Chapter 69: Clash with the Paladins

Ever since the fight with the Paladin Captain (where Idmon nearly died.), Idmon has always planned to avoid fighting with them.

They only won before because they outnumbered them. The enemies only numbered 100 back then, but it was still a hard fight.

Idmon's soldiers and advisors had indeed grown stronger compared to back then, but still, this is the hardest obstacle they need to overcome.

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(Mel POV)

The Paladins did not waste time in preparing to siege the Fort, which is the critical position in defending the entire region.

Their army 4000 strong, casts an intimidating aura just by standing in formation.

Mel: "They have come."

Dolf: "The Humans really wants you guys dead(again). They must be planning to exterminate all of you."

Mag: "Of course, the undead is the natural enemy of the living."

Mel: "That kind of thinking is shit, and you that Dolf, right?"

Dolf: "Yep, the terrifying skeleton I met before wasn't so frightening when I finally got to talk to him."

Mel: "Yeah, that's because when humans see us, they try to bash our skulls than attempt to communicate."

Mag: "There's movement."

The guards of the Fort are on high alert, and everyone is ready to fight.

Still, 4000 paladins are too much. It's going to look like children trying to fight adults.

Dwarven Captain: "Ready the Catapults and Ballistae!"

With the siege weapons ready, the only thing left is for the enemy to start the battle.

Dolf: "Why aren't the Humans attacking yet?"

A scout came at the right timing to inform them of what was happening.

Skeleton Scout: "The enemies are buffing their vanguard with all the defensive spells they have."

Mag: "They're trying to tank their way through our defences."

Once the Paladins have closed in the distance, the siege weapons would be of little help, and their mages would be right behind them to destroy the siege equipment.

Mel: "What should we do, Mag!? Lord Idmon hasn't arrived yet! We can't lose this Fort!"

Another group came to the spot where they are meeting.

It was Souta and his squad.

Souta: "Calm down, Mel. Lord Idmon gave us instructions to delay them. We don't need to win; we only need to hold on until help arrives."

Mag: "That's right, Mel. If it's what Milord orders, then we should strive to do it with the best of our abilities."

Mel: "I'm sorry. I'm not thinking too well lately. It must be because of the nightmares."

Mag did not ask further about it. It had plagued Mel's thoughts for a while, but he refused to disclose it to him.

These nightmares might affect him in the coming fight, so Mag made sure to keep his morale up and hope that it does not hinder his fighting abilities.

"HARUUUUUUUUUUUMMMMMM!!!"

The Human's army had sounded their War Horn and are now advancing.

They are still far away from the walls, and the good thing is they are inside the range of catapults and ballista defenders.

Dwarven Captain: "FIRE!"

The enemies huddled close to each other to keep their formation tight while advancing. This formation is fortunate for the defenders since their siege weapons would take out an entire group of paladins if they are close together.

Just when the rocks and ballista bolts are about to hit-

"Ping! Crush!"

The projectiles were deflected.

The rocks crumbled, and the bolts did not harm to the advancing Paladins.

Dwarven Captain: "Magic!?"

The Undead did not know that the vanguard of the enemy army was composed of Holy Knights.

It's a group of knights that focused on defence and holy magic.

It's a requirement that you have to be a Holy Knight before you become a Paladin.

But this does not mean that the Holy Knights are a lot weaker than the Paladins.

In fact, the only edge of the average Paladin has against a Holy Knight is an increased number of spells they can cast. Most of them are Holy Magic to smite evil.

So the physical attributes of the Holy knights are not that far from the Paladins, and they are more reliable as a front line tank because their spells focus on defence.

And the particular spell they are using right now is, supplemented by .

blocks 50% of incoming attacks, including projectiles and , can deflect an attack or spell several times.

These defence skills can be negated if the attacker has an overwhelming advantage in terms of strength, but in this case, the knights win.

Dwarven Captain: "Keep firing! They have to run out of magic, somehow!"

It was possible however with the number of support priests they brought

they would run out of ammunition long before the enemy's magic runs out.

Boom! Crash! Ping!

Some of the attacks went through the vanguard's defences, but it only caused minimal casualties.

Mag: "Mages! Start your magic barrage!"

Now this attack has a lot more chance of damaging the enemies.

However, the Paladins won't allow this to happen.

A bunch of spells came from the side of the enemy and targeted the Skeleton Mages and Wizards.

If they got hit, they would get obliterated right away, so they form magic shields in between their attacks to survive.

This tactic means their magic barrage did little damage to the advancing enemies.

Dolf: "Is there nothing we can do to halt these Human bastards?"

Mag: "It's time for our trump card."

The ground started to shake, and the enemies tumbled and were confused at what was happening.

Giant trees that were around the Fort started moving.

The Holy Knights were tough but not tough enough to block an Ent's attack.

Holy Knight: "AHHHHH!!!"

A group of Holy Knights was sent flying with just one attack from the Ancient Tree.

Boom! Crash! Splat!

The Paladin frontline was now chaotic. Their high defence meant nothing to the mighty Ents.

The defenders were winning!

But it was not to last.

Suddenly, a large group of fireballs came from the backline of the Paladin army.

Ent: "Oooghhh..."

An Ent got hit with the barrage and burned down without a fight.

These are not normal fire mages. It's Dragon's Wrath! The group led by the legendary Flame Wizard Agarif. It is said that the flame spells he cast were on par with the flame breath of a dragon.

The living trees fell, but some of them tried to get up and hold back the enemies for as long as they can.

Ent: "We... Will not allow... Humans to defile our sacred place again!"

The anger of the Ents towards humans had accumulated over thousands of years, and it gives them the strength to fight a lot longer than they normally could.

Skeleton Archers and Marksmen were behind the Ents to provide support, but they too got destroyed when hit by the spells.

Souta had mounted one of the oldest Ent in the entire South Region.

It was part of the first saplings that the Great Mother planted in the earth to watch over the trees grow.

Back when the world was barren and lifeless. That was so long ago that the Ents themselves had forgotten when it was.

Living that long means gaining experience and the oldest Ents have evolved into powerful living trees with the ability to cast spells and to regenerate quickly.

No'ar is its name. And he had been hit with a lot of Fireballs.

Souta: "Can you still fight?"

No'ar: "Of course, young one, I have survived the great demon invasion thousands of years ago. They had flames which burned hotter than the sun and had killed a lot of my brothers and sisters."

No'ar blocked the next batch of Fireballs from the enemy without flinching.

No'ar: "These Fireballs are nothing but sparks compared to them!"

The defenders held on for a long time now, but the enemies have no intention of retreating.

Their wounded only came from the Holy Knights, and their main fighting force is still intact.

Around 3,500 of them are still ready to fight.

Souta: "Keep shooting! Keep them away from the legs!"

Souta and a group of Skeletal Rangers supported the Ents and prevented enemies from coming closer to bash or chop the legs of the trees.

Right now, there is no imminent danger, so they reserve force has not come down the walls to fight.

Mel and Dolf wanted to jump right in, but Mag convinced them to stay.

He told them that if they went down there right now and lost, the Fort will soon follow.

They had to trust their allies to hold on.

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(Harb POV)

The Paladin Lord was not pleased with the progress of the siege and was urging them to move.

Harb: "What are you guys waiting for!? Join the battle and destroy those trees!"

Paladin Captain: "But Lord Harb, they have a mighty living tree that is immune to fire spells, and it can send our soldiers flying with a single swing."

Harb: "I don't care how you do it. Get the job done! Tell the leader of Dragon's Wrath that I will be willing to pay them double if they manage to burn down that ancient tree!"

Paladin Captain: "Got it!"

The Paladin Captain rushed out of the commander's tent and relayed the orders.

Harb: "Those damn Undead! I won't let a single one of them escape. Even if I have to use it..."

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The surroundings suddenly changed. A dark shadow was looming over the battlefield.

You would think it was storm clouds, but instead, a gigantic flaming rock was falling from the sky.

A forbidden spell. It is so powerful, and it could lay waste to an entire city.

Knowledge about the spell and how to cast it was sealed a long time ago to prevent the destruction of countries when mages fought against each other.

It is impossible to cast the spell, but here is Dragon's Wrath using it.

The entire group has to channel their mana to sustain the spell, and it looks really unstable compared to the mythical .

It must be an improvised version.

Souta did not lay down and wait for the to hit them. He went out with his group along with Roln and Alno to take out the mages casting the spell.

Lea's group is inside the walls as a reserve, and she was not able to join them.

The battlefield was still chaotic, and a few living trees remain. No'ar is in the center of the fighting keeping the enemies occupied.

Souta's group went past the fighting by going through the nearby woods.

Souta: "There they are!"

Souta started shooting as soon as he saw them.

Roln and Alno launched their surprise attacks with the support of the Skeleton Rangers.

Every Dragon's Wrath mage that got killed made the spell more unstable, and the rock is splitting into pieces.

Most of the pieces landed far away from the battlefield.

Human Mage: "No! We can't fail!"

The spell was doomed to fail, but the last few mages made a desperate attempt to redirect a small part of the into No'ar's body.

Souta: "NO!"

He tried to stop them, but it was too late.

The impact of the created shockwaves and knocked away all that is nearby.

After the smoke had cleared, only the charred remains of No'ar is standing there.

Paladin Captain: "CHARGE!"

Paladins: "Yearghh!!!"

The reserve army of the Paladins started their assault, and things are starting to look bad for the defenders.

Souta and his group evacuated the area before they were surrounded.

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(Mel POV)

Mel: "They have lost, but they had brought us valuable time. Let us avenge their deaths by killing these humans!"

Rarrgh!!!

Yeah!

Undead, Dwarf, and Treemen cheered together as they prepare themselves from the incoming wave of Paladins.

Dolf: "I will hold the gates while you keep them off the walls!"

Mel: "You got it!"

Dolf and his most elite warriors went to reinforce the gates.

Not long before they split up, the enemies are ramming the gate.

Skeleton Soldier: "Incoming!"

Paladins were now scaling the walls. Some of them were dropping on the walls directly with their spells.

Mel: "Get off! You, Humans, do not belong here!"

Mel and Ran are doing their best to kick the climbing Paladins off the walls and killing those that drop in.

However, it was clear that the soldiers on the walls are losing.

Mag: "Now! Reserve mages!"

Skeleton Mages shot spells out of small holes in the wall to damage the enemy ladders.

The Paladins that fell off at the highest point are severely injured while the rest are disoriented and dizzy from the fall.

Of course, people waiting below are crushed.

The battle was slowly turning into a stalemate. The Paladin Captains went in to prevent that.

They went into battle violently. Crushing and blasting the Undead with holy spells.

Regular soldiers didn't have a chance. The Undead army also had officers, but they not as strong as the Paladin Captains.

They could only buy time.

Mag is casting his spells non stop to assist Mel, but his position is no longer safe because the enemy had surrounded him.

Mag: "Mel, issue the retreat! Let's continue the fight on the castle grounds!"

At the same time, the sounds of the gates falling followed his advice.

Mel: "Retreat! Everyone, let's fight on the grounds!"

It might look like a wrong move to give the walls to the enemy because they could climb up now without resistance.

However, the strongest members of the Undead army was on the ground.

It was the Bone Behemoths.

They are not as smart as other elite Undead, but they are crazy powerful, and their only weakness is their slow movement.

Skeleton Mages mounted these beasts to command them and lead the charge towards the enemy.

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Lea and her ice witches (trained by Lina) engaged the enemy now to avoid causing damage to allies. That was hard to do when they were fighting on the walls.

The fighting was fierce. Groups of Paladin got crushed, and some were frozen, but they still were gaining ground.

At the start of the battle, the Undead outnumbered the enemy 3 to 1, but now their numbers are the same. Around 2000.

The fight was nearing its end.

BOOM!

Harb: "Time to end this futile resistance."

The Paladin Lord Harb descended from the walls and landed on a group of skeletons, crushing them.

Dread Knights and Dread Knight Captains engaged the Paladin Lord, but they got crushed by the fist of the one they call "Holy Gauntlet."

Mel: "You! It's time for me to lie down and die."

Harb: "You disgusting undead should act like you're alive and have emotions. You are all monsters that need to be judged by the mighty hand of Heaven."

Mel: "There is only one monster here, and he's in front of me."

Harb: "Hrm. Die!"

Mel fought Harb again, and he fared better now than the last time, but still, he cannot win.

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Harb's shield glowed so brightly that it blinded Mel and caused Holy damage.

Mel: "Urgh!"

Ran: "I will help you!"

Mel told Ran to stay away from the Paladin Lord to keep her safe, but she couldn't just watch Mel get destroyed.

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She used all of the skills in her repertoire to damage or even just slow down the Paladin Lord.

However, it did not affect him.

Harb: "You foolish insect! You will die first!"

The Paladin Lord approached Ran.

Mel: "No! Stop him!"

Mel was still blind and injured. He could not get there in time.

Dread Knights and all nearby Undead went to help Ran, but they did not last against the overwhelming might of the Paladin Lord.

Mel: "No... No!"

It's just like my nightmare before.

When Mel finally got his vision back, he saw Ran lifted by the Paladin Lord, and he was about to crush her.

Mag was nowhere nearby to help them because they were so many enemies.

And Dolf was doing his best to contain the enemies that had breached the gates.

No, not like this!

Harb: "It seems like you value this skeleton girl dearly."

Mel: "You, bastard! Leave her alone!"

Harb: "Now, I will take away from you as you did to me a long time ago."

ROOOOOARRRR!

A dragon's roar put a stop to the fighting. Everyone looked up.