Snow.

White, huge snowflakes fell from the sky and fell to the ground, and the fortress was calm, except for the soldiers standing guard on the city walls, everyone else had already returned to their homes, or went to the tavern to drink a small drink over the warm campfire and enjoy a moment of comfort. But even in such a leisurely atmosphere, there was a tension that could not be concealed——— they all knew very well that the undead army had once again come outside this fortress, and that there were tens of thousands of them, and those evil, cold undead creatures were likely to attack them at any time, and because of this, they cherished this peaceful time even more, because this was probably the last time they chatted and farted with their companions in the tavern, whistling at the dancing girls who scratched their heads, It's the last chance to spend time with your loved ones at home, or to tell your loved ones about your love in a secret place.

But for some, the battle has already begun.

"Five scouts were dispatched in three days, and those skeletons are really crazy."

Rod threw the report in his hand on the table and said with a calm face, shrugging his shoulders. In the past few days, the enemy's actions of sending scouts have become faster and faster, and the scope has gradually expanded. But alas, they lost the moment they stepped into Rhodes' territory——— fighting the GM on a map without the fog of war, which is the rhythm of life and death. For these scouts, of course, Rhodes can't clean up by himself, the first time he took the initiative was mainly to let Sir Bair and them intuitively understand the power of the undead, as for the next he didn't have to worry about it——— little bubblegum and canary were enough to destroy those guys.

However, to Rhode's displeasure, perhaps because his soul was used up too quickly, the damned undead no longer sent lich and vampire level undead creatures into his realm after that, and replaced them with low-level troops such as skeleton cavalry and ghosts. They clearly intend to take advantage of their numerical superiority in intelligence reconnaissance and to prevent the other side from gaining access to their own information again. Now there is no way for Rhodes, soul acquisition is a precious skill, not to mention, those low-level necromantic creatures don't have much wisdom in the first place, even if they are caught, they don't have much value. And their attributes are too low, not as high as the level of Sarah's puppet corpse witch——— only found out after Rhodes asked. It turns out that this corpse slave looks respectful, but her mage level is not low, as a necromancer, Sara is now at least forty-five, even higher than Marlene and Serena, although she was raised as a lich's henchman, it is not surprising that she has such strength. But take a closer look, if you don't count the two cheaters on your side, Bubblegum and Canary, only Marlene and Serena have the strength of a level forty Central Mage. Even those mages brought by nobles and legions are mostly only level thirty-five or six, and Sara is just a corpse slave, with the strength of a forty-five level mage, and such a corpse slave is at least ten around each lich. If it weren't for the fact that there were two top players on his side, Rod would have failed in this level of assigning spells.

The only downside is that Sara has a relatively high cast level. But the means are single, and she basically only knows necromancy. There are also some alchemy, and there are occasional small elemental spells, but they are only the lowest level of lightning chain and fireball magic. However, to Rhode's surprise, Sarah's alchemy level is not low, and if you use the player's words, this corpse slave's alchemy level has reached a high-level alchemy. That is, the level of an elite alchemist. But when you think about it, it's a matter of course, the job of a corpse slave is to serve the lich. However, as a dead man, the lich does not need to eat, drink, sleep and mate, and the corpse slave's service and help to the lich is naturally in the processing of spells and the refining of alchemy, since Sara can be valued by the lich as a corpse slave. And she can be an experiment for the puppet corpse, which means that Sara must have done a good job, otherwise the lich would not have chosen her for such a major test.

Another unexpected surprise also came from this, as a lich of Collund, Sara was naturally well aware of her former master's various research plans, potion recipes, and techniques. Needless to say, the undead have a knack for necromancy, but on the other hand, the skill and essence of the undead in potions, especially poisons, is what Rhodes values. The undead have no morals, as if they were able to use living humans like Sara to make corpse slaves, and these undead have perfected their potion recipes and improvements by using cruel experiments on humans to obtain data. These are hard to come by on the Continent of Light. Although there are some fallen dark wizards and necromancers doing similar work in the Continent of Light, they are a minority after all, and this kind of thing is so evil that if they are discovered, they will be finished. But in the Land of Night, where the study of living beings is officially permitted, the lichs can swagger around in the open plaza in broad daylight to dissect the slaves in their hands, and even if they chop up and sew the poor creatures together, no one will protest in the slightest.

And through such bloody and cruel methods, the undead have also invented many unique techniques, just like the "flesh and blood cream" provided by Sara to Rod, an alchemical potion that can be made by refining only a small amount of herbs. As long as the wounded person applies this medicine to the affected area, as long as it is not a life-threatening injury, it can be healed in a short time, it is simple and convenient, and it is cheap and easy to use, even nearly half cheaper than those treatment potions. Rod knew how much the potion would help the army———— ironically, it was just a by-product of Collund's research while testing a flesh-eroding spell.

The alchemy formulas provided by Sara can be said to be filled with thousands of human lives, but Rhodes naturally has no psychological pressure on this, anyway, it is not himself who puts those people in the gas chamber or queues up to be shot for vivisection, and in literary terms, these are also fellow human beings, and they have created all this with their lives for the benefit of other human beings. It's not a sacrifice in vain. So Rod asked Sara to copy a copy of the recipes for these alchemical potions, and then handed them over to Labis, so that she could be in charge of testing them, and if they were useful, they would be kept, and if they were useless, they would be sealed for the time being. As for the poisons and some recipes that would make Labis blush, Rod secretly withheld them himself.

In fact, Rhodes really wants to form another alchemy team with Sara as the center. Labis's strength is unquestionable, but she is simple and kind after all, which is both a good thing and a bad thing. There are many things that alchemy potions can do, and Rhodes is also very aware that there are many dark and evil things in the Belchems clan, the most famous of which is the flesh and blood alchemy of the Belchemus clan, which is the origin of the Belchems clan and the reason why the alchemy elves parted ways with other elves. What the Belchems do best is human modification, and Rhodes doesn't believe Labis knows anything about it. In any case, she was the queen of the Belchems who had inherited all the knowledge of the Belchems, and it would be strange if she didn't even know the core secrets of the alchemy elves. But Labis has never mentioned this, and never uses it, of course Rod doesn't believe that she knows nothing, the only answer is that Labis herself is very resistant to these things, in this case, Rod is embarrassed to force the other party to use them.

But Sara is different, thanks to the Lich's Blessing. This corpse slave does not have the slightest sense of morality on the Continent of Light, which is cruel in the eyes of Marlene and the others. But Rhodes needed such subordinates. There is a lack of such people in his hands now, but it is no wonder that growing up in the Continent of Light, he will always receive the teachings of humans more or less, unless he is the kind of person who is truly willing to be the enemy of humans, even the bandits and bandits will have a conscience to find out one day. It is impossible to expect them to do something crazy for themselves with all their hearts. But Rhodes is well aware. This kind of thing is indispensable. It's like the attack on Christie at the Midsummer Festival, if Rhodes hadn't kidnapped the son of the other party's leader, I'm afraid the matter wouldn't have been so easy to solve. Every force has its bright and dark side, and even Lydia's men have a fearsome undercover spy force, of course. This unit was not her direct subordinate, but Lydia knew what the other party was doing. As for some things, she won't do them, but that doesn't mean she won't let others do them——— as if in the midst of a civil war, Rhodes set the whole plain on fire, slaughtering hundreds of people, and Lydia must know this. It's inconvenient for her to do this kind of thing, so naturally someone will do it.

Rhodes knew this, even in his own team, this kind of conflict existed, and Marlene and Anne would not support some of their actions, but they would not oppose them. And Lizzie and Labis are obviously very uneasy about this, Lando and Marfa are inconvenient to criticize the lord as courtiers, and Saul and Joey are from poor backgrounds, so they naturally don't take it too seriously when they see too much of the warmth and coldness of the world, but it is sometimes difficult for a regular officer like John to accept his own ideas.

But Rhodes knew very well that his enemies were not just the undead army in front of him, and he was almost certain that even the preparations for this were not just a war against the Night Nation. The war with the Land of Light will start sooner or later, and by that time, Rhodes will inevitably use some murderous means. He uses these methods a lot in the game, and they work very well. However, Rhodes also knows that players in the game do this more because this is a game, and NPCs are NPCs after all, and no matter how many NPCs die in the eyes of players, it has nothing to do with conscience, but more about the relationship between prestige and rewards or tasks. For example, when Rhodes counterattacked the Land of Light in the game, he led the player legion to sweep all the way from the rear, turning the Land of Light, along with the player's power and the gathering place where the NPCs are located, into a sea of fire. And the prestige of Rhodes and others in the Land of Light naturally plummeted, from the original friendship to hostility.

However, Rod's way of brushing up his reputation is also very unique——— he directly led the player group to destroy the Nation of Light, completely eliminating this powerful force from the mainland, so there is naturally no longer the "hostile" reputation symbol of the Nation of Light in Rod's reputation column.

Of course, from the player's point of view, the Starlight Guild is a refreshing killing, but in the eyes of the NPCs, it is simply hell, and Rhodes and his team are almost lifeless everywhere they go, and the scale is so tragic that Rod even later has a nickname among the NPCs.

"The Destroyer".

Rhodes is the only person in the entire game who can earn titles through actions other than quests and prestige.

With their affection and loyalty to him, Rhodes had no doubt that Marlene could do the same for herself here. But after all, they are the natives of this continent, and they are more or less morally educated anyway, this kind of thing is okay once or twice, and if it is too much, it will overdraw their feelings and trust. Rhodes knows this very well, and he has not seen some guys who have rebelled against their relatives because of their stubbornness——— in fact, to put it bluntly, his subordinates can't accept the values of their respected bosses and masters.

In this way, subordinates like Sarah, who do not have "mainstream moral values", are precious. She is very much in line with Rod's requirements, and as a corpse slave, her every move is completely restricted by Rod, so she will not have a nervous breakdown like some murderers who kill and kill. So Rod also has the heart to keep her to do some not-so-righteous things for himself, but unfortunately he can only think about it now, the angel army outside is still flying overhead, and Rhodes is not interested in opening up a second war zone in his fortress now.

Thinking of this, Rod retracted his thoughts, and he sat down in his chair with a cold snort. Looking out at the snow.

"The enemy army is approaching, and I don't think it will be too long for the undead army to advance, what do you think?"

"At the moment, there is only a solid defense."

Marlene frowned, thought for a moment, and then replied softly. Lijie next to her nodded, and the huge conference room was full of people at the moment, except for Rod, Marlene. Lijie and Anne are the old men who have been following him. There are also latecomers such as Joey, Lando, and Marfa, plus the BUG trio dominated by Seven Love, Little Bubblegum and Canary, which is Sir Bair and Frederick beside him. Serena and the others, of course, those nobles and legion representatives will naturally participate, in addition to Bennie, the representative of the War Angel Legion.

The originally quiet conference hall was a little noisy at the moment because it was full of people, after hearing Rod's words. Everyone couldn't help lowering their voices and began to discuss with each other, Rod looked at the scene in front of him, and then felt that his lord had finally done something worthy of his name at this time. Anyway, now that he has a meeting, he can gather so many people to discuss and study every word of his own words, and he finally understands why he is here, those big leaders on the earth always have a small meeting every three days, a meeting every five days——— sometimes it looks really cool.

"But my lord, the information we have so far is incomplete, and we only rely on that ............... The young lady's report still couldn't accurately judge the number and strength of the enemy. ”

Frederick stood up and spoke, and as he spoke of Sarah, the young knight's tongue twirled, and after a moment's hesitation, he finally continued.

"That's a problem."

Rod nodded, this was also what he was worried about, to be honest, Sara was arrested a little too early, and now several days have passed, but the undead army still has not moved, which makes Rod feel even more worried. Generally speaking, no action is the best thing, but Rod knows that the road is not so simple, although the undead army is characterized by mobility, but Rod also knows that some of the high-level units in the road belong to the kind of perverted monsters that move very slowly, but the attack is high and the defense is high, such as flesh and blood abomination or something, it is simply a moving hill, and the skin is rough and thick, if the undead army has been stationed waiting for these truly terrible siege monsters to appear, then even he will inevitably be a little uneasy. And it's important to assess the number of enemies, not just for how long they can hold out.

However, Rhodes has never sent scouts to the other party, he knows that those undead creatures are insidious and cunning, and he will send someone over at will, once he is caught, then the other party will immediately know the situation in his fortress, so that Rhodes has spent so long cleaning up the enemy's scouts is completely blind.

"Any other questions?"

"This............ In terms of material supply........."

Labis timidly raised her hand, seeing everyone looking at her, this introverted alchemy elf couldn't help but shrink her body, and then said hesitantly.

"This............ Lord Rhodes......... Originally, we calculated that it was enough, but now that there are so many people in the fortress, this ............ It may be a little ............... enough."

"With the War Angel Legion here, they can share part of our burden."

Rod gestured to Labis, signaling her to be at ease.

"We don't need to make more magic arrows in the future, and we don't have time to do it, Labis, from now on you can try to make more flammable things like fire oil, which are easy to make, convenient, and don't waste time and energy."

"Okay, my lord, I see."

Hearing this, Labis let out a sigh of relief and nodded, and sat down again. Then, the other stood up———— Bilan's heart was still drowsy, she reached out and pressed the heavy black book in front of her, narrowed her eyes, and yawned.

"As for the garrison............ Whew......... The fusion went quite smoothly, with the help of two legion commanders in training, and the speed was much faster............ Whew......... Don't worry, Rod, it's okay in this regard, nothing is a problem. ”

"My lord, I think we should investigate the current state of the Undead Legion."

Lando, who had been silent, finally spoke at this time.

"What many soldiers are most worried about now is that we don't know the exact number of the undead army and their composition, Miss Sarah's information to us is of some use, but these are not enough, if I can, I can lead some elites, and Thor can also ..............."

"It's not that simple, Lando."

Rod interrupted Lando with a wave of his hand.

"The army of the undead and the army of the living are completely two different concepts, and the place where the undead army is located is full of miasma, and ordinary humans can't support it for long at all. Moreover, once you are captured by them, even if it is just a corpse, those undead creatures can extract information from your brains and blood, and once they succeed, then what we have done before will be completely useless. ”

“………………………”

Hearing Rod's words, the atmosphere under him suddenly froze, and many people's faces changed slightly, they knew that the undead creatures were terrifying, but they didn't expect the other party to be so terrifying. If that's the case, then they're sending scouts over to reconnoiter for the other side's way, but not for ............... In the face of an enemy with black eyes, how do you fight this? Knowing oneself and knowing that the other side can survive a hundred battles, even if your side is strong, it is limited after all, isn't it?

"Captain Bennie."

Rhodes tapped his fingers on the table, pondered for a moment, and then looked up at the Captain of the War Angels, who had been silent during the meeting.

"What's going on with the Angel of Dawn? Has there been any change to the opponent's 'array flag'? ”

If there is any reconnaissance method on Rod's side, the only way to do it is to rely on the powerful vision of the Angel of Dawn to look from a distance, but this observation is limited after all, so Rod does not expect to rely on the angel alone to obtain enough information. In fact, the best way to do it is to let these angels be scouts, but Rhodes wants to save these trump cards until the last moment, so he even asks Benny not to let the war angels fly and hover in the air, and the magic fleet also allows Rhodes to hide quietly behind the ridge. Only a surprise change at the beginning of the confrontation between the two armies will change the course of the battle, but if the other side is prepared, then the previous work will be lost.

"So far, nothing has changed."

Benny shook her head slightly and replied.

The formation flag has not moved, which means that the other party is still deployed, even if it wants to start immediately, there is still at least three days of preparation period——— Rhodes is very familiar with the methods of the undead army, and naturally knows their military deployment and movements.

"I'll solve the scout's problem."

Eventually, Rhodes made up his mind and spoke. (To be continued......)