webnovel Chapter 779 - 501: Beastman Extermination Order, Ghost Lord’s Bloody Battle!
Chapter 779 - 501: Beastman Extermination Order, Ghost Lord’s Bloody Battle!
Another round of the deadly Blood Moon Lord War had begun.
On the boundless plain of the battlefield, ominous clouds gathered under a lifeless sky as battle banners fluttered in the bloody wind.
Fang Zhou stood on a high platform of piled bones, overlooking the Tombyard Undead Army arrayed neatly below. The Soul Fire in his eyes reflected the rolling black mist of the undead that choked the horizon. His gaze was stern and resolute, and the Poisonous Skeleton Long Spear in his hand gleamed with a ghostly blue light under the dim sky.
Beside him, Tidamia was using a sand table to simulate the battle, his fingers tracing complex lines of defense. In response, tens of thousands of Corpse Warriors adjusted their battle formations, the clatter of their Bone Shields striking a deathly rhythm.
"My Lord, although the Ghost Lord’s army is large, it lacks command and will only charge blindly," Tidamia said in a deep voice. "We can use this to our advantage. First, we’ll use the Skeleton Catapults for long-range bombardments to force them to attack. Then, we can deplete their forces with our Defense Formation. The ultimate goal is to lure the Ghost Lord deep into the battlefield, where the Corpse Knight Guard will execute a decapitation tactic!"
Fang Zhou nodded, his gaze sweeping across the battlefield. Under his command, 4,000 Bronze Upper Corpse Knight Guards were lined up neatly. Their Bone Armor was engraved with ancient runes, and the Long Spears in their hands glinted coldly. One thousand Corrupt Hatreds stood like moving fortresses, emitting a nauseating stench of decay. Five thousand Corpse Warriors wielded Bone Blades, their empty eyes filled with murderous intent. Behind them, a massive phalanx of 80,000 Black Iron Upper Corpse Warriors and Archers resembled a sea of white bones.
"Are the Soul Silence War Drums ready?" Fang Zhou asked.
"They’ve been deployed, with twenty war drums positioned at key points along the front line," Tidamia replied. "As long as the Ghost Lord dares to enter the fray himself, he will not leave alive."
At the other end of the battlefield, the Ghost Lord hovered in the air, his pale silhouette flickering beneath the ominous clouds. His eyes sparkled with greed, and a mocking smile played on his lips.
"A mere Bronze Upper Zombie Lord dares to attack me?" the Ghost Lord muttered to himself, his voice as cold as wind blowing over barren bones. Truly overestimating oneself.
He glanced over Fang Zhou’s army, his heart full of disdain. To him, Fang Zhou’s army, though bizarre-looking and well-equipped, was nowhere near as numerous as his own 200,000-strong Undead Army. Moreover, the Ghosts possessed a racial advantage that allowed them to ignore most physical attacks. This battle was a predetermined slaughter from the very beginning.
"Since you’ve come to die, I’ll gladly accept!" The Ghost Lord let out a sharp Soul Scream that echoed across the battlefield. "All units, attack! Devour them!"
With the Ghost Lord’s command, the 200,000-strong Undead Army surged like a tide toward Fang Zhou’s position. Skeleton soldiers wielded rusty weapons while zombies dragged their decaying bodies, letting out deep roars. Above them, 3,000 Ghost Royal Guards drifted like specters, ready to swoop down at any moment and tear the enemy’s defenses apart.
"Skeleton Catapults, fire!" Fang Zhou commanded calmly.
Dozens of Skeleton Catapults activated simultaneously. Skeleton Cannonballs burning with eerie green flames streaked through the air, landing among the Ghost Lord’s forces. Explosions erupted one after another, with each cannonball claiming the lives of dozens of Low-Level Undead. The Ghost Lord’s army was scattered by the bombardment, but their numbers were too vast; they quickly filled the gaps and continued their charge.
As round after round of bombardment bloomed into clouds of ghastly green fire within the Ghost Army, the gray and white tide of 200,000 skeletons and zombies advanced to within a kilometer.
"Tidamia, deploy the Wolf Fang Defense Array!" Fang Zhou ordered again.
Tidamia waved a command flag, and the Tombyard Undead Army swiftly reformed. Corpse Centurions, Chiliarchs, and Centurions led their respective units, forming an interlocking defensive line. The Corpse Warriors, wielding their Bone Shields, formed an impenetrable wall of defense, while the Corpse Archers in the rear unleashed a dense Arrow Rain.
The advantage of the Wolf Fang Defense Array lay in its ability to leverage the superior quality of its individual units to whittle down a larger enemy force piece by piece. But the Ghost Lord was unaware of this battle array’s power. It hovered above the battlefield, watching with satisfaction as its army flooded Fang Zhou’s defenses like a tidal wave. After all, based on its past experience, the most important thing when an army’s numbers were superior was to maintain a stable battle line. It believed that with sufficient numbers, it could easily tear through the enemy’s formation.
"Look, their defenses have been completely penetrated!" the Ghost Lord shrieked with laughter. "Next, we just need to grind them down bit by bit!"
However, the battle unfolded in a way that completely defied its expectations. Suddenly, Tidamia’s command flag dropped, and the fangs of the Wolf Fang Defense Array snapped shut. The Skeleton Warriors at the forefront collided with a moving wall formed by the Corrupt Hatreds. These three-meter-high Sewn Monsters swung rusty Chains and spewed toxic mist from their decomposing abdomens, dissolving any Low Tier Undead they touched into a thick slurry of corpse matter.
"Skeleton War Chariots, charge!"
At Tidamia’s order, fifty spike-studded chariots burst from openings in the line. Each chariot was drawn by four Skeleton Beasts, with twelve continuously spinning Chain Blades fixed to its frame. Before this steel torrent, the Ghost Lord’s prized Sea of Skulls was reaped like wheat, and the shattered bones formed a white blizzard in the air.
Far from collapsing, the Tombyard Undead’s Wolf Fang Defense Array operated like a precise meat grinder, systematically annihilating the enemy forces that poured into it. Skeleton War Chariots charged back and forth through the formation; even the heavily fortified Iron-Arm Zombies couldn’t withstand their onslaught. Meanwhile, the Skeleton Catapults in the rear continued their bombardment. Each strike obliterated at least dozens, if not hundreds, of Low-Level Undead from the Ghost Lord’s army.
This persisted for over ten minutes before the Ghost Lord realized something was amiss. Hovering in the air, its pale face twisted with rage. "How is this possible? These lowly corpses... they’re actually so powerful?"
Even after observing for a while longer, its meager tactical skills left it completely unable to comprehend the situation. With no other choice, it could only resort to having its troops continuously surge forward in what had become a fruitless war of attrition.
After another half hour of intense fighting, Fang Zhou’s army of over 90,000 Tombyard Undead had lost less than 10,000 troops. In contrast, the Ghost Lord’s undead army had suffered nearly 100,000 casualties. Having lost over half its forces, the Ghost Lord’s army would have already been completely routed if not for the fact that Undead Creatures have no morale to break.
Seeing his army’s numbers dwindling, the Ghost Lord could no longer hold back. He let out a piercing Soul Scream and personally led 3,000 Ghost Royal Guards into the battlefield, hoping to use the racial advantage of the Ghosts to break through the lines and slay the enemy Lord.
As long as I slay their Lord, victory will be mine! These powerful Tombyard Undead will also become my spoils of war!
But all of this was a trap Fang Zhou had laid for the Ghost Lord. With the Tombyard Undead’s combat power, they could have eradicated the entire Undead Army in one swift attack. However, at Fang Zhou’s signal, Tidamia had slowed the pace of their assault, intentionally creating the appearance of a heated stalemate.
This was all a ruse to lure the Ghost Lord into the fray. As soon as he dared to venture deep into the battle formation, Fang Zhou and the Corpse Knight Guard lying in ambush would show him the true meaning of a decapitation tactic.
Unaware of the trap, the Ghost Lord led his Ghost Guard, cutting through the enemy’s ranks toward the center of the battle group. The Corpse Archers drew their bows and fired, attacking the low-flying Ghost Guard. However, the physical White Bone Arrows were effortlessly dodged by the Ghosts, causing little effective damage.