After choosing to leave, they regretted it.

For this purpose, a lot of difficult-to-carry supplies were discarded.

However, even when it was as fast as it could go, it was still not fast enough.

"Tsk——"

Uh-huh! ! ! !

A sharp sound of breaking air echoed in the dark forest and mountains. The enchanted spear forged by the church easily cut through the rotten and fetid flesh in front of it.

A twisted and blasphemous monster, more than three meters tall and formed by forcibly sewing together multiple human corpses, fell heavily to the ground and was directly shattered into pieces by the subsequent slashing blow.

In this way, the strange light flickering in the pupils of those faces distorted by pain finally dissipated into the dark night.

The ghost puppet is the product of necromancy, which is made by forcibly splicing together several recently dead human corpses. It possesses a strength far more powerful than that of ordinary undead.

According to some scholars, the souls of the dead used as material have been twisted, tortured, and even blended due to forbidden evil methods, trapped in their bodies forever, and their pain has become the fuel that drives this disgusting existence.

Whether it is true or false is not so important to the human army facing it on the battlefield. Anyway, the mere existence of this thing is enough to cause physiological discomfort.

As a high-level unit in the Undead Army, its existence here itself is a symbol.

It symbolizes that the undead buried here are not just processed, slow and weak zombies, but a real regular army of the undead.

In addition to the individual that Chris killed, there were more twisted and huge shadows in the dim forests on both sides of the road, gradually approaching with weird and inhuman roars.

Look ahead at the road again.

The undead army formed by the corpses of countless soldiers of human, orc, dragon and other races who had died here blocked the road tightly.

No matter how many were cut down by the heavy infantrymen who led the way, more individuals would emerge from the darkness.

Completely surrounded.

"Tsk, it never ends—"

"Report, Lord Karseid!"

An accompanying general ran over hurriedly.

"The number of undead ahead is increasing further. It seems that the ones chasing His Royal Highness have also been attracted here."

The blue-haired girl waved her spear, shaking off the disgusting flesh and blood on it, and nodded:

"Very good. In this case, that guy should be able to reach Jarlsberg safely."

Aize - Master's orders must be fulfilled.

Therefore, when she realized that the number of undead was increasing and the originally planned evacuation was difficult to carry out, Chris changed her strategy without hesitation.

The fast-moving cavalry in the dispatch team broke through the encirclement first and sent the unconscious prince to Jarlsberg for treatment as quickly as possible.

Chris, on the other hand, led the remaining forces and turned around to fight with these disgusting creatures.

Using himself as bait, he finally helped Adrian escape from the danger zone.

The price he paid was that he and the main force of the Karside family's army were completely surrounded in an area only one step away from the plain.

More and more awakened undead are approaching here, and the smell of decay and death fills the entire battlefield.

These were remnants of the previous war, and many of them were even wearing their old armor, with the emblems of the empire or family representing them vaguely visible.

But it has become like this.

For Chris, who personally experienced the entire war, the suffocating oppression brought by this nightmare was no more severe than for others.

Memories of the past immediately began to stir again, and my resolve wavered.

The Undead Army, and the forbidden necromancy techniques that constitute it, are far more than just resurrecting, manipulating, and distorting corpses.

As the battle progressed, one undead individual after another was destroyed and dismantled, and the forest itself, which served as the battlefield, was also undergoing visible changes.

The leaves of the trees were turning yellow and then dying, and the earth they were rooted in, along with the grass and flowers covering it, was rapidly fading.

It was midsummer, but the temperature was getting lower and lower. Even some of the less strong soldiers began to tremble violently, their faces turned pale, their breathing became disordered, and the weapons in their hands became increasingly unstable.

This is the undead.

If the organized orc army is a symbol of pure barbarism and violence, then the undead are the literal representatives of death.

The magic and energy it contains are plundering all living things equally, even the vitality of the land itself, in order to drive its own endlessly decaying body.

Centuries ago, the last straw that broke the camel's back for the once-mighty Ogris still covets everything they once ruled.

If this continues, everyone will die here.

On the distant horizon, dozens of dark green lights suddenly rose up, drawing a chilling and instinctively fearful arc, and smashed towards where Chris was.

Attack from the Necromancer.

The combat magicians in the array reacted immediately, and a translucent flashing barrier immediately condensed in the air. Amid the impact and air waves of the explosion, these vicious magic clumps finally dissipated in advance instead of being hit directly.

This did not reassure the soldiers of the empire.

Instead, it means the arrival of more advanced Undead units, and their formations are becoming increasingly difficult to break through.

A decision must be made quickly.

"Lord Karseid, what should we do next!?"

One of his generals turned his head and asked loudly while fighting with several ghost puppets.

Yeah, what to do?

Chris hesitated.

Fortunately, thanks to Aize's early arrangements and Chris's quick actions, the place where they are now surrounded is the edge of the central mountain range.

They are familiar with the terrain here. If they can take advantage of the weak points in the enemy's encirclement and maneuver in the nearby mountains, they will be able to pull the enemy's formation apart.

At the same time, they were also buying time for other imperial troops who had received the news and were rushing to support them.

But does it have to be like this?

Aize's primary task was to send the prince back to the rear safely. Although he didn't see it with his own eyes, it could actually be considered accomplished.

According to the idea of "adapting to circumstances", could he also fight his way back and reunite with Aize?

No matter from which perspective, this is by no means a rational choice. The low probability of success and the high risks involved are simply unacceptable.

However, after seeing with her own eyes that the number and quality of the undead army were beyond her imagination, Chris was really worried about leaving Aize alone in the encirclement.

And in this uncertain future, only being by Aize's side can make her feel at ease.

As for the test, the moment Chris came up with this idea, it could be considered a complete failure.

But...what can we do?

"I……"

"Lord Karseid, look!"

The blue-haired girl was still hesitating, but the adjutant beside her exclaimed in surprise.

Because, the undead that were wriggling wildly in front of them, as if they were the embodiment of the concept of death itself, suddenly stopped moving collectively at a certain moment.

It was as if some kind of time-stopping technique that only existed in legends had been activated.

Then, under the watchful eyes of the Imperial warriors, they began to retreat.

Away from the living opponents who had been fighting fiercely just a second ago, the wave of the dead began to recede, and the figures gradually merged into the forest in the background.

In just a few minutes, the seemingly endless undead disappeared without a trace.

Everything seemed like a nightmare. Only the broken corpses on the ground and the lingering smell of cold hands and feet could prove that everything really happened.

It was also at this moment that light appeared at the end of the horizon.

Daybreak has arrived, and this suffocating night, which was suffocating from every angle, is finally over.

The general beside him was still in shock, and subconsciously held the sword soaked in the rotten flesh and blood of the undead tightly in his hand, as if only in this way could he find some sense of reality in being alive.

Trembling, he asked:

"Lord Karseid, is this... a miracle? Or are they afraid of the dawn?"

“…No, neither.”

Christi released the spear from her hand and let it fall to her feet.

The undead are creations of forbidden magic of unknown origin and the embodiment of death.

When will death differentiate between day and night?

This is the work of Master Aize.

It must be some action of his in Lierbas that forced the Immortal Dynasty to change its original plan and immediately concentrate all its combat forces there.

After all, whether or not to annihilate an imperial force made little difference to the overall situation. However, the gains and losses of Lilbas could truly influence the course of the entire war.

Not to mention that for those guys from the Immortal Dynasty, there are also personal grudges involved.

This concentration of fighting power also means that Lilbas will be literally surrounded by a tide of undead in the next few hours.

The plan to reunite with Aize also went from almost impossible to completely impossible.

The heavy pressure from the entire demon clan on both sides of the central mountain range will have to be borne by Aize.

The blue-haired girl clenched her fists, and her armor and bones crackled under the tremendous force.

"Lord Karseid, we..."

"Everyone, listen up! Send out a few scout teams to continue operations here. We must find out the size of the Undead army and the situation of other friendly Imperial forces. The rest of you..."

Chris took a deep breath.

"The rest of you, turn around and return to Jarlsberg!"

Chapter 88 The general trend

The first 24 hours of the empire's grand expedition came to an end.

Although the coalition forces of the Church and the Empire were still engaged in fierce battles with the demons on other fronts, the most critical main battlefield of Lilbas had fallen into silence.

Villian used the same method to plug the hole she had made in the city wall last night.

Although it still needs further reinforcement to be truly effective, it is at least enough to scare people for now.

Therefore, although the overwhelming undead army arrived at the city from both inside and outside directions at the first time, they did not launch an attack immediately.

Inside the city, however, the scene was quite different.

During the years that the orcs occupied Lilbas, they divided the existing urban area, occupying most of the areas with suitable environments, and drove the remaining human civilians who were turned into slaves into a few slums.

This actually gave Aize an opportunity.

After crossing the city walls, the imperial army acted quickly and successfully cut off these areas, avoiding excessive collateral damage to civilians in subsequent battles.

But even so, street fighting still takes a lot of time.

Therefore, Aize left some people behind to ensure that there would be no problems with the blockade, and then turned his attention to the peripheral troops outside the city who were under siege and on the verge of death.

The Imperial Army launched attacks from multiple directions, proactively launching attacks towards the rear or flanks of the Undead Army, in order to support these friendly forces that had suffered heavy losses as much as possible and help them retreat towards Lilbas.

By the time we finished all this, it was already completely light.

Now, Aize finally had time to go back and deal with the orc army in the city that had not yet been annihilated.

Then--

"I, the acting chieftain, Rokahak Steelhide, request to speak with the human commander, Brave Aize!"

In the besieged old Karseide family mansion, another burly orc, surrounded by a group of generals, came to the street outside and shouted to the Imperial Guards who surrounded them.

At this time, the imperial army's shield wall had advanced to less than a hundred meters away from them, and the combat magician troops in the rear had also begun to accumulate magic power.

This sudden incident made everyone look at each other in surprise.

Of course, this news quickly reached Aize in the command center two streets away.

He folded his arms, leaned against the pillar of the room, and raised his eyebrows with a faint smile:

"That guy said he wanted to see me?"

"Yes, it said this just after the attack was launched and before the battle officially started."

Lysander, who had just been commanding at the front line and now returned to report, knelt on one knee and narrated with an expressionless face.