The shieldbearers set up their shield wall once more and huddled behind their massive shields, bracing them for impact. Behind them, the saber wielders stepped up and lowered their Mo sabres onto the shield wall; ready to intercept any charging undead.
The guardsn split up into two teams, each guarding the left and right flanks of the shieldbearers. Behind them were the reserve team who carried their primitive bone clubs and quietly awaited orders. (One of the guardsn only had his shield remaining after having his sword stolen by One-eye.)
On the undead side, they had 100 people as well. 50 of them wore a light set of bone armor and carried a buckler on one hand with a short sword on the other. As for the unarmored skeletons, 30 of them carried a giant hamr, 18 of them wielded a bow and the final 2 were mages. Except for the mages, all of the 98 undead were one-star.
My curiosity was piqued by the upcoming battle. After all, this was my first ti seeing skeletal mages; I wonder what kind of abilities they had. Judging from their aura, they were at most, at the level of two-star. Either way, nothing is scarier than the unknown, best focus them down first.
Due to the bone wall blocking our escape route and the lack of information on the undead in front of us, we were forced to adopt a defensive stance.
Dont worry, I just want to show you why your vaunted weapons are nothing more than toys. These undead are ard with so throwaway creations of mine; they are at most slightly better than the weapons you have Without waiting for my response, he waved his skeletal arm: Let the battle comnce.
The first to advance were the skeletons armored from head to toe in bone armor. With their short swords raised high above their head, they advanced upon the stalwart shield wall in front of them.
Mo sabers!
Due to the lack of Mo sabers in the past, they mostly took part in the battles as individuals. This was their first battle as a team together. However, I had confidence in their killing power.
As they received the command, the saber wielders took up position behind the heavy shields, their sabers ready and waiting.
However, the first to reach us were the hail of arrows from the archers
The heavy shields did not provide the promised safety. Instead the arrows bypassed the static shields as they rained from the heavens. Due to their high ground and the parabolic trajectory of the arrows, they landed directly on the saber wielders and the reserves
Ahhhh The pained cries of the imps echoed through the air before I could even react to the arrows. My Mo saber team had lost two mbers while the remaining were all severely injured!
Reserve team!
The hurried shuffle of imp feet mixed in with the groans of the injured imps as they were swiftly replaced. The reserves had undergone so basic training just for such a situation like this. Thanks to this, the handover was quick and the Mo sabers were ready by the ti the undead reached the wall.
As expected, the length of the Mo sabres were able to reach just high enough to hack at the heads of the armored skeletons. Unfortunately, their armor not only covered their torso, but also extended all the way to their heads. Despite being light armor, they were enough to block the non-tallic Mo sabres!
While these skeletons were weak and dimwitted, they were perfect for the human wave tactics employed. As the Mo sabres hacked down at them, they fearlessly charged in, soaking the brunt of the attack. Thanks to their armor, the damage was mostly mitigated with only a chip at where they were hit. The skull beneath the armor was completely unhard.
Furthermore, this initial wave revealed a glaring weakness in my plan. The Mo sabers were very long and thus had a wide area of attack. This was normally an advantage but in this confined space, it beca its downfall. The limited width of the heavy shield ant that the Mo sabers had to be stacked closely together causing them to frequently clash with each other as the imps attacked
This This was the invincible formation I spent days formulating?Its so weak!
The clashing Mo sabers created a scene of chaos in front of the wall, which the skeletons swiftly took advantage of and began climbing over the shield wall.
Reserves!
One-eye shouted for the reserves to join in the battle while he himself readied his sword and shield.
Go join in the fight as well. I turned to No.3 and Big 4 beside and continued: Dispose of them quickly.
As you command, Master.
The bone armor might have been sturdy enough to withstand my slashing weapons, but the bone clubs were a different matter. They were blunt weapons, which ant that even if the armor didnt break, the impact would still be transferred into the skull beneath. That impact would damage the soul flas within, and even if it didnt kill the undead, it would at least stun them montarily.
Plus, these armors had to have seams at certain locations. As long as the imps were able to strike at these points, even the slashing weapons could easily penetrate the armor.
However, just as this problem seed to have solved itself, the rain of arrows ca down once more, piercing the heads and limbs of the imps. Another wave of casualties appeared.
Damn it! Arent you afraid of hurting your own guysoh wait, Im a retardwhy would these skeletons be afraid of arrows.
In the past, I had considered salvaging the bows from the archers we fought but this idea was quickly squashed.
Firstly the bows needed arrows, and unlike the skeletons, the devils werent able to turn their own bones into arrows. I could craft so arrows with my dark alchemy but the mana required was simply too much for a consumable item. It made more sense to spend this mana on making lee weapons instead.
Next was the fact that devils didnt possess the aptitude for archery. Not just these potatoes, even I didnt know how to use a bow. My accuracy was at the level of a potato! As for drawing the bowsOnce, I got an imp to draw a bow, but within seconds the bow began to emit slight cracking sounds. I quickly stopped the imp since the bow itself wouldve probably snapped in half otherwise
The last and probably the most important reason wasundead didnt even fear arrows!
The weak point of most undead creatures were their soul flas which was usually hidden in their skulls. As long as this area was well protected, no amount of arrows piercing their bodies wouldve made a difference. They were able to shrug it all off.
Without the aid of magic, lee combat was the best option against the undead.
Thankfully, these skeleton warriors were slow and we still had the advantage of numbers; so we managed to suppress them. The shield wall was still standing strong but the occasional rain of arrows would bypass them, taking the lives of the imps as they did. I considered attacking the archers but this was obviously a bad idea.
Firstly, there was a wave of skeleton warriors in the midst of our army. Secondly, those hamr wielding undead were slowly making their way towards us. While they were unarmored, their zombie flesh was tough enough to function as armor.
As they hobbled towards us, they maintained an orderly formation not seen in the previous zombie hordes we encountered. Upon reaching the wall, they split off a portion to handle the guardsn while the remainder attacked the shield wall. With their gigantic rounded bone hamrs, each strike probably had the weight of several hundred kg behind it. A single strike wouldve probably been able to flatten a cow.
The shield walls wobbled with each massive swing of the hamrs. The imps behind them desperately braced the shields but each strike caused them to shake violently from the impact.
As undead, these zombies would never tire out as long as their soul flas did not run out of energy. As such, rely bracing the wall wasnt a viable option for us. Under their tireless smashes, the shieldbearers began to tire out and were soon on the verge of collapse.
However, what gave out first were not the imps but the seemingly impenetrable heavy shields. A loud cracking sound filled the air as one of the giant hamrs impacted a shield, the tireless pounding had finally won out. A few seconds later, the other four shields joined their companion in death as their bodies finally cracked under the pressure
While all this was going on, the guardsn were caught in a desperate situation of their own. On one side were the hamr wielding zombies and on the other were the armored skeletons who broke through earlier. The three mixed together in a chaotic dance of death while the shields slowly buckled under the pressure.
My shields
I had chosen to watch from the sidelines up until now, as I had thought the Mo sabers and heavy shields were enough. Furthermore, the mages including the robed skeleton had not taken action yet; so I didnt see the need for to interfere. However, the results were as seen
*clap*
The crisp sound of bones clapping together rang out in the air just as it looked like we would get wiped out. The undead, as if having received a signal, began to retreat leaving behind the battered imps. Under the now broken shields, the shieldbearers cowered like babies with their hands over their heads.
As the undead retreated, the defeated survivors stood in shock as their unexpected survival finally registered. I wonder which was more shocking to them, the fact that they were alive or that the impenetrable shields were reduced to such a state
A minute later, the entire army had obediently retreated to the side of the robed skeleton.
I stood in abject horror as I surveyed the wreckage of this battle. I had lost 49 large imps while the undead army had only lost 22 lee undead. The archers were completely unhard, while the mages had not lifted a finger before our defeat was sealed. The only silver lining was that all the nad imps were rely injured and not dead. Even that female imp was fine.
This was the first major defeat I had suffered since reincarnating into hell. From the mont I was born in the blood sea, my side had always won; even with smaller numbers. In an even match, we dominated our opponents. However, this ti was different. It was a complete loss for us.
So whats your thoughts on this? The robed skeleton asked as he dispersed his army; an expression of curiosity hung on his face. Expression seed to be a weird word to describe a fleshless skeleton, but his skeletal face truly gave off that feeling right now.
My weapons werent good enough
And?
They werent sturdy enough
Truth be told, I had so inkling of what he ant when said toys. The heavy bone shields werent sturdy enough; it only took several hits of the giant hamrs to break them. The length of the Mo sabers worked against themselves. We not only had no long range capabilities but also had no way to counter them
If one looked closely at that battle, there were truly a lot of faults to be discovered. Regarding the sturdiness of the my equipnt, I had experinted with adding in tallic elents but had ultimately failed.
The dark alchemical process was extrely picky about what kind of materials I could use. Only materials like flesh, bones or souls could be used. Essentially anything that sounded sinister. Materials like tal or rocks were completely out of the question.
Honestly, your designs werent too bad, but they were let down by the sturdiness of the equipnt itself. Seeing my dejected and silent figure, the robed skeleton decided to interrupt my brooding and said: While Im unable to teach you anything regarding designs, I can share my experiences regarding strengthening equipnt.
Really!? Im not dreaming am I? A complete stranger was offering to teach how to strengthen my equipnt?
Yes. He beckoned to follow him before turning around to leave. Follow , I have sothing to give you.
Sure.
Just as I was about to follow him, One-eye blocked with his arm and said: Master, it might be dangerous to follow him
Danger? Do you think that we arent in danger already? I said with a self-deprecating laugh. I pointed at the bone wall behind us with my thumb and said: Do you think we can leave without his permission?
One-eye fell silent.
Clean up the battlefield and harvest all the souls, I have use for them. I sighed helplessly as I stared the figure disappearing into the body of the skeletal dragon. I picked up the pace as I followed him in, with the Grimoire of the Dead hugged closely to my chest.
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