The Approaching Nightmare, Fugue

The Gruya Plateau.

This place is known as the gateway to Dideyasi, and it is also the current front line of the United Kingdom. It's a high plateau, and the location of Catherine's first line of defense. At this moment, the June sun shines brightly on this plateau; flowers, green grass, and a clear blue sky—everything is so refreshing and invigorating. It could even be said that this is the perfect place for leisure. However, no one has the mood or time to play or stroll around here right now.

Soldiers stood atop the heavy city walls, new banners fluttering above them—the banners of the United Kingdom and the Temple —adding a touch of solemnity to the otherwise warm and comfortable scene. Among them were regular soldiers, but others wore only their own leather armor, carrying hunting knives and ordinary longbows. These were not regular soldiers; they were ordinary hunters and craftsmen, but under Catherine's orders, they had all been transferred to the front lines. After months of arduous training, they had been thrown here.

However, they are completely different from ordinary soldiers!

A pure, sacred light flowed over these soldiers. Though it was only a faint glow, when gathered together, it was exceptionally conspicuous. These people stood on the city wall, completely banishing even the shadows of the wall. Whether they were warriors, mercenaries, hunters, or anyone else, at this moment, their eyes burned with anger and unwavering confidence.

Before them, dark clouds obscuring the azure sky and a tide of death flowing across the ground approached together.

"Snort!"

Angela spread her wings and floated in the air, gazing at the thick city wall in the distance. She had to admit that although Dideyasi was the weakest nation in the Five-Nation Alliance, its military strength was among the best. The current defensive line was quite well-constructed; it was truly impregnable. Moreover, due to the high-altitude environment, they were at a lower elevation while the enemy was at a higher one. Even without sending troops, simply throwing a few large rocks down would kill many. However, since her side consisted of undead creatures, she wouldn't care. But looking at the holy light emanating from the opposite side...

"Whom God would destroy, He first makes mad."

Angela spoke softly with a smug smile.

"Then, I will reluctantly take on the role of God and bring about its destruction!"

As he spoke, the little guy took out a folding fan from his pocket, then snorted and snapped it open.

"By order of my master! Those who stand in my way shall die, and any enemy on sight shall be killed!"

At Angela's command, the slowly flowing tide of death paused for a moment, then churned and transformed into a surging wave, rushing towards the front lines.

"All troops, prepare!!"

Facing the overwhelming tide of death, not a single soldier retreated or showed fear; the divine power had become one with them. At this moment, their hearts were filled only with rage and fighting spirit against evil. Under the influence of the divine power, they had cast aside all negative emotions such as fear and sorrow. Even the new recruits, who had almost never seen a corpse in their lives, now behaved like battle-hardened warriors. They were utterly unafraid of death! Nor were they afraid of evil and darkness!

The longbow was drawn, and the arrows on it transformed into streaks of white light, shooting towards the surging, undead army.

In the past, these arrows would have been utterly useless against the undead. After all, they were merely mortal objects, and the undead, having already lost their lives, naturally had no fear of being killed. But this time, the situation was different. With the help of the God of Justice, these arrows were imbued with divine power. As they pierced the bodies of the undead, this powerful divine force also flowed into them through the arrow shafts, disrupting the negative energy that sustained the undead's movements. Soon, after this volley of arrows, a breach was immediately torn open in the undead army—an unprecedented breach!

Those undead creatures that couldn't be killed no matter how hard they were attacked finally fell!

This unprecedented victory filled the soldiers with confidence. They cheered in triumph, and soon the archers nocked their longbows again and continued firing, marking the end of another offensive. The Scourge Legion's numbers dwindled once more; in just a few attacks, they had already lost thousands. But for Angela, this was only the beginning. What did a few thousand corpses matter? She commanded a million- Scourge Legion, whose goal was to break through this defense and slaughter every single person in the Five-Nation Alliance!

"Keep going! Pile up corpses, fill this entire plateau with them, it doesn't matter! What I want to see is rivers of blood and death!"

Even without Angela's orders, these undead creatures wouldn't retreat. They had long since lost their emotions; now, driven only by their deepest, most primal, and restless instincts, they sought to plunder life—all life—to fill the emptiness and loneliness within themselves. Though they might know in their hearts that it was merely self-comfort, and that they could never truly fill their souls, these undead creatures, under the influence of evil forces, clearly no longer cared about such things.

The undead creatures moved swiftly, galloping like winged horses, and in just a few round trips, they reached the foot of the city wall. Then, these undead creatures leaped high into the air and pounced on the top of the city wall!

"In the name of the great God!!" https://www. hetushu. com

At that moment, the priests who had been waiting finally unleashed the divine magic they had always mastered.

A sacred, magnificent light emanated from different parts of the city walls, spreading outwards in concentric circles. Undead creatures suspended in mid-air, enveloped by these circles, would let out agonizing screams before plummeting to the ground, swallowed by the black tide below. Those undead closer to the circles were quickly invaded by the sacred power; the negative energy that had sustained them collapsed under the overwhelming divine force, causing them to vanish in the blink of an eye, leaving not even a trace.

Of course, this divine aura also affected the undead below to some extent, but under Angela's even stronger will, they continued to leap, run, and climb upwards, trying to destroy this repulsive and abhorrent divine light. The priests gritted their teeth and desperately cast divine spells, pouring all their life force into them. Some of the older priests were already exhausted, but they still did not stop praying and casting divine spells.

The battle entered a fierce, intense phase.

Angela made no tactical changes; she simply manipulated her million undead creatures, pushing relentlessly forward. Nothing in their path could stand in her way; everything was to be destroyed, all life to die! Die! Die! Only death was their final destination!

The soldiers, in turn, displayed strength beyond their own limits, hacking away at the undead creatures scaling the walls. They fought bravely against the walls, forming a new wall of flesh and blood to protect the clergy behind them, giving them a safe space to unleash their divine spells. However, their resistance was ultimately limited. Occasionally, some would be seized by the undead that managed to climb the walls, torn apart, or simply ripped off. But new soldiers would quickly fill the gaps; not one attempted retreat or escape. They had sworn to protect those who needed their protection with their blood and lives—this was the purpose for which they had come!

"Go to hell!!"

A soldier roared and brandished his longsword, plunging its holyly radiant blade into the head of an undead creature that had climbed to the top of the city wall. He twisted it violently, and the undead, powerless, collapsed. Just then, an agile figure leaped over his comrade's corpse, pinning the soldier down. Ignoring the damage inflicted by the holy power, the figure opened its jaws and bit down hard on the soldier's throat, tearing away flesh. The soldier, unfazed by the attack, gripped his sword tightly, hacking away at the undead on his body. Then, with another beam of holy light, the undead vanished completely in the pillar of positive energy. The soldier, with a satisfied smile, breathed his last.

"You damned bastards!!"

Seeing his comrades being killed, a burly giant in an iron helmet charged forward. He wielded his flail and smashed dozens of undead monsters in succession before being dragged into the army of the dead below by the undead creatures that had stormed the city walls, where he was torn to pieces. Then, a knight in holy armor filled the void.

"------!!!!"

Perhaps spurred by the battle, the undead also roared in fury. The crimson light in their dark eye sockets shone even brighter, and the holy aura fueled their rage, causing them to launch an even more frenzied attack. Some of the stronger undead even used their own bodies to ram into the solid city walls and gates!

"This is not a good idea, Li Lin."

Looking at the situation on the battlefield, Nia's expression was somewhat solemn. Although they had anticipated that the United Kingdom's army, which possessed considerable Holy Protection, would be difficult to deal with, they had not expected it to be this intense.

"Why doesn't Miss Angela send her high-level undead creatures up there? Does she really intend to...?"

"The little guy is planning to charge straight in."

Li Lin raised an eyebrow, seemingly unsurprised by the current battle situation.

"Indeed, this is not a commendable approach from a tactical standpoint, but it's a different story psychologically. If we can forcefully break through this defensive line, the impact on the rear will be very subtle..." Li Lin smiled slightly as he said this. "Most of those people will feel fear (hetushu. com), fear of this terrifying human wave tactic, but at the same time, they will also have a sliver of hope. After all, if our troops are of a single type, they will eventually find a way to counter it. Moreover, even if they cannot achieve victory, they can still 'summarize' some lessons they believe they have learned. If we send out all our troops now, the royal city might fall into chaos, and even Catherine might not be able to control it. The United Kingdom cannot collapse now, at least not before our encirclement is fully formed. It must hold on to the very last moment; it absolutely cannot collapse now."

At this point, Li Lin changed the subject.

"However, the little guy isn't stupid. Since the other side has already made it clear that they're going to fight us to the death, if we still have this kind of thing to offer, it will inevitably arouse their suspicion. Although hiding our strength is a good choice, if we don't show anything, it will only fuel suspicion. Rumors are terrible. Even if we don't show anything, people might start spreading rumors that we've even hired tens of thousands of demons to help us... Many times, humans are scared to death by their own fears. If they scatter because of their own rumors, then our carefully planned strategy will become a huge joke."

As he spoke, Li Lin shifted his gaze and looked back at Angela in the illusion.

"The little one understands this perfectly well. Just watch with confidence; she's an expert at manipulating people's hearts."

At that moment, Angela, who had been quietly floating behind the army, revealed a cold smile.

"It's almost time."

With a soft laugh, Angela stretched out her hands. At the same time, thick dark clouds began to advance, slowly but steadily blocking out the sun's rays. Where the dense clouds shrouded the area, the previous heat vanished silently, replaced by a bone-chilling cold. A thin layer of frost even covered the ground!

Holy Light Spell!

Watching the hideous, pitch-black monster turn to ashes under the holy light, the priestess took a deep breath. All her energy was completely exhausted; she had no way to muster any more strength. But she did not retreat. Instead, she remained on the front lines, burning her own life force to withstand the enemy's attacks. The undead legion's assault was far more powerful than they had imagined. Under these circumstances, the original rotation system was completely useless. Everyone was fighting desperately. Although the undead army before them seemed like an endless, dark ocean, they could not retreat, nor could they afford to retreat!

"Praise be to the great God..."

The pastor clutched the holy emblem tightly in her hand, calling out softly, before realizing something was amiss.

The sunlight began to dim.

The pastor immediately looked up at the sky and saw that, without her noticing, dark clouds had gathered above her, completely swallowing up the once bright sunshine.

It was a truly ominous sign, as if foreshadowing a war that was almost entirely hopeless.

An ominous premonition rose in the pastor's heart. She shook her head vigorously, banishing the thought. She stood there to protect those children—those abandoned by their parents and adopted by her. They were so young, so innocent; she absolutely could not let them die in the darkness of evil. For this goal, she would gladly sacrifice her own life!

Holy Light Spell!

Thinking this, the priestess gritted her teeth again. She shouted, channeling all her remaining life force into the battle before her. Instantly, with her command, another bright beam of light descended from the sky, striking the undead army below and tearing a massive gaping hole in the sea of death. Hundreds of undead creatures vanished completely within the beam, while the others were temporarily halted by its powerful radiance.

This was perhaps the most powerful holy light the priestess had ever unleashed in her life—but that was all. The torn ocean paused for a moment, then the waves rose again, completely covering and erasing the breach into the black army of death.

"Huff... huff... huff..."

My vision was starting to blur, and I could clearly feel my life slipping away. But I couldn't fall, even if it meant sacrificing my own life, even if it meant killing just one more undead creature...

A cold, sharp pain shot through the pastor's chest. Then, she vaguely heard the surprised shouts of the crowd. Suddenly, the surroundings seemed to change. Cold wind and rain echoed in her ears, and she could no longer feel the ground beneath her feet.

What happened?

The pastor barely opened her eyes, and all she saw was a gaping, blood-red mouth.

Before she could struggle, the monster bit off her head and swallowed it whole. Then, her body was thrown into the air, where it was grabbed by the claws of other flying monsters and torn to pieces.

It was a huge bat, enormous beyond human imagination.

Larger than humans, some even the size of airplanes, they emerged from the dark clouds and began their rapid downward attack.

Faced with these monsters, the soldiers guarding the city were clearly caught off guard. Although arrows could damage them, holy light was difficult to kill these creatures and had no effect on them at all.

"Whew, this is just the beginning."

Watching the flying and swirling death messengers, Angela narrowed her eyes with a smug look. Just as Li Lin said, she certainly wouldn't just use the Undead Legion to attack. Since this was the final battle, she naturally had to bring out something good.

"Now comes the main event, humans."