The main city gate of Atad was unable to bear the continuous attacks of the Undead and was finally breached at midnight. Then, a large number of Undead pursued the smell of living people like beasts chasing after their prey.
The first to bear the brunt of this hunt were Steinbeck Fief’s troops. Their temporary campsite was nearest to Atad, so they naturally became the first targets of the Undead army. Clyde changed into special silvery armor that only veteran commanders of the suicide squads would dare to wear and arrived at the frontlines. This kind of special silvery armor appeared very conspicuous at night. Although there was a risk of courting disaster, a general wearing this kind of armor indicated his or her determination to live or die in the frontline of the battlefield.
Clyde arrived at the front of the defense line. The temporary campsite of Steinbeck Fief’s army was located at the peripheries of Samuel Village. Because the time had been quite tight, the soldiers had not yet dug up the necessary fortifications. Still, the commanding ability of Princess Natalie was very strong. In the very short time she had led this army, these soldiers had already gained a certain level of combat power. By the time Clyde arrived at the frontlines, the soldiers had already donned their armors and dug a trench half a meter deep.
In accordance with the layout of the ground, they had originally planned to dig at least three trenches for defense. However, they hadn’t had enough time, so they could only give up on digging other trenches, instead using all their strength to ensure the smooth progression of the first. The troops of Steinbeck Fief were temporary recruits, so their war preparations were not particularly adequate. The number of archers was limited, and they only had roughly a thousand or so arrows combined. In this defensive battle, it was likely that all would die for their nation, willingly or not.
Clyde could see that many soldiers’ hands violently trembled while holding their weapons. Since their opponent was an Undead army, from the very beginning, the human soldiers had innately felt fear. Just standing here and not fleeing could already be regarded as having great courage. This time, Clyde didn’t want to rely on the 100,000 demonic creature army stationed in Samuel City. If he did so, these human soldiers would never truly grow up. Without experiencing real life or death battles and being tempered through finding narrow escape in even the most hopeless situations, they would never mature to become true veterans.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I have already made Prin… Her Excellency Natalie withdraw to Samuel Village and activate the teleportation magic array there to return to Steinbeck Fief. Although she very much wanted to stay, she is a woman, so I don’t intend to let her stay here.”
“It will take over one hour for this array to activate. The time is too little. Even when retreating, it will be impossible for everyone to withdraw. Therefore, I have decided to take command here. I will stand fast until the last moment. The Undead shall never gain ground so long as we stand. If you want to quit, then you can walk away now. I will not force you all!”
After Clyde expressed his determination to defend this place to the death, the soldiers looked at each other in blank dismay. Although there were many who had previously planned to flee, after hearing Clyde’s words, they felt that if they ran away like this, they would never be able to lift their heads for their entire lifetimes, and people would look down on them upon their return to Steinbeck Fief. When Princess Natalie had led these troops, she had treated these low-born soldiers from the independent cities without discrimination, quickly obtaining their respect and admiration. They had always planned to pay this debt of gratitude. Now just happened to be the perfect chance.
“No one wants to quit? After the Undead army attacks, there will be no chance to escape!”
“Lord Clyde, since you don’t care about your life or death, what are we afraid of?”
“Lord Clyde, just issue the order. We are willing to stand fast until the final moments. We will cover the safe evacuation of Lord Natalie. The fief needs Lord Natalie. Let us fight till the last to protect Lord Natalie!”
The soldiers’ hands no longer trembled, and their expressions hardened. It could be vaguely seen that they had truly prepared themselves to die. They had already made their final choice and were determined to cover the evacuation of their highest commanding officer, Princess Natalie. When all was said and done, they were men. Letting women withdraw to safety first was their responsibility.
“Very good, here are tens of thousands of gold coins. Later, all will be divided among you as a reward. In addition, as long as you can successfully defend the front, there will be even greater rewards.”
Clyde wasn’t selfish. Since he currently couldn’t take out the 60,000 gold coins given to him by Baron Hake and Knight Peer from the magic debit card, he took out tens of thousands of gold coins from his storage ring and dropped them on the command platform, intending to stimulate the soldiers’ morale.
But, what surprised Clyde was that even after seeing the dazzling gold coins, the expressions of Steinbeck Fief’s soldiers didn’t change. Seemingly, this vast fortune was a pile of completely worthless metals, nothing more. Some high-ranking military officers walked over and picked up a few gold coins. After examining them for a while, they quietly tossed them back into the pile.
“What’s wrong? If you think this is insufficient, there will be more rewards as long as you all successfully defend this front.”
“Commander… Lord Clyde, we will all die. What’s the use of these gold coins? We must trouble you to pass them to Lord Natalie. Let her bring them back to the fief and give them to people in need! In the future, just making a simple commemoration tablet for us will be enough.”
Clyde was a little moved. Although he was merely pretending, the soldiers truly revealed their feelings. They were prepared to die. This made him feel ashamed. Nothing would happen to Samuel Village, as there were over 100,000 demonic creature troops hiding there. The attacking Undead army would at most flatten these peripheral defenses. Later, they would instinctively make a detour and attack other places. They wouldn’t dare attack Samuel Village. The so-called teleportation magic array was a white lie, nothing more.
“You all are true soldiers. Such being the case, here are some bottles. After drinking them, we will surpass death. Don’t worry about being infected by the Undead. Put your all into this fight! Are you all willing?”
“We are! Commander, in any case, we will all die. We don’t care.”
Clyde took out several special potions he had obtained from Witch Ista before setting out for this trip. This was a kind of delayed suicide poison. After drinking it, any human would obtain great physical strength, and their latent potential would burst out; however, after two hours, they would die It was an essential potion for suicide squads.
In accordance with the current situation, even resisting the enemy for two hours would be hard. The first batch of attacking Undead consisted of over 20,000 according to visual estimates. That was over twice the number of defending troops. Their only advantage was that after drinking the poison, the human soldiers would be in half-dead special states where they wouldn’t be killed by death qi because they would already be counted as dead. Similarly, they would not be infected and turned into Undeads after falling to the attacks of the Undead. After all, one couldn’t become more dead if one was already in a zombie-like half-dead state.
The soldiers of Steinbeck Fief had already seen through life and death. They resolutely drank this deadly poison and fought for the final dignity of human soldiers. Regardless of whether they were soldiers or high-ranking military officers, they didn’t hesitate. This made Clyde who was completely unaffected by this poison conscience-stricken. Although he was only pretending, the spirit of these human soldiers still touched this Great Old One.
Before the start of the battle, under his command, Steinbeck Fief’s army piled bits and pieces within the temporary campsite in front of the path leading to Samuel Village, personally blocking their own route of retreat. Then, pouring oil, they ignited this barrier, making a raging flame wall that could delay the march of the Undead army once they were overrun, giving Princess Natalie more time.
After personally cutting off their route of retreat, Steinbeck Fief’s army made many bonfires in the vicinity of the trench to make their campsite more conspicuous in the darkness. Thus, the distant Undead army crazily rushed towards Steinbeck Fief’s defensive line. Clyde and the others had intentionally lured the attacking undead army.
When the Undead army arrived, the defending troops released flaming arrows. Although there were not many archers, and many had bad aim, the Undead army wouldn’t dodge. In addition, there were too many of them. Therefore, no matter how the arrows fell, as long as they shot the arrows in the right direction, something would usually be hit.
“Release the arrows. There’s no need to economize!”
Clyde who stood on the highest command platform was especially conspicuous in his dazzling silvery armor. The attacking undead army was disturbed by the burning arrows, and their march speed greatly slowed. However, they were not afraid of burning. Many Undead were covered in fire, even igniting surrounding teammates, but they continued to fearlessly advance. Even if they were so burned that their legs gave out, they would crawl towards the trench.
Any normal human army would have already panicked and fled upon seeing this, but the brave soldiers here remained expressionless. Like those undeads, they had no fear. After all, they were already dead. After nearly exhausting the burning arrows, the Undead army finally reached the trench.
Clyde didn’t need to give any commands. The soldiers threw their spears towards the Undead army and pulled out their daggers to close in. Even if the Undead were beheaded, that wouldn’t stop their assault. Without the purifying support of light or holy class magic, if they wanted to finish off an Undead, they could only completely destroy its body. In this type of situation, spear-like weapons were not convenient and far worse than shorter, close-combat weapons; therefore, the soldiers abandoned their spears.
The defensive line of Steinbeck Fief’s troops changed into hell on the human world. Both sides engaged in a melee in the vicinity of the trench. All had forgotten death and fought in a most primitive and brutal way. In a moment, blood flowed like a river, sloshing at the bottom of the trench, and cut-off limbs, heads, and internal organs flew everywhere. The battle cries of the soldiers were like the howls of wild beasts. Shattering the quiet night, their battle cries spread quite far. Even the campsites of Earl Hamm and Viscount Peter in the rear could hear the fighting.
The red-eyed defending troops of Steinbeck Fief fought in the vicinity of the trench, forcibly stalling the undead army for more than an hour. Every step backward motivated them to force the Undead back to reclaim the lost ground. They never retreated. Many dead soldiers mixed with mutilated Undead corpses, difficult to distinguish between. In the sky far away, a group of griffin knights stopped and watched this scene. Augusta Empire’s elite Olide Griffin Knight Regiment’s Commander Aosi along with “Extreme Night Princess” Ophelia happened to witness this tragic effort.
Because of the distance, Ophelia couldn’t make out that the commander was Clyde. She looked solemn and quiet, but there was little concealed admiration on her face. At this time, commander Aosi wanted to ride the griffin and advance, but she was stopped by Princess Ophelia.
“I never thought the cowardly Victor Alliance would have such an iron-willed army. Aosi, what do you want to do?”
“Of course, we must assist them. Everyone is human. Do we still need to split ourselves into alliances and leagues at such a time?”
“No, they don’t intend to live. If you go to assist them, their efforts will be meaningless. Give consideration to the dignity of these men, intelligent women should understand…”
“But, it is a knight’s duty…”
“Stand here. Earl Hamm and Viscount Peter, those two are expected to run away with their troops in panic. After this is over… our enemies… our so-called allies over there. We will bury them together as a final tribute!”
Clyde who was pretending to bravely command the troops from the trench had never expected that the drama he had casually conspired to become the most hot-blooded blocking action in the history of Ximengsi Continent’s Human Race. After it spread, it was regarded as a heroic battle, making various bards sing in praise.
