Dark Wizard: Rise! My undead army!

The second stop was Hewan Town.

The town mayor, still with his refined and scholarly demeanor, wearing glasses, stood at the town gate to greet them.

He was more sensible than Grove; upon seeing Lyon's group, he immediately ordered his men to bring out their weapons and armor.

Eight hundred spears, three hundred swords, and one hundred and fifty suits of armor.

As for food... there is still none.

The town mayor said that the grain warehouse in Hewan Town was burned down by the plague church, and not a single grain of rice could be taken out.

Lyon looked at him, but he lowered his head and dared not meet his gaze.

Lyon didn't make things difficult for them; asking for food now would be tantamount to asking for their lives. He then had the weapons inventoried, loaded onto the carts, and continued on their way.

The third stop: Greystone Fortress.

The lord of the fortress did not appear. He sent his steward out to greet him, and weapons and armor were prepared, indicating that he had received the news.

The quantity is even greater than that of Iron Anvil City and River Bend Town, demonstrating sincerity.

Two thousand five hundred spears, eight hundred swords, and five hundred suits of armor.

The butler said that the lord was unwell and unable to greet him personally, and asked for Lord Lyon's understanding.

Lyon looked at the weapons and knew that Graystone Castle's inventory was far more than that.

But he didn't pursue the matter; now was not the time to escalate tensions.

He had the weapons inventoried, loaded onto vehicles, and left Graystone Fortress.

The team set up camp in the wild.

By the campfire, Leon sat on a rock, looking at the newly acquired weapons.

Five thousand three thousand spears, one thousand nine thousand swords, and one thousand five hundred suits of armor.

Combined with the existing equipment in Liberty City, it would be enough to arm a decent army.

But there was still no food.

Iron Anvil City, River Bend Town, and Grey Stone Fort all say they have no food.

Lyon didn't know if they really didn't have any, but he knew that Free City would run out of food in twenty days.

Sofia walked over and sat down next to him. "What do we do next?"

"Go and reclaim the lost territory," Lyon said.

"Those monsters only kill humans; they don't deliberately occupy cities, and they don't care about the food."

"There are several granaries near Anvil, River Bend, and Graystone Keep that were previously abandoned by the Plague Church. If we can find food there, we can last for a while."

"What if we can't find it?"

Lyon didn't speak. He looked at the campfire, the firelight casting flickering shadows on his face.

"Then keep looking," he said finally. "We can't just wait to die."

Sofia looked at him and didn't ask any more questions.

She knew how much pressure Lyon was under; the lives of nearly 100,000 people rested on his shoulders. Anyone else would have collapsed long ago.

It's already remarkable that he can still stand, speak, and make decisions.

Night fell, and the group quieted down. Lyon sat by the campfire, not sleeping.

He was thinking about the refugees, those who had been thrown out by the city lords like trash.

They are human beings too; they have parents, they have children, and they want to live, but living is too difficult...

He looked up at the sky.

Since those monsters arrived, the plague fog has subsided considerably, and the stars have begun to appear.

It was very bright, and there were many of them, like countless eyes watching him.

"Savior..."

He murmured the title bestowed upon him by the Temple of Wisdom, gave a bitter smile, and said, "But I can't even save myself."

The team continued their journey early the next morning.

The target was a granary north of Anvil City, which the Plague Church had not had time to burn down when they retreated.

Lyon sent scouts to investigate first, and only after confirming that there were no undead ambushes did he allow the main force to follow.

The granary was still there, but the door had been smashed open, and most of the grain inside had been moved away, though some was still piled up in the corner.

Lyon had someone count the food; it was probably enough to feed Liberty City for five days.

Five days is better than nothing.

Lyon had the grain loaded onto the trucks and continued on to the next destination.

Along the way, they passed through several villages abandoned by the Plague Church.

Some are empty, while others are still inhabited.

When the villagers saw the procession, they all rushed out and knelt by the roadside, begging to be taken in.

Some, fearing the army would seize their meager food supplies, kept their doors tightly shut, afraid to make a sound.

Lyon did not take in all the villagers. He kept the able-bodied men to join the army, and left the rest with enough food to eat, allowing them to flee towards Liberty City.

He still needs to lead the army forward to recover lost territory, and cannot carry too many burdens.

The journey across the wasteland was not without its challenges, with Leon riding at the very front.

The "soldiers" who followed looked at the desolate scene around them and their morale was very low.

On the fourth day, the scout ran back from the front.

"Sir, there's a small group of monsters ahead, about a few dozen."

Lyon reined in his horse.

"What type?"

"Most of them are moving skeletons, and a few rotting corpses, but no big ones."

Lyon felt relieved upon hearing this, realizing they were just some low-level undead.

He dismounted, drew his greatsword, and the blade slid out of its sheath with a soft sound.

The officer behind him was stunned.

"My lord, are you going to take command yourself?"

Lyon nodded. The 10,000-strong army had left the city and had not yet fought a single battle. He needed a victory to boost morale.

The officer also drew his sword and followed with his personal guard.

Then came the soldiers, and then the militia.

A group of people followed Lyon toward the group of undead.

The undead were devouring an animal carcass. Skeleton soldiers squatted on the ground, tearing flesh and blood with their bone claws and stuffing it into their "mouths." The flesh and blood slid down the skeleton and onto the ground.

The zombie lay beneath the corpse, picking up pieces of flesh and blood that had fallen to the ground and stuffing them into its mouth.

They sensed the footsteps, raised their heads, and a ghostly light flickered in their eye sockets.

A skeleton soldier stood up, grabbed a bone knife from the ground, and charged at Leon.

Leon didn't stop; he went to meet him, his greatsword slashing upwards.

The sword blade struck the skeleton soldier's ribs, shattering the bones and scattering the skeleton soldier into a heap.

Lyon stepped over the broken bones and continued walking.

Another skeleton soldier charged at him. Leon sidestepped, slashed horizontally with his greatsword, and severed its spine. The upper body flew out, while the lower body remained on the ground.

Another one, another one.

The soldiers charged forward.

Although they didn't have Lyon's strength, they outnumbered him and surrounded the undead, slashing, stabbing, and smashing them with clubs.

Someone had their arm bitten by a zombie, and their companion slashed the zombie's neck with a knife.

Someone was tackled by a skeleton soldier, and several people rushed up and smashed the skeleton soldier to pieces.

The battle lasted less than fifteen minutes, with broken bones and rotting flesh scattered on the ground, and dozens of undead were all wiped out.

There was a moment of silence in the crowd, then cheers erupted.

"So these monsters can die too..."

"They are not invincible!"

"We can win!"

Leon stood amidst the shattered bones, his greatsword planted firmly on the ground, and nodded in satisfaction as he looked at his men, whose morale was high.

"Let's wrap up," he said, mounting his horse and continuing onward.

Behind them, the crowd was still cheering.

The team marched for ten days and recaptured three granaries, two villages, and a small town.

We've saved up enough food for about a month and captured some weapons, but they're all inferior goods left behind by the Plague Church, even worse than what Anvil City gave us.

Lyon didn't mind; something was better than nothing.

As for those towns, Lyon nominally recaptured them, established leadership, and left a batch of food and weapons for those who did not want to leave their homeland.

This amount of grain is enough to sustain them until they harvest the next crop.