City of Desire [Kingdom Building]

Proofread by Thomas F

Banmir Liorian

“Retreat!”

I commanded as I sensed Wraithhearth’s death; he truly died with his soul destroyed.

The necromancer of his level had a good chance to come back as a lich. To stop that is to kill them thoroughly, soul and all.

It’s not easy, given that there is protection from His Deathless.

It is why I am shocked when I felt them kill him thoroughly. The enemy had made comprehensive preparations.

They started with the alchfire orbs, then revealed the artifacts, healing spells that seemed to cover their every powerhouse, minimising their casualties before releasing a great witchcraft spell and even the killing Wraithhearth.

We had brought a Great Horde with the power to smash through the entire region, but this one little city crushed us.

Each step had been meticulous and well planned. I could not help but be impressed with it, but I also felt the rising fear. 

It’s why I ordered an immediate retreat, as I feared what other things the enemy might have.

There was no resistance, not even from Yark. We might still have numbers, but they have seen what is happening and are experienced enough to understand that retreat is the right choice, before the enemy brings out something more terrible.

I had just thought that when my Danger Sense blared like never before.

Simultaneously, I saw three Lightning Light Lances and six Flame Mire Thorns appearing around me out of nowhere.

I am also aware of the attack coming from the Giantblood and Silver charging toward me.

They are threats powerful enough to kill me. Not to mention, I am not even at my full strength; the witchcraft had stripped away a third of my strength.

I didn’t panic. Instead sighed. ‘It seemed like I had no choice but to use it,’ I thought to myself, and activated my strongest, but also the weakest skill.

Blood Price Bulwark.

I activated the skill, and immediately, the thick red solid defensive method covered me. I had used it a few times before, but I had never seen it so dense.

It wasn’t this thick when I used it the last time. It had only a fourth of its current thickness.

Clang Clang Clang!

The spells clashed against the shield, and there wasn’t even a crack on the shield. Even with the effect of witchcraft, it’s very powerful.

It could be said that this skill grants one a kind of immortality in this place.

Though it gives me no joy, I hate this skill because it makes me too powerful. I need to suffer the massive loss, like the destruction of 80% of the horde and the death of the commander.

Blood Price Bulwark is a skill that requires rare conditions.

Its strength depends on its conditions being met. It is why I said it is my weakest skill, but also the strongest one, because it requires my allies to die.

The more they die, the stronger these skills would be, and a lot of them had died in this battle.

Clang!

The artifact of the Giantblood crashed into the shield behind me, and it didn’t even ripple. I didn’t look back; I am retreating with the horde.

Commanding my men, they are making it difficult, affecting my communication and command skills.

The attacks continued while I kept moving, and I noticed. The shield is getting stronger, and a moment later, I sensed more death.

‘Yark is dead,’ I said, and it couldn’t help but stir my emotions.

Wraithhearth was an ally, but Yark is someone I had personally trained. Despite his eccentricities, I liked him, but they killed him. It filled me with emotions that I want to let loose.

A moment later, I took a deep breath and controlled my emotions. This is what killed Wraithhearth; I had told him earlier we should retreat.

If he had listened, he would have been alive, but now he is dead. I do not want to make the same mistake he did.

I felt more dying as I moved. They are not only attacking me, but also attacking the others as well. Killing them, and what little I could tell, they are targeting the ones who had awakened the aura.

It made my expressions worse, but I remained calm and kept moving.

I might not be able to communicate with them effectively, but they are feeling my commands. I am utilising my aura in sequences for the commands.

It is much harder to block than the skills and sounds.

The powerhouses are trained to recognise these aura commands, and I could see they were following them, as evidenced by the way we were retreating.

Some time passed when I turned. I saw Silver, riding toward me with his blade, slashing toward me.

The man is bloody from head to toe, but I could see the burning intent in his eyes. My eyes turned toward the blade. Wraithhearth had communicated its abilities to me.

That made me very cautious as I poured the aura into it, before swinging my sword.

An aura blade flew toward him just as he swung his blade, sending his aura blade toward me.

Clang!

They clashed, destroying each other. I had expected it, but it had made me frown. I had awakened the aura over a decade ago and had years of experience to hone the method.

He awoke barely a year ago and learned methods just months ago, but his attack was able to contend against mine.

That was just the beginning, as the next moment. Twelve aura blades materialized around him before shooting toward me.

I responded in kind, fractals forming into an aura blade that turned toward him.

I want to fight him and kill him, but that’s not an option. That was the mistake Wraithhearth made. I am not going to make the same mistake.

Besides, I don’t have much time. The skill may be powerful, but it won’t last for long.

Finally, he appeared in front of me and swung that sword. Wraithhearth had informed me about its ability to collapse spells.

I want to test it against my skills, but I won’t be doing that. Instead, I moved my sword and didn’t hold back.

Clang!

He shook on his horse as we clashed, and blood came out of his mouth and orifices, but that’s all. I didn’t send him back; he remained on his horse.

“No wonder you were able to kill Wraithhearth,” I said, and there was no reply from him, aside from his attacking once more.

…

Silver

‘He is truly powerful,’ I thought as my blade clashed against his.

At the same time, we are bombarding him with countless spells, and even Stone is attacking him with everything he has, but those defensive skills around him remain unchanged.

The defensive skill is too powerful. It shouldn’t be this powerful.

Others might not be able to sense its power, but I could, and it is beyond what it should be.

We had information about his defensive skills; it was supposed to be average, even weak, but here it is defending against everything.

Even Wraithhearth would have had a problem defending against the number of spells we are throwing at him, but he didn’t have any problem at all.

We have killed Wraithhearth and Yark. Killing him will deal a massive blow to the undead.

We are throwing everything we have against him, but nothing is working. Every second, he is moving closer and closer to the boundary.

Once he crosses it, he will be able to escape the effects of the witchcraft and the domain of the legacy.

I want to try my blade against the defensive method, but he won’t let me. He is stopping my every attack while defending the others with that skill.

‘This skill is too powerful. We should focus the spells on others,’ said Stone.

I don’t like it, but it is the truth. We are rapidly expending the emotion essence, but since it is not working, we should focus on other targets.

‘Ok,’ I agreed.

A moment later, the intensity of the spells reduced on the Knight while increasing on the other targets.

There are a lot of powerhouses in the undead, and we want to kill as many of them as possible. We want to weaken them as much as possible and prevent those who might advance from doing so.

Time passed, and I kept attacking. Pushing myself more than I did against the Necromancer, but I couldn’t do anything against the Knight.

It is defending against every one of my attacks. I couldn’t even slow him down.

Finally, he reached the boundary and crossed it. I could feel the relief appearing on his body as he turned to me.

“You shouldn’t have made an enemy of the kingdom.” He said with a sigh. I could feel the anger and frustration in his eyes, but also the acceptance.

“It is your kingdom that made an enemy of me!” I declared, looking directly into his eyes.

“Enjoy the victory and the little time you have brought yourself. It won’t last forever,” he warned and retreated with the horde, while Stone stopped our army from chasing them further.

“We did it!” said Stone as the loud cheer rang through the army.

“Yes, we did,” I replied, with a big smile appearing on my face.

The result is much better than we had expected. We had planned for everything, but plans can fail. Here, many worked.

The undead remained, but so have we, and after today, we will be stronger than ever.

Besides, we are not finished with the undead. We could still attain the complete victory. Destroy them fully.

“Connect me to the Lord of Deerpond, Port Midlet, and Dustorn Fortress,” I ordered.

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