At the sharp corner beside the cliff where Jack and the others were waiting, they heard the sound of footsteps. It wasn't steady steps that characterized the soldiers' march. The sound was more akin to a panic run from a mob. It was hasty footsteps and they were getting louder.
Soon, a figure appeared from the corner. It was a draconian soldier, but the soldier's scales were grey and dull. Its eyes were lifeless. It was a zombie unit.
Others soon appeared. They were running at such a high speed that their feet skidded on the ground before they managed to turn. One or two even couldn't stop their momentum and ended up tumbling past the edge and falling to the marshland below.
'Why the rush…?' Jack thought. Then he thought probably because Master knew Aldryth was close, so he sent these zombie soldiers to chase at maximum speed to pin her down so their main army could catch up.
Unfortunately for them, an obstacle was waiting for them.
"Brace!" Jack commanded.
The paladins lifted their large shield, forming a wall. They also activated Heaven's Shield. Illusory shields appeared in front of their shields, giving them two layers of defensive walls.
The dead soldiers crashed into the shields at high speed. They struck their weapons frantically at the shields like rabid animals.
"Hold!" Jack shouted.
More and more zombie soldiers turned the corner and rammed themselves into the shields. Their pushing force increased with their numbers, but the sharp corner made it so that there was only a limited space for them. The other zombie soldiers at the back couldn't move forward without crashing into their comrades. This crash caused the zombie soldiers at the front to be pushed to the side and fell off the road instead.
Seeing the crammed enemies in front of him, Jack used the Judgement of Past Kings. The consecutive attacks destroyed the dead soldiers in droves while they were held by the paladins. Dead soldiers from the back came in and replaced the fallen ones while the past kings of Themisphere came and unleashed their skills one after another.
After the Judgement of Past King ended, Jack gave the order for the others to attack, "Send this army of darkness back to hell! Clatu, verata, nictu…!"
The native soldiers were confused. Was that some kind of an outworlder's battle cry? Even when they didn't understand, they followed with enthusiasm. They all shouted, "Nictu…!!!
The mages cast their AOE spells. Jack did as well. The musketeers rained bullets from above. The healers healed the paladins as the paladins took the brunt of the attacks.
The zombie soldiers seemed unending. Out of sheer force, a gap was finally torn between the paladins. A zombie soldier rushed through but was quickly impaled by a spear of an ancient champion. A second zombie soldier came through and was sliced apart by another ancient champion wielding an axe.
Ancient champions didn't have preferred weapons. They were free to utilize any weapons they were most comfortable with.
Another ancient champion wielding a greatsword came forward and bashed the other zombies who tried to slip through the gap. He stood himself in the gap, preventing more zombies from slipping through. His body was covered by a glowing sphere. Peniel informed Jack that it was a skill called Ki Armor, a non-standard skill that could be learned by Weapon Master or Battle Monk.
The ancient champion could also use Ki Strike, delivering high burst damage to multiple enemies right in front of him.
Among the zombie soldiers were some high-leveled ones who could fly. Emris and the other officers took care of them.
The battle continued for a very long time, but Jack and the others held the line. They lost some soldiers, but the reserves quickly replaced these fallen soldiers.
Even so, the enemy lost much more. The sharp turn made them unable to utilize their large number. They were just mindlessly throwing themselves to be slaughtered. Many were forced to fall into the marshland below. The altitude they were at was very high so the fall caused high damage. Even if they didn't die, they were immediately pounced on by the high-level monsters inhabiting the marshland.
When the sun was about to set, the intensity of the zombie soldiers' charge lessened. The number of the charging zombie soldiers continued to reduce until they completely stopped.
"Huh?" Jack looked at the empty corner in confusion.
'Have they given up?' Jack thought. According to John's estimation. Even if it was just the zombie army, if the enemy continued throwing their entire number at them, it would take roughly three full days since they could only take down a few at a time in such a constricted space. That was not even considering Liguritudum and Aurebor's live armies.
Multiple reserves were already prepared to deal with this protracted battle.
Emris flew past the corner to look at the other side. "There is no more enemy!" He shouted to Jack.
"That was fast," Jack thought.
John had expected this scenario where the enemies cut their losses and retreated to take the long roundabout way instead of forcing themselves through this road, but that would mean the enemy gave up on Aldryth. If this happened, they should also start marching to Lefkauselis and prepared their final stand there.
"That smart ass predicted that the battle here lasts at least two days before the enemy gives up. I guess he overestimates the enemy's determination," Jack muttered.
He was about to send the order to march back to the plains when he heard a rumbling noise from the distance. Since he was high up, he had a better view of most of the terrains. The mists were not so thick up here so they were not enough to block his dragon eye's vision.
From the direction where he had heard the noise, he saw a large number of troops. The surprising thing was, these troops were on the eastern side of the marshland, which was also the plains where the bulk of his army and Aldryth's army were waiting.
"Damn it! The zombie army we have been fighting against is only a distraction," Jack realized after seeing the sight.
At this time, this large army was heading to where John and Aldryth were. He did not doubt whose this army belonged to. The question was, how did the enemy move to the other side of the marshland without passing through this road?
