Chapter 188

Chapter 188

We were surprised that we couldnt, Aaron said. He was riding with me, Raven, Maxwell, and Tellkin in the early morning. Icarus told us that it was because it could tell we were planning on attacking the city, so the fast travel is disabled. There are ways you can bypass it with small forces, but there are too many of us for that to be possible.VIsit n0(v)eLb(i)n.com for the best novel reading experience

Icarus, like from that group that we fought with? I asked. I wouldve preferred a night attack, but we were working with the friar, night was worse for them than day was for us.

Yes, Livia hired his entire guild, Aaron explained. Between him, our guild, and our allies we have around a thousand players. Though many of them are not strong enough to help overly much.

I dont know about that, I explained. Raven reported back this morning that there is chaos through the city. Its why she took so long, but she managed to sneak in. There is fighting between regular zombies and, unfortunately, blood zombies. So even the weaker players will be great for mopping up the fodder.

How did you get your zombies inside the walls already? Aaron demanded.

He didnt, Raven said. The zombies in there are She looked at me, and I nodded for her to a tell him what shed found. The zombies in there are turning those they kill into more zombiestheres a zombie plague. Our somebody snuck someone infected with Zekes zombie plague into the city.

Who wouldve done that, or how would they of, and what are blood zombies? Aaron asked.

I have my suspicions, I said. I dont know for certain though. They probably snagged it from the battle by the lake. As far as getting in the city, with the number of people that have been shoved in there over the last week, it wouldnt have been hard to hide it within the crowd. As for blood zombies, they are nasty creations of blood magic, and harder to kill than zombies. Unlike zombies they react to pain, but they also have pretty big regeneration.

Hopefully we get there before they wipe out the zombies, Aaron said. The chaos will be nice.

We should, Tellkin spoke with the confidence of a commander. If they were regular zombies, then you would be right, but zombies carrying a zombie plague are a little different. Your forces shouldnt worry about cutting them down if they get in your way, we dont control them unless they come close to us.

Perfect, Aaron said. I need to get back to Livia then and let her know the timing. He turned his mount, a large lizard-creature similar to what the Dread Thirteen rode, back the way he had come from.

The rapid approach was seen as more of a threat as more magical attacks hammered down on them. The holy city wasnt only garrisoned by religious classes, there were also standard wizards and mages. While exclusively holy attacks were aimed at us, a mixture went after the players.

Constant barriers being torn down and rebuilt by different clerics and wizards among the players had the sky above them full of exploding magic. I swore when I saw the front of the players suddenly collapse as a series of explosions tore them apart.

Then there was a flicker and I realized whoever had cast the illusion at the lake was with them. The players werent actually where they appeared to be, they were offset about twenty yards. Enough that their defenses were still holding and the concentration of magic at their head had only hit a couple of unfortunate players.

The illusion had done its job though and they reached the walls. A wave of grapple hooks was thrown up, and the players scaled the walls a moment later.

In the distance I could see another clashing of magic as the friar driving his cart ahead of his forces closed in. The magic being thrown at them was almost exclusively arcane, but I did note a mixture of blood and dark magic in the air.

The defenders were doing their best to focus magical types on the three different armies that would be most likely to do the most damage. Even though all the undead in my army, living and mindless, received benefits and resistances from my order, we were still the weakest to holy magic, at least of this variety.

Suddenly, buffing spells spread across the entire force. As soon as the players had been within a handful of meters from the wall, the necromancers started casting overlapping area of effect speed buffing spells. We surged forward.

The giants thundered past with the juggernauts flanking behind them. Not only had they received the area of effect buffs, but clerics had targeted the hulking monsters individually with powerful speed enhancements.

Youre up, Tellkin said in something that wasnt quite an order. My lord.

I didnt mind and spurred Shadow forward. The Dread Thirteen came in around me as Raven hopped onto the back of Shadow. Maxwell lumbered behind us on Snappy, which was moving far faster than the snapping turtle should have been able to. It looked a little ridiculous with its thick, short legs pounding the ground so fast. Maxwell was playing a song, and we caught up to the giants and juggernauts, soon passing them.

Holy bolts of white light attempted to slow us down, but we were moving fast enough that many missed. Those that didnt deflected off of barriers long enough for us to get past. I began reshaping Mercy, the amount of power in it making the process slow.

We were then within the shadow of the gatehouse, and eldritch power swirled around Mercy as I passed Gideon and Shamgar. Mercy was now a long spear. I held it out with one hand near the back of the shaft so it was ahead of Shadow, after all it was not actually a lance. We entered the arch of the gates and Shadow slammed on the brakes. I launched forward off his back.