Malcolm and his group, who were traversing the forest, suddenly came to a complete stop.
The reason for this was that the Oracle in their party, who had the gift of Clairvoyance, suddenly told them to stop their advance.
Oracle was a rare profession, similar to Lux's Necromancer, that branched out from the Cleric profession. They were blessed with great foresight, which allowed them to sense dangers that were personally targeted at them.
"They know we are coming, and they are currently setting up an ambush ahead," the Oracle warned. "They have over fifty Individuals, and six of them have the ability to threaten us. If we don't change our plan, we will definitely fall into their trap."
Malcolm and his comrades hesitated, wondering whether they should continue their assault or not. Although they were confident in their strength, fifty individuals with six of them able to threaten them was a risk they didn't want to take.
All of them were behind enemy lines, and if they weren't careful, they could be surrounded with no path of escape.
"What do you propose?" Malcolm asked. "Should we retreat?"
"Yes," the Oracle replied in a heartbeat. "We can only accomplish our mission if we have the element of surprise. Once that advantage is taken out of the picture, our group will have a hard time escaping if they manage to surround us completely."
Malcolm nodded his head in agreement. "Everyone, fall back. We will resume our mission at a later time."
Without another word, Malcolm's group retreated. They didn't have any intention of sacrificing any of their comrades in a battle if it was not favorable to them.
Lux, who was watching their enemies head back to their Main Camp, clicked his tongue in annoyance.
He had asked Sherlock to lend him some of his elite soldiers to help them ambush Malcolm and his group, but due to the current state of the battlefield, the Gnome only managed to gather over forty veterans to accompany them in their mission.
Unfortunately, for some unexpected reason, their enemies decided to turn back, leaving the ambush that Lux had prepared just for them useless.
In the end, Lux was forced to return the men back to the Main Camp and leave the Map Projector to Asmodeus.
Although it was quite inconvenient to rely on the eyes of his skeleton minions that had been spread over the different parts of the battlefield, the possibility of Malcolm's group returning was high.
This was why he didn't have a choice but to leave the Map Projector to Asmodeus and ordered the Archlich to activate the map once every ten minutes, and only use it for a minute every time to check the locations of their enemies on the map.
—-----
"This place is boring," an Ammarian Soldier wearing his white armor said. "I wish I was on the battlefield. I could have been killing hundreds of Yelan Soldiers out there, but I'm stuck here doing guard duty."
"Shut up," the soldier commented. "Can't you just focus on your mission? We still have a job to do, so no more whining!"
The soldiers manning their post resumed the observation of their surroundings. They were the sentries stationed on the outskirts of the battlefield, and their main role was to light a smoke signal to inform their General if there were enemies attacking their outpost.
From within the shadow of a tree, a Nighstalker emerged.
Ishtar carefully observed the camp in front of her and memorized the layout of their defenses. A minute later, she disappeared, turning into a black mist that flew in the direction of her Master.
Lux was currently hiding under the cover of several trees in order to prevent the sentries from seeing him.
"There are over fifty of them, and a surprise attack is not going to work," Ishtar reported. "Shall we proceed, Master?"
"Yes," Lux replied. "Since we can't take them by surprise, let us just take them head-on."
Lux summoned Pazuzu, and Orion as well as his Skeleton Grand Archers.
After sharing his connection with Asmodeus, the Half-Elf was aware of the current situation of the ongoing war.
He wanted to have the enemy think that a detached force was attacking them from the side, and send some of their manpower in his direction in order to divert some of their attention away from the main battlefield.
The Sentries on duty suddenly found themselves staring at what seemed to be a very chubby Knight who was flying in their direction.
Seeing that the Knight wore silver armor, they initially thought that it was someone from their side. However, once the lone knight came closer, they could instantly tell that he wasn't one of their allies.
"Madlad Rush!" Pazuzu roared as he flew towards the outpost like a cannonball, smashing the small watchtower with his shield.
"Enemy attack!" the Captain of the outpost shouted. "Light the signal pyre! Everyone, with me—ack!"
A dark blade, coated with deadly poison, pierced through the captain's throat before he could finish his command. Ishtar, who had been lying in wait to take down the leader of the soldiers, immediately went for the kill right after the man made his presence known, leaving his subordinates without a leader.
At that moment, the ground trembled as Orion broke through their encampment, thrashing everyone that stood in his way.
Lux didn't join the battle and simply commanded his troops from afar. He was currently wearing a black robe and a mask to hide his identity.
He didn't know if the Skystead Alliance knew about his abilities, which was his primary concern. However, since there was no turning back for him and his group, they really had no choice but to fight against Malcolm and his comrades if they wished to clear this mission.
Rains of arrows descended upon the soldiers as the Skeleton Grand Archers fired volley after volley. Ishtar, Orion, and Pazuzu, played their roles well and scattered the enemy's forces, making them flee like wild ducks that had heard a gunshot.
Lux and his forces didn't even bother to extinguish the flames that had started to burn brightly, creating smoke that acted as a signal, alerting the main army that their outposts were under attack.
When the Half-Elf became convinced that they had caused enough mayhem, he decided to teleport to the next location and bring down another outpost to cause confusion in the Ammarians' strategy.
An hour later, Lux had managed to destroy three outposts of different locations, tricking Moriarty into thinking that the Yelan Army had managed to slip through their defenses. Because of this, he ordered the main force to retreat, while he sent a detached force to scour the forest and marshlands that were within their line of defense.
—-----
In one of the outposts that Lux had destroyed…
"What is it?" Malcolm asked as one of his comrades examined the destroyed camp with a critical eye.
"Wait," a young man with sharp features replied. "I need to confirm something."
Picking up one of the arrows on the ground, he used his nose to sniff its tail feather. A moment later, he pointed towards the East side of the forest.
"The scent is coming from that direction," the young man said. "Follow me."
Malcolm nodded his head and the rest of the group followed the young man as he tried to understand what kind of enemies took down three of the outposts that were deep within their line of defense.
"Here, there are footprints," the young mah pointed to the ground. "Archers, all of them. Although faint, there are footprints that were headed in this direction. But this is where the trail ends. None of them moved past this point. Also, I smell the stench of the Undead…"
At the mention of the word Undead, a frown appeared in Malcolm's face.
"What do you think?" Malcolm glanced at the Oracle who had also crouched down on the ground, chanting something that was barely audible to the ears.
"What he said is true, I can sense traces of Necrotic Magic in the surroundings," the Oracle replied. "It is possible that we are fighting against a Lich, or a Necromancer, both of which could summon the Undead."
A moment of silence descended upon the group as they assessed the mysterious enemy that they didn't expect to encounter in their mission.
"What do you suggest that we do?" Malcolm asked the Oracle.
The Oracle smiled as Divine Energy surged in his hands. "What else? We just need to find it and kill it. Who knows? This might be a Wandering Field Boss that the dungeon has created for us. We faced something similar to this in the Assyrian Catacombs. Have you forgotten? That monster even dropped a Pseudo-Legendary Item that is now in my hands."
The Oracle summoned a golden staff with a crimson skull adorning its tip.
"I don't take this out casually because I am an Oracle," the Oracle replied. "It is not… something an Oracle can use in public, right?"
Malcolm smiled after seeing the golden staff in the Oracle's hands.
"Indeed." Malcolm smirked. "I guess we now need to hunt the wandering Field Boss. Who knows? It might just drop another Pseudo-Legendary Item if we kill it."
Malcolm's comrades chuckled after his declaration.
The Oracle smiled and chanted an incantation. A moment later, a purple beam of light escaped the crimson skull that adorned his golden staff and flew towards the East.
"He's there," the Oracle said after finishing his tracking incantation. "Let's catch ourselves a Field Boss."
Malcolm and the rest of his members no longer wasted their time and traversed Eastward through the forest.
All of them had greedy looks on their faces, as if the precious loot that the "Boss Monster" would drop was already in the bag.
