The progress of the undead army through the eastern parts of the darknar forest was surprisingly fast. They had failed to come across any Demi-human villages, nor did they run into any monster nests. Only encountering the occasional stray monsters that were too dumb to foresee their doom.
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Normally, the death of one of the four kings would cause an uproar in the forest as every single monster would attempt to expand their territories. Contending amongst themselves on who could ascend as the néw beast king.
This would normally turn that part of the forest into a literal war zone until someone evolves or becomes strong enough to claim the title of king. However, this outcome had probably been derailed by the activities of Zerahut in the west.
The monsters that fled from the west would most likely cause power struggle to be over-saturated. Causing most of the monsters and Demi-humans here to migrate in fear of what's to come.
The mass of negative energy their army emitted was enough to drive even a Lord class monster scurrying away in fright so this situation was partially expected.
Due to this, their progress thus far had been faster than they had expected. In less than 24 hours, the army had made it to the other end of the Eastern parts of the Darknar forest and in less than two hours, the undead army would exit the forest.
As soon as that was done, their path to the demon king's castle would be wide open and without obstructions. As the army had been split into regiments or 3,000 undead, it was only natural they all had varying levels of progress out of the forest and the fastest unit would exit the forest in less than then minutes.
This was Unit 8. A unit led by a Doom Lord, a Lord Class monster that was only a fraction weaker than the current undead king. He was a summoned monster that draws power from his rapidly depleting lifeforce and as such, can only exist in this plane for a short time.
The Doom Lord marched in front of its unit like a tanking vanguard of nightmares. It was an undead monster standing more than 7ft tall, clad in full plate blood-red armor.
He wore a demonic horned blood-red helmet over its entire head with only a vertical slit that showed the flames burning in its eyes. A blood-stained cape hung off his back. Adorning his red full-plate armor with multiple scythe-like curved blades.
Although the Doom Lord who had been gifted the name, Oval marched at the front of his unit with his death scythe in hand. He did not seem particularly on guard nor worried about surprise frontal assaults.
He had a passive skill that reflect projectile attacks and reduced magic damage by 50% while boosting his attack power as his health rapidly decreased.
His regiment consisted of 1,000 skeletal infantry, 200 heavy infantry, 500 undead Mage Artillery corp, 400 Undead Magic support unit, 800 undead beast Riders, and 100 Wild cards called the Assault Team.
This was the standard formation of all 10 units with rather small differences in the specific numbers. The strength of these units were the Generals and the 100 wild cards. (Assault Team)
These wild cards were simply just powerful undead of varying types whose strength could not be properly utilized in large groups and as such were combined into the strongest attacking force of the entire Unit.
The undead magic support unit was in charge of healing the troops with negative type spells as well as providing support to the rangers by enchanting their bows and arrows were maintaining a defensive barrier around each individual unit.
With each force split into separate platoons, the undead magic support unit was also split into smaller units and assigned to each platoon except for the beast riders who also served as advance scouts for the entire Unit.
A few of these beast-riders had been sent by Oval to investigate the path ahead. This was why he was moving so leisurely through the dangerous forest as he would be informed the moment any dangers appear before them.
After walking through the forest for a little, several beast riders rode their beast back to the group. An armored Wraith riding on a phantom beast rode next to him then spoke a disturbing yet ethereal voice.
"Lord Oval, we'll be clearing this forest in a few minutes into an open snowfield."
[What is the situation there?]
"There is nothing worth your notice outside the forest. Our destination can be seen in the distance."
[I see... what of the other Units?]
"The closest unit to the exit is about 40 minutes away. They are the first regiment."
[Oh, Raziril's unit Huh? How annoying.]
Oval scuff as he heard the word first comes out of the wraith's non-existent mouth. He was a Doom Lord, a level above the so-called Boneclaw but as his life was limited, he could not hope to become his Master's number one servant.
However, the fact that such a title had fallen to a monster weaker than him irked him greatly. He wished to prove himself to his summoner by outshining every other Unit in this war but it seems his most direct competitor would be his hated opponent who was too weak to be called a rival.
[Hmm... How perfect. I get to spend my remaining time, besting that fool.]
Although his face was covered behind the demon-like helmet, it would seem Oval was now in a good mood as the oppressive air around him had lightened slightly.
His group then continued down the forest path in their assigned formation and just as the scouts had said, they soon exited the forest. They were the first Unit to do so as they had taken the shortest possible route by chance. Or perhaps it was fate deeming him worthy of being number 1.
Their job now would be to set up and defend a camp in the outskirts of the forest where they would await their creator. While the dead did not feel fatigued, they could not advance to the castle without permission.
However—
Contrary to the scouting report, the moment the last platoon had completely gotten a good distance clear of the forest where retreating was no longer a viable option. The sky was instantly lit with flaming arrows that exploded upon impact with their defensive barriers.
The sheer number of these exploding arrows was insane. It was as though thousands of enemies had suddenly appeared in the space ahead of them.
The barriers could not withstand the force of so many explosions and shattered in the first wave as more arrows descended on the army's various platoons.
The undead was naturally weak to fire and as such, this surprise attack had done devastating damage to their forces. Rapidly reducing their numbers.
Having traveled through the forest for the entire day, they had only managed to exit the forest at night so granted, the snowfield beyond the forest was enshrouded in complete darkness and one would be forgiven for not noticing an ambush even one of such magnitude.
However, every undead creature had the racial trait to see in the dark yet they had been met with a surprise attack. Oval could not understand why as the exploding arrows were deflected by his personal barriers.
The flames in his eyes intensified as he glared at the snowfield and finally saw there were users.
Shadowy creatures had morphed out of the ground before their very eyes. These creatures were wolf-type beasts that were being ridden by humanoid creatures with pale green skin tone.
They donned pitch-black armors and wielded exquisite crossbows that seems to fire multiple rounds of arrowheads consecutively and without the need to reload. It was like a barrage of exploding arrows raining down endlessly at them.
•Doom Dome•
Seeing his entire unit get decimated by the exploding arrows, Oval immediately used a defensive skill that created a massive red dome around his forces as he immediately ordered his magic artery Corp to counter fire.
The platoon of Liches, Demi Lich, and Zombie Mages immediately began firing their spells at the hobgoblins in the distance. About 50 or so hobgoblins were riding on the backs of nightmare wolves as they annoyingly merge with the shadows and escaped their attacks.
With the barrage of arrows halted, Oval could finally move freely before the night riders could regroup and begin another round of that devastating attacks.
He promptly commanded the Heavy infantry to protect the Magic Artillery corp who were to cover their backs as he moved forward with the wide cards who immediately ran widely at the bunch.
Noticing their charge, the shadow riders quickly retreated towards the greyad plains, and Oval couldn't help but snort.
Where were these the advance forces of an enemy troop or were they just a village of demi-humans trying desperately to resist the reign of the undead king.
Either scenario did not matter to him. He was a Doom Lord summoned by the undead king to kill everything in his path and make them submit. The reason they resisted him was irrelevant.
•Crescent Severance•
Dismissing the reasoning of his enemies from his mind, Oval swirled the death scythe in his hand as the light that shone from the slit in his helmet glowed blood red as he swung his scythe at the escaping shadow riders with murderers intent.
Five blood-red auras shaped like a crescent moon gusted out of his scythe as though they were a savage beast that had broken free from their cage and was staving for blood.
They changed the structure of the very group as they chased after the shadow riders. The other members of the Assault Team also launched dangerous attacks at the fleeing hobgoblins who desperately tried to dodge the attacks.
However, even hiding in the shadows wouldn't save them this time as they were completely outnumbered and equally outmatched. This appeared to be the end for them as the colorful attacks were about to quickly devour them.
However—
The moment the bombardment of attacks was to make contact, every hobgoblin riding on nightmare wolves in front of them disappeared before their eyes.
Oval almost questioned his undead senses as he had failed to sense the magic or skill that was triggered to pull something like this off. It was virtually impossible for anyone to escape his Doom domain without him sensing it in time to stop their escape.
The only possible way for this to happen was a switch. That means for them to be teleported away, something of equal value had to take their place yet he failed to see anyone or anything replace the disappeared riders.
His entire pursuit had come to a sudden halt as more than a hundred high-tiered undead had failed to stop 50 or so hobgoblins.
Well, in the next second, he was forced into a realization that an equivalent exchange had indeed happened and he had only tailed to sense what had taken the place of 50 Nightriders because he was far too weak to sense the aura of the being that had just descended upon them.
[Master?...]
While he was wearing a demon-shaped helmet, one could easily sense his confusion and meekness from the tone of his voice as he raised his head to gaze at the magnificent figure of the divine being of absolute darkness that stood in the sky.
A 7ft tall skeleton whose bones were a glistening black, stood in the air above Oval and his troops, overlooking them as though he was staring at inferior creatures that did not even warrant his full attention.
A blue flame gently burnt in his eye sockets as an ash and gold color luxurious robe adorned his body as they gently fluttered in the night breeze.
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