Dave called Ralph's troops over to fortify their position. The added crates made it far more difficult for any enemy's advance to make the situation any harder for Dave and his troops. It would be far more beneficial for the company to stay together.
"I need five men to stay watch, the rest of you get some rest. Sleep if you can. We'll need all the energy we can get." Dave said.
Five samurais volunteered to stay up and be on guard duty, the rest made sure that the moment their heads hit the ground, they were already asleep, a technique developed in times of war, to help the body rest in preparation for an upcoming battle.
Dave didn't need rest or sleep, he remained awake with the guards so did Ralph. "I don't quite understand the purpose of this quest bro," Dave said.
"Same, think about it, if you weren't here with your Undead abilities, we wouldn't have been able to climb the cliff's side and clear up the path for the samurais. Also, the crate idea was great, I wouldn't have thought of it, and that would have cost us a lot of troops on its own."
"Yeah, I'm beginning to think that this was not a mission we were supposed to succeed in, we were only needed to survive."
"You think we'll get extra credits for this twist?" Ralph asked.
"Definitely, all hard work must be repaid, and Albert is gonna do something about it," Dave answered.
The two kept on chatting as time passed. The enemy camp was still regrouping and organizing themselves for an assault, but no signs of obvious hostility came forward.
This gave ample time to Dave, Ralph, and their company to rest well, the guards swapped three times, signaling three hours of shifts.
Dawn broke, far too fast for Dave's liking, but this was probably the setting for this quest.
"I see movement!" one of the samurais on guard duty called.
"ON YOUR FEET!" Dave's shout was strong enough to wake the dead, so all those asleep rose up to their feet, their hands on their swords.
"The enemy comes, prepare for battle!" Dave called and the samurais were now fully alert and awake.
Dave stood up from his seating position and looked at the incoming enemy. He frowned and looked behind him at his own troops. He had more than ninety Samurais. But what was coming towards them was far more than they could ever hope to match.
An army of thousands if not tens of thousands. He could kill to his heart's content but it will never be enough to stop this march. This quest was not meant to be succeeded in.
Once the samurais took note of the incoming army, they were horrified, there was no way they would survive the day. The numbers were just too much for their small company.
"Damn," Ralph muttered.
"Yeah," Dave turned to his troops and said.
"Go back. All of you, retreat." Dave gave the order. The samurais didn't understand what he meant, they were here to die, and were going to die with their general. There was no way he would convince them otherwise.
Little that they knew of Dave that is.
"GET THE HELL BACK! Your fight is over, get back to the main camp."
Ralph picked up on Dave's words and also called.
"We don't need you anymore, your job is done. Get out of here. Take the ropes down, you'll make it if you hurry." Ralph added.
"We're not leaving without you!" the burly man said.
"I gave an order! Soldiers follow orders! Now go back or I'll break your legs and you'll be forced to go back." Dave drew his sword.
The samurai fully understood that their generals were trying to protect them from harm, even if they spoke such solemn words.
"Not a word further! FOLLOW THE ORDER OF THE GENERAL! FALL BACK! If the Shogun bitches about it, tell him it was a direct order!"
The burly man howled in rage, pulled his sword past it across his palm until it bled and the sword was marked with it, then the burly man dug it in the ground.
"My spirit fights with you!" he said and turned back walking down toward the rope.
Another samurai hesitated for a second, but also approached Dave, drew his katana, cut his palm with, and dug it in the ground, "My spirit fights with you."
More and more samurais came in, digging their weapon, a sign of their companionship to the death, they fulfilled the general's order in leaving the place, but their spirits will stay to help the two in the upcoming battle.
Once the last sword was stabbed down, the man spoke, "Our spirits fight with you, may they protect you. It has been an honor serving under you, generals." The last man spoke and took the rope down.
"I guess this is another virtue. Courage,"
"Nope, these are all the remaining four. Courage, in facing overwhelming odds. Duty in protecting our underling as their lives are bound to us by cause, and if they were to die in vain it will be on us. Compassion, for not letting them die meaningless deaths. And finally, integrity, because bro, we said we gonna fight, and we're fighting alright."
"Damn, how far in the future do you see man, hah!" Ralph laughed.
"Just basic stuff. Now get ready, it's gonna be a tough battle." Dave said and soon came the arrows.
A volley of arrows thick enough that it covered the breaking daylight as it fell down on Dave and Ralph.
Dave pulled a crate over the two and the arrows fell upon it, filling it like needles in a pincushion. The crate turned heavier with the number of arrows embedded in it. Soon the arrows stopped. When Dave removed the barely functioning crate, he noticed a forest of arrows around them.
"Damn, just this would have wiped out all of our troops."
"Yep. Ready up bud," Dave drew Durandal and pointed it forward.
"I really miss my sword." Ralph sighed and the two of them charged into ten thousand.
No battle could have been more epic, the base HP of Dave and Ralph were massive compared to the NPCs against them. A system given advantage, they both had more health, more stamina, and more power in their blows. Compared to them, the NPCs were regular men, while Dave and Ralph were superhumans.
They were able to dish out loads of damage. Dave would swing his sword and lives would fall under its weight. Ralph's own katana was not a poor match, it was also able to slice and dice, cut and slash faster than the eye could see.
The two danced between the thousands of NPCs. Culling lives as if they were picking weed. Blade and sword crossed, and Durandal came victorious in every matchup, breaking the opponent's weapon and his skull in one singer swing.
Ralph's sword was so sharp the contact against steel was like the contact between a hot knife and butter. It sliced sword and armor as if they were made of paper.
Yet the numbers were too much for the two. Ralph took a hit to the heel, causing him to sway, unable to have a proper footing. Another NPC tackled Ralph and a bunch of them jumped on him burying him in a clump of bodies.
Dave noticed his friend's predicament, pushed the cl.u.s.tering NPCs to the side, and grabbed him by the leg. The only visible part of Ralph. Dave pulled Ralph from under all the soldiers, he was bloodied, some even bit at him.
"Up you go, buddy!" Dave called and hurled Ralph to the skies.
Ralph, in Dave's hands, weighed nothing more than a piece of rock. He threw him high up, enough time for Dave to tighten his grip on Durandal and swing it around himself like a top.
The sword was merciless, it didn't cut people, it split them, broke them in halves as it spun around Dave, killing any unfortunate soldier, or worse, wounding them half a step to death, causing them to howl in misery.
Ralph's descent was stopped by an extended hand. Dave grabbed his buddy in mid-air and said, "You good?"
"Give me a heads up next time will ya?"
"Sure, get your ass back to work, we still got lots of killing to do," Dave said.
Seconds turned to minutes, which turned to hours. The numbers of bodies around Dave and Ralph were staggering, enough that they made their own mountain of corpses. They stood atop them, killing off any NPCs that still dared to come their way.
Ralph was nearly depleted, he didn't half even a quarter of Dave's max HP, and he was taking damage a lot. Dave had him stay on the top of the mound of bodies, and wait for his base regeneration to pump up his HP to acceptable levels. Dave on the other hand was fresh as new. His passive generated enough hp for him to sustain all the damage from the NPCs without any setbacks. If he were the only one doing this mission, it would have to take him days to finish but he was certain he would end up killing every single NPC here.
Yet this was Ralph's Legacy Upgrade, and he must protect his buddy.
Dusk came, and the visibility turned grim. The Soldiers noticed that it was getting difficult to kill the two and without proper vision or proper footing it was going to be even more of a hindrance to taking them down.
Dave killed a man by splitting his head in two then kicked the body to land on another.
"Shinigami!" One of the soldiers shouted in horror and escaped. More began following.
This was a glimpse of hope in Dave's eyes, if they kept on killing them, even more brutally so, the soldiers will fear and feel that they are in the face of omnipotent power.
It was true, for the soldiers, Dave and Ralph were like the angels of death. They didn't tire, they didn't weaken, they kept on killing and piling on the bodies. As for the soldiers, they died, whoever came to the angels of death died miserably.
"Stand your ground!" one man called and the retreating troops stopped.
Dave had one good look at the man and frowned. This one was wearing an outfit far too decorate for a normal soldier. He was a general class, or even higher from the look of the few soldiers next to him, this man was probably the leader.
"Surrender!" said the man toward Dave. "Surrender your weapons and we will spare you, no need for more lives to be wasted."
"From where I'm standing, you're the one wasting lives, I'm still alive…" Dave noticed a half-dead man at his feet going for his knife. Dave gave him an armored boot to the face that ended his life. "Like I said I'm still alive and kicking."
"Who's this guy?" Ralph asked.
"Don't know, it should be common courtesy to say one's name in these situations don't you think?"
"I'm Bei lo, The western Daimyo."
"What does that mean?" Ralph questioned.
"Means he is the Western Shogun's right-hand man."
"Oh, we got a big shot over here."
"Surrender or we'll burn you down with the bodies!" The Daimyo said.
The soldiers next to Bei Lo frowned upon his claim. They didn't burn bodies, they buried them, for their souls to rest.
"Now I don't think you quite understand your position here, guy," Dave said.
The Daimyo frowned, what was that man talking about.
"You're in my jump range," Dave grinned and jumped forward like a pouncing leopard. His sword at the read pointed forward while the Daimyo was stunned at how far that man had just jumped.
Dave ended the man's life with one swing, and turned to the ornate soldiers that were right next to him, a few chops and slashes and they were quick work. Ralph was so unimportant at the time that no one thought about climbing up and group kill him. Dave had brought a lot of attention to himself with his stunt.
"We're just getting started!" Dave howled.
But Ralph's answer soon came to his ears.
"Nah buddy, I think we did it, man."
"What do you mean?" Dave asked after he separated a man from his legs.
"Do you hear that? The horn." Ralph said.
Dave didn't hear anything; he was still questioning if all that fighting made his friend a bit crazy.
"Rohan had come at last!" were Ralph's words.
The sound of rumbling echoed in the distance, and from Dave's position he couldn't see clearly. So, he jumped to where Ralph was on the corpse mound and was stunned at the revelation. The incoming troops all held the Shogun's banner, the Shogun from Dave's camp. It was true, what Ralph said, Rohan had come at last.
**** Please Make sure to read this story on .com, if you are reading Rise of the Undead legion anywhere else then you are on a pirating website, do not accept to offer any kinds of payment to such people as they are non-repsecting of author's right and I, as the writer am not benefiting from their schemes in any way possible.****
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