722 Nervous

\"Damn it!\" Duke Crocell slammed his fist on the stone tablet with enough force to break it along with the table holding it. The senior mages knew how expensive those monitoring stone tablets were, but all of them were too afraid to say something. They were all aware that Crocell was furious with the current situation that they were facing and getting on his nerves now would be signing their own death sentence.

It was no surprise. They've sent in batches of foot soldiers… but to what end? Moloch seemed able to easily counter anything they used against him. It was as if that traitor had managed to acquire all he needed to defeat the Allied Demon Army all on his own. Just where the hell did he even manage to get a broken graveyard dungeon core from?

It was simply absurd given the number of graveyard dungeon cores available in the Dungeon World only amounted to a few hundred, compared to the tens of thousands 'regular' dungeon caves and regions. But not only that, he had somehow managed to acquire one that was capable of summoning those phantom soldiers?

Yet, Crocell continued to be wary.

His understanding of the graveyard dungeon cores was too limited. Heck, even the world's leading expert on dungeon cores had admitted that those graveyard cores were still considered as mysterious elements and completely out of the norm, so how was a Duke who handled governmental issues on a daily basis supposed to know anything about them.

In essence, he had no risk free way to defeat them but to use the soldiers to block their advance and yet, that was not sufficient since those phantoms soldiers were ethereal in nature.

That particular element allowed them to hit soldiers whenever the phantom soldiers wanted while simultaneously allowing them to dodge physical damage, to a certain degree, because of their body ever transiting between the real and the spiritual plane.

The only enemies that could deal substantial damage to them turned out to be the mages and the Soldiers of Gem. As soon as they made the discovery that they were weak to magical damage, after paying roughly half a battalion of foot soldiers for it, the Wight Commander had proceeded to divert his troops to halt the advance of the phantom soldiers. At the same time, he called for a regroup since they had lost their lead commander, Princess Gaap from the assassination attack.

Also, that assassination alone had made Prince Stolas' own guards even warier about his safety, and they told him to continue to stay at the backlines for protection. The Orc Artillery Company had stopped firing at them for some time already, and they were getting overly suspicious.

\"Huh! To see the Fifth Prince known for his quick execution of our enemies have so much trouble with his previous teacher. Are you perhaps one of the conspirators as well?\" Duke Vepar made a joke in poor taste, but Prince Stolas reserved his comment despite being annoyed from this baseless accusation.

Duke Vepar was anything but anxious at the moment. The only way he could keep calm was to insult and joke about others to hide his fear of the unknown that had taken all of his Horned Knights. True, he might have been a mighty champion back in his youth, but that did not mean he had maintained his skills.

On the contrary, he had grown accustomed to a nice and cushy job. At one point, he had completely exchanged his constant training for the allude of fine goods and luxury comfort. The only safety net he had left was his brand new armour which he had ordered a couple of weeks ago for this event. And yet the Duke continued to feel unsafe after news reaches them about of Princess Gaap getting assassinated in the middle of the battle despite the top-notch magical runes she possessed. He had no disillusion about his armour faring any better.

Still, he had to show a strong front as a Duke of King Baal. He just prayed that by killing a few of Moloch's henchmen it would trigger all the forgotten training he had endured in his younger days.

\"I suggest you stay at the back yourself. The winds of fear are blowing hard around you.\" Prince Stolas, who noticed the slight twitch in Vepar's hands and strained shoulders, decided to offer the Duke some reprise, despite the disrespect he had shown so far.

Upon seeing his reaction, it seemed as if he hit the mark. \"If Princess Gaap could get killed just by standing afar from the wave of soldiers, it also means that neither one of us has a guaranteed chance of surviving unless we are cautious the whole time. But being fearful and being cautious are-\"

\"Shut your trap!\" Duke Vepar ignored Stolas' royal titles and shouted back at him aggressively before equipping his helmet and spread his one wing out in defiance. Prince Stolas obeyed amusingly, and even his guards were whispering whether to bet on Duke Vepar's survival chances on the battlefield. Especially how 'long' he could last.

\"They might have anti-air defences, but I wish to see how they plan to fight back if we fly from here and wreck their defences at the sky bridge.\" Vepar spoke to his own regiment of Winged Armoured Gargoyles who roared in sync.

\"Let me add to the pool to fatten the bet as well,\" Prince Stolas said and threw 500 dungeon dollars to his nearest guard, and they all chuckled happily. The Owl Prince with Raven Legs figured this was a good time to observe if those guard watchtowers which had been constructed at fixed intervals could be destroyed by Vepar or if they needed something stronger to defeat them. \"By the way, how long until the siege weaponry arrives? It appears we desperately need them to at least inflict some damage on those watchtowers if Duke Vepar fails in his endeavour.\"

\"See, even our prince believes that Duke Vepar will perish.\" One of the guards tried to whisper to his companion, but nothing could escape their prince's ears. He only chose to pretend not to hear it as his advisor reported the situation back at the metropolis.

\"They are underway, but we need a bit more time to gather the necessary mages and materials to prepare them. Otherwise, they could get destroyed the moment they leave the shield from the safe zone.\" His advisor reported and Prince Stolas sighed.

\"So much for it being a safe zone. That teacher of mine sure knows how to beat us at every corner.\" Stolas nodded his head and quickly turned it to hear the lot of the army cheering upon seeing the arrival of Duke Vepar and his personal regiment of aerial force.

Qiu Yue was too busy coordinating the defence at the sky bridge, so she did not notice that a group of flyers had been mixed in between the army, allowing Vepar to succeed in a surprise ambush by flying straight to the first few watchtowers.

Despite conducting this kind of mistake, she smirked as soon as she got the report. She even decided to lay back a little to watch how the Fortress Golems stationed in those watchtowers would handle them.

\"Sub System, this will become a fabulous scene for future playback. Please start recording and send the footage to Kiyu. It should serve as a perfect advertisement or a good memory to keep.\"