Great Ratholos Empire, Imperial Capital
The battle between the Delarosas and the imperial army raged on as both sides fought hard to exterminate each other.
With Emperor Varan trapped in a spiritual land of the dead, the imperial army was forced into a disadvantageous and passive state, where it was hard to advance and difficult to retreat. They could only hold the stalemate until the winds of favor blew their way.
"Commander, the battle is steadily tilting in our enemy's favor! We will not last long at this rate!" an imperial guard alerted.
The Delarosan curses lacked killing power, but they were far more destructive in their ability to sow chaos within the ranks of the imperial soldiers, suppressing their morale and destroying their military unity.
The imperial guards were restrained from demonstrating their full fighting potential due to the disorder of the cursed imperial soldiers among them.
Under such chaos and disorder, everyone became free targets for offensive totem spells.
"To think the Delarosas could push us this far…! Without His Imperial Majesty, we, the imperial guards, are actually this pathetic! Arghhh! If only we had the Senior Guards with us!" the commander of the imperial guards roared with vexation and distress.
As the only other Transcendent-level warrior around, he was forced to face Matriarch Laelana and the Delarosan Elders alone.
Moreover, He was severely mismatched in abilities and terrain. The limited space within the crowded outer courtyard restricted his movements, and the unfamiliar magical spells suppressed his advances.
"Hahaha! Go to hell, imperial scums! Taste the fearsome might of my totem power! You fools trained like freaks all your life for a bit of strength. On the other hand, I only need to train overnight to acquire this power!" a young Delarosan member laughed hysterically as he burned the imperial soldiers with his fiery totem power.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtAt the same time, his words dealt a serious blow to some of the imperial soldiers' warrior's spirit.
"You can use powerful spells like that from a single night of training…? What the hell have I been desperately training my body for…?" a dispirited imperial soldier despaired amidst the fierce battle.
"Not good! Our morale is greatly dropping! We need our emperor's presence to re-ignite our fighting spirits! Imperial guards, on me! Even if we must die, we must bring our emperor out of that smoke cloud!" a captain-level imperial guard roared.
"Kill!"
Several nearby imperial guards charged with desperation in their reddened eyes as they slaughtered their way through the ranks of Delarosan Shamans and Witch Doctors with their captain.
Maiming, laceration, burning, cutting, piercing…
The imperial guards disregarded all risks of injuries along the way and threw themselves into the cloud of black smoke like mad beasts.
Such desperation and madness even shook the hearts of some Delarosans.
"So crazy… Is this the madness of war?"
While the imperial army fought out of responsibility, the Delarosas fought for survival. As such, the Delarosas had higher morale and advantage.
But as the blood of the fallen soaked the ground and the stench of death permeated through the air, the younger Delarosan members cowered before the imperial guards' fierce gazes.
The inexperienced were all shaken by the horrors of war.
…
Meanwhile, Emperor Varan continued to fight off the endless horde of undead within the boundless world with the crimson sky.
Broken corpses littered the land and piled up like mountains wherever Emperor Varan moved. However, they quickly disappeared under the sea of swarming undead that followed after him.
Suddenly, Emperor Varan heard the cries of his guards and soldiers nearby as they were startled by the nightmarish environment they were thrown in.
"Ahhh—! Get away from me! Die, die, you undead bastard! Why the hell is there so many of them?!"
Chaos and panic quickly erupted among the imperial guards and soldiers as they found themselves in a more dangerous situation than the battle outside.
Nevertheless, they didn't lose their reason and fought off the swarming sea of undead beings to the best of their abilities.
"There's a battle of there!" the captain-ranked imperial guard noticed before spotting Emperor Varan. "It's His Imperial Majesty! It's great that you are safe, Your Majesty! But… What is this hellish place?!"
"That's what I also want to know!" Emperor Varan shouted back, surprised by the new faces.
He didn't expect to see his soldiers and guards in such a place.
Was this desolate world with the crimson sky not a figment of his imagination under the effect of a curse?
"How did you all come here?! What's the situation outside!?" Emperor Varan inquired.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm11:37
"It's bad, Your Imperial Majesty! Your men need you outside! Emperor Varan inquired.
"It's bad, Your Imperial Majesty! Your men need you outside! The commander is doing his best to fend off the enemy leaders, but he alone is not enough to control the situation for long!" the captain reported.
The group gradually met up with Emperor Varan and worked together to cover their blind spots. They slew every undead that came their way in every direction.
"We are also clueless about how we ended up here, Your Imperial Majesty. I only remember jumping into a cloud of black smoke with the others before finding ourselves in this strange world…" another imperial guard added.
"It doesn't feel like a dream or nightmare… Rather, it feels like we've been transported to another world… Ah! You're wounded, Your Imperial Majesty!"
Before long, the imperial guards noticed the nasty black flesh on Emperor Varan's body.
"Try not to get clawed or bitten by these vile creatures, or you will end up like me! Their bodies are laced with a special kind of corpse poison!" Emperor Varan warned with a frown.
Although Emperor Varan's wounds looked serious, they were only surface injuries. He was able to suppress the corpse poison from invading deeper with his aura.
"I understand, Your Majesty. You heard the emperor. Be careful, everyone!" the captain alerted.
As Emperor Varan and the imperial guards fought off the endless horde of undead that kept spawning, they faced a big question – if they weren't in a dream world, where were they?
"Quickly look for clues on how to leave this place! I fear we may have stumbled into some forbidden region of Gehenna!" Emperor Varan speculated.
Even he couldn't believe what he was saying, as the idea in and of itself was absurd. However, it was also the only plausible reason for his realistic wounds.
If he died in this desolate land of the dead, he may very well die for real.
"G-Gehenna?! How is that even possible!? What kind of power can connect Pangea and Gehenna like this?!" an imperial guard cried, alarmed by the horrid possibility.