Chapter 62: Nevirthol – (2)
(I)
– KYAAAAAAAGH!!
“That….”
Saint Marina Bergard froze as she gazed at the monstrous being soaring through the night sky.
A thousand years had passed, yet her memories remained vivid.
That night when they sealed Elzerba, when that Undead Dragon effortlessly slaughtered her comrades.
Comrades who had been so strong, yet were torn apart without even a chance to resist.
-KYAAAAAAAGH!!
“….”
The worst, most fearsome undead in Elzerba’s arsenal had appeared before her eyes once again after a thousand years.
The very sight of that nightmare-inducing creature made Marina’s fingertips tremble.
“H-Hey….”
“Y-Yes?! Y-Yes, Saint! What is it?!”
She grabbed one of the Nevirthol soldiers beside her.
The soldier, whose mind had gone blank at the sight of the Undead Dragon, snapped back to his senses only after Marina called him.
The Saint of Serion hurriedly asked him,
“Are there no anti-air weapons here? Anything to counter that thing?”
“A-Anti-air weapons, you say? The ballistae and aerial support from the mages are all we have….”
The soldier answered hesitantly.
There were not many anti-air weapons in Nevirthol.
The fortress had been built primarily to defend against demonic invasions, and demons rarely attacked from the skies.
As a result, Nevirthol’s defensive systems had always been ground-focused.
Besides, most airborne monsters that approached were instantly vaporized upon contact with the Divine Barrier.
Because of that, Nevirthol had never invested heavily in anti-air defenses.
Of course, that did not mean the existing defenses were weak.
The giant ballistae installed across the fortress and the mages’ fire spells were still formidable anti-air weapons.
Any ordinary foe struck by them would be blown to pieces instantly.
…The problem was simply that their current enemy was too powerful.
“Damn it….”
Marina scowled.
There was no way Nevirthol’s ballistae and fire spells alone could take down that Undead Dragon.
At this rate, they would lose control of the skies, and the soldiers on the ground would be slaughtered without a chance to fight back.
She had to find a solution.
“…Should I use that?”
She hesitated.
The Holy Artifact they had developed after a thousand years of effort.
It was fundamentally different from any holy magic that had existed before.
If anything could stop that Undead Dragon, it was this.
“I wanted to save it for later….”
She had planned to reserve it for Elzerba.
But this was no time to hesitate.
If they waited too long, the army inside Nevirthol would be annihilated before Elzerba even broke through the gates.
“…Isabella.”
“Yes, Saint.”
At last, she spoke in a solemn voice and turned to Isabella, the Chief Saintess, who had been standing by.
“…Bring me the Hour of Purification. Immediately.”
***
(II)
“Fire! Fire everything!!”
“Mages! Unleash your fire magic!”
“KIIIIIEEEEK!!”
Under the radiant glow of the moonlight, the battlefield was a chaotic symphony of terrifying screams, war cries, and the sound of steel clashing.
“….”
My Undead Army, determined to breach the towering fortress walls, and the soldiers of Nevirthol, desperately trying to hold them back.
This was the final fortress.
If this place fell, and if the Prime Minister inside was captured, the Avilia Kingdom would be as good as destroyed.
That was why these humans were burning their lives away, throwing themselves against my Skeleton Soldiers in a futile attempt to stop them.
“Fire arrows! Fire arrooows!!”
“Shoot everything!!”
“KIIIIEEEEEK!!”
Flaming arrows rained down, embedding themselves between the ranks of the Skeleton Soldiers.
Some of them immediately caught fire, turning into blazing skeletal warriors.
It was true—against monsters, especially undead, fire arrows were an excellent choice.
For undead, fire was their greatest weakness.
…But what if these were not ordinary undead?
What if these were the undead of a Necromancer?
No—what if they were the undead of the Necromancer Lord?
“Captain! They’re not going down, even when they catch fire!”
“Damn it! What are these things made of?!”
“**Alright, fine! Focus on just one of them! That one—the one in blue armor!”
“Understood!”
Panicking, the humans changed tactics.
They decided to target a single skeleton—one that stood out due to its blue armor.
If they could take down just one, it would boost their morale.
“Fire!!”
“Pour everything into it! Kill it!!”
“KIIIIIEEEEEK!!”
Dozens—hundreds of fire arrows and fire bombs struck the blue-armored Skeleton Soldier.
Even an elite skeleton could not withstand the chain explosions caused by the flaming projectiles.
“W-We did it!!”
“It fell! It’s down!!”
…In the end, it crumbled into a pile of bones.
The humans atop the fortress walls cheered, embracing each other in joy.
To them, this was hope.
“Damn you, Progenitor Vampire! Just you wait!!”
“We’ll make you suffer the same fate!!”
Fueled by newfound confidence, they turned their taunts toward me.
Under normal circumstances, their words should have angered me.
But instead, I simply smiled.
“W-Wait, hold on… that thing…”
“Is it… moving?”
“Impossible… it was completely shattered!”
The Skeleton Soldier that had collapsed under the relentless bombardment of the humans began twitching and rising back to its feet.
“Th-This can’t be….”
“That’s… impossible….”
“…Fools.”
There is nothing more cruel than granting hope only to snatch it away.
I smirked, watching the humans’ faces twist into expressions of twice the despair they had before.
“Go ahead. Attack for a hundred, a thousand years if you want.”
The undead under the Necromancer Lord will only fall if you kill me or sever the magical energy that sustains them.
No matter how many tens, hundreds, or thousands of fire arrows and fire spells the humans rained down, as long as I lived, my Skeleton Soldiers would keep rising.
Besides, this was a battlefield.
A place where bodies continuously piled up.
“Wh-What the hell?!”
“Skeletons… they’re rising from the ground?!”
“Hmph….”
Even if, by some unbelievable method, they managed to destroy a Skeleton Soldier, my army would only multiply in proportion to the number of corpses left on the field.
The more enemies they killed, the more the gap widened.
A necromancer is a mage who crushes their foes with an overwhelming tide of the dead.
-KIIIIIEEEEK!!
“Ugh?! It’s the Undead Dragon! Take cover!!”
-KRAAAAAAAGH!!
-“A-AAAHHHH!!”
-“S-Save meeeeee!!”
And just then, Kelrathus, which had been waiting for the right moment, swooped down and swept away an entire section of soldiers atop the walls.
For the humans, there was now nothing left but despair.
“A… a monster….”
“How… how are we supposed to fight these things…?”
“M-Mother… ugh… uuurk…!!”
Some stood paralyzed, their will to fight completely shattered.
I savored their screams of despair and agony as they pierced the air.
What a beautiful sound.
…But still, it was far from enough.
“Good.”
The warm-up was over.
It was time to break through Nevirthol’s interior.
I turned to the one who had been standing by my side.
“Tina.”
“Yes, Master.”
The Zombie Maid responded in her usual calm and obedient tone.
But the twitching at the corners of her lips revealed her excitement.
She was ecstatic at the massacre unfolding before her.
I gave her a single command.
“Destroy the gate. Go and clear your master’s path.”
“…As you wish, Master. Nothing shall stand in your way.”
Upon receiving her order, Tina gave a small nod and dismounted from her phantom steed.
Then, she dashed toward Nevirthol’s gates at lightning speed.
“Your Eminence… can Tina really open the gate by herself…?”
“Yes, she can.”
Arbelion Lwaiar, the Vampire King, watched Tina’s retreating figure with concern.
I nodded without hesitation.
“She absolutely can.”
Indeed, Nevirthol’s steel gates were far thicker and stronger than any other city’s.
If not opened from within, they would remain impenetrable.
However, there was nothing Tina’s greatsword could not cut through.
She was Elzerba’s Blade.
For her master, she would tear down those gates—no matter what.
“Th-There! The Zombie Maid is moving!!”
“Damn it! She’s heading for the gates! Everyone, fire the flaming arrows!”
The humans, realizing Tina’s intent, hurriedly launched fire arrows in her direction.
But their pathetic aim was useless against her speed.
By the time they loosed their arrows, Tina had already passed, leaving the flaming projectiles to harmlessly embed themselves in the dirt.
“….”
Calmly, Tina reached the front of Nevirthol’s gates and drew the greatsword from her back.
“Hmph…!!”
Then, she swung it in a wide arc.
A crescent-shaped shockwave blasted forth, slamming into Nevirthol’s steel gates.
What followed was a thunderous explosion, and thick smoke that completely obscured the scene.
“Wh-What?! What just happened?!”
“Cough, cough! What the hell did she do?!”
The humans desperately waved away the dust, trying to grasp what had just occurred.
And when the smoke finally cleared, what they saw was—
“Th-This… this can’t be happening….”
“The gate… the gate is…?!”
—the shattered remains of Nevirthol’s gates.
“THE GATES HAVE FALLEN!!!”
“RETREAT!! RETREAT IMMEDIATELY!!”
“GET TO THE SECOND WALL! NOWWW!!”
With the gates breached, they knew their lives were as good as over.
The humans let out panicked screams and fled from the first wall, retreating deeper into the fortress.
But in their frantic escape, they tripped over one another, creating even more casualties in the process.
“…What a sight.”
I smiled as I watched Nevirthol’s soldiers stumble and fall.
It was a scene more entertaining than any movie, play, or drama.
“Now then….”
The gates were down.
If Nevirthol’s first gate, the thickest of them all, had been destroyed so easily, then the remaining six walls would be no challenge.
The moment to face Lilianel was fast approaching.
“…Advance.”
I raised a finger and pointed toward the ruined gates.
With that, my undead army flooded into Nevirthol, pouring into the city like a black tide.
—
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