by Tony Tran
“Now where is the enemy?” One of the people in the group of forty asked a soldier once they reached the top of the city walls.
“Th-they are everywhere.” The soldier said with a stutter.
“Everywhere?” One of the forty “masters” asked as he walked over to the edge of the ramparts and peered out into the distance.
Once he caught sight of the countless undead below he could feel the sweat begin to gather on his brow. Before long the rest of the forty masters were able to see what, they would be facing, a mixture of emotion could be seen on each of their faces, of course, the man who was wearing a mask was excluded from this since his face couldn’t be seen.
“I’ve never seen demonic beasts like those before and there are so many of them.” Someone said while pointing toward the hundreds of Wraith Spiders who are now as large as horses.
“How is it possible to gather this man undead and control them?” Someone else pointed out.
Not long after seeing Zhang’s forces the same thought ran through most of their minds, the thought of running away.
However, despite wanting to run away, there was no way for them to. Dark Sea City was completely surrounded and there was nowhere to go but out to sea.
Sadly, these hopes would soon be dashed because a fleet of a hundred and fifty ships soon sailed into view and formed an encirclement around Dark Sea City’s Seagate.
“If there’s nowhere to run then we have to fight.” The large and hairy man who was a part of the group of forty masters said with a gulp.
“ATTACK!!!” The man who wore an expressionless mask roared.
“Order the soldiers to fire arrows!” He commanded to one of the commanders of the Dark Sea Army.
Soon each of the forty masters would begin to use their magic while the hundreds of thousands of arrows were fired from atop the city walls.
The large and hairy man’s body began to bulge and grow in size until he was as large as a house. After his transformation was complete he jumped over the city walls and came crashing down onto the ground. With a roar, he smashed his fists into the ground, sending a large shock wave of broken rocks at the sea of skeletons.
From atop the walls, fireballs wore conjured, blades of wind were formed, and boulders flew into the skies before raining down below. Essence powered energy blades cut through the air as a wide variety of magic and techniques was employed.
A few of the mages specialized in the element water and headed toward the sea where the one hundred and fifty ships were. Jumping over the city walls and landing on columns of water they combined their power to create a wall of water that towered into the sky.
“With this, we can escape by sea if we can’t beat back the enemy.” One of the water mages laughed as the torrent of water toppled over and rushed toward the Red Mist Naval Fleet.
But unknown to these water mages, there was another water mage present. Within the crow’s nest of the Red Mist Naval fleet’s commanding vessel, Ling stood watching the torrent of water approach with a cup of tea in her hand.
“Ice Demon’s Eternal Prison!” She said as a needle sized icicle was made from the water in her teacup and shot out toward the massive incoming wave.
Despite being a tiny fraction of the wave’s size, when the icicle impacted the wave it caused the wave to slowly freeze solid right before it crashed down onto any ships. After using such a skill, Ling’s face became pale and she had to drink a bottle of essence water to replenish her power.
The water mages who had made the wave were flabbergasted at what had happened to their creation.
“After using a move such as that, the enemies water mage should have used up all of their essence. Now is the time to strike!” One of the water mages said.
While this water mage was talking, the massive frozen wave of water had reverted into its liquid form and sank down.
“Move our ships back, I’ll be engaging the enemy’s water mages.” Ling said as she jumped out of the crow’s nest and a column of water shot up into the sky and caught her.
Chapter 41: Preparations
Crushing waves of water rose one after the other into the air as Ling and the other water mages battled. Blades of water slashed through the skies while shards of ice the size of swords shot about. Being the most versatile type of mages, a battle between water mages was bound to become a dazzling display of skill.
“Keep going! She’s bound to run out of essence soon! No one can keep using so many spells like that and still be at full power.” One of the water mages said to his comrades.
To their disappointment, Ling continued to use spell after spell without depleting her supply of essence thanks to the large stash of essence water she had and of course, because she was a level seven mage while her opponents were all level six mages.
So, despite outnumbering Ling, the water mages who were a part of the group of forty masters could not gain an advantage.
“Misty Veil!” Someone yelled as the ocean’s water began to vaporize and turn into a cloak of mist, shrouding all vision.
“Mist won’t stop me…” Ling said as the column of water underneath her feet rose higher into the skies. While her column was rising a barrage of attacks were sent flying through the mist and aimed at Ling, luckily, she was either able to avoid them or block them with her own barrage of attacks.
The moment the column of water rose about the shroud of mist, thousands of droplets of water formed around Ling and blinding rays of light were condensed and cut through the mist. Wherever the rays of light struck, the mist would vaporize and turn into steam. But that was not it, once Ling’s rays of light shone onto the ocean’s surface, large explosions of boiling hot water were sent splashing everywhere.
“Condense!” Ling yelled as what was left of the shroud of mist condensed into countless shards of ice. The moment the mist was gone, the four water mages who were fighting Ling could be seen standing atop four columns of water, with evident fear in their eyes.
“Wh-what kind of magic is that!?” Someone asked while trembling.
Meanwhile back on land, all twenty of the level seven warriors who had joined under Liu Biao’s banner had all jumped off the walls and engaged Zhang’s horde of undead in battle causing a frenzy to breakout.
Flaming swords were swung while lightning coiled about on iron spear as energy blades were sent flying left and right. Although warriors were not able to utilize large-scale magical attacks like mages, they could release small scale magic through their weapons.
With bodies are strong as iron they were able to smash through the horde of undead that surrounded the city at quick speeds.
“If this is all they have then we worried for nothing.” One of the warriors yelled as he slashed down a group of skeletons.
“Don’t celebrate too soon, who knows what else they have in store for us.” Another warrior said as countless arrows and magical attacks rained down from atop the walls.
Zhang watched as the enemy warriors continue to advance through his horde of undead while seated on a golden throne at the very back of his army with Yuying, Lingqi, and Ai seated by his side, they had decided not to join the battle until their process was needed because there really would be not point to having an army if they did all of the fighting themselves. Had the water mages not tried to sink the naval fleet then Ling would not have shown herself at all.
If Zhang wanted to he would be more than enough to take down all twenty of Liu Biao’s level seven warriors. Despite only being at the seventh level of cultivation himself, Zhang had two of the seven legendary treasures and having the Underworld Heart embedded into his chest meant that he had an inexhaustible supply of essence. This would allow him to be on par with those at level eight and perhaps level nine.
“Should we move in on the city now? Or send a messenger asking them to surrender.” Yuying asked.
“First, we must show them desperation and once they have no way out we will offer them a glimmer of hope, a way to escape.” Zha
ng said with a smile as his arm wrapped around his wife’s waist.
It was no longer possible to even describe the chaos that was happening before Dark Sea city’s walls. Luckily Zhang had not ordered for his skeletons to actually attack the city walls or else more chaos would ensue. Much like Zhang, Liu Biao who had just made his way to the city walls was watching the battle rage on.
Cold sweat broke out and collected on his brow as he saw the size of Zhang’s army and the furious battle that was happening near the City’s sea gates.
Liu Biao was fairly unhappy that they had gone and engaged Zhang in battle without his command but there was nothing he could currently do to change something that had already happened. But he felt there was something that he could do.
“Sound the horns! Order everyone to retreat to the city walls. Cease firing arrows!” Liu Biao commanded, hoping to stop the fighting. He wished to enact the plan that he and his son had come up with earlier and to offer Zhang thirty percent of the city’s treasury and ten of the city’s prettiest women.
Soon enough dozens of horns were sounded and the experts that Liu Biao had recruited slowly retreated. Rope ladders were lowered for the warriors to climb up and the mages that were fighting Ling stopped their attacks and fled into the city.
“Move our forces back half a mile. Give them some space” Zhang commanded once he heard the horns sound off atop Dark Sea City’s walls.
A bit of time passed before a horse was lowered from the city walls and a messenger rode toward Zhang’s army.
Without having to give a single order, Zhang’s army parted into two and opened up a path for the messenger to travel through.
Once the messenger made it to where Zhang was he jumped off his sword and kneeled.
“My lord, Liu Biao, wishes for an audience with his highness in two hours at a tent that will be erected between the city walls and your highness’s army.” The messenger said.
“Tell your lord that I’ll see him there.” Zhang replied and sent the messenger on his way.
Not long after the messenger was sent, a large number of men were lowered from the city walls and a large tent was erected.
After two hours passed, Zhang, Yuying, Ling, Ai, Lingqi, and their generals and strategists road out of camp and toward the tent. Having seen what, the experts within the city were capable of they had nothing to fear so they did not bring any guards or soldiers with them.
Upon arriving, Zhang and the beauties descended from their Inferno Wind Walker horses and were led into the tent. Within the tent seated at a large square, table was Liu Biao, his two sons, and the forty experts.
By personally arriving, Liu Biao was trying to show Zhang his sincerity and hoped to be able to convince Zhang to leave.
“Greetings, Prince Zhang.” Liu Biao said after getting up from his seat.
“No need for such formalities, lord Liu Biao.” Zhang replied politely with a nod.
After Liu Biao greeted Zhang, he moved onto greeting the beauties and complimenting them on their beauty. He even greeted all of Zhang’s subordinates who had come also, well everyone but Zhuge Liang. When it came to Zhuge Liang there was a sense of awkwardness between the two thus Liu Biao sort of avoided talking and eye contact with Zhuge Liang.
In turn, Zhang also took the term to greet some of Liu Biao’s subordinates. After all the formalities and greeting was done the two sides were each seated at opposite ends of the long table within the tent.
“So how may I help you Lord Liu Biao.” Zhang asked after he sat down.
“I would like to make you an offer that you cannot refuse.” Liu Biao said.
“An offer that I can’t refuse?” Zhang asked, somewhat intrigued.
While Zhang and Liu Biao were talking m, a kitten sized cat poked out from Ling’s robes and crawled out from where her chest was. Before anyone could get a good look, she fixed her attire and began playing with the kitten who had made his way onto the table.
Without replying, Liu Biao clapped his hands and from the outside of the tent, ten extremely beautiful women made their way inside. Dressed in revealing clothes, their sex appeal was maximized.
“I heard you're a man who knows how to appreciate treasure and women, so I prepared for you ten of the prettiest women that our province could offer and a substantial portion of our provincial treasury as a gift for you, your highness.” Liu Biao said as the ten beautiful women lined up beside each other to the side of the table.
“Ahem…” Lingqi coughed she looked at Zhang from the corner of her eye. Of course, she was not alone and the other beauties were also watching Zhang from the corner of their eyes.
“I’m sorry Lord Liu Biao but I can’t possibly accept such gifts, my wives would not like it and I couldn’t possibly take wealth from your treasury.” Zhang said quickly, trying to avoid getting in trouble with the beauties.
“I told you he wouldn’t be interested in women when he had wives like those.” Liu Biao’s son Liu Han whispered to his brother.
“Then I’ll be blunt, what would it take for your highness’s army to go elsewhere.” Liu Biao said.
“There isn’t anything that can be given to me or done for me that would entice me to withdraw, however if you wish to surrender and have this province added to our kingdom without any blood having to be shed then you are free to do so.” Zhang said.
“Although your army is larger than ours, I do not believe that you can be certain of victory your highness, so how about my previous offer and thirty percent of the province.” Liu Biao offered. If anything, he could for the first time in many years send out the Dark Sea Army with the experts who were now under his banner to expand the province, so Liu Biao did not really mind offering Zhang thirty percent of his lands.
“No blood would have to be spilled if we handled things now. Well, maybe a little blood.” Lingqi said as she gazed at Liu Biao across the table.
“You think you can that while we’re here?” One of the forty masters said as he withdrew his sword. Following his lead, the other nineteen level seven warriors withdrew their weapons also, showing off their gleaming weapons.
“Baldy you want to die? I’ll cut you to pieces and feed you to the fishes.” Gan Ning said as he lifted up his scimitar and held it so that it’s back leaned on his shoulder while giving off a mocking and proud look.
Seeing the weapons being drawn, Little White who was playing with Ling jumped off the table in a flash and grew to its regular size. Once Little White transformed back to its regular size, it had to curve its body to stay within the tent.
With a ferocious roar, it caused all of Liu Biao’s forty masters to have cold sweat.
“Put away your weapons, we did not come here to fight…” Liu Biao said calmly despite having the wits scared out of him due to Little White’s transformation.
Liu Biao’s words had helped the forty masters snap out of the daze they were in due to the appearance of our furry friend. How could they have imagined that such a tiny kitten who seemed harmless moments ago, turn into something that made them shake with fear.
“Gan Ning, you too.” Zhang said afterward.
“You too Little White.” Ling said, almost instantly after she spoke, Little White shrank and made its way onto her lap where it curled up.
“Good kitty.” Ling said as she began to pet Little White’s soft fur.
Seeing how Little White listened to Ling to obediently, Liu Biao and his people couldn't help but imagine how powerful Ling was.
Once everyone’s weapons were lowered or sheathed and Little White was no longer going to rip anyone's head off, Zhuge Liang began to speak.
“Throughout my time serving under Lord Liu Biao I’ve come to know him as a great leader who knows how to properly govern his lands and his people. While on the other hand, over the course of time that I’ve served under Prince Zhang, I’ve come to see that he is someone who does not lack ambitious nor the power to drive his ambitions. So, I would like to make a suggestion that wou
ld benefit both of you.” Zhuge Liang said.
Zhuge Liang suggested for Liu Biao to turn the Dark Sea Province into a vassal state under Zhang’s direct rule. In exchange, he would still be a provincial lord and once the southern region is conquered he would be promoted to the rank of duke and govern over the entire south. Of course, he would not be entirely free to do what he wanted there would be limitations to his power to make sure that he doesn’t do anything against the interest of Aurora.
The reason for this suggestion was because Zhang lacked subordinates who were capable of ruling. He had many talented people by his side but if he had to assign each of his generals or strategists a place to govern then it was obvious that he would not have enough of them. This would be especially true if they managed to obtain the entire southern region.
