Desolate World

There is nothing in the town, Lord," Hugo reported.

Vesper only nodded. He then shouted, "Let's move!"

Then the army moved with the zombies in the front and the skeletons in the back. They moved like a snake-like formation. 

Vesper chose to pass the Southside of the town. As a scout, Hugo of course went earlier. As he had been further ahead, he heard an explosion from behind.

*BOOM*

It surprised him. As he looked back. His pale face became paler.

Several flying creatures were flying above the skeleton army and rained them with various spells. What made him startled, he knew 3 of them. There was a huge red skate and a smaller one with a blue color. They rained the skeletons with a barrage of lightning-type attacks. The two monsters looked bigger than what he remembered.

There was also a big snake with a pair of wings and a fishtail floating beside the skates. Then it dived down to the line of skeletons and hit many of them, causing many of them to be thrown aside. Then it went up into the air once again.

"How can they be here?" Hugo asked.

Other than being confused about how the pets of the human guardians that he had made appeared there and fighting together with the parasites, he was also confused about where they came from. After all, it was impossible for them to hide in the town, as their bodies were too big, especially the red flying skate. He forgot that at the time they ambushed his vampire's group at the entrance of the cave, they also appeared from the thin air.

He also saw two blue dragons who had just finished launching their dragon breath causing dozens of skeletons to be frozen. There was also a huge flying turtle. He then saw it creating a ball-like spell in front of his mouth and then shot it to dozens of skeletons.

*BOOM*

Instantly blasted them in all directions. At the moment, he knew the one that caused the explosion

He couldn't digest the situation completely yet. He then saw the skeletons at the back of the line were fighting among themselves. It confused him further. How could the undead would have cooperation with living people? It wasn't scientific.

Then a group of around a hundred skeleton riders appeared, and they dashed toward the middle of the line. As the skeletons were in the marching formation which was pretty thin, when they were hit by skeleton riders, their formation was cut like bread being sliced.

Looking at the spectacle, he had a very outrageous suspicion. Although he thought it would be impossible, the reality was in front of him. There was a rebellion. Yes, that was the most logical explanation for it. There was some undead that worked together with dragons and humans to fight the undead alliance. It was big news. 

However, Hugo couldn't think about it any longer.

"What's the meaning of it?" Hugo then heard an angry roar of Vesper. He then found the lord —who was too far behind him— was glaring at him with a murderous look. 

Hugo then swallowed his saliva. He knew that he had screwed up. The enemies definitely came from the town. They had waited for the army to pass outside of the town wall to attack them. He knew that he was someone who should be blamed. But, he was not someone that would surrender easily.

Fortunately, he had a good brain. He could think what he needed to say.

"I think they used teleportation to come to the town. That is the only explanation. It is impossible for them to hide in the town with their size. 

Look at the big red skate! 

No building in the town can hide something like that," Hugo said.

Vesper appeared to think about it, and then nodded. He then said, "Yes, that's the only explanation. Now is not the time for this. Let's kill them!"

Vesper then led the ghouls and guardians to face them. Hugo didn't have another choice. He must go with them, as he didn't want to abandon the mission, just because of such an ambush. He was sure they could defeat the enemies. As they had a lord and five elites here.

***

Ace was in invisible mode when he was watching the battle that occurred not far from the town wall. Dozens of skeletons were slain every some seconds. But he knew that it wasn't enough. The zombies, guardians, and the ghouls who were much stronger would come immediately. Actually, he had seen them coming.

Their initial plan was to attract the undead army into the town by showing them that there were some living people hid in the town. With their animosity towards the livings, Ace was sure they would try to find and kill every living creature in the town. 

Of course, Ace and the others couldn't too obvious in showing themselves in the town to the undead. As it would make the undead wary if there were traps that had been prepared beforehand.

However, he had never thought that the plan would fail for a ridiculous reason. It was because a vampire guardian that had been ordered to enter the town didn't do his job properly. He just flew around the big street of the town without even searching the still intact houses and other buildings.

Then how could he and the others knew that the undead would order a vampire to scout?

It was because Jordan had been following the undead army since they exited the Iron Gate Fortress. He had investigated the undead army's movements and the ghoul lord's and elites' habits completely in these two days. He only left them after they were already closed to the town where they had prepared the ambush.

With the complicated pattern of the town, he and the others could divide the undead army and then ground them bit by bit. Then gave Ace and a few elites a chance to defeat the lord.

In fact, Jordan always sent one of his two shadow stalkers periodically to report the undead army's position to Ace. It further assured him that the plan was perfect. As these two days, he and the others weren't idle.

To ensure that he and the others could win the battle, Aprilia, Geo, and their pets had traveled back and forth between the Laketown and the town that they would ambush the undead to bring the guardians over. After all, they should have some advantage over the low-level skeletons. 

These two days, a total of 350 guardians had been brought by Ace. All of them were the combat guardians of the Nightglow guild. The requirements for accepting this mission were by having levels more than 5 and the members of Nightglow guild. 

It made some sensation in the town. As many of them knew the departure of Ace and the others 2 days before, they became curious, what had happened. Then Sofia issued a skeletons hunting mission. 

The content was to hunt down skeletons and bring their complete remains to Ace who had been waiting for them in the Bones Prairie. The reward for this mission was pretty generous guild points. Many of the members of Nightglow Guild then chose to participate. Every 6 hours, around 40 to 50 guild members would be taken to the prairie by Geo and Aprilia.

It had been the fifth day of the guardians being summoned in the town. So many guardians knew that the guild points of the Nightglow guild were really useful. What were the most essential items for guardians? It was not weapons or equipment, but potions. 

The main expenditure of the combat-type guardians was always buying potions. As they should buy at least a dozen of options for hunting near the settlement, they had to spend at least 50% of their diracs that they got from hunting to buy potions. But by joining Nightglow Guild, besides getting a 5% discount for buying things in the guild store, they could exchange each of 10 guild points that they got for a bottle of basic red or blue potion. 

With 5 to 15 guild points reward that they could get by doing a mission in the guild, they could get 20 to 35 guild points for doing 3 to 4 gathering and hunting missions around the Laketown. It meant, they could get 2 to 3 potions each time they went hunting. Partly because of this, more than 75% of guardians that were summoned to the Laketown chose to join the Nightglow Guild.

The decision was made after he and Mars communicated with the assistance of Sofia. According to Mars, it was a rare chance for the guardians to participate in war. It would be too wasteful to not include the guardians in this battle. So, Ace immediately changed his mind. As he was previously didn't have intend to involve them in the operation.

Mars had asked him to keep a secret of the existence of the five evolution stones. Because their number was only 5, it was impossible to divide them equally to the eight races. So it was best for Mars, Ace's family, and the shadows to know about it. In exchange, Ace and the shadows would receive one each. And Mars would keep the rest. 

Mars said the three of them wouldn't be used by him, as he was a dragon —that had more than a thousand years of life span— and had already a lord, they had lost their value to him. However, they could be used by a spell caster to launch a super spell. A spell that had tremendous range and damage. That even a lord could die after receiving it.

***