CHAPTER 492: GAINING TRUS (1/2)
Nicole and Neneth were naturally a part of this effort as well. By the time the rest of us arrived on scene, the thousand-strong vanguard of the Undead was basically exterminated, and it merely took us a minute to reach the village entrance as well…
It went without saying that those Assassins, each either at Seven-star or Eight-star, were unbeatable amongst an army of lower-starred Undead. However, no matter how strong they were, they would eventually tire in the face of unending numbers. Even so, something still struck me as odd: why did they send this vanguard out to die?
But that wasn’t an important matter right now. Regardless if they had something planned or were just merely stupid, what I had to do now remained the same. We had to strengthen our forces, and failing that, I would have to pull out my trump card… At that, I subconsciously fingered the Gem of Authority hanging around my neck.
“I want those Soul Flames harvested right now while the Undead are still regrouping for a second attack.” Having arrived on scene, I began commanding the Assassins, divvying out their duties in an orderly fashion. “I want that area guarded too. Send a few. If there’s any movement, I want to be informed right away.”
Amongst the Assassins here, there were several who carried with them Soulstones. Upon hearing my command, they immediately handed over the Soul Flames they had gathered mid-battle. Six Assassins separated themselves from the squad and left in the direction I pointed at to act as scouts.
To be perfectly honest, I was still a little puzzled as to why the enemy did not just swarm us with their entire army right away. Especially now that I was at the frontlines, I could clearly see the sheer sea of Undead gathered around us. That Assassin who brought us the news merely said that they numbered more than ten thousand, but taking into account that they had the whole village encircled, that estimate was too conversative. They had to at least be a hundred thousand strong…
Despite that, this was still a winnable battle. As long as they were all below Four-stars, our victory assured, albeit with some casualties. That was something I did not wish to see, and exactly why I had to think of another plan quickly.
“Jezsere, come over here for a second, I need you to create a summoning array.”
There were a multitude of summoning arrays that could be employed, but all that mattered was that it ultimately linked with the world in question. As for the materials required as an offering, blood, corpses, heads, etc. were all acceptable when summoning Devils. Rather easy-going, I must say.
The first wave of fodder were all Undead, meaning there was no blood to speak of. There were also no substitutes nearby so Jezsere decided to take a gamble by commanding the Assassins to gather the skulls of those Undead as offerings instead.
In actuality, our resident timid girl was a very talented Occultist; but she was timid. Yet if the summoning did not require her touching those gory bits, creating a summoning array was an easy task for her.
As the outer circle of the summoning array took shape from the skulls of the Undead, Neneth did not react much to it. Even Nicole, a rising star amongst the Demon Hunters, did not recognise what the array was for at first. However, the moment she saw the inner drawings of the circle, she began to suspect something.
“What are you all up to?”
Faced with her questioning, I knew there was no hiding the fact at this point. “We are drawing a summoning array to summon Devils.”
“Summon Devils?!” Her eyes went wide and her hands immediately grabbed her sword. Seeing that, Zurnalin and Regine both prepared to attack as well.
“Everyone, calm down. Right now we are all stuck on the same boat. If there are any issues, let’s settle them with words instead.” Still in the dark about what was happening, Jill anxiously stepped out to try and soothe the tensions. “We need to be level-headed and work together now if we want to make it out of this battle alive.”
“…”
Nicole’s lips twitched a little but she kept quiet in the end. But that did not stop her from glaring daggers in my direction, clearly demanding an explanation from me.
“Actually… I’m an Occultist.”
As I said that, I stared right into the depths of her eyes. I desperately wanted to tell her the truth but her stance towards creatures of darkness had me hesitating. If I were to say that I was Mo Ke now, she would definitely doubt me, then swing her sword right in my face. After all, my experiences had been anything but logical at this point, anyone with a semblance of sanity would never believe such absurdity. Too bad it actually happened to me…
“Devil…” Nicole instinctively drew out her sword but stowed it halfway.
Phew… seems like she trusts me a little at least… that was the whole point of staying behind and openly telling her in the first place.