Dave rode on with his undead until they reached Tuka. It was an oasis that was br.i.m.m.i.n.g with Qin warriors. They had barricades set up and tents where their soldiers rested. When the guards of the Qin army spotted the incoming undead, a war-horn blew to ready the soldiers for battle.
But a battle it was not. Dave"s army razed through the Qin soldiers like locust to green fields. They slaughtered every soldier in the vicinity and left for another oasis. When the players that were chasing after the undead arrived at Tuka, they were met with a scene from the apocalypse. The oasis"s water turned red from the spilled blood. The corpses already began rotting under the hot sun, and fire was lit in every tent. Yet all that was left of Dave"s undead army were trails in the sand that the wind was quickly covering.
"They went there! Follow me!" A hunter said and led the whole army of players after Dave.
The players had managed to catch up to Dave as he was raiding another captured oasis. They aided him in battle and proved quite helpful as the numbers of the Qin warriors increased exponentially the deeper Dave went.
Some of these players began broadcasting the a.s.sault on the Qin army. Showcasing Skelly leading the undead and players alike into razing the ground with the Qin warriors. The news spread like wildfire. Thousands of players began teleporting to the west and ran through the desert to join Skelly"s raid.
It only took a few hours for the numbers around Skelly"s army to inflate. Players and Undead were joining hands to fight the a.s.sault of the Qin warriors.
These Qin warriors were a reason for despair. These mighty NPCs that managed to overrun several PC cities were easily eradicated by only 100 Death Knights and their respective regiments.
Seeing that a hundred Death Knight had managed to do what the whole player base couldn"t meant that the players weren"t ready to face the Undead Expansion yet. Dave had known that if these players were ever to face the a.s.sault from the Ash King only death would await them. The Ash-King"s army was composed of millions of Demon Knights that were all on par with the Undead King"s Death Knight in power.
Dave"s a.s.sault on the Qin army continued for the whole day. He had cleared seven oases of the Qin army and managed to repel several attacks on other areas.
Skelly"s a.s.sault continued. Until he was met with a force that was waiting for him in the middle of the desert, this force belonged to the Qin army.
The Qin warriors usually wore Red and Gold armors. But right now, Skelly was face to face with a hundred-unit brigade that was wearing a full gear of Emerald and Blue armor. They had enormous banners and gave off a strange, suffocating feeling.
Skelly waved a hand ordering his undead army to halt.
Some players wondered why did the unstoppable undead order his units to stand down. Trusting Skelly, they stood and waited for what is to come. However, some other players decided that they would take the lead and charge at this new type of units.
"Do not attack!" Skelly ordered at the top of his lungs.
Some of the charging players had to stop. They still had respect for the undead Skelly. Yet the rest continued on disregarding all orders.
"Fall back!" Skelly ordered, giving up on the unit that was charging on its own. With that, many players felt that Skelly"s behavior was erratic. Why did he decide to retreat? It was sure that these units were different than the other Qin warriors, but he still had a powerful undead army. And those units in blue were no more than a hundred units while skelly had more than ten thousand!
Dave turned tail and changed direction toward another area of the desert.
Some of the players that were broadcasting decided to stick and wait to see what would happen to the players that disregarded Skelly"s orders and continued toward the army in blue and green.
The fastest of the players arrived first. He was a legacy holder, he activated his legacy ability materializing an enormous bear with golden armor that struck down at the units. The bear"s claw smacked down, and lightning crackled. Creating an explosion of dust and lighting.
The player seemed excited as his attack was successful. Yet when the dust cleared, the one hundred units were unscathed. One of the knights drew a crossbow and pointed at the player. With a tw.a.n.g, the bolt from the crossbow shot out and pierced right through the player"s head. Instantly killing him and sending him to limbo.
This caused the rest of the running players to stop. "He died, just like that?" this thought went through all of the players" head. But the gears in their heads were spinning thinking about the fate of the one that just died and had been entirely oblivious that they too were in the same situation.
The Qin warriors were most likely the elite force. Half of these knights knelt and pointed their crossbows at the players, while the other half pulled out bows and shot a wave of arrows at the players.
The players that were running stopped and turned, then they began running away in all directions. Yet all hope was lost. The Qin warriors shot out their arrows and killed any stragglers.
Most of the players that disregarded Skelly"s order had died. A lucky bunch still managed to survive. A deep sense of fear budded in their hearts — both at the Qin army"s elite unit and at Skelly"s prediction of this ma.s.sacre.
As for the player that followed Skelly"s orders, they had now become wholly indebted to him. Otherwise, their fate would have been the same as that of the players that were recently sent to limbo.
***
Dave led the players ahead. He was heading to another area to free more territory. An hour later, another oasis was reclaimed. But Dave frowned still.
Looking ahead, he saw another one hundred units of those same knights.
Dave didn"t hesitate to turn tail and go to another direction away from these knights.
"Davey, who are these?" Lone asked.
"I had a suspicion at first, but now I"m sure. These are some nasty and powerful NPCs," Dave said.
"That"s some obvious s.h.i.+te Sherlock, man they one-shotted a player if you missed that," Flanker said.
"No, you don"t get it. I"ve seen their armor before. An NPC of the Legion is still wearing it," Dave said and tightened his hand on the harness of his mount.
"Who?" Lone asked.
Dave sighed and slowly said, "Kalel. The legendary hero of the people." Dave said.
"Kalel? The NPC that you revived and tried to kill you?" Lone asked.
"Yeah. He had the same armor as these things. He must have been a part of the Qin army before he died to the black dragon."
"Yeah. Well, lore-wise, it fits. He died in the wilds, it"s closest to the east," Lone added.
"Who"s this Kalel?" Perfect asked.
"He is a Doom Knight in the undead legion," Dave added.
"Doom Knight? Isn"t that the same rank as you?" Perfect asked.
"Yeah. And if my guess is correct, all of those NPCs should be as strong as Kalel. And I can tell you one thing. A single doom knight can take on a dozen Death Knights with ease. Imagine a hundred of his calibers. We"ll be like lambs to the slaughter of we face them."
"So, what now?" Lone asked.
"Let"s keep freeing the areas from the regular soldiers. We can"t fight the elite ones. We"ll do all we can and go back to help the North." Dave said and rode on to yet another oasis.