Chapter 37: Mobile Cannon Turret
Anse rode his horse up to a high ground, reined in his mount, and looked back.
The undead that pursued them were scattered, clearly lacking command, while the main undead force was surrounding and killing a group of capable professionals.
He guessed it should be the Amn people they encountered during the day; they were breaking through towards the camp, and their location was no more than a few hundred meters from the camp. He wondered if it was a coincidence or an intentional diversion.
After that holy light, the undead suffered heavy losses, but only low-level undead died, and the situation for the Amn people did not improve.
“Anse, look over there.” Brat caught up, sweat beading on his forehead, his breathing still even.
Anse looked in the direction he pointed; the undead were almost upon Emon and the others, and combat was imminent.
It wasn’t that the undead were fast, but that the Stonemason Guild had too many old, weak, women, and children who couldn’t run. Emon couldn’t bear to abandon them and was trailing behind to help.
Brat pursed his lips, his expression pained, his hand gripping his longsword incredibly pale. He didn’t want Anse to be in danger, but he couldn’t just watch Emon die.
Emon had his principles, and Brat had his own moral bottom line.
“I’m sorry, I have to go help…”
“How are you going to go?” Anse interrupted him with a raised hand, taking off his backpack and tossing it to the ground. “You and Finn take the backpack and continue west, be careful to maintain your condition.
I’ll go help him; with Nolnos, those undead won’t catch me.”
Without waiting for Brat to reply, Nolnos neighed and suddenly darted down the slope, straight towards the undead.
After a day of practice, plus the aid of the saddle, it could finally speed up! It was overjoyed and ran faster and faster.
Anse raised his staff and cast a Light spell on it. Nolnos had 60 feet of darkvision, but he didn’t.
This action was so practiced that it unconsciously reminded him of that dual-wielding berserker Gandalf who would cast Light, then swing his sword.
The distance of a few hundred meters flashed by, and the figures of Emon and Alva appeared in sight.
Seeing Anse approach, Emon was grateful, but it was clearly not the time to talk.
He and Alva stopped simultaneously, drew their weapons, and turned to face the enemy. He felt he couldn’t do what Anse was doing, leaving himself to hold the rear alone.
“You all go, I’ll do hit-and-run.” Anse waved at them, his tone resolute.
He wasn’t pretending to be strong; with Nolnos, he could fight and run without any worries. Having two more people would only slow them down.
Emon and the other hesitated for a moment, but still chose to trust him. However, they didn’t run too far, staying behind the Stonemason Guild members to provide support at any time.
Anse focused his attention on the zombies, his dice trembled slightly, and soon their information popped up:
【 Skeleton, Undead, Challenge Rating 1/4 】
【 Zombie, Undead, Challenge Rating 1/4 】
The fast ones were skeletons, the slow ones were zombies; the types were very monotonous.
‘They don’t seem very strong.’
However, undead don’t get exhausted or afraid, and they always move in groups. Their bodies are nothing but bones and rotten flesh, and no one wants to fight them; they would avoid them if they could.
Anse raised his staff, ready to test their mettle first.
“
Sorcerous Burst – Flame!
The spell’s light and shadow tore through the night sky, rapidly traversing dozens of meters, and accurately struck the chest cavity.
“Boom—”
The skeleton didn’t even dodge. It was blown back by the sudden burst of flames, a section of its ribs shattered. But it didn’t wail or roar; it got up after a few moments and continued its pursuit.
【 You cast Sorcerous Burst on the skeleton… The skeleton is hit, taking 6 fire damage, current HP 9/15… 】
Nolnos turned and ran a few steps, pulling away again.
As soon as it stabilized, Anse cast again, hitting the skeleton in the face with a Sorcerous Burst. The critical hit triggered a chain reaction, blowing the skeleton to pieces.
【 You cast Sorcerous Burst on the skeleton… Target Death, gained 45 combat experience 】
‘This is too easy.’ Anse looked at the sparse undead that were still emerging, his eyes shining.
No need to dodge, no need to waste Magic Missile; wasn’t this the ideal experience farm?
With that thought, he no longer hesitated. He had Nolnos run a little further to create distance and, using the same tactic, killed the second skeleton with three Sorcerous Bursts.
【 …Target Death, gained 50 combat experience 】
The experience for each skeleton was slightly different, but not by much.
Anse wasn’t greedy. Riding Nolnos, he fought and retreated, always maintaining a safe distance, focusing only on the one in front.
He only used Sorcerous Burst throughout the engagement. This was a warlock’s signature cantrip, and among all offensive cantrips, only a Warlock’s Eldritch Blast could consistently outperform it.
This led to a strange scene: dozens of humans fled in a long line in the dark night, followed by Anse, and then by the scattered undead in pursuit.
These undead were like they were rushing to their deaths; one went up, one died. At their closest to Anse, they never broke fifty meters.
Anse was having a blast, killing four skeletons and one zombie in a short time.
Today he realized how important mounts were for spellcasters!
No need to stand still to attack, no need to worry about close-range threats; he could cast spells while moving, and monsters with significantly lower movement speeds couldn’t touch him.
It was only because his riding skills were not good enough that he couldn’t maintain concentration and accuracy when bumpy; otherwise, casting spells while mounted would have made him a proper mobile turret.
By now, there weren’t many undead left behind. In the darkness, only a few zombies were still slowly following. The distant village and the main undead force were no longer visible.
Anse didn’t stay to wait for the zombies. He continued to retreat with Emon and the others; he didn’t want to risk his life for a little experience.
He now had a deep understanding of Faerun’s chaos; this experience… would come to him.
——
On the other side, the Amn squad looked at the empty camp ahead and the figures that had disappeared into the night, filled with despair.
He had intended to use these forty-plus people to share the pressure and seize the opportunity to break through, but he hadn’t expected them to be so vigilant and flee so early.
Looking at the holy grail in his hand, he regretted it, wishing he had held off on using it for a little longer.
“We are the Nahshival Family’s slaver group.” He shouted to the surroundings, “I know you, servants of the Lord of Bones, we are not enemies…”
“Yes, we are from Amn, Esmirtalan…”
“Lord Nahshival is not far away, consider carefully…”
The surviving team members also reacted and shouted one after another.
However, no matter how they shouted, the offensive of the undead horde did not weaken in the slightest.
In the shadows, two mysterious figures in black robes embroidered with white human skulls remained silent, their eyes showing a hint of anger.
They had only been gone for a few days, and their nest had been occupied by others. The aura of the holy relic, the smell of blood and death stimulated the resurrection array, waking the slumbering undead horde prematurely.
Not only was the strength of the undead below par, but many had also lost control. Years of planning were all ruined.
One figure in black robes looked west. The night was deep there, but the image of a knight with a holy symbol on his chest still lingered in his mind.
“A follower of Tyr.” His voice was grave.
“My eyes have been opened.” His companion’s voice was hoarse, his tone very poor.
The followers of the God of Justice were always meddling. If news of the situation here got out, swarms of followers and paladins would soon come knocking.
They were not in a good state right now. Most divine spells couldn’t be cast, and they couldn’t get any response from Milkor, the God of Death, no matter what they did.
They had harbored bad suspicions and had to hide in the wilderness; only these undead could give them a slight sense of security.
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