Chapter 232: Too Late to Retreat

The news about the marching undead quickly spread to all the players. Those who are away from the kingdoms that issued subjugating missions all came flocking to the said kingdoms. The undead were first sighted at a forest at the southeast border of the empire.

The forest that the undead marched on became lifeless as their aura that the undead released absorbed life from the surroundings. The trees became withered husks while the monsters in the forest that the undead came across became part of the legion. Though only a few undead could be said to be top tier, the real danger of the undead is their sheer number.

All the farmlands became barren while the farmers who toiled the soil joined the undead legion. The undead legion did not waver or did not tire so they only marched north. The news of the marching undead even reached the news in the real world as if Atlas Inc. paid all the news outlets around the globe.

In reality, Pandemonium is becoming bigger and bigger that some countries even had contracted famous streamers to do television shows. Also the undead seemed to become even more and more active these recent weeks. The undead marching north is speculated by the players to be the peak of the undead event.

Of course, every player wanted to also find the source of the energy fluctuations but not all of them could go north. If the source is even far north then they could only fantasize because potions made to combat that level of frostbite are hard to come by. It's not like everyone knows an alchemist that hails from a race of immortals that can brew potions lost in time.

The top guilds are already calling forth all their players in order to set up siege defenses on the kingdoms on the path of the undead. A bunch of towns has already been devastated and the force of the undead legion grew exponentially as their march is not stopped. At first, the undead legion marching were only ten thousand strong but now the undead legion is a hundred thousand strong and still rising.

While the various cities prepare for the undead that are marching, a certain demon is thinking how he would approach the situation of the undead. From all the sources in the internet, he could tell that the undead legion is only marching straight north. They just go straight north without avoiding mountains or rivers because of a lich.

Some players that are of the dragonkin tried aerial observation but there is one knight with a full set of armor that as dark as night that shoot them down with its spear. Many players with aerial mounts also suffered the same fates. To make things worse, those that died from the spear of the knight could not revive at town immediately but had to log out the game for three hours real time.

The corpses of the players are also added to the undead legion marching. Due to this, the top guilds ordered their scouts to only observe from afar where the knight's spear will not reach. The problem is that the spear of that certain undead knight could reached about a mile.

"I should prepare for the plans that I am thinking of. I only have 60 hours left before they reach the north but I am sure that timer would increase as long as I can think of detours." Adrian thought as he used Teleport to disappear from Aurgelmir's forge and leaving his soulbounds to guard the frost giants.

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At the walls of Alabaster Fortress, countless players and knights gather. There are also numerous players and foot soldiers below. All the people at the fortress are tense because they knew what is coming for them. The residents are already evacuated because the commanders fear for their safety and also if the fortress falls then a lot of undead will join the march of the undead.

The scouts have already reported that the undead will reach the fortress in half an hour. The march of the undead is pretty fast if one were to time it. The reason for this is simple as the undead do not tire.

The sound of a horn is suddenly heard by everyone present in the fortress. The horn sounding signifies that the undead are near and are already within firing range of the cannons mounted on the walls. The only reason the cannoneers are not firing the cannon is due to the fact that the forest is hiding the undead horde.

The horn sounded that the undead are near because of the terrain changing in front of the people in Alabaster Fortress. Dark clouds are rolling in from the distance but there is no sign of rain. There are also sounds of thunder with flashes of lightning.

The most unsettling fact of the changes is that it only happened on once section rather than the whole forest that is in front of the Alabaster Fortress. The loud talking of the adventurers and the knights below the fortress walls came to a sudden halt as they could feel danger coming towards them.

The people in the fortress prepared for battle yet something inside of them is screaming to run away. The dark atmosphere that the undead brought with their march came to a sudden halt at the forest clearing. The people defending the fortress could hear each other gulp in fear because of the sudden halt in the march.

The oddest thing is that there is no undead seen at the edge of the forest. The scouts and archers with good eyesight could not pierce the dark veil that is emitted in that specific part of the forest. Those same scouts and archers could pierce the other parts of the forest with their eyesight just fine but not the area with a darkened atmosphere.

The surrounding area became eerily quiet as the living could feel their hearts and souls screaming to run as far as they can. The longer that they gaze upon that dark haze brewing in the forest, the louder they could feel that something is incredibly wrong.

Even the priests stationed there could feel fear creeping in their hearts despite being trained to not fear the undead or any other malevolent force. The silence lingered for about ten minutes or so until an undead walked out of the forest.

This undead is rather different from what others have seen because its body looked like it is made out of gas. The only solid looking thing in its body is the mask it is wearing. The mask is rather recognizable as it is the mask made of a white material with the only holes in it is the eyes that are just two holes.

The undead's body is made up of a gaseous substance that is ashen in color. Its body is not that of a humanoid shape as it looks like a very tall person covered himself with an ashen colored blanket. No arms or feet could be seen but there is a smoky trail being left behind when this undead moves.

The white masked undead walked until he is about a hundred meters away from the army below the wall. The tense soldiers and adventurers could only steel their resolve as they could see this undead walking towards them.

When the undead stopped a hundred meters away from them, the group of people also became tense. Though the undead is not moving, those of the living could feel that this undead is actually observing them. This feeling of being observed could be felt by every living being despite the undead just staring straight blankly.

The dark atmosphere at the forest also disappeared a few moments later when the undead exited the forest. The archers from the wall suddenly open fired and aimed for the undead but all their arrows just passed through. Some arrows were aimed at its mask but the arrows also passed through it. Proving that the undead in front of them does not have a physical body.

The priests are next ones who are assigned to attack the undead that showed up. As the group of priests are chanting their spell in unison to smite the undead, the mask of the undead started forming cracks. The mask started forming cracks yet no piece of the mask fell to the ground.

As the cracks in the masks continued forming, the soldiers and adventurers below the fortress walls received the command to attack the undead. Seeing as the arrows fired at the undead did nothing, it was the magic classes below the walls that initiated the attack.

Numerous magic spells are fired off into the location of the undead producing large cloud of smoke whenever the magic landed. The soldiers and adventurers waited for the smoke to clear before attacking once more but what they saw shocked them.

Standing in the area is the masked undead with no visible signs of it being damaged whatsoever. The magic class users once again chanted their spells and aimed towards the masked undead but an ear piercing shriek sounded. The people in the fortress and below its walls covered their ears in order to maintain their focus on observing the masked undead.

The masked undead's mask finally cracked all the way and exploded into millions of tiny fragments that scattered in the wind. The hazy body of the undead dissolved suddenly and it was no more. There was silence in the area once again as they could not believe that it was over so quickly. The ear piercing shriek also disappeared along with the masked undead.

"Is it over?�� Someone stated but ended up becoming a jinx.

The skies above the location of the fortress suddenly became dark while the surroundings remained partially sunny. Sensing the sudden change in the atmosphere a command is suddenly shouted.

"Retreat!"

The command came late as the whole area below the walls already became covered with an ashen fog reminiscent of the one that the masked undead's body is made of. The command to retreat is not heard as all those inside the fog can only hear is the painful moans of countless people echoing all throughout the surroundings.