Chapter 3: Ghouls
For the Night’s Watch, outside mercenaries were a truly abhorrent existence.
The first reason was their invasiveness.
Wherever there was a hint of an undead anomaly, these outside mercenaries would flock to it.
No matter how the Night’s Watch set up blockades or violently drove them away, they always found a way to infiltrate.
However, as a global supernatural organization, the Night’s Watch paid great attention to its external reputation and couldn’t do anything as evil as directly killing these mercenaries.
The second reason was their lack of discipline.
Even if they followed the Night’s Watch, they wouldn’t listen to the commands of the Night’s Watch knights.
They would rush forward chaotically when the battle was going well, and flee faster than anyone else when the tide turned.
Sometimes they would even lure monsters to the Night’s Watch’s lines or steal their equipment, causing the Night’s Watch knights endless headaches.
The third reason was their weak strength.
This was the original sin. If these mercenaries were strong enough, the previous shortcomings wouldn’t even be shortcomings.
The Night’s Watch knights had long since reached a tacit understanding on how to deal with these outside mercenaries, which was to keep them behind, within their sight, to prevent them from running around and attracting monsters.
At the same time, they wouldn’t let them enter the Night’s Watch knights’ battle lines, to avoid interfering with their combat.
For the outside mercenaries, not being able to run around was a bit frustrating, but following behind the Night’s Watch allowed them to pick up some loot left after the battle, which was still somewhat profitable.
Of course, this model was like lions hunting in front and hyenas following behind to pick up scraps. It was no wonder that the Night’s Watch knights had a completely contemptuous and dismissive attitude towards mercenaries.
Soon, the Night’s Watch knights acted according to the orders from above. The Sun, Moon, and Morningstar knights went to clear out the undead creatures according to their assigned combat areas.
As the weakest branch, Morningstar was assigned the coastal area leading to Pyramos, where ghouls and drowners roamed, relatively easy to deal with.
Although their claws were sharp and carried corpse poison, the knights were covered in powered armor and naturally weren’t afraid of this threat.
A few hours later, Knight Commander Quasimodo, leading the six Night’s Watch knights of the Morningstar Third Squad, was cautiously advancing along the coastal road, holding their guns.
Due to the significant reduction in manpower, the team could only optimize their equipment load. The heavy rotary machine gun and RPG rocket launcher couldn’t be carried. In the end, the team chose a configuration of 4 laser rifles, 2 shotguns, and 1 flamethrower, balancing the team’s overall attack frequency, damage, and sustainability.
Seeing that they were about to approach the dangerous area on the map, Knight Commander Quasimodo quickly ordered:
“Lorant, Roger, Caris, occupy the high ground at 1 o’clock. Langres, guard the pass between the two high grounds with heavy weapons at 12 o’clock. The rest of you, follow me in a V-formation and advance towards the high ground at 11 o’clock.”
So the knights quickly acted according to the command. Someone suddenly asked:
“Quasimodo, what about those mercenaries behind us? Should we command them as well?”
“Don’t worry about them.” Quasimodo paused. “Jalevin, you stay at the back of the team and keep an eye on them. If they try to disrupt our formation, one warning shot, and if they do it again, you shoot to kill.”
“Okay.” Night’s Watch Knight Jalevin said.
At the same time, in the Azure Longsword mercenary group behind them, Asker also began to deploy tactics:
“Peggy, Mia, occupy the hill at 2 o’clock. There’s a big tree there, Mia, you climb to the top of the tree, and then let Miel out to support.”
“Eleanor, Sidlipha, you take an arc to avoid the Night’s Watch knights and go to the bottom of the hill at 2 o’clock to wait.”
“Medea, Thira, you go to the 1 o’clock direction, keeping a distance from the Night’s Watch knights in front. After they occupy the high ground there, you follow the edge at the bottom of the high ground and circle counterclockwise to the front of the high ground.”
“Nuo, come with me, the rest of you keep in touch by radio at all times. Understand?”
“Understood!” The girls responded loudly.
With one order, the Azure Longsword members quickly split into four groups and headed towards their respective target locations.
Peggy and Mia ran the fastest and arrived at the hill at 2 o’clock in a few minutes.
Although this hill was slightly lower than the high ground in front, because there was a large tree at the top, the top of the tree was actually the highest point in this area.
Peggy stopped at the foot of the tree. Mia, in the Shadow Realm, jumped between the fragmented shadows of the leaves and quickly reached the top of the tree.
She gave the signal, and Miel immediately teleported from Furnace Island, nimbly grabbing the branch next to her.
“Come here, Miel.” Mia called out to her. “This branch is the strongest, it can support the weight of both of us.”
So Miel jumped over – she had wood elf blood, and her agility in the treetops was comparable to that of an ape.
Coming to Mia’s side, she tried shaking the branch under her feet.
It was strong enough.
“Treetop team in position!” The two girls said in unison over the radio.
“Hill team also in position.” A few minutes later, Eleanor and Sidlipha also arrived at the bottom of the hill and greeted Peggy above.
“We’re actually the slowest.” Medea shrugged as they moved forward.
Thira silently stretched out her right hand from her sleeve, and the mithril circuit on the surface of her skin suddenly lit up.
Levitate.
Medea immediately felt her weight disappear. With a light push of her feet, her body could immediately leap up.
“A supernatural ability of Storm I?” She asked, turning her head.
“Only lasts for 3 minutes.” Thira nodded.
“That’s enough.” Medea sped up.
“The two Night’s Watch knights in front looked back.” Thira reminded her.
“It’s okay.” Medea said, “As long as we don’t get too close, I’ll monitor their thoughts.”
Thira knew that she was a psychic with mind-reading abilities and could sense the other party’s level of alertness, so she didn’t ask any more questions.
Seeing the two knights ascend the high ground, Thira and Medea circled counterclockwise along the edge at the bottom of the high ground.
As soon as they arrived in front of the high ground, they were startled by the sight in front of them.
On the plain below the high ground, about 100 meters away, there were at least a hundred ghouls wandering around.
Their skin was dry, their hair was scorched yellow, and their fingernails extended from their fingers like the sharp claws of beasts.
Most of the ghouls crawled on all fours, while some walked on their hind legs like wild men in the mountains, their mouths grinning to an exaggerated degree, with sickly greenish saliva flowing out.
“What disgusting monsters.” Thira couldn’t help but say in disgust.
Medea was fine. The atmosphere in the Seljuk supernatural world was relatively open. There were plenty of people who desecrated corpses and messed with demons or devils. She had seen many ghouls even more disgusting than this, so she just said cautiously on the radio:
“Asker, the front line team is in position.”
“Miel, how’s the view from the treetop? Can you see Medea and Thira?” Asker came to the hill at 2 o’clock with Nuo, met up with Peggy, and then shouted towards the tree.
“Vision okay.” Miel set up her sniper rifle and replied. “Medea and Thira are in sight, confirmed.”
“Okay.” Asker finally said, “Everyone, get ready, listen to my command!”
On the other side, the Night’s Watch knights were also in position.
Knight Commander Quasimodo, along with four other knights, ascended the high ground to the left of the pass. He looked back and saw that the people from the Azure Longsword mercenary group had all hidden on a small hill far away.
“Cowardly hyenas.” He thought contemptuously.
On the plain in the distance, many ghouls had noticed the figures on the high ground and stood up curiously.
Because of the distance and the fact that the ghouls were upwind, they were currently only alert and didn’t immediately charge towards them.
“Asker…” Seeing many ghouls standing up and looking towards them, Thira and Medea couldn’t help but feel a little afraid, and asked on the radio, “Shouldn’t we move further away? This distance… isn’t very safe, is it?”
“No, your task is to lure the monsters, it won’t work if you’re too far away.” Asker replied.
Lure the monsters? The two girls’ faces instantly turned pale.
He actually wants us, two non-combat professions, to lure the monsters!
For a moment, Thira even felt that she had made a huge mistake – she shouldn’t have joined this Azure Longsword mercenary group!
“Asker, you bastard! Are you kidding me?!” Medea roared in the mental channel. “We are an Arcane Mage and a Psychic, neither of us are professions that excel at close combat, how can we go to the front line to lure monsters! You’ll be responsible if something happens!”
“I’ll be responsible.” Asker replied.
“Can you afford to be responsible?” Medea was almost going crazy.
“I’m the captain, if I’m not responsible, who is?” Asker said with a chuckle. “At least give me some basic trust?”
“Trust?” Medea was almost speechless. “Have you ever done anything to earn my trust?”
“Yes, have you forgotten about the Conspiracy formula?” Asker said with a smile.
The Conspiracy formula… Medea suddenly remembered Asker’s slick operation, using the supernatural characteristic of the Conspiracy Sequence to sense malice and completing a classic long-distance negotiation (extortion).
Thinking back carefully, every time she clashed with this guy, she seemed to end up being ruthlessly slapped in the face.
For example, when they first met, he forced her to sign a soul contract. She pretended to write on her sleeve, but he immediately saw through it and mocked her. In the end, she could only honestly sign the contract and sell herself to him.
For example, during the first team meeting, when they exchanged esoteric knowledge, she questioned whether he had mastered the knowledge of the bloodline paths, but he casually recited a long list of potion combination information, making her look like a fool.
And for example, during the process of capturing Furnace Island, she questioned whether he could successfully trigger her frenzy, because her body would erupt in flames exceeding 1000 degrees Celsius the moment she was touched by a man.
As a result, he backhanded her with a slap and triggered her frenzy unharmed… Although it was not meant to be insulting or malicious, thinking about it now, it really hurt!
Okay, this guy was really something, almost always able to predict things, every plan achieving the desired effect.
But it was so infuriating, why didn’t she burn this guy to death with fire? Medea decided to learn from Nuo and buy a small notebook to record all the times Asker had bullied her.
“Can you cast that Levitate again?” Medea said bitterly.
“Yes.” Thira replied hesitantly.
“I need to warm up my legs and feet.” Medea began to warm up, alternately pressing her legs and moving her ankles. “Otherwise, if I sprain my ankle or fall while running away later, I’ll be dead for sure.”
“Don’t say such unlucky things!” Thira said hurriedly. “I… I’ll do it too.”
At the top of the high ground on the right, the three Night’s Watch knights, holding laser rifles and shotguns, were waiting for Knight Commander Quasimodo’s instructions.
“What are they doing?” Roger glanced at the two girls below the high ground, who were jumping and stretching, and asked in confusion, “Are they dancing?”
“Don’t mind those crazy girls.” Lorant stared at the ghoul horde in the distance and reminded him, “Entities should not be multiplied unnecessarily.”
So Knight Roger also recited the razor principle, removing these irrelevant thoughts from his attention.
Finally, Quasimodo’s order came:
“All laser rifles, free fire!”
Instantly, the sound of electric arcs piercing the air rang out, and four crimson laser beams shot out, hitting the densest part of the ghoul horde.
It was like a spear poking into a hornet’s nest, the entire ghoul horde exploded.
Countless ghouls rushed madly towards the high ground. They were on all fours, running as swiftly and agilely as cheetahs, their mouths wide open, revealing snake-like long tongues and saliva, flicking like whips as they ran at high speed.
“Medea, listen up!” Asker said on the channel. “Use your Desire ability to manipulate the hunting desire of these ghouls and attract their attacks.”
“Asker!” Medea almost knelt down on the spot for him. It was bad enough that she had to stand here and lure the monsters, but now she had to use her Desire ability to lure them? Was he trying to get them killed faster?
“At their speed, it’s at least ten meters per second, right? If we attract them, the two of us won’t be able to escape at all!”
“Thira can use Levitate to increase your escape speed.” Asker said calmly. “We will also provide long-range support, we won’t let the ghouls actually catch you.”
“Are you really sure?” Medea said tearfully.
“Yes.” Miel replied.
“Okay!” Since the two in the team had said so, Medea no longer hesitated and said resolutely, “Thira, cast Levitate on me!”
Supernatural power flowed along the mithril circuit, and the two instantly felt their weight disappear.
At the same time, Medea spread her right hand and made a grasping gesture towards the ghoul horde in front of her.
The mental bodies of the undead were incomplete, mainly composed of the id hidden in the decaying corpses.
Medea’s Desire ability directly acted on the id, so it had an immediate and significant effect.
All the ghouls changed direction frantically during their charge, heading straight for Medea and Thira.
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