Chapter 89: Guarding

  It's not easy to defend the town, I know these people have made the greatest efforts and courage, the town itself has no city walls, a small town with a population of just over a thousand, it's already very difficult to build simple walls using the terrain within a day. Most of the townspeople are ordinary civilians, apart from physical strength, they really haven't had any combat training, their fighting power is pitifully low, defending this small town might be somewhat difficult.

  Fortunately, the zombies that attacked the town were not only terrifying in appearance but also slow in action and lacking in intelligence, making them easier to deal with than ordinary humans. As long as you had a bit of courage and didn't get scared out of your wits before the fight even started, you'd be fine.

  *Sigh* If it really can't be helped, I'll just have to go back. Once my occupation as a magician is exposed, it means I'll have to leave. A magician living in this small town... not to mention the strange looks from the townspeople, but the Empire will also come knocking soon. Wanting to live freely and easily will become impossible.

  Thinking of this, I smiled and shook my head, walking towards my own small pharmacy.

  "Alyssa, you're back? Was everything okay?" Eka saw me from far away and ran over.

  "Hmm, it's going smoothly, by the way, is the cellar dug yet?" I replied with a smile.

  "Yeah, I just finished stocking up on food and water, I heard a lot of zombies are coming." Aika's face turned pale with fear.

  "Don't worry, it's fine, if things really don't work out, you can retreat to the cellar and reinforcements will arrive soon. I'll go make some medicine first, you prepare a bit more." I comforted her with a few words, bid her farewell, and walked into my own shop.

  I picked up a green pill in my hand and looked at it. This was an ordinary antidote made from the elixir of spirits, but it could actually eliminate corpse poison. I was quite surprised by this. I carefully thought back to the process of making the medicine, and roughly guessed that it was because a small amount of wood-element magic had been added during the manufacturing process. Could corpse poison really be countered with wood-element magic? If so, did that mean most undead creatures could also be eliminated with wood-element magic? If that were true, then in addition to the Holy Light magic of the Church, there would be another type of magic that could counter undead magic.

  As I thought of this, I summoned the hellish warhorse and brought a bit of wood-elemental magic to my hand, reaching out to touch it. The hellish warhorse seemed to detest the wood-elemental magic on my hand, and before I even made contact with it, it retreated far away from me. I shot a small wooden spell at the hellish warhorse, Revival Technique, which was much smaller than what I usually used, about one-tenth of the usual size. When the spell enveloped the hellish warhorse's body, it let out a pained whinny and its icy purple flames shook violently. I quickly dispersed the magic and comforted the frightened hellish warhorse.

  It's indeed useful, although the effect is not as strong as Sacred Light, but as long as it works, that's good enough. It gives me a few more ways to deal with undead magic. No wonder I've never heard of an undead mage entering the elves' territory before. The elves' wood-elemental magic comes from the energy of moonlight, and it seems all magic that grants life energy has a restraining effect on undead magic.

  I patted the neck of the hellish warhorse, which had calmed down again. After feeling the wood-element magic disappear, it became affectionate towards me once more. I said to it, "Let's give you a name, from now on I'll call you 'Purple Flame', how do you like this name?" The hellish warhorse seemed very pleased and let out a happy whinny, rubbing its head against my palm.

  "I said excitedly, 'Come on, Ziyen, let's go to the town and take a look. The zombies should be starting their attack. If those disgusting things break in, it'll be terrible.'"

  I led "Purple Flame" out, the distant sounds of battle had already begun to rise, the wails of zombies and humans intertwined together, cries of agony, the sound of weapons clashing, all mixed together, indicating that the battle had started.

  I arrived at the east side of the town, where Trundle and a few others were stationed. Trundle was directing several townspeople to throw stones from under the wall, knocking down zombies that climbed up. I shouted from below: "Hey, Trundle, how's it going?" Trundle swung his dual-handed sword, beheading a zombie that had climbed up, and green goo splattered everywhere. He wiped the sweat from his face with force, turned around, and yelled loudly: "Alyric? The situation is not looking good! These simple defensive walls are too short, zombies can jump up and climb over them, making it hard to defend. And the walls were built in a hurry, there are gaps everywhere. I estimate that before nightfall, they'll be breached. It's still okay here, go take a look elsewhere."

  I nodded and shouted: "Then I'll leave it to you here, if it really doesn't work out, don't force it, retreat to the central area of the town, there's still a defensive line at the square."

  "Alright, you can go," Tarendra shouted.

  I rode "Purple Flame" through the center of the town heading west, along the way "Purple Flame"'s intimidating appearance scared many townspeople, they had never seen such a terrifying mount before. Fortunately most of the townspeople knew me, otherwise they would have thought that an undead mage had invaded. I didn't care about much else and urged "Purple Flame" to run as fast as it could.

  The east side of the village was guarded by Sam and his men, this side had no professional mercenaries, all relying on Sam to lead the villagers in defense. When I arrived, I just saw Sam smash a zombie with one hammer, unexpectedly Sam was so brave, which made me greatly surprised. The iron hammer in his hand was like a toy, swinging it didn't take any effort, one hammer down, a zombie directly turned into minced meat, too powerful, even the dwarves' war hammers were no match for this.

  I shouted from under the wall: "Uncle Sam, how's it going here?" Sam stopped and shouted back to me: "Alec, no good! There are too many zombies. I reckon we won't be able to hold out for much longer!"

  I bowed my head and thought for a moment, then shouted to Sam: "Uncle Sam, hold on for a while longer. If it really doesn't work out, notify everyone to retreat to the center of town. I have a way to deal with those zombies, but I need some time to prepare."

  "Alright, I'll give you a bit more time, see you at the square!"

  I galloped back to the town square, where a large circle of stone-piled defensive walls had been hastily built around the square, and some townspeople were constantly repairing the fortifications.

  I gathered the "Purple Flame" and sat cross-legged in the center of the village, starting my meditation. A large number of wooden elements from the nearby mountain forest began to gather around me, countless green dots surged over, I felt a refreshing spirit, the fatigue of the long journey seemed to be driven away by these little green elves. However, seeing these little green elves, I suddenly thought of Freya, remembered our days learning magic together, and her smile as beautiful as a flower.