Chapter 196: Bitter Battle

"You are truly learned!" The advisor also marveled at Sinuoli's store of knowledge. It is undoubtedly rare to have the energy to understand the situations and histories of other powers in the world beyond mastering Rune Power and the knowledge required by Dwarfs.

"You must know, that person was a Grail Knight at the time! The Lady's power within him, the miraculous, potent poison that even the Fay Enchantress could not resolve, and the powerful blood-kiss of the Blood Dragon progenitor were intertwined, making the mind of this powerful Vampire quite unstable!"

Sinuoli listened while watching the infighting between the leaders of the two Vampire factions at the city gate. A moment later, the Red Duke unexpectedly calmed down, and taking advantage of this time, Sinuoli and his troops set up their battle line.

"Greedy Dwarfs of the Qunshan, daring to block my path, how much wealth have they promised you?" The Red Duke naturally knew of the existence of the Dwarf reinforcements; the probing in the deserted village earlier was initiated by him.

It was just that he misjudged the Dwarfs' motives; Sinuoli did not make this trip just for a reward. Sinuoli sat on his palanquin without answering, and the battlefield fell into a brief silence. The Dwarfs gripped their weapons tightly, waiting for Sinuoli's command, while the Undead on the other side mostly lacked the ability to speak.

"Hmph! Bordeleaux, a mere stripling actually seeking help from outsiders! You lot, submit to me, and I shall grant you eternal life!" The Red Duke was a man from six hundred years ago; he spoke in an awkward, archaic tongue.

Six hundred years is enough for dynasties to change many times over for Humans, but for Dwarfs, it is merely three generations. Some long-lived Living Ancestors can even live to this age directly.

Receiving no reply from Sinuoli, this somewhat manic Blood Dragon Vampire waved the precious sword in his hand and launched an attack directly.

The Red Duke seemed to have fought Dwarfs in his long life and knew that this resilient race did not fear the vast ocean of low-level Undead; using Zombies and Skeletons would not have much effect and would only waste his time. It was already the middle of the night!

"Clatter, clatter, clatter!" The sound of hooves rang out before the army formation!

"Tight formation, brace for the charge!" Sinuoli reacted very quickly. The Dwarf warriors quickly formed a shield wall.

A large group of knights clad in black armor charged out from the wide-open city gate. They were all Undead, wearing heavy armor, and the skeletal warhorses beneath them were their mounts from when they were alive.

In Bretonnia, a warhorse is a symbol of wealth and status. When a knight died, their horses were usually ritually sacrificed and buried beside their masters to continue serving them in that world. The Vampire raised them along with their masters, and the once noble beasts turned into Undead creatures.

"Boom!"

Two iron torrents collided, and Sinuoli was pleasantly surprised to find that the Ironbreakers held firm against the Black Knights' charge. This was the real world; the so-called powerful attribute of "resisting all charges" certainly could not truly withstand everything.

"Light as a feather, not even as good as green mushrooms!"

"Young Little Beard, talking about green mushrooms! They are even worse than the pointy-ears!"

"Bone-bags, put some effort into it!"

The clansmen shouted; these Black Knights looked quite impressive, clad in armor and holding shields, appearing very mighty. Coupled with the evil aura unique to Undead creatures, it even made the Dwarfs a little nervous.

But in actual contact, their performance was not ideal. These Undead riders, both man and horse, were like sheets of parchment, lacking weight. And impact force is the product of an object's mass and speed; they had speed but insufficient mass, and they simply could not charge through the Dwarfs clad in full Meteorite Iron Armor.

The weapons in their hands might have been decent back in the day, but after the erosion of time, they had long since become old and blackened. Although, generally speaking, the Black Knights were more than ten times stronger than ordinary Skeleton soldiers, they were still difficult to effectively counter the Dwarfs.

The Red Duke clearly did not expect that his cavalry's charge would not even stir up a splash, and after the cavalry attacked, he directly committed his follow-up troops.

These guys who followed closely to kill did not, as expected, slaughter wildly through the gaps torn open by the cavalry; instead, they blocked the space for the Black Knights to disengage from the battle, pull back, and reorganize their charge.

Sinuoli's subordinates quickly attacked these Skeleton riders who had fallen into the melee; they combined the hacking of axes with the bashing of shields to let the Skeletons rest in peace once more.

While the melee troops were engaged, the ranged troops were not idle either. Originally, the Red Duke's forces had no ranged firepower; this legendary lord, who was a Grail Knight in life and resurrected as a Blood Dragon Vampire, also refused to use bows and other ranged weapons. However, Captain Salazar and his subordinates filled the gap.

Seeing the Black Knights being wiped out, the Red Duke fell into a brief moment of thought; the Dwarf troops before him were harder to chew than he had anticipated. But soon, the desire for blood took the upper hand.

He waved a large hand while on his Nightmare mount, and a bald guy with pale, bony skin, a haggard face, and hollow eyes walked up from the rear of the formation. From afar, Sinuoli felt the thick aura of the Wind of Death on that person.

Clearly, this was a Necromancer, and his power was even stronger than the one Sinuoli had beheaded in the village and the one caught in the city during the day combined.

Necromancy is considered to have been developed by the Lord of Undeath Nagash by combining the magic of the Dark Elves with the power of the purple Wind of Death, Shashu; therefore, its function is the opposite of Death magic, which lets the departed rest in peace.

This mentor among the Necromancers rode a corpse cart pulled by a few Ghouls, and in front of him was placed a sinister brazier in which a ghastly flame flickered.

This Necromancer moved forward toward the battle line under the protection of a small group of elite Undead infantry clad in rusted armor. The corpse cart, filled with dark power, would re-condense shattered spirits and repair mangled bodies. Therefore, the Undead fighting around the corpse cart would become increasingly fanatical.

The Red Duke had very rich combat experience; through the spirit probing in the village earlier, he had found a way to deal with the Dwarf heavy shield wall, which was to combine Barrow Wights and Ghouls.

Ghouls have relatively agile movements and a fanatical thirst for blood; although they are also difficult to break through the Dwarfs' heavy armor, they can cause a bit more trouble than Zombies and Skeletons.

Their interference and attacks made it impossible for Sinuoli to easily gather his clansmen with Rune Weapons as he had in the village, and the incorporeal Barrow Wights took this opportunity to wield their ghost scythes to attack Sinuoli's subordinates.

These brave Dwarfs swung their weapons in vain, only to find that their attacks could only pass through the shadows of the Wights. Sitelinge wanted to release his Rune, but suddenly groaned in pain.