Pursuing Enemies
"Shh-shh-shh!"
The skeletons let out hoarse cries toward the altar, the soul flames in their eyes flickering with blue light in the dim underground space. The blue glow formed a continuous wave, a scene that shook the hearts of everyone present.
"So this is the Queen's power..."
Shocked, Lola couldn't help but feel relieved. Fortunately, she had chosen to keep Queen Serea alive back then.
Looking at the orderly undead lining up beneath the altar, Serea turned to Celia.
"What do you think now? With this kind of strength, do I have a chance against the Empire's vanguard?"
"If you reveal your current strength, you'll bring a lot of trouble upon yourself."
"I know that. But after the undead outbreak drew the humans here, I can only confront them."
"Making an enemy of the Ailera Empire will not end well."
"We'll talk about that later. For now, what we need to do is eliminate the enemy's vanguard and retake the elf village. After we get the mana crystal from the Blood Well and the supplies from the village, we can decide on the next step."
"Do you plan to escape?"
"Not necessarily. If I can fight, I will. If not, then I'll have to run. But I need to retrieve the elf village's things, or everything we've built so far will go to waste."
As Serea spoke, she thought about how the Addis ancient tomb now had three 'Plague Graveyards' established. As long as they held up here, the human forces wouldn't be able to infiltrate on a large scale, and she could develop steadily.
In fact, one reason Serea chose to build three 'Plague Graveyards' here was to make this place an alternate stronghold. When humans truly entered the jungle in force, she could retreat here as her backup plan.
"So that's it, you've even thought out your retreat route."
After hearing this, Celia felt reassured; she had been worried Serea would act recklessly.
Now at ease, Celia glanced at the pendant on her chest, a crystal formed from Serea's true soul, and then looked to Vina.
She opened her mouth as if to speak, but the words caught in her throat. Celia put away the soul crystal carefully. Seeing the solemn look on Serea's face, she realized it wasn't the time to discuss such things—she would bring it up later.
Serea hadn't noticed Celia's gesture; at the moment, she was inspecting her new troops. She then noticed an obvious shortcoming.
Namely, some of the Skeleton Warriors' equipment was already rusted, and the regular skeletons were even worse off—some didn't have a decent weapon at all, and those who did only held nearly broken one-handed swords.
With an army like this, it'd be impossible to fight the enemy effectively...
Just as Serea was fretting over this, a group of Skeleton Warriors led by Dolusam contacted her.
Through the information from the skeletons, Serea learned that Dolusam's group had been targeted by humans. In order to cover the retreat of noncombatants from the Bloodfang Tribe and the Darkmoon clan, they planned to distract the enemy, but the pursuers proved too persistent.
Wait—the enemy!
Serea realized something. After issuing an order to Dolusam, she immediately took action herself.
"Get ready to set out. We're heading back to the elf village."
"Yes, My Queen,"
Lola responded, and as Serea prepared to assemble her forces, Vina asked another question.
"Your Majesty, how should we handle those three over there?"
Following Vina's gaze, Serea noticed the unconscious Beverly and, beside her, maro and Camilla.
After a moment's thought, Serea replied coldly,
"Bring them along. If they try to escape, just eliminate them."
She answered so decisively that Maro and Camilla shuddered; Serea had deliberately said this for their benefit, and the effect was clear.
As for her reason for keeping them...
That girl who had been possessed by Addis intrigued Serea; she wanted to study her back in the village.
With Little Red guarding them, maro picked up Beverly. Fearing for their lives, they hurried to follow the group as it departed.
Looking at the passage overhead, Serea surveyed her surroundings and saw four stone staircases leading upward. While the floor of the second level had collapsed, they could still reach the top.
Before Betimia's soul had dispersed, she'd told Serea how to break the tomb's seals, so the stone door was no obstacle. The entire Addis ancient tomb was now under Serea's control.
Raising the stone door, Serea took the lead out of the passage, and with her, the Skeleton Warriors and skeletons marched out in groups from the tomb.
No sooner had they emerged than several zombies set their sights on Serea, waving their claws as they charged. But before they got halfway, countless skeletons cut them down with iron swords.
Ignoring this minor episode, Serea headed toward the jungle's edge as planned, a vast undead army trailing behind her...
...
The scene shifted to Dolusam's side. He was running through the jungle with Aruka and Auna, leading the werewolves and elves, with a squad of humans in accelerated pursuit behind them.
Although Dolusam's group could easily lose them under the jungle's cover, a certain someone was relaying their position to the humans.
Looking up, Dolusam saw a black crow flying overhead, always above Aruka's group, making it easy for the humans to track their movements.
"We underestimated the enemy. I didn't expect them to chase us so relentlessly. It looks like we'll have to wait for the 'Hidden Fangs' to return before we can shake them off,"
Aruka said, referring to his mount, the Direwolf King. However, the direwolves were still transporting their clansmen and being chased by enemies themselves, so were currently unable to come back.
At that moment, a Skeleton Warrior beside them spoke up.
"The Queen has already awakened. She is on her way here."
"Huh? Does your Queen intend to fight the enemy?"
Auna asked. The Skeleton Warrior replied,
"The enemy must pay the price."
Hearing this, Aruka hesitated. Without the Hidden Fangs, facing a fully armed human force would be difficult.
"I feel..."
"I trust Queen Serea. She must have a plan,"
Auna broke in, but Aruka interjected,
"You're always going on about this 'Queen'. Is she really stronger than Lola?"
"Yes. Though I hate to admit it, queen Serea is stronger than you, me, and even Lola, which is why she became the new Queen of the Darkmoon clan."
"Then I really want to see it for myself."
Auna grew curious about the 'Queen Serea' they kept mentioning, but just then, the humans pressed even closer.
Whoosh! Pop!
Another signal flare shot into the sky, allowing the humans to keep tight pursuit of Aruka's group.
By their rough estimate, around thirty human pursuers trailed behind them, a reinforced search party responding to the signal.
Glancing at the crow overhead, Aruka felt annoyed.
But it didn't matter; since Serea had a plan to deal with them, he didn't need to worry. Let the enemy chase them. As long as they didn't regret it later.
(To be continued...)
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