City of Desire [Kingdom Building]

Proofread By Thomas F

Tamal Wraithhearth

“Shit!” Lionrian cursed as he sensed it as well, while I released all defensive spells and cast as many spells as I could in parallel.

I didn’t even have seconds before everything goes to hell, and I need to save my horde!

The bastard had brought out the alchfire orbs, and they are everywhere. I could count thirty-eight of them spread across the horde.

I have the Silent Diffusion skill, from the alchemy class I had in my younger days, but it’s not enough to stop it.

They had activated, and a violent reaction had already begun. I couldn’t do anything to stop them; the only thing I could do was to save as much as I could of the horde.

I wanted to ask how he did it. He shouldn’t have been able to teleport these into the horde.

My people and I cast the spells and activated skills that should have stopped it. If he were powerful enough to force it, we would have at least a second’s warning, but there was none.

The danger sense blared the moment they appeared.

Now, they are going to explode with such power that it will burn through my horde. I cannot stop this thing from happening; the only thing I can do is control the damage.

Bang Bang Bang!

That fraction of a second passed in an instant, and the alchfire orbs exploded around me, with the power beyond what I had imagined.

I had made one mistake in calculating their impact. I had calculated individual power, but not accumulated power.

It is not something people think about. It’s incredibly challenging to use them successfully, and when people do, there are only a few orbs involved, as was the case the last time he used it, not ten times more like this time.

The blue-green alchemical fire enveloped my horde. It is burning enormously, creating a chamber of alchemical fire.

As the chamber formed, I realised to my horror. The enemies understood what they were doing, and everything was precisely calculated. 

The alchemical fire began to burn the undead to ashes. People and I are casting spells and activating skills, but it seemed unstoppable.

“This is terrifying,” gasped Yark with horror dripping from his voice.

I didn’t dare to reply, I am busy protecting my horde, when I sensed something. That brought even deeper horror to my heart.

…

Leonas Cardin

“Fucking hell!” I cursed, seeing the explosion of alchfire orbs covering the whole Great Horde.

Last time, there were only three. This time, there are ten times more.

I know Silver had gotten twenty-five alchfire orbs, with four of them coming from my contacts, but these are the only ones I am aware of, and I know they had bought more.

I thought it was a waste to buy them.

That thought was reinforced further when the necromancer destroyed the mines and orbs we placed with a single spell.

Now, they have exploded the orbs right inside the horde. Alchfire now was covering it completely.

This shouldn’t have been possible; there are skills and spells to stop that. Not to mention warning skills like the danger sense.

Those skills provide them ample time to deal with such things, especially when there is a freaking Great Mage and a powerful Knight leading the force.

‘No wonder they have kept the plan secret,’ It was one of the things that made me angry.

I believed I had earned enough loyalty to know about the battle plan, but now I saw it in action. I understood why they have kept it so secret.

Still, I couldn’t help but ask how they did it. As I had said, it shouldn’t be possible.

“It should take out at least half the horde, right, General?” asked Belian. “More,” I replied.

Now, I wish even more. I would be down there to fight the undead. My whole body is shaking, wanting me to jump off the wall, but I controlled myself.

I have a job and I will do it, no matter how much I hate it.

…

Eliyen Saelion

The whole floor had gasped in shock as they saw the endless horde getting enveloped in green-blue fire on a large screen.

Till a moment ago, I had sensed nothing but deep fear from these people—they were trying to live as if it were the last day of their lives.

Now, there is excitement and hope as they watch the screen. Some didn’t even blink, with their eyes glued to the screen.

Even I don’t want to drag my eyes away from it, but I have a job to do.

Grade I and Grade II madams are nowhere to be seen. Now, it is up to Grade III and trainees to handle things. I have to prove myself, and doing my job well is the best way.

…

Silver

Bang Bang Bang!

There was no smile on my face as I watched the alchemical fire covering the horde.

If I were just looking, I would have smiled, like many others are doing, but I could see more than that. I could also feel and tell how many are dying.

It is a lot.

I couldn’t even count the number, and it is increasing every moment.

This had always been the plan. The greatest weapon I have is my legacy, and I was always going to use it. Before it advanced and its range extended, I was planning to do this within the city.

It was the only way I could bring out the alchfire orbs in the middle of them.

Though it would have been harder, I had felt the restrictions they had created within a horde. I would have been lucky if I could have brought half as many of the orbs as I did here.

The fire covered the horde, but I could see the effort that the necromancer and, to some extent, the Knight, were making to deal with it.

Their attempts are powerful, which made my heart skip a bit, but it’s not working.

The alchemical fire, rather than being forced away from the horde as the necromancer intended, is curling inward—gathering around them, thickening, and forming a burning chamber.

Amplifying the power of the alchemical fire further.

This was Caena’s doing, and it is subtle, but powerful, that is going against the spells and skills of the undead head-on.

It comes at a cost, consuming a lot of emotional essence.

Although I am getting even more from the people in legacy, it is the reason I installed those giant screens on every floor.

Including in front of the legacy, where thousands of people have gathered.

They may not be feeling it, but they are still under the influence of legacy. The emotions they are radiating are getting absorbed by the legacy.

Bang Bang Bang!

A few seconds passed, and another round of explosions rang out through the horde.

It’s slightly smaller than the first, since it only has twenty-three achemical orbs, instead of the thirty-six from the first explosion.

It was not part of the plan, but the undead themselves had provided it.

The orbs were divided into sets. The first one was for the show, which I had laid out across the city. The undead knew I had brought a lot of alchfire orbs. If I hadn’t revealed them, they would have been more cautious.

I thought he would destroy all the places across the city, but he didn’t.

I don’t know what his reasons were, but he only destroyed the mines and orbs that were in his way.

The second explosion made the chamber even stronger, and it is not the only thing we sent.

Along with orbs, we have sent the alchemical compounds there that make alchemical fire even more unstable and powerful.

It will make the fire run out of power sooner, but it is what I want.

The undead and powerhouses that could die have already died. Now, I want those who are being protected to die as well. The compound will make the fire powerful enough to do that.

I could feel their shields melting with alchemical fire burning through them.

Stone looked toward me, and I nodded.

I wish I could give him access to the legacy so he could feel what I am feeling, but I couldn’t. He needs to be part of the legacy, and there is only one person in Stones’ group who is part of the legacy.

Stena.

That’s why only she, Barb, and Embers would be able to benefit from the enhancements of Faithwrought. Even the scripts covering their bodies would be stronger than the coverings on him and others.

Soon, half a minute passed, and the power of alchemical fire rapidly began to deplete.

Gasp! “Fuck!”

In the next twenty seconds, it had entirely disappeared. Revealing the reality of the horde that made people gasp and curse in shock.

Gone was the great horde with seemingly endless numbers, and now what remained was what we had fought before.

I looked at them; patches of it covered with shields, which seemed to be barely holding on, covering the powerhouses as well as the remaining undead.

Of the Great horde of four and a half million, only half a million had remained.

Six hundred thousand to be exact.

The alchfire had wiped away four million undead, which is beyond our estimate. We thought it would be the best case scenario if we could wipe away three million of the undead.

The fire chamber had worked better than I had thought, especially after the second blast and those additional alchemical compounds.

Hell, I couldn’t even see the bones of the fallen undead. The alchemical fire had vaporised them.

I turned to Wraithearth—and found him staring at me, his eyes ablaze with a fury so raw and unrelenting it was as if hell itself had taken root behind them, freezing my heart mid-beat.

“Silver, if I didn’t make you regret this moment for the rest of your life. I wouldn’t be the Wraithhearth of my name!” he roared with unadulterated rage burning in his voice.

“Attack!” was my only reply.

The cannons roared, spells blazed, and arrows began to tear through the sky toward the undead, who remain gathered together.

It made the necromancer angry, but soon, he calmed his emotions.

He kept looking. He didn’t launch any spell, seeing my spells coming. He is now a lot more cautious than before, thinking about every move before making it.

He didn’t react to the attack; his people did. Spells materialized, defending against the cannonballs, arrows, and spells.

A lot of powerhouses have survived—enough to defeat us. As for those undead, they are stronger than what we had faced before, as all the common ones did not survive.

The necromancer was smart, understanding the power of the alchfire. He only focused on saving powerhouses and powerful undead.

The horde gathered, and his staff finally lit up as he looked directly into the eyes.

“The enemy had done what they shouldn’t have, for it, they will pay a great price.”

“My brave horde, descend on the enemy and destroy them till nothing remains,” he roared and charged toward us, while attacking us with a powerful Grade V spell.

The other spells appeared behind them. So much, they have clouded the sky.

Seeing that, I released the breath, and the crimson ring behind my hand appeared in front of me and became bigger.

As it did, I reached out and brought out the black and white blade from the ring as my men and the enemies watched in surprise.

“What the undead suffered is just a glimpse of our power! It’s time we show them our true might, so that they would never even dream about attacking us again.”

“Charge!” I roared with my blade pointing toward the enemies.

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