ALL NOVEL Chapter 26: Surprise.
Chapter 26: Surprise.
"The crown prince has come!" The guard outside the prison room shouted.
"Oh, you are lucky." The man put down the scissors on the table and prepared to see the crown prince.
When the prison door opens, a man with a handsome face enters.
"Crown prince, do you have any orders?"
"How is the investigation?"
"There is no result."
"Stop the torture and heal him, we will continue after the monster tide ends."
"But Crown Prince, we still don’t know the location of the majesty."
"Don’t worry, I am sure they haven’t killed the king. Even if you torture him to death, if he gives us the wrong information before dying, it will be a problem."
"Yes, crown prince, I will follow your order."
Coming out of the prison room, the crown prince frowned and walked out of the building.
"Crown price, everything is ready." The crown prince's retainer is waiting in front of the horse carriage.
"Take care of it." Said the crown prince before entering the carriage.
"Yes, the crown prince." The retainer bows slightly. After seeing the carriage leave, he enters the prison building while holding a familiar book.
-
Violet forest.
"Why are you following me?" Behind Levi is a group of meaty or chubby humans. He has been ignoring them, but they keep following him.
"Sir. Please. Help. Us." Said the chubby man that is gasping for air.
"I already helped you escape, and I am busy."
The undead move forward and growl. The captives are scared, but they don’t know where to go.
"We. Leave. but please give us something to eat first."
"Yes, we are hungry!"
Levi really wants to kill them. "Fine, you wait here."
A few hours later, a group of chubby humans is currently eating the roasted deer that Levi has cooked.
"Sir, your cooking is delicious." The chubby boy spoke.
"I agreed," said Clara while eating the rib meat.
Clara and Otis had been hiding, but when Levi started cooking, they both couldn’t resist the smell and came out and joined them, claiming they were going for a walk. However, the walk from the fortress to here takes several days.
Levi was too tired to expose their lies. Not only has he just destroyed the gnoll tribe, but now he needs to cook for a group of people.
At night while the rest of them are sleeping. Levi, Otis, and Clara are having a discussion.
"I am fine with it; how about you?" Otis has no reaction to Levi's suggestion.
"Can’t we spare the children?" Asked Clara.
"No, they will get suspicious."
"We can fight the gnolls without sacrificing them."
"No, it's too risky." Levi and his undead bird share vision, and a large group of gnolls are tracking them. Otis poison has a limited range, and they don't know how strong this group of gnolls is or if there is anyone with master-rank strength among them.
Clara, in the end, relents after Levi finishes his explanation. Although people called her a "blood witch," most of her victims were evil people or people who tried to harm her. However, she is not stupid enough to jeopardize her safety for a stranger.
-
At night, a group of gnolls are moving through the woods.
"I'm going to torture them before eating them alive." Gnaarr, the gnoll with the eye patch, and his companions have gone hunting. They have a lot of human meat, but it won't last the winter. When they return, however, they are greeted by a destroyed tribe. The killer, according to the survivors, is a human who has control over the undead.
Gnaarr is not afraid of the undead because his group is one of the tribe's best fighters. They are being left behind to protect the tribe. But, given what has occurred, they will bear the brunt of the blame once the chief returns.
"We rest here, how long can we reach them?" asked Gnaarr.
"Tomorrow morning, if they don’t move from their place." Said the gnoll while smelling and touching the footmark on the snow.
"Why can’t we catch them tonight?" One of the gnolls asked. His eyes are red, and his gaze is full of anger. His hut has been burned, but his wife and daughter are missing. The only conclusion they reach is that they have been turned into the undead. But there is no gnoll footmark on the snow.
"We need to preserve our strength we don’t know how strong the enemy is."
"I am not afraid of a necromancer!" The gnoll is no stranger to the undead, as areas with dark or death energy will produce undead. If corpses are not burned or buried, especially in a war zone,
"We rest here tonight this is an order!" Gnaarr shouted.
The gnoll snarls but eventually obeys and falls asleep. The other gnolls wanted to kill the murderer as soon as possible, but they have more experience and obey without question.
-
Sheffield's city life is unaffected by the monster tide. The majority of people have already gone to bed, except for those who work at night. They are unaware that something is happening underground.
Inside the city wall, the stone pavement is shaking, and soon the pavement will collapse into a large hole. The loud noise can be heard by the soldiers on a quiet night.
"What happens?"
The soldiers guarding the wall began to search for the noise and finally found a dark hole near the wall inside the city.
"Does the sewer collapse?"
"Impossible; the hole is too big for sewer collapse." The soldiers try to see inside the dark hole while holding the fire torch. "I can’t see anything to report this to." Before he can finish, an arrow pierces through his head, and he falls into the hole.
The soldier's eyes widened, and he noticed numerous glowing eyes when he looked inside the hole again. After that, the goblins and gnolls emerge from the hole. They climb other monster bodies to create a stairway out of the hole.
"Quick, sound the alarm!"
The whole city is alerted by the wall's loud bell sound.
The army inside the city is the first to respond. When the army arrived, it was too late because the monsters had taken over the wall gate. They are now trapped inside the city. After hearing the news, the city mayor almost fainted and quickly sent a message to the palace for help.
At the city wall.
"Open fire, kill the monsters; we need to take the city gate!" A man wearing full body armor while riding a horse shouted.
The musketeers form a line and fire their weapons at the monster. Bullets kill the monsters who have no defense or armor. During the reloading of the musket bullet. The monster is being attacked by archers and soldiers. However, the monsters outnumber the soldiers, and it is only a matter of time before they are overwhelmed.
"Sir, the monsters keep coming from the hole!"
"Where is the cannon?"
"At the wall, sir, and it will take time to bring the cannon from the army weaponry."
"Let me do it." Behind a middle-aged man wearing a mage robe are many people wearing various types of combat and mage clothes.
"Who are you?"
"We are from the mercenary guild."
"How are you going to close the hole?"
"I need to get close to the hole first."
Normally, the general will not listen to other people. However, if the city is overrun by monsters, his life will be in danger. "Fine, tell me your plan."
After receiving an order, the soldiers draw their swords and charge at the monsters, clearing the way for the middle-aged mage. In the meantime, the mercenaries are protecting him from any attack in the middle. To clear the path, several mages used a fireball spell.
When they get close to the hole. The middle-aged mage raises both hands to form a magical circle. The monsters continue to emerge from the hole, and the mercenaries and soldiers attempt to keep them at bay.
"Earthquake!" The ground shook violently near the big hole and collapsed with the monsters inside.
"We did it!"
An earthquake spell is considered a large-scale attack spell. To prevent the nearby wall city and buildings from being damaged, the middle-aged mage needs to get close and focus on the hole. His calculation is correct; only the hole collapsed.
When they thought everything was over and they only needed to kill the monster inside the city. A loud noise and scream can be heard inside the city.
"What happens?"
The Sheffield city general is puzzled, then his face becomes pale because he realizes something. What if there is more than one hole? Just like he expected, the soldiers reported various-sized holes appearing in the city. The problem is that some of the holes appear inside the building, which makes them harder to find.
"What should we do?" One of the mercenaries asked the middle-aged mage.
"It’s getting dangerous, we need to help the general take over the city gate; after that, we will escape."
"Boom!" While the mercenary is talking, the collapsed hole explodes, and coming out of the rubble is a large humanoid with a bullhead, the minotaur. Holding the large battle axe, the minotaur throws the battle axe at the mercenaries.
"RUN!" The flying battle axe lacerated anyone who was near it. The middle-aged mage manages to create a mana barrier. The barrier cracked after getting hit by the flying battle axe. The people outside the barrier are not so fortunate, blood is coming out of their wounds from the attack.
The collapsed hole suddenly makes a noise, and many dog-sized slugs with stone skins come out and begin eating the rubble. Soon the monsters will come pouring out of the hole again.
"Retreat to the military barracks!" Order the general while fleeing on a galloping horse, leaving the soldier behind.