novelSecret Plot
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Chapter 326: Secret Plot
Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Pranav
There now existed a city by the name of Asolivis, which, in the undead language, meant "The place where Aso eternally rests."
The six Dimensional Doors became considered the most essential strategic structures of all by the undead after they started arriving in droves from the six Undead Planes. They were heavily guarded at all times, and what would provide better protection than an impregnable fortress city? And so, under the Undead Emperors' instruction, a new city was constructed here. It was clearly visible from the Forest of Dreams, but both locations remained at a strange peace. Battles were only taking place in the land between them.
Apart from the "small conflicts" between the adventurers and the undead, there actually wasn't much battling on the eastern battlefront of the Forest of Dreams and Asolivis. However, the western battlefront of Nightrain City and the undead's new Gravestone City was now at a deadlock with a heated battle.
Asolivis was now the undead's major city for dimensional teleportation as well as their main headquarters in the world of Eich. Although the Undead Emperors were still unable to personally descend, they went all out in using their power and resources to help countless Myth and Saint-ranked Undead Lords descend. Thanks to the support of the Dimensional Doors, even average SemiGods would be unable to deal with these Undead Lords as long as they remained in Asolivis.
The first ever City Lord of Asolivis was named Davey Soke. Davey was a Ghoul Lord from the Desecration Plane.
Although ghouls were an evolved form of corpse zombies, they didn't count as a high-level undead species. Ghouls had more venomous poison and were far more fetid than the corpse zombies, but the fact that they were incredibly ugly and bloodthirsty made them particularly unpopular even among the undead.
However, despite being a Ghoul, a low-level undead species, Davey was able to reach the status of an Undead Lord. The Undead Emperors even put him in charge of their most crucial territory, a sufficient explanation of his abilities.
He was very sly and intelligent, reaching fame even before achieving a high power level. He was nicknamed "The undead whose slyness is closest to Emperor Aso's." Any other Undead Emperor who heard themselves being compared to a low-level undead species like a ghoul would likely become furious and immediately kill the ghoul in question, but Aso had merely laughed aloud before proceeding to take Davey in as his disciple.
Not only was Davey truly grateful to Aso, but he also lived up to Aso's expectations. Thanks to Aso's teachings, Davey had managed, albeit slowly, to reach the Myth rank. And now, the Undead Emperors had put him in charge of Asolivis, not only because they believed in his personal strength but also because of his connection to Aso.
After he was put in charge, he indeed did a splendid job in running the city. This gigantic city had six layers to it. The three outer layers were where low-level undead stayed and organized themselves into troops, the mid-level undead stayed in the next two inner layers, while the innermost layer, which was as grand as any human country's capital city, was reserved for the high-level undead.
Every single district in Asolivis had a large number of Soul-Summoning Towers. Countless zombies, corpse zombies, skeletons, and other low-level undead were being awakened or summoned here every day. The high-level would lead them as if herding a group of sheep, steadily traveling to the frontlines and eventually becoming cannon fodder at Nightrain City.
Under most of these Soul-Summoning Towers were undead mages who busily experimented with all sorts of mid and low-level undead ingredients. Thanks to the terrain bonuses from the Undead Plane Dimensional Doors as well as the Soul-Summoning Towers' support, numerous modified and evolved undead were continually exiting from their experimental laboratories. The undead army now possessed plenty of mid-level elites as well.
The undead's best military strategy would always be wars of attrition designed to fatigue the enemy. It was common that an entire army of undead would have only a single high-level undead commanding the entire army, as that was all that was necessary to give any defending army a huge amount of trouble. The worst part was that the undead would constantly attack without regards to day or night, twenty-four hours a day. Even the strongest human individuals needed to rest, while the undead didn't need to rest at all. Although most of the attacking undead would be low-level undead that were of little threat, there were often mid-level or even high-level undead hiding amongst them that could easily cause fatalities. A single slip of one's guard could result in an irretractable misstep.
Even though humans could take turns and rest in shifts, they would still accumulate fatigue over time during battle. Nor was it so easy for human injuries to recover quickly. Once a battle started, medical supplies were always the quickest to run out no matter how much was stored beforehand.
It was said that Nightrain City was already forced to use the dragon knights to deal with the undead's most common tactic, a sea of skeletons. Unfortunately for them, this was mostly ineffective. Even if dragon breath cleared out the battlefield in an instant, the undead would soon fill in the gaps with their numbers.
The undead were slow and weak, but they were also endless. Perhaps if you fought them, it would be easy for you to defeat countless undead. However, you would lose all of your companions without even realizing it, and finally, once you reach the limits of your stamina or use up all your mana, you'll end up collapsing amongst all the corpses. This was the exact same strategy that the undead had been using to conquer so many cities for centuries. Not only that, all the dead they slew in battle would rise up to become undead, typically increasing the Undead Calamity's numbers even more than before they attacked a city.
The undead were incredibly patient and were still waiting to increase their forces even more. These battles were nothing but appetizers to them. Meanwhile, the adventurers to their east were beginning to attempt to get in the undead's way and keep them busy in order to decrease the pressure on Nightrain City. That was how this entire area became a battlefield.
At this moment, while battles constantly raged on everywhere, the City Lord Davey personally welcomed two venerated guests to the city of Asolivis.
These two guests both appeared to be handsome youths. One appeared slightly older, with long hair reaching his shoulders, while the younger one wore a red headscarf. However, both were ridiculously handsome to the point where they didn't even seem human. They had incredibly perfect muscles that seemed to be shining golden, while their blindingly blonde hair sparkled like the sun. Their sky-blue eyes seemed to have the galaxy whirling within them, while they were able to walk in midair as if they were stepping on solid ground. They seemed just like heroes from legend.
"My respected Lord Hatley and Lord Yins, I thank you for coming to greet us in the form of mortals' bodies. Otherwise, I doubt I would be able to find appropriately sized chairs for Milords."
The old ghoul had a hunched back and wore a black cape while he used a walking staff to support himself. Davey appeared like an elder who might collapse at any moment, but he wasn't nervous in front of these two guests at all—two beings who were on par with the Gods. He even joked around with them.
"Ha, no need for such formalities. Since even the False Gods have the ability to send out incarnations to walk around in the mortal plane, how could we titan giants possibly remain stuck in mere stone statues?"
"... Little brat, we're not the patient type. Let's get directly to the point and talk about cooperating. You filthy undead, just when are you going to conquer the Bardi Empire's capital! Unseal us already!"
******
I was now adventuring together with a small team. What a nostalgic feeling.
In this incredibly large world, most powerful individuals had strength far surpassing that of ordinary soldiers. But apart from very few who possessed Golden Bloodlines or species that were naturally powerful, most individuals would have to increase their power levels gradually, step by step.
Small teams would forever be the most basic and most important unit in this world, one that was focused on heroes saving the day. The ability for an adventurer to cooperate with their teammates would directly affect that adventurer's reputation. This was why there were also job classes like skill-focused thief and bard, despite the fact that they were useless in direct combat. They focused on acting as a team's support.
For difficult, large-scale operations that required a large number of adventurers, some veteran and well-reputed adventurers would summon numerous smaller adventuring teams to work under them. Well, this would work for certain special occasions, for short periods of time. However, don't count on the adventurers being as well organized or disciplined as a military army. Things would be alright as long as they were winning, but the moment things turned ugly, it would be difficult to guarantee an adventurer's loyalty to your cause.
No matter how strong an adventurer was, they still wouldn't be useful if they were unreliable. This was why whenever large-scale military operations went down, normal adventuring teams could only help on the sidelines, acting as support.
But sometimes, as long as you used them properly, adventuring teams had their advantages as well: they were far more skilled than even elite soldiers at small-scale battles.
This time, the wood spirits were both using small elite teams and hiring a large number of adventuring teams in order to carry out a large-scale undead hunting operation. The adventuring teams would serve as both the hunters of the undead as well as bait to draw the undead's attention. Once the adventuring teams were attacked or perhaps even lost contact with the wood spirits, they would learn that the undead had arrived. The adventurers would also serve as the first obstacle in the undead's way.
After all, once the wood spirits' plan was fully set in motion, all the undead would likely be astonished. At that time, perhaps even the undead in Asolivis would swarm out to attack.
And I, Roland Mist, was currently in such a small adventuring team that was scheduled to carry out the task of hunting the undead.
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