Lord of Rot

The horde of vine-corpses was still advancing.

Leech immediately split his focus to control his other forces.

The one hundred fifty corpses, crafted from the elite Soldiers of the Monkey Clan, raised their shields and formed a protective square formation with Leech and the ammunition at its center.

Outside of them, several hundred bared-fanged Skeleton Soldiers brandished their weapons, serving as cannon fodder by sheer numbers.

The remaining fifty corpses quickly readied the gunpowder weapons.

”They’re almost in range. Guy, light it.”

Watching the red-skirted figure in the far distance through the eyes of his corpse bird, Leech thought, ’Above Extraordinary? Let me show you the truth from the Otherworld!’

The mortar was tilted to adjust its angle, steadied by Corpse Ghost Nils, who had transformed into a stone man.

Guy chanted a Spell, igniting it with Magic.

BOOM!

The ground shook violently. The three horses at the scene were so startled they went limp and collapsed. Fortunately, Leech had anticipated this and dismounted early, avoiding the embarrassment of being thrown off.

A cannonball shot into the sky, carving an arc through the air before crashing down heavily into the horde of corpses.

Thick smoke and roiling dust rose in the distance.

Flesh and severed limbs rained down from the sky.

The cannon is truth; caliber is justice!

Facing such a dense mass of corpses, there was no need to calibrate the aim. As long as they fired forward, they were guaranteed a hit.

Moreover, the ignition was magically controlled, which allowed them to direct the explosive force of the flames and increase the smoothbore cannon’s power.

Through the corpse bird, Leech clearly saw the power of that shot. It had blasted a gory clearing right in the middle of the horde.

However, the ceaseless waves of corpses surged forward to fill the gap, making the previous shot seem like an illusion.

Load ammunition, aim, ignite with Magic, fire.

The second cannonball flew out, once again blossoming into a brilliant flower of destruction within the horde!

The Cavalry at the front were still steadily whittling down the enemy, but as time passed and the distance closed, their high mobility was losing its advantage due to the shrinking space.

”Circle the horde at full speed,” Leech ordered, handing control of the Undead Cavalry to Ah Yamei. The disparity in numbers made a charge impossible. Their role could only be to harass the flanks and draw some of the enemy’s fire.

The cannon’s loading speed was slow, taking several minutes to fire a single shot.

But the horde of vine-corpses had already reached them!

The first to clash were the cannon-fodder Skeleton Soldiers forming the outermost layer.

The elite corpses in the square formation blocked the Skeleton Soldiers’ path of retreat from behind, while the enemy horde relentlessly pressed in from the front. The skeletons, being nothing but bone, offered no real resistance. They were simply crushed between the two forces, their bodies breaking apart as bone by bone came loose.

The third cannonball finally boomed, but unfortunately, it couldn’t solve the problem of the siege right on their doorstep.

The horde was like a great net, enveloping the square formation of corpses.

It constantly tightened, squeezing the space available to Leech’s troops.

’It’s fine. As long as we can hold on for now, I’ll take care of it first!’

Leech, wearing the [Pot of Invisibility], simultaneously controlled the corpse bird circling in the sky to pinpoint the red-skirted figure’s location.

The target had finally followed the horde and entered firing range!

With a thought, the freshly loaded cannon was aimed at the red-skirted figure’s position.

”Light it!”

The short, thick muzzle shuddered violently, spitting a huge cannonball out from a cloud of smoke. The projectile was launched high into the air, tracing an arc before plummeting straight toward the red-skirted figure.

The air howled as the cannonball tore through it.

It reached its apex, then accelerated on its descent with the pull of gravity, propelled further by the Magic Gunpowder.

Its speed increased again and again.

Leech tilted his head slightly, watching the dark shadow of the cannonball fall rapidly through a crack in the pot.

BOOM! The ground trembled.

Inevitably, more flesh and blood splattered everywhere.

The terrain was blasted and transformed. The once relatively flat ground was now pockmarked with craters.

He controlled the corpse bird to circle overhead, trying to determine the condition of the red-skirted figure he had hit.

As the smoke and dust cleared, Leech almost couldn’t stop himself from cursing out loud.

Vines had sprouted from the dense pores on its body, weaving into a wall that blocked the attack from above.

The warped cannonball was wrapped in layers of vines. Some had even burrowed into the iron sphere, causing red flowers to bloom from within and cover the entire projectile!

However, the Vine Shield Wall was not completely unscathed. A portion of it had withered and died, likely from absorbing too much damage.

’A being above Extraordinary can block a cannonball?’

Leech was shaken.

No wonder they said it was a different Life Level.

Since some of the vines had died, it meant the attack wasn’t completely ineffective.

With a few more shots, he would have a chance to break through its defenses.

Problems were also arising with his close-range defense.

Leech had no choice but to quickly release his Corpse Ghosts.

The Corpse Demon Giant Lizard and the stone man Nils joined the fray. The two of them charged recklessly, immediately reducing the pressure on the line.

The Extraordinary Skeleton also charged into battle, raising its Extraordinary claws. It had once been a Transcendent, refined into an Undead by Ah Yamei on an island in the High Magic Land.

Although its overall strength was poor and had weakened considerably after becoming an Undead Skeleton, it was still much stronger than an ordinary member of the Undead Race.

The defensive line, which had been on the verge of collapse, finally stabilized.

The Extraordinary Skeleton was quickly dismantled.

Meanwhile, the Corpse Demon Giant Lizard and Nils were not in good shape either. They were caught in an endless siege, swarmed and gnawed on by fearless corpses.

Countless corpses clung to them, looking just like a swarm of ants forming a ball.

Leech no longer had the mind to worry about the condition of his two Corpse Ghosts.

The red-skirted figure, which had been moving sluggishly, suddenly charged rapidly in Leech’s direction after being hit by the cannonball.

Because it was moving at high speed, the cannon could no longer lock onto its position.

The distance between them was closing at an incredible rate!

Any corpses blocking its path were pierced by its vines and lifted up behind it.

Corpse after corpse, like kites on a string.

Within minutes, the number of corpses floating behind the red-skirted figure had grown to a scale that blotted out the sun.

The vines extending from its body held this terrifying number of corpses without slowing it down in the slightest.

’It can see me!’ Leech touched the [Pot of Invisibility] on his head, a chill running through him.

The red-skirted figure’s target was clearly him!

The Red-haired Earthling, who had been guarding Leech’s side, was controlled by him to bend down, pick up an Alchemy Bomb, and take a two-step running start before hurling it toward the red-skirted figure.

Her explosive power, combined with Leech’s throwing technique, sent the Alchemy Bomb soaring across a great distance, and it actually landed right in front of the red-skirted figure.

Vines quickly entangled the Alchemy Bomb. The force of the throw was no match for a cannon shot and failed to cause any damage.

The red-skirted figure didn’t seem to understand Leech’s attack, but it was about to.

Leech’s lips chanted a Spell.

Ignition.

BOOM!!

The head-sized Alchemy Bomb instantly detonated. Flames engulfed the red-skirted figure and the horde of corpses within a radius of several dozen feet. The blast wave rolled back, sending the already limping corpses tumbling. The hot wind even seared Leech’s exposed neck and the back of his hands.

The corpses held overhead by the vines rained down like pitter-pattering hail.

When the visibility ahead cleared up a little, the red-skirted figure’s current state was revealed.

A large part of its red skirt was destroyed, and the vine wall it had hastily woven was blasted with a large hole.

Immediately after, new vines sprouted from the pores in her skin, weaving and growing new red flowers. The skirt became even more dazzling and vibrant than before.

”The bomb worked!” Leech was pleasantly surprised.

’As long as I can break its defense, that’s what matters,’ he thought. ’The next problem is firepower, and as it happens, I still have a dozen or so Alchemy Bombs of various types.’