Chapter 156: Draw Aggro! [Request for Recommendation Votes]
October 26, 2016
Author: Floating Tower
Modo City. Inside the Grand Temple.
As a black shadow materialized in the secret chamber within the Central Zone, the three men and two women waiting inside respectfully lowered their heads and said, “Lord Nightingale!”
The appearing black figure was a woman with a tall and graceful silhouette, slightly pointed ears indicating she was a second-generation Half-Elf, meaning one of her parents was a pureblood Elf. This Half-Elf Assassin wore a loose black cloak and, after glancing at the others, stated, “My Lord has a divine oracle to convey!”
“You five will be sent to the City of Imprints to assist Lady Corinna! All actions will follow Lady Corinna’s arrangements!”
“Understood?”
Among the three men and two women, two were Half-Elves while the other three were humans. They belonged to the Tribunal, responsible for handling discreet matters as assassins and shadows, making them among the elite under Soren’s command.
More importantly, they had all been granted a touch of divine power and divinity!
Nightingale was a standout among them; her talents surpassed those of other Wanderers, almost a born Assassin with superhuman perception. Hence, she was favored by Soren, granted a status and power far beyond others. In a sense, Nightingale was like a half-voter for Soren.
“Understood.” The five knelt on one knee.
Nightingale nodded in satisfaction and then said, “Follow me.”
They passed through the winding underground corridors and arrived in a spacious secret chamber.
There were already quite a few waiting there, and the Wanderers widened their eyes slightly, for there were numerous High-Level Witches before them.
At this moment, Nightingale spoke, “They will accompany you to the City of Imprints.”
The teleportation array had been set up.
This time, the personnel configuration was very professional, including Priests, Wanderers, Wizards, Warriors, Rangers, Monks, and Druids, totaling more than twenty people, all high-level professionists, and among them were several legendary figures. As Soren’s divine power grew stronger, some talented followers who could access the core domains of slaughter and death rapidly increased in strength. The other people present were silent; the atmosphere was somewhat tense. Anyone who wasn’t an idiot could tell this mission was definitely not easy and had to be of great significance.
At that moment, a man wearing a luxurious wizarding robe walked in.
“Lord Saruman!”
Others bowed their heads in respect, and Nightingale also slightly leaned in a gesture of deference.
Saruman, endowed with divine power, had rapidly improved in strength and was now close to demi-god level, his gaze sweeping over the others with a hint of divine pressure, then said lightly, “To ensure the success of this mission, I will join as well.”
“Let’s go. Open the portal.”
This time Saruman actively requested to participate; although he had improved in power quickly, his experience in practice had not kept pace.
Saruman did not want to be a theoretical wizard, so he planned to use this mission to train his abilities. Legendary Wizards did not easily perish, and Saruman intended to treat this mission as his trial.
The preparing wizard began to infuse magical energy into the teleportation array, locking it onto the City of Imprints.
Saruman was the first to step into the teleportation array, followed by others who entered one by one. After everyone had been teleported away, Nightingale turned and walked outside; she still needed to report to My Lord Soren about this action.
………………
Inside the Tower.
Soren’s figure appeared behind Gloria and said slowly, “The first batch of personnel has arrived.”
“The High Priest will soon send support.”
“If you need anything, have your mother tell me immediately! I will find a way to send it over.”
Soren was determined to get the Core of Misser!
Whether Modo City could rise this time depended on whether the Fallen Witch’s actions succeeded. Soren was somewhat confident in her, as in some respects, the Fallen Witch was more reliable than Gloria. She was a person who did not care about means, and in a place like the City of Imprints, it was very suitable for her brutal methods.
Gloria, hearing this, withdrew her gaze from the crystal ball and said softly, “Mother said this batch of personnel is enough.”
“The City of Imprints cannot erupt into a severe conflict; otherwise, it could potentially alert the Lady of Pain. She is trying to use negotiation to obtain the Silver Core, and the remnants of the Arcane Empire seem to have split into two factions. One wishes to stay in the City of Imprints, while the other wants to return to the Material Plane.”
“Mother said she has over fifty percent confidence in negotiating for the secret of the Silver Core!”
Returning to the Material Plane?
That was practically impossible.
The Material Plane had been divided among the gods, and there were also the Northern Witch and the Wizard Alliance. Even if these Arcane Empire remnants returned, they would be of little use, facing too many enemies.
Soren nodded, saying, “Being able to negotiate is best.”
“I await her good news.”
As the evil god in charge of shadows, slaughter, and death, Soren did not mind using other means to obtain everything when necessary. His church already had a significant number of high-level assassins capable of resolving most problems among mortals.
………………
Southern Coast.
From the City of Wealth to the north of Taro Port, a coalition force exceeding 120,000 had gathered.
This operation was led by the great Lord of Shadows, Soren, even attracting the attention of many good-aligned deities! The goal of this operation was to completely eliminate the undead lurking near the Southern Coast. Currently, there were few forces in the entire Material Plane capable of assembling such a large army of professionists in one go.
This operation to exterminate the undead centered around the army of Modo City.
Among them, the City of Wealth sent 8,000 troops, including a priest regiment and a monk regiment. Taro Port sent 5,000 troops, including a priest squad led by a High Bishop, and the Agricultural Church sent 1,500 troops, most of whom were priests and druids. Surprisingly, this operation also received support from Lady Silver Moon and the Goddess of Love. Additionally, a Paladin regiment under the Lord of Radiance joined the fight. However, these Paladins preferred not to stay with the others, instead choosing an independent route to cut into the undead army’s interior and decapitate the liches responsible for their control.
These Paladins brought the legendary weapon — ‘Daystar’!
To support Soren’s operation, the Northern Tower also dispatched a witch force. Additionally, due to Soren’s divine influence, some adventurers responded to his call.
First of all, Soren had considerable legend in the Material Plane.
Many adventurers greatly admired him, and he had numerous Wanderer followers, many of whom voluntarily gathered. Ultimately, the Plague of the Undead was a threat to all the living, and its outbreak left adventurers in a perilous situation, as did those whose loved ones had died at the hands of the undead. Finally, these people elected a leader named ‘Nord,’ gathering a force of over ten thousand.
The army from Fury Sand Island had already advanced to Bernard City.
Led by the Half-Elf First Mate, the army encountered the first batch of undead forces, a group of ghouls driven by hunger, which had been spreading and hunting along the Southern Coast, attacking any living thing they could eat.
Ghouls were the vanguard of the undead army.
They moved faster than skeletons and were numerous enough to withstand attrition.
As even more evil apparitions began to appear, the army led by the Half-Elf First Mate began to hold their ground, waiting for other forces to arrive, including allies from Rosad Duchy.
To deal with these undead and restore her reputation, the Duchess of Red Dragon even personally negotiated with the rebels within Rosad Duchy. Ultimately, both sides reached a consensus, initially focusing their target on the undead. After all, no one wanted the entire kingdom to become a paradise for the undead, for that would only result in ruins regardless of who emerged victorious.
The rebel forces from Rosad Duchy numbered only around thirty thousand, while the Duchess of Red Dragon was nearly all-in, assembling around one hundred thousand troops.
In such a battle, the role of the militia was minor.
If they used a human wave tactic against the undead army, they would only drag themselves into a quagmire dealing with resurrected undead.
………………
In Modo City, in the study.
A tall Half-Elf woman cautiously entered and then softly said, “My Lord! The Southern Coast’s army has begun to act! Lady Adele Isabella has encountered a group of Necromancers!”
“They found this on the bodies of the enemies.”
After saying this, the beautiful Half-Elf follower presented a special sigil to Soren.
— Skull and Scythe!
This was a very conspicuous and unique sigil.
Soren frowned upon seeing it, murmuring, “God of Death – Naraku!…”
As expected, it was his doing.
The spread of the Undead Plague was very rapid; it had been less than a month since it erupted, in a context of a barren medieval civilization with severely backward communication routes. Such a disaster occurring so fast could only mean that an evil god had intervened.
Soren glanced at the sigil and threw it back to the Half-Elf in front of him.
Then, after pondering for a moment, he said, “Send this sigil to the Church of Radiance!”
If at the beginning the God of Death Naraku was merely manipulating events in the shadows, now the King of the Dead – Klanvor had been gravely injured and gone missing. Naraku had now stepped up and was prepared to unleash the Undead Plague.
He was the [Hater of Life] [Enemy of Goodness] [Dark Messenger] [Flesh Reaper]!
A god with medium divine power, nearing strong divine power! And his strength was probably even three parts stronger than Soren!
Such an enemy was not something Soren could face alone.
Since the opponent had already openly dispatched his followers and priests, Soren felt it was time to draw some aggro back!
……………… (To Be Continued ~^~)