Chapter 484 - Give Flesh, Break Bone!
Dave's Creeping Death formation kept moving, culling the players and demons whenever they dared raise a sword against them. The assault became too great and too strenuous for the Heaven's Dawn guild to sustain.
"Keep going! We have to be the first among the legions to get to the ash king's Keep!" Dave shouted.
And his undead all relied in even more enthusiasm, their weapons sliced stronger, cut deeper and drew buckets of blood. The legion's advance was devastating.
"Ride to battle!" the shout of a player resounded through all the battlefield.
And from behind the demoralized players and suffering demons, a wave of Taurus demons came charging ahead.
"MOVE OUT OF THE WAY!" Shouted the same player who was riding on the back of a Taurus Demon. These creatures were like minotaur's, taller than the height of three men, with muscular arms wider than a tree trunk. They had a nose ring and wore nothing but a loincloth. They didn't seem to mind showing their six packs, as they were stronger than steel and never needed any protection. They wielded a broad sword in one arm and a crescent sword in the other.
These demons, Dave had seen on the siege of the Burning Heights, two of these Demons, in fact, needed Orn and Gale to take care of. And now, the one riding the back of one of these Demons was no one but Zhang Shi.
And behind Zhang Shi were at least a hundred of these Demons that needed Doom Knight level undead to stop.
"Let me see you stop this one Skelly!" Zhang Shi called and pointed with his katana sword forward. Causing a blood wave as large as the tide to rise from the ground and crash against the ranks of the marching Death Knights.
The attack didn't break the line, but it aided greatly in destabilizing it, especially since the moment the blood washed over the undead, it soaked the ground, making it slippery. And it was then when the turn of the charging Taurus Demons came. With their hulking size, and momentum gaining advance, not even their kin, demon brethren's dared stand in their way in fear of being crushed under the stomp of their earth-shaking hooves.
Dave frowned heavily. What was Zhang Shi doing here? He clearly still had his blood legacy, so he shouldn't have sacrificed his S legacy class for the Ash King. Then how come he was invited to this siege? Wasn't it only for the players that are followers of the Ash King?
But the answer soon came to light. Dave had finally saw that Zhang Shi had two horns growing from his temple.
"Damn," Dave cursed.
If it was any other player, it wouldn't have mattered if an S legacy player turned to the demon side. But for Dave this meant an entirely different thing as Zahng Shi, leader of a Super Guild is now supporting the Ash King. This meant the full force of the Super Guild is bound to come and assist him.
Perhaps just the Blood Ragers Super guild is no match for Dave's troops. But paired with White Ghost's mind, and the Ash King's forces. This battle gained too many variable, Dave was about to be put in a tight spot.
The Taurus Demons charged the front, finding it easy to crash into the destabilized Death Knight. The large Taurus were heavy, their hooves dug deep into the ground giving them more balance, while the Death Knights were comparably lighter and suffered from bad positioning.
The horned creatures began culling Undead as they wad through their ranks with utter ease, all while the Death Knights found it harder and harder to march, hold their shields and stay in formation.
The more the Taurus Demons walked in, the harder the battle will be.
The players from the Demon side were more than thrilled to re-join the battle after Zhang Shi's cavalry charge was successful.
Seeing his immediate action rewarded with success, Zhang Shi shouted, "What are you going to do now, Skelly! Your forces are in shambles!"
Dave wasn't talking, there was no need to answer back. He turned and muttered, "Spark, come with me."
"As you command!" came the immediate answer of Dave's Lich pyromancer.
The two moved forward, until they were among the caster ranks that desperately tried to hold off the Taurus demons from wreaking more havoc.
"Spark, burn it all, the blood on the ground." Dave said.
"The flames will harm our soldiers." Spark said.
"As much as it would pain me, I know my Undead, they would rather be set on fire and able to fight back, than die without being able to properly hold a footing."
"You are indeed wise!" Spark nodded and took to the skies.
Dave was genuinely envious, even if he was a part Lich, he was a battle Lich, and never had the included ability, [Fly]. He was more suited to battle and casting, than casting magic alone.
Spark rose up, held both arms up and spoke, "Fire, Rain down from above!"
"UNDEAD! SHIELD UP!" Dave's order was immediately followed. Any undead capable of holding his shield did so, and any undead unable to do so, was protected by the undead right next to him.
The skies turned red, and small meteorites, the size of a fist came down like bullets, shooting down indiscriminately, at undead and Taurus demons alike.
The Taurus demons had no protection from the infernal hail of flames, so they used their thick arms to protect themselves. The small meteorites hit like swings of a sledgehammer, piercing skin and cracking bone. While cauterizing the wound due to their heat.
The Undead escaped marginally unscathed, but the attack's real purpose was to serve as fuel for Dave's next assault.
His hands blurred at a fast pace making complex Ninja Seals, he was no way as fast as the Tengu, but he was fast enough that a random player would see nothing but a blur.
Dave raised his index upward and summoned forty eight infernal dragon skulls.
The dragon skulls roared at once, shaking the breath away form the enemy players.
"Burn it down!" Dave ordered, and the Spectral Dragon skulls opened their collective mouths and shot waves of incinerating heat at the ground, at the undead, and at the Taurus demons.
The flames scorched the ground to the brink of it turning to lava.
"Casters! Mass Curse!" Dave called.
The casters were spared from the infernal dragons's assault, so they had the ability to cast spells unfettered. Their collective cast of one spell caused the Burning Death Knights to heal form the damage of Dave's own skill. But the flames were still covering them, the casters managed a balance where they healed the Death Knights constantly even if Dave's flames were burning them.
The Death Knights, unbothered by pain, as they felt it none. Moved while their bodies burned, their shields burned, and their swords were red. An undead on fire was not a sight one would forget, especially if there were tens of thousands of them, all coming to kill you.
the players invigorated courage soon dwindled to shaking hope. The ground that was the cause of worry for Undead became sturdier. But for Dave it was not enough.
"Spark, take control of the fire," Dave ordered.
"As the lord commands!"
The Pyromancer began moving his scepter, and with each and every movement, the whole fires on the battlefield moved along with him, like a mesmerized snake, following the tunes of the flute. The fire coiled, consumed the forty-eight spectral dragons and turned into a long dragon of flames.
The Serpentinian dragon slithered across the battlefield, gobbling up demons, burning them to ash as it came out the other way. The losses have been returned a dozen times more as more Demons burnt to Dave's reversed assault.
Zhang Shi was at a complete loss, he was unable to change the current situation, the Taurus Demons had lost their ability to march through the Death Knights unobstructed. And if he could not use [Blood Tide] anytime soon to reenact the slippery situation.
The ground had turned hard soon enough and now, the Taurus Demons were surrounded. Even if they were stronger than your average Death Knight, the latter were specialized in hunting big prey in groups.
The Taurus Demons were about to witness their final day in the Underworld. While Spark's fire raged rampant in the demons backline, consuming low tier demons and players alike.
"Dare thee use fire in my presence! Such insolence!" came the words of one most dreaded of the Demon kind.
The Ash King's persona manifested, a demonic face with coiling horns, fire surged around it, and it looked at the battlefield with rage. Its red burning gaze was enough to tame the fire serpent into dissipating.
"Lord! He wrested the control of fire from me. I had to dissipated not to have it turned against us." Spark shouted
"You did good. Don't worry, he can't do more than that, and the attack was enough for now. Undead! Regroup! Support brigades, reinforce the frontline, cover the spots where we lost undead. Casters! Archers, kill those oxen brutes. I need my army clear of any hostile forces within it!" Dave gave the order and the undead followed.
The Taurus Demons were welcomed with hails of arrows, spears, sword gashes and cuts and disabling hexes and curses. It all happened whole Zhang Shi's forces were trying to retreat and regroup.
Dave had given up on the opportunity to cull them, he didn't want his army to be separated. His forces had to move as one. So, killing the intruders in his ranks was a priority he couldn't ignore.
Dave had yet to personally join the fray, he knew full well that White Ghost had something set up for him, and until he exhausted enough of White Ghost's resources, he was not going to blindly charge the battlefield. As vexing as it was, Dave was unable to slaughter to his heart's content. In this quest, his own survival was a must. He knew that he needed to have his full might ready when he meets the Ash King, face to face.
"Ash King, you're playing dirty. But we can all play dirty. Samael," Dave called.
"Yes, Prince Kis'Shtiengbrah."
"It's your turn. Show them how an Abyssal Knight fights."
"As your highness orders." Samael said. Before he was about to dissipate into shadows. Dave called
"Hold…"
The Abyssal Knight stopped.
"That day, when you faced against the Undead King. Do you remember?" Dave said.
"Oh, yes, how could I forget that horrible form I turned into, I rather not show my…ghoulish side, it's rather…ungentlemanly." Samael said while grinning.
"Today, we're no longer gentlemen, Samael. Go, have fun. Show them how a real ghoul fights," Dave said.
A vibrating growl came from the ghoul. The sound ratcheted up to a continuous bestial scream, accompanied by wet tearing sounds as Samael started growing, changing.
The ghoul grew taller as his shoulders widened, back hunched and swollen with brutish muscle. The bones of his face grew immensely thicker and heavier, showing curved fangs, the chin and jaw protruding like a steam shovel. The serene, friendly ghoul that Dave knew was gone, replaced by a savage, frenzied brute three times bigger and taller than his original form.
"With Plleaaaaasure!" hissed the Abyssal Knights.
The players were about to meet one who will be haunting them in their worst nightmares.
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