Chương 42

General Skullthrax took a deep and long breath. The glaive that had been stuck in the Corpse Mound disappeared in motes of light that traveled at impossible speed toward the walls. Because of how the mirror worked, they managed to follow that lance until it got to the walls. And there — illuminated by the lance reforming in his hand in a flash of light, and by the torches all around him — General Skullthrax saw a smiling John crack his neck, down a mana potion, and get into position again, throwing the lance.

The mirror followed the lance back to the second Corpse Mound, which exploded just like the first. This scene repeated in excruciating silence as the entire war room watched John O'Donnell take down their siege machines. He was through with almost a dozen of them when General Skullthrax finally snapped.

"What is that girl doing?" he growled.

"Why is she doing nothing?" And then he suddenly saw that in the middle of the army, hidden from the enemy's eye, there was a sudden shining light. Skullthrax ordered the mirror to look at it. And he saw the woman with a giant longbow — larger than her, made of bone — draw the string all the way back, bracing it with her leg, while her muscles rippled under her skin. That was an S-rank artifact that Bryce had gotten from the Sorvos Empire as an early sponsorship.

"That fool is gonna lose his head now." Count Vorthug chuckled. And they all watched eagerly as the girl released a bone arrow that traveled faster than a bullet toward John O'Donnell.

"It's coming," Langdon said, after having stepped two yards away from me. I nodded and closed my eyes, holding the glaive in my hands. I saw the bone arrow enter my perception at incredible speed. But through the Sphere of Intuition, it might as well have been still. I could feel the density of the bone, the wind. It was almost as if I could touch its smooth surface, interspersed with barbs, and the mana in it — the filthy undead mana that crawled all over the bolt.

I rotated, in my perception, ever so slowly, together with the glaive. And struck. Langdon put a shield in front of his face. He had wanted to watch the entire scene, to see what John was really capable of. But after getting a read from his S-rank glasses about the kind of power the arrow was carrying — strong enough to kill a level 20 boss — he put his safety first. There was just a massive explosion, which made him fall on his butt.

And then, as he removed the shield, which had been peppered with bone fragments, he saw John standing tall, barely fazed. His armor had not suffered one tear. He had a little white bone powder on his face that he was rubbing away, but otherwise, he was completely fine. Langdon nodded to himself.

"Goddammit." Bryce had an enhanced and upgraded Farsight skill, and she saw John easily destroy an arrow of which she only had five copies.

"Commander." A sentient undead, followed by a human, walked up to Bryce.

"The man just destroyed another Corpse Mound. What are we doing?" Bryce knew that John couldn't just keep this up forever. They still had a dozen Corpse Mounds, and whatever skill he must have been using should cost him. You can only drink so many mana potions at once before you start feeling sick. And in fact, as John destroyed about six more Corpse Mounds, and she had about six left, his lance stopped traveling toward them. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"Advance," Bryce commanded.

"Full tilt ahead." The undead went to relay all the orders, already shouting at the top of his rotten lungs. Tim — a man who had been with her through thick and thin for the past four days, and with whom she had shared a bed for the past two — said, "Are you still sure about this?" Bryce gave him an incinerating gaze.

"There is no space for doubt now, Tim. Go take your position. You will lead the cavalry."

"Whatever," Tim said, shrugging.

"Just don't fucking turn into an undead before the end of the fight, all right? I'm not into dead chicks."

"Not yet," Bryce replied with a grin. My arm was still shaking from parrying that blow from Bryce. Despite my incredible strength, whatever had been in that arrow really packed a punch.

"Step back, John. You're about to suffer mana poisoning. You're one potion away. You'll be able to throw more in about two hours," Langdon said. I looked at the man, who reflexively adjusted his glasses. Langdon could read many, many things about somebody, at whatever distance. He didn't have the same mysterious abilities that a Sphere of Intuition did. But his analysis abilities were off the chart. So I listened, and just took up the normal throwing spears and stood at the ready.

I wasn't gonna use Judgment of Raziel anymore. There was a moment of quiet while I leaned back against the wall. Throwing at full power took a lot out of me, but the many bonuses of the Haven barely made me feel it. In fact, we had all been tired when we came back. After going all night again, I was feeling like part of an undead myself. Thankfully, any two hours inside the Haven, even just walking around, felt like a full night of sleep.

That might have been the best blessing of all, but even the rest of them were amazing. My thoughts were interrupted by the giant undead starting a sprint toward the walls.

"Ballistas at four hundred, on the Corpse Mounds." Langdon spoke inside a stone that relayed his orders all around the wall.

"Casters, ready to fire. On my go." Everybody saw the giant monsters approach, and I felt the need to ingest another mana potion and help the defenders. These things were scary as fuck. I looked at my wristwatch real quick. Only two minutes had passed since I threw my last spear, and there were one hundred and eighteen minutes of no Judgment of Raziel — apart from the ones I could use through my normal mana. The giant Corpse Mounds were now around fifty yards or so from us when Langdon said, "Fire."

A full battery of ballistas shot in the dark. All of them were operated by men with marksman skills, and almost all the bolts went through one of the Corpse Mounds. There were a few headshots, but even those did not stop the hulking giants. Yet in the wake of the ballista bolts came a flurry of fireballs. The bolts had been doused in oil, and they nearly set all six monsters on fire.

At this distance, many of the cat men and women were launching spheres full of oil with their bare hands, which just contributed to turning those revolting giant undead into a pyre of corpses. Yet about half of them looked unfazed. The three largest ones, as tall as the walls themselves, were still advancing, slowed by the fire eating into sinew and flesh. But now they opened their malformed mouths, full of shark-like teeth. And in those jaws, many people saw such a terror that—"Dispel Illusion."

Langdon waved a hand, and the entire wall stopped screaming. I looked at the man. He had an almost impossible array of spells at his disposal. The biggest of the three Corpse Mounds stepped toward the wall, and Langdon just said, "Regulus." The giant lion opened his mouth, and a beam of super-concentrated mana shot through the monster's arm, cutting it off.

"Next." Regulus shot another beam. Now at the leg, on the same side of the arm he had just taken. And the giant Corpse Mound fell. Zosma helped her husband down a giant mana potion, and the scene repeated for the remaining two Corpse Mounds. I took a deep breath in relief. Fuck. Yeah.

"We're still gonna lose several pieces of the wall," Langdon said, pointing in the distance. I saw a blinding light in the middle of their undead army, and then — coming like a falling star — another one of Bryce's bone arrows, shooting straight for the wall.