NOVEL NEXT Chapter 22: Digging.
Chapter 22: Digging.
A group of mercenaries walks through the Violet Forest.
"Boss, is it safe to go there?"
"Don’t worry, I know the leader of the Violet Viper Bandit." The short man with a big head spoke. "If we manage to locate Count Stephen Maysey's youngest son, we will share the reward."
"But what if the count's son is being kidnapped by them?"
"Impossible, according to the information that I got. The scion is guarded by an adept-rank warrior and an elite warrior from the Maysey family."
The mercenaries stop in front of the violet forest fortress gate.
"Anyone inside!" After shouting several times, there was still no reply.
"Boss, what should we do?"
"The gate is open; let’s enter."
"Boss, I have a feeling this is a trap."
"You scout the area."
"Yes, boss." A tall man enters the gate warily. After several moments. "Boss, there is no trap!"
The mercenary begins to search the whole fortress and finds no sign of humans. Because the day was getting late, they decided to stay in the fortress and leave in the morning.
At night, while the mercenaries are sleeping, the tall mercenary wakes up and leaves the room.
"Where is the toilet?" The tall man opens the door and goes outside the building.
Several pairs of eyes are gazing at the tall man. Because of the darkness, he is having problems seeing in the dark. Finally, he arrives at the toilet before he can enter. A furry creature the size of a human bites his neck, and he doesn’t even have time to scream when his body becomes lifeless.
After that, the undead wolf releases the human from his mouth and steps back. Appearing from the darkness is Levi. Shadow Cloak is one of the vampire skills that allows you to hide in darkness without being seen. Inside the vampirism book that he read, there are many skills and abilities of vampires. The only problem is that he can’t learn all of the skills, for example, the bat transformation.
Raising his hand, a dark ritual formation appears on the ground, and black tendrils burrow inside the corpse. After a while, the corpse starts to move and stands up.
"Go and kill your comrade."
The undead zombie groan and walk toward the building where the other mercenaries are sleeping. Behind the zombie, several undead monsters follow.
That night, a scream and yelling could be heard inside the fortress.
-
"Why do you not kill Ian and his maid?" Asked Otis. After getting the thing Clara wants, both of them leave the town.
"I only need the magic book, why do I need to kill them when both of them have never done anything bad?" Clara stopped walking and looked at the woods.
"It looks like those people managed to track us." Said Otis.
Many people came out of the woods and surrounded both of them.
"Blood witch we..."
"Yes, yes, I know how many people have said that."
"Bitch, after I capture you, I will send you to a brothel!"
Clara heard that smile, and at the same time, Otis's body began to shiver. That man is dead, one of the taboo words that must not be spoken in front of her.
Just like Otis expected, the atmosphere begins to change, and Clara's body is covered with a red aura. She throws a red ball toward the man.
"Everyone, cover your eyes, and don’t get close to the red ball!"
The red ball of blood exploded, and many thin red needles came out of it. Most of the men manage to protect themselves from projectiles using their swords.
Clara, seeing her attack fail, is not scared; instead, a blade made of blood comes out of his right hand. And she leaped toward the man who cursed her.
The man swings his sword to clash with the blood sword and manages to stop it. The other saw her begin to attack her back. However, their bodies suddenly feel weak and collapse to the ground. Clara, using her left hand, creates another blood sword and pierces the man's body when he is distracted.
"You are brave to ignore me." Otis, with his hand behind his back, walks toward the group of men. While they are focused on Clara, they forget about a bald, skinny middle-aged man who, together with the blood witch,
Well, that is not surprising compared to Clara, who is famous and wanted in the kingdom. People rarely know about Otis, but those who do know his identity are mostly dead.
The attackers that are still standing look into each other's faces and begin to flee. What is the point of staying here if they die? Otis doesn’t chase them but instead begins to search the attackers' corpses for anything valuable as a spoil of war.
"Spare me..." The man is sweating and still alive after being stabbed by Clara. Because she stopped the blood from coming out of the wound.
"Why are you keeping him alive?" Otis asked.
"I want to torture him."
"AHHH!" The man screamed in pain when Clara thrust his sword deeper.
"Do you have any poison that can cause a lot of pain?"
"Yes, anyone who consumes this poison will feel pain like being cut a thousand times before death." Without hesitation, Otis takes out a small black glass bottle.
The man's eyes became wide, and he stopped breathing before Clara could give him the poison.
"You scared him to death." Clara pulls out her blood sword while absorbing the man's blood.
"It's not my fault." Otis shrugs his shoulders.
-
Cirean Kingdom border. The Cirean army has begun to gather and build a temporary base to defend against the monster tide coming from Pondover Forest. Cirean kingdoms don’t have a natural barrier or high wall to defend against the monster tide. However, after many monster tides throughout history, they managed to predict where the monster would attack and prepare a countermeasure.
The soldiers are erecting wood spike barricades in certain areas to create a choke point. However, it's only effective against human-sized monsters. Large monsters with high defenses can run through and destroy the barricades.
In the army camp, a middle-aged man with many badges of honor on his clothes and a subordinate are discussing
"How many soldiers have arrived?"
"General, around 30,000."
"Why is the number lower than last year?"
"There are more on the way, but we don’t have enough new recruits this year."
Last year, although the Cirean Kingdom managed to fend off the attack from the monster tide, the casualties were high. Because of that, the young men are afraid to join the army.
"How about the mercenary?"
"This year the budget is tight; we can only hire around 500 mercenaries."
Most soldiers are serfs and peasants who wanted to get a side income during the winter. The real soldiers normally guard the aristocracy and royals. In the past, before the great rebellion, they could force wandering or mercenary warriors and mages to join the army. If they are not careful, another rebellion will occur.
"How many people do we have once everyone has gathered?"
"Around 45,000, including the mercenaries."
"We don’t have enough soldiers." After contemplating, the general spoke. "What happened to the soldier that was injured last year?"
"Most of them retired."
"What about the message that I asked to send to the nearby aristocrats?"
"According to their reply, they have their own problem and don’t have enough soldiers to send to the border."
The general can only sigh at a time like this. The nobles are selfish, and he is no different. He has sent his son to Wruidor, the Warrior Alliance nation. If anything happens, his family can move there. The problem is that he needs to survive to do so.
"How is the weapon?"
"The muskets have arrived, and we are training the new soldier to use them." Muskets were one of the weapons once used by the rebels to create their own nation, the federation. Even after the other kingdom required the technology to create this weapon. They still can’t destroy the federation because of a federation spy that spread throughout many kingdoms.
"How many masters ranks does the king send?"
"None." The soldier, after answering the question, is sweating because he can see the general's face turn red.
"How are we supposed to defend against the monster tide?"
"According to the report, only one monster nest will come attacking the Cirean Kingdom, and because of that, there is no need for a master rank to defend the border."
"Who sent you this report?"
"From the palace."
Hearing that, the general calmed down and spoke. "Send the message to the palace without the master's rank to defend the border; we will lose to the monster nest."
"Yes, general."
-
Inside a dark, excavated tunnel, many dog-sized slugs with skin similar to stone are digging underground. They are called stone-eaters and can normally be found inside a mountain. Behind the monster is a dark orange-skinned hobgoblin wearing a skin robe.
"How long is it going to take to finish the tunnel?" Another hobgoblin wearing armor spoke.
"In two or three days, stone-eaters need time to digest the earth and rock they consume."
"Can’t you make them dig faster?"
"They will die, and we need to use them to attack the city."
"Send me a message when the tunnel has passed the border." After saying that, the armored hobgoblin leaves the tunnel and appears in a forest.