Chapter 193: Maneuver and Ambush

The Corrupted Leviathan is wailing; every strike from these surrounding short-statured ones brings it a bit of damage, but its clumsy attacks often land on empty air. Even when it finally lands a hit, it is not guaranteed to kill outright, simply because some glowing armor can absorb a portion of the force.

Captain Salazar does not know for a moment whether he should use the waning Winds of Magic to save his mount or to attack the surrounding Dwarfs. Today, it is not the Evil Moon that dominates the sky, and the Dark Magic surging around him is not particularly lively.

He attempts to use the Death Dance of Vanhel once more to increase the giant beast's speed to aid in the retreat, but Snuo cuts off its path of escape in time with the Rune of Wrath and Ruin. The Winds of Magic gathered by the Doom Anvil are all used by him to accelerate the rune charging speed; now his anvil is glowing red with heat, which is the perfect time to release its power.

"Leviathan? Nothing more than this!" As Rogov crawls out from its massive maw, this giant beast, already riddled with holes, collapses with a boom.

"Victory is dedicated to the god Grimnir!" Sinuoli stands on the anvil and brandishes his Warhammer; he discovers that slaying the Leviathan has granted a massive amount of experience, and he has finally reached Level 4.

Just as the Dwarfs are cheering, a tall, neatly dressed, and clearly vibrant-looking zombie leans over and whispers a few words into the ear of Captain Salazar, who has just jumped down from the carcass of his mount.

"Retreat!" This Vampire fleet commander flicks his cloak and turns to leave.

"Where do they think they are running? And where can they even run to!" Sinuoli stands on the anvil, seeing further, and he shouts to command his troops to pursue. The Dwarfs are all very excited; having not marched for these past two days, their stamina has recovered.

In the eyes of the Dwarfs, having slain that giant crab, this battle is already more than half won. Although Captain Salazar still has some guards around him, they no longer have any advantage in numbers.

"Hahaha, want to run? Do you think our navy only eats seaweed?" The Captain of the Harbor Guard catches up from behind. "No, that's not right, they aren't heading for the shore. Why is that?"

Sinuoli and the other leaders had previously fallen into a small cognitive trap: that pirates wanting to escape do not necessarily have to run to their ships to Zuochan and slip away; these fellows have legs, and moving on land is perfectly fine.

The city of Bordeleaux is built around the harbor and has two lines of defense. The rear one is the Duke's own castle, and the front one is the outer wall held by Sinuoli and his troops; it is also the dividing wall between the harbor district and the inner city.

There is a distance of several hundred meters between the dividing wall and the coastline, filled with low-rise buildings inhabited by commoners. Although this part is nominally called Bordeleaux, it is actually a town below the castle belonging to the commoners.

Previously, the Undead pirates charged straight for the inner wall, but now they are preparing to move laterally within the town below the castle. Salazar and a group of elite soldiers in armor around him jump onto a Corrupted Magic Crab and begin to maneuver.

"Pursue!"

"These water ghosts are wicked and do all kinds of evil; they must have gold and silver treasures!"

"The dead have no use for gold; it's just right for me!"

The Dwarfs know that with their short legs, it is difficult to catch up even to normal two-legged creatures, let alone an eight-legged giant crab. These disciplined professional soldiers remain in place after the enemy routs, waiting for further instructions from Sinuoli.

However, the Humans are not like this. The Coast Guard is composed mostly of commoners, at best having some illegitimate children of inner-city nobles. These fellows who lick blood off the edge of a blade are blinded by greed and often engage in shady business in private; how could they let this opportunity pass?

The Captain standing beside Sinuoli does not suppress the behavior of his subordinates either. He himself is a younger son in his family with no right of inheritance, and he is likely thinking about how to scrape a share from the spoils of his men!

"Careful!"

"It's an ambush!"

Buluokesen, who was originally commanding the ranged units, suddenly shouts from the city wall; he seems to have seen something through his telescope. Sinuoli discovers that the Humans have already charged two or three hundred meters into the block, and his nearsightedness cannot see that far in the dim night.

"Boom!"

"Bang! Bang-bang!"

"Pfft!"

"Ah! Ugh!"

In an instant, screams, explosions, and gunfire fill the town below the castle.

"Damn it, that Vampire is truly cunning!"

Sinuoli curses and commands his troops to move forward slowly. Before they even see the enemy's appearance, the Bretonnian Humans fleeing in all directions come rushing back.

"Stop, stand still, by Mannan'en, what is going on?" The Captain loses face and shouts, trying to stop the rout of his subordinates.

"Snap!" A projectile hits the stone slab at his feet; the stone chips and fragments kicked up leave him bloodied and mangled, and he faints on the spot.

"Truly useless!" Looking at the performance of these people from Bordeleaux, Sinuoli shakes his head secretly. He suddenly does not hold such high expectations for the future military alliance with the Knight Kingdom; although the Knight armies are capable, their auxiliary troops are far too trashy.

"Raise shields, advance!" Amidst the noise, Qiangsen-Jian Dun conveys Sinuoli's order, and the Dwarfs push aside the fleeing Humans and move forward slowly.

"It's poisonous!"

"Hold your breath!"

The warning comes from the warriors in the front row. Sinuoli cannot help but frown; where did this poisonous gas come from? He stops a few fleeing Humans and asks for clues.

"A few, green, swollen to the size of an Ogre, the corpses, the ones in front, before we understood what was happening, they, they exploded!"

"Bloated Corpses; sometimes a corpse might have been floating at sea for several weeks before falling into the hands of the Vampire Coast. As the internal tissues rot, the body swells due to poisonous gases," the Dwarf advisor says after thinking for a moment.

Sinuoli recalls this; he didn't pay much attention to this thing in the games of his past life. If they charge head-on, they would be detonated by ranged units, causing massive friendly fire. It is indeed a smart choice for Salazar to use them as an ambush against pursuers.

"Ugh!" "Urgh!"

Sinuoli suddenly hears some painful groans from the front. These sounds from his own kin are very wrong; in previous battles, the rifles and pistols of the zombie shooters hardly caused them any trouble.

Zombies are clumsy, hardwood-like warriors, lacking the dexterity to manipulate weapons. Even if a portion of them can use firearms with the help of residual muscle memory, the pile of dilapidated, rusted things in their hands that are long past their prime perform poorly against heavy armor units.

"Chosen of the Goddess, the zombies in front are carrying small naval cannons; the brothers need support!" Qiangsen's loud voice comes back.

"Understood, leave it to me!" Sinuoli says, raising his Warhammer.