In the morning, Zane dispatched his scouts to look for traces of the Tier I Horde King where Maya had pointed in the direction of Fernley, Nevada. Fernley was a small town of roughly 25,000 people, or it had been prior to the outbreak of the apocalypse.
By now it, like most habited regions, had succumb to the plague of death, and was now inhabited by a horde of undead monsters. It did not take long for the scouts to report back to Zane, and when they did; it was indeed confirmed that there were traces of a Horde King in the area.
Because of this, Zane spent several hours discussing the attack plan with the girls. Since depositing his best troops into Gravestone's "Garrison" Feature. Zane had spent his free time going out and leveling up his new Horde.
After much effort, and significant gains in terms of resources. His Horde of 1,000 Undead was now more powerful than it had been in the past. Currently, his small army of 1,000 Undead consisted of an Entire Cohort of Skeletal Hoplites. Each of which was equipped with Level 10, uncommon quality gear, and was within the level range of 5-10.
In addition to these Skeletal Hoplites, there were also about 220 Tier III Undead Swordsmen, who were known as Ghoulish Ashigaru. Their appearance was exactly what they sounded like. Unlike the Tier I Undead, who Zane had long since evolved beyond the need for. These creatures did not appear like your run-of-the-mill zombies.
Nor did they appear like your average skeletons, which was common among the Tier II troops that Zane had access to. Instead, they appeared far more human, albeit monstrously so. However, unlike a ghoul you might encounter in a common role playing game, these Ghouls were dressed in the armor of the fabled foot soldiers from feudal japan.
More specifically, they wielded Katanas much in the same way Elena did and were a far more elite tier of infantry than the Skeletal Hoplites which Madison commanded. Because of this, in field battles, they were used to flanking and encircle the enemy.
But there were other ways they could effectively be used as well. For example, the Katana was just the secondary weapon which the Ghoulish Ashigaru used. They also had a sinister matchlock as its primary weapon. Making them very useful as skirmishing troops.
The plan was simple, it was basically the same as the previous one. Form ranks at the edge of town, and taunt the local undead into rushing in head on. After all, Zane was quite certain that the tactics which he had used to defeat the Previous Horde King were not transmitted to the others.
Of the Three Hundred remaining troops that were not accounted for among the Skeletal Hoplites, and the Ghoulish Ashigaru, there were 250 Skeletal Archers, and 50 Ghoulish Acolytes which were a type of spell caster that supported Olivia behind the front lines.
The initial plan was to do exactly what they had done the last time when the party engaged the Horde King, whose domain was the former town of Fallon. But after outlining this previously successful strategy, there was some disagreement with it.
And that is assuming the enemy Horde King doesn't get involved."
Zane was not the kind of man to dismiss his companions and their concerns. Since they had stated they were not confident in pulling off the same tactical maneuver this time around, he had no choice but to alter his plans. And if the task was too much for Madison and Elena to handle, then he would need to lessen their burden, and because of this, he was quick to come up with a counterproposal.
"Then I guess we have no choice.... Lily, you and I will lead the Skeletal Skirmishers into luring the undead out of their territory, where we will kill off small groups of a few hundred hostiles at a time. Once we have depleted the numbers of the enemy's horde to a sufficient degree, we will march on the town in full force. Do you think you can do that?"
Lily was astonished that Zane was asking her to go out with him on such a mission. Sure, she had more of a ranger archetype when it came to how she fought. Obviously Favoring the bow, medium armor, and speed rather than brute force. But was she really qualified to follow Zane into performing what was perhaps the most obvious battlefield tactic on the planet?
Then again, judging by the size of the horde they were facing, the only intelligent enemy should be the commander, in other words, the Horde King. Who might have their attention focused elsewhere, especially if Elena and the others showed their presence.
If she did follow Zane's plan of the feigned retreat, then the two of them could reasonably pull thousands of undead to a quick and certain death before the Horde King even realized what was happening to their army. With this in mind, Lily decided to follow Zane into such a brazen gamble.
"I think I can manage... Just promise me you won't leave me behind if things get hairy out there, alright?"
Zane smirked when he heard this, before making the girl a promise that would ultimately make her blush in embarrassment.
"I promise, even if I have to carry you out of the fire myself, that I will do so, or die trying!"
This was not a promise that should be made lightly, especially in a world like the one which they currently lived in. But Zane's word had proven time and again to be quite the valuable commodity, and if he of all people made such a promise, then surely he would fulfill it, right?
Because of this, the young woman, who appeared significantly younger than she actually was, flushed red in embarrassment and averted her gaze, an act that caused all the other women in the car to glare at her.
After all, among their entire party, the only one of them which was not currently romantically involved with Zane in some way was Lily, and the others were not so accepting of the idea of adding a fifth sister to their ranks. At least not for the time being.