Karnak, Monarch of Death

Chapter 242: The Siege of Strauss (4)

The next day, the siege began once again. But this time, it unfolded in a slightly different way.

To start, Karnak openly revealed himself outside the fortress walls. In response, Emil Strauss likewise revealed himself atop the ramparts. Karnak paced back and forth outside the walls. Emil mirrored him and paced along the ramparts.

The two of them spent quite a while locked in a staring contest. They were so far apart that neither could see the other’s face, nor even their outline clearly. A real staring contest was impossible. And yet, their intentions were perfectly clear to one another.

Come to me.

As if I would. You come to me.

From future Leven’s perspective, he could no longer recklessly send troops out of the fortress as he had the day before. The opponent was far too familiar with necromancy.

It wasn’t just that they understood necromancy itself. They were adept at reading the entire flow of a battlefield shaped by necromancy. Otherwise, there was no way they could have made such a swift decision to retreat in the chaos of yesterday.

If I deploy my forces carelessly, they could punch through the fortress in one stroke.

Karnak, too, couldn’t afford to move his army lightly. He had to treat the lives of the subjugation army’s soldiers as precious. This wasn’t about ethics or morality. Such were principles that, though natural for any human to uphold, most commanders neglected in practice.

Unlike the undead, once a human soldier died, that was the end. Even as mere numbers, they were an undeniably valuable resource. He couldn’t squander them the way he had in his previous life.

With each soldier having only one life, he had to conserve them, and spend them only at the right moment.

Man, how did the enemies I used to fight so easily throw away soldiers, knowing they’d never return once dead? Did they not care about the aftermath?

And so, for the whole day, the two sides did little but glare at each other. For the soldiers on both sides, it was a rather pleasant day. The air was thick with tension, as though a fight might break out at any moment, but in reality, nothing happened. They pretended to stay alert while enjoying a good rest.

By the end of the day, when even after all that posturing Karnak’s forces showed no reaction, future Leven clicked his tongue. I’ll need to change my tactics.

***

The sun dipped below the horizon, and dusk settled over the battlefield. The soldiers of the subjugation army began preparing their camp, sensing that there would be no more assaults on the fortress today.

It wasn’t just an unfounded hunch. Undead grew stronger after sunset, so as the attacking force, the subjugation army typically halted their offensives once the sun went down. There was no reason to insist on fighting at a time that favored the enemy.

One veteran muttered dryly as he gazed at Strauss Fortress. ”Looks like nothing happened today after all.”

But then, his expression twisted into something strange. Something bizarre was rising over the ramparts. Well, on its own, the object wasn’t that strange. The subjugation army possessed plenty of them as well.

”Huh? A catapult?”

What was a catapult, after all? It was a weapon designed to hurl boulders to break down fortress walls. It wasn’t something meant for killing soldiers. Firing boulders at troops? That was no different from trying to swat a mosquito with a rock.

”Maybe it’s some other weapon that just looks like a catapult?”

The knights watched the rampart cautiously, but soon their expressions turned incredulous.

There was no doubt about it. It was a catapult. Heavy objects were loaded onto it, and then, sure enough, it began to fire.

”Wait, we’re the ones supposed to be firing catapults at them...”

”Why are they firing catapults at us?”

Soon after, chunks of stone tore through the sky and came crashing down into the subjugation army’s main camp. Getting killed by such blind bombardment would be the very definition of a senseless death.

The soldiers scrambled to dodge, and fortunately, with the projectiles visible from afar, avoiding them wasn’t too difficult. The heavy objects slammed into various parts of the camp, kicking up clouds of dust. Then, they began to rattle and shift.

Turns out, they weren’t stones. They were grotesque lumps, packed tight with corpses and bones. It was a kind of monstrous ball of flesh. Well, they were too large to be called mere balls. They were enormous spheres of meat, each one easily two meters in diameter.

”Huh?”

”What the hell is this?”

The soldiers grimaced in disgust, cursing under their breath. Just then, the lumps of flesh scattered throughout the camp began to moan all at once. At the same time, the grotesque masses began to unravel and fuse together.

Flesh melded with flesh, bone joined with bone, and slowly, they began to take the shape of human forms. It was only then that the soldiers’ faces turned pale.

”Un-undead!”

”Those lunatics fired undead with a catapult!”

***

A cold smile played on the lips of future Leven as he watched from the ramparts. Firing living soldiers from a catapult was something no human with a shred of decency would do, nor would it serve any real purpose. But what harm was there in launching soldiers who were already dead?

Tesranach often used this tactic in my past life.

Even among the most wicked necromancers, few stooped to such methods. No matter how well-versed this Karnak might be in necromancy, this had to be his first time seeing something like this.

Future Leven sneered coldly. ”Heh heh... Now, let’s see how you handle this.”

But moments later, his sneer faded. “Hm?”

Priests of the church were rushing in towards the undead projectiles as though they had been waiting for this very moment. They surrounded the undead, sprinkled them with only water and raised prayers to their goddesses. They promptly unleashed waves of holy light.

”Oh, goddess!”

”Punish these wicked beings!”

”Guide these pitiful souls to their rightful death!”

There was a clear weakness to this undead catapult tactic. If you simply launched the undead as they were, even they would shatter on impact. That was why they had to be fired in a disassembled state, then reassemble themselves after landing.

The process of corpses becoming undead soldiers required a bit of time. What would happen if the bits and pieces of undead were washed over with holy water and divine power before their reassembly was completed? The result was simple: neutralization.

”Just as Lord Karnak said!”

”If we don’t give the broken bones time to come back together, they’re finished!”

The undead were perfect targets when they were caught halfway through rising to their feet. The priests of the church eagerly showered them with divine magic. Across the subjugation army’s camp, bursts of holy explosions went off one after another.

Watching this unfold, future Leven muttered to himself. “They know how to handle this properly.”

To be honest, they were handling it too well. Humans were creatures that usually closed the barn door after the horse had escaped. It was normal for them to only come up with countermeasures after suffering some losses.

But these people? The church’s priests moved with expert coordination, as if they had practiced this beforehand. But such a response would have been impossible without prior knowledge of this tactic.

”How... how could they be so prepared?” Future Leven muttered.

Even grasping this tactic in advance was difficult to fathom, but to choose such an effective countermeasure was even harder to believe.

”That method... that’s the same one I used when I fought against Lord Tesranach...”

***

Alius couldn’t help but marvel as he continued to direct the priests of the church. This is remarkably easy.

It wasn’t just that they had predicted the enemy’s strategy. Karnak had gone a step further and even provided an easy solution.

—Just think of it like they’re flinging barrels of flaming oil at us with a catapult. We already practice fire suppression, don’t we?

When a barrel bursts and fire spreads, what do you do? You quickly douse it with water and sand.

—Exactly like that. When darkness spreads, just douse it with holy water and divine power.

The reason most necromantic attacks felt so threatening was simple: people didn’t understand them. Karnak’s analogy was exceptionally clear.

Once they thought of the enemy as nothing more than flaming oil barrels, dealing with them became surprisingly easy. As a result, the horde of Strauss’s undead that had rained down on the subjugation army were reduced back to corpses without swinging a single blade.

It was a complete waste of necromantic power and corpses, yielding nothing in return.

And the subjugation army suffered no damage at all. Alius thought. Without Karnak’s extraordinary insight, things would not have gone so smoothly. To think that someone so young could possess such profound insight. Truly, this is the blessing of Hatoba.

Meanwhile, Karnak watched Alius with satisfaction. Alius really is capable, isn’t he?

Having taken command of the subjugation army, he had needed trustworthy priests from the church. But of course, there was no such thing as a trustworthy priest for Karnak. No matter who they were, the moment they learned his true nature, they would turn against him.

In that case, the best kind of priest was one who, when the truth came out, would be the easiest to take care of afterward. And so, naturally, he had turned to Alius first. Once again, he had come running without hesitation.

—Thank you for calling me!

—Aren’t you enjoying this a little too much? Weren’t you scolded last time for leaving your post?

—But this time, it wasn’t me acting on my own, was it? Lord Karnak himself summoned me! The old bones of the church can’t say anything about that.

Not only that, Alius had brought with him several capable priests from the church. There were plenty of passionate young priests who wished to stand against the forces of darkness, protect the faithful, and bring glory to the goddess.

They became a formidable force once they were gathered into a dedicated corps. Before long, the priest corps had repelled every last undead hurled into their camp.

Once the situation settled, Karnak approached Alius. ”You’ve done well. They won’t be able to use such tricks again.”

”But still, Emil Strauss has gone too far,” Alius said, clicking his tongue as he glared toward Strauss Fortress. ”It’s one thing to conceive such vile acts, but to actually carry them out. Had Lord Karnak not devised the countermeasures, we might have suffered heavy losses.”

Beside him, Serati wore a complicated expression. Well, actually...

In truth, it was the complete opposite. It had been Karnak who invented this vile tactic in the first place, and it was the future Leven, inside Emil, who had come up with the countermeasures.

Yet here was Karnak, looking up at the sky with a face free of even the slightest guilt, replying with absolute righteousness. ”Indeed. How could one, born human, commit such wicked acts? Tsk tsk.”

***

After that, future Leven continued to deploy various undead-based strategies. Among them was a tactic where he deliberately raised corpses of the diseased through necromancy and sent them staggering into the subjugation army’s camp.

A single plague-ridden corpse coughing violently while wandering the camp would be enough to spark an epidemic. But no matter what he tried, nothing worked.

It was uncanny how precisely Karnak seemed to see through every one of his tactics, and how perfect the countermeasures were. Much of the credit belonged to Alius and his priest corps. Strong priests were undeniably the bane of necromancy.

As long as they were deployed at the right time and place, the priest corps became the sharpest blade against the undead.

After several failed attempts, future Leven eventually gave up on his tricks. This won’t do. That bastard is predicting my every move.

His brow furrowed in frustration. But why... why is every countermeasure they use exactly the ones I used back in my battles against Tesranach?

***

Strauss’s offensive began to stall. They no longer relied on undead-based tactics and simply holed up inside the fortress, focusing on defending the walls.

Well, well, looks like they’ve finally run out of tricks. Karnak smiled triumphantly. Then it’s my turn now.