Chapter 66: War of the Undead (Part 1)

()Chapter 67: War of the Undead (Part 1)

Over two hundred Goblins split into four squadrons, each squadron's front led by an exceptionally strong Goblin Chieftain wielding a heavy cleaver and charging ahead; a group of Undead defenders all attacked the Goblin Chieftain, but it slashed left and right, knocking them away with its blade; for a moment, the four chieftains had no match, and the Undead were forced to retreat gradually.

Li Bucai said: "Do the Undead have no male soldiers?" In the woods, the flickering shadows were all slender girls, none able to match the Goblin Chieftain in strength; in the blink of an eye the Goblin Chieftain had broken through the gap. Then a melodic song came from behind; hearing it, the girls gave up resistance, scattered, and retreated from the colorful woods into the tree formation.

Rui Tong shook her head: "I've never heard of that. Should we go help them?"

The Undead do not recognize themselves; in this situation not fully clear, rashly going to reinforce could easily make them be treated as enemies by both sides.

"Wait and see." The Undead are immune to blades and spears; those struck are merely bounced away, with no casualties yet, not completely losing ground, but retreating in an orderly fashion.

The Goblins pursued closely, chasing into a patch of dark‑colored forest when the trees suddenly began to move. The Goblins did not fully understand the habits of the "Evil Dragon Dao Wood"; for a moment they were at a loss. The Evil Dragon Dao Wood separates into female and male specimens, both able to move freely; the difference is that when a female specimen encounters a person approaching, it automatically dodges, whereas a male specimen actively attacks any movable object within a three‑step radius.

Two squadrons of Goblins rushed in, only to have their retreat blocked by the tree formation; at times the trees knocked them down, and when they rose to look for that tree again, they had already slipped out of attack range, left dazed by the tree formation—just then a rain of arrows flew from the woods; the Goblins deflected the feathered shafts while falling back, and out of a hundred, more than thirty were struck dead; two Goblin Chieftains fiercely chopped down two trees, leading the remnants out of the tree formation.

Seeing the Goblins retreat, the Undead immediately organized forces for a counterattack; over three hundred formed three ranks, swiftly passed through the tree formation, then pursued and slaughtered.

The Goblins kept retreating until they reached the forest outside the valley mouth, where they joined with over a hundred more to form a battle array, leaving an open space before them, and this time they ceased advancing.

They have clashed repeatedly; the Undead, relying on their immortality, fear them not, and now, at the forest's edge, they too form ranks, advancing step by step, preparing to wipe them out in one fell swoop.

Both sides refused to yield on the open ground; the armies renewed their clash, instantly becoming a tangled melee. The Goblins knew blades and spears could not kill the Undead, yet, despite numbering fewer than two hundred, they still relied on sheer strength to surround them with brute force; from time to time a Goblin fell before the lines, their numbers dwindling, yet they still strove not to let the Undead break the encirclement.

On the hillside, Xianghong puzzled: "Are these Goblins trying to commit suicide? Knowing they cannot kill the Undead, they still resist to the bitter end."

"It is the Goblins who attack first; if they are not seeking suicide, they must have some ulterior motive."

Li Bucai and the others hid silently on the hillside; on the plain, the Goblins dwindled, in the blink of an eye left with about a hundred‑plus, when suddenly a column of firelight marched from deep in the valley toward them; not long after, over two hundred Goblin reinforcements arrived, joining the siege of the Undead.

After this Goblin contingent arrived, another squad of a hundred quietly moved along the mountain base without lighting torches, heading into the deep side valley; in the midst of the squad, four sturdy Goblins carried a small litter made of branches, atop which sat a Goblin clad in a yellow robe, holding a scepter inlaid with a skull.

This was a band of Goblins far stouter than those outside; after passing through the variegated woods, they set down the yellow‑robed Goblin before the tree formation, where a dozen of the stoutest Goblins formed a guard around it, while the rest took axes from their waists and specifically chopped the male Evil Dragon Dao Wood that attacked them; in moments several trees fell, and with no male trees left, the female trees ceased dodging; in moments the tree formation was breached, a gap cut through.

The Undead had already spotted this Goblin party emerging from the trunks of the "Devouring Starry Sky"; at that time there were still over two hundred Undead guards in the woods, intending to stop them, but the Goblins diverted half of them, pinning them in the woods; this was a band of Goblins even stronger than the outer ones—each time they felled an Evil Dragon Dao Wood, the Undead were pushed back a step, unable to break through the Goblin flesh‑wall, unable to halt their tree‑cutting, until a wide space was cleared from the tree formation, the tree formation about to be severed, when the tallest "Devouring Starry Sky" trembled and a dozen girls emerged, escorting their chieftain and an elder from within.

At that moment another elder led over three hundred in the valley outskirts, tightly held by the Goblins.

The chieftain and the elder each held a staff; the chieftain's staff was silver‑wrapped and jade‑adorned, its tip set with a deep‑blue gem that glowed with a soft azure light, most splendid; the elder's staff was carved from tree roots.

More than a dozen suddenly appeared before the Goblin lines, instantly scattered; the elder waved his staff, murmuring an incantation, and a burst of spiritual light shot forth, striking over a dozen Goblins; the Goblins felt nothing odd, puzzled, when suddenly thorny vines shot up from beneath their feet, tightly entangling them, rendering them immobile.

Seeing some Goblins already bound, the chieftain swung his staff, tracing an arc before him; where the staff passed, a deep‑blue light disc lingered; then he lightly flicked it, and the disc instantly turned into a volley of arrow‑shaped projectiles that sped toward the bound Goblins, piercing their vital spots; a muffled cry rang out, the surrounding vines vanished, the struck Goblins collapsed; he then bound the second row and, in the same manner, eliminated another batch.

Seeing over thirty of their comrades lost in an instant, the loggers also laid down their axes and moved to block the gap……

After losing more than fifty stout Goblins, a sudden green light flashed across the whole forest, then vanished. The Goblins, while chopping trees and fending off the Undead's attacks, sought to create space and buy time for the yellow‑robed Goblin to unleash "Poison‑quenched Bitter Sea"; that blue light emanated from its hand, a technique capable of blanketing a one‑li radius with corpse‑rot poison, though its casting is exceedingly slow.

The Goblins often sneaked into the Undead's hidden valley orchard to steal food; usually they were driven off by the Undead or captured and executed on the spot; their numbers are vast, spread across the continent—small tribes number in the hundreds, large ones in the tens of thousands; though strength varies, they are a remarkably united race; previously they contended with the Undead for the Life Spring, suffering great losses, but from that battle they discovered the Undead's weakness: they fear corpse‑rot poison; this yellow‑robed Goblin is a Necromancy Priest summoned from beyond the Yin Valley to deal with the Undead.

At this moment the Undead also sensed that the green light was anomalous, but gave it no further thought, focusing instead on the battle; the elder continued to cast spells, again binding over a dozen Goblins, when, before the chieftain could loose the "Thought Arrow", a skull made of green gas burst from a gap in the Goblin flesh‑wall and flew straight at the elder.

The elder was in the midst of chanting to bind that line of Goblins; seeing the skull, he tried to dodge, but it was already upon him; he swung his staff to smash it, not expecting the skull to be made of gas—his blow dispersed it outward, striking himself and seven or eight others.

"Corpse‑rot poison…… be careful……"

This corpse‑rot poison was unleashed by the yellow‑robed Goblin; this artificially cultivated toxin is far more violent than the natural poison Yue Ji once touched. She had not finished speaking when spasms began; shortly after, large amounts of bodily fluid seeped from her mouth; though her body proved impervious to blades and spears, the toxin penetrated her interior, turning her organs into a pool of thick liquid, and she thus perished.

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