With a deafening roar like thunder, countless magical projectiles rained down like a teor shower, instantly pulverizing everything in front of the fortress gates into dust.
The friendly markers on Phield’s minimap vanished in an instant.
Fragnts of stone flew everywhere, and thick clouds of dust billowed into the air.
"Why do I hear bombardnt?"
Annie Rui had originally thought Phield was overreacting, but the brilliant flashes of fire and the thunderous roar of the magic towers left him frozen in place.
Cold sweat stread down his face.
A horrifying thought suddenly surfaced in his mind.
"Don’t tell ... Maple Leaf Territory is also under the Shadow World Sect’s control?"
"Obviously, it is."
Veins bulged on Phield’s forehead.
He had suspected it before, but after so many rounds of trade and cooperation, so degree of trust had naturally ford. Besides, this had been their last remaining exit. He had never really had another option.
If he had personally brought his main force here, they probably would have been wiped out on the spot.
The blade had been hanging above his neck the entire ti.
The only reason he had been able to move freely before was because nobody had paid attention to him.
"Those bastards."
Phield’s chest heaved with rage.
"I’ll repay this grudge a thousandfold. Ten thousandfold."
Thinking of the soldiers who had died for nothing, he wanted nothing more than to storm the fortress and kick his enemies’ heads around like balls.
"Wait."
Annie Rui suddenly rembered sothing.
"You expected this, didn’t you?"
He recalled how Phield had refused to let him enter Maple Leaf Territory and had even said, "I might have saved your life."
Now it seed that statent had been completely accurate.
"No."
Phield frowned.
"There was nothing unusual about Maple Leaf Fortress before."
The way Annie Rui said it sounded less like a question and more like an accusation.
Narrowing his eyes, Annie Rui didn’t show any gratitude at all.
Instead, he made a wild guess.
"You’ve been going in and out without any problems. So isn’t it possible that you’re secretly working with them too? Maybe all of this has just been an act for my benefit."
"Bullshit!"
The light cavalryn of Nightfall Domain imdiately drew their blades.
Many of them nearly exploded with fury.
Suppressing the killing intent boiling inside him, Phield said coldly,
"If you want to die, I can help you with that right now."
Once he had squeezed every bit of value out of this man, he would kill him.
Soone like this couldn’t be kept around.
"I... I was just talking nonsense."
Annie Rui imdiately backed down.
"I was just angry, that’s all."
"Enough."
Phield waved him off.
"We need to leave imdiately. If the fortress sends out..."
Before he could finish speaking, a beam of light streaked across the sky overhead and landed more than ten ters away, carving a deep line into the distance.
"Of course."
Phield glanced toward Maple Leaf Territory.
"The next ti I co here, it will be your disaster."
He turned around.
"We’re leaving."
"Search the surrounding area for anything suspicious. Kill anyone you find."
The officers within Maple Leaf Fortress activated the city-defense automatons and began indiscriminately bombarding everything nearby.
Phield and his group didn’t dare linger.
They retreated at maximum speed and regrouped at Turnip Village.
After explaining everything to Ashina and the others, everyone was stunned.
"Now we’re truly trapped."
Ophelia removed the blue flag representing Maple Leaf Fortress from the paper map and replaced it with a red one.
"You were right, Phield. If we do nothing, the rebels will eventually destroy us."
"Exactly."
Phield nodded.
"Since Maple Leaf Territory is compromised as well, Simon will eventually make his move."
After a brief pause, he continued,
"Whether it’s because of the Vigor Elixir and the salt trade, or simply to protect their secrets, the Shadow World Sect will co for us sooner or later."
Ashina was furious.
"The only fortunate thing is that we didn’t build our territory near the wall."
When they had first arrived in Nightfall Domain, Kaor had suggested using the border wall as a foundation and gradually expanding northward.
It would have been much safer.
But Phield hated the idea of having his base within soone else’s firing range.
So he had gritted his teeth and chosen the Great Manor as his foundation before expanding outward.
Looking back, it had been the correct decision.
Otherwise, the entire territory would have been reduced to ashes under the border fortress’s bombardnt.
"We have no allies."
Ophelia rubbed her chin thoughtfully.
"The other Imperial nobles have no idea how severe the border situation really is."
"It wouldn’t matter even if they did."
Ashina shook her head.
"No matter what happens, we’ll have to rely on ourselves."
Normally, Ophelia loved mocking people whenever she had the chance.
Today, however, she was unusually serious.
"When it cos to direct battlefield command, I’m better at that than Phield. But for grand strategy, you’re the one who needs to make the decisions."
"Good."
Phield clenched a fist and struck the table.
"I already have a plan."
"Since the enemy has Corrupted allies, we’ll attack their allies first."
He turned toward Ophelia.
"Gather the undead horde and cut off Bull Territory’s Corruption route."
His eyes flashed with cold fury.
"Who gave them permission to enter my territory?"
"I’m going to smash both the rebels and their allies."
"Leave it to !"
The mont she received her orders, Ophelia departed.
Imperial Calendar, July 6th.
Within Nightfall Domain’s forest supply corridor, concealed stone walls and semicircular watchtowers could be seen everywhere.
These routes had originally been built to transport supplies during wars against the Orcs.
Now they had beco the pathways through which Corrupted creatures entered the frontier.
"Roar!"
One undead corpse seed to sense sothing.
Its stiff neck turned toward the gray mist.
Monts later, orderly ranks of Nightfall Domain undead marched out of the mist and poured into the corridor.
Moving at remarkable speed, they completely blocked the route.
As eerie growls echoed through the air, rusted spears and blades rose like a field of reeds, all pointing toward the undead advancing through the passage.
"Roar?"
The rebel Corrupted creatures hadn’t even realized what was happening before a Second-Tier Corrupted Scorpion charged forward like a tidal wave.
It smashed the first undead corpse that had reacted into pieces.
At the sa ti, its massive pincers shot out and seized two Corrupted cavalryn, cutting them in half at the waist.
"Well done."
Phield nodded in approval.
"I didn’t expect you to replenish your forces so quickly."
"Of course."
Ophelia smiled proudly.
"I don’t just recruit ordinary undead. I can control higher-ranked special variants as well."
The glowing sphere in her hand shone brilliantly.
More than a thousand undead flooded into the corridor.
The rebel undead still had no idea what was happening when war erupted instantly between both sides.
Spears thrust forward.
Blades swung wildly.
Large numbers of Corrupted cavalry were overwheld before they could even take advantage of their speed.
They were stabbed from all directions and sent crashing to the ground.
Since both armies were undead and therefore permanently immune to morale collapse, the battle imdiately escalated into a bloody frenzy.
Weapons shattered.
Then they began biting each other apart.
Phield even saw an undead corpse missing half its body gnawing directly on another undead’s ankle.
"Break through the blockade!"
One of the more intelligent Corrupted cavalryn let out a shrill cry toward Ophelia and raised his lance high.
Imdiately, nearby rebel undead gathered around him, preparing for a charge.
Their master’s order was simple.
Reach Bull Territory.
No matter what happened, the simple-minded Corrupted creatures would continue carrying out that command.
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