An Unwinnable Battle

When Usop returned to the inn, Tauren Punch Master was already passed out under a table on the second floor.

"Yo! Usop! You're back? Did you eat? Want to grab a drink?"

Sun Busong's head was a bit fuzzy, and his speech was slurred.

"Leader, I already ate outside. I came to find you because I have something to report!"

A hint of unease flickered across Usop's face. Seeing this, Sun Busong sobered up considerably.

"You guys carry on. I have a few words to say to your Officer."

With that, Sun Busong stood up and left the inn with Usop.

"Tell me, what's going on?"

Usop began recounting his investigation from that day.

It turned out these two errand tasks were far from simple.

First, the man named Sven. While he was out delivering goods, his entire family was murdered. He didn't know who killed them, but he spotted a blurry figure burying something near his family's barn. He was too afraid to retrieve it himself and asked someone else to do it.

When Usop went to investigate, he discovered that another errand task also led to the same location.

Usop decided to complete the preliminary steps of the other errand task as well, and in the end, the two tasks miraculously overlapped!

When Usop dug up what was buried in the barn, he found a book, or rather, a diary.

He wasn't sure who wrote the diary, only that the owner's nickname was "Coward."

Reading the diary shocked him. It turned out these werewolves had been unintentionally released by this "Coward" from a cursed scythe in Roland's Tomb. He had merely pulled out the handle of the scythe, which was exposed from the rubble, and released these werewolves and undead.

"What about this diary now?" Sun Busong asked.

Usop took the diary from his backpack. "It's this one!" He then looked at Sun Busong, awaiting further instructions.

Sun Busong flipped through the diary. There were no special markings, nor did he sense any magical fluctuations. He could understand the initial words, but as he read further, he couldn't recognize a single character!

What did Sun Busong's Warrior class represent! It was a character meticulously crafted by a top player on the "Love Forum" using every means possible. He could understand any race's language, hear any race's speech, and could write and speak fluently!

Yet now, he couldn't recognize these words!

After some thought, Sun Busong decided to find the Mayor and the Commander of the Night Watch. This was something best left to them to resolve.

They quickly found the Mayor, who hadn't retired yet. After Sun Busong showed him the book, the Mayor's response was that he couldn't understand it either!

"Please give the letter you gave me to Sheila Warningdy. He has extensive research in languages and ancient arts. I believe only he can translate this letter."

The two quickly found the historian named Sheila Warningdy.

"Give me some time to decipher this. Many of the words here will take a long time. Half an hour. I can decipher it in half an hour."

"Then we'll trouble you. We'll wait outside. If you need anything, just let us know."

As they waited outside, the situation inside the room began to change.

As Sheila Warningdy translated, the lights in the room dimmed and flickered. The stairs creaked as if something was moving, but these phenomena soon disappeared.

Half an hour later.

"Quick, come in!" Sheila Warningdy's shout echoed from the room.

Sun Busong glanced at Usop, and they rushed in. Expecting something unexpected, they found Sheila Warningdy standing there unharmed.

"What's wrong? Did you discover something?"

Sheila Warningdy spoke rapidly to the two, "My God! If what's written in the letter is true, then what they're doing... is too terrifying! You'd best take the translated letter back to Mayor Elro immediately. Hurry, I feel like the end of this town is coming..."

Hearing this, Sun Busong and Usop were greatly alarmed. Night Town was their Imperial Guard's first step to establishing their reputation; how could they allow others to destroy it!

"We'll go right now!"

They returned to the Mayor's house and gave him the translated letter. After reading it for only a moment, his face turned pale.

"This... this is impossible!" The Mayor couldn't control his emotions and shouted loudly.

"Mayor, please calm down! What happened?" Sun Busong still had no idea what had happened to make the Mayor so frantic.

"We've all been deceived. You're not the first fool manipulated by Apoclonby. That shuffling old man, that hermit we respected, he's actually an evil Necromancer, a corpse handler, a scourge upon this town!"

"Impossible! This is absolutely impossible!" Although Sun Busong was initially annoyed by the old man, being sent on one errand after another, later, because of the old man's identity, their Imperial Guard's Reputation in Night Town quickly increased. He had even thought about finding an opportunity to thank him. But now, the Mayor was saying the old man was a Necromancer! A corpse handler!

"I don't want to argue with you! Let's go find the Night Watch now! The letter said they're making a big move tonight. We can't let them destroy our town!"

After speaking, the Mayor ignored them and hurried out, heading directly to the Commander of the Night Watch's office.

"Leader! What do we do!" Usop was also confused. He could only hope his superior would make a wise decision.

"Damn it!"

"Let's go! We'll follow and see. If the Mayor is right and that hermit is a Necromancer, then I'll chop him into pieces tonight!" Sun Busong was so angry his lungs felt like they would explode. He realized he had been fooled! Made a fool of! His rage surged!

"Is this true? I really can't believe it!" As Sun Busong hurried to the entrance of the Commander's residence, he heard the Night Watch Commander's questioning tone from inside.

"This matter cannot be wrong, please believe me. We are not questioning the truth of this matter now, but figuring out how to eliminate it! How to save Night Town!"

Commander Altaia Ebelrock fell into silence!

Sun Busong pushed open the door. Now was not the time for pleasantries.

"We Imperial Guards know what's happening too. We're here to contribute to the town!" Sun Busong said to the confused Commander and the Mayor.

Upon learning the Imperial Guards' intentions, the Mayor's nerves relaxed slightly, but his brow furrowed again immediately.

The Commander also finished reading the letter. She let out a long sigh and lowered her head, falling silent.

After a long pause, Commander Altaia Eberlock spoke, "So that's how it is!"

Then, she roughly recounted the story of the Necromancer.

It turned out Apoclonby was being controlled by a Necromancer named Mobent Phil. However, this Hermit had also made a grave mistake, allowing the Necromancer to seize control of his body.

Apoclonby had once been a kind alchemist, a Hermit, but he had gone mad after his wife Eliza's death. In his desperation to resurrect his wife, he became a corpse collector, infusing his own essence into his deceased wife's chest with dark magic.

Eliza was resurrected... but she was cursed, becoming neither human nor ghost. She began to attack humans indiscriminately, and Apoclonby was forced to bury his wife.

Yet, he couldn't bear to see his wife suffer. In the end, he turned to the townspeople, taking them to his wife, who had become a Zombie, to feed on.

And then, the Necromancer Mobent Phil, who had been wanted for hundreds of years, successfully manipulated Apoclonby with magic. Now, both Apoclonby and his wife were puppets of the Necromancer.

The Necromancer had decided that at 2 AM tonight, he would gather all the Undead and Werewolves from the surrounding areas to slaughter Night Town, all in order to build an Altar and resurrect his own physical body!

"I've explained everything clearly, but the most serious problem now is that we, with our current numbers, cannot kill the Undead!" Commander Altaia's face was ashen.

"No! There must be a way! Usop is a Paladin, he can counter Undead, and our Imperial Guards are all very strong. We will definitely defeat them!"

Sun Busong didn't want his first battle to end in defeat. He wouldn't retreat, wouldn't back down, even if it cost him his life!

"There is still one way," the Mayor suddenly said out of the blue.

"What way?" Altaia and Sun Busong both looked at the Mayor simultaneously, asking urgently.

"Go to Stormwind and contact Bishop Fathien. He will surely have a solution!"

"Stormwind! The Bishop?" Sun Busong's first reaction upon hearing these words was to reject the idea.

Stormwind was currently in the hands of nobles and the Black Dragon Queen. They would absolutely not care about the safety of this small Night Town.

"Are there any other options?" Commander Altaia, who had been silent, blurted out. This made Sun Busong a little confused. The Night Watchmen were an official organization, a force under Stormwind. By all rights, Altaia should have sent for help or trusted that Stormwind would pay attention to the situation and rescue the villagers.

"Stormwind will not send reinforcements!" Altaia said, then lowered her head and stopped speaking. The Mayor also sighed and shook his head.

Sun Busong couldn't stand this resigned silence. He grabbed Usop and left the room.

"Go and bring all the Imperial Guards here. They've given up, they've chickened out, but I won't! Even if all the Imperial Guards die today, I'll still rip a bone from the Undead's leg!"

"Yes!"

Just as Sun Busong was contemplating how to solve the Undead problem, someone leaked the information. Many people in town now knew that the Undead would be bloodbathing Night Town at 2 AM tonight!

"Why haven't the Stormwind guards arrived yet!"

"The Undead are running rampant here, but where is the Stormwind army?"

"We need Stormwind to respond more proactively and provide more support. Our homes are being attacked by the Undead!"

"It seems we've been completely abandoned by Stormwind!"

"Fear and darkness are closing in on us."

"The Stormwind army isn't coming, sob sob sob."

Of course, there was also a positive atmosphere.

"Crying and whimpering won't help us at all; we need practical action!" said the Constable.

"The villagers of Night Town place their hope in us. We cannot let them suffer harm from evil!" said a Night Watchman.

"The armed forces in Duskwood must take action! This place is already filled with evil; we cannot sit idly by!" said Fidia the rogue of the Brotherhood!!!

Sun Busong smiled when he saw the rogue filled with righteous words.

"It seems there are still many good people in the Brotherhood!" This further strengthened his resolve to turn the Brotherhood into a weapon in his hands.

"Officer! All ten Imperial Guards have arrived. Please issue your orders!"

At this moment, Usop, along with Bullhead and other members of the Imperial Guards, had arrived before Sun Busong.

As the order for battle was given, their drunkenness had completely cleared. Now, they were all on high alert, ready to brave fire and water for the Imperial Guards and their Officer!

"This mission is extremely difficult. We are going to confront an impossible target. But even if we cannot complete this mission, we will never retreat. There are only Imperial Guards who die on the path of advance, no pathetic cowards who flee from the battlefield! This time, we will fight with all our might. Even if we die, our legend will be passed down for generations!"

"Kill! Kill! Kill!"

The villagers in town, who had lost all hope and had no will to resist, were stunned by these three spirited and murderous battle cries.

"Look! It's the Imperial Guards! They're getting ready to go. They're coming to protect us!"

"Yes, yes! It's them, the Imperial Guards!"

The crowd surged forward, surrounding the Imperial Guard members.

"Everyone, please disperse! Rest assured, we Imperial Guards will stand at the forefront. As long as we are not all dead, the Undead will not dare to set foot in Night Town!"

"The Imperial Guards will defend our Night Town and protect us villagers!"

"Look! That's Mr. Heavy Fist! I've spoken to him before!"

"Don't push me! Officer, I'm a member of the Fidia Brotherhood, and I want to join you to fight together!"

"I want to join too! I'm not with the thieves' guild, I'm a good person, and I want to join you to protect the town!"

Seeing these excited faces, Sun Busong's mouth stopped pulling downwards.

In times of crisis, there are always some people whose blood hasn't cooled who will stand up. They will use their own hot blood to tell those whose blood has grown cold that if they want to live, if they want to live better, they must learn to exchange death for life, to first be willing to risk their lives! And then use their deaths to exchange for their loved ones' lives!

"Thank you! I am Sun Busong, the leader of the Imperial Guard! I swear here! Anyone who joins the Imperial Guard today, I won't ask about your background, your past, or your race. As long as you are still alive after the battle, you will be one of my Imperial Guard for life. If you unfortunately sacrifice yourselves, the Imperial Guard will be responsible for your parents' retirement and your children's lives. I, Sun Busong, will never go back on my word!"

Enough with the pleasantries, there are only two words! Thank you!