Free Web NovelChapter 43: Chapter 42: All-out War Preparations
While they ate, Li Ziyu distributed weapons to the newly-risen Undead and trained ten more Skeleton Warriors. Judging from today’s battle, the Skeleton Warriors’ combat prowess was commendable.
Once Liu Xingxing was nearly finished eating, Li Ziyu had him lead the way to the next treasure location.
"I hope we get something out of this next treasure," Li Ziyu said in a meaningful tone, given the last two "treasures."
"Me too," Liu Xingxing replied seriously.
Following Liu Xingxing’s directions, the Mobile Fortress set out once more, heading for the next treasure.
...
「Stas Lizardman Tribe, Cave Hall.」
Torches and bonfires lit up the entire Cave Hall. The Lizardman chief, Moss, watched the returning warriors with a dark expression. Five hundred Lizardman Warriors had gone out, but fewer than a hundred returned. They were battered and disarmed, covered in wounds and looking as wretched as refugees from the wilds. Fury churned within him.
"Where is Ah Mu?" Moss asked, his voice low as he suppressed his fury.
The other Lizardmen in the cave heard his low voice and knew instantly that their chief was furious. That seemingly calm tone always concealed a barely-suppressed rage. Someone had dared to provoke their Stas Tribe, and now they were going to pay.
Seeing their comrades return in such a pitiful state, they too were filled with fury. As the commander, Ah Mu would naturally be the target of their anger. But when their eyes swept the crowd and found no trace of him, they instinctively turned to the Lizardman Warriors who had fled back.
"He’s dead. Ah Mu is dead. Killed by the Undead," a one-armed Lizardman at the front said in a ragged voice.
Undead?!
Whispers rippled through the cave. They wondered if they’d misheard. It was bad enough having Ah Mu spouting madness, but now one of their own was talking about Undead. This joke wasn’t funny in the slightest.
Even at this point, the Stas Lizardmen still refused to believe the Undead existed.
"Did you see the Undead with your own eyes? Did you see Ah Mu die?" Moss shoved away the wine cup offered by an attendant, rose to his feet, and walked right up to the one-armed Lizardman Warrior, staring into his eyes as he posed the questions.
"I... I didn’t see Ah Mu’s death myself, but the Undead are real." As the one-armed Lizardman spoke, a flicker of terror crossed his eyes.
Those frenzied Skeletons had left a deep impression on him—and had taken one of his arms.
His words caused an uproar. Moss raised a hand, silencing the clamor from the surrounding Lizardmen. He believed the Warrior in front of him. Ah Mu’s words he could dismiss—after all, Ah Mu was an outsider, not a Lizardman raised in the Stas Tribe. He could have been spouting nonsense or simply lying.
But the one before him was a true Stas Lizardman Warrior, raised within the Tribe since birth. He wouldn’t lie to his chief. And that look of sheer terror couldn’t be faked; he had clearly seen something horrifying and still felt unsafe, even after returning to the Tribe.
Moss fell silent. He turned, walked back to his seat, and stared down at the Lizardmen who had fled back, not saying a word.
’Undead...’
’What does the appearance of the Undead mean?’
’Moss felt this was a sign—a sign of chaos and Darkness!’
Ah Mu was merely the chief of a small tribe, but Moss was not. He commanded a Lizardman Tribe of a hundred thousand and naturally knew far more than Ah Mu. They possessed a "history"!
A race without a "history" would not survive for long; they would quickly perish. Only by possessing a "history" and carrying on the legacy of their Ancestors could a Tribe continue to grow and strengthen. Every chief of the Stas Tribe studied this history, drawing lessons and experience from it to guide the Tribe toward a better future.
The history left by their Ancestors contained records of various races, the Undead Race among them. The Lizardman Ancestors wrote that the Undead Race would not appear without great cause. After all, they are creatures of death and should not exist in this world. They are more like Messengers, heralding the coming of death, chaos, and Darkness.
The Undead meant that a time of great turmoil was at hand!
Besides the Undead, a few other races carried a similar significance, such as Demons and Divine Envoys. In times of peace and prosperity, these races would never appear. They only revealed themselves on the eve of chaos.
And such an era of chaos was unstoppable. Not even massive tribes, or even a coalition of tribes, could prevent its coming. The mightiest of races could be wiped out in such times, fading into history. All one could hope for was to avoid that fate and simply survive.
"Tell me about the Undead," Moss finally said after a long silence, his voice grave. "In detail. Everything you saw, everything you experienced, and everything you suspect. Tell me all of it."
The one-armed Lizardman Warrior glanced around, seeing the looks of disbelief and disdain in the eyes of his kin. He finally understood how Ah Mu must have felt. His gaze settled on his chief. "They’re a swarm of walking Skeletons."
"Blue flames burn inside their skulls. As long as those flames aren’t extinguished, they cannot be destroyed."
"They have Weapons. Some are Swords and Shields made of bone, while others are our own Curved Sabers and Spears."
"They don’t fear our attacks, nor do they care about them. Even if shattered, they reassemble themselves and fight us again. On the battlefield, even a severed arm, fallen to the ground and overlooked, could take our lives."
"The Undead come from a moving structure. That structure moves very quickly, faster than we can run. They use the building itself in their attacks."
...
"Their leader was killed, and the Undead went berserk. Their blue flames turned red, and they became even stronger."
As they listened to his tale, the expressions of the surrounding Lizardmen shifted from their initial scorn to contemplation, and then from contemplation to disbelief. They had never imagined that under Ah Mu’s command, the Warriors had actually managed to charge forward and confront the leader of the Undead Race.
"Wait. You said the leader of the Undead Race was killed?" Moss raised a hand, cutting off the one-armed Lizardman, and asked in confusion.
"That’s right. He was killed," the one-armed Lizardman confirmed with a nod.
"So you’re saying they’re leaderless now?" Moss asked again to be sure. ’If they really don’t have a leader, I’ll rally the men and attack at once. This is an excellent opportunity.’
"No. Their leader came back to life and killed Ah Mu," the Lizardman said, swallowing hard, his eyes wide with terror.
’Resurrection should be impossible, but it was the truth. That Human—or rather, that Undead disguised as a Human—had come back to life right after Ah Mu killed him.’
It was that Human killing Ah Mu that shattered their morale and triggered the complete rout.
Moss nodded, indicating that he understood.
The one-armed Lizardman had said everything he knew. He lowered his head and fell silent.
"Chief, what should we do?" frёeweɓηovel.coɱ
"That’s right, Chief Moss. Should we send out the warriors?"
...
Facing the questions from the Lizardmen around him, Moss slowly shook his head. "Relay my orders! The Stas Tribe is to enter a state of full combat readiness. Be vigilant at all times!"
