Demon Lord's Reincarnation

Chapter 117 - First strike

Clomp, Clomp, the sound of footsteps could be heard throughout the area. Not only could one hear the sound of multiple footsteps, and the clinking of armor, you could even feel the earth shake from this mighty march. This was the march of the undead, this was the march of death.

This mighty undead army had already passed three small villages and encountered one group of knights, none of which survived the encounter with the undead. Now the next stop was the town of Grenton.

The reason this undead army decided to march to Grenton was because their master the Elder Lich Alfred was quite interested in Ren and his group. The power and weapon Ren used while fighting him wasn't something an ordinary human could handle. This piqued Alfred's interest, and now that his experiment had failed, he was a bit bored. So he decided to capture Ren and his comrades to make them into his new guinea pigs. Surely unlike those weak villagers, they would give better results, making his quest for true immortality one step closer. As a bonus if there are any strong humans on the way he would gladly take them as well. Unfortunately, the humans he met on the way were nothing special, some were a bit stronger than the villagers he once controlled, but in his eyes, they were nothing much.

...

The army had entered a forested area and continued their march. It was then a huge ball of fire fell down from the sky, hitting the front lines of the army. The fire then started to spread into the forest, but that didn't stop the march of the undead, as the undead mages came out and used water spells to stop the fire. If this was a normal human army, that surprise attack would've caused them to panic a bit, and then tighten their formation as they send scouts to see who was attacking them.

Yet the undead had no emotions and didn't panic not even a twitch was shown as they continued to move forward. The elder lich who was aware of everything that was happening within his army, couldn't help but chuckle at that surprise attack. Though the attacker was able to kill a few dozen of his minions, it really didn't bother him, since he could create new ones. As long as he had dead bodies to use he could create however many undead he wanted. He also knew of a spell that could summon undead but those beings have a limited time frame to act before they turn into dust. So it wasn't worth using them except for dire situations.

...

As the march continued out of nowhere the left-wing and the right-wing of the army were suddenly being bombarded by earth spells. Rocks came flying at incredible speeds, towards the undead army. Alfred who finally saw where the spells were coming from, mentally ordered his warriors to attack.

The undead receiving their orders started to charge towards the mages that came attacking them. Though they were getting hit as they got closer, the undead behind would continue onward making it look like they weren't stopping from their charge.

On the left-wing when the undead warriors were closing in on the mages, a giant man suddenly got in between them. This man was none other than Iselv who was now equipped with a Warhammer. He with his large Warhammer took the stance Ren though him while using the axe. Iselv with Warhammer at hand swung it like he would cut down a tree. The force of his swing was now stronger than its ever been blowing away the trees in front of him as well as the undead warriors charging towards them.

Iselv's men were also present as they swung around their maces and raising their shields, blocking the undead for the mages behind them.

On the right-wing, the same thing was happening, and the one who was blocking the charge was Lara. This time she wasn't using her bow and arrows since those won't help with fighting skeletal opponents, instead, she was using her fist. Aside from teaching her archery and how to use magic, Ren also thought Lara close quarter combat techniques. Just in case she loses all her arrows and has no mana left for spells, this was her final line of defense.

At first, Ren wanted to teach Lara swordsmanship like how he thought Valdel, but he quickly saw that Lara had no talent for it. Even with how nimble and dexterous she was, Lara was actually pretty horrible in swordsmanship, not so bad that she couldn't swing it, but her level was the same as a child pretending to be a swordsman. Ren then tried to teach her other things but it turns out aside from using a bow Lara was horrible in every other weapon. So as a last resort Ren tried to teach her unarmed combat.

Who could've known that aside from the bow she would excel greatly in the art of fighting barehanded.

...

When the skeletal warriors were nearing them, Lara with blinding speed charged at them. A punch to shatter their ribs, a kick to blow away their skulls. Lara with blinding speed and fluent movement was a force to be reckoned with. Coupled with the fact she used some attack spells when she had time to do so, made her look like a tornado passing through enemy ranks.

The warriors fighting beside her were falling for her beautiful form as she fought the enemy with powerful yet graceful movement, coupled with her attractive proportions, and beautiful face she looked like a divine warrior.

When both Iselv, and Lara's side were getting wonderful results from their ambush, the undead mages appeared and started firing mid-level spells. Most of the warriors in the front couldn't evade or defend themselves from the attack and were killed on the spot.

The mages with Iselv, and Lara's group tried their best to protect the warriors but they were being overwhelmed by the sheer number of the enemy undead mages.

Iselv who finally saw the undead mages appearing smiled, he disregarded the undead warriors in front and simply charged at the undead mages at the back. Lara did the same thing, but unlike Iselv's reckless charge while taking hits, Lara was able to bypass the frontlines with her speed and use of Shadow spells, from the branch of darkness magic.

Iselv and Lara were able to defeat quite several undead mages, it was then the enemy force had successfully surrounded them. As they were about to be bombarded from all sides, a thick layer of mist enveloped the area.

This was a spell performed by Kithra, while Iselv and Lara were fighting she was already preparing to use this large scale spell for a quick retreat. Now that the sights of the enemy forces have been reduced Iselv even though he sustained some injuries was able to escape the encirclement, same goes for Lara.

The two groups from the left-wing and right-wing, then quickly retreated into the forest. They needed to change the way they fought as Lara wasn't expecting to lose so many men in their first confrontation. Though they were able to kill 1:100 of the undead, that wasn't really much. The whole point of this intervention was to buy time for the people of Grenton to prepare.

'Tsk, I really am not good with making up a strategy. I lost more men than I hope in that first encounter.' Lara then started to reprimand herself in her head, as she and the Iselv's group converged in the designated checkpoint.

Lara who took a quick glance at the remaining men from their side was able to see that they had lost thirty men in that first battle. Twenty-five warriors and five mages had died. Learning that fact made Lara want to click her tongue. Still, this failure made her even more motivated, making her think that she needed to do better than her best.

"We're moving onto plan B, but instead of attacking with three different groups, let's make the groupings even smaller. All of you should now move in groups of five, two mages and three warriors. Iselv and Kitra will form one group, while I'll go by myself. Remember hit fast and hard, then immediately escape. Those who abandon their task midway, and run from the field of battle, will be hunted down by me personally. At the time I catch you... You would wish that you have died in battle."

Lara looked coldly at the remaining men coupled with her killing intent, made everyone except Kithra and Iselv shiver in fear. Those who planned to sneak away while they were separated, erased the idea from their heads.