After choosing to leave, they regretted it.

Aize was not willing to imagine what the tragic situation was like in those relatively unimportant cities, such as the large occupied areas of the kingdom.

In such a situation, it would probably not be easy to utilize manpower in subsequent defensive battles.

Gotta think of something.

After passing through the residential area, the city wall is right in front of you.

The Royal Guards have taken over the defense here, and the flags of the Empire and the House of Saxony have replaced the orcish tribal flags, fluttering in the summer breeze.

Climbing up the stairs and looking outside the wall, you will see another terrifying scene.

The endless army of the undead is approaching, like a tide.

Chapter 91 The Storm is Coming (1)

The location where the city of Lilbas was built happened to be stuck at the narrowest pass in the central mountain range leading to the demon territory, completely blocking the opening like a plug.

Therefore, from a topographical point of view, the narrow space on the north and south sides does not allow the deployment of large troops at all. Basically, the city will only be attacked from the east and west sides.

As a fortress to defend against the invasion of demons, when it was designed and built, it was obviously not given much consideration to the situation of being attacked from both inside and outside at the same time.

Therefore, the eastern side facing the demon territory has unusually thick and solid walls, and is also equipped with more magic and crossbow turrets, while the western side facing the human territory has much weaker defenses.

The few defensive facilities that remain were relocated during the orc occupation period.

Unfortunately, in the siege that is about to begin, the west side will be the main battlefield where the main force of the Undead army will be faced.

Siege warfare is a very brutal war of attrition for both the attacking and defending sides, and it tests the soldiers' endurance and morale.

Once any of the above collapses, it will lead to a devastating chain reaction, and it is not impossible that it will even develop into a reversal of offense and defense.

For example, the orcs in the previous siege of Tafia had their morale shaken due to repeated setbacks in the siege, and refused to retreat because of Aze's fishing tactics. In the end, they were taken away by the reinforcements of the Crusade Knights who arrived.

And it is basically impossible to replicate the same tactics in this battle.

The essence of the undead is a magical creation.

They have no self-will, no fear, no worries, and no concept of fatigue.

Just like now, they don't even need to set up a siege camp, but just stand there outside the coverage of defensive firepower, not minding the wind and sun at all, just like the tide of zombies in a zombie horror movie.

The summer wind blew, and the stench of decay from these blasphemous creatures continued to drift in from afar. Aize couldn't help but frown, and waved his hand in disgust, looking at the imperial army general accompanying him on the inspection.

"how is the situation?"

"Report, the number has been increasing since last night. As of now, even a conservative estimate is over 100,000."

"What about us?"

"We have deployed defensive forces according to your instructions. The combat magician team has also set up a large number of detonation spells in front of the city wall, waiting for them to launch an attack."

Aize and others occupied Lilbas, as if they had grasped the entire front line of the demon clan.

So once the attack begins, the undead will go all in, put all their efforts into it, and literally flood the city with a tide.

The battle between the dead and the living is to exchange lives for these mass-produced gadgets.

Extremely unfair.

Aize narrowed his eyes, looked at the general in front of him, glanced at the monster in the distance, and asked half-jokingly:

"Are you afraid?"

"Report, no fear!"

"The enemy has an overwhelming advantage in numbers, and reinforcements are constantly on the way. We're trapped in an isolated city with no way to retreat and insufficient supplies. There's no guarantee that reinforcements will arrive until the end of the battle. Even if they do, the losses here will undoubtedly be significant. Aren't you afraid?"

Some generals in this world like to use deception and blindness to drive their subordinates to death, but Aize has always scoffed at this.

Even without talking about personal likes and dislikes, practically speaking, such deception and lies can be easily exposed on the cruel battlefield and are completely worthless.

Therefore, no matter how bad or even desperate the battle situation was, he would clearly share the situation with even the most grassroots militia or migrant workers.

Only when everyone realizes what they are doing, what they are going to do, the significance of what they are doing, and makes their own efforts, can miracles be created.

It is definitely not simply a chess piece in the hands of a so-called "invincible god of war."

Human initiative and the unpredictable heroic feats that occur from time to time are always the key factors that influence the course of battle.

In response to the information given by Aize, the Royal Guards, along with their surrounding combat magician teams, all stood tall and proud.

They all looked with contempt and disdain at these destined enemies who had been entangled with their country for hundreds of years.

There was no hint of fear.

"Don't be afraid. For those of us who have sworn to defend the Empire and the Royal Family with our lives, dying a worthy death is the highest pursuit. On this point, we all have absolute trust in Lord Aize. We believe that even if we die on the front lines, the final victory will surely come to the Empire. And..."

The general paused for a moment, as if hesitant about whether to say the following.

"And, speaking personally... Lord Aize, you may not remember, but we have met before."

"Oh?"

Aize looked at the other person again.

The middle-level officer of the Guards in front of him looked quite young, even a little immature. He was at most the same age as Aize was when he just crossed over.

Maybe even smaller.

But other than that... I really don't have any impression.

I can only shake my head.

"Sorry, I don't remember."

"No, you don't need to apologize. That was a long time ago, and I was just a junior officer at the time, no different from a soldier. It's normal that you don't remember it."

As he spoke, he breathed a sigh of relief:

"That was about two years ago, in Gerlos."

"...Gerlos? You were there too?"

"Yes! At that time, I was a member of the Royal Guards under Duke Anson! I was responsible for defending the city. Before the war began, you were inspecting the city defenses like this. We met before."

That was about half a year after Azer arrived in this world. A large-scale battle broke out in Gerlos, another fortress city of the empire, against the main force of the elite orc army, which was in its heyday at the time.

It is of great significance to all parties involved.

At that time, Aize had just begun to get involved in military, political and intelligence affairs and was still in the process of transformation. He did not have the experience and fame he has today.

It was that miraculous victory under absolute disadvantage that gave Aize's career the opportunity to take off.

It also established the status of the "hero", making it leap from a vase in the church to a true savior who can stand on his own.

Only afterwards were knight orders directly under each brave warrior established.

Even Villian, who was still under the control of the demons at the time, took this opportunity to begin to understand Aize and gradually became interested in him. This led to their encounter on the Anlin Plain and everything that happened afterwards.

As for the orcs on the losing side, their elite troops were almost completely annihilated and they were never able to recover from the blow, which marked the beginning of a series of hells that followed.

So, that's where it all started.

In the big picture, it laid the foundation for the current situation.

On a smaller scale, countless ordinary people have been affected by it until now.

"It's a little funny to say, but back then, I didn't believe what you said before the war. I just thought you were some ignorant outsider from another world spouting nonsense. I even thought I was doomed."

The general's expression became a little awkward, and he smiled sheepishly:

"But in the end, not only did I survive, but because of my achievements in that battle, I was directly promoted to the Royal Guards. So I'm not afraid. I owed this life to Lord Aize two years ago. What's the harm in giving it back now? Not only do I think so, but many other people in the Royal Guards also think so!"

Before Aize and others traveled through time, the empire had just suffered an unprecedented defeat - the one that directly beat Chris into autism and led to the fall of Lilbas.

In that disastrous defeat, the situation was just like the orcs' later defeat. Almost all of the empire's elite troops were lost, and now the core forces, including the Guards, have almost all been rebuilt.

This also means that a considerable number of these personnel have participated in wars in the past two years and have made great contributions.

That is, a considerable number of them had encountered Aize, who was constantly moving around.

Aize's efforts have not only changed the petty intrigues of the upper nobles, or simply changed the battle lines on the map.

And it has actually changed the trajectory of the fate of countless people and countless individuals.

Whether good or bad, Aize is destined to become an unavoidable link in many people's life.

This is the case with the former orc warchief, Tar Sarag.

This is the case with Adrian Saxon, the Imperial Prince.

The same is true of the imperial general in front of him.

"Lord Aize, rest assured. Even if the undead eventually cross this wall, they will do so on our bodies. The Imperial Guard will hold this position until allied reinforcements arrive, or until all are killed."

The statement is too heavy.

But the determined looks from him—and from the guards and magicians around him—showed that this was no joke.

After experiencing so many bad developments, this became one of the few things that could comfort Aize.

After a brief moment of thought, he swallowed the words that were about to come out of his mouth to say something comforting, nodded seriously, and replied simply:

"Then I'll leave it to you."

"Yes! Don't worry!"

Since the awareness is unshakable, there is no need for Aize to say anything more, this is enough.

Thus, the simple inspection ended.

The generals and soldiers will remain here and continue to be vigilant against possible attacks.

Aize and Villian, accompanied by a few guards, returned to the lord's mansion first.

On the way, after thinking for a while, Aize said:

"Vir."

"Um?"

"The so-called undead are magical creations, essentially not much different from puppets, right? If so, is there any possibility of cracking their spells?"

The origin of the undead was a group of decadent and corrupt nobles who wanted to achieve immortality but ended up failing miserably.

Then, in the opinion of Aize, who doesn't know much about magic but understands logic, is there a way to remove the influence of the spell and turn it back into a corpse?

However, Villian shook her head:

"Sorry, can't do that."

"Oh?"

"The Witch Society conducted relevant research hundreds of years ago. They concluded that the necromancy rituals used by the Immortal Dynasty were not particularly significant, but others were completely unable to replicate them."

"why?"

"Because the nature of magic is fundamentally different, it's possible that the so-called immortality formula, when transforming them, also caused the nature of the magic to change. If we could get the earliest version of the immortality formula, perhaps we could find a way, but that thing has been completely lost."

Hundreds of years ago, after the core nobles of Augris transformed themselves with the immortality formula, they completely destroyed the original version of the formula, leaving no records.

They were afraid that the secret of their immortality would be known to others, but objectively this prevented the further spread of this dangerous and evil thing.

The original intention was bad, but they got things done.

But this also makes it impossible to fight against drugging now.

After a brief thought, Villian raised her head.

"How about I try to crack it?"

"No, the siege could begin at any moment, and we're definitely running out of time. Rather than that, I want you to focus on creating the battle golems."

For a top witch, puppets are worthless things that can be instantly produced in large quantities by simply throwing some magic power.

But such a puppet has no practical value.

A body made of mud or rock is vulnerable, and its chaotic and rough internal structure exponentially increases the magic power and energy required to control it.

Instead of doing these things, it would be better to let the witch act as a turret and cast some spells, which would make the combat more efficient.

But the battle puppets are something completely different.

Through various minerals or magical beast materials, a magic circuit similar to human blood vessels is constructed, supplemented by metal structures as bones and even joint supports, additional specially made large-scale melee weapons and even turrets, and then equipped with a certain degree of autonomous magic.

Just like the combat robots that exist in science fiction works.