Battle of Tarren Mill (2)

Battle of Tarren Mill (II)

Roderick relied on his overwhelmingly superior strength and mastery of combat to enter an unstoppable mode amid the Undead army. If this had been a human army, it would likely have been crushed by the storm of blood and flesh he whipped up.

Facing Undead soldiers who posed no sufficient threat, Roderick completely abandoned defense. His twin warhammers, infused with Holy Light, became even deadlier against the Undead. The besieging Undead soldiers and Ghouls died almost the instant they were struck, able only to watch helplessly as the paladin wreaked havoc through their ranks.

After scattering the assembled Undead troops, the groups of three to five Undead soldiers instinctively dispersed, fleeing from his attacks. Small groups of Undead could no longer threaten the Dark Raven soldiers' overall defensive formation.

That cunning Undead commander never showed himself to fight the Dark Raven soldiers from beginning to end. Roderick caught sight of a black figure fleeing into the distance beyond Tarren Mill. Forced to give up on killing the enemy leader, he charged like a siege tank toward the wooden huts hiding the Undead mages.

The already dilapidated wooden huts swayed on the verge of collapse beneath Roderick's assault. With another savage backhanded blow, the pillars finally snapped, and the entire hut swiftly came crashing down.

The paladin rushed into the dust-filled ruins. A Crusader Strike burst the brains of an Undead mage attempting to flee, killing him once again.

The other two took the opportunity to Blink behind the house. One mage began summoning the corpses in Tarren Mill's cemetery, while the other no longer tried to kill Roderick, instead using various slowing and control spells to delay him.

A thin layer of frost covered Roderick's body, and the slowing effect of arcane energy prevented him from rapidly closing in on his opponent. The prepared human knight drew a javelin from behind his back, a little over a foot long and glinting with dangerous light, then hurled it with all his strength at the mage still casting Frostbolt.

Empowered by Roderick's immense strength, the refined iron javelin pierced the mage's head like lightning. The magical shield around him flashed only once before failing, and both shield and skull were pierced through by the javelin. He was utterly dead.

The Undead mage summoning corpses was Terence of the Royal Apothecary Society. Seeing the paladin's formidable ranged attack capabilities, he steeled himself, gritted his teeth, pulled a vial from his robes, and threw it toward the Dark Raven Knights still fighting the Undead soldiers.

Roderick reacted swiftly and threw another javelin. The spinning glass vial shattered in midair, and an indescribable stench spread with billowing green smoke. Some nearby soldiers merely caught a whiff and immediately grew dizzy, nauseated, and weak all over. They could not imagine the consequences if such a highly toxic potion exploded amid the crowd. Albert quickly cast Create Wind, blowing the poisonous smoke away in another direction where no one stood.

After that delay, the Undead mage had already Blinked farther away and fled north without looking back. As for that cunning Undead commander, after summoning the Ghouls, he was nowhere to be found on the battlefield again.

The Undead leaders were either dead or fled. Tarren Mill was now left only with Ghouls fighting on instinct and Undead warriors unable to escape. Once Roderick turned back and rejoined the battle, this war of vengeance against Tarren Mill was declared over.

All the Ghouls were slain. These monsters, which required necromancy to control and flesh to sustain, held no value whatsoever. Some Undead soldiers who tried to surrender were also mercilessly cut down by revenge-filled soldiers. In the end, under Roderick's intervention, the Dark Raven Knights took in only a small number of Undead prisoners.

The ghostly Tarren Mill had once been a bustling town with a large population. South of the town lay a small lake,

beloved by local fishing enthusiasts. Hillsbrad River ran close along the town's eastern side, while the abandoned royal city of Alterac connected to its north. Vast fields and orchards cultivated by people surrounded the area, and an iconic windmill still stood behind Tarren Mill's church.

After the Undead occupied it, every human and animal that had not escaped was slaughtered. Even the earth took on the gray-black hue unique to the Undead. Not even hardy wild grass could survive here; the polluted land had become a forbidden zone for life.

The Dark Raven warriors carefully searched the ruined town, but they still found nothing of value apart from the few Undead warriors locked in cages.

Inside another apothecary's hut, Albert found a letter that had not been sent in time. The furious mage handed it to his commander.

Roderick's expression remained unchanged after reading the letter. He carefully put it away, ensuring that no information had been overlooked in the alchemy hut. The soldiers poured on lamp oil, and a torch arced through the air before landing on the ruins. This town occupied by the Undead, Undercity's only foothold in Hillsbrad, was engulfed in blazing flames, reducing all its history and sins to ashes.

The sound of beating wings came from the sky. A massive vampire bat circled overhead. The messenger from Undercity was likely exhausted, and no matter how anxiously the Undead guard riding it urged it on, the bat could not fly any higher.

A Frostbolt struck the bat. After an Undead scream came the collective roar of muskets. Roderick did not act, merely watching as the vampire bat, riddled with holes and covered in pale blue frost, plunged headfirst into the flames.

The Undead messenger, whose legs had been broken, wailed amid the fire. Unable to crawl out of the blazing inferno, his entire body was charred black, with white bones beginning to show in many places.

Roderick had the messenger pulled from the fire. The small cage gained another Undead reeking of roasted rotten flesh. The Dark Raven warriors assembled in formation and began their return journey. Tarren Mill was thus erased from Roderick's map of the Hillsbrad Foothills.

What Roderick never expected was that the impact of this matter would far exceed everyone's estimates. The knight who had settled in Southshore, along with the Dark Raven Knights he had built with his own hands, entered the sight of many forces because of this savage plan of vengeance.

At this moment, however, the paladin was simply gratified that the innocent civilians who had died could rest in peace, and that those desecrated souls could finally find tranquility. After dispatching soldiers to closely monitor Undead activity in the surrounding area, the Dark Raven Warband threw themselves once more into intense land reclamation.