Perseus looked at the approaching Liam with a grim expression on his face.
He was not prepared for this assault at all, nor did he have any idea as to why Liam suddenly launched this suicidal attack on his floor.
So far everything that he had tried to stop Liam had proven to be futile as he had lost close to 400,000 troops already, many of whom were specialized archers and mages, while the loss of local life in terms of local beasts and residents was innumerable.
Liam was no different from a walking natural disaster at the moment who indiscriminately slaughtered anything and everything in his path, and Perseus did not have an effective solution to try and stop him.
Once Liam breached the palace's outer wall, Perseus had only one option left which was to deploy his top tier 5 generals to slow down Liam's advance.
His orders were clear: they were to delay Liam's approach and hold him back for as long as possible as Perseus knew that Liam was a ticking time bomb with only a limited time before the power he wielded consumed him.
Aware of this, Perseus did not aim to defeat Liam but rather to contain him until he succumbed to the burden of using the seed of death while being a mortal.
The unit he sent to confront Liam consisted of three of his top military generals, General Aiden, General Lyra and General Thorne.
Each of them were peak tier5 fighters themselves and commanded an elite unit of 5000 soldiers each who were all tier4 themselves.
Overall, they were the core troops of the floor21 defense forces and they were the kind of troops that could not be replaced by fresh recruitment as they were an elite unit formed through countless years of combat experience.
For Perseus to deploy them in such a difficult situation was a testament to his desperation as he knew that there was a very real chance that his best units could be annihilated by Liam today, however, he had no other choice but to deploy them as none of his other units stood a chance against Liam.
Of the three generals, General Aiden, was a master swordsman who led a unit full of magic swordsmen. While General Lyra was a mage leading a unit of 5000 mages.
Finally, General Thorne was a towering paladin with a cruel reputation who brandished a magical shield and led his unit of 5000 troops who were all shield warriors that were disciplined and fearsome.
"Form ranks! Hold the line!" Aiden barked, his voice cutting through the chaos. "We cannot let this abomination reach the central parts of the palace."
"Forward!" Thorne bellowed, leading his troops into the fray as his shield absorbed the first wave of spectral attacks and reflected them back with devastating force.
However, almost as soon as the gaps opened, they were close shut, as Liam tapped in deeper and deeper into the power of the seed of death.
At this point, whatever little skin was left on his body melted clean off as he turned from a vibrant and healthy professor to a full-blown skeleton with hollow eyes and exposed bone.
However, the more he transformed into a dead monster, the stronger his troops became as the specters only kept growing stronger, their speeds becoming greater as despite the relentless assault by the defending forces, their pushback did not stop.
The mages under Lyra chanted group spells to cast powerful barriers of ice and fire to slow Liam's approach, however, Liam's specters shattered these barriers like glass, their howling forms tearing through the powerful magic as if it were something low level.
"Death-" Liam said, as he projected a wave of death originating from his body which immediately claimed the life of over 2000 of Thorne's strongest men, as his frontline was broken through immediately.
Once the frontline fell, the generals' forces were decimated brutally, as the specters tore through their flesh and bone in the most gruesome way possible.
To try and give Thorne's men a chance to regroup, Aiden, alongside his men, charged to replace them at the front lines as he let out a roar of fury and charged directly at Liam, hoping to cut down the source of all these problems.
His blade, glowing with a fierce aura, struck with deadly precision as he aimed directly at Liam's head, however, while his attack was successful in landing a blow, it only formed a crack in Liam's skull, angering Liam who sent a wave of specters Aiden's way to engulf him, as the specters tore him apart.
Lyra, witnessing Aiden's fall, unleashed her most powerful spell, a blazing inferno of fire and ice that engulfed Liam and his specters and while the attack slowed Liam down, it was not enough to stop him as Liam absorbed the impact and directed his specters towards her as the dead tore through yet another one of Perseus's generals, only leaving her lifeless body behind after they claimed her soul.
Finally Thorne, the last standing general, tried to fight valiantly, his shield absorbing and reflecting attacks.
But even his mighty defense could not hold forever as specters eventually overwhelmed him, snuffing his life out.
Despite their brutal and ruthless efforts, the generals could not stop Liam, as the professor kept walking towards the central palace.
However, the toll generated on Liam's body in trying to fight them was immense as well.
His flesh melted away, exposing bone, and his movements became more labored as the power of the seed of death became too great for his mortal form to sustain.
As Liam approached the central palace gates, where Perseus resided his body finally gave out as the spectral vortex faltered, and the specters within dissipated as Liam collapsed to his knees, his mission unfulfilled, but his vengeance nearly complete.