in modern times with the increase of supernatural powers, which led to changes in the rules of knights and squires in the past.

"So, Master Roach, what do students learn at your military academies?" Viscount Carius was very interested and wanted to know what unique knowledge foreign academies offered. "I don't know much, but it's probably something like command studies and information science."

"Informatics?"

"It's about how to obtain and prevent the enemy from obtaining battlefield information, such as the number of people and their formations." Luo Qi really didn't know this part, so he could only make things up and say whatever came to mind, but the other party seemed to believe him.

He suddenly had a feeling similar to Marco Polo's – I said that the East was full of gold and that I was received by Kublai Khan, that was pure bragging, and you guys actually believed such an absurd claim!

"So, Master Roach, why are you here on the city wall instead of researching in the workshop?" Karius had been wanting to ask this question, especially after Roach came up with large bags and packages. He rushed over as soon as he heard his subordinates' report.

An alchemist arrives at your garrison with a large bag of supplies. Even if he's not an enemy spy, you should still rush over to check on him immediately. Who knows, a section of your city wall might be gone if you're not careful!

"Oh, I've come to observe the battle situation. It seems we haven't even engaged the enemy yet?"

"The undead army is already 20 miles away. If there are no unforeseen circumstances, you will see the battle begin by dusk today." Karius glanced at the sun in the sky and said seriously, "The past few days have been sunny, which has delayed the undead army for some time, and we have had ample time to prepare."

"Master Roach, what's that on your back...?"

“Oh, my new invention. Don’t worry, it won’t explode.” Roach took out his “Secondary Energy Storm Crossbow” and showed it to Karius. It was a device that could be freely fitted with more quivers and continuously lengthened and thickened. Theoretically, he could even make it infinitely thickened and lengthened.

"A device for launching magic missiles."

"Magic missile? The one you're improving?" After all, the superior rating means that this thing can't be used by ordinary people except for alchemists of a certain level, and the manufacturing cost is probably very high.

“Yes,” Roach knew immediately what this guy was worried about, so he didn’t mention that there was also an alchemical grenade launcher and a set of 12 grenades in the bag.

"I see. It's a pity that the range of magic missiles at this distance is probably..."

“It’s alright, I have new products.” Roach told Leslie to put down her backpack and then assembled the parts he had made over the past few days. They were bundled-up cylinders with dark, round openings facing the sky, looking like some kind of magic cannon, but with the muzzle pointing upwards.

"This is the 'Iron Tree Silver Flower' alchemical weapon I made, but it's not convenient to test it right now." Actually, it's similar to fireworks, launching countless thin metal sheets, the carrier of [Elemental Paradigm·Shaping·Energy Arrow Rain], into the sky, where they explode like fireworks, and then... homing shrapnel—the real "arrow rain."

In addition to this, Roach also set up an even stranger device that didn't look like it was going to explode. The lightweight magic vine frame formed a square, and the surrounding area was covered by a strange membrane. Below it was a carrier of [Flame Paradigm · Shaping · Flame Eruption], which could release a continuous flame effect that would not go out until the essence was exhausted.

Inside the frame hangs an exquisite magic crystal, which is a flare made by Roach. The principle is the same as that of a Kongming lantern. Once placed in the sky, the timed flashing magic crystal inside will release a bright or even intense light.

This was modified from the "Blazing Alchemical Bomb". Originally, it was a non-lethal bomb used to blind people directly. Roach and Morna modified it together, extending its duration, increasing its size, and reducing its brightness, thus creating a flare.

"General Karius, why do you always call me Master?"

"Hehe~" Karius stroked his mustache, laughing without saying a word. He was laughing so hard that he thought, "Those apprentices can't tell the difference between gold and brass, but can't he?"

When the esoteric mages who came to report spoke, he realized that Livia was not a bronze-level mage at all, but a gold-level mage. And for a gold-level esoteric witch's apprentice, calling her a master was perfectly justified.

As for why there was no reaction from the Arcane Tower, that's quite normal. It's a simple principle: if she's bronze-level, then of course she's bronze-level; if she's gold-level, then whatever she says she is, you'd better believe her to be.

Regardless of the Gold-level expert's motives for concealing the truth, the consequence of exposing it will definitely not be that the other party smiles and says, "Young friend, you have good eyesight." More likely, it will be, "You know too much." Therefore, those with good eyesight will pretend not to see it, while those without good eyesight and those without brains cannot distinguish between them.

This is why Karius remained calm and even optimistic, even when the Necromancers were about to strike, the Deathwhisper Fortress had fallen, and the vanguard mobile forces and blocking lines that had been actively deployed to hinder the enemy had failed.

A single Gold-level Mystic Witch might not be very strong, since there are also those who are not skilled in the art. For example, a witch or demon king specializing in the Mystic Arts of Life could easily take the head off any one of these people, but they couldn't take the head off an entire army.

However, this is Hearth City now, with a huge number of alchemists, occultists and apprentices, as well as arcane towers, occult altars set up outside the city, and spirit crystals and guiding crystals that are constantly being added. The combat power of a Golden Arcane Witch can be amplified to a terrifying level.

Fortunately, this matter has not been reported yet, otherwise even the most incompetent emperor would have ordered the Earl of Lywood to escort Livia to the capital or a safe place at all costs.

Furthermore, Karius had no intention of reporting it. A witch of the arcane arts appearing here with a bronze-level status clearly meant she was just passing by and helping out casually. What difference would it make if you reported her true identity and betrayed her? Even if the emperor knew about this, he couldn't say anything, because if he took a hard line, it could easily turn into an enmity.

"Master Roach, what is your relationship with Miss Livia? Are you just apprentices?"

“Still guards, servants, and pets~” Leslie teased from the side.

"Pets?" Karius was taken aback. Male concubines? Such a petite girl actually had this kind of interest. Hmm, did she like this type?

Karius scrutinized Roach's appearance and ultimately had to admit that he couldn't understand or cater to the witch's aesthetic sense. After all, it was difficult to find someone like Roach, and he couldn't be artificially created.

Karius was immediately filled with respect. There was a local saying that you had to sleep with your master to learn something, but he never expected that Roach, who looked like this, would have to go through such a thing. However, considering Miss Livia's appearance, he found it hard to tell whether he felt sympathy or jealousy.

"I see, Master Roach, you are indeed in some danger here."

"I know, it's okay, Livia will save her," Roach said nonchalantly.

Chapter Thirty: The Outpost

As time passed, a dark purple haze rose on the horizon, obscuring the sunlight that was gradually sinking below the horizon. The grass and trees, dyed blood red by the setting sun, were gradually covered by shadows, and their color faded in an instant, turning into a grayish-white color.

Crops, shrubs, and woodlands swayed in the shadows like countless withered, pale claws. A chilling wind from the underworld swept past the wooden barricade at the very front of Hearth City, instantly freezing the holy water sprinkled upon it into silvery-white ice.

The wind, imbued with the magic of the secret source of death, cut like blades across everyone's face, penetrating to the bone. The most primal fear of living beings made the courage inspired by money and glory flicker like a candle in a fierce wind.

"Activate the barrier!" The cleric apprentice on the wooden tower raised his hands, and a faint incense smoke swirled around. Shining runes floated and rotated around the tower, and bright light spread in all directions along the rune lines laid on the base of the wooden tower, illuminating the spirit crystals one by one.

Bright blue-white light shone against the eerie dark purple sky, illuminating the surroundings while also erecting a seemingly fragile spiritual barrier to block the erosion of the winds of death.

The deathly cold wind and the completely closed dark purple "canopy of the dead" in the sky are just natural phenomena caused by the advance of the undead horde. Under this canopy, the dead who are not protected by the barrier will be quickly invaded by the death wind and turned into new zombies or skeletons.

Roach saw the arcane tower in the city light up, and a pale golden curtain hung down from the sky. In the cemetery behind the city's church, the clergy were on high alert. Incense, holy water, and enchanted torches decorated the cemetery like a carnival. Anything that crawled out of the grave would be met with a fierce attack.

"General Karius, I'm curious, why don't you practice cremation?"

"Because it doesn't burn cleanly and it wastes fuel." Karius looked at the increasingly dense sky, his expression no longer as optimistic as before, but he still answered Roach's question casually.

"..." Luo Qi knew that the heat from firewood and charcoal was not enough to completely burn a human corpse. Even the crematorium's furnace, which was over a thousand degrees, could not burn the body completely. The ashes you saw were actually the result of a second or even third process after the body had been burned.

To expect to burn a person directly into "pure ashes" that cannot be used by the magic of death, in this world, would require the use of a large-scale device like a blast furnace, similar to metallurgical furnaces on Earth, which would be far too costly.

Aside from nobles and spellcasters, no one else could afford it. Nobles and spellcasters, for various reasons such as family honor, also chose to build huge, specially designed and enchanted family cemeteries to store their remains.

For ordinary civilians, let alone using a secret furnace, the cost of charcoal and wood is too high, not to mention the nameless corpses contained in the church cemetery. Therefore, the clergy would rather use more expensive rituals to suppress them than simply bury them, at most sprinkling some holy water on them occasionally.

After all, it's quite rare for an undead army to attack a city. It's only happened once in the last twenty or thirty years. The dead from the Deathwhisper Fortress are usually dealt with and then transported to Hearthglen for burial.

"Since burning won't clean it all up, then these trenches..."

“We don’t need to burn all the bones and rotten flesh; we just need to disable their mobility, and the warriors will take care of it.” Karius explained to Roach briefly, out of respect for the Golden Witch.

These trenches and fiery glue are used to burn away the greasy, rotten flesh on the zombies' bodies. The remaining bare bones are left to be smashed by the blunt weapons of the frontline warriors and knights. There is no need to completely eliminate these undead; it is only necessary to temporarily render them immobile. The final task is left to the clergy of the church and the alchemists of the society.

After all, the skeletons of the undead are also good alchemical materials. Once they are refined into various crafting materials, these undead will be completely destroyed. The magic power of the remaining death source will be purified one by one by the mages of the arcane tower, or converted into other source magic power for storage using some special arcane devices.

You could say that a swarm of undead, if you can withstand it, is called human resources (in every sense); if you can't, it's called a cataclysmic disaster.

"Hoo~" Even under the protection of the barrier, the breath still brought up a cloud of white mist. The conscripts at the forefront gripped the spears bound with a piece of grease-soaked linen. The undead were used to using cannon fodder to wear down the defenders' stamina, and the defenders could only choose to fight cannon fodder with cannon fodder. As long as the barrier collapsed, these cannon fodder would not turn into new undead after death.

However, leaving these new recruits at the back will cause problems. The further back you go, the weaker the barrier becomes, while the undead units become stronger. These new recruits will not only be unable to withstand the attack, but they will also easily turn into new undead. Meanwhile, the elite troops will have their energy and various combat resources consumed by the enemy's cannon fodder.

"Watch out, the Shadow Hound is approaching!" Several tiny vortexes appeared in the dark purple mist that gradually darkened and became as thick as ink.

A hound-like monster made of bones, graveyard soil, moss, and dead wood leaped out and crashed into the barrier, emitting a fierce rain of light against the blue and white barrier. In the end, the hound still passed through the barrier, but the magical aura on its body, which resembled black smoke, dimmed by a little.

"Light the spears and kill!" the sergeant roared. Under the pressure of whips and the spears of friendly forces behind them, the militiamen and conscripts lit their spears in a nearby brazier and then thrust them at the demon hounds that nimbly leaped over the trenches and bounded toward the wooden fighting platform.

The battlefield was filled with the roars of monsters, the howls of officers, and the screams of humans being torn apart by demonic hounds. Spears pierced the bodies of demonic hounds, flames ignited the withered moss and wood, and the sharp claws of the demonic hounds, made of sharp stone shards, tore through the thin armor and the thick cotton clothes underneath, exposing the human's internal organs.

"Help, help me!" The dying militiaman crawled laboriously on the wooden platform, reaching out to the adventurers who silently charged forward, only to be met with a blade aimed straight at his heart. The adventurers executed all the seriously wounded on the platform to prevent them from being turned into troublesome monsters like zombies by the death magic carried by the demon hounds, and kicked the corpses one by one into the trench below.

With the addition of relatively professional soldiers composed of adventurers and town guards, the number of Shadow Hounds decreased rapidly. These monsters, ranging from ferocious to dangerous, posed little threat to adventurers who specialized in exterminating monsters, especially since they had environmental and numerical advantages.

"How cruel..." Roach watched this scene from the city wall. The opponent was an undead monster, and your allies could become new monsters at any time after the barrier weakened. For the human side, there was no way to surrender or escape. They could only grit their teeth and hold on until the last undead creature was annihilated or the last living person was torn apart.

“Yes… of all the battles, I dislike dealing with these rotten bones the most.” Karius clenched his fists and leaned against the wall. Although the current situation was somewhat dire, it had not exceeded expectations.

The sheer number of these undead hordes is unusual. Normally, the canopy of souls wouldn't completely obscure the sky; at least a faint light would filter through. But now, the entire sky is a thick, dark purple. The more undead there are, the thicker the canopy becomes, and this canopy is much thicker than expected, which means…

"Zombies, a mix of zombies and skeletons! A huge number of them!" The scout's body shone with a protective light, and his warhorse, foaming at the mouth, leaped over the trench and collapsed to the ground. Of the seven scouts in the group, only one had returned alive, which immediately made Karius's face turn frosty.

"Prepare the field artillery!"

"Field artillery!?" Roach was stunned. What was going on? You guys even have field artillery? He thought he would see a few people pushing a dark, heavy metal object on wheels, but instead he only saw several wooden devices that looked like ballistae or crossbows erected on the position.

"Ballads?" Roach didn't ask, but silently watched as several alchemy apprentices, with the help of engineers, set up these ballista-like devices and leaned them against the cover made of earth mounds and sharp spears.

The ballista had no bowstring or arrow groove; it only had a grayish-white obelisk the size of a human head at the end, and the two metal wings that spread out like the crossbow arm were covered with runes.

As the occultist chanted, runes lit up one after another. The arcane device was similar to Roach's paradigm in some ways, but it had a fatal flaw: the user had to be an occultist as well.

The power of the elements converged along the runes towards the bird-wing-like metal structure, eventually transforming into a sudden burst of blood-red light on the obelisk.

"Project!" Roach expected to see the stones launched, or some kind of laser, but nothing happened. Instead, a strange magic circle lit up on the stones, and at the same time, tiny points of light shone in the dark purple sky. The next second, miniature meteors with long trails of flame fell from the sky.

"Damn it!" I thought it was a cannon, but you're telling me it's a space-based weapon?

However, although the meteor shower seemed impressive, the power of each meteor was not high in Luo Qi's opinion. Using the crater theory, it was probably at the meter level, which is a crater a few meters wide and a little over a meter deep, plus the splashing of fire fragments within a radius of ten meters.

After observing for a while, Roach realized that this did not seem to be a spell to summon meteors, but rather a spell to teleport prepared stones to a predetermined coordinate, where they would fall under the influence of gravity. Furthermore, these stones were all imbued with the "fire enhancement" spell of the arcane art, which ultimately resulted in these spectacular scenes of fire meteor showers.

After using up all the enhancement and enchantment stones, the field guns entered a recharge state, and the arcane mage apprentices frantically channeled the fire magic from the lit torches and campfires into the new ammunition, releasing a new "Enchanted Fire Magic Stone" arcane spell.

Due to the presence of the dark purple mist, no one knew the extent of the damage suffered by the undead inside. They could only see shadowy figures densely approaching the barrier, and the once stable barrier began to shake gradually.

"Field artillery, jamming fire!" The gray-white obelisk lit up again, and several occultists stood behind the ballista-like device, chanting something loudly. A huge magic circle covered their surroundings, and a large amount of prepared occult essence dew was transformed into magic power and injected into the occultists' hands, turning into a blue illusory line connected to the obelisk.

Countless small rhombus-shaped magic circles appeared about 5 to 10 meters high behind the barrier, densely surrounding the front line of the entire position. When the first zombie soldier, shrouded in black smoke, passed through the barrier, it was met with countless tiny, water-like, or tentacle-like dark blue beams of light piercing it.

Beams of light pierced through these rhomboid magic circles, even passing through the bodies of adventurers on the front lines, but without causing any consequences or physical damage to the zombies. Only with each strike did the soul fire that sustained their movement flicker violently.

These zombies are like high-ping warriors; any movement causes severe lag, allowing adventurers to easily plunge red-hot blades into their bodies, sever their heads, or tear apart the necromantic cores in their hearts before kicking the temporarily immobilized zombies into trenches.

The more fragile skeletons were directly reduced to a pile of bones by this mental piercing spell. Before they could regenerate, their skulls were smashed by a hammer, and the remaining parts were kicked into the trench.

The chaff firing continued for quite some time, until everyone involved, even Roach on the city wall, felt a sense of mental emptiness before it slowly stopped.

"Psychic Cannon, Master Roch, what do you think?" The Psychic Cannon is a technology unique to the Empire. It takes advantage of the Empire's numerical superiority and gathers the spirit of the people on the battlefield into a mental piercing, destroying the enemy's will to fight. It is especially effective against the undead driven by the obsession of the living being attacked.

Victory inspires people, and the unity of the people generates powerful spiritual magic. This powerful spiritual magic transforms into strong mental bombardment and mental penetration, bringing more victories. Once an empire gains an advantage on the battlefield, it will grow larger and larger like a snowball.

Of course, once it becomes ineffective, the power of this weapon will weaken as people's morale wavers. The weapon itself will draw away the spiritual strength that people have gathered, which will instead lead to the collapse of one's own morale. Therefore, when to use this weapon and how to use it is a science, just like artillery on Earth.

It's no wonder that the empire has dedicated military academies in every province to study extraordinary war techniques and tactics. They really need to study these, otherwise, on the battlefield, it would truly be a matter of luck and risking one's life.

Does the Kingdom of Narada also have it?

“No, they are cursed arcane cannons.” Karius shook his head. The Kingdom of Rada is a united army, a coalition of various races and small countries, united in the face of the empire’s pressure. To expect them to be of one mind is to dream.

However, the Kingdom of Rada also possesses its own unique arcane weapon, the Cursed Arcane Cannon, which gathers hatred and malice towards the Empire and transforms it into a wide-ranging curse, reducing the overall physical strength and power of the Imperial Army, demoralizing them, and countering the Spirit Arcane Cannon on this side.

Conversely, the psychic cannon can also break this curse. The mutual targeting and counter-battle of these magical versions of the two sides truly opened Roach's eyes.

Besides these two, there are also regular elemental arcane cannons, such as the meteor shower just now, and the battlefield piercing wood of the Kingdom of Rada. Less common ones may include the Church's "Holy Fist," which transforms the power of faith and blessing into a giant ball of light that falls from the sky to burn away heretics and demons.

"So, do we have enough firepower to deal with these undead?"

“Firepower?” Viscount Karius paused for a moment, then immediately understood the meaning of Roach’s word. “That’s right, our firepower is sufficient for the moment, but in a little while… it’s hard to say.”

After a horde of undead has annihilated a large number of zombies and skeletons, the Sky of the Dead will become thinner. The remaining elite forces composed of mid-to-high-level undead will be wiped out one by one by mobile forces composed of knights and mages who are ready to go. As for the last few scattered high-level undead, they will be handed over to the various adventure groups and the strongmen on the side of the empire to deal with them one by one.

However, now that nearly half of the zombie and skeleton troops had been eliminated, and the sky showed no sign of darkening, Karius's heart clenched.

Just then, a cacophony of flapping wings filled the sky, and the mage on the watchtower sounded an alarm through a loudspeaker: "Vampires! Thousands upon thousands of vampires!?"

“Vampire!” Karius’s expression suddenly turned ugly. Vampire wasn’t the kind of elegant, pale nobleman, but rather the nickname for a type of large bat that lived in cemeteries and dark forests, feeding on the blood of living creatures.

A single large bat can suck up about 15% of an adult's blood. A single one is not scary, but they live in groups and are also a kind of undead monster. People who die from being sucked blood will be corrupted by the death magic in their fangs and turn into a pale, strange corpse. These corpses will soon turn into zombies that bite anyone they see and are terrifying creatures that spread from person to person.

"Now, it's time for my weapon to shine." Roach shrugged, looking at the fireworks-like contraptions. If they crashed... hopefully, even if they were drained of blood, the little witch could still salvage them for him.

[PS]

Luckily, I wrote today's assignment yesterday. Okay, now let's begin our journey!

Chapter Thirty-One: Let's End This Red tape

Purple clouds loomed overhead, their wings flapping like thunder. The guards standing on the city walls began to turn pale. Countless shadows danced in the still heavy, deep purple sky—thousands upon thousands of large vampire bats.

After circling briefly, the bats swooped down, only to be struck by a sudden golden light when they were still forty or fifty meters above the city, instantly turning into dust.

"City Shield?" Roach glanced at the Arcane Twin Towers. The two large arcane devices were fully operational. In the pool of runestones beneath these celestial globe-like devices, the Arcane Essence was being rapidly depleted by the bats' impacts.

The bats quickly realized that the area near the city center was protected by an umbrella-shaped shield. Compared to other undead, these vampire bats possessed a certain level of intelligence, and they soon circled around the barrier to the front of Hearth City.

Compared to the city's protective shield overhead, the barrier here, supported by spirit crystals, seemed much weaker. One after another, large bats crashed into the barrier, their bodies smoldering with black smoke, slowly burrowing into it, opening their mouths full of needle-like sharp teeth to bite the nearest living person.

"Whoosh—" A sharp whistle rang out, and a ball of light rose into the sky. The cloth covering the energy arrow rain quickly burned away. Roach estimated the height and distance, and activated the energy arrow rain when the ball of light approached the center of the bat swarm. For arcane sorcerers, these arcane paradigms can be manually triggered within a certain distance, like having a radio fuse installed.