Chapter 259 259: A Learning Experience
The moment the battle started in earnest, the strongest asset was the succubus and human group operating the huge trebuchet that flung countless rocks, stones and magic bombs into the huge horde, exploding with a violent surge of sharp rocks like a fragmentation grenade from video games due to the extreme force of the magic bombs.
"Aim! Do not fire pointless arrows! the neck, head and heart are key locations." Mildred held her black longbow, her legs spread as she knocked two fully drawn arrows bathed in a crackling blue light.
"Fire!" She released both arrows, one after the other, in quick succession, instantly striking through the throats of two zombie giants, causing an explosion inside their necks as they slumped down like puppets that had their strings cut.
The sight inspired the entire archery team that had been placed at Mildred's side for protection, with over three hundred arrows following hers in a grand volley.
Over sixty zombies died almost instantly under the focused barrage; however, even this number was simply a drop in the ocean as the tide approached in droves before them.
"Bring them down! The giants!" Mildred screamed as they prepared another volley."
In the distance, a massive white dome protected the southern rampart. However, the alarms were blaring furiously, and guards and soldiers were dashing off towards the centre. At this time, a golden light rippled around the walls protecting the ramparts, with Althea and Maria flying into battle, their bodies glowing golden.
The southern wall was where most of the supplies and goods were delivered or brought into the city, meaning it was the easiest wall to attack, and so the warriors standing at the wall and gates were the strongest of Alexander's team while he asked the two valkyries to protect it with their lives.
However, when the two valkyries revealed themselves, everyone within the southwestern wall felt relief; yet, simultaneously, Alexander knew how costly the power being used by the two was, and though their strength was vast, it was limited, and they both seemed far too excited.
That reason was that powerful magical beings still needed to rest and recharge their energy daily, and although these two could hold out longer than an ordinary human if pushed too far, they would be utterly exhausted in less than an hour.
Even then, Althea and Maria would fight until their last breath, especially since the walls weren't attacked daily, and they only had to activate this technique once a few weeks.
Within seconds of their appearance, a cacophony of shrieks emanated from the battlefield; every creature, monster and beast within the vast swathes of enemies suddenly became enraged... filled with bloodlust from their power... it seemed the horde and zombies were evolving to hate the element that caused them to suffer.
"Damn... they are more advanced in the north..." Alexander whispered as he stood on the wall, waiting for any Stage Seven's that tried to destroy the wall or gates in one fell swoop. The situation to the south was terrible; however, they still had Althea and Maria there to alleviate some of the pressure, whereas the northern, eastern and western walls did not have such advantages and had to handle it themselves.
Alexander waited for nearly an hour when two Stage Sevens abruptly appeared beneath the Western gate before him.
They resembled elephants without ears and had seven eyes on their face, with one huge eye in the centre; however, instead of having ivory tusks protruding forwards, two giant spiral-shaped tusks erupted from either side of their faces. These spiral-shaped tusks emitted a strange dark green colour with a hint of poison.
The Stage Seven Zombie Elephants seemed to hesitate upon reaching Alexander; their massive bodies trembled; their multiple eyes glowed redder and redder until their massive spiral-shaped tusks eventually exploded forwards like vicious drills, shaking the earth below.
Alexander smiled, stepping off the wall as his wings flapped, his body three metres from the walls as he drew both swords, facing the incoming elephant tusks. "Let's dance; I've wanted to test my strength anyway."
Roar!!! Alexander let loose a roaring war cry before exploding as twin azure flashes.
With a clash between him and the spiral tusks, an immense explosion rocked the ground below, sending the two Stage Seven Zombies Elephants blasting back with blood spraying from their eyes like crimson fountains.
They howled out in agony, standing up and lifting on their back feet as if to threaten Alexander, but he just sliced their underbellies with an unrelenting attack.
His swords glowed brighter and brighter until a pair of black and white sword lights tore through both Stage Seven Zombie Elephants before slicing open their chests to expose their black hearts... which Alexander promptly crushed within seconds of tearing through their thick chest muscles.
'A waste of effort...' Alexander thought coldly before jumping back onto the wall with a flap of his angelic white wings, his gaze sweeping towards the distant armies before stopping on the north wall, which was quiet... 'Looks like the north mutants aren't as ambitious.'
*****
After three hours, the southern rampart finally broke under the continuous waves of assault, with Althea and Maria already unconscious at Alexander's feet, and half of the guards were dead.
Or they might have broken if he didn't appear.
"Althea, Maria, get inside. You should learn from this and not use those powers until needed next time; I'll deal with this rabble."
Grasping his black sword and lowering his posture, Alexander's body began to glow with a silver light, the sheer power of his aura causing the corpses around him to shatter, turn into mince meat and their last bits of magic and essence flowing into his attack.
'I hope you are ready, Katrin, Venri.'
On the North rampart, a gigantic undead spider was staring hungrily at the southern ramparts that had fallen, its hundreds of red eyes beaming with killing intent; however, when it sensed something approaching behind it from the air, the Stage Six spider instinctively spun around and released four giant poison threads.
The Stage Six poison threads instantly swept across the field, destroying everything in their path, but Ayami was unharmed... her huge mace smashed into the spider's front legs, crushing it.
"Ayami, don't play!" A sudden barrage of ice spears shot from above the walls, Himari's beautiful face glowing as she channelled a volley of endless spears, bombarding the giant undead spider like a pincushion.
Ayami leapt backwards, unleashing a giant swing of her mace into the spider's upper left abdomen, blasting its core apart as its spider flesh fell lifelessly; however, in this short amount of time, numerous Stage Five zombie goblins holding polearms were climbing over the north rampart.
Their poleaxes pierced upwards, with several guards dying from the ambush.
It seemed that the merging of worlds Mc'Alister spoke about had already begun, and they were caught off guard.
Goblins?
Alexander gazed blankly at these Stage Five zombie goblins wearing pitch-black plate armour, a sickening sweet smell emanating from their rotted bodies, but he instantly understood the danger they presented as more than ten jumped upwards, killing five guards within mere seconds.
"Be careful! The goblins have their instincts and knowledge intact!" His blade sliced apart four of them while stabbing another with his white sword. Though unexpected, Alexander calmly dispatched them all, thanks to his superior speed, grace and strength.
From what Mc'Alister told him before he entered stasis and came to this world, creatures merged between realms could retain aspects of knowledge, instinct and perhaps habits... he'd never heard of undead goblins before and couldn't ascertain how well the humans and goblins fought in their previous world; however, he guessed since these Stage Five Zombie Goblins were able to jump, scale walls and wield weapons properly, they might pose more danger than zombie hordes.
"Alexander!!" Laura screamed from atop the west rampart as dozens more Stage Five Goblin Zombies began flooding over from the north ramparts, and they were strong!
Although the majority were Stage Five Goblins carrying halberds and poleaxes, they had thousands of normal Stage Three and Four Zombies backing them up, and although Stage Four was easily dispatchable by Alexander and others who survived his training.
Because of the numbers... there was a slight fatigue and lack of training or knowledge with this makeshift army, as the main force of succubi and warriors were not at the walls but at the inner wall that protected the city.
This was a training battle for both Alexanders' troops and Stella, who was controlling her elite unit of 200 to attack and support each wall, but her body was covered in sweat, and she was feeling her magic drain rapidly due to the intensity of combat.
Fighting in the wild was easy, but it was hell when you had something to defend... to protect with huge walls! Especially with commanders barking out orders constantly while controlling the soldiers from behind.
Stella hated to admit it, but Alexander was far superior to her as a commander, and in this regard, she may take months before surpassing his level because he also taught her how to lead effectively during training together as a large force... versus her own experiences in groups.
"Damn! There are just too many Stage Five Goblins...." Alexander knew the lacking areas of his troops and didn't want to carry them but to help them grow, but the goblins were far too advanced, so he flew into the air.
His swords snapped back into their sheaths as he lifted both arms and began to conjure his power quietly, each goblin now a blood mark appearing above their heads, as he summoned hundreds of small balls of magic.
Every goblin paused under Alexander's enormous pressure radiating around his hands, which gave him ample time to summon the first ball... it flickered and floated aimlessly, but once he connected its trajectory to a Stage Five Goblin, he threw it with tremendous force.
Boom!!!
When the orb hit a Goblin Stage Five Zombie, its armour cracked, with blood gushing everywhere as its skin burned instantly.
Before the surrounding goblins could recover, Alexander chucked ball after ball, his power instantly disintegrating them or piercing their skulls as if searching for their weak point... before long, none were alive.
At the South Rampart, Alexander returned to the walls to discover the enemy seemed to be retreating, as if they had an intelligent leader.... and this was just a test.
He couldn't strike the feeling he played into their hands, showing his power... and the enemy... somehow he felt it was that annoying skeleton lord... but he wasn't sure.
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