City of Desire: Chapter 1071 Absolute Victory (Patreon)

Proofread by Thomas F

General Stone

I watched as the soul turned to ashes and pulled my halberd back just as the first rays of dawn broke.

I had killed it! I thought.

It didn’t satiate the hate in my heart, but it gave me a little peace. For now, that will have to do.

I picked up its staff and smiled. She told me, in no uncertain terms, that she wanted this staff. She might not say that to Lord Silver, but she had said that to me.

She knows very well that as long as there is a staff, it will be hers. As long as it is of her element.

This one is not.

Well, this staff is of everyone’s element. Its non-elemental staff; any mage could use it. Meaning, it will be hers until we fight her staff of her elements, which might take years decades or never.

I pushed those thoughts away and put away the staff before looking down.

“Surrender or die!” I said.

Immediately, the weapons fell, but many began to run.

“Kill them,” I ordered and moved. I am tired; the lich had taken everything, and I am still feeling the effects of his soul attacks, but there is no rest until we kill them.

Lord Silver wants them alive, but he clearly stated, “Kill them if they run,” and we are going to do just that.

…

General Trask

The rogue came at me, but suddenly his eyes widened, and he retreated- and not just him, but also the warrior.

The necromancer and the warrior fighting the Governor and Baron Fenleigh had retreated as well.

They retreated, but the undead remained, and suddenly, the General’s Intuition screamed at me.

“Mages, shields all out!” I ordered.

Just as shields appeared, the undead began to explode. This is one of the undead’s strategies for retreat. They blast their undead to shield them from the enemy while they retreat.

“General Stone had killed the lich, General,” reported Lt. Colonel Bar. As I had expected.

I am surprised; there is no way they would have retreated that way if something drastic hadn’t happened. It’s such a regret that I wasn’t powerful enough to deal with those two.

“They succeeded,” said Governor, as she appeared beside me. There is a clear relief in her voice.

“But it is far from over; the other undead army is still moving toward Norke,” she added. I nodded, feeling a little worried. Axseer is powerful, more than I had thought, but there is a million undead now and many powerhouses.

She couldn’t contend with it all, even with all the power and the army she had.

I prayed General Stone had thought of something.

A few minutes passed; a shocking scene appeared at sea before us.

“They are burning the undead ships with alchfire!” gasped Colonel Skarn. I, too, was surprised. The earlier attack is understandable; there is nothing like Alchfire to burn things if one can tame the bloody thing.

Now the undead are running, but they are still burning them with alchfire.

I am not surprised they are burning them, since most of the undead ships would be useless to us. What surprises me is that they are using the alchfire.

It’s not cheap, and its prices have increased further since we began mass buying it.

“It’s a message,” said the Governor.

“Alchfire has now become a symbol of Greltheaven’s threat; burning these ships with alchfire is sending the clear message. If you attack us, we will burn you the same way,” added Baron Fenleign.

“It is hard to believe that a group of thirty people dealt with a horde of a million.”

“Even on the island, such a feat had been rare,” said Brigadier General Tanl; she is from the island, a friend of Lord Silver’s bodyguard, Zela.

Nobody said anything about that; it is indeed shocking.

General Stone didn’t act until now, and when he did, he did something incredible like this.

Over an hour passed before I saw the ships coming toward the city. The Virs’alud’s ships, but not undead carrying ships. These are regular ships that house their powerhouses.

“I am glad he didn’t burn them. We need as many ships as we can get our hands on,” said Fenleigh.

The fledgling navy had been asking for more ships; this haul would calm them for a while. I watched them and the man standing proud on its bow.

Everyone saw him, and as it docked at the broken port, the soldiers broke into applause and cheers.

“Congratulations, General Stone,” I said as the man walked down the ramp. He looked tired; I had never seen him looking so tired; it seemed fighting the old lich had taken everything out of him.

“It was a collective effort, General,” he replied, with his eyes moving to the group that led the offensive.

“How many did we catch?” I asked as I looked at the prisoners. Many of them seemed frozen in a block of ice.

“All except for one, the rogue,” he replied, shocked. It was when I also saw the four we had fought, including the rogue and the necromancer.

“This is a massive result!” I said, nodding, with a small smile appearing on his face.

The intelligence we could get from them would be tremendous, not to mention the other uses, that Lord Silver is planning to get out of them.

The Army was against it, but it benefits dominion.

We unload the prisoners before the dead bodies. Those who did not surrender were killed, but their numbers were much less than I had expected.

Miraculously, none of our side died, thanks to the Archbishop’s support, but many are in a terrible condition. The Archbishop’s spells are the only thing keeping them from dying.

An hour later, I am in the Office of the Governor. General Stone and others have left.

Thankfully, Archbishop and Mr. Sands didn’t. That last rogue is still out and likely out for blood, willing to take a lot more risk than before. While we are alert, it’s a rogue we are talking about.

“A million undead are marching toward Norke; have you been able to find out what our plan is?” I asked the woman.

I asked the General, but he said I shouldn’t be worried about it.

“Not much, other than Norke won’t fall,” she replied, seeming very confident. I wish they had told me more, but that’s how the army works.

I didn’t stay for long and left her office.

There are a lot of things for me to do; one of which is keeping an eye on a large number of powerful prisoners. They have left with the most powerful ones, but the rest they have left behind for to city to manage.

I will have to babysit them until they can be securely transferred to Greltheaven.

…

Ardyl Thaelorn

“Finally,” I said as Norke came into view.

We have been marching as fast as we could to reach the city as soon as possible.

It had left many of our people tired, but Elmid wanted to reach here before Silver could send any reinforcements.

“This time, we will not fail,” promised Lira as she looked at the wall with eyes burning. That was a humiliating defeat; we will pay for it, and also suffering that utter destruction of forces in Gailhorn in the morning.

That was truly shocking; twenty-nine people came and destroyed a horde of a million, killed its Lich commander, and captured the rest.

Only one had escaped.

Elmid is seething, and he wants victory at Norke at any cost. He clearly stated that he does not care if it is a pyrrhic victory or if it destroys the entire horde in capturing the city; he wants it.

It’s not about the city, which does not hold much value to us, but about gaining some respect back.

We have become a joke on the island. Many messaged me to laugh at me, and I couldn't bear it. I could only respond that I could gain the victory, and I will.

“If I had been leading the battle, it wouldn’t have been a failure,” said Kargys, in his sharp, nasal voice.

I wanted to glare at the bastard. Instead, I smiled.

“It is why you will stand beside me when we fight that spirit shaman,” I stated. His face froze, giving me a moment of satisfaction.

“Of course,”

I shook my head internally. Why did they have to send this bastard as a reinforcement? He is one of the two they sent. I wish they had sent one more.

With the five Lv. 40, there would have been no doubt about victory. Especially now, when they informed us to expect that Norke might be reinforced.

It didn’t matter. This time, no matter the price I have to pay, I have to win; defeat is not an option anymore, nor is retreat.

“Commander!”

The Necromancer Balter interrupted my thoughts. I immediately turned to him as well as the others, feeling a tremor in his voice.

“What happened?” I asked, looking at the man, who seemed scared. He didn’t say anything and pointed at the wall. I glared at him before putting binoculars to my eyes.

I heard the gasps all around me and cursed my class; I didn’t have ocular skill like others.

It settled against my eyes, and the wall appeared clear. At first, everything seemed normal until I moved it; then I froze, seeing the man on the wall.

“Silver!” I gasped, quaking in my heart and voice.

He shouldn’t be here; he should be at Panar. To guard it against Grimvale and us.

“Fighting now would be a death sentence,” said Kargys, gone was all the bravado from earlier. There is a dead seriousness over the man; I know if I ordered battle, he would run.

Hell, all of them would run, including me. We are not his match; the bastard killed Wraithheart two years ago and now Viremont. They classify him as a threat that only Knight Liorian could fight.

Davenor had declared that he could take on Silver, but he was killed by his General, who had classified as the same threat at the same level a few hours ago.

Silver seemed to sense me looking at him as he turned, his eyes facing me. Immediately, I felt all the hair on my body stand up.

“Stop!” I ordered, and the horde stopped before I turned to Balter.

“Call, Major General Elmid,” I said to Bale. He nodded, and a few seconds later, I took his hand.

‘Thaelorn, good. You have reached Norke sooner than I had thought,’ said Elmid, sounding pleased. He had asked me to call him after I reached Norke.

He is not going to like it, I thought, and steeled myself for what was to come.

“I have, Major General, but there is a problem.” I took a deep breath.

‘You have more than sufficient army to deal with any problem. So, follow a damn order and get me Norke. I don’t care about the cost, get me the damn city!’ His voice is cold, promising a hard life if I don’t follow his order.

The bastard has enough clout to make that happen.

“It's Silver, Major General. He is standing on the wall,” I informed finally and expected shouts or even curses, but I got nothing other than absolute silence.

Seconds passed, and there was no reply. I could feel the eyes on, they are desperate for an answer.

They don’t want to fight; there might be mutiny if I order the attack.

A minute passed by, and nothing came. I was about to open my mouth to speak when he finally spoke.

“Retreat!”