Emperor of Steel

Chapter 712: Legion of the Dead 3

After defeating the troops of Baroque and Libiya support led by Mikhail, the continental alliance troops began to clear the battlefield.

They gathered all the corpses and the dead to bury them in one place and then began to classify the Gigants and the weapons.

‘Kuk! To be defeated by the Symphonia men again!’

Sabina was taken captive for assisting Mikhail, and she didn’t like it.

At that time, she heard the whispers of those behind her.

“Tch, this is a lot worse than expected.”

“Well. We had to take help from pirates, whose roots aren’t on the ground, I don’t know if they are plain stupid or...”

The insulting remarks made Sabina angry.

Those who were held captive, all thought that the reason for the defeat was because of the Libiya troops.

And she couldn’t accept the insults thrown at her men.

These men of Baroque couldn’t even handle the weapons or form in line, and now they were hissing from behind!

‘What kind of a man is he?! I will tear him to pieces right away!’

She was enraged and looked around.

Unlike most of the prisoners who were squatted and looked grim, there were those who seemed way too cool for captives.

“We need to start the operation as directed by the elders.”

“Right. It doesn’t matter if we are to do it earlier than expected.”

They were the warlocks of the Veritas Magic tower, hiding as the reinforcements of Libiya.

Warlocks, disguised as ordinary soldiers, whispering in low voices.

Shortly before the military service, there was an order they heard from Elder Zemerton.

It was to spread the improved Zombie poison when a huge fight happens or when the Baroque Empire gets defeated.

They took out a bottle that had liquid in it, jumped out, and started scattering it in all directions.

“Uh? What?!”

“Catch them!”

The soldiers of the Castia Kingdom who were managing the prisoners thought that the men were trying to escape.

However, the prisoners who ran over were throwing something out of a bottle.

Clang! Shake! Shake!

“What are they doing?”

“Don’t watch! Catch them!”

The officers and knights who were watching from behind were scolding the soldiers.

The warlock, which was one of them, threw a bottle at the dead and laughed.

“Ugh, it is too late now...!”

“Die, you bastard!”

Sabina, who had been following, kicked down the warlocks.

The warlocks, who fell down, rolled over to the corpses’ side, and Castia soldiers captured Sabina.

“Let me go! I need to hit that dirty bastard, I need to kill him!”

“Don’t mess around and step back! If you think we’ll see you as a noble prisoner, then you are wrong!”

Commander level nobles were mostly favored than ordinary soldiers when captured.

It was because they could be used as ransom or for diplomatic situations.

However, due to the current circumstances of the troops which had to hurry to Nemesis, there was no time to give preferential treatment to others.

“Hiik! Help me! Get me out of here!”

The warlock who fell into the corpse pile kept on pleasing.

When the soldiers saw that, they couldn’t help but laugh at the warlocks, but then, an ominous energy rose from the corpses.

The bodies began to flinch and move all of a sudden!

“Wh-What is that?!”

“The corpses are waking up?”

When the soldiers were puzzled and shocked, the corpses made eerie sounds and struck the warlock who was between them.

Kikikiki!

“Ah, move away!”

The warlocks got bit and killed in an instant because all the corpses rose at once.

The fellow warlocks who saw it frowned.

‘Huh, that idiot!’

‘That guy is so stupid that he is getting killed like that.’

While the warlocks who had run over to another corpse pit were doing their thing as their confusion grew.

From the pit where the liquid was spilled, hundreds of corpses were coming out.

And when the corpses began to climb up the pit, soldiers were shaken.

“Zo-zombie!”

“Sh*t, stop them!”

The soldiers near the pit swung their spears and swords.

However, there were more zombies that were climbing up than falling down, the soldiers who were close to the pit ran for their lives right away.

‘Wh-what the hell is that?!’

Sabina, frozen at what she witnessed, ran away till she saw a zombie.

Just before she got caught by the zombie, a knight on a horse slashed the neck of the zombie with his sword.

“Don’t panic and attack!”

“Wahhh!”

The soldiers shouted with weapons in their hands and fear in their hearts.

However, even after being pierced in their hearts, the zombies continued to attack.

In addition, soldiers who got bitten would turn into zombies and attack the humans.

“Kuek! Right, you infest everyone around you and turn into zombies!”

One of the warlocks who just stepped out, looked at the scene, and smiled.

“But this won’t be enough. If they use a Gigant, stopping them would be impossible.”

“Huh, didn’t master prepare something else for that?”

The warlock with the gloomy expression smiled and drew a magic circle with blood on the ground and memorized the spell.

Once the magic circle got completed with his hands wide open, he shouted.

“Wake up, Giant Zombie!”

At that moment, a dark red light flashed from the magic circle, the zombies around began to unite.

Hundreds of zombies tangled together, and in an instant, a Giant Zombie of 20 meters rose.

Kuahhhh!

A giant zombie with hundreds of pairs of eyes and limbs, burst into screams and began to march towards the Gigants of the continental alliance.

Meanwhile, in the Commander’s Barracks in the temporary camp.

The place where Count Ferrero and the other commanders of the 3rd squad were gathered.

“Surely you are the man who can overwhelm the continent.”

“Looking at your skills, it made me think that we can achieve more than this.”

“It is probably only the count who can make a Gigant jump that high.”

Nobles of Castia and Navarre were praising Count Ferrero’s skills.

It was never easy for one person to wipe out 70 Gigants by himself and kill the enemy commander.

There were great riders and knights in other nations too, but they couldn’t help but look up to Count Ferrero.

“Huhu, that is overly praising me. It would have the same if someone other than me went out for that.”

“Oh my, so humble! After all, no matter how strong, a master is different.”

There was a reason why they praised Count Ferrero too much.

First of all, Count Ferrero’s troops were excellent, and there was a possibility for the Symphonia Kingdom to be recognized after this war was done.

When they first entered the alliance of Symphonia, they didn’t have the heart to work as it was a new nation.

However, seeing Symphonia in battle—in person, they saw that the knights, soldiers, and even the Gigant power were beyond their own.

‘Maybe a new Empire which will replace the Baroque will be born.’

With that in mind, they were working hard to build a favorable relationship with Count Ferrero, a high ranking noble of Symphonia Kingdom.

Of course, Count Ferrero wasn’t the only target.

Count Darland, who had an excellent brain was also included.

While the soldiers were arranging and clearing the fields, the leaders of the alliance were trying to build the relationships.

Suddenly, there was noise from outside, Count Ferrero’s lieutenant entered the tent.

“Sire, we are in trouble!”

“Trouble? Did another group of enemies appear? Or did the prisoners riot?”

“Well, no, the corpses are turning into zombies and are attacking the soldiers!”

“What?!”

Ferrero jumped up from his seat.

If the corpses suddenly turned into zombies, it meant that there was a high probability that there were warlocks nearby.

Warlocks was a very troublesome existing entity.

They don’t know if the Symphonia troops had a priest or paladin with them, and if they didn’t, it would mean that everyone in the troops would take considerable damage.

However, by the way, there were a few priests or paladins in the 3rd squad which was made of Castia Kingdom and the Navarre duchy.

“Right away, dispatch the Gigant troops and the wizards. It isn’t easy to stop the zombies with ordinary soldiers or knights.”

“Yes, Sire!”

The lieutenant who took the orders from Count Ferrero immediately went out of the tent.

However, he soon entered the tent to deliver another set of news.

“The Gigant troops are engaging with the Gigant zombie! And the wizards are suddenly caught up in a magic circle of mana freeze in the field, and they aren’t able to use their magic for some time now.”

“Oh my god, we are completely beaten down.”

He thought that the battle was a complete victory after attracting his enemies into a well-laid trap.

But a sudden twist began to happen!

“Look, Darland. What are we supposed to do?”

At Ferrero’s question, Count Darland thought for a moment and then opened his mouth.

“We need to retreat unconditionally.”

Commanders of the Castia Kingdom and Navarre Duchy opposed it right away.

“That is not possible.”

“There will be damage, but I think we can defeat those zombies too.”

Those who opposed him didn’t know what the fear installed by the Undead and the Warlocks felt.

Count Darland has never directly fought with the undead.

But he had heard about the zombie poison in the Holy Empire, he thought that it was impossible to repel them with any general response.

“If we take time here, the damage will increase dramatically, and the number of zombies will only increase. Even if we defeat them, what use is it if we take too much damage? If we take damage, there will be serious setbacks to our next operation.”

The 3rd squad was in charge of supporting the 1st squad, which was responsible for the Operation Beheading.

They were in charge of blocking the reinforcements coming in from north and west of the Baroque Empire, and to narrow down the escape opportunities of Rudolf.

However, if a significant portion of the troops were lost in the battle, the actual plan would be tough to follow.

“Well, can’t help it. As Darland said, let’s retreat.”

At Ferrero’s words, the order was immediately given and the 1st squad was informed of the new situation and the retreat.

And by the time the retreat was done, Ferrero received Luke’s call.