A black mass of swords, armors, and shields was slowly approaching them. In the shining light of the day, it was an eyesore for anyone looking at it. All around him, he could see soldiers rapidly getting their equipment and preparing themselves for the battle. Doing the same, he could not help but feel the unease growing inside him. It shouldn't have been possible to meet something like that, especially since it was relatively secret.

If the White Hand knew about their project, it was logical. If the Synnada Empire or the Kingdom of Massalia were to learn about the precise path he would take, it would cause some suspicions. "But how their enemies, that were supposed to be entrenched in a hole beyond the mountains could ... " With that trail of thoughts, it could only mean one thing. "They bypassed the mountains ... A new tunnel has been dug."

He was all alone at the entrance of his tent, but he still talked to himself. While it did make him look like a madman, it always had helped him think more clearly. Remembering the distance between them and the incoming army, he could probably spare a minute. "Goblins! What was what the elves said, tunnels of two to three kilometers? Surprise attacks, caught off guard. But that's mere kilometers, we are talking about dozens of them here, maybe even more."

One officer, not seeing the general coming peeked inside the tent, only to see Avirus mumbling some incomprehensible sentences. He waited a few seconds, but seeing no reaction from the later, he made some noises to made his presence known. It was not really effective. "General, the enemy ... the White Hand just came and said they belonged to the Dark Gods!" At the mention of the Dark Gods, the general broke through his state and looked at his officer.

"Go and say to the Mayor that a new tunnel has been formed between Avenio and Massalia. Actually, no, just go in Archet and shout that very loudly." He began to also push away his subordinate, prompting him to go as fast as possible. Even when the other party was completely surprised. "What ... what do you mean by a new tunnel? ..." The two men looked at each other for a brief second, and he finally understood. "Yes, Sir!"

With the enemy approaching, he could see with a better accuracy how many he will have to kill. However, he was not really feeling confident when he saw that instead of a true army, it could only be considered as a small force. Maybe one hundred, two at best. Compared to his vast army, where everyone from all across Avenio had come. Each city had provided their reserves, and a good chunk of his own troops from the North had joined him. They were at least 8O OOO thousands good men here, and with a bit of luck, more will wait for them at the Troll Gate.

Previously, only three passages could allow an army to go from Avenio to Massalia. In the North, the Wolf Gate and the Dragon Gate were considered the less dangerous. It was near the end of the Wild Mountains, meaning that Humanity had already managed to tame the monsters nearby. On the other hand, the Troll Gate was extremely close to the Fallen Kingdom of Pankow. Just the journey alone could decimate anything that had less than 5 thousands men. However, recently, numerous reports had revealed that a huge amount of monsters had gone from the South to the North, freeing partially the Troll Gate.

However, the direction from where that dark army came was not the one he would have taken if he had to go there. Because it was unknown how they managed to survive the travel, he couldn't know if those hundreds of foes were only the survivors or were everyone that departed at first. Taking into account the worst case scenario, with each of those black armors true experts, he could only try to swarm them with numbers.

Unfortunately, they had no siege weapons or anything alike, because Archet was supposedly just a temporary stop. All those weeks of preparations, and he had nothing for his first battle. Still grumbling in his beard, he still began to spread out his army as much as possible. A quick recapitulatory of the number of bowmen still managed to put a smile on his face. Even if they were undead, he would like to see how they could resist a tempest of arrows.

Taking the reins of his horse, he calmly walked forward, to be in front of everyone. On his sides, he could see some regiments beginning to run on the side, to encircle their foes. However, he made sure it would not form a complete circle, only half of it. If a second force was nearby, it would be too late for them to save those stuck between that black army and the unforeseen one. Nearby, he could see many faces, some worried while others were half joking about the small group they will slaughter. Old and young, they were still present to defend their country and their families.

The small troop kept walking toward him until they were barely a few hundreds of meters away. Finally stopping, the General Avirus could finally examine who he will face. His initial guess was not wrong, an officer with sharp eyes counted exactly 110 black helmets and one giant in the back. As for why he did not include the giant with the other, it was because the giant was ... very tall. At least two times the size of what they would presume to be a regular soldier, if not more. But what he also saw was the dark veins pulsating on everything they were wearing.

It was nothing like they had seen before, not like an arrow infused with mana or even a spell enchanting a sword. It seemed to be half-alive, like veins spreading on metal. Trying to remember where he had heard that, Avirus thought about the two supposedly adventurers. It was confirmed that they were, in fact, part of those he was supposed to kill. Their equipment was also foreign and similar to what he was looking at right now, but no one asked too many questions back then.

"ARCHERS! LOAD!" At his command, the sounds of an arrow leaving its quiver could be heard everywhere. He just prepared them for now, since the enemy was out of range anyway. But one could never be too careful, especially when myths and legends suddenly came back to life. At the same time, the more he looked at them, the more he felt that myths were not the only one that should have stayed dead. He had heard about the so-called spirits of the statues, but what he was facing was most likely just some undead.

"Surrender now, and your lives will be spared. Fight us, and even your gods will not save your souls." The thunderous voice was audible in the mind of all the humans. Some soldiers were panicked, not expecting that at such a huge distance, one could so easily enter their mind and speak like that. Avirus could see many hands trembling a bit, or the opposite, gripping tightly their swords. At the same time, he wondered if peace was really an option. "Probably not."

"You have made your last choice poorly." The giant that was at the back began to steadily march forward, fully displaying the huge axes in his hands. His four hands. Each and every one of those could be compared to the size of a human, even taking by surprise Avirus. Seeing the black army approaching more quickly as the seconds passed, he began to shout his orders.

"Make the two flanks collapsed on them as soon as possible. Full speed ahead. Now go! Let me see if what is dead can die again. ARCHERS ... AIM ... FIRE!" The sky was darkened by so many projectiles, but all could see that many will fail to hit their foes. But with that amount of arrows, it still managed to hit everything multiple times. But instead of hearing some screams or anything like that, what was produced was just the rattle of the metal against metal. Some lucky shots did manage to pierce the armor of the common soldiers, but that didn't slow them down at all.

"FUCK! SHIELD WALL! DROP YOUR BOWS!" The archers hastily dropped everything and went back behind the frontline. It was just a dream to be able to destroy them all in one volley, but to not have a single one of them at least killed is bad. Extremely bad. Dismounting and slapping his horse to make him flee, Avirus stood still facing the incoming giant. "FOR AVENIO!"

His long shout was soon swallowed by the sea of screams everywhere near him. He stood blankly at his right, where dozens of men that were previously alive were now reduced to dismembered bodies. Their spears had not inflicted any damage whatsoever to those dark armors, while on the other hand, their armors were rendered useless. The heavy iron, that was tempered and forged with great care looked not more resistant than butter.

But what he still couldn't understand was the reason why he was still alive. Replaying the scene in his mind, he saw himself jumping to hack the chest of that giant, only for the latter to deflect the hit with one axe. But instead of counter-attacking, his enemy showed mercy and just bypassed him entirely. Enjoying a scenery he would have preferred to never see, Avirus could only hope now that peace was a real possibility.

Each soldier of the Dark Gods was single-handedly decimating tens and tens of humans. They had spread in such a large area that even the reinforcements were already caught up with them. Looking beyond that, he could see many fleeing in panic, and for once, he was glad they were doing that. Staying here could only mean death for the unfortunate one that was present. "H..e..l..p" A weak murmur calling for help managed to reach his ears.

Rushing forward, he found the injured soldier. The later had his left arm cut, but besides this, he was relatively fine. A pile of corpses was on, probably the very reason why he was still alive. Looking to his left and to his right, he saw the remnants of his army getting slaughtered. But no enemy was nearby. "Don't worry, everything is fine, you will survive." Pushing away the bodies, he found out the injury on the arm was not the only problem. An open wound was present on his chest, near his heart.

Fortunately, the blood didn't seem to be leaking as much as it could. The sword of those black soldiers probably missed the heart by a millimeter, granting the man a chance of survival. Just as he was trying to apply some tissue on the bleeding hole, he heard calm footsteps approaching. "YOU WILL NOT TAKE ANOTHER LIFE!" Lifting his sword, he blocked the advance of the foe. Maybe he was nothing compared to that giant, but he would make sure that at least one of them died today.

CLANK

The dark helmet flew in the air, revealing a clean skull. What he expected did happen. But if he could remove that helmet, he could also kill that undead. Fighting with rage in his heart, he overwhelmed the skeleton, leaving it no chances to even take another step forward. Just as he was aiming to hack its neck, another one appeared. Then a third, then a fourth. Disarmed, Avirus could only see the one he fought first approaching the dying soldier and pierce his heart, for good this time.

"WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS? WHY ARE YOU NOT KILLING ME?" The once proud General was getting crazy. Even when he was kneeling and grabbing their leggings, the undead did not even bother to look at him. It was like he was invisible. He stayed like that for a few minutes, until the perpetual screaming faded in the air. Raising his head, he saw two large red eyes looking at him. Blood was dripping from the axe that was put on his shoulder, but Avirus did not care about the metal entering his flesh.

"Do you truly want to die?" The large demon was looking at him while asking this question. Letting go of the leg he held, the only remaining human seemed to ponder for a while. "I ... want ... YOU TO DIE!" Grabbing a random sword on the ground, he stood up and attacked the giant. He did not care about his shoulder that was cut during the assault. He did not flinch under the pain. He only despaired, when he saw that his weapon was blocked by the helmet. The holes giving the giant vision were too small for his sword to use them.

"HEHEHE Good try. Aiming for the head while I was leaning. You have a strong soul, Leilade will appreciate that." Freeing one of his hand, Ymir picked up the brave human, wondering if he should send him back by the tunnel right now. Since they had first arrived here and the duo of the succubus and the orodil had traversed those mountains, the Envoy of Leilade had begun to dig a tunnel. It was good that it ended before they were attacked, allowing Ymir to capture Archet while everyone was focused on the situation in Massalia.

"So now what, you're going to use your natural charm to make them submit?" The cynical voice of the lich resonated, but strangely, it made the Ak?l smile. Not expecting this, Malakov could only stay silent, especially after hearing the answer. "Of course, after all, what better way to introduce yourself than to butcher thousands of their kin right next to them. And if someone dares to still oppose resistance after what they have seen ..." Ymir smiled ferociously "... I don't mind eating one of them." It was only at that moment that he realized that something weird was happening in his hands.