Chapter 279 - Cap 278: Decisions About The Final Battle Part 3

After a quick meal and some time for everyone to gather their thoughts, we resumed the meeting. 

I should have known that this could happen, the death toll was very high compared to the previous battles, but I had nothing to do, the plan we used was the only one I could think of that would allow us a better chance of victory. 

I also feel sad for all these deaths, but my sadness doesn't compare to the sadness and anger that the village leader along with the village council is feeling, unlike me they have a strong bond with the people who died, they were members of their races, acquaintances, friends, and people who lived in their original villages before Farus threw the entire mountain range into this disaster. 

Sigh 

Just like I told them before, I shouldn't think about these things either, worrying about it now won't do anyone any good, I'll do my best to leave it until after Farus is dead so I can leave the rest of the work to the Fairy Kings, I would love to see this Heretic God get killed, but I don't want to be around to see this kind of giants fight when I'm still just an ant, I don't want to be killed by accident during their battle. 

I look around and notice that the others are calmer, none of them are releasing their bloodlust like before and the mood inside the room has become a little lighter. 

"It's time to resume the meeting."  (I) 

"Before I start talking about what we're going to do from now on, I want to talk about what we discovered today during our battle."  (I) 

"Are you talking about those two evil items?"  (Ghoul Leader) 

"I don't think so, he's talking about the second type of crystal, the one that allowed the four generals to transform into that Undead monster."  (Sapphire) 

"The village leader is right, but it's not just that magic crystal, they had three more magic crystals of the kind we already knew, it seems they have one to raise a large number of bodies like undead and the other crystal to create a single extremely strong Undead using those who are close as a sacrifice."  (I) 

"I noticed something while accompanying Vanessa to the place where the crystals were used, it seems that they need a lot of magic power to activate the first type of crystal, all enemies that had a crystal were Mages who were close to reaching Grade -S."  (Elsaris) 

"Furthermore, the second type of crystal seems to have used not only the magic power and vitality of that Oni general, but it has also absorbed the vitality of the other generals as well in addition to the surrounding musdma."  (Ivan) 

"I didn't follow Vanessa all the time like you Elsaris, so I'll have to believe what I said, but this is something that makes sense after all this was supposed to be a powerful spell that Farus put in the crystal, I imagine not everyone will be able to activate it. this magic."  (I) 

"The second crystal is more troublesome, I also felt it was much stronger and sucked up miasma from the surroundings long before it activated."  (I) 

"If it wasn't his daughter showing up like that to help us, then it would have been difficult to defeat that thing, even though he was an Undead he had powerful regeneration abilities, plus he had a powerful defense."  (Sapphire) 

"The attack I used only made deep cuts on his arm, but normally I'm able to defeat dozens of enemies leaving them to pieces with that attack."  (Sapphire) 

"Also, he has good reflexes and was faster than you would expect from a creature his size."  (Elsaris) 

"When he was trying to attack Zenos, I ran in close and tried to hit his jaw and blow his head off, but he threw himself up and back causing most of the damage to be lost."  (Elsaris) 

"That's not all, he managed to attack both me and the village leader quickly and even broke through the defense I prepared, it seems that even in that bestial state he still had the mind of someone experienced in battle."  (Ivan) 

"Do you think the four generals were still conscious inside that monster?"  (I) 

"No, four minds wouldn't be able to control the same body, maybe the brains were working in an auxiliary way for a main mind."  (Ivan) 

"If that were the case, then this main mind would be the core of the monster, it's usually the core where the mind and sometimes even the soul of Undead-type monsters are."  (Elsaris) 

"That's something that's easy to understand since Skeletons don't have a brain."  (Elsaris) 

"Knowing how your body works are of little importance now, we just need to know its capabilities, even if I find your information interesting it's still not useful in our situation."  (I) 

"What we had to find out is a weakness in case Vanessa isn't around or if there are more than one of these monsters next time."  (Sapphire) 

"I've been thinking about it too, fighting this kind of enemy is very troublesome, maybe we can use light element attacks which are the weakness of all undead."  (I) 

"The only ones who are strong enough for this are you master, Vanessa, Irina, and Irius."  (Ivan) 

"Don't forget about Layla, even if she doesn't use the element of light very often, she can still use it during combat just like we did in Dungeon."  (I) 

"The best thing would be for the others to try to contain the monster and let one of us try to finish him off."  (I) 

"We can also try to cut off the heads, this is a weakness for all Zombies."  (Sapphire) 

"The problem is that they have more than one head, besides they are very good in combat, you saw it yourself."  (I) 

"But it's still a possibility, we can't rule out any chance of winning these things."  (Sapphire) 

"Then it would be nice to destroy its core as well, but we'd have to find out where it was."  (Ivan) 

"It will be on one of the heads, instead of the heart or the abdomen."  (Ghoul Leader) 

"How are you so sure?"  (Ivan) 

"We Ghouls fight a lot against all types of Undead since our villages are close to the caves, so we are taught from an early age about their weaknesses."  (Ghoul Leader) 

"The places I mentioned are where Cores normally spawn on Zombie-type Undead."  (Ghoul Leader) 

"This is also something useful if we ever need to fight this thing again."  (I) 

"I didn't get to see this enemy you're talking about, but now that you've finished analyzing how we're going to fight him, I wanted to know what the plans are now."  (Werewolf leader) 

"That's right, it's no use wasting a lot of time on a single subject, we have to know what we're going to do to start preparations."  (Orc Leader) 

"I agree."  (Nymph leader) 

They're right, looking at their faces I can tell none of them are backing down right now, so I'll cut to the chase. 

"I must say your plans have been the reason we've been winning so far, so please let me know if you have any plans."  (Sapphire) 

"I have a plan, the only plan we can use right now, but I have to say that the death toll could be even higher than today, so it's up to you to decide what you want to do."  (I) 

"..." (all) 

I can come up with various plans, but it won't help if they're not ready for the consequences, even after thinking for a long time I couldn't reduce the number of deaths that will surely be. 

If they're going to refuse the plan even before they hear what I have to say just because the death toll is so high, then there's nothing more I can do for them. 

From their expressions, I imagine that saying this so directly to them must have come as a shock, even more so after the way they were when they found out about today's death toll and about those two horrible items. 

But I have no choice here, there is no way of speaking that will lessen the impact of what I said, it is best to be as direct and sincere as possible, so even if it is painful for them to hear it will still be easier to understand. 

I was surprised there was no bloodlust coming from either of them this time, all I saw was their faces filled with sadness and then their eyes turning resolute as they looked at each other. 

"We know that if you're talking about a plan, that means it's the best option you could think of, right?"  (Sapphire) 

Sigh 

"Yes, no matter what I think, there's no way to fight that won't bring deaths, all I could think of is to reduce the dead as much as possible, but even that will still be a huge number of deaths."  (I) 

"Before deciding anything, we should listen to the plan first."  (Hobgoblin leader) 

"Very well, I'll tell you the plan I thought of."  (I) 

"As you may know, we can't do nothing, every day Farus' troops grow stronger within the Dungeons."  (I) 

"We also can't keep doing ambushes as there are no more Farus troops outside the fortress, so that only leaves us with one option..." (I) 

As I spoke I looked at the village leader and the village council members, I could see that the first to understand where I wanted to go was the village leader who widened her eyes, then the expression of the representative of the Nymphs and the representative of the Ghouls also changed to an expression of fear, they also understand what I meant. 

"Is your plan to attack the fortress?"  (Sapphire) 

"Yea."  (I) 

Everyone was shocked by my confirmation of the village leader's question.