The following afternoon, at the West Gate Tower of Baita City.
At the highest point of the city gate tower, twelve figures stood against the wind, facing west.
Isabella stood in the center, her golden robes fluttering slightly in the wind.
His gaze was fixed on the Morning Light Plain outside the West Gate, which was gradually being swallowed by gray and black.
Edmund and Suleiman stood on either side of her, their hands resting on the hilts of their swords.
The remaining six level 40 experts were scattered on both sides of the city wall.
Lin Feng stood slightly to the left and behind Isabella, with nine golden halos slowly swirling around him.
Jiang Zhaoyue and Jiang Yelan stood on either side of him, one gazing quietly into the distance, the other with her eyes fixed on the ranks below the city wall.
"Everyone's here, and the defenses are in place." Edmund gestured with his chin toward the city walls.
Isabella hummed in response, her gaze never wavering.
Looking around, the city walls and surrounding areas were filled with imposing military formations. Gray-robed crossbowmen and longbowmen lined up along the walls, their crossbows held level and their bows strung.
The halberdiers lined up at the base of the wall, while four thousand Dawn Crusaders guarded both sides of the main city gate at the west gate, their sword tips touching the ground, motionless.
Further away, 50,000 Awakened Ones and 20,000 Garrison Infantry stood in formation against the walls of the streets, their shields and spears gleaming coldly in the shadows.
Inside the reserve formation on the inner side of the city wall, a tense atmosphere was brewing beneath the surface.
A young archer is mechanically drawing arrows out of his quiver, inserting them, then drawing them out again, and inserting them again.
The veteran beside him stared at him for a moment, then asked in a low voice, "Why are your hands shaking? Are you nervous?"
"I'm not nervous." He didn't raise his head, and his voice was a little dry.
"Then why are you shaking?"
The archer took a deep breath and forcefully shoved the arrow back into his quiver: "It's windy... By the way, if we die, will our merit points be inherited?"
The veteran paused for a moment, then forced a bitter smile: "Yes."
“Alright,” the archer tightened his grip on his bow, “I’ll kill a few more later to build up some wealth for my son.”
"...How old is your son?"
"Not yet."
"Then who are you saving it for?"
The archer was silent for a moment: "Let's save them for now, just in case we need them later."
Just then, an almost imperceptible pale golden ripple appeared in the sky above White Tower City, and the Holy Light Canopy had been opened.
The halo was extremely thin and easily overlooked unless one looked closely.
But the archers standing on the city wall clearly felt that the bowstrings in their hands were being gently lifted by a soft force, the originally heavy tension was reduced, and the arrows became more and more stable and accurate in the dark.
Outside the West Gate, the stone bridge had long since collapsed, and the broken piers stood alone in the dry riverbed. The jagged, broken bridge surface resembled the fangs of a giant beast.
On the distant horizon, a gray-black tide is rising.
At first, it was just a very thin black line, as if someone had drawn a stroke with a pencil at the end of the world.
In an instant, the line began to widen and deepen rapidly, like thick ink dripping onto wet paper, spreading outwards at an astonishing speed.
The remaining greenery along the way retreated step by step in the face of this gray and black color, visibly shrinking and withering to both sides.
Isabella closed her eyes briefly, then opened them again, a hint of seriousness flashing in her eyes: "The undead army is approaching. In addition, about 600,000 skeletons are divided into 30 columns and are sweeping through the area within a hundred miles around White Tower City."
Villages, towns, farmland, and granaries were all within their routes.
Edmund frowned: "The residents within a 200-mile radius have all retreated into White Tower City. The villages and towns outside the city are basically empty now. Hopefully, the Skeleton Army's sweeping range will not exceed 200 miles."
Isabella didn't reply; her entire focus was on the ever-approaching gray-black wave.
"Defend the city walls first, then we'll talk about other things."
As the main force of the undead became clearer in the field of vision, the gray-white skeleton formation began to split up about ten miles from the city wall.
Two smaller groups broke away from the main force and moved south and north respectively.
An air commander in White Tower City suddenly waved his command flag, which unfurled in the wind, pointing south and north.
The signal was transmitted rapidly along the city wall, and the defenders at the south and north gates began to adjust their defenses. Archers moved to the sides, and reserves moved closer to the city wall. Their movements were not chaotic, but the pace was noticeably faster.
The main force of the undead outside the west gate suddenly stopped when they were three miles {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} away from the city wall.
The front row of skeleton soldiers was perfectly aligned, their shields lined up closely together, and their spears pointed diagonally forward, forming an indestructible gray-white shell.
Immediately afterwards, the powerful members of the undead race slowly rose into the air from the back of the formation.
The Undead King Hel Shadow was the first to appear. His tall, thin figure looked particularly lonely in the gray-white sunlight. Nine golden halos slowly rotated around him, radiating a suffocating sense of oppression.
The Lich King Sazar hovered about twenty meters behind him, his four halos slowly rotating, his cold gaze fixed on the city wall.
Immediately following, four figures of death lords emerged from the gray mist, while on the other side, four bone dragon kings unfurled their sky-covering wings, the terrifying air currents they stirred up causing the skeleton army formation below to sway slightly.
In the far sky behind them, ten liches, thirty bone dragons, and twenty high-ranking death knights spread out like a dark curtain, completely obscuring the sky above the gray tide.
They did not continue to advance, but hovered in mid-air three miles from the city wall, silent.
Her Shadow's gaze slowly swept across the city wall, not fast, as if he were examining a row of artifacts displayed in a museum.
His gaze swept over Isabella without lingering, and then over Edmund without a ripple.
However, when their gaze fell upon Lin Feng, the two silver flames dancing in his eye sockets flickered with an almost imperceptible frequency for a moment.
In just a moment.
He withdrew his gaze, his expression devoid of any extraneous detail, and then slowly descended, gesturing for Sazar to follow.
Sazar landed as instructed, following Hel Shadow to a height of about ten meters above the ground.
Hel Shadow raised his hand, and a semi-transparent gray light shield instantly enveloped the two of them.
Only two blurry silhouettes could be seen from the outside; all sound was completely cut off.
"The original plan remains unchanged, but we must immediately prepare to deploy the 'Death Rain Canopy'."
Her Shadow's voice rang out from inside the light barrier, calm and without the slightest fluctuation.
Sazar's body stiffened abruptly: "Your Majesty, 'The Rain of Death' is our ultimate trump card for attacking the Eternal City. With our current resource reserves, we can only deploy it three times, and each time it takes a full five days to recharge."
Hel Shadow didn't look at him, his gaze still fixed on the direction of White Tower City: "The strongest human who forced Saluk to withdraw from Antarctica has arrived in White Tower City. If we don't use 'Death Rain Curtain,' we basically won't be able to take this city."
He paused, his tone revealing a cold resolve: "It just so happens that the main force of the human race is concentrated here. As long as we wipe them out in one fell swoop, they will not be able to gather a force of the same scale again in a short period of time. This vacuum period is enough for us to take over at least three more city-level territories."
Sazar remained silent.
He took a deep look at the city shrouded in a pale golden halo, then bowed and turned to fly into the sky behind him.
On the city wall, Lin Feng slowly withdrew his gaze.
"That undead king just now seemed to have given you a special look."
Jiang Zhaoyue stood beside him, gripping the silver spear tightly in her backhand, her tone carrying an undisguised solemnity.
Lin Feng remained calm and said indifferently, "Yes, he recognized me."
Jiang Zhaoyue frowned slightly: "Recognized you? Is it because of the nine halos around you?"
“There must be other reasons.” Lin Feng’s gaze followed the Lich King who was retreating in the distance until it completely merged into the gray-black mist behind it before slowly moving away.
He exhaled a soft breath and said in a low voice, "It seems that the battle ahead will not be easy."
