episode_0210

As I rode the zombie wyvern back to the city, I nodded after seeing the other two zombie wyverns in action.

The battle didn’t last long, but the goal I wanted in the first place, which was to kill time, was achieved very well.

Most of the internal organs of the zombie wyvern were replaced with flame sacs, but even so, the time for the zombie wyvern to emit its breath was short. Also, the skeleton mages above them were unable to continue the battle for a long time as they were firing black magic wildly.

However, it was a very difficult time to stop the advance of Viscount Tarr’s army.

The Viscount Tar army suffered great damage from the joint attack of zombie wyverns and skeleton mages, and it took a lot of time to recover. Considering that, it could be said that the purpose was achieved very well.

It was natural that it would take time to recover the bodies of the soldiers and knights who had been burned by the zombie wyvern’s breath and who had died from the black magic and various curses fired by the skeleton mages.

Even so, he was unable to do any damage to the zombie wyvern and was severely beaten on one side. In that situation, if he could not even retrieve the bodies of his comrades, the morale of the troops would only decline.

In war, the quality of the troops was important, but so was the morale of the troops. Mental strength does not solve everything, but it is an undeniable fact that it has a big impact.

So, even though it could not boost morale, we had no choice but to collect the body to prevent morale from falling. It was obvious that the process would take a day or two. Perhaps, at this time, I could have more time to prepare for the territory battle.

Anyway, having secured a few days, I decided to immediately prepare for the flood. It was necessary to reveal why Viscount Tar was using holy water for territory warfare, but right now, preparedness was more important.

Still, in Seongsu’s case, it was fortunate that it was easier to deal with than expected.

The reason the undead body is weak against sacred power is because sacred power has the property of interfering with the gathering of black magic. In particular, in the case of skeletons, the joints connecting the bones were replaced by dark magic, making them even more vulnerable to divine power.

Moreover, since it not only functions as a joint but also acts as a conduit for dark magic, it was difficult to restore a joint once cut by divine power. So, like this time, it disappeared in an instant.

But paradoxically, that is why the way to deal with it was simple.

“You just need to prevent divine power from hitting your joints directly.”

That is, putting on armor.

Since the weapon was imbued with holy power using holy water, all that was necessary was to prevent the weapon containing that holy power from reaching the black magic power of the joints.

Even if it was the divine power that priests exuded in the form of power, it was possible to use armor to artificially imbue weapons with divine power using holy water.

“Master… … .”

“Now that the greetings are done, I need to get all the production lines back together.”

“What would you like to make… … .”

“Armor made of erythronium. Put everything you can into production. First, I scrape up everything I have and use it.”

Also, making armor wasn’t that difficult for me.

Even this time, it was even simpler as all we had to do was simply wrap the skeletons’ bodies.

If it was an item to be used by humans, there were many things to consider, such as whether there would be any difficulty in movement, whether the skin would be chafed, or whether there would be any discomfort between the iron plates of the armor. However, if you use a skeleton, you don’t have to worry about all that.

Literally, all you had to do was move it somehow and make it work, and that was it.

Anyway, because it was made with such a simple and simple structure, armor exclusively for skeletons began to accumulate in quantity in an instant.

It was only natural that everything that had previously been used to make kitchenware, daily necessities, or weapons was put into the production of skeleton-specific armor. Normally, it would be a decision that could never be made due to expected losses, etc., but there was no reason to hesitate since the upper ranks could not come and go due to the Territory War.

As a result, by the time information came in that Viscount Tar’s army had completed all settlements and had begun to advance again, it was possible to arm over a thousand skeletons. About half of them, about 500, were skeleton knights.

There were about five hundred knight-level skeletons that could not die, let alone get tired. The strength of each knight may be higher in Viscount Tar’s army, but I could say that my side was superior in numbers.

If we had not prepared for the holy water, it would have been difficult to win even if we had more numbers, but now that we had prepared a simple plan to prepare for the holy water, it was actually harder to lose.

Therefore, in line with the movement of Viscount Tarr’s army, I decided to mobilize a large number of welcome crowds to meet them.

However, this time it was decided not to mobilize zombie wyverns. Although it was easy to win by mobilizing zombie wyverns, it was also problematic.

This is because the Viscount Tar army realized that they could not win against the zombie wyverns and could have retreated. To be exact, it was not Viscount Tarr’s army, but the troops supported by Marquis Kurid could have retreated.

It was not my wish for them to retreat intact and maintain their strength.

Anyway, to prevent them from finding the right time to retreat by engaging in a fierce battle with a large number of troops, a skeleton unit equipped with armor to prepare for the Holy Water advanced towards where Viscount Tarr’s army was located.

Of course, this time I didn’t step forward myself.

It is said that there is little danger when riding a zombie wyvern, but when a large number of undead directly encounter the enemy, like now, it could be very dangerous.

Because my goal in life was to live comfortably for hundreds of years without being envious of others, I had no intention of standing on the extremely dangerous battlefield.

Although it is said that it was a minister, it took steps to send a repeater skeleton and several skeleton mages so that they could understand the situation in real time.

Moreover, this time, Amy decided to help.

Unlike me, who had only experienced stampedes and hunted a few monsters, Amy could be said to be a veteran who had actually participated in war. With Amy by my side helping me, there was no need to stand on the battlefield.

“Andrew. First of all, you want to make sure the articles are dealt with, right?”

“That’s right. It would be nice to deal with the soldiers as well, but it’s not that important. You just need a certain amount of money and time to train soldiers anyway, but they are not knights. It takes money and time, but there is an area of talent.”

What was definitely reducing the Marquis of Kurid’s power was dealing with the knights. It is easy to replenish soldiers by any means, but it is not so for knights.

“Then it would be better to send some skeletons to the front and then send the main force to attack the flanks. The moment the knights step forward to respond, they cut off the waist and block the escape route. The place is… … . Yeah, this looks just right.”

“That one? Why there… … . Ah, I see. That’s the only way to get straight into the city from that direction, really.”

“It’s not just because there is this road. If you look this way, there is terrain good for an ambush. You wouldn’t know it when you’re just passing by, but if you go there yourself, aren’t there a lot of good places to hide?”

“A good place to hide? no… … How did you know that?”

I felt puzzled as Amy so readily presented terrain suitable for an ambush. I wondered if it was possible to understand the terrain just by looking at a map.

However, Amy did not understand the terrain just by looking at the map.

“Of course I know because I’ve been there. I felt like you relied too much on the undead to defend your territory, so I did some things myself, such as identifying useful terrain.”

I nodded as I saw Amy add, “I rode the skeleton horse you gave me and rode around the entire surrounding area.”

To be honest, even though Amy was the leader of a mercenary group, she didn’t actually do much. There were some things I had to pay attention to from time to time, but that didn’t mean I had to stick around all day.

Nevertheless, Amy was often away from her seat, and when I asked what she was doing during that time, she seemed to be taking stock of the surrounding terrain.

“Is there another place besides that?”

“Um… … . Here and here. ah! And it’s pretty good here too.”

“They are all major roads. Should we call this blessed terrain?”

“Specifically a blessing… … Probably not? There are places that are difficult for humans to ambush. In this case, the surrounding area is a toxic swamp. If a human just went in with his bare body, he would get poisoned and die within ten minutes?”

“Still, it’s good for me. Poison doesn’t work on skeletons anyway.”

Amy nodded as if that was the case and told us about how to set up an ambush.

The advice was to focus on things that are as visible as possible to attract attention from the front, and to ambush troops that will attack the flanks, to consist of things that are as small in size and can move quickly as possible.

“Then I have no choice but to use only skeletons made from goblins. Most of the weapons made this time are for Orc skeletons.”

“It’s a good place for an ambush, but it’s difficult to ambush someone with a large body here. It’s not that there are a lot of trees or anything, it’s just that we’re using the terrain.”

I nodded again as Amy seemed to be proactive, as if she was going to teach me things that are effective in using troops.

Even though it was easy to restore and not difficult to make, it was no good since the undead were also consumed. I planned to accept any advice that would help me win as efficiently as possible.

Anyway, after accepting Amy’s suggestion, I immediately started moving my troops.

Numerous skeletons ran at high speed, setting up an ambush before Viscount Tarr’s army arrived.

“It is also a good idea to have troops coming from the front wait in the rear and make it look like they have just arrived. When you see the enemy encamped, you become even more careful about ambushing.”

Of course, I also accepted the advice that Amy gave along the way. No matter how good the place was for an ambush, there was a high chance of getting caught if you carefully scouted and searched.

In some ways, it could have been a problem because the troops that could provide support if the ambush was discovered were too far away, but I didn’t pay much attention to it.

Since they are skeletons that can run at full power without rest, it is not difficult to support them, and it would only be good to underestimate them and rush at them.

Unfortunately, the ambush operation was neither successful nor a failure.

“… … What, why are they going there?”

Contrary to what we had expected to come this way, Viscount Tarr’s army was moving in a direction that Amy and I had not expected at all.

It wasn’t even about taking the easy route. It was passing through a muddy wetland that filled with water like a lake during the rainy season.

However, it was not a faster way to get to the city. Rather, it was a situation where the distance was longer.

The situation was so incomprehensible that I wondered if Viscount Tarr and the nobles supporting him had gone crazy.

However, the cause was surprisingly simple to figure out. It wasn’t me or Amy, it was Jienna who was just watching blankly.

“Boss. If we go all the way this way, isn’t it the elf area…? … ? And if you go up a little further, it’s an industrial district… … .”

Viscount Tar’s real goal was to target industrial districts filled with elf districts and major facilities.