After the two Valkyries of Divine Realm who were observing the situation, Cynthia and Lumina, returned to report it, God King judged that the range of this undead calamity would not be large. In addition, there had been no appearance of high-level demonic creatures above the Skeleton King rank, so Light Church of Human Race was fully capable of dealing with this. Therefore, the God King didn’t dispatched any Valkyries or combat angels to assist. Only if the Light Church of Human Race took the initiative to ask for help would the God King consider assisting.
However, the one who had truly stopped the spread of the Undead calamity was ** Demon King Asmode. She accepted Clyde’s request and used her Demon King powers to contain the death qi emitted by the Undead calamity within the city lord’s residence. This gave a large number of residents sufficient precious time to flee. This was Asmode’s way of returning Clyde’s favor. After all, that dark energy crystal Clyde had given her, although it was nothing important for him, had been very useful for her.
By the time sunlight illuminated Atad, this border city had become a city of the dead. A horde of Undead wandered about. Often, some Undead would slip out from the cracks in the city wall. When Steinbeck Fief’s scouting units had retreated yesterday, in spite of their personal safety, they had brought up the rear and risked their lives. Only after all saveable residents had withdrawn, had they withdrawn themselves. They had been the last group to withdraw. While retreating, they had also destroyed the city gate, blocking the main way for Undead to scatter out.
In the vicinity of Atad, there were several temporary campsites where the troops of a few forces were stationed. The troops of Steinbeck Fief who had just undergone a large-scale battle in Atad were also here. In that fierce battle, they had suffered more than a thousand casualties. Now, Princess Natalie commanded the remaining nine thousand people to set up a camp near Atad.
The other troops of Adelaide that had come to assist Atad were also stationed nearby. They were divided into two camps. One had come from Forte Fortress with over 15,000 troops under the command of Earl Hamm. The other one was over 6,000 troops under the command of Viscount Peter, the suzerain of Vernon City that was nearest to Atad. These two forces surrounded the place where the troops of Steinbeck Fief were stationed to the left and right sides.
However, Earl Hamm and Viscount Peter had no intention of jointly attacking Steinbeck Fief’s army; they had their own selfish calculations. Earl Hamm was even more afraid of death than Earl Harrison. Although he had over 15,000 troops, he didn’t want to take the lead to attack Steinbeck Fief’s army. The other side had over 9,000 people. If he truly wanted to wipe them out, he would lose at least half of his troops, a big loss.
As for Viscount Peter, his combat power was too poor. He couldn’t even ride a war-horse. Even if he had wanted to attack, he could do nothing. He just had over 6,000 people, which was fewer than the troops of Steinbeck Fief. Earl Hamm had more people, but he didn’t take the lead. Viscount Peter was also not a fool, so he didn’t want to charge first like cannon fodder. These over 6,000 troops were practically his entire family’s property. After losing them all, if Earl Hamm seized his military achievement, he would certainly lose blood.
The most important point was that Earl Harrison had already fled. Eldest Young Master Harman and Second Young Master Harriet had also withdrawn using teleportation magic scrolls. There was no one in charge of Atad. This was the reason why Earl Hamm and Viscount Peter had not attacked. Since the people requesting reinforcements had already fled, there was the problem of who would compensate them for assisting.
Now, a delicate peace was maintained among the three forces. There were no signs of conflict. In accordance with the traditions of human continent, once something very unusual emerged in a certain place, like the outbreak of an Undead calamity, before the arrival of Light Church’s troops, the troops in the vicinity of the incident, regardless of whether they were from the same camp or at war, they had to stop and jointly send troops to seal off the area. They would stabilize the situation as much as possible before Light Church arrived.
Earl Hamm’s Forte Fortress and Viscount Peter’s Vernon City were the nearest places to Atad. Although they didn’t want to deal with the sticky matters of an Undead calamity, because the distance was too close, if they didn’t put forth their strength, the Undead calamity was very likely to spread to their territories. Therefore, Earl Hamm and Viscount Peter were forced to stay here even though they wanted to pull back.
The route of Steinbeck Fief’s troops’ retreat was blocked by them. Earl Hamm and Viscount Peter wanted to drag one more person into these dirty waters; moreover, Steinbeck Fief’s army just happened to be stationed in the place nearest to Atad. Once Princess Natalie withdrew along with her army, they two might have to directly face the attacks of the Undead army. Therefore, before the troops of Light Church arrived, they wouldn’t let the army of Steinbeck Fief pass through them. Steinbeck Fief’s army was their free protection.
The situation was not optimistic. The total population of Atad, including the once defending troops, was over 100,000. In the outbreak of the Undead calamity yesterday, less than half of the residents had been able to escape by luck. The remaining over 50,000 people had turned into Undead and could break out of the city at any time. It was only a matter of time before that sealed city wall was breached.
As for the human armies in the vicinity, the three camps combined had just over 30,000 troops. This number was far inferior to the undead army over there. Basically, there were not enough people to seal off Atad. The difference in numbers was too great, even just surrounding the city was not realistic. Moreover, the armies of Steinbeck Fief and Viscount Peter were light armored units, which was very disadvantageous when dealing with Undead.
Only Earl Hamm’s troops had a heavy armored unit, but even that consisted of only two thousand or so troops. All the remaining were light armored troops. In addition, these two thousand or so people were his last resort, and it was impossible for him to easily dispatch them since training them was extremely expensive. Once the Undead army launched a large-scale attack, the human army here might not even able to withstand the first wave as no one here had brought a strong magician.
Those territories that were comparatively far away from Atad maintained a watchful state from the sidelines. Although the Suzerains had unanimously agreed to dispatch troops to assist, their mobilization speed was very slow. At a glance, anyone could see that it was intentional. According to their current mobilization speeds, it would take at least a week before they actually dispatched their troops. At that time Light Church’s troops would have already arrived. They basically wouldn’t need to expend their military force to save some territory that mattered little to them.
For Clyde, there was still good news. Because Atad had suffered an Undead calamity, the war situation was directly rewritten. Franconia Empire that had attacked Adrian Empire and overpowered it throughout the way was forced to abandon their attack plan just as they were close to surrounding Adrian Empire’s capital. Instead, they had to switch to withdrawing their troops. Since their rear supply lines had been broken off, they couldn’t attack Adrian Empire’s capital in the short term. In addition, the reinforcements of other nations of Victor Alliance would also arrive soon. If Franconia Empire’s expeditionary army didn’t withdraw now, there was a very big possibility of falling into a tight encirclement.
In order to avoid this scenario, the commanding officer of Franconia Empire’s expeditionary army resolutely stopped at the right time and commanded the expeditionary army to plunder Adrian’s wealth and quickly withdraw. Adrian Empire was powerless to organize a pursuing army within this short window. Thus, they could only watch Franconia Empire slipping away with the riches and slaves that had been plundered from them. They were completely powerless.
Once the expeditionary army of Franconia Empire withdrew, Adelaide Kingdom’s expeditionary army also followed suit. They were just a kingdom, nothing more. If they truly fought against Adrian, they were basically not the empire’s opponent. King Halid the Second, the King of Adelaide Kingdom, had already learned of the matters of the outbreak of the Undead calamity in Atad as well as the disappearance of Halisi, but this king didn’t immediately make a decision. He too was observing from the sidelines, waiting for the troops of Light Church to deal with this matter.
Adelaide Kingdom wanted to guard against Adrian Empire. After suffering their attack, Adrian Empire might retaliate against Adelaide Kingdom; therefore, the army in Halid’s hand couldn’t be dispatched randomly. Otherwise, when Adrian Empire counterattacked, he wouldn’t have an army to defend himself. Although even his daughter was missing, Halid the Second could only issue orders, asking the aristocrats of nearby places to step forth to deal with it. However, the aristocrats of those places were masters of careful calculations and strict budgeting. No one wanted to be the first one to court death by going there to block the Undead army. The situation thus fell into an awkward state for a while.
Clyde had already returned to the campsite where Steinbeck Fief’s army was located, Samuel Village. After the outbreak of the Undead calamity, the residents of Samuel Village had all fled, leaving behind a discarded, uninhabited village, perfect for Steinbeck Fief’s army to enter and be stationed in. The Human army was stationed outside the village while inside the village was the army of demonic creatures controlled by the Ancient Demon King Andrisno.
That mysterious carriage fleet of Clyde transported the captured loot into Samuel Village for safekeeping. Even those troops of Steinbeck Fief under his leadership didn’t know that their Suzerain had secretly smuggled things into Samuel City.
Clyde took the residence that had originally belonged to Samuel City’s mayor as their new headquarters. Here, he was thinking about how to deal with the issue of Atad. Ancient Demon King Andrisno wearing a black gothic Lolita outfit was quietly standing behind Clyde, accompanying her master on a stroll around the garden.
“Master, those undead creatures can’t be considered high leveled. As long as we make a move, they can be taken care of at any time.”
“Andrisno, it will not be good if by chance someone saw it. I don’t want to cause more waves.”
Over 100,000 demonic creature troops under Andrisno’s leadership were hidden in the vicinity of Steinbeck Fief. Originally, they had been responsible for transportation, and their function hadn’t changed much even now. From the very beginning, Clyde’s group could have escaped unscathed. With over 100,000 demonic creature troops in the rear, the over 50,000 Undeads waiting in Atad weren’t a big issue. If Clyde wanted it, then the demonic creature troops under Ancient Demon King Andrisno could even get rid of those surrounding 20,000 troops of Adelaide Kingdom in passing.
“It doesn’t matter, Lord Clyde. As long as all of them die, there will be no witness.”
“That is also reasonable. Eh, Natalie, is there something you want to report?”
“I must disturb you, Master. Earl Hamm and Viscount Peter have dispatched special envoys. They say that they wanted to discuss the issue of how to jointly withdraw. It is inconvenient for me to meet with their envoys.”
“Then, I will go to meet those special envoys. Those two fellows truly don’t have guts. Before fighting, they are already considering how to run away.”
