Second World



John wanted to chase the fleeing Liguritudum army but the zombie army was very determined to stop them. He decided to let go of the Liguritudum army and focused on this zombie army. Otherwise, his army would suffer unnecessary casualties.

After making sure the new force was targeting the Liguritudum army, John adjusted his army to work together with this new force.

On the field, the right-wing army that Arther commanded was the closest to this new force. As usual, Arther dove right into the enemies. He acted like a one-man army, disrupting the enemies from the inside as his troops tried to catch up with him.

His body was shielded by the Sphere of Aegis while his greatsword was shrouded by Ki Weapon's aura. He slashed left and right as he zoomed around amid the zombie soldiers. As he headed deeper, he found the area around him covered in mists.

He sensed the unusual mana in these mists. These were not natural mists. He saw shadows within the mists. He was ready.

"No need to worry about us, lord marshall. We are not your enemies," A woman's voice echoed.

Two shadows swooped by and snatched the two zombie soldiers who were about to lunge at Arther.

"This voice… Vanessa?" Arther asked.

A woman materialized from inside the mists. It was a tall and beautiful woman with clear pale skin. Her lips were blood red. She wore light armor that fit her body perfectly, accentuating her sensual shape. In her hand was a crimson thorn whip.

"I am flattered you remember my name, Young Arther," The woman called Vanessa replied.

"I am not young anymore," Arther said.

Vanessa chuckled. "In my eyes, you will always be young. How long has it been? When we last met, you were still a Knight Captain. Look at you now, you certainly have gone up in the world."

"… that was thirty years ago," Arther answered.

"So long already? Well, then I'm even more flattered that you remember my voice even after so long."

The reason Arther still remembered was that Vanessa was the most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes on. He was a bright soldier who had just joined the military. Vanessa could be said as his first crush. That was until he found out she was a vampire who was almost four hundred years old.

"What is a Sangrod's relic marshall doing here?" Arther asked.

"Haven't you heard? Our two countries are now allies," Vanessa answered. "We have been instructed by our new emperor to ride at our fastest speed to support you. We have a main army on their way here, but they still take a few days to arrive. We are the vanguard troops that were tasked to come here at our fastest speed. I must say, it feels weird. Our old emperor didn't even ask us to hurry for our empire's sake."

"If you are here to help, then help. We still have a great deal of enemies around us," Arther said.

"So stiff. To think I ever thought of you as cute," Vanessa chuckled. "All right. Business first then, we will leave the pleasure for later."

Arther didn't understand what she meant by pleasure. He couldn't deny that the old infatuation he had for her was gnawing at him now that he saw her again. He banished that thought. He used Charge and went in a direction away from her. He didn't think he would be able to concentrate if she was nearby.

Vanessa just looked at Arther with a smile.

*

Master instructed the zombie army to focus on the Themisphere army. Hence, they completely ignored the demon horde hitting their backs. These zombies threw themselves onto the Themisphere soldiers without a care for their well-being. Master had them inflict as many casualties on the Themisphere army as possible.

As a result, although they did reap many kills, they also died at a faster rate than they had to. In just an hour after the Liguritudum army retreated, the zombie soldiers were almost annihilated.

Without the zombie soldiers acting as a wall, the demon horde now pounced at the Themisphere army. John was prepared. He didn't relax even if the zombie army was almost routed.

He glanced at the Liguritudum army. They were almost out of his projection screen. He decided to forget about them, liberating Balgadur was the priority. After chasing away the invaders, all they needed to do now was to survive this disaster item that they unleashed themselves.

Still, he had a few scouts tail after the Liguritudum army, just to make sure that the army didn't turn around and hit them when they least expected it.

Now that Themisphere army had to bear the brunt of the demon horde, John felt the pressure. The average levels of the demon horde were higher than the bulk of his army, after all.

Thankfully, the ones with high grades weren't too many. The Themisphere army had a better proportion of high-level and high-grade soldiers compared to the demon horde. Additionally, the demon horde attacked without any thought. They just acted on instinct. Against an army with a proper formation controlled by a seasoned tactician, the demons were at a disadvantage.

As the battle went on, John noticed one side was doing significantly better than the others. He looked over that side and found out that the side was where a large group of Ancient Champions was fighting.

The Ancient Champions were proficient demon-hunting warriors. They received less damage and delivered extra damage when fighting demons. They also had an Anti-demon Aura which put all the demons in their vicinities into a weakened state.

Every Ancient Champion had a standard skill called Demon Banishment, which was the same as Exorcism but the instant death effect was doubled when the target was a demon. Even if the instant death failed to trigger, the targeted demon would still suffer immense damage.

Some Ancient Champions who had trained longer could learn more skills to fight demons. Among these learnable skills was Demon Control, which took control of a demon for a duration. There was also the Purifying Light Wave. This skill produced a wave that covered a large area. Enemies who were washed by this wave received light-elemental damage while allies received a small amount of healing. If the wave hit demons, the damage was doubled.

When fighting demons, these ancient champions were even much more effective compared to the two special classes from the divine factions.

Seeing this, John reorganized the ancient champions and spread them out among the army. With their Anti-demon Aura covering much of the battlefield, the battle became more manageable.