City of Desire [Kingdom Building]

Proofread by Thomas F

Orok Uram

Bang Bang Bang!

“Fuck, it intensifing!” cursed Lt. Dorv as the more undead begin to self-destruct.

One undead blast alone lacks force—but when dozens detonate at once, they unleash a storm of bone shrapnel, slicing through the air like blades of death.

This is happening everywhere: the undead explode, sending a shrapnel blast.

My mages have created a defensive shield around us, but some of the shrapnel and, most importantly, spells would go through them.

The bone shrapnel is deadly, but even more dangerous are the enemy mages.

They are using this opportunity to snipe at us.

I could feel my people getting injured and some dying, and the anger burned brightly in my heart.

I didn’t calm myself down; instead, I used it to push the Advance Together beyond its limit. It is only a skill I have acquired in the past six months from the single level up in my Officer Class.

The skill is good, but it is not that powerful.

I am only a Lv. 19 Officer; I have accumulated a lot of experience in it, like my Wildlander Survivalist. Enough to reach Lv. 20 and go beyond it, but it is stuck.

It needs something that I haven’t provided yet to level up to Lv. 20.

I pushed the skill further, while the Rhythm of Wild sang inside me. It is singing, louder than it had ever been since I had left the forest.

I have worked really hard to meld my skills over the past seven months, but it has been an extreme challenge.

This isn’t some low-level spell—it’s a powerful inheritance skill. Even so, I managed to make some progress. In fact, I went even further.

I stopped trying to control my emotions. The wildness couldn’t be tamed, and it refused to be suppressed.

It is who I am; changing it would fundamentally change myself.

So, I used a different approach; I started channelling it. This allowed me to remain rational despite the wild emotions running through my heart.

Hun!

Suddenly, Rhythm sang in the warning, and I turned to see a thick bone spike covered in black fire approaching me.

Grade IV spell.

The rhythm sang of its danger. I could recognise this spell and understand its dangers even if it didn’t.

It is coming at me, tearing through all the spells and exploding undead.

I want to dodge it, but that’s not an option. I must defend against it, or it will tear through my people.

‘Don’t waste mana on it; I will deal with it!’ I commanded my mages, and immediately, the shields stopped appearing in front of it.

The mages are under extreme strain because they are responsible for protecting the battalion from the exploding undead around them.

I don’t want to add this to their strain.

It took barely a second to reach me, and I reacted. The Lion’s Strength filled, and I swung my ax with the Wild Swing.

Clang!

My axe clashed against the spike, and I felt the immense force against it. Even with the force absorption enchantment, it sent me a step back.

Bam!

A moment after that, it exploded, sending shrapnel covered in a black fire toward me.

They tore through the defensive spells covering me, before reaching my body, before clashing against the Survivor’s Protection.

Most was stopped by it.

It is a half-inheritance skill, as powerful as a Lv. 30 protection skill.

It stopped most of the shrapnel; a few pierced me, and black fire wanted to spread inside me, but Survivor’s Healing stopped it, and a few seconds later, shrapnel began to be pushed out of my body.

“Advance!” I commanded and pushed Advance Together even harder.

We moved while the undead exploded around us and enemies sniped at us. I trained them for it, and they are doing well, but we are still losing people.

We pushed ourselves toward our targets, which are taking us on a merry chase.

Never staying in one place, continually moving.

It is frustrating, but they won’t be doing this for long. They are in control right now, but they won’t be for long.

A minute passed, and then another, and we kept following them while thousands of undead exploded around us, trying to stop us. Instead, they have only made us faster.

Finally, the expected note appeared in the rhythm, and I smiled.

‘Steel Ants, variation III,’ I commanded.

I could see the surprise on my men’s faces, but they had immediately followed the orders.

A few seconds later, the battalion was separated into twelve platoons of forty to fifty members, each led by a lieutenant.

They moved, while I also moved forward, alone.

It is extremely dangerous for me to move alone, but it is needed for the strategy to work. I didn’t plan to do this, but plans change according to conditions.

In these conditions, I need to go alone.

…

Barb Utsa

Bang Bang Bang!

I moved my shield forward to defend against the shrapnel coming toward me.

They broke through the defensive spells and came at me, while I dodged and defended while still moving forward.

“Rev move to rear, Barb to the left,” ordered Hugo. We changed our places immediately and moved forward without stopping for even a second.

Hugo is commanding actively as he pushes us toward our targets.

Many here had fought against this strategy of the undead; they knew how to deal with it while suffering minimal damage.

The explosions made the fire-breathing near obsolete, as there is nothing to burn.

These undead would explode as we reached them. They would blast themselves before my fire could even light up. Knowing that, Hugo had ordered me to stop breathing fire the moment the undead began exploding.

We moved through the exploding undead, with Hen and other mages defending us.

They are using Grade II spells to defend against the explosion. It stops most of the shrapnel; as for those that get past, they lose most of their power doing that.

Making it easier to deal with; the hardest thing about it is the sniping mages.

Hun!

Another spell came toward me, and this made me serious. It is not Grade II and Grade III spells that I had been defending against, but Grade IV.

Bone Spear Barrage.

It is a Grade IV spell, and it is coming toward me.

“Barb?” asked Hugo.

“I will deal with them,” I replied and moved forward. Shields appeared around me; they were not for the spears, but the explosion of undead that intensified around me.

These bastards are coordinating well; they intensified the explosions as Bone Spears came.

The Bone Spears came, tearing through the shields protecting me from the explosions.

I didn’t look at them; all my focus was on the lances as they appeared before me.

I exhaled and stepped forward before swinging my sword, activating Flame Strikes.

As I did, the fire appeared behind the sword, moving fast. It was too fast, actually; when I first got the skill, I couldn’t control it at all.

I needed to practice for weeks to gain control; I have it now.

The skill has been advanced from Swift Blade; it makes the attack faster. Earlier, it was physical, but now a jet of flame, powered by liquor and mana, is behind it.

Clang!

My blade crashed against the first bone spear; it was a mighty clash, my blade was fast, and most importantly, it became heavier with enchantment.

It sent the lance flying away toward the undead before I moved to clash against the second spear.

Clang Clang Clang!

It clashed against it, moved toward another lance, and clashed against it before swiftly moving to another one.

It clashed against one spear after another, before I knew it, my sword had dealt with all seven lances; I didn’t even have to use the shield in the other hand.

I may have defended against the lances, but exploding sharpeners still had struck me.

Thankfully, Hen had cast a defensive skin around. A few could go past it, but my armor defended against them. Leaving only three that struck my skin.

I removed the two with my own hands. I left the one; it was too small, and I didn’t have time to remove it.

“Let’s move!” ordered Hugo, and we moved ahead.

More attacks came, but we had defended against them and continued to move forward.

Our enemies moved around while the undead exploded, but that couldn’t stop us. We continued to move according to the commands we were receiving.

Minutes passed, and I saw a smile appear on Hugo’s face.

“Vandal and Along had reached their place. It’s time to move swiftly!” he said, and we all grinned.

Our speed skills roared the next moment, and dense protective spells appeared around us. The fire lit up my feet, and I moved forward with my team.

We moved fast. Even the explosions began to have a hard time catching up to us.

Vandal, Hugo, and Alog are the most powerful mercenary companies in Greltheaven. Now, three of them had formed a triangle and were moving toward the enemies at the same time.

With triangle forces enveloping them, it will be tough for enemies to escape.

This time, there will be no escape!

…

Aya Bandstone

I moved my shield forward, defending against another explosion as I moved with my company.

I am glad I chose the tower shield. I had done it within days of arriving in the city.

I used to use the round shield because it was the only shield I could use with my condition, but now I can use the Tower Shield, which I like so much more.

Hun!

“Left!” called out Trobo with a fear in his eyes. I turned and saw long bolts of black lightning coming toward us.

“Fuck!”

I cursed as I saw the big bolts.

It is Grade IV spell, without a doubt. I could feel it could kill me if it hit me. I don’t know whether the armor I am wearing would be able to help me survive this.

Our mages cast shield after shield in front of lightning bolts, but they were destroyed instantly.

Captain appeared beside me with his sword forward. A moment later, I felt his skill. An enhancement skill that increases the defences.

I controlled my fear and moved my shield forward, before activating Brace and my new skill Shield Wall.

After a moment of hesitation, I activated the Cover Ally.

Immediately, the captain turned to me.

“Don’t do it, it will kill you,” he warned. “I will be fine,” I replied, flashing him with a smile.

I’m one of the highest-ranking shield warriors in the company—only one person outranks me, standing just to the captain’s left. And even then, my gear is superior.

It is comparable to the captains, who are Lv. 30.

Silver isn’t holding back in fostering me, from the weapons to the potions to the training.

He is providing me with everything I need. It is the first time anyone other than Ulo has shown faith in me, and I don’t want to disappoint him.

He looked like he wanted to say something, but closed his mouth.

He understood that three of us aren’t enough to stop the bolts unless one takes the larger load. I have the skill and tools required.

Still, I am grateful for the increase in his skill’s power over me, which further enhanced my defense.

A second later, the lightning was in front of us, with more than half of the black lightning bolts in front of me.

Bam!

The first lightning bolts hit my shield, and I felt like a Warhammer had hit me.

The enchantments on my shield lit up brightly. It shook me from head to toe, nearly caused me to step back, before pushing Brace hard.

I felt a powerful shock, which made me want to release my shield.

Instead, I gritted my teeth and pushed my skills harder, enhancing the defence. I understood the first bolt was just a trailer for what was coming.

Bam Bam Bam!

The next moment, five bolts crashed on my shield nearly simultaneously.

I felt like a Carom Biron crashing into me with its rage and nearly throwing me back like a broken doll.

It would have, if not for me, immediately taken the steps back to manage the force. It is powerful enough that Brace cannot bear it, even when I pushed the skill beyond its limit.

A Grade IV spell is no joke. Especially for someone like me, in the Mid-Lv. 20’s.

I may have dealt with the force, but the lightning is still there; the bolts transformed into hundreds of tiny bolts and are now all over me.

They are passing through my armor’s defenses and hitting me. Making the smoke from the burned flesh rise out of my armor.

Puch!

I finally stopped and vomited up the blood. I nearly fell to the ground due to the powerful weakness that enveloped me.

I shouldn’t have done that; it was too much, and I could barely keep myself up.

Hun!

I was struggling when I felt the spells. They were gentle, like dusk; they began to deal with the small lightning bolts while healing my injuries.

Returning my strength to me.

“Thank you,” I said as I turned to the priest of dusk a few seconds later.

“Can you move?” Captain Galin asked. I nodded,

“Good, the companies are getting into their places. Soon, these bastards won’t be able to run,” he stated, and a moment later, we began to move.

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