Subtraction

"Hmm, actually, we can imagine that the capital of the Thorn Flower must be very vast.

To protect the entire city with a magic array, that magic array must integrate some spatial magic. At the same time, as the outer defense magic of the capital, its strength cannot be low.

And this clearly states that it is Epic Rank and unbreakable.

The enemy we can currently confirm is an Alchemist with an undead army under his command.

From his current known actions, it can be inferred that he is actually wary of Hui Dun City. This means that with his strength, he cannot completely crush all of us in Hui Dun City.

And I recall that the strongest person in the city is Principal Adolf, and your strength is at most Platinum Peak. Therefore, the Alchemist's strength should not be much different.

So, with my current ability, I can simplify this defensive magic array to cover only the size of Hui Dun City, and its defensive performance can reach Platinum Rank."

Chen Cheng stated his thoughts. Adolf and Pembez exchanged glances, then agreed to Chen Cheng's proposal.

"But even as you say, this magic array's level is too high. There are many things inside that Adolf and I don't understand, so where should we start?"

Pembez, without hiding his ignorance, directly asked Chen Cheng.

Because he was certain that since Chen Cheng could propose this suggestion, he must have a solution. Although it seemed a bit crazy, as Chen Cheng's knowledge reserve was clearly less than his.

However, this was not a problem for Chen Cheng.

Although his magical knowledge was inferior to the two of them, in terms of cognitive ability, he wasn't boasting when he said that no one here was stronger than him.

After all, he was a top researcher in his previous life.

When researchers couldn't find the corresponding theoretical basis after a failed experiment, they would resort to a crude method.

That is, using their shallow knowledge to identify the function of the failed section and then directly remove it as a whole.

Yes, the subtraction he wanted Pembez and the other to do now was based on this principle.

Here, Pembez was a spatial mage. Some spatial magic in this magic array diagram exceeded his understanding and was incomprehensible to him.

But none of this mattered. He only needed to identify the spatial modules of the magic array. Then, any section that exceeded his understanding would be discarded. The remainder would be Platinum Rank spatial modules.

He believed that for the size of Hui Dun City, Platinum Rank spatial modules would be more than sufficient.

Moreover, with this simplification, the remaining magic runes would be recognizable by Adolf and others, making disassembly much more time and effort-saving.

And Chen Cheng believed that this magic array system, which had been tested by time, would be hundreds of times safer than the previously proposed magic array that had no testing at all.

Furthermore, the removed sections would be connected using his Variable Magic. As long as it could ensure the passage of magic energy, it could operate safely.

This would also require much less maintenance effort than before.

When Pembez and Adolf heard Chen Cheng's subtraction theory, they were initially somewhat unable to accept it. However, they were ultimately geniuses of this era, and they quickly realized that what Chen Cheng said was not wrong.

Soon, the simplification work began.

At this moment, Tofis, standing at the doorway, was stunned. He didn't understand why Principal Adolf and the others were listening to the opinions of a slave. However, Hui Dun didn't have the time to explain anything to him now.

"Tofis, immediately go and gather the male citizens from every household in the city. Also, go to the armory and retrieve arrows and bows to arm these citizens.

Also, send people to the supply depot immediately to deliver all the stored resources to the academy. I, Komo Huidun, now issue a summons in the name of Prince Komo and Earl Huidun. Hurry!"

Tofis immediately accepted the order and left.

Soon, news of the Alchemist and his undead legion spread throughout the city. The students studying at the academy and the instructors were also quickly summoned by Adolf.

The senior students preparing to graduate and advance to the Royal Academy in the capital, along with their instructors, all had to take action. They were to use their magical knowledge to assist Adolf in inscribing the magic runes of the simplified and disassembled defensive magic array.

The intermediate students were assigned to the city walls, where they could serve as small magical support units and casualty treatment units.

The junior students were needed to assist, preparing the mithril used by the instructors and senior students for inscribing magic runes, and transporting the magic crystals from the academy's inventory.

Meanwhile, outside Hui Dun City, in a distant forest, birds could be seen startled into flight. Then, a dense mass of skeletal undead emerged from the woods.

Among the undead skeletons, one could see Undead Knights wielding great axes and riding undead horses.

The soldiers on the city wall's watchtower immediately sounded the alarm upon seeing the undead. The soldiers on the city walls and the conscripted civilians holding bows and arrows stared intently at the continuously emerging undead skeleton army.

There seemed to be no end in sight, and everyone's hearts felt as if they were being squeezed by an invisible hand. The city walls fell into a deathly silence.

And after this silence came an endless wave of panic. The first to break were the conscripted civilians, some of whom immediately became deserters.

However, as these civilians fled backward, shouting about the end of the world and abandoning their bows and arrows, Torey, the Knight Commander of Hui Dun, drew the sword from his waist and slew all the fleeing civilians.

"If anyone retreats again, this will be their fate."

Torey held his sword in one hand, his face splattered with fresh blood from the recent killing, coupled with his icy gaze.

These rioting civilians were quickly intimidated into silence, merely trembling as they looked at the endless stream of undead skeletons.

Seeing the tide-like undead skeletons, Torey's heart sank to the bottom. He truly didn't know if Hui Dun City could hold on.

However, remembering his oath to Hui Dun, he tightened his grip on his sword. Even if he had to die, he would die on the path of attacking the undead.

And just as everyone thought the undead skeletons were about to attack the city, they suddenly realized the skeletons were splitting up.

Under the command of the Undead Knights, the undead skeletons began to divide to the sides. The experienced Knight Commander of the Church of Light and Torey both knew that the undead skeletons were preparing to encircle the city.

It seemed they were truly leaving no way out this time.

This was the consensus in the minds of many experienced combatants.

Seeing the soldiers trembling with tension, Torey knew he couldn't wait any longer, or these soldiers would break.

The Knight of Light commander, also a leader, understood this principle. The two of them, with a tacit understanding, ordered the mages to begin their attack first.

For a time, the sky was filled with the Light Magic of the church and the elemental magic of the academy, with booming explosions constantly echoing outside the city. Numerous Undead Skeletons were instantly annihilated under the combined assault of elemental and Light Magic.

Witnessing the grand spectacle of magic being unleashed simultaneously, the soldiers and conscripted civilians lost their earlier tension.

Seeing this, Torey immediately ordered everyone to draw their bows and nock their arrows. Following the magic, thousands of arrows flew towards the Undead Skeleton formation.

The arrowheads were magical artifacts infused with Mithril. Although they were of a very low grade, they were effective enough for a volley attack against these Undead Skeletons.

These two rapid volleys directly created numerous gaps in the entire Undead Skeleton formation, simultaneously injecting a shot of confidence into the city defenders.

The entire Hui Dun City was built against a high mountain cliff. Its three city walls were less than ten li long. Although many frontal Undead Skeletons were eliminated this time, it was merely a drop in the bucket compared to the skeleton legions surrounding them on three sides.

These Undead Skeletons were collected by the Alchemist from the burial grounds and mass graves throughout the entire Hui Dun territory, their numbers being immeasurable.

At this moment, atop the cliff behind the city, the Alchemist was overlooking the entire Hui Dun City with his Magic Crystal ball.

When he saw his psychological warfare tactics faltering slightly due to the two minor attacks, he directly ordered the Undead Knight to commence the assault on Hui Dun City.

On the city walls, before Torey and the others could even breathe a sigh of relief, the Undead Skeletons outside the city, guided by the Undead Knight, produced their skeleton bows and arrows, and then thousands of skeleton arrows shot towards the city walls.

Torey, seeing this, loudly called for everyone to raise their shields and defend.

Soon, iron-clad shields, nearly two meters tall, were raised, forming a shield wall directly on the imposing city walls.

The skeleton bone arrows rained down, striking the city walls and shields with clattering sounds.

The Light Priests were also desperately casting area-of-effect Light Magic to dispel undead power. Otherwise, with such a dense barrage of skeleton bone arrows, the entire city wall would have long since collapsed, corroded by the undead energy within.

As time passed, waves of undead arrows fell like rain. The skeleton arrows seemed endless, and many Light Priests began to experience mana depletion.