Two days passed, and the Grand Fort Borzol was in chaos as the news of the undead advancing towards them came. The horde of millions of undead was scary to look at as it crossed valley after valley, sweeping the lands like a flood of whiteness.
In the middle was a giant palanquin, as big as an entire room, surrounded from all sides with wooden walls and blue crystals of magic. Big strong undead coordinated while holding it on their shoulders, making as few jerks as possible.
"At this rate, they will reach us by the end of tomorrow, elder brother."
Zelfim agreed with him as they hid in the snow on a distant mountain and looked at the horde of undead moving slowly. "We must begin going south immediately. Even if I engage them in a fight, I'm not sure I can defeat that Emperor Lich without help. Nor can our people survive fighting the horde of undead."
Fralan, the madman, started shivering suddenly. "What's the guarantee that going to the Duchy will save us? I… It tingles my scalp seeing this madness. How can such a strong undead grow so much without being caught?"
Zelfim gloomed at sight too. "Whatever it is, we can not fight it alone. I hate to say this, but we might have to take the help of the church for this one. To kill a Supreme Wizard, it takes dozens of Grand Wizards. Only the church can mobilise such force."
"Why not go south? We can live there in peace until the church solves their issue." Fralan suggested.
It was a foolish idea, sadly, as Zelfim saw it. "Then what? Do you want to be hated by people forever? Be on the run forever? Our pride is useless if it gets us killed. I am a Platinum Knight, so we should be able to broker a better deal with the southerners in return for defeating this creature."
Fralan didn't speak, but his face looked ugly. Veins popped all over his forehead, and he gritted his teeth. But, he wasn't looking at the undead army anymore, but rather at his elder brother.
"Let's return to the fort and move out."
…
While panic spread among the barbarians, the evacuation of the Frozen Town in the Duchy of Iceling went smoothly. The people were being moved to a southern location near Pitfall town of the Duchy of Colorwood.
By that time, more armies started to pour in, some as small as a thousand men, while others as big as ten thousand. Dukes, Counts, Barons and all sorts of nobles sent their men to deal with the menace of Emperor Lich. At the same time, the church sent the whole Inquisitor Army of the Ironwood Duchy, which had the experience of being commanded by Sylvester before.
Just like that, the number of soldiers on Sylvester's side slowly grew to one hundred and ninety thousand troops. This vast army was rarely seen before, even in all-out wars between kingdoms.
But, now it happened because the picture Sylvester painted in the minds of the nobles through the letters was so bleak that everyone felt an existential crisis. And thankfully, all the soldiers were commanded by their lords to follow Sylvester's command as long as it was not outright suicide.
Though Sylvester found his work becoming much easier with the arrival of the Inquisitor Army, since the men knew how to serve under Sylvester and had received basic training in discipline and battle tactics. Sylvester made them smaller unit commanders of the larger army, which was now named—the Winter Army.
"So, what's the plan? You kept us in the dark this whole time." Duchess asked as they all gathered in her office for the last time. The Duchess was now even more trustful of Sylvester ever since she got to perform her husband's last rites.
Sylvester pointed to the map as they all stood around the large table. "It has been confirmed that the Barbarians have started to move. Borzol faction will reach here to occupy the castle and the town in a few hours.
"The plan is simple. We must first quench all of their doubts about the safety of this town, that it's safe for the taking. Once they settle in, we will wait until the arrival of the enemies. Then, once the undead come, and the Borzol faction goes out, through the secret passages under the prison cells in the town, our soldiers will enter and kill all the heathens.
"Since the battle will take place on the north side of the castle, the south side will be open for us. Our armies will simultaneously enter the city from the southern gates, regroup, and attack the Borzol faction from behind and the undead. Just at that time, the Storst faction will come from the left and help us.
"Our goal is to kill all of the Borzol faction. To you, it may sound easy, as we have huge numbers, but do not forget that it will take me time to neutralise Emperor Lich. I will need Lord Winter Ghost to help me reach the Lich, so I can utilise my special attack. During that time, Lady Aurora, Grand Wizard Gideon Gracia, Elder Chief of Storst, who is a Diamond Knight, and a dozen more Arch Wizards will focus their attack on the Chiefs of Borzol faction."
Sylvester put various blocks of cubes on the map to depict the simulation. "Now, I know that Grand Wizards fighting a Platinum Knight will be devastating. You all can easily destroy the entire Gracia Kingdom if you're not careful. So you must also drag him away, towards the north, into the White River between the mountains. There, you can go all out."
Sylvester knew he was already taking a huge risk with his life and pushing himself by going after possibly the strongest entity in the scenario, Emperor Lich. So, he could only hope that his side wins against Zelfim Borzol too.
"When do we start?" Felix asked.
Sylvester looked outside from the window and noticed the sun was merely two hours away from setting. "All of you go and hold your places. Stay hidden until I give you the signal. It will appear like a red light in the sky."
"What about you?" Sir Dolorem questioned, as he disliked seeing Sylvester make plans alone. Sylvester lost his finger the last time he did something alone.
Sylvester smiled evilly and folded the map. "Someone has to stay behind and set the traps. Furthermore, we still have a thousand barbarian prisoners that the Duchess captured in the previous skirmish. I will free them later so they can act as proof to the incoming Barbarians that the city is theirs."
Everyone took a cold breath as they learned that. Sylvester was about to give thousands of people a false hope of safety and then massacre them. Of course, they were not against it but felt somewhat scared of Sylvester. It was understandable because not even in fairy tales do you hear about a seventeen-year-old sage. Heck, even the prince charming in girls' stories was always in their twenties.
So, a schemer and a competent leader like Sylvester at such a young age was a sight to behold, and one could only be forced to wonder what would happen when he grows older.
Sylvester burned the map he used to plan the campaign and put a hand towards everyone, shining the light upon them while singing a hymn to ensure their faith in him was as high as their faith in Solis, for he was the blessed bard.
When the halo appeared, those who saw it for the first time kept their eyes wide open to mesmerise themselves with the divine moment—those who were used to it bowed their heads and prayed in their hearts.
♫With hearts full of bravery and faith in our lord,
We march to the battlefield to face the foe.
With strength in our souls and courage outpoured,
We'll fight for our land and make our foes know.♫
♫We are the soldiers of Solis, on a mission divine,
The powers he bestowed in hands of you and mine.
We'll face our fears, and with valour, we'll shine,
For we are soldiers of Solis. Victory is ours this time.♫
As Sylvester reached the end, his voice suddenly changed to something much heavier, as if coming from an entirely different person—so majestic yet warming. Sylvester's eyes, too, went completely shut, yet they appeared to be moving rapidly under the eyelid.
♫So let us go forth, with hearts full of pride,
And trust in our lord to be by our side.
I bless you, my children. To victory, you're tied,
I spoke through this bard, your divine guide.♫
♫May your heroic legends spread wide and far,
May the Holy Light enlighten you through this war!♫
Woosh!
Suddenly, everyone in the room felt their bodies being swept by warmth like never before. Their armours and swords shined in gold, and their hearts felt full of confidence and pride.
All their eyes centred on Sylvester as he went silent, yet the halo never vanished. His mouth kept moving as if talking with someone, but no voice came.
No one dared to speak or shake him, scared they might face the divine punishment of Solis. So they just watched with hearts pounding fast and hoping this warmth would forever last.
A few minutes later, he looked up and nodded. Nobody spoke again and left silently to fulfil their duties faithfully.
'Things I have to do to keep these fanatics from disobeying me.' Sylvester sighed and moved on to do his side of the work.
Yes, everything he did was a performance to spread his little cult as a little father. After all, many powerful men with decision-making powers were present in that room.
Eventually, after ensuring everyone had left the town, he walked around and placed the small explosives with sunlight-based activated runes. The trick was to put them in spots where the sunlight hits at a predicted time of the day.
After that, he changed his hair colour to what he had when visiting the Barbarians. Then, he walked down to the underground prison. There, the cells were full of Barbarian prisoners growling and shouting at him. They had not been fed for three days now.
Sylvester acted timid, walking with small footsteps. "Ah… P-Please don't harm me. I-I have come to free all of you. King Zelfim and Fralan have struck a deal with the Duchess. So everyone has left the town except me, as I must free you all."
"Come here! I will eat your flesh!" Someone tried to grab him from the gap in prison cells.
"I'm hungry!"
"Give me food, sunfucker!"
Sylvester made the best-terrified face and threw the whole keyholder into one cell. Then, he quickly sprinted out of prison, got on a horse, and sped out of the town, but he didn't go too far.
'These fools will look for food now and conclude the town is truly empty. So now I just need to wait.'
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Ape Together Strong
