Undead Beast Master: Living Solely for My Desires-Chapter 263: A Ritual

It was unknown if this was some kind of trap or the person wearing the white robes was just some kind of madman, but considering that they had to hurry, Thorne and his soldiers didn't have a choice but to push forward.

As such, they began to walk forward. Of course, there were tons of men and not all of them had horses. As such, their speed was much slower than the scots.

As they pushed forward, the soldier who had spoken with the girl scout earlier began retelling her story. Wanting to make it more interesting, he changed a few details here and there. After he told his version, they also began to tell the tale, with other people adding their own changes in turn.

As such, from a sole madman, the story that there was a ghost that was stationed ahead of the city with the intent to stop them had been born.

Thorne didn't bother trying to stop the gossip. Why would he? Let them talk. If it kept morale high, it served its purpose.

A funny story about a ghost waiting for them in silence seemed to boost the soldiers' morale well enough.

After twenty minutes of marching, the land narrowed into a single rocky path through towering mountains—the only way forward.

"Why does it have to be so high up!" Thorne complained. Thankfully, his horse was well trained so it didn't get scared by the height or by powerful wind, but nevertheless, he regretted bringing horses.

Everybody knew that if one wished to climb or conquer a mountain, it wasn't wise to use horses but lizards that were able to climb the mountains with no problem or fear. But sadly, in times of war there wasn't time to acquire any of these beasts. Not to mention that they would need at least a few Beast Tamers to be able to control them. So they had to do with horses.

Thorne had complained about this to Hadrik before the campaign began. But Hadrik had dismissed his worries. "It's just a small city in the mountains," he'd said. "Nothing you can't handle."

It was a weird feeling being in charge of a few thousand men, but Thorne had to get used to it.

"Now that we are nearing the mountain pass, prepare for combat!" Thorne shouted with all his might, making sure that every soldier present would be able to hear him loud and clear.

Immediately, the atmosphere became much tenser as all of them unsheathed their weapons.

"Get into formation!" Thorne commanded.

Their attack formation was as follows: first came those capable of creating shields or protective barriers, positioned at the very front. Directly behind them were the melee fighters—soldiers skilled in close-quarters combat.

Then the mages and archers that needed more distance between themselves and the enemy to fight at full potential.

And finally, Thorne at the rear with the scouts.

Shouldn't the leader be at the very front? This was what General Hadrik loved to do. He put himself at the very front, ensuring that he could kill as many enemy soldiers as possible while preventing their losses.

And the realistic answer was no—at least not for Thorne. First, he was inexperienced, as such he wouldn't be able to give orders effectively at the front. And second, he wasn't that good of a fighter. He was more of a thinker, and going at the front was just him tempting fate to die and possibly dooming his small army.

The scouts stayed close to him, because if the worst came to pass and the army was slaughtered, they—thanks to their skill in horseback riding—would be able to escape and deliver word that the force had been defeated.

"Mages, archers—attack the moment you see movement!"

At a narrow place like this, one could say that they were at a disadvantage. The reason was that in such a place they would not be able to make use of their greater amount of forces. As such, Thorne was preparing them for unleashing all of their power as soon as the enemy was spotted.

Everyone was ready, so they began to take heavy steps forward, each step that they took echoed in the deadly silent mountain.

And finally, the massive walls of Drakmire Bastion loomed before them, blocking their path forward unless they could pass through the gates.

Just like the report, the walls were massive and black, made of jagged stone. A wooden bridge sat across a deep trench—but it wasn't lowered. And not a single guard manned the walls.

Except one.

A lone figure stood before the gates, clad in white robes, a white mask covering their face.

As soon as the Crimson Sun Empire saw the person, the scouts noted something that was different.

This chapt𝒆r is updated by frёewebηovel.cѳm.

"That wasn't there before!" the girl with pinkish hair spoke.

She was referring to the small branch that was buried in the ground and the green flames that were slowly burning it.

'Is that a ritual? A summoning?' Thorne wondered.

The robed figure had seen them too. Slowly, they raised their odachi and pointed it toward Thorne's army.

'I see. They knew that the city would be attacked and fled. This has to be some kind of stupid attempt by a madman to slow us down.'

"ADVANCE! FIRE!" Thorne shouted, and at his words, the front line began to move. Archers drew, mages readied their spells. And then—

ROOOAAAAAARRR

The ground below them trembled from the ear-piercing roar.

"What the hell was that?!"

"Fuck, my ears are killing me!"

The soldiers' ears felt like they were about to burst by the sheer volume alone.

They didn't have much time to complain, however, as a massive shadow suddenly made everything around them darker.

'Are there clouds?! There weren't any clouds a second ago!' Thorne thought as he gazed at the sky.

His eyes widened in horror as a massive dragon made entirely of bone had appeared above the city.

"RETREA—"

His order was cut short as the dragon let out a devastating green inferno.

Due to the narrow nature of the mountain pass, the inferno didn't dissipate but was instead funneled by the towering mountains on either side.

As a result, the fire was confined, and when it reached the troops, it hit them as if they were right in front of the dragon.

By instinct, Thorne and the scouts left post as they forced the horses to run away as quickly as possible.

In the span of a second, it was already known that the fight was lost.

The silence was gone—replaced by screams, the scent of burning flesh, as thousands of soldiers burned.

The dragon, which had just appeared, watched the scene silently before flapping its wings and vanishing from sight once more.

Not all of the enemy soldiers were dead, however, as some at the front had acted quickly and dropped to the ground, dodging the fire attack by a hair's breadth.

As the dragon flew away, they rose, trembling, and looked around at what remained of their comrades—ash.

"What was tha—"

One man was about to ask until his abdomen was pierced by an odachi.

With no hesitation, the masked person that had been standing before the walls had moved and began to attack.

From there on, it was slaughter.