After choosing to leave, they regretted it.

Moreover, as long as Aize uses the word "command", it means the final decision. As the adjutant, she no longer has any right to refuse.

"……I see."

The blue-haired girl closed her eyes and nodded hesitantly.

"What happens next? What should I do after I take the prince out of the encirclement? What are the subsequent plans?"

"There's too little information. I can't make a judgment. Just adapt to the situation."

"Adapt to circumstances..."

For Chris right now, this may be the word she fears the most.

Leading a superior force and conducting so-called "independent" actions under the supervision of one's own master under predictable circumstances is different from making complete independent judgments in unexpected situations.

What's more, Aize's choice to stay here is tantamount to including his own life safety in the choice Chris is about to make.

Just thinking about it makes me so nervous.

"Go! Quick!"

Aize urged again, and then without saying anything more to her, he picked up the sword and rushed to the battle line again, trying to increase the speed of the end as much as possible.

And Chris had no choice.

"Take His Royal Highness the Prince with you and go, quickly!"

After giving orders to several guards, the blue-haired girl gritted her teeth, carried the seriously injured future leader of the empire on her back as quickly as possible, and disappeared into the dark forest.

On this side, with Villian's assistance, the remaining undead were eliminated almost in an instant.

As for the bastard who cast the spell remotely in the forest, although his figure was captured by Villian's familiar, he seemed to have escaped as soon as he realized something was wrong.

There is no time to chase him right now, so I can only let him go for now.

So, Aize and Villian gathered up the remaining imperial troops and moved as quickly as possible towards the main force that had already arrived in Lilbas.

At this point, the two finally had a chance to have a good talk.

"So, what's going on? Why are you so nervous?"

Riding on the puppet horse she had casually made, Villian took a breath and began to ask questions.

"Also, didn't the Imperial Army put the entire perimeter on alert? How could these undead get in?"

“Because they were here from the beginning.”

Aize, who was also riding on a horse, pointed to the ground beneath his feet.

"Like a real corpse, buried in the soil, waiting for us to come and then dig out."

In war, whether in this world or Aize's original world, logistics is an absolutely unavoidable topic.

When tens of thousands of people, or orcs, or something else gather together, the weapons, armor, clothes, food to fill their stomachs, daily drinking water, necessary medicines, magic stones for magicians, etc., are all astronomical figures, enough to give any commander a headache.

The process of collecting, storing and transporting these materials is also difficult to conceal.

Therefore, large-scale military mobilization is almost impossible to conceal in the face of a tight intelligence network.

But the undead are completely different.

These dead things are powered by the magic of the living.

Although it cannot be called a perpetual motion machine, it can enter a state similar to hibernation and stay on standby for a long time. During this period, it does not need to eat, drink, or even breathe, so there is no problem in burying it in the soil and waiting for the right time to wake it up.

"To mask the stench of the massive amount of buried zombies, they also planted rockflowers everywhere. Therefore, neither the Empire nor the Adventurer's Guild's investigations found anything amiss. Those flower fields we saw earlier are probably filled with undead souls waiting to be awakened. Furthermore, the problem lies in timing."

"opportunity?"

"Well, large-scale digging and burying of bodies is just like large-scale mobilization of troops. It's not something that can be concealed. Moreover, if the investigation finds signs of extensive earthwork, the Empire will immediately discover the problem. Therefore, these bodies were probably buried more than two years ago, when Lilbas fell."

More than two years ago, after defeating the kingdom's main force, several races formed a coalition and turned to attack the empire from two directions.

It was during this battle that Chris became autistic.

As a result, the empire paid a huge price and lost a considerable amount of territory, but successfully dealt a heavy blow to the invading demon army, making it unable to advance further.

The fighting during the battle and the massacre after the battle left more than 100,000 corpses on the land around Lilbas by both the human and demon sides, all buried in the form of mass graves in the surrounding mountains.

Because the situation was rather chaotic at the time, the Empire had no time to take care of the situation on the other side of the front line. It was still several months before Aize arrived in this world, let alone the intelligence system he later established.

So, taking advantage of this window of time when no one was paying attention, the undead tampered with the large number of buried corpses, and they also kept their composure and did not activate them for more than two years.

They even kept sending troops to the north to pretend to engage in a meat-mincing war.

It is to keep this trap prepared for the empire until the most fatal moment.

Boom——Boom——Boom——

At this moment, points of light rose into the air almost simultaneously from all over the other side of the dark forest, and then exploded. The fireworks-like light appeared extremely dazzling under the black sky.

That was the signal sent by the Imperial Guard troops that Adrian had deployed.

Aize then smiled bitterly and shook his head:

"The prince's plan has finally backfired."

Adrian knew that the demons had set a trap, so he dispersed a large number of troops, built a warning area, and communicated with each other using signals.

As expected, no matter which direction the demons attack from, the surrounding imperial troops can respond quickly and provide support based on the signal.

However, this tactic becomes worthless when the undead crawl out from almost every corner of the battlefield, filling the battlefield with enemies everywhere.

On the contrary, due to excessive division of troops, each imperial detachment would be directly overwhelmed by an astonishing number of undead, resulting in a large amount of combat power being lost in vain.

The orcs who had just attacked the camp had been specially treated, and their identities as undead could not be discovered unless one looked closely. They acted ahead of the main force and wanted to kill Adrian before the battle began.

The signals we see now are just the beginning of the real large-scale offensive of the undead.

Villian looked at the light in the sky, which was gradually being swallowed by darkness, and sighed softly:

"So, what are you going to do?"

"I don't know exactly how many undead troops are ambushing, but their numbers are definitely enough to defeat the Imperial Army entering the mountains. The ideal situation would be to withdraw and reorganize the front line, but for the Guards serving as the vanguard, this is no longer possible."

It takes time for the undead to emerge from the earth.

It takes more time to build an encirclement and arrange the formation.

Therefore, Chris could have broken through by simply leading the Karlsade family's army, which was closer to the exit, but the Guards did not have the time.

If you break out rashly, you may be completely surrounded due to harassment from the ubiquitous undead army.

That would be just what I want.

And the breakthrough point that Aize found is also here:

"The Undead chose a very clever time to attack. The Royal Guards had just arrived at the gates of Lilbas and were not yet ready for a siege. Their sudden appearance allowed them to coordinate with the remaining orc troops inside the city, trapping the Imperial Army beneath the city walls or in the mountains."

"But what if we take down Lilbas in one fell swoop before the Undead army completes their encirclement? The Guards, relying on the city's defense, will become a difficult nail to remove, wedged in the very center of their battle line. Then, they will be the ones in trouble~"

Aize gave a mocking smile.

Chapter 84 Token

Any choice made by the decision maker is accompanied by corresponding benefits and costs.

In order to truly lure the Imperial Army into this trap, the Demons did not come up with a countermeasure until two days before the expedition was set to begin, so a large amount of combat power would take at least several days to arrive.

These few days were insignificant in the demon clan's original plan.

Because the undead army lurking underground in the central mountains can use the previously mentioned plan to easily break the spearhead of the imperial army's attack and firmly grasp the important strategic channel of Lirbas in their own hands.

In this way, the demons along the entire front line can spend these few days leisurely, waiting calmly for reinforcements to enter the imperial territory through Lilbas.

This will not only stabilize the front line, but will even allow for a counterattack and completely drive away the empire.

However, if Aize helps the Guards capture Lilbas now, the situation will be completely reversed.

If the passage for reinforcements is blocked, a huge number of undead will be trapped in the middle and unable to move forward or backward, and even the entire front line will be unable to take care of each other.

At that time, the initiative will return to the Empire, and it will be able to attack all parts of the battle line at ease.

However, there are also two problems with Aize's strategy.

First of all, time is tight.

A huge number of undead armies have been awakened, and it will only take a few hours for them to complete the assembly, encirclement and launch a general attack.

To conquer the fortress city of Lilbas in just a few hours is a hellish task.

The second is the subsequent defense.

As a nail embedded in the most critical position of the enemy's defense line, after successfully occupying Lilbas, the demons will definitely take it back at all costs.

At that time, Aize will inevitably have to withstand fierce attacks launched simultaneously from inside and outside the Central Mountains, and will have to hold on until the Imperial Army launches a full-scale counterattack.

The difficulty of this is even more unimaginable.

After explaining this, Aize sighed softly:

"I'm sorry, Weir. Without you, neither the siege nor the defense of the city would be possible. So...even though it's a little late to say this, you have to accompany me."

The witch was stunned, then smiled:

"What? You're still so awkward after all this? Isn't this a matter of course? Haha, let's just say it's a good thing you brought me along. If you dared to do something this dangerous without me, I would curse you even if you came back alive."

"Uh, what curse?"

"That's hard to say. For example, every night you sleepwalk and shout out your most shameful secrets, or the cockroaches and spiders around you can't help but burrow into your quilt and dishes when they see you, or you never win what you want in the lottery, etc."

Aize imagined it and found it a little scary.

"Well... then I really appreciate your mercy."

"You're welcome~ You're welcome~ Rather than that, can I ask a question?"

"You said."

"I understand the situation here. Why did you insist on sending the prince and Chris away? I can definitely handle that minor injury."

"Well... first of all, it's all about time. The window of opportunity to capture Lilbas is fleeting. If the prince is here, then everything will be tied up with him, and we'll have to discuss it with him. I don't have the time, so it's best to send him away."

After all, they are the so-called royal guards. If the master is here, then those loyal guards will inevitably act according to their master's mood.

Imagine your boss standing by at work, staring at you silently. Even if he or she says nothing or does nothing, his or her presence is a problem in itself.

Having said that, Aize paused, his expression becoming more serious:

"Besides, no matter how long we hold out in Lilbas, we're only stalling for time. If the Imperial Army doesn't win head-on, they'll be wiped out sooner or later. So, it's better to send them both outside. It'll be more helpful to the situation."

Although he had figured out the general plan of the demons, Aize did not know the specific deployment, so he could not come up with a response strategy at this time.

Therefore, Christina had no choice but to adapt to the situation independently.

Therefore, this is not only a big test of Aize's defensive ability, but also the ultimate test of whether Chris can truly stand up and regain her past glory.

Although Aize trusted his apprentice, he could not gamble with his own life and the survival of the entire empire without any preparation.

Therefore, the prince must stay outside.

This way, if Chris gets sick, there will be someone to cover her.

"That's it, I understand."

Villian gave a wry smile:

"That's a good thought, but I hope you haven't forgotten one important thing."

"whats the matter?"

"That woman is still with the main force of the Imperial Army. Are you sure she won't affect your plan?"

"Don't remind me of such nasty things, thank you."

The episode he least wanted to remember, Aize covered his face deeply.

----------

The Imperial Heavy Armored Troops were moving quite slowly, and taking them forward was simply a waste of precious time.

So Aize and Villian, relying on the puppet horses made on the spot, rushed to the Imperial Army camp near Lilbas as quickly as possible, while letting the others walk slowly behind.

Soon, they met Lysander Heinlein, the commander of the Imperial Royal Guard and the Imperial Shield Corps, in the tent.

That extremely strong body, even without armor, still looked like a statue sitting there, and the half burned face made him look terrifying.