Eaten Alive?

"I need some help over here!" A young man shouted at the top of his lungs as the Undead forces inched closer.

They moved slowly through the sand, but that hardly changed how dangerous they were.

"I have enough to deal with here myself," A second voice resounded in between two heavy breaths, "What about you, James?"

"Just die silently if you cannot even stall the Horsemen. How did you even manage to survive in the Sacred Desert this long?" A third voice, James, shouted while killing a Knight riding on a Giant Ghoul Serpent. He twisted his blade in the Skeleton Knight's Core and shattered it instantaneously.

Following the burst of energy influx that entered his body, James felt a burst of strength pass through his body.

He retrieved a small dagger from his War Rune and hurled it toward a horseman who was about to pass him. The horseman's body fell apart, whereas the Skeleton Horse continued running toward the masses of the living.

The situation was far from easy. The Undead forces reached the last line of defense from three bordering territories. James and the two other Lords tried their utmost to fight the incoming forces, but most of their subjects had already been eliminated. The Infantry Units and the Warbeasts had been moving fast enough to overwhelm most human soldiers in no time.

Only the strongest subjects and the Awakened were left alive. They caused considerable damage to the Undead forces, but their kills barely changed anything. There were too many undead to kill.

Other than the Horsemen, the Knights riding the Giant Ghoul Serpents, the soul-devouring Death Vultures, the Undead Dire Wolves, the Anubirats, and Kleshabits, there were also Bone Titans, beings that could have been considered Mythical Existences when they were still alive. Even in death, the Bone Titans were incredibly strong. Some had already ascended to a Higher Lifeform, but even the Peak Tier-3 Bone Titans were strong enough to kill ordinary Tier-4 Higher Lifeforms.

The Bone Titans weren't many. There were only a few. It wouldn't be an issue to deal with the Bone Titans if there weren't countless Undead Awakened and Undead

Summons, who'd been resurrected after dying, circling the Bone Titans and the other Undead forces.

At this point, millions of Undead are passing through the Sacred Desert. In fact, saying millions could create a misunderstanding. By saying millions, it meant that there were tens of millions - if not more than one hundred million undead spread all over the Sacred Desert.

The total sum was unlikely to exceed one hundred million, but it was certainly possible that their number would reach millions in the three-digit. Almost the entire Sacred Desert had been overrun at this point, and it was fortunate that the Undead Awakened and Undead Summons were resurrected with less than 80% of their former combat prowess. Including the difficult terrain of the Sacred Desert, the living had an easier time dealing with the Undead Awakened and Undead Summons than most other Undead forces.

(nove l n_ext. c om)

The biggest problem with the Undead Awakened and Undead Summons was their numerical advantage. They couldn't feel any pain either and smelled the living from far away. Stealthily circling the Undead wasn't going to be easy.

James appeared beside an Undead Awakened, swinging his down down at it. He beheaded the Undead and gained a temporary boost in Agility alongside the energy influx. His speed increased as he moved on to thrust his Sword Artifact through the next closest Undead Summon's skull. This time, his perception increased slightly. 2

As long as his Soultrait, Chance Kill, was active, he could maintain the wide variety of boosts he'd obtained from killing the Undead. Although his Soultrait's energy consumption would increase with time, James wasn't that worried about it right now. It was more important to protect his territory and people.

He eliminated a batch of more than a dozen Undead, gained various boosts in return, and was about to push further ahead when a huge arrow whizzed past his head. James barely twisted his head ever so slightly, ensuring that he wouldn't lose a part of his skull to the arrow. The air howled in his ear as the arrow shot past him, and James' heart skipped a beat.

He retreated a few steps and discovered a small group of gigantic statues holding huge longbows. James frowned deeply before glancing back at his subjects, who were already forced into retreating.

'Fuck this shit!' He cursed aloud, only to hear a terrified scream from the other side. His head flicked to the right side where the two other Lords had been fighting desperately to eliminate as many Undead as possible.

One of the Lords had been impaled by a Kleshabit's arrow, which pinned the poor soul to the ground. The Undead Summons near that young man circled him, tore his clothes apart, and began gnawing on his flesh...while the young man was still alive.

It didn't take long before the young man died, but every second felt like hours. The young man was eaten alive, his flesh ripped out of his body. His desperate screams died slowly, but it had been etched into the souls of the witnesses who were still alive.

Everyone who'd witnessed the Lord's gruesome death paled at the sight. The death of their comrades was already burdensome, but the Lord's death was the worst. Whereas the others were killed with one or two attacks, the Lord was slowly eaten alive.

James shuddered and retreated instinctively. His battle spirit plummeted below zero, and the others were the same. Their spirits had been crushed, and a seed of fear blossomed in their hearts.

A single glance in the direction of the Undead forces was enough to worsen the fear that permeated every inch of their being. No matter where they looked, they saw the Undead forces. The Undead inched closer and threatened to surround the forces of the two human Lords, who could only watch as their hard-earned land was being overrun. A loud scream reverberated through the surroundings once again.

James glanced to the scream's source even though he could already guess what was happening. The other human Lord fell victim to the Undead.

He grit his teeth and was about to jump back onto the battlefield. If he had to die, James wanted to die a heroic death.

However, before he could jump into the battlefield like a kamikaze fighter, James felt several powerful presences behind him.

Small earthen spikes shot out of the ground around James, piercing the cores of the Undead that had threatened to tear him apart in the next few seconds.

A moment later, dozens of icicles shot past James. The icicles pierced through the first target with a clean hit and continued moving until shattering upon hitting the second target.

Once the icicle shattered, a frozen flower blossomed around the area of impact. The target ended up encased in the flower, which shattered after all of its power had been infused into it.

As the frozen flowers shattered, the bodies they'd encased also shattered.

"They're weaker than expected," A hoarse voice resounded, only for a second to add.

"I don't know what you expect from Undead at the 2nd Tier. Obviously, we're stronger than them."

"How about we focus on our enemies?" A third one added, "There are more than enough enemies to tire y'all out. Kaleb. Lincoln. Please focus!"

Kaleb Zenovia, Lincoln Piedra, and Zeke Lavita arrived in the Sacred Desert.