Chapter 34: The Necromancer (Part 4)
"Vanguard, charge through! Don't slow down! Don't get caught up in the fight! Charge through!"
Hermann Green shouted at the top of his lungs while fiercely spurring his horse. The warhorse neighed, rearing up on its hind legs before slamming its hooves down, crushing a skeletal figure that had attempted to pull Hermann off his mount into a pile of broken bones.
Although Charlotte was the nominal commander of this battle, her riding and swordsmanship skills didn't allow her to lead the charge. As a result, once the battle began, the true frontline commander became Hermann Green, whose combat prowess and experience were more than sufficient.
Originally, Charlotte's plan had been to execute a two-pronged flanking maneuver to quickly establish a semicircular blockade, ensuring that the necromancer would be trapped within the coastal area centered around Cowbell Village and Herring Village.
Now, however, the two-pronged flanking had been reduced to a single flanking maneuver, which put the knights' execution speed to the test. They had to charge through Cowbell Village, which was already alerted by the undead horde, and establish the blockade line.
Hermann Green had intended to lead the vanguard knights himself, but someone proved even more daring than him.
Celine Adkins was like a silver star. The moment Hermann gave the order to charge without stopping, she galloped into Cowbell Village.
The number of zombies in Cowbell Village was not as few as Charlotte had anticipated. Regba Dando had left a portion of the zombies in the rear, partly because controlling too many zombies at once would place a heavy mental burden on the necromancer, and partly out of caution, wanting to keep some zombies nearby to protect himself.
The moment Celine Adkins charged into Cowbell Village, the zombies instinctively lunged at her, trying to bite and tear her apart. With one hand gripping the reins, guiding her horse through the horde, Celine wielded a massive sword in the other.
The sword was 1.7 meters long and weighed over ten kilograms.
With such a weapon, it didn't matter whether she slashed or hacked. Even a casual strike with the flat of the blade was enough to shatter the bones of the zombies.
Moreover, Celine had trained in martial arts since childhood. The heavy greatsword in her hands danced like a silver ribbon, flowing effortlessly, like a winter wind carrying frost and snow, cutting down everything in its path.
The will controlling the zombies seemed unwilling to accept the sight of Celine single-handedly tearing through the horde. A fierce zombie leaped down from a rooftop, attempting to drag Celine off her horse. But Celine, as if she had eyes on the back of her head, released the reins with her left hand, reached out, and caught the zombie by its belt mid-air.
However, no sooner had one wave subsided than another arose.
Zombies began leaping down from rooftops like a tide, seemingly trying to overwhelm Celine. These zombies appeared to have been strong, healthy men in life, and in death, they had become even more agile and ferocious, like savage beasts.
Celine decisively abandoned her horse, dodging the zombies that lunged at her in quick succession. After landing, she raised the zombie in her left hand like a shield, and a pair of brownish light wings appeared behind her. From beneath her silver visor, a low roar, like that of a tiger, erupted. Then, Celine transformed into a bowstring releasing an immense burst of energy, colliding head-on with the zombies. In this straightforward contest of strength, the side with greater numbers unexpectedly found itself at a clear disadvantage.
Celine alone pushed several zombies back until they were pinned against the earthen wall of a village hut.
"Hah…"
Another low roar.
Celine's muscles tensed as she exerted force once more, and the single wing behind her shone even brighter.
Crack…
A sickening sound of bones breaking echoed.
Then, with a crash, the earthen wall was pushed down by Celine, and the poorly supported hut collapsed. The zombies were buried under the rubble, while Celine nimbly avoided the falling debris, remounted her horse, and continued her charge.
Costa, who had been following closely behind Celine and witnessed the scene up close, couldn't help but remark to Adams beside him, "That brat seems unusually fired up today."
Adams, watching the unstoppable silver figure ahead, also clicked his tongue. "It's probably her first time on the battlefield, so she's a bit excited."
Meanwhile, Charlotte was discussing Celine with Ed Adkins. "Your daughter doesn't seem to have trained in the swordsman faction of the Royal Griffin Knights."
"That's correct. Celine trained in the Kanoba faction of the tribal shamans. I have a friend who once lived in the tribal alliance…"
Ed Adkins began spinning a tale of "a friend."
The truth was, Celine had shown exceptional martial talent and extraordinary potential from a young age, and she had always dreamed of becoming a knight. Unable to bear the thought of her dream being crushed before it even began, and lacking the funds to prepare an awakening ceremony for her, Ed Adkins had resorted to a less-than-honorable solution secretly trading with the tribes.
One winter, he exchanged salt and grain with a struggling tribe for an awakening ceremony.
On the surface, this was highly taboo. After all, after years of bloody conflict with the tribes, the knights and people of Lanwan Viscounty would have preferred to see the tribes starve to death in the mountains. However, Ed Adkins had always been diligent and dutiful in his battles against the tribes, so even if people knew the truth, they chose to turn a blind eye.
Ed Adkins secretly wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. This crude lie probably wouldn't fool Charlotte, and he wasn't sure how tolerant the new lord would be of dealings with the tribes.
"Kanoba, huh…"
Fortunately, Charlotte simply nodded, showing no intention of pursuing the matter further.
Charlotte had heard of Kanoba shamans before.
"Kanoba" was a tribal word referring to beasts of prey, raptors, or used as an adjective to describe bravery, ferocity, and fierceness. Like the swordsman faction of the Royal Griffin Knights, the Kanoba shaman faction also enhanced the physical abilities of its practitioners. However, unlike the Royal Griffin Knights' faction, the Kanoba faction's enhancements were unstable. The effectiveness of the enhancement largely depended on the shaman's fighting spirit.
When a Kanoba shaman displayed strong combat desire, fearless courage, and unwavering determination in battle, the faction's enhancement would skyrocket. However, if the shaman showed hesitation, indecision, or even fear, the enhancement would quickly diminish, sometimes almost disappearing entirely.
In the Orlan Empire, such instability was generally seen as a flaw.
Why was the swordsman faction of the Royal Griffin Knights so popular, to the point of becoming a "common faction"? Because it was stable and reliable. If it promised a strength enhancement, it delivered, even if the shaman was scared out of their wits. They could still use their abilities to become a powerhouse.
If soldiers turned into weaklings the moment they felt fear, how could they fight on the battlefield? That was the Orlan Empire's way of thinking.
But the tribes seemed to have a different perspective…
Charlotte glanced curiously in Celine's direction. This was the first time she had seen a Kanoba shaman in action.
When Celine activated her abilities, her speed, strength, explosiveness, and reaction time all seemed to receive a significant boost. The tribes seemed to have sacrificed some stability in exchange for greater potential.
This choice undoubtedly made the strong even stronger, while the weak would die even faster.
Charlotte found it hard to judge whether this choice was good or bad. It simply aligned with the survival philosophy of the tribes.
Under Celine's leadership, the vanguard swiftly and decisively cut through Cowbell Village. But the knights didn't stop there. They began repeatedly charging into the zombie horde, not to kill as many zombies as possible these zombies could still move after being slashed a few times and were hard to kill outright but to force the horde to retreat.
Would zombies retreat?
In theory, zombies had no emotions, felt no fear, and wouldn't try to flee, so they shouldn't retreat.
But reality wasn't so simple.
When a necromancer commanded a zombie army, they didn't directly control every single zombie. The command structure was pyramidal, with multiple layers. Each layer had several nodes, and each node controlled several zombies. This structure maximized the necromancer's mental efficiency.
When a command node was severely damaged or about to be destroyed, the necromancer would sever the mental connection with that node. This was to protect the necromancer's mind, preventing the accumulation of traumatic memories that could affect their sanity.
When a node was lost, the lowest-level zombies would instinctively move toward a higher-level node. This design ensured that the zombies remained combat-effective on the battlefield, preventing the loss of a node from causing a group of zombies to become uncontrollable. It also allowed the necromancer to concentrate forces to protect higher-level nodes and quickly regroup zombies after a battle for deployment in the next engagement.
This was undoubtedly an excellent battlefield mechanism. But based on this, Lillith proposed a feasible plan have the knights repeatedly charge into the zombie horde. If the necromancer lacked battlefield experience, they would likely feel intimidated by the sight of heavily armored knights charging at them and temporarily sever connections with some nodes. By observing where the leaderless zombies gathered, Charlotte could roughly deduce the necromancer's hiding spot.
If the necromancer was successfully trapped in the narrow coastal area between Cowbell Village and Herring Village, the battle would inevitably erupt near their location. In such a scenario, the necromancer wouldn't need a multi-layered command structure. When the first layer of nodes was temporarily lost, the zombies would likely gather toward the necromancer's position.
Although the zombies showed little sign of retreating despite the repeated charges clearly, the necromancer quickly reconnected the nodes after each temporary disconnection Ed Adkins, with his sharp eyes and extensive battlefield experience, still gleaned some information.
"They're retreating in that direction!" Ed Adkins pointed to a small hill several hundred meters away.
Charlotte looked over. The hill appeared empty, but she didn't hesitate. With a wave of her hand, she ordered, "Charge!"
The remaining twenty or so knights beside Charlotte abruptly charged toward the seemingly empty hill.
After the initial shock and panic, Regba Dando gradually calmed down. He ordered the zombies attacking the castle to retreat and methodically manipulated the zombies he had left in the rear to engage the cavalry. As long as he could tie down these knights, once the main force arrived, he could drown them in a sea of corpses.
Although the knights' initial charge had caused some trouble for Regba, he wasn't worried. No matter how brave these knights were, their horses were still flesh and blood. After a few charges, the horses would tire, and the knights would be unable to escape.
The battle seemed to be unfolding as Regba had predicted. After the knights "aimlessly" charged into the zombie horde a few times, their horses slowed, gradually becoming mired in the swamp of undead, unable to move.
"I told you, I'm a genius at commanding wars. If those fools in the council had appointed me as a general, the war between Feidi and Delmo would have ended in Feidi's victory long ago…"
Regba Dando lay on the reverse slope of the hill, muttering to himself as he controlled the battle in the village.
However, he failed to notice that a squad of knights, who had been standing by and observing, suddenly charged in his direction.
When Regba saw through a zombie's eyes that a group of knights had inexplicably moved away from the battlefield, he felt a pang of suspicion. When he noticed that the direction they were heading in led to a small hill that felt oddly familiar, he suddenly realized the danger.
By then, the charging knights were almost upon him.
"Quick, save me! Get me out of here!"
A monster with a human head, four legs, and four arms, standing beside Regba, hoisted him up and fled down the hill, moving as fast as a galloping horse.
The monster's bluish-purple face still bore traces of the first man Regba had killed. This creature was one of Regba's masterpieces, created using his corpse-controlling abilities.
In truth, corpse control didn't require verbal commands, but in his panic, Regba couldn't help but shout, just as he had when trapped beneath the slippery stone wall.
By the time Charlotte and the twenty or so knights reached the top of the hill, the reverse slope was empty. Charlotte couldn't help but feel a pang of regret. Heavy cavalry was simply too slow, requiring a gradual buildup of speed before reaching full charge.
Standing on the hill, Charlotte looked out at the sea, the cape extending into the water, the silent Herring Village on the cape, and…
A strange, half-human figure frantically fleeing into Herring Village.
A faint smile appeared on Charlotte's lips as she slowly clenched her right fist, as if she could crush the figure in her grasp.
"I've got you now, unwelcome guest."
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