Chapter 34: An Awful Defea (1/2)

The shieldbearers set up their shield wall once more and huddled behind their massive shields, bracing them for impact. Behind them, the saber wielders stepped up and lowered their Mo sabres onto the shield wall; ready to intercept any charging undead.

The guardsmen split up into two teams, each guarding the left and right flanks of the shieldbearers. Behind them were the reserve team who carried their primitive bone clubs and quietly awaited orders. (One of the guardsmen only had his shield remaining after having his sword stolen by One-eye.)

On the undead side, they had 100 people as well. 50 of them wore a light set of bone armor and carried a buckler on one hand with a short sword on the other. As for the unarmored skeletons, 30 of them carried a giant hammer, 18 of them wielded a bow and the final 2 were mages. Except for the mages, all of the 98 undead were one-star.

My curiosity was piqued by the upcoming battle. After all, this was my first time seeing skeletal mages; I wonder what kind of abilities they had. Judging from their aura, they were at most, at the level of two-star. Either way, nothing is scarier than the unknown, best focus them down first.

Due to the bone wall blocking our escape route and the lack of information on the undead in front of us, we were forced to adopt a defensive stance.

“Don’t worry, I just want to show you why your vaunted weapons are nothing more than toys. These undead are armed with some throwaway creations of mine; they are at most slightly better than the weapons you have…” Without waiting for my response, he waved his skeletal arm: “Let the battle commence.”

The first to advance were the skeletons armored from head to toe in bone armor. With their short swords raised high above their head, they advanced upon the stalwart shield wall in front of them.

“Mo sabers!”

Due to the lack of Mo sabers in the past, they mostly took part in the battles as individuals. This was their first battle as a team together. However, I had confidence in their killing power.

As they received the command, the saber wielders took up position behind the heavy shields, their sabers ready and waiting.

However, the first to reach us were the hail of arrows from the archers…

The heavy shields did not provide the promised safety. Instead the arrows bypassed the static shields as they rained from the heavens. Due to their high ground and the parabolic trajectory of the arrows, they landed directly on the saber wielders and the reserves…

“Ahhhh” The pained cries of the imps echoed through the air before I could even react to the arrows. My Mo saber team had lost two members while the remaining were all severely injured!

“Reserve team!”

The hurried shuffle of imp feet mixed in with the groans of the injured imps as they were swiftly replaced. The reserves had undergone some basic training just for such a situation like this. Thanks to this, the handover was quick and the Mo sabers were ready by the time the undead reached the wall.

As expected, the length of the Mo sabres were able to reach just high enough to hack at the heads of the armored skeletons. Unfortunately, their armor not only covered their torso, but also extended all the way to their heads. Despite being light armor, they were enough to block the non-metallic Mo sabres!

While these skeletons were weak and dimwitted, they were perfect for the human wave tactics employed. As the Mo sabres hacked down at them, they fearlessly charged in, soaking the brunt of the attack. Thanks to their armor, the damage was mostly mitigated with only a chip at where they were hit. The skull beneath the armor was completely unharmed.

Furthermore, this initial wave revealed a glaring weakness in my plan. The Mo sabers were very long and thus had a wide area of attack. This was normally an advantage but in this confined space, it became its downfall. The limited width of the heavy shield meant that the Mo sabers had to be stacked closely together causing them to frequently clash with each other as the imps attacked…

“This…” This was the invincible formation I spent days formulating?…It’s so weak!

The clashing Mo sabers created a scene of chaos in front of the wall, which the skeletons swiftly took advantage of and began climbing over the shield wall.

“Reserves!”

One-eye shouted for the reserves to join in the battle while he himself readied his sword and shield.

“Go join in the fight as well.” I turned to No.3 and Big 4 beside me and continued: “Dispose of them quickly.”

“As you command, Master.”

The bone armor might have been sturdy enough to withstand my slashing weapons, but the bone clubs were a different matter. They were blunt weapons, which meant that even if the armor didn’t break, the impact would still be transferred into the skull beneath. That impact would damage the soul flames within, and even if it didn’t kill the undead, it would at least stun them momentarily.

Plus, these armors had to have seams at certain locations. As long as the imps were able to strike at these points, even the slashing weapons could easily penetrate the armor.

However, just as this problem seemed to have solved itself, the rain of arrows came down once more, piercing the heads and limbs of the imps. Another wave of casualties appeared.

Damn it! Aren’t you afraid of hurting your own guys…oh wait, I’m a retard…why would these skeletons be afraid of arrows.

In the past, I had considered salvaging the bows from the archers we fought but this idea was quickly squashed.

Firstly the bows needed arrows, and unlike the skeletons, the devils weren’t able to turn their own bones into arrows. I could craft some arrows with my dark alchemy but the mana required was simply too much for a consumable item. It made more sense to spend this mana on making melee weapons instead.

Next was the fact that devils didn’t possess the aptitude for archery. Not just these potatoes, even I didn’t know how to use a bow. My accuracy was at the level of a potato! As for drawing the bows…Once, I got an imp to draw a bow, but within seconds the bow began to emit slight cracking sounds. I quickly stopped the imp since the bow itself would’ve probably snapped in half otherwise…

The last and probably the most important reason was…undead didn’t even fear arrows!

The weak point of most undead creatures were their soul flames which was usually hidden in their skulls. As long as this area was well protected, no amount of arrows piercing their bodies would’ve made a difference. They were able to shrug it all off.