Do you have a problem with necromancers?

Chapter 107 Catch them all in one fell swoop

Upon learning that Eagle Castle had been lost again, Carmes flew into a rage and personally killed more than a dozen deserters to vent his immense anger.

Twin Eagle Fortress, which guards the entrance to the Serpent Mountain Range, must be held, otherwise the supply line to the rear will be cut off; then what about the main Eagle Fortress? It certainly cannot be lost either, because Eagle Fortress is the key hub for controlling the entire plain south of the Raging Tide River. If the enemy occupies Eagle Fortress, they can use the fortress as a base to harass and attack in all directions, and the subsequent savage army will not be able to cross the Raging Tide River.

When the Wild Elf King Kaellik arrives here and learns that Eagle Hold is still with the enemy, he will surely cut off his head and make it into a goblet.

Carmes did not hesitate for long and quickly made a decision:

Reclaim Eagle Castle!

Of course, if we lead the army back now, the enemy might use the same trick again and come back to retake Twin Eagle Fortress.

Carmes decided to split his forces.

He left some troops to defend this place, transferred another part of his troops to garrison Little Eagle Fortress, and finally sent the rest of his men to capture the main Eagle Fortress.

"The enemy has split up their forces." Aurora, having finished her observation, jumped down from a tree on a hilltop near Great Eagle Fortress and reported, "The Wild Elf chieftain has left with the main force, leaving the entire tribe to defend this place."

“Very good,” Renn said with satisfaction. “That makes things simpler.”

"What's the point of splitting up our forces?" Ellina asked in a deep voice. "Even if the enemy's numerical advantage is weakened by splitting up their forces, we still can't handle them with our limited manpower. Now all three castles have become difficult to capture."

“The point is that I’ve moved these savages away from that chief,” Raine snapped his fingers and said calmly. “Aurora, it’s up to you now.”

Aurora nodded, then turned and followed Bersalia deeper into the woods to change her clothes.

After a moment, the wood elf hero, now dressed, pushed aside the bushes and returned to the crowd.

Her hair was disheveled, her face was covered in gaudy paint, and she was dressed in burlap clothes that had been taken from the corpse, with many rough patches on them.

Berthalia's special ointment turned her originally fair skin into a waxy yellow, the kind of "pale and emaciated" look caused by long-term malnutrition, while also concealing the delicate contours of her original facial features.

Even Mather and the Eagle Riders weren't sure if this "comrade" who had fought alongside them was actually a wild elf... After all, she had pointed ears, didn't she?

"Oh!" Dia exclaimed in sudden realization, "If Aurora goes to Great Eagle Castle now and pretends to be sent by the chief..."

“They might believe that,” Berthalia said with a smile. “After all, the Reach is mostly inhabited by humans, so in the wild elves’ habitual thinking, pointy ears mean they are one of their own.”

Maiser and the Eagle Knights listened with furrowed brows, their expressions serious and bewildered.

The tactic of falsely conveying military orders was actually quite simple; the key was whether the enemy would fall for it. Because the savage army was comprised of numerous factions, many warriors came from different tribes, with significant racial and ethnic differences, and even different dialects and accents. For Aurora, with her unfamiliar pointed ears, blending in was incredibly easy.

If it were a regular Imperial army, they would use code words to verify identities and use eagle flags to move troops, making this tactic much more difficult to execute. However, the barbarians clearly lacked such professional military skills.

The following afternoon, a group of savage guards were patrolling the walls of Great Eagle Fortress.

The savages were far more interested in drinking than idly strolling around the city walls. Unfortunately, the tauren chieftain had warned those left behind that if Great Eagle Fortress fell a second time, he would seize all the surviving guards and, before they were even dead, smash the sharp end of a bull's foot goblet into their temples.

While there is indeed a possibility that Carmes might not keep his other promises, his "minotaur warning" is the one you absolutely must believe—because he will show you no mercy during the execution.

Someone was running towards them from a distance, which quickly caught the guards' attention.

"enemy?"

"No, they are scouts under the chief."

"How did you get it?"

"Because he can run faster than the cripples..."

The guards burst into laughter. Although the savages did not have horses, their speed was mostly astonishing, so they mocked the plain people who rode horses and traveled by boat, contemptuously calling them "lame men with clumsy legs."

Aurora ran to the vicinity of the city gate and shouted:

"Open the door quickly! I have the chief's orders!"

"This guy's accent sounds weird," a guard suddenly asked. "And he's a female savage. Are there female savages among the scouts?"

"What's wrong with her accent?" the other guards immediately shouted. "See her pointed ears? That's a wild elf, you idiot! Of course her accent is different from ours, you bumpkin!"

In fact, although the accents of the savage tribes in the Snake and Insect Mountains are varied and strange, they are still quite different from the wood elves like Aurora from thousands of years ago.

But the savages' poor military skills came into play again. Their first impression of Aurora wasn't "a very suspicious, strange elf," but rather "a pretty female elf with decent looks"... They'd been suppressing their feelings for a while, so they completely ignored her accent.

"Wait a moment, we'll lower the rope for you right away!"

The wooden gate of Great Eagle Fortress was blown away by Dia's breath after she transformed into a dragon, so the savages had to use a lot of debris to block the gate again, and they could only get in and out by ropes that were lowered down along the city wall. Aurora didn't hesitate either, and quickly grabbed the rope and started climbing up.

Reaching the top of the city wall, Aurora carefully steadied herself and then called out:
"I have the chief's orders to be relayed to the leader of Great Eagle Fortress immediately!"

The guards didn't dare to be negligent and quickly sent one of them to lead Aurora into the castle.

The leader stationed at Great Eagle Fortress was named Dorgut, also a wild elf. This fellow was quite wary; after carefully observing Aurora for a moment, he suddenly asked:
"Why haven't I seen you before?"

“Of course you wouldn’t bother remembering someone as insignificant as me, Chief Dolgut,” Aurora said calmly, having anticipated this. “But I do bring with me orders from Chief Karmes, and he demands that you carry them out immediately.”

"Hmph, what exactly are the orders? Speak."

"News has come from Little Eagle Fort that the grain convoy was attacked about ten miles from the fort. The chief has ordered you to immediately send troops back to the Serpent Mountains to ensure the grain convoy can reach Great Eagle Fort safely."

Upon hearing the word "grain," Dorgut's heart tightened, and his thoughts raced.

The food shortage was no secret among the chieftains. Although Karmat had been appointed by the Wild Elf King as the vanguard commander, it didn't mean he would treat all his subordinates equally—the food he received would definitely be given to the warriors of his own tribe first.

Correspondingly, if Dorgut, who was stationed at Great Eagle Fortress, encountered a grain transport team from the rear, he would definitely intercept some of the grain for his own people, and would never be foolish enough to wait for Karmat to redistribute it "fairly".

There are two routes from the Serpent Mountains to Eagle's Fortress, one passing through Great Eagle's Fortress and the other through Small Eagle's Fortress. Which route would the grain convoy choose to reach Eagle's Fortress? The safest one, of course, would be chosen. Therefore, Dorgut had to ensure that his route was safer than that of Small Eagle's Fortress, thus giving him a chance to intercept the grain convoy.

We need to send troops!
“You,” Dorgut said, pointing at Aurora, “come with us.”

“I still need to report back to Lord Tirto,” Aurora politely declined.

Tiltor is the name of the scout captain and the most trusted confidant of the Tauren chieftain Kalmat. Many wildlings don't even know this name.

Dorgut's doubts had largely dissipated, or rather, at this moment his mind was entirely focused on the grain, and he was too lazy to concern himself with the scout's identity. He simply called out:

“Tirto won’t pay any attention to a nobody like you. We just happen to need a scout, so you have to come with us!”

Seeing his resolute and unyielding stance, clearly stating "you'll die if you don't leave," Aurora had no choice but to compromise and say:

"Okay, I'll obey."

Dorgut stood up and announced:
"I will clear the grain transport routes near Great Eagle Fortress and ensure there are no enemies left! Those who remain, guard this fortress well, or before the Great Chieftain can turn you into minotaurs, I will first show you what true human torture is!"

He quickly named several minor leaders, instructing them to rapidly gather their men and prepare for battle.

Aurora secretly observed and discovered that Dorgut had directly transferred most of his troops away, perhaps considering that even if there were not many people left, they could still hold the city by relying on its defenses.

The convoy quickly set off from Great Eagle Fortress in a grand procession, heading south to meet the "grain transport team" that had not actually arrived.

Having witnessed all of this through the undead's vision, Renn quickly issued the order:
"Fatin, I'm entrusting Great Eagle Fortress to you."

“Understood,” Fatin replied.

The common understanding of a siege is that a large number of infantrymen, under the firepower of the defenders, forcibly erect ladders to the city wall, then scale the wall and fight the defenders, eventually capturing the city gate and letting people in.

During the siege of Rennes, Fatin sneaked up to the city wall alone, silently climbed up the wall with his bare hands, and then opened the city gate from the inside.

That is the value of ancient heroes. You can find hunters who can climb rocks with their bare hands, thieves who are good at stealth, and warriors who can fight against a hundred men among ordinary people, but it is difficult to find a top-level expert who possesses all three at the same time.

In this respect, the hero template design is completely beyond the scope, to the point that they either only exist in the background story or become the big boss in a 100-player dungeon.

Soon, Princess Jinsha, the hidden boss of the "Breath of the Dead" dungeon, once again climbed the walls of Great Eagle Fortress with her bare hands, and then jumped into the city.

The subsequent developments were entirely predictable. Led by Ellina and Bersalia, the knights were unstoppable and quickly wiped out all the savages in the castle.

After successfully capturing Great Eagle Keep for the second time, the group had no mood for celebration, as their overall numerical disadvantage was undeniable. They knew they couldn't hold out against the enemy by simply holding out; they could only stall for time by repeatedly pulling the enemy away. Unless Raine unleashed the Scourge, a devastating weapon, it was highly likely that he could destroy not only the savages of the Serpent Mountains but also the entire River Bend province.

"Where to next?" Ellina asked.

“Let’s go into the mountains,” Renn replied.

Ellina quickly realized that they were going to target Chief Dolgut. According to the results of Renn's interrogation of the savage captives, Chief Karmat's army was a coalition of over twenty barbarian tribes. As for Dolgut's "Raging Fire" tribe, it was considered one of the stronger tribes within the group; otherwise, it wouldn't have been qualified to take on the task of garrisoning Great Eagle Keep alone.

With the strength of these hundred-plus Eagle Knights, to ambush Dorgut on the mountain road, not only would the ancient heroes have to fight against a hundred men single-handedly, but this head-on battle, where they were at a disadvantage, would inevitably result in casualties among the knights.

But based on Ellina's understanding of Rein, he wasn't the type to enjoy sacrificing his men. It wasn't that Rein cared much about their lives, but rather that it wouldn't showcase his skill—a full-scale charge! What general couldn't give that order? Anyone could do it.

She preferred to believe that Raine had secretly prepared a large army of undead along the mountain road long ago.

Ok?
Something seems wrong... Where is Dia?

Where did Dia go?
--------------

As Aurora mingled among the savages, she could sense that the savage warriors on either side of her were consciously or unconsciously wary of her.

She continued walking with a blank expression when suddenly someone came up to her and asked:
"The chief wants to know how far from Little Eagle Fortress the grain convoy was attacked?"

“I don’t know,” Aurora said curtly. “I was just ordered to come and deliver a message. The chief didn’t explain much to me.”

The man turned and went back to report. He returned shortly after and said:
"The chief said that if you cannot provide valuable intelligence, then you can only be of value to the army in other ways, madam."

Aurora was getting annoyed and was about to speak when her pointed ears suddenly twitched slightly.

Ok?
She looked up sharply into the distance and saw a colossal creature suddenly appear in the sky, which was obscured by the mountains behind her.

dragon!
The savages were stunned for a moment, unable to believe their eyes. Only Aurora reacted quickly and immediately lunged towards the cliff to the side, leaping off without hesitation!
The dragon swooped down into the ravine, intercepting the falling wood elf in mid-air, before soaring back into the sky and unleashing a deadly dragonfire breath upon the savage army.

Extremely hot flames descended from the sky, instantly engulfing the savages completely.

The scene before them was exactly the same as it had been near Dragon Peak City on the rainforest peninsula. The mountain path was narrow and rugged, with steep, unclimbable rock walls on one side and a precipice at the bottom that would surely lead to certain death if they jumped off on the other. The only way to move forward and backward was completely blocked by countless companions, leaving no space to hide.

Dia transformed this mountain road into a living hell, then quickly landed on it and transformed back into human form.

Her bloodline power could sustain her for a while longer, but Raine's Calmness spell buff was about to expire. Once she lost the support of the Mind spell, she could easily succumb to the dragon's endless rage, to the point of completely losing her own reason.

After calming herself down a bit, Dia heard Aurora exclaim in surprise:
"Indeed, no matter how many times I see you transform into a dragon, I still find it hard to explain with common sense. Are you sure you didn't have any druid blood in your family?"

"Haha, I don't think so." Dia smiled politely but inwardly muttered to herself.

Her mother was a lizardman, as the townspeople of Swamp Town had told her. As for her father… it could only be confirmed that he was an Imperial, otherwise it wouldn't explain why her physical characteristics matched those of an Imperial.

But how could Imperial humans and Lizardmen possibly have offspring?

All I can say is that this is a fantasy world, bro.

Although Dia felt a little guilty, Aurora didn't dwell on the matter for too long. Instead, she looked at the charred corpses of the savages on the road and pondered, saying:

"The reason why Raine lured these savages out of the castle, then transformed you into a dragon and killed you was to prevent your dragon form from being witnessed, right? The Serpent Mountains are the most suitable place for you to make your move, since even if the savages see you, the news won't reach the Reach."

"But why not just transform you into a dragon and send you deep into the mountains to behead the Wild Elf King?"

“I don’t know.” Dia shook her head blankly. “Rain seemed to have told me that the Wild Elf King was not someone I could handle in my current state.”

"Even dragons couldn't kill him?" Aurora couldn't help but click her tongue in amazement. "Wait, how did he know that? Hmm—there's definitely something fishy going on here."

The two stood chatting in the middle of the mountain path until the wind shifted, carrying the mysterious smell of roasted meat over. They immediately felt nauseous and quickly retreated a distance away.

Not long after, Raine arrived with everyone—without the Eagle Knights.

"Anyone escaped, right?" His first question was whether anyone had been left alive.

“No,” Aurora said seriously. “I saw it with my own eyes, they were all dead.”

“Very good.” Renn was very satisfied with this.

He strolled among the charred corpses, completely unaffected by the smell of roasted meat, carefully examining the faces of each body that had turned to charcoal.

“There it is.” Aurora couldn’t stand it anymore and reminded her, “You’re looking for Dorgut, right? That’s the one.”

Following her gaze, Renn saw a charred corpse of exceptionally large size, frozen in a stiff pose, holding another person above its head as a shield, seemingly trying to use them as a human shield against the flames.

Unfortunately, Dia's dragonfire breath had a mechanism similar to an air fryer. Even if he could use a meat shield to block the direct burst of flames, he couldn't stop the surrounding air from being heated to an extremely terrifying temperature—his palm and the meat shield were completely fused together, so much so that Rein had to go through a lot of trouble to separate the two corpses.

What happened next was not beyond the heroes' expectations. Raine began to set up a resurrection ritual to bring the chieftain back to life.

"When did you become interested in men?" Bersalia asked in surprise. "I thought you were only interested in heroines from over a thousand years ago."

“Don’t be jealous,” Raine said without turning his head. “I only intend to use his identity temporarily. This wild elf is of no use to our plan to fight the White Walkers.”

"Don't be jealous," Ellina said seriously.

"Ahem." Besalia explained somewhat awkwardly to everyone, "I'm not jealous, it's just... wouldn't you all find it strange if a man suddenly came to stay with us?"

"Am I not a man?" Ryan suddenly asked her.

“That’s a questionable matter,” Bersalia said with a grin. “Unless you can prove it to me tonight. By the way, in our dark elf culture, anything less than half an hour is considered a deficiency in male characteristics…”

"Shut up, who I resurrect is none of your business," Raine interrupted her impatiently.

Bersalia immediately fell silent, as the caged bird technique had begun to take effect, preventing her from making any more strange and harassing remarks.

Everyone carefully observed the ritual set up by Raine and indeed found that this magic circle was much simpler than the one used to resurrect them before.

After finishing drawing the runes, Raine didn't chant any incantations; he simply pointed casually.

What was originally a charred corpse of Dorgut began to slowly writhe, eventually shedding its carbonized outer shell to reveal pale skin underneath.

"Master." He knelt on one knee before Renn, his eyes vacant and blank.

“Go and carry out my orders,” Renn commanded.

"Yes." Dorgut immediately got up and left, completely ignoring everyone—his spirit was clearly not in the corpse, but was being controlled by some kind of necromancy.

Ellina breathed a sigh of relief. Although she had just spoken sarcastically to Bersalia, it didn't mean she was willing to accept a male wild elf as her companion; otherwise, she would have to be careful to avoid suspicion in their daily lives.

Raine was an exception, of course, because when everyone was resurrected, his body was still sculpted by him. So there was no point in hiding it. Let him see if he wants to.

After cleaning up the ceremony, Renn patted his hands, which were covered in soot, and gave the instructions:

"gone."

"What are we going to do next?" Fatin asked curiously.

"Just wait and see what happens," Renn said.

The undead, tireless and needing no rest, hurried onward until they reached the foot of the walls of the main Eagle Fortress.

"Open the door and let me in!"

When the savage guards on the city wall saw that it was Chief Dorgut, they raised a gap in the city gate so that his massive body could climb in.

"Go and report to the Great Chief that the grain convoy has arrived at Great Eagle Castle," Dorgut shouted as soon as he entered the castle courtyard.

The news spread quickly, and Carmel was overjoyed to hear that the grain convoy had arrived.

Great! There were some people gossiping behind my back, spreading rumors that the army would soon run out of food, and I'm almost out of my horn cups.

With Dorgut's arrival today, these rumors immediately fell apart, and morale will soon be stabilized!
To ensure that everyone could learn of this exciting news as soon as possible, Karmat personally received Dorgut, who had come to deliver the message, in the main hall on the ground floor of the castle, and also summoned all the other chieftains to the scene for a meeting.

In front of all the chiefs, he asked Dorgut:

"How much grain did the grain transport team bring? How long will it take them to arrive?"

“We have arrived,” Dorgut replied.

Before the surrounding crowd could even show any signs of confusion, the burly savage revealed a strange smile, and his corpse suddenly swelled up to a whole size.

The corpse exploded!

Raine did not lie to Ellina. He neither researched nor cared about studying the highly contagious but difficult-to-control undead plague, but instead focused on studying the Corpse Explosion spell as a better alternative.

(End of this chapter)