Supreme Monarch

—Around 30 Minutes ago.

A unit of approximately 3,000 undead of various types— marched through the darknar forest in a tight formation. A tall bony figure could be seen at the center of their formation, with the most powerful undead in the regiment marching behind him.

This figure was none other than the right hand of the undead king, the Boneclaw— Raziril.

He was a tall slightly skeletal figure who resembled humanoids who were half skeletal and a half without skin, with his sinew and muscle exposed.

The most prominent feature of his was its claws; its three, bony fingernails seem to grow and shrink randomly between two to ten feet long, and were seemingly razor-sharp.

Raziril's origin was a mystery to even himself as he had first appeared before Zerahut the moment he became an Eldar Lich. It was unknown if he had been born from the remnants of energy that had turned Zerahut undead or perhaps he behalf been summoned from another plane by a passive ability of his master.

Raziril's bony figure moved at the center of his regiment as he positioned his Assault team behind the heavy infantry. His unit possesses a platoon of phantom walkers that were used as advance scouts along with the best riders.

These spirits weren't particularly strong but were specialized in stealth-based assessments. As such, Raziril had assigned them to keep track of the entire undead army while also scouting ahead of the group.

According to the scouting reports he just recaps, they were currently the second-fastest unit to approach the exit of eastern parts of the forest.

However, their exit speed did not really matter to him. As the right hand of his master, his first priority was to see his master's deepest desires come to pass.

And right now, that entails filling the entire demon continent with the aura of death and destruction. Creating massive amounts of negative energy that would grant his master more strength.

[Lord Raziril.]

[What is it?]

An incorporeal floating being had suddenly materialized beside him and spoke in an ethereal yet ghastly voice that was here but seems far away.

[It appears the 5th regiment has just engaged in a battle against a new enemy. They seem to have been ambushed. Do we redirect some of our forces to serve as reinforcements?]

Hearing that, Raziril thought about the content of those words seriously as he shook his head then replied.

[Unit 5? Right, the unit is led by that Doom Lord. It's fine, there's no point in splitting our forces. If the enemy was aware of our positioning to ambush us one unit at a time, then we best be prepared.]

[Understood. We'll scout further ahead for an ambush immediately.]

Saying that after understanding his intentions, the phantom walker disappeared from their sight.

[Do we send a message to his majesty about this, Lord Raziril?]

[No need. As I am now aware of it. Lord Zerahut is as well.]

One of the members of his assault team behind him asked and Raziril answered swiftly. He was not the right hand of the undead king because of his strength, nor was it because he was with him the longest.

He was considered the undead king's number 1 aide because of his mental connection that transcended the typical soul link of the undead and its creator.

He could share his knowledge with his master without the need for conversation. As long as he willed it, his master would be able to share in his senses no matter the distance between them.

This was why he had been assigned as a general instead of remaining hidden inside of his master as his protector.

With that, they continued their march towards the outskirts of the forest while killing any foolish monsters that came their way and sending their corpses back to their master's unit.

They had only moved for about 10 minutes when the phantom scout from earlier appeared besides Raziril ones more and spoke respectfully.

[We've located a small force lying in wait outside the forest. They seem to have predicted our exit point and are prepared to ambush us.]

[So they've been spying on us. Even with so many phantoms and spirits in our forces. Their spies must be really skilled. How large is the ambush?]

[Approximately around 300. They seem to be compromised of Mostly Hobgoblins and are led by some kind of lesser demon.]

[A band of goblins. Ridiculous. I'll rip the flesh clean off their bones.]

His cows extended at the thought of blood but he soon regained his calm. While it seems these gushers were underestimating them, he could not do the same as their numbers may be a trick. Even their races might just be a disguise.

[What should we do about the ambush General?]

The one to address him now was his second in command, an undead being known as a Visage. It appeared as a shapeless body with a grinning mask-like face and long deadly claws.

In this form, it only appeared incorporeal, in reality, it was not dense but still weighed around 75 pounds. Its kind was often were confused with wraiths.

[Maintain our current formation and have your team ready. We'll rid these goblins of their lives quickly and send their bodies back to Lord Zerahut.]

[As you command.]

[It's best we handled this quickly. If there is an enemy out there with Intel on us. They may be targeting our units individually. We'll have to reinforce our weaker units.]

[Understood.]

The visage nodded as he moved to order the assault team. It was the leader of that team and they prepared to flank the ambushers before they could understand what was going on.

With that, they continued their advancement, and in the next 20 minutes, they finally exited the forest, coming out into semi rocky plains that had been covered in snow.

Raziril's unit looked straight ahead at the force of an armored hobgoblin led by a female karma oni still dressed in a short traditional Chinese dress even in such cold weather.

The moment the entire unit was clear from the forest, the girl yelled and drew out two short oddly shaped blade-like weapons strapped to her slender thighs and charged at them with her men following closely behind.

An aged hobgoblin with short white hair and beard, wearing a mage's robe had taken flight with around 30 mages as they provided area support.

[Fire at will.]

Giving his orders, Raziril mages Artillery unit and longbowmen with the aide of their magic support unit aimed and fired countless shots that almost covered the entire sky. Their aim seems to be focused on bringing down the hobgoblin's flying mages.

"Rapid shots!"

Running at the head of the group, Hecate fired tiny magic pellets from her weapons and boosted their range and strength with a skill.

Her shots canceled our most of the magic attacks and Kraz and his mage unit took care of the rest with counterspells.

A few female hobgoblins the size of Azar and with muscles to match charged past her while wildly swinging the massive weapons in their hands.

They deflected what was left of the incoming enchanted arrows aimed at them and the group closed the distance in a short time.

Raziril was not surprised either was he worried that this bunch had easily nullified the first wave of his attacks. After all, this was only the beginning.

[Advance.]

He ordered and his heavy infantry charged to stop the hobgoblins' advance and succeeded even though they had lost one-third of their ranks in the clash. The mage artillery unit also pinned down the Mages unit of the mushers as they could now just barely keep themselves alive much less provide support.

He then had his beast Riders move to attack the ground unit from the side as his assault team had already used a mass invisibility spell and moved behind the group.

In their foolishness to ambush them, they had just ended up falling prey to such a simple tactic. They were now nothing more than caged rats as the assault team would rip them apart from behind in no time.

[You lose.]

As his assault team appeared behind the group of hobgoblins while his riders charge at them from the sides, boxing them in.

Raziril shorted as he prepared to calculate the exit point of the next regiment so he could adequately provide support against the other possible ambushers.

However—

"Ice Garden."

A soft voice rang out across the plain like the sounds of a gentle bell as a magic circle suddenly appeared underneath the charging undead assault team.

Thorny vines of ice suddenly sprout out of the ground and they grasped the legs and bodies of the entire assault team. Even incorporeal beings like spirits, ghosts, and wraiths were no exceptions to these magic ice vines.

After all, this spell had been augmented with the skill of Absolute freezing and nothing could escape the cold grip of the frozen garden.

Flowers made of ice began to bloom on the bodies of the entire assault team and the moment they did, they became nothing more than ice sculptures in a garden of ice that would never melt.

[What! Who did that?]

Surprised at the sudden development, Raziril bellowed for answers as he extended his claws while expanding his senses in an attempt to find whoever was interfering with his plans.

"Hiya... you're all skin and bones ain't ya? You look like you need to eat more."

*Swoosh *Boom!

Suddenly hearing a cheery voice from beside him, Raziril did not panic but hastily swung his claws in the direction but failed to cut anything but air and the ground. Shuttering the rocky surface. The shock wave of his attack even sent a bunch of his troops flying away after being cut to pieces.

"Wow, those things are really sharp, you should really put them away, hehe."

Frankly, if he had eyeballs eight now they would surely have fallen out of their sockets as he could not believe what was happening.

There was a girl. An extremely beautiful female dark elf clad In purplish-black assassin gears with exquisite purple vambraces and greaves. Two contrasting bracelets were glistening on her arms as she tossed aside something of his as though it was garbage.

Lowering his gaze towards his right lower side, he confirmed the legitimacy of this reality as his entire right arm was gone.

[An assassin. So you aimed to take me out first after using those goblins as bait.]

Rain looked at this creature with a slightly perplexed expression on her face as she smirked.

"You're grossly overestimating your importance. After all—"

Raziril was undead, so naturally, he could not blink. Yet he had lost track of the world-class Beauty, and in the next moment. Even in the midst of battle, he felt the energy draining from him and his entire body was shattered into pieces by a single lightning-infused punch.

He felt his core shattered and his connection with his master cut off before soon, his consciousness faded into the darkness.

"—We didn't come all this way for the likes of you. Isn't that right, big sis?"

"Oh, I'm pretty sure my sister's dead. Who might you be?"