Chapter 116 - Approaching army
Chapter 116 – Approaching army
Lara who was done sparring with Hilda suddenly felt something from a distance. Now that her control over her mana was better than before the range of her scan had become larger. Now that she was able to extend her scan a few kilometers away Lara was surprised to sense that there were a large number of beings heading towards Grenton.
She also felt that their mana fluctuations were a bit strange, but that was beside the point. An army was heading towards the town. Based on how fast their march was, they should reach Grenton in about three days.
Lara wanted to get a good look of the army so she could report what she saw to Ren properly. Without saying a word Lara left the others behind and started running towards the area where she sensed the army. When she got close enough Lara went to an elevated area and enhanced her eyesight with a strengthening spell.
The moment she saw the invading army she was surprised. The army was mostly consisting of skeletal warriors wearing armor. From the distance, she could also see some ogres in chains. The army of undead was a huge one as it covered a large area with nothing but the shine of their armor. Lara could somehow guess who was behind this wave of undead.
‘The elder Lich is here…’ With this new information, Lara immediately headed back.
… 𝗯𝐞𝗱𝐧𝐨𝘃𝐞𝐥.𝗼𝗿𝐠
Hilda was surprised to see Lara suddenly leave without saying anything. The only times that person would do that, was if it was something that would involve Ren.
‘I wonder what happened?… Even though I still can’t get a proper read on her expressionless face, I think I actually saw a bit of worry in her look.’
While Hilda was thinking about Lara’s strange action, the person in question finally came back. Though she looked the same as before, with her signature stoic look, something felt a bit different.
“Where have-” Hilda wasn’t even able to finish her question when Lara interrupted her. “Iselv, Kithra, I want you two to head back to Grenton and gather all your battle-ready men and return here.”
“Why, are we going to war or something?” Iselv looked at Lara seriously, if it was anybody else that said what Lara said, he would think that the other party was trying to make a joke, but he knew that Lara wasn’t that type of person. Everything this person does was serious, her face, her attitude, everything about her could never be associated with the term joke.
“Yes.” Lara’s answer was quick and simple, but that one single word had devastating effects on the people who heard it. Iselv and even Kithra could feel a shiver down their spine. Hilda who was in a state of stunned silence, finally regained herself and spoke, “Who is the enemy? What do you mean going to war?!”
Hilda wasn’t one who was afraid of battle, but the term war had fazed her. She thought of her family and how they would survive if an army came to Grenton. Who could the enemy be? The answer to that thought came quickly as she knew there was only one enemy of their kingdom at the moment, and it was the Serbek kingdom.
“The enemy are undead warriors… As for the meaning of going to war, figure out the answer yourself. Enough about that there is also something I want you to do Hilda.” Seeing the composed way Lara acted, actually helped in calming Hilda down.
“What should I do?” Although Lara didn’t like Hilda, she knew that she was quite useful. Hilda also felt the same way with Lara, so the two could still talk in a civilized manner even without Ren.
“I want you to head back to the guild, and tell the lazy guild master about the invading undead army. Tell him that-” Lara then started talking about her estimate on how large the undead army was, as well as how fast their march was. She also told Hilda about her guess that the elder lich was the most probably the leader of these undead warriors. Lara gave all the information she had gathered after her initial look of the army.
“When you’re done reporting all these to that lazy guild master, come back here and… Help me…” Lara found it hard to say the last two words, but when it left her lips she felt a bit relieved, which confused her. Upon hearing what Lara said, Hilda quickly started running back to Grenton.
Lara who noticed that Iselv and Kithra were still rooted on the spot, she looked at the two of them with killing intent. “Why aren’t you guys moving?” When the two heard Lara’s cold tone of voice, the two former underworld kings were jolted awake. They immediately started running back to Grenton alongside Hilda.
…
It took half a day for Iselv and Kithra to return with at least a hundred men. Hilda, on the other hand, couldn’t return yet since she needed to help the adventurers guild prepare for the upcoming battle. Instead, Hilda passed a report to Lara, saying that due to the war with the Serbek Kingdom, the reinforcements from the capital won’t be able to get to Grenton for at least half a month. That basically meant that they were on their own and they needed to survive the upcoming battle for until reinforcements arrive.
After reading Hilda’s report, Lara closed her eyes and started to think. ‘I wonder where Ren is right now… If he were here what would he do?…’ After thinking for a bit Lara opened her eyes, and saw an excited Iselv, a smiling Kithra, and some frightened men and women. There were about a hundred of them gathered here.
‘This is all the forces the two of them could muster? Well, it doesn’t really matter…’
“Right now an undead army is heading towards our town! I want everyone here to help me delay that army from getting to Grenton, we delay them for a minute, an hour, a day, and if possible a week!”
“That’s impossible!” Somebody shouted from the group. Iselv who saw it was one his men who shouted, wanted to discipline him but then he saw a [fire arrow] spell pierce through the man’s skull and then burned him to ashes. Lara looked at the person she just killed with a cold glare, which made the atmosphere frigid.
“Anybody else thinks it’s impossible?” Hearing her cold tone of voice, with her stoic expression, coupled with the fact that she just killed someone pretty strong in their group, like she was killing an ant, made all of them gulp dryly as they stayed silent in fear.
“Good… I’ll tell you now, I don’t care what you guys think. All you people need to know is that you are people under Ren’s command. As such, I don’t want to see you guys cowering in fear. Those of you who show any signs of retreating without permission will be killed on the spot.”
Everyone felt extreme fear as they heard what Lara said, but what truly frightened them was the overwhelming pressure of her mana that weighed down upon them, coupled with her killing intent, which made the whole experience even more horrific.
“An undead army is marching towards our area, they came here to wreak havoc in Ren’s territory. So as Ren’s loyal subordinates, what are you suppose to do with that undead army?” Being pressured by that ice-cold look of Lara’s the hundred of subordinates felt suppressed, unable to take it any longer one of them shouted, “DESTROY THEM!” After that, all the others followed suit.
Hearing them shout those words, Lara simply nodded in satisfaction. On the outside, she remained looking like the usual cool beauty, but on the inside, she was already pumping herself up.
‘Ren, I hope you return soon so that you can see my gallant figure as I kill all of your enemies. Surely when you see me like that you’ll fall even more in love with me.’