The old man you see with your phone is highly suspicious.

But time is running out, and so are they.

So, while my old bones are still able to move, let's let everything settle down.

The old undead's loneliness and confusion vanished completely, as if he had experienced a final burst of energy before death, unleashing boundless fighting spirit.

Xue Dinglu carried the evil demonic sword on his back and headed towards the palace, following the directions given by the old undead.

Otherwise, this inherently evil old ghost from another world might want to strip him naked and send him to the Pope's secret chamber.

……

At this moment, the Pope had no idea that her nominal grandfather had already sold her out.

After dodging that attack, a wave of lingering fear washed over me, along with a simple sense of gratitude.

That feeling stemming from familial love—the willingness to protect oneself even after one's grandfather has become a ghost.

"Search for General Barak's spirit with all your might!" she ordered.

"Your Holiness, there has been unusual activity at the palace. I'm afraid the visitors are hostile. If we disperse the Knights' forces like this, it could lead to serious problems," the priest under his command added.

As the loser in the last power struggle, and due to the nature of the religious system, the Papacy was at a great disadvantage in the transmission of information and intelligence. The Papacy's people couldn't even find out any news from within the royal family, and could only barely obtain some information from the edges and corners.

“We have nowhere to retreat…” Alora closed her eyes; she could no longer see any way forward.

Externally, the undead army swept down.

Domestically, the royal family was sharpening its knives against the Papacy.

If they wanted to escape, all that remained behind them was the endless sea, a place where anyone who dared to set foot before them would never return.

What else can they do?

The pope gripped her scepter tightly, like a gambler who had lost everything and only one way to break the deadlock remained.

That is, to explain everything to his maternal grandfather, the ghost General Barak.

Only with her grandfather's support did she have one of the few remaining confidences to barely salvage this hopeless mess.

They looked up at the sky, where only the cawing of crows could be heard, like a death knell to warn the last survivors on the continent.

The army of the dead is coming.

The survivors couldn't even organize a decent resistance.

"Your Holiness! The Thirteenth Holy Knight Squad has detected the presence of the undead General Barak. They discovered the aura of a powerful undead in an abandoned manor!" The sudden news from the intelligence officer instantly gave the previously bewildered Papal army a sense of direction.

"Track General Barak's movements immediately!"

……

In the imperial palace of the capital city.

The centenarian king sat on his throne, which was inlaid with magnificent jewels, but he looked as ugly as a newly resurrected ghost.

His skin was sallow, his eyes were sunken, and age spots covered his entire body.

Even when he's just sitting here, he needs to wear a loincloth to avoid incontinence and embarrassing himself.

"Your Majesty, the Pope of the Holy See forced me to get out of there. This isn't just spanking me, it's slapping your face!" the messenger who had rolled out of the cathedral cried to the emperor on the throne.

“Alright, Your Majesty understands your meaning. You may leave now,” said the prince, who was over 80 years old.

The messenger wanted to say something more, but seeing the unfriendly expressions of the guards, he could only leave with a look of grief and indignation.

Even after just saying those words, the 80-year-old prince was already out of breath.

In reality, the emperor was not awake for long periods of time at this point; he was only conscious for a few hours each day, and the affairs of the entire empire were already being handled by the current prince.

But as long as the emperor lives, he will always be just a prince!

It's even possible that even after all the princes have died, the emperor could still drag his aged and incontinent body to continue living.

This was the highest level of the entire empire at this time, a great emperor over a hundred years old, Leoric II.

And an eighty-year-old prince, and countless sixty- or seventy-year-old grandsons who could only watch helplessly as they knew they had no chance of winning power.

The empire was already corrupt, in every sense of the word.

Why didn't any other nobles seize the opportunity to become the new king? Because all the nobles unrelated to the royal family had died out.

In the endless power struggles, and in the old emperor's scheming of checks and balances, the nobles with fiefdoms all perished at the hands of the undead army.

Currently, the only noble family outside the royal family in the entire empire is the Julia family, which leads the army, but the Julia family is nothing more than a dog kept by the royal family.

"Ahem, has the Papacy stopped lending troops?" The old king on the throne seemed to have finally sobered up a bit and asked.

"Yes, my father, the Holy See has directly rejected our request. Father, what should we do next?" the prince asked the emperor, who sat on the throne like a dead man, his conscious time was running out.

"Did Julia hold off the undead army?"

"Father, as I reported to you yesterday, General Julia has lost the city. He was the only one who escaped. Snowstorm City has been lost. Now the undead army is only a few hundred kilometers away from the capital. I'm afraid they will reach the capital tomorrow."

The prince had much information he didn't want to repeat to the old emperor.

For example, at this time, the capital city could only muster less than 20,000 soldiers to fight, while the undead army numbered in the tens of millions.

For example, at this point, the entire empire's population would probably only be a few hundred thousand. Even if everyone were to pull up the city walls, any resident of the capital would face a beating from hundreds of undead.

"Is that so..." The old emperor seemed to be losing his senses again. His eyes were vacant as he stared at the magnificent palace and the sky above the empire. It was impossible to know what he was thinking at that moment.

"Then let Julia continue defending the capital, while the Royal Knights go and wipe out the Papacy. Only after securing the interior can we defend against external enemies... After wiping out the Papacy, the Knights will move five kilometers to the left and directly confront the undead army..."

"The advantage lies with us."

Chapter 9: What's the point of risking your life for just a few gold coins a month?

"Yes..." That was all the prince could reply.

The empire has only this much left...

The prince began issuing orders to the Royal Knights, the last elite force of the empire, numbering in the thousands, each a knight of elite rank or higher, including dozens of hero-level cavalry captains.

When exactly did the empire begin to become impoverished and weak?

It seems like it was about twenty years ago, after that power struggle against General Barak, that the empire gradually began to become what it is today.

He would not regret taking action against General Barak back then, after all, he was one of the masterminds of that plan, because if General Barak had not died, countless nobles throughout the empire would have supported him as the new king.

Even the Papacy would support Barak as the new king.

For the sake of the Leoric royal throne, and for the sake of their own prince becoming the new emperor in the future, they had to do this.

An empire that isn't owned by the Leoric royal family is better off being destroyed.

The Royal Knights were ready, and this last remaining force of the empire began their march, their target being their former comrades, the Holy Templar Knights of the Papacy.

Watching the departing knights, the prince could only pray that this incident would proceed smoothly, just like it did twenty years ago.

After all, we still need to deal with the horde of undead that will sweep in tomorrow.

……

The morale of the departing Royal Knights had long since plummeted to rock bottom.

"Are we really going to fight the Templars?" a young knight muttered to himself.

"Shh! Keep your voice down," the other knights nearby immediately warned.

The young knight immediately covered his mouth.

"We're just going to put on a show. We'll just use some commoners' heads to impersonate the paladins."

"Also, don't rush too far ahead. You don't want to become a sinner whose crimes are beyond description, do you?" the old knight reminded the young knight.

Their words were being spoken by knights throughout the Royal Knights and even the entire Imperial Army.

After all, twenty years ago, General Barak, who charged ahead to raid the Lich King, became a heinous criminal, while General Julia, who led the escape, returned to the Empire and became a Grand General.

The soldiers didn't say it, but they all knew perfectly well what was going on.

With only a few gold coins a month, why risk your life?

If a fight really breaks out, everyone will run faster than the last, because if you run too slowly, you'll become a criminal.

Less than ten miles from the palace, the Royal Knights encountered the Holy Knights, who were searching for Xue Luding's whereabouts.

Both sides were stunned for a moment, and then the paladin order immediately began to prepare for battle, replacing their warhammers with several-meter-long knightly lances, and preparing to charge.

The Royal Knights were well-organized, being the Empire's most elite legion, but their first thought wasn't to clash with the Paladins.

After all, even in terms of troop type, the paladins were all super heavy cavalrymen carrying hundreds of kilograms of weight, while the royal knights were only light cavalrymen carrying tens of kilograms of weight. In a charge, they would only be crushed.

"Flank around and meet up in the slums!" The Royal Knights commander immediately followed up with the order.

The light cavalry immediately turned their horses around and began to scatter and maneuver.

The two groups then began a chase and battle on the streets of the capital. The entire capital seemed to be in the midst of an earthquake, with the sound of horses' hooves hitting the ground resounding like thunder.

……

Another secret letter was handed to Julia, the current Grand General of the Empire.

Upon reading the letter that led the last militia of the empire to defend the capital, General Julia was overcome with emotion and tears streamed down his face.

Even though he has fought and failed repeatedly to get to where he is now, does the emperor still trust him?

Since becoming the new Grand General twenty years ago, when he and General Barak fought against the Lich King, he led his soldiers on a "strategic retreat" to avoid the annihilation of the Imperial army, and has not won a single victory.

To be honest, he regretted it. He regretted not being able to resist the army of the undead back then and instead choosing the "teleportation" decision.

Back then, General Barak killed the Lich King once. If the remaining army had joined General Barak in attacking the undead army, they might have actually sealed the Lich King away.

In that case, there wouldn't be the current undead calamity, nor would dozens of cities in the empire have fallen, and tens of millions of people wouldn't have become part of the undead legion.

The greatest impact on the empire, however, is on its honor and morale.

No one will fight bravely anymore, and every battle will inevitably see countless soldiers deserting. These deserters will then form a torrent that will cause the entire army to collapse.

What about the supervisory team?

Sorry, the supervisory team has already left.

Despite countless attempts to improve military discipline, morale has not been effectively boosted. If they win a battle, all is well, but if there is any stalemate, the battle situation will deteriorate rapidly.

Perhaps, as long as this deserter general is still alive, the morale of the Imperial Army will never be boosted.