Chapter 339
Chapter 339: Taking Action
Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Pranav
At first, it was a light shower of rain. Ten minutes later, however, it had become a massive rainstorm. This was weather that both sides preferred not to see, but the undead held more of an advantage in such weather.
Perhaps it would cause the undead’s reinforcements to arrive slightly later, and the undead would be slightly affected by the torrential downpour, but it could not significantly influence their situation.
However, this was doubtlessly unpleasant weather to be fighting in for the defending adventurers. With such a mega rainstorm, ordinary humans on the attacking side would most likely choose to rest in this weather as well. After all, the current temperature was still rather cold, and even the average strong human wouldn’t be able to handle vigorous exercise and sweating in the rain, which would easily lead to them catching a cold. It was quite common for even powerful individuals to fall ill if they fought in such weather.
Not only that, the icy coldness of the rain droplets and decrease in vision would bring about a sense of discomfort for the humans, seriously affecting their morale.
It was common sense for any human battlefield commander to avoid commencing battle in cold and heavy rainstorms at all costs, unless absolutely necessary. Otherwise, not only would the army’s combat strength be seriously weakened, but it would also be quite difficult to deal with the following effects—the army would likely be greatly weakened after the battle as well.
The living were limited by environmental factors, but the undead, who were no longer living, had it much better.
The undead did not know illness. Although they disliked wielding weapons which would become slippery in the rain, and torrential rains would also affect their vision and slow them down—maybe even forcing them to find their lost teeth and eyes washed away by the rain—they wouldn’t be incapable of fighting simply because of some rain.
“Damn it, how much longer is this rain going to go on for?”
I wasn’t being frustrated because of the difficulties for the combat situation. To me, as long as the end result was acceptable, the process was unimportant.
My direct subordinates and I had limited power. We weren’t, and we didn’t intend to become, all-encompassing nannies. Since these Contract Heroes had the resolution to obtain great rewards in combat, they would naturally require the resolution to know that they would possibly die in battle. I didn’t intend to overly interfere… and to be honest, it was impossible for me to interfere much. After all, there were countless battles in this world, and future battles would escalate in level. After a certain time, even SemiGods would be appearing on the battlefield in hoards—it would be impossible for me to take care of every battlefield even if I wanted to.
And since I was hoping for these “Dimensional Guardians,” my “Game Player replacements,” to speedily grow and mature, it would actually be best for me to not interfere too much with their growth. Truly strong individuals needed to make it past tough situations where their life was on the brink. Unless this battle became one where our side was certain to lose and be eradicated, I didn’t actually intend to interfere.
The only reason I came here was that Samantha and the wood spirits requested it of me, and as for why I went and weakened the undead’s forces, it was simply because I wanted to perform an experiment…
“Roland, did you know that it’s unseemly when a man acts like a tsundere?”
I decided to ignore the silly cat’s comment. I definitely was no tsundere who would volunteer to babysit some novice adventurers! I was simply frustrated right now because the torrential rain had interrupted my planned experiments, hence my foul mood.
“…Is there a way to get rid of all this rain?”
“Not for me. It’s not like I’m an archdruid. They’re the ones most skilled at controlling the weather. Isn’t Eaglestorm one of your subordinates? Why don’t you try having him control the weather?”
Although it was what I expected to hear from Harloys, I was still disappointed.
As long as a mage was sufficiently prepared, they were indeed all-powerful. But the prerequisite was a sufficient amount of preparation. At the very least, I knew that the mages in the Cloud Tower had the ability to control the daily weather of the city of Arlo. However, this required plenty of support structures and mage towers’ assistance, and any weather-related mega AOE spell was actually a major category of forbidden spells. At the very least, it required a mage at the SemiGod level and required a long time to cast.
Yet right now, Harloys was still only at the Gold rank, limited in power level due to the magical pet contract which forbade her power level from exceeding the master’s. Even if she knew some spells that could change the weather, she wouldn’t be able to use them without the foundational power level required. But it was so rare that I could latch on to one of her sore points, so I definitely wouldn’t let her have it easy—verbally, of course.
“Tsk, how useless. Eaglestorm, you say? Let’s not even mention how he’s currently én route to the Bardi Empire’s capital, but even if he was here, he’s only a druid at the Legend rank. He wouldn’t be able to do anything about this situation.”
“Hmph, it’s all because of your weak power level that’s dragging me down. In that case, how about having ‘Mars’ activate earlier than planned?”
“Wouldn’t that make him into a premature newborn? I’m still hoping he obtains plenty of souls as nourishment in this battle. Rejected!”
“…Shouldn’t you have a method to change the weather as well?”
“Sure, I have the ability to change that torrential rainstorm into a torrential blizzard. It’ll probably become headline news the very next day, with such a large blizzard appearing in late spring. But what will we do after that? Compete in who freezes to death first? I think that out of all the species, the undead that don’t need to eat or drink and don’t feel pain will definitely win a survival of the fittest competition.”
Alright then, I and the silly cat stared at each other and confirmed that neither of us had a method available to us that could change the weather.
*Boom!*
Suddenly, there was a loud thunderclap. But the strange part was that this thunderclap originated from the ground and shot towards the sky, piercing through the clouds.
*Boom!*
After some more continuous rumbling that illuminated the entire area with lightning, the clouds dissipated and this area returned to peaceful and quiet weather.
This was obviously the result of something unnatural. However…
“That’s strange, didn’t that originate from the undead’s camp? Did some powerful undead use magic to dispel the clouds? Why would they act so suicidal?”
The undead army’s general command center was merely some temporarily constructed low-level Soul-Absorbing Towers. And in this messy and disorganized command center was a single two-story tall white house that stood out from its surroundings. Various flowers and plants grew all around it, and there were even servants tending to the house.
The titan giant Yins was patiently tending to the plants, while the other titan giant Hatley maintained his pose of tossing javelins, as if he wanted to throw yet another one. At this moment, the real owner of this house suddenly entered.
“My two venerated lords! What are you…”
Although Davey was doing his best to remain calm, the Ghoul Lord’s expression was ugly. Right now, he was incredibly furious.
It was only natural that he was so angry. He was already in a bad situation to begin with, and he finally received a lucky break from the skies. But this lucky break had just been ruined by his supposed allies. Even a saint would be angered at this, not to mention that Davey was an Undead Lord and no kind individual.
But he restrained himself from actually doing anything. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to vent his rage, it was that he couldn’t. The main issue was that he knew he would never win in a fight, and he didn’t even dare to antagonize these two visitors.
Both titan giants were mere incarnations of their wills, a similar method to how Gods could send out their incarnations by using divine power. The power that an incarnation wielded was far more limited in comparison to their true selves. But even so, at the very weakest, they would be SemiGods, the most powerful power level for mortals. Without even mentioning the Undead Lord Davey, even the Undead Emperors themselves didn’t have a chance of certain victory against the titan giants’ incarnations. And if the Elemental Tide increased even further, the limiters on the titan giants’ power level would be decreased by even more. Just how powerful were the titan giants, and what were they capable of accomplishing in the mortal plane if they were unsealed? Except for ancient existences from the immemorial generation, nobody knew.
For the sake of obtaining victory as well as obtaining the Undead Emperors’ trust and favor, Davey was gambling everything on this battle. Over the past few days, without regard to cost, Davey was treating his two ultimate “ace cards” with the utmost best attitude.
They were tired of walking together with the army? No problem, the undead lifted them in palanquins. What, they felt like the stench of undead was disgusting? No problem, the undead captured a few humans to carry the palanquins. What? They felt that men were filthy? No problem, the undead captured some young women to carry the palanquins instead.
They felt that their temporary residence was dirty and poor? No problem, undead alchemists and mages worked nonstop on improving their residence, while death knights acted as laborers in construction. Top-level earth magic expert liches acted as the masons, undead artists that were several centuries old took up the task of being the designers. This place had a gentle garden added, and it even had the simple construction style of modern architecture. It was a work of art. Together with the house, Davey even gave them an undead butler who had over one hundred years of experience serving a royal family, a team of female banshee elf servants, an Undead Thane who acted as their personal violinist, an undead who was a former master artist, and even a gardener.
They felt that the undead were being too noisy? No problem, the army withdrew from the area to give them plenty of space and even constructed a soundproof wall for the residence.
They said that this place lacked in life energy? No problem, the undead army went all out and finally captured numerous beasts along with an albino lion that became Hatley’s pet, and then even planted all sorts of flowers and plants around the house. The undead did all the gardening and cleaning work… were these really the so-called evil undead that all the living feared? They seemed more like the best servants one could find!
“How are they our reinforcements? It’s as if I have to serve two kings.”
But, by this point, Davey knew that even if Hatley and Yins acted like kings, he had to tolerate it. There was no other path for him to take. Failure here would only end in eternal doom for him.
“My… my… two venerated lords, may I ask what you meant with your action? Has old Davey been disrespectful in some way that has dissatisfied my two venerated lords?”
Davey did his very best to suppress the anger in his heart. Finally, he was able to ask his question in a relatively calm tone. But by the last few words, he was unable to suppress his tone of voice, and his calm question turned into a question that quite apparently expressed his dissatisfaction.
“Flowers.”
“Flowers?”
“As expected, all undead are so foolish. What my Brother Yins means is that the rain has blocked off the sunlight so that the flowers are unable to bloom.”
“@#@#$…&.”
Only this series of jumbled symbols was sufficient to express Davey’s current emotions. At this moment, a mysterious feeling of aggrievement gathered in Davey’s eyes. It was far too pitiful for an Undead Lord like him to have reached such a sorry state. If he had still been living, he definitely would have been crying out loud by now.
Davey was faintly sensing what his own future would be like. Perhaps he would indeed become famous in history, but not as the wise successor of Aso that he had hoped, but rather as the stupidest Undead Lord in all of history. He was born as nothing more than a lowly ghoul and did his best to fight and scheme for the past thousands of years, only to receive nothing but such an end?
Meanwhile, Hatley laughed and walked up to the old Ghoul Lord, patting him on the shoulder.
“We’re getting bored of staying out here in the mortal plane. It’s time for us to go back. Right, leave this house behind and make two dragons into the servant caretakers here. We might still want to use this place the next time we meet…”
And this moment, old Davey’s facial expression became a sight to behold. He had never hated any individual more in his life. He was angrily roaring and cursing in his mind. At the same time, he was also hesitating whether or not he should clutch Hatley’s leg and beg for him to stay here. The two titan giants were the only hope he had of winning this battle!
Finally, even Yins seemed to be unable to take this any longer, perhaps sensing that the joke had been too overboard.
“…Aren’t they just some little weaklings? We’ll stamp this entire city into the earth before we leave.”
“Ha, Brother Yins is so soft-hearted. Heh, you vulgar undead, if you ever dare to try to take advantage of us children of the earth again, making us into your fighters, we shall make you all taste what the wrath of the titans is like before we destroy you and your pitiful army, making you all wail in hell for thousands of years.”
Hatley’s soft words transformed into a thunderous roar by the end. His body was covered in thunder and lightning, and a thunder giant appeared in the mortal plane. His eyes that were flickering with lightning were now staring at Oak Town which was not far away.
“Little weaklings, it’s time for me to have some fun.”
Meanwhile, Davey was now collapsed on the ground. The large change in emotions from so much grief to joy was too great for him to handle. He was currently lying on the ground, panting with his tongue hanging out, as if he were only an ordinary low-ranked ghoul. The image he had carefully cultivated of being a wise individual was utterly ruined.
The titan giants were exceptionally intelligent. Compared to the titan giants that had several tens of thousands of years of experience at the very minimum, old Davey was nothing but a novice with his schemes. Only now did he finally realize that from the very beginning, these two titan giants were only toying with him. All his ideas and plans were probably nothing more than a joke to them. His so-called title as the undead most similar to Aso was nothing more than a farce in their eyes.
As he watched them transforming into mega-giants that reached the clouds, he heaved a sigh of relief. After all, in his mind, they were an absolute power that couldn’t be won against no matter what.
“At the very least, they’ll destroy Oak Town for me, and I’ll be able to succeed in the task that the Undead Emperors handed to me.”