Dark Wizard: Rise! My undead army!

The northern border town, the northernmost city.

The city walls were filled with remnants of defeated soldiers.

Some leaned against the battlements, panting; some sat on the ground bandaging their wounds; and many more simply stared blankly southward.

The sky there was reddened by the fire, and thick smoke billowed out; their former home was burning.

The king stood atop the highest point of the city wall, his hands resting on the wall, lost in thought.

He hasn't slept for three days.

Behind him, a dozen ministers were crammed into the narrow city tower, and no one spoke.

They have barely survived until now thanks to the border guards in several border cities, but now those border guards have been decimated.

Everyone knew that this fortified city wouldn't last much longer.

A faint rumbling sound came from afar.

Everyone knows that those are the footsteps of the dead.

They are advancing, slowly, but never stopping.

A scout stumbled up the city wall and fell to his knees at the king's feet:

"Your Majesty! The south...the south is completely gone! The undead have breached the thirteenth line of defense, and they will arrive here in two days at most!"

The ministers were in an uproar.

"Two days? How is that possible! That defensive line has 30,000 troops!"

"Thirty thousand?" Another minister gave a bitter laugh.

"Those 30,000 defenders held out for a whole day and night, and not a single one escaped. Do you know how many monsters there were? Countless! They were everywhere, all over the mountains!"

The king did not speak.

He continued to gaze southward, at the flickering firelight.

That place... is a beautiful land left by our ancestors.

"Your Majesty," an old minister stepped forward, his voice hoarse, "the south can no longer be defended. We must retreat."

"Withdraw?" The king turned to look at him, gave a bitter laugh, "Withdraw to where?"

"The north," the old minister said, "cross the Frostridge Mountains to the far north. There lies the Orc kingdom."

As soon as he finished speaking, the city gate tower fell silent.

Orc Kingdom.

The mortal enemy of the Kingdom of Ella for hundreds of years.

Countless battles have been fought on the border, and the dead on both sides could fill a river if they were piled up.

When the orc kingdom is mentioned, they wish they could drink its blood and eat its flesh.

A younger minister blurted out, "Go and seek refuge with the orcs? They'd love to skin us alive!"

"That's still better than dying here," the old minister said coldly.

"Enough." The king's voice wasn't loud, but it silenced everyone.

He looked at the ministers, at their weary faces, and at the fear and the will to survive in their eyes.

"You can go now," he said.

Everyone was stunned.

"Your Majesty?" The old minister stepped forward.

The king waved his hand, interrupting him:

"This time I will not back down. I am the king of a nation, this is the land of the Kingdom of Ella, and these people are my subjects."

"They are dead, I have no face to live. I will stay here and perish with this city."

"Your Majesty!" Several ministers knelt down at the same time.

The old minister did not kneel.

He walked up to the king and stared into his eyes:

"Your Majesty, do you think death will cleanse you? If you die, who will reclaim the land? Who will rebuild Ella? Who will avenge those who have died?"

The king remained silent.

The old minister continued, "Now there are monsters in the south and orcs in the north. We can let them fight! When two tigers fight, one will surely be injured."

"Once they're both severely weakened, we might have a chance to make a comeback!"

"A comeback?" The king gave a bitter laugh.

"Do you even know what orcs are? They want us to send troops unless we give them half of the Kingdom of Ella!"

"Even if they really help drive away those monsters, what will we have left? Will the Kingdom of Ella still be ours?"

"At least we're still alive!" the old minister's voice suddenly rose. "Only by living can we have a chance! If we die, we have nothing!"

The king opened his mouth, but could not utter a word.

The old minister knelt down, tears streaming down his face: "Your Majesty, I have lived for seventy years, what haven't I seen? The country is destroyed, the family is ruined, the land is shattered, I have seen it all, but as long as people live, there is hope. If you die here, Ella will truly be finished!"

The other ministers also kowtowed repeatedly, pleading, "Your Majesty! We beg you! Withdraw!"

The king looked at them, at the kneeling figures, and his lips moved.

He closed his eyes.

After a long while, he opened his eyes and looked at the burning sky to the south.

"...withdraw."

...

On the snowy plains of the North, a team is making its way forward with difficulty.

The king rode at the head of the procession, followed by hundreds of remaining soldiers, dozens of ministers, and their families.

There weren't enough carriages, so many people had to walk. The snow was deep, making every step difficult.

It's been five days since I left.

All the tribes we passed through were deserted.

It wasn't an evacuation, it was complete extinction.

At the entrance of the first tribe, there were dozens of corpses, all frozen to death. They had been chased out and hadn't had time to put on warm clothes, so they froze to death in the snow.

The second tribe was reduced to charred ruins. Bones lay scattered on the ground, gnawed clean by something.

The third tribe was deserted, but the ground was covered with countless footprints—not human footprints, but those of the dead.

The further north you go, the more eerie the atmosphere becomes.

They had thought the undead were only rampaging in the south, but what they were seeing now was that the undead had arrived in the north much earlier than they had.

"Could it be... that the orcs have also suffered?" a minister murmured.

No one answered him.

On the sixth day, they finally saw the border of the orc kingdom.

No guards, no watchtowers, no patrols...

There is only one dead city.

The city gates were wide open, but the city was deserted.

There were dried bloodstains on the ground, claw marks on the wall, and gnawed bones in the corner.

Bones larger than those of humans belong to orcs.

"Have the orcs...fallen too?" A young knight's voice trembled.

If someone had reported this a month ago, they would have been overjoyed, but now...

The king did not speak.

He dismounted, walked through the city gate, and looked at the bloodstains and bones, his face ashen.

Those monsters not only conquered Ella, but also wiped out the orc kingdom to the north.

He had thought he could make the two tigers fight each other.

But now... both tigers are dead.

"Your Majesty..." The old minister stepped forward, wanting to say something, but couldn't utter a word.

What else can be said?

Withdraw? Withdraw to where?

The south is inhabited by the dead, and so is the north. Is there any place left on this entire continent where the living exist?

A child's voice suddenly rang out: "Mommy, there's something in the sky..."

Everyone looked up at the same time.

Then they saw it.

In the sky, a giant eyeball was looking down at them.

The eyeballs were entirely purple, covered with strange patterns that made one feel dizzy at first glance.

It slowly rotated, its pupils aimed at the crowd below.

Magic Eye.

"run!"

Someone screamed.

But it was too late.

A psychic ray descended from the sky.

Dozens of people collapsed instantly.

Their bodies were intact, but their pupils were dilated and their souls had vanished.

"Form ranks! Form ranks!" a general shouted.

The remaining soldiers scrambled together in a panic, raised their weapons, and aimed them at the sky.

Then they heard another sound.

That was the sound of bone wings flapping.

A bluish-green bone dragon swooped down from the clouds, its wingspan exceeding fifty meters. It opened its mouth, and a ghostly blue light shone from the depths of its throat.

The extinguished bone fire.

Flames cascaded down like a waterfall.

Hundreds of soldiers didn't even have time to scream before they were reduced to ashes.

The king was tackled to the ground by several guards, narrowly escaping the flames. He looked up and saw a person standing on the back of the bone dragon.

A black wizard's robe, a cold and stern face, and eyes that look down upon all living beings.

The leader of the extraterrestrial demons!