CH 188

The Battle of the Northern Highway

Translated by SoundDestiny

Edited by SoundDestiny

The army of the undead followed Wilfred’s orders and went up the hill in pursuit of the man who had disappeared.

The sight of skeletons without flesh and skin, rotting corpses teeming with maggots and flies, climbing up the hill was a hideous and unworldly sight.

“Katakatakatakatakatakata”

The undead are slow-moving, and even when running at full speed, they can only walk as fast as a grown man. It was hard to keep up with the man on the other side of the hill, especially in an uphill situation.

“Run! After them! Move it!”

Wilfred’s loyalty to the Witch of Earth makes him more vocal than ever, and he raises his voice as if he were whipping the undeads.

“Kill the enemy!　Devour them all!　Kill every last person who dares to fight my Queen Osman!”

“Katakatakatakatakatakata”

Wilfred shouted at the undead to quicken their pace, but it was still too slow.

It’s a good thing that the undead have the advantage of being able to keep moving without feeling tired or drowsy, but without proper muscles, their movements are slower. They were no match for the living in short distances, let alone endurance runs.

No matter how loudly Wilfred commanded, he would never be able to get close enough to the man who had run away.

“Kuu ……!”

Wilfred gritted his teeth in anger and snapped his teeth together in frustration.

“If only the curse hadn’t been lifted, I could have caught him. This is all Neimilia’s fault!　She’s an abominable traitor, she’s always in my way!”

If only the curse of “plague” and “famine” had continued to consume the land and all its inhabitants, they might have been able to hunt down their prey, weakened by disease and hunger.

The curse that Neimilia had lifted is to compensate for the undead’s sluggishness meant that they were no longer able to catch a single fleeing human being.

Wilfred’s hatred for Neimilia grew even more intense, but as the undead climbed the hillside, he suddenly had bloodshot eyes behind his glasses.

“Eh……?”

“Oo, here we are! The ugly, fearsome armies of hell!”

The big man who had just shot an arrow at Wilfred suddenly appeared from the other side of the hill. Wilfred was bewildered by the appearance of a man he had expected to have fled with his tail between his legs.

“Did you come all the way back here to get killed?　What the hell is this person thinking ……”

“I’m very grateful to you for coming up here. But…. you should know that this is a dead end! From here on in, the Kingdom of Zain will not be passed and it will be protected by Justi Oigist Thousand Horsemen!”

The big man – Justy Oigist – raises his right hand, and a squad of archers appears from the other side of the hill and flanks him at the top.

“Fire!”

Justy waves his hand down.

The archers lined up side by side shot their arrows in unison and showered the undead from overhead. The arrows rained down, piercing the undead one after another.

The road to the north is narrow, with thick forests and sheer cliffs on either side.

There was no way to escape the arrows. The undead, led by Wilfred, fell to the archers, their numbers dwindling.

“Don’t let this…..man get the better of you!Move!　Don’t stand still!”

Wilfred’s young face twisted at the sudden surprise, he ordered his men to make a desperate charge.

“We’re up against a small army. If we swallow them up by sheer numbers, it will be the end!　We must attack them at once and eat them alive!”

“Katakatakatakatakatakata”

It was an absurd order that a human being would never have accepted, but the undead were already dead. They are not afraid of getting hurt, and they move forward bravely even though they are covered in arrows.

“Muuu……This is amusing!　The armies of hell are no match for the logic of the living!”

Justy’s face grew grim as he watched the hordes of the dead climb the hill, using the corpses of their comrades as shields.

It was a slow march, like the crawl of a worm, but the undead herd was closing the distance to Justy at the top of the hill, step by step. At this rate, they would eventually reach the hill.

“Nevertheless……it was expected.”

“Na…?!”

Justy raised his spear wide and slammed the tip into the ground. A small earthquake echoed through the cliffs, and part of the road collapsed, sending earth and sand pouring down the cliffs.

“The road…Earth magic!”

Wilfred shouts.

Justy is not only a great warrior, but also a wizard who is skilled in the properties of ‘earth’. He likes to use his spear as a catalyst for his magic, allowing him to attack with a spear of earth from the ground, or to create a wall of rock for protection.

Even so, changing the terrain is no easy task….Justy had researched the land beforehand and was informed that the hills in this area have loose soil and are prone to cliff falls during heavy rains.

As a result of striking the loose soil with all his magic power, Justy artificially caused the cliff to collapse.

“Now the enemy is pinned down!　Unleash your bows, proud warriors of the realm!　Strike a valiant blow against the hordes of the dead who defile the land of Zain!”

“Ooooooooooo”

In response to Justy’s cry, the soldiers increased the force of their arrows.

The undead in the lead were caught in the cliff and disappeared down the cliff. One by one, the rest of the undead fell to the arrows, their numbers dwindling.

“Damn…it alllllll!”

Wilfred, struck dumb, panicked and let out a scream from the pit of his stomach.

The scream of the witch’s apostle, in a tantrum, shook the air and echoed through the cloudy sky.

The Battle of the Northern Highway.

The men of Justy Oigist the Thousand Horsemen – five hundred.

Wilfred the Famine Knight’s men – 9,300 remain.

The battle has only just begun.