Chapter 208
Thud, thud, thud.
“Hurry up!”
“Standby squads, move to your positions!”
Stepping out of the commander’s office, Raul observed officers and knights moving busily. Walking through the corridor and exiting the building, the entire fortress seemed abuzz with soldiers rushing about.
However, Duke Hansley appeared unhurried. It seemed he was quite accustomed to this situation.
‘Could it be that the enemy has penetrated all the way to the Barrier?’
Raul couldn’t help but be puzzled. While the Barrier was constructed to fend off enemies and monsters invading through Corpse Road, it was more symbolic than functional as a gateway.
Simply put, it functioned as the final line of defense. The real defensive line lay beyond the Barrier. Corpse Road, spanning 1 km in width and hundreds of km in length, was an inhospitable wasteland teeming with monsters and undead.
The critical point was that Corpse Road had only two exits: one towards the Empire and the other towards the Kingdom Alliance’s Barrier. Hence, whenever a considerable number of monsters clustered together, they invariably headed for the Barrier.
Whether due to a lack of prey or seeking vitality, the reason remained unknown.
‘The problem is, once they cluster, their numbers and quality both change drastically.’
For undead armies, the more they congregated, the stronger their aura became, naturally bringing forth higher-tier undead. This created a vicious cycle where a legion-level undead group was nearly impossible to manage.
The same was true for monsters. Although they usually competed over territories, their numbers swelled and they formed a hierarchy, eventually becoming an army.
Having faced massive undead and monster waves numerous times in the early days of the Barrier’s construction, humanity changed their defense strategy.
Instead of defending the Barrier, they opted to advance proactively to prevent the formation of such legions. They learned from experience that this approach resulted in fewer casualties.
Thus, several large forward bases and numerous small temporary bases were established beyond the Barrier. The actual location for intercepting and defending against monsters was these forward bases.
So, the appearance of monsters this close to the Barrier meant….
“If it’s not too much trouble, may I ask a few questions?”
Seeing Raul’s curious expression, Duke Hansley gave a sly smile. By now, the Barrier’s command officers and knights had gathered around him.
“I can pretty much guess what you’re curious about. It won’t be too late to ask after experiencing it firsthand.”
They soon arrived at a location with the Barrier looming directly ahead.
‘Seeing it up close, it’s no joke.’
Although Raul was accustomed to modern high-rise apartments and buildings, the scale of the Barrier was on another level. Towering at 200m in height (the entrance to Corpse Road was higher than other parts of the Barrier) and made of some mysterious material, whether stone or metal was uncertain.
Interspersed within the Barrier were watchtowers and entrances like houses built into cliffs, various equipment with unknown purposes, and glowing magical circles adorning it, indicating it was far from a simple fortification.
“Let’s go up.”
When the party arrived, they saw several square-shaped rides lined up beneath the wall, where people could climb on. The rides, each measuring 5 meters in both width and length, resembled half-boxes with thin railings attached to their metal bases.
Clunk, clunk, clunk.
Following Duke Hansley, they mounted the rides, and once about twenty people had boarded, a slight glow appeared beneath their feet.
Vroom.
The ride then shot upward at incredible speed.
‘Wow.’
It seemed much faster than a high-speed elevator on Earth, as they reached the top of the wall in just about 20 seconds. Despite the speed, they felt no air resistance or pressure, likely due to the workings of ‘magic’.
Though one might wonder why they didn’t just use the short-distance teleportation circles like those utilized in mage towers.
‘Using spatial magic here would probably turn us into dimensional strays.’
The complex and varied mana flow from the wall itself seemed likely to distort any teleportation coordinates. Upon reaching the top of the wall using the ride, a sight very different from what Raul had seen so far greeted him.
Beyond the wall lay Corpse Road. A thick and dark fog that sent chills down the spine covered the entire path.
Although visibility was poor because of the fog, the ground looked as if it were stained with blood, and there were absolutely no signs of life for a considerable distance ahead—a true wasteland.
Looking slightly to the left or right, one could see that the ground ended in sheer darkness. There was an unfathomably deep cliff, a grand canyon, and beyond that, a steep mountain range soaring into the sky.
“How does it feel to see Corpse Road in person?” asked Duke Hansley.
“It’s like the scent of blood is thick in the air. It feels like a place where there’s no escape,” Raul replied.
“Exactly. It’s a cursed land that has devoured countless lives for decades, a place where avoiding frontal combat is impossible.”
Duke Hansley clicked his tongue, his eyes filled with an inscrutable anger.
“But why did the bell ring? There aren’t any visible enemies yet.”
“You’ll soon find out.”
From a defensive standpoint, it was a pity, but Corpse Road was not a perfectly straight path. The gently curving road to the left was blocked by a massive mountain range far ahead, hiding what lay beyond. If it weren’t for that, the nearest forward base, Alpha, would have been visible even from here.
Still, Raul could see nothing on Corpse Road extending to the mountain range. But soon, he sensed something unpleasant through his intuition.
‘Death energy?’
Flash!
About 500 meters ahead, a translucent blue barrier appeared with a burst of flame.
And then.
Roooooaaaarrr!
A strange sound, akin to souls wailing in a valley of screams, echoed through the canyon.
Rumble, rumble.
The ground shook as if an earthquake had struck, and something surged up from the underground. Simultaneously, things began to crawl up the cliff sides flanking Corpse Road.
Cre-eak, crack.
“Whoa.”
In the middle of Corpse Road, which had been empty until now, an undead army numbering over ten thousand had appeared.
Blare!
Ding, ding, ding, ding!
From atop the wall, a trumpeter blew a large horn to signal the appearance of the enemies, and an urgent bell rang from somewhere, heightening the tension.
“Our timing is perfect, Viscount Raul. This might be the largest scale we’ve seen in recent times,” said Duke Hansley, his voice betraying no tension as he observed the undead army.
‘Is this okay? The scale seems too large to laugh off…’
Though Raul had experienced several large-scale battles recently through civil and territorial wars, he couldn’t help but feel uneasy at the sight before him. Skeleton soldiers with not a scrap of flesh left on them.
Rotting corpse monsters called zombies. Ghouls that, though resembling living humans, were brimming with death energy. Cursed knights known as Dullahans, carrying their own heads in their arms.
And even death knights, the commanders of the undead army. Above the already tens of thousands of undead monsters, flying undead like ghosts and banshees were also appearing.
However, on the wall stood around 200 knights and 2000 archers and engineers. While not a small number, considering the wall’s width of over 50 meters, it felt sparse.
Squeak, clank!
Of course, the expansive wall was equipped with a generous number of siege weapons, so it didn’t seem poorly defended. Engineers had already loaded catapults and ballistae, waiting for the signal.
“Aren’t you curious?”
Duke Hansley asked Raul, who was silent.
“About what?”
“Why the forces here are so few, and where all the knights and soldiers have gone. Everyone who first faces the enemies from the wall asks that.”
Duke Hansley seemed curious about Raul’s response, but Raul, without much thought, stated the fact.
“It’s my first time here, but I’ve done some research on the wall. The soldiers not here are probably ‘inside’, right?”
“Not a very exciting answer, but I’ll give you points for being prepared.”
As mentioned before, the wall was 200 meters high. While long-range attacks were possible, it was too high to be a practical battlefield. Moreover, the undead were particularly resistant to projectiles, especially small, sharp objects like arrows.
This meant that sweeping away the undead with only long-range attacks was no easy task. Hence, there was a special device on the wall to address this.
“They’re coming!”
Boom, boom, boom, boom.
You might wonder why dead bodies would make such a stomping sound when they moved, but if those bodies included more than just human parts, it was understandable.
‘Quite a noisy bunch.’
The undead formation included zombies and ogres nearly 5 meters tall, skeletal minotaurs, and abominations made of stitched-together corpses. There were also blood golems made of blood and flesh golems made of repulsive flesh, indicating that enemy undead mages were likely numerous.
“Prepare to fire.”
“Prepare to fire!”
When Duke Hansley gave the indifferent order and the officers shouted it out loud, the archers drew their bows, and the engineers aimed their weapons.
“Fire.”
“Fire!”
Thud, boom! Swoosh!
At the command, thousands of archers simultaneously released their bowstrings, while the ballistae launched massive wooden bolts and the catapults hurled stones into the sky.
Crash!
Arrows fired from the 200-meter-high wall extended far beyond their original range, falling upon the heads of the advancing undead army. Showcasing the expertise of the elite troops stationed at the front-line wall, the archers formed precise shot groups.
Even though the undead were resistant to arrows, their heads were pierced by the powerful arrow rain bolstered by gravity, causing them to collapse one by one.
Boom!
Undead caught under the falling rocks and sweeping wooden beams suffered even more gruesome fates. Despite their already dead bodies, they were crushed beyond recognition or had their limbs torn apart and scattered.
Groooan.
Despite the downpour of ranged attacks, the undead army continued to move swiftly towards the wall. Losing their sense of fear, the undead troops didn’t even blink as their comrades fell beside them. Even if pierced by multiple arrows, they only kept marching unless struck in the head.
When the undead army finally closed within 200 meters of the wall:
“Stage one wall open.”
“Stage one open!”
Thud, thud, thud!
The wall vibrated minutely, as if it were roaring. When the vibration ceased:
“Fire!”
“Don’t let a single one approach!”
Swoosh! Thud!
Arrows began to rain down, this time not from the top of the wall but from its middle.
“Begin shooting to mana level 50%! Use anti-personnel magic!”
“Fireball!”
“Holy Spear!”
“Magic Missile!”
Following the arrow rain, various spells like blazing fireballs and translucent mana arrows were launched at the undead army.
‘Wow! This is no joke.’
Openings appeared along the middle of the wall, like windows opening, and troops stationed behind them started attacking in succession. Thanks to this, the level of ranged attacks from the wall was on a completely different dimension from ordinary castle walls, and the undead melted away before they could get any closer.
The true nature of the wall revealed itself—it was not just a barrier, but a mobile final defense line functioning as a fortress of its own. At a glance, the number of troops shooting arrows and casting spells from inside the wall seemed to exceed ten thousand.
‘At this rate, it’ll end too easily,’ thought Raul.
As if reading Raul’s mind, the undead army’s movements changed. Among the low-tier undead being torn apart by long-range attacks, medium and large undead began to rush out with shields.
“Roaaarrr!”
“Groooaa!”
With their massive bone shields blocking arrows and spells, the large figures charged, causing the entire undead force to shout and rush towards the wall.
(To be continued)