Chapter 84

The Steel Rose Clan was focused on building city defenses in case of an undead invasion. Since their fortress was located on Kongul, that’s where the invasion struck them first.

In the entire world, only three clans could stand against the undead on nearly equal footing. Despite a 170-level difference, the clan’s combat skills and relentless teamwork training yielded impressive results. The clan’s leaders, whom Bernard had trained for two years, displayed the best performance in the world.

Bernard possessed something the young gods lacked—experience in large-scale warfare. But his clan was just a drop in the ocean against the undead horde. So, they conducted expeditions behind enemy lines, probing the enemy’s strength in different locations, mapping out movement routes, retreat paths for their troops, and safe zones for gathering resources.

The leader delivered his report:

"We decided to test how the undead would react to the systematic elimination of their forces in one area. Once we wiped out all the common undead, chimeras began appearing. And when the chimeras started running low, the higher-tier chimera undead emerged. Bernard, as far as I can tell, the undead use mobs to create chimeras, and their ‘chimerologists’ only do this if we completely wipe out their forces in a specific location."

"Makes sense," Bernard replied. "The necromancers—whoever they are—can only control a certain number of undead. The stronger the undead, the harder they are to control. The undead respond to force with force—the harder we push, the stronger their retaliation. Sure, we could slaughter the weaker undead to provoke the stronger ones. That would reduce their numbers, but who’s to say the necromancer won’t lose control, leading to an all-out assault on the cities? We haven’t seen Bone Dragons, Greater Death Hounds, or Mountains of Death yet—but if we do, we’ll die fast. Right now, our mission is to level up and hone our skills to become the vanguard in the final battle. If you’re impatient, take a few squads and move to a remote location far from the cities. Slaughter the undead. If I’m right, you’ll encounter the truly powerful ones—not the weaklings we’re seeing now."

"Well, it’s worth a try," the leader agreed. "We need to determine the rate at which chimeras and undead are created. Based on that, we can estimate how many necromancers are operating in the area and how strong they are."

Bernard already knew who the enemy was—and that realization weighed heavily on his heart. To stand against the old minor pantheon of gods, united and commanding an undead army… It would take years before humanity could unite against this universal threat.

"To kill gods who have embraced the darkness… Dark times await us."