Just when the army was about to meet Yumi and her undead army, the soldiers were terrified once they sensed her power from afar. It was not only her but also a hundred more strong presences!
This broke the morale of the army as fear started seeping into their hearts with every step they made.
"Are we really heading towards the source of this terrible aura?" A young man with blue hair said as he trembled.
He was around Kris's age but unlike him, he did not graduate from the Soaring Cloud Academy.
"Indeed, this is the first time after the incident eleven years ago that I have felt such pressuring force!" An elderly soldier answered the question of the young man.
"Don't you think that they are only sending us to our doom right now? We have no hope fighting with such tremendous power." The blue-haired young man said pessimistically.
"We need to have faith in our leaders! According to the rumors, we have seven generals accompanying this expedition. Two of which are three-star generals: General Armstrong and the current Army Commander, General Paulson!" The old man said with strong faith!
"Indeed, I heard of General Armstrong's overwhelming strength and durability and General Paulson's meticulous strategies! I believe that our generals won't let us die meaninglessly! Although... I can still feel my body weakening after every step... I really want to go home now...." The blue-haired young man honestly spoke.
"If I am not intruding too much, may I ask why you joined the army at such a young age? From your behavior, you don't seem to be like those hot-blooded upstarts. You seem to be more passive in nature." The old man asked.
The blue-haired young man shared, "It's nothing to hide about, really. I am from a poor family. Like most poor people, I have applied for the test and luckily passed because it was the one with the biggest salary. I never would have thought that after three months of service, I would be part of such an expedition. I could not reject the high rewards for this expedition so I joined. There are others who are not just as young..."
"For the sake of your family, eh? What a commendable young lad! Can I ask for your name?" The old man praised him.
"I'm Samuel Penn." The blue-haired young man introduced.
=====
Similarly, the newly promoted captain's were also feeling pressure and fear.
"What is this?! I thought we were only dealing with one person?! Then, why are there a few hundred auras more?!" The young Kyle spoke in terror.
Lucas, Brandon's right-hand man, questioned the prior situational reports, "Was the report mistaken about the amount?! Most are at the peak of Origin Palace Realm! There are quite a number that are at least at the Mortal Severing Realm. What's more there are three auras at the peak of Mortal Severing! Hm...? No way?!"
"A Half-Saint!!!" Deracs exclaimed in an aloud voice! He would have never expected that their very first expedition was against a half-saint!
"Is this really a Half-Saint? It might not be... This is slightly similar to the aura of my father who's in the Mortal Severing Realm albeit, more stronger! It seems to have another mysterious aura infused in it. The pressure might be the result of the Malevolent Magnate's Soul Avatar!" Brandon speculated.
=====
Brandon grew up in sophistication and was always expected to be a noble knight. He had been tutored by learned scholars and trained by cultivator experts.
As someone who grew desiring power, he always asked his mentors about the power of the legendary Half Saints who are said to be only a step far from immortality
He also asks his father who sits at the peak of Mortal Severing what it was like to be that powerful.
However, his father would always modestly reply, "There is always a mountain higher than the peak you have reached. Such is the path of all cultivators. Never be satisfied with mediocrity and always strive to improve yourself through training. That is the only way to be strong! Or at the very least, that is the path I followed!"
But the boy has already been twisted by the expectations of his relatives that "he must be a noble knight", that "you are special unlike those peasants and they need to respect you" or "that he must strive to be the strongest like your father ".
So he thought, 'To become the strongest, I must surpass my father! I must become the strongest for I am a noble!'
That was the start of his unrelenting journey to become the strongest as he trained 24/7. He kept his father's teachings in mind that you can only be stronger through daily training.
The pressure from his relatives became the fuel that helped become stronger at a faster rate compared to his peers but it also made his mind become more twisted than others!
=====
" But that means the Malevolent Magnate is at least at the same level as a "Duke" if he was able to form a Soul Avatar?!" Deracs stuttered in fear.
"This will make this expedition more worthwhile! HAHAHA! Men, let's follow the vanguard's lead!" Brandon laughed wildly as he sped up the horse he was riding on! His frightened troops wanted to run away but...
"That's Brandon for ya'! Let's go, men! Hee-haw!" Kyle also followed behind.
"His bravery and determination knows no bounds. As expected of the man I admire! Advance, my fellow soldiers!" Lucas also trailed closely to Brandon's pace.
Seeing the advancement of the newly assigned captains, the other captains both new and old followed suit.
The soldiers who wanted to retreat had no choice but to follow the actions and the orders of their superior!
"Ah, shit! Screw it! I'll just fight with all I got!" A hot-blooded young man who considered retreating followed his captain's advance and charged forwards!
"If I'm going to die, I might as well die valiantly for the city!" Similarly, a huge veteran knight also spoke passionately as he advanced.
"If I were to retreat, I would be dismissed and my family would suffer. Fuck it! I'll just have to survive!" A man who seemed to have a family also joined the charge!
Like this, the diminished morale of the army has returned to its normalcy. They advanced with bravery.
"FOR SOARING CLOUD!!"
=====
Back to the present...
After Paulson made the announcement, the army charged in accordance to the order that was relayed to them.
There were approximately twenty thousand soldiers that participated in this expedition. Following the plan of dividing the army to the ratio of 30-70, the army split into two fronts with six thousand heading for Kaiden and Victoria while the other fourteen thousand attacked Yumi.
When they approached, the captains saw the undead army emerging from the ground!
"Skeletons?! Rotting Corpses?! We're fighting those?!" Kyle was dumbfounded. It was the first time he ever saw undead in his life. It was normal for the living to be repulsed by paranormal entities like undead.
"!!!"
It was not only him. Majority of the soldiers were pale white from the shock!
Seeing the skeletons who were glowing with ominous dark-green light and the worms digging through the rotting flesh of the corpses sent chills down to their spines.
"Even if we were informed beforehand that the opponent is a Malevolent Magnate with a Soul Avatar capable of Necromancy before arriving, this still looks disturbing..." Descar said while observing the undead.
"It's fine. We're over twenty thousand! They're only around a hundred. This will be a cinch!" Kyle noticed and confidently declared.
But it was not only him who noticed.
=====
Yumi, who was the controller of the undead, poured more Innate Energy into Hell Puppeteer.
She had an annoyed look on her face, and spoke softly "Being unable to move is a bother but..."
She turned towards Kaiden who will also be attacked by the army, "Losing my long-awaited knight will make me go insane again! Army of Madness!"
*Pssw* *Pssw* *Pssw*....
Indiscriminately, the threads from Hell Puppeteer spread through all directions and dug itself to the ground.
In mere seconds, hundreds, no, thousands of corpses from man and beast arose! All of which had a thin thread stuck onto their heads, glimmering with subtle lights.
The strength varied but every single one of them had the strength of at least Origin Palace Realm!
There were over ten thousand thousand new corpses: a tenth of which were humans while the rest were once beasts!
Even the sizes varied: some were as tall as mountains while most barely reached the knee of a human.
The monsters that made up at least a third of the forces were Large Monstrous Rats. They were five times bigger than a normal rat but they were stronger and even faster despite their bigger size. A single Large Monstrous Rat can be managed by one-two cultivators but three thousand? They would need at least ten thousand troops to pin them down.
Not only that, there were also other beasts that were far stronger individually!
Their threats may be lower than the army of Large Monstrous Rats but they were still significant enough that if one of them were to enter the city, there would be chaos!
"Numbers against a Necromancer?! Kyahaha, you're severely underestimating me!" Yumi laughed triumphantly.
Army of Madness. A technique that will control all available corpses around the user provided that they are weaker than It gives her an unbelievable amount of troops depending on the amount of reserves she had. His current limit is around ten thousand troops!
However, it came with a great price. In order to summon over ten thousand troops, she was stripped of the freedom to move. It gave her vulnerability from surprise attacks and long-range attacks.
Additionally, the orders that she could issue to the undead also have to be simple and specific or else they might deviate from her orders. This is why she would seldom use the Army of Darkness. Although this weakness is only known by her and her master...
After summoning undead, she immediately ordered, "Army of Madness, destroy the army of humans in front of you!"
The army of three thousand Large Monstrous Rats were positioned to defend Kaiden's Position while the rest of the undead humans and beasts were allowed to rampage through the army!
======
All throughout the army, waves of reactions varied as some were shocked, scared and pressured from the sudden increase in numbers of the opposing force.
It made them hesitate to go forward and caused the decrease in the army's speed.
"What just happened? How come the undead multiplied exponentially like this?!" Samuel, a young soldier of the army, stared in shock at the gruesome army ahead of him
"Shit! Me and my big mouth!" Kyle, a newly assigned captain of a thousand soldiers, said in fear because he thought he caused the army bad karma.
"A necromancer who can summon ten thousand minions?! How come we have not heard of such a terrifying being?!" The Army Commander, Michael Paulson, gritted his teeth in frustration.
On the side of the army who was assigned to pressure Yumi...
There was one person who did not falter and decreased his charging speed. It was Brandon Schwer! He did not falter as his eyes were filled with excitement and fervor.
He unsheathed his sword and thrusted his sword forwards, "With this battle, I shall carve my first epic! Soaring Cloud Sword Art, Second Move: Piercing Clouds!"
*BOOM!*
A concentrated mass of his Innate Energy was imbued into his sword and with his thrust, an explosion of energy occurred!
The undead in front of him were all blown away! Like puncturing a cluster of clouds, the attack caused a gaping hole in the ranks of the undead!
"This is merely my first step to become the strongest! Mere undead cannot make me falter! I will show the might of Soaring Cloud!" Brandon pompously stated.
He did not stop at creating a mere opening in the formation of the undead. He bravely moved forward and broke through the enemy's ranks.
Like how he blew away his enemy, he also blew away his troops' hesitation. His valorous figure gave them back their courage and charged with all of their strength!
"Follow the young master!"
"We will smash these undead!"
"I (We) got your back, Brandon!" Similarly, Kyle and Lucas who were also assigned to this army followed Brandon's back like they always do!
"It's time to cause a riot! HAHAHA!" As crazy as he was, Kyle jumped off his horse once he reached the frontlines and revealed his giant ax which was bigger than him. He held it with one hand and swung it vertically, "Ground Splitter!"
*BOOM* *CRACK*
The attack created a ten meter long fissure and damaged all the zombies in his path!
After quickly regaining his balance, he entered another stance and attacked with his giant axe horizontally, "Forest Clearing!"
More than twenty undead were cut down by that one attack. He was also able to decimate the undead! With a joy-filled smile, he ordered, "Men, smash their rotting ass!"
"Yes, sir!" The men behind him vigorously charged and fought the undeads!
Lucas also displayed great power as he used a spear to sweep through undead!
His spear thrusts were like a snake and bit through all of the undead that he passed by, "Serpent's Nest!"
"Men, follow my lead!" Lucas raised his spear as he rallied his men to a systematic charge!
"For the glory of Soaring Cloud!" The soldiers shouted as they advanced!
The other captains went with the current flow of the battle and joined the trio's advance. Together with their men, they collided with undead and fought valiantly.
The collective momentum of the army was able to push back the undead and trample their frontlines.
As they fought, the soldiers gained more confidence.
"To think that fighting them would be this easy!"
"Their bones and flesh are already rotting and they can't defend using Innate Energy since they're dead. Slicing them is as easy as slicing bread. I have already sliced about a dozen of them!"
"We were scared of them for nothing! Let's finish them! HAHAHA"
However, their opinions would soon change once they heard simultaneous cries all over the battlefield!
"ARGGHHH! This is impossible!"
"NOOOO! I sliced you in half!"
"HOW ARE THEY STILL MOVING WITHOUT THEIR HEADS!?"
The undead that they easily suppressed kept getting back up despite their limbs and heads cut off. The soldiers who thought they would no longer were caught off guard and got their lives taken! The soldiers were shaken by this sudden turn of events.
"How is this possible?!"
"Are they unkillable?!"
"So, that's why they are called undead?!"
Similar incidents kept happening throughout the battlefield. Undead are beings that are no longer mortal! They don't feel fatigue and emotions. They aren't pressured nor afraid of their enemies. They would just faithfully do the orders that were given to them.
This is the power of the undead army!