Overlord - The Lizardmen Heroes - Куганэ Маруяма - Страница 42

But the problem was that this tactic was implemented too late. If it was used at the very beginning, the lizardmen would definitely be in a dire state. The skeletons would then overwhelm them with numbers and earn a decisive victory. But it was too late.

Ignoring the dwindling skeletons, the lizardmen charged at the skeleton archers.

The arrows from the 150 skeleton archers fell like rain, downing several lizardmen onto the mud, but it was just a small number.

With the thick skin and hard scales of the lizardmen, their defence was on par with humans wearing leather armor. Even if arrows pierced their skin, their tough muscles might be able to stave off fatal injury.

Another reason for the minimal casualties were the weak arrow shots. They didn’t have enough power to kill the lizardmen.

The lizardmen roared fearlessly as they charged. In the face of the rain of arrows, the lizardmen crossed their arms to protect their head, braving ahead even if their body was pierced.

On the third wave of arrow attack—

This was the limit of how fast the skeleton archers could shoot. If they had intelligence, they would probably retreat. If they moved back and regrouped with the surviving undead army, they could be utilized in a better way.

But the skeletons did not have the mental capacity to store such complicated instructions. They didn’t receive any other orders, so they simply executed their original mission— Even with the lizardmen closing in, they could only fire arrows at them.

With a roar, the skeleton archers were swarmed by the lizardmen, just like they did to the skeletons. At this distance, archers lost their advantage and could only be attacked one-sidedly. As they fell one after another, almost all the skeletons had fallen into the wetlands, and just the army of zombies was left.

Finally, a new enemy was unleashed.

Undead beasts.

Undead created from wolves, snakes, cobras and all sorts of animals. A monster that combined the tenacity of zombies with the agility of animals.

The undead beasts rushed at the lizardmen. The fast moved fast, the slow travelled slowly, an assault with no formation to speak of.

The attack coming from down low was unexpectedly hard to evade. The undead beasts will gnaw onto the feet of the enemy. After immobilizing them, it will deal the killing blow, a style similar to wild beasts.

For the lizardmen who were getting more and more tired, this attack was difficult to fend off. Several lizardmen whose movements had dulled got their necks torn apart by the undead beasts. Even those who believed the spirits of their ancestors was with them couldn’t help but panic when they saw their comrades fall.

The Head Warriors fought at the front, but were pushed back slowly. As they were thinking that it was just a matter of time before their battle lines will be broken, the wetlands suddenly swelled up.

What appeared was two conical masses of earth about 160cm in height, with no head or limbs.

The two masses started moving.

It moved smoothly across the wetlands despite the absence of limbs, heading straight for the undead beasts. After closing the distance, whips that were longer than its height emerged from where its shoulders should be.

That was one of the lizardmen’s ace in the hole, the fairy of the wetlands summoned through the combined effort of all the lizardmen’s druids.

The wetland fairies charged into the midst of the undead beasts, flinging its whip like tentacles to grab the enemies. The undead beasts engaged it ferociously with claws and fangs.

It was a battle between creatures without fear. But the wetland fairies had the advantage due to their superior combat power.

Their priest could overpower the undead. This fact revived the courage of the lizardmen and they renewed their attack.

An intense battle ensured

Unlike the fight with the skeletons, the lizardmen also suffered casualties. But the scale of victory was tilting towards the lizardmen who had the advantage in pure numbers.

¦ ¦ ¦

He was going to lose.

Cocytus understood this fact.

His forces lacked any undead that have intelligence. That was the reason for the loss, and was something he was worried about from the very beginning, but Cocytus didn’t imagine the army to be this weak.

Cocytus regretted his shallow thinking deeply. There was a way to turn the tide under such a situation, but it wasn’t a good method as taking such a step was equivalent to admitting his loss.

On the other hand, how could he report this failure to his master? Cocytus picked up the ‘Message’ scroll. Who should he contact at such a crucial moment—

“... Is this Demiurge?”

?Yes my friend. For you to actually message me, something happened??

A steady voice sounded out in Cocytus’ mind. Demiurge’s intelligence was top notch in Nazarick, he might be able to think of a solution.

In a way, Demiurge was one of Cocytus’ rivals, so Cocytus was not too fond of asking him for help. But avoiding defeat took priority, how could an army from the Great Tomb of Nazarick fail? To avoid losing the fight, Cocytus threw away his pride and lowered his head for help.

“Actually—”

After using a scroll to explain the current situation, Demiurge who listened quietly gave a troubled sigh.

?And what do you need from me??

“I wish for you to lend me your wisdom, the battle will be lost if this carries on. I can accept it if it was my personal fight, but I do not wish for Nazarick and the Supreme Beings to be disgraced by this.”

?Does Ainz-sama truly wish for victory??

“What do you mean by this?”

?I am talking about why Ainz-sama formed an army from such lowly serfs.?

Cocytus also had doubts about this. He couldn’t fathom why they had to form an army from the lowest servants in the Great Tomb of Nazarick.

“... Ainz-sama must have his reasons, but what is his intention?”

?... I can think of several possibilities.?

As expected of Demiurge— Cocytus didn’t express this out loud and kept his respect in his heart.

?Let me ask you… Cocytus. You had been in this place for several days now, shouldn’t you be gathering intelligence on the lizardmen before the attack??