It took Clay, Ryan and his people another 2 years to finally grow strong enough to face the Grand Liches. The first year, they had been marching towards the Grand Liches" towers and fighting countless undead along the way. They even faced lesser vampyrs, vamps and even the n.o.ble Vampires which led their own forces against their growing numbers. From 300, they slowly decreased in number as casualties could not be avoided even with Clay"s runes. Especially when the runes are destroyed when attacked unfortunately. A dent in the runes would disable its effect, a scratch or even a tiny cut on the lines of the rune renders it useless. They found out about it the hard way and they became even more careful and united. They mourned for their dead and they pushed forward even more eagerly. While pushing towards the Grand Liches, they encountered other sanctuaries that housed limited numbers of people which they invited to join them fervently and successfully increased their numbers through it.
Clay trained them as he had trained the first people he trained; however, the newcomers were trained by the veterans. Especially Herman"s squad. They became the leaders of the people.
Ryan oddly did not grow as a child; it seems that their bodies stopped growing after they Teleported here. Maybe a side-effect of the spell, Clay did not worry too much about it and a.s.sured Ryan that he"d grow to be a good baby when they get back to their world. Alleucanth.
The men have started to truly grow as a nation and as a people through the countless battles that they have experienced and the leadership of Herman, once Lord of Erkshire, became that reminiscent of a king.
With their constant battling and growth, the undead forces no longer became a threat to them and instead they grew strong enough to oppose the Grand Liches. With the Grand Liches as their goal, they pushed even harder to train and to grow strong enough to stand at the battle that decides the fate of Evernight.
At the halls of their underground sanctuary which were expanded to accommodate thousands of people including women and children, in the mouth before the gates of the underground sanctuary, stood 800 or so soldiers, both veterans and rookies. At an elevated platform stood Clay about to give a speech.
"Tonight, is the night! Tonight, we march on the Grand Liches that terrorizes our lands even as we speak! They are the ones responsible for the extinction of mankind! You are the last hope of your kind and the soldiers that will fight for freedom and for the opportunity to see the Sun again and live on the surface of Evernight! We are at a precipice and at a single leap with outstretched hands towards the skies we will reach it! Our hands will break through the clouds that cover the Sun from filling the world with its splendor and beauty! We shall fight! Not merely for our families, our dead and our present, but for our future!" Clay enthusiastically gave a speech to rouse the spirit of the soldiers and even used Overpower"s buff effect, boosting morale and even ability.
"That was a splendid speech father! Truly admirable!" Ryan sent a telepathic communication to Clay.
"It is what they needed. And well, you should have noticed that I used magic to boost their morale. So, I cheated there." Chuckling, Clay responded.
"No father, it was still splendid. It may not be pure pep talk; however, the effects of your magic shall bring them victory in tonight"s battle. This shall be their final and decisive battle."
"You are right son; this will be their decisive moment. If they don"t move accordingly, they will all die, and we will not be able to help them any further." It was a harsh declaration, however, Ryan understood. They already spent so much time here on Evernight. If they stayed more time here, then they may as well just live here, however, they could not. They had family and friends that awaited their return in Alleucanth, especially Clay.
"I understand father. If they fail to grasp their freedom from the rule of the Grand Liches, then they will only die, slowly but surely. Only time will tell. However, if they succeed, then they will be the hope of humanity and the world!" Ryan beamed as he imagined this world given sunlight by the Sun and the living creatures to be basked in the glorious sunlight. How wonderful for them.
Just as they both finished their telepathy; Herman gave the signal to Clay that they were all ready to march forward. The gates to the underground sanctuary was controlled by Clay exclusively. The soldiers did not have enough ability to open it up even with their numbers. The magic users that Clay had trained all have grown more powerful however, Clay had taught them to Chant and shout the name of the spell that they wanted to cast. Thus, preserving his technique for those that were truly worthy of it like his subordinates.
The troop consisted of soldiers, magic users and logistics at the back. The logistics handled the resupplying of the javelins that were thrown and couldn"t be retrieved in the heat of battle as well as refreshments to those that needed to retreat from fatigue. The magic users were protected by the soldiers who had no apt.i.tude for it. And they were the main damage dealers in this formation.
The moment Clay opened the gates, he roared, "Kill them ALL~!" And then the marching of 800 people resounded clearly as even the earth trembled as they uniformly marched towards their final battle!
***
Before the fighting started.
Marduke, the one that the Lich that Clay killed three years prior had called for help was sitting at a round table with all 6 of the Grand Liches of Evernight, including himself. The Grand Liches ruled Evernight with the army of the Undead they each commanded. Each had a specialty, Marduke"s being the magic-oriented undead of every species. The one sitting next to him to his right was Elkanor, a Vampire Ancestor who ruled the vampire-kind. To Marduke"s left was Althel, progenitor of the Arch Fiend species. Directly across Marduke was Elyenthel, leader of the Specters. To Elyenthel"s right was Ackers, Grand Arch Deathknight, leader of the army of dead military men, serving as their commander in chief. And to Elyenthel left was the leader of the undead staples, zombies, ghouls and even skeletons; Boni.
"Marduke, it was you who has called for this gathering. Speak now, what it is you intend?" Spoke the one who had the greatest military force and power among them, Ackers.
"Still as bossy as ever, Ackers. Still, we need to put into consideration whatever has been happening in Evernight in the last four years. Our forces and territory have already begun to shrink down to the barest of minimums because of the army of humans that suddenly gained courage and the means to fight us.
"If we were to ignore it even now, then we will all succ.u.mb to the same fate as our fallen. Many of my subordinates have perished without any warnings since, and my territory is the first that shrunk to its current state.
"The trend of attacks suggests that they are coming straight for this tower to face us, without a care about territory at all. And this guess should be right, and when this is proven right, I ask that we all work together to defend our tower.
"After all, this tower boosts our powers to incredible heights while it stands. What say you?"
Marduke suggested to his peers. His fellow Grand Liches.
The name Grand Liches was derived from the legendary Lich King that once ruled over all dark and evil forces, not just the undead. Since not one of them could claim to be equal to the Lich King, then they named themselves below the Lich King and called themselves Liches despite not even being Liches.
"What you propose just shows how weak you are Marduke! How could you allow your territory to shrink as it is just from a few human"s uprising? Have we all not contributed to the forces that defend your territory already? My soldiers, Elkanor"s vampires and even lesser ones, Althel"s fiends, Elyenthel"s specters and of course Boni"s mult.i.tudinous cohort. How can you even ask for further cooperation?" Ackers was on Marduke"s case most of the time and it was understandable why he"d question Marduke"s competence, however,
"Ackers! Do you think I have not done anything to prevent them from advancing? I am asking you to cooperate because I, alone am not enough to deal with it. If I were, then why would I even ask for your cooperation? I also have my pride to uphold!" Marduke was furious at Ackers for speaking only with his muscle brain.
"I don"t totally agree with Ackers, but Marduke, he has a point. If you thought about the dangers and the risks of letting this uprising continue, you should have already done everything in your power and resources to eradicate this problem. Why did you wait until now to ask for a cooperation?" Asked Elkanor with his elegant way of speaking.
"That"s just it. I have sent wave after wave of forces to eradicate them, however each time, they are instead wiped out and worse, brought back to the origin. Trying to raise them again would take such a great amount of resources and that, I cannot afford even at this moment. So, imagine my predicament!"
"Let"s say that you are telling the truth, you did your best and were still bested, what"s the probability of all of us combining forces and facing them in winning?" Asked Elyenthel with furrowed brows and a serious face.
"That… I cannot say. I have been trying my d.a.m.nedest to find the source of their strength or at least their sponsor and had some minor success. I have been able to detect a large amount of mana signature in their midst whenever they are fighting and one of my scouts found a person holding a baby in his arms nonchalantly looking over each battle.
"Thus, it has come to my attention that this human possibly is the reason why and how the resistance has been getting their equipment and strength. Their short spears and swords that can wound the undead, inhibiting our natural regenerative abilities thus killing them, has been a thorn in my side for years now!"
Revealing this information was crucial to Marduke"s survival. And another piece of information he has found out was that the amount of miasma that has been acc.u.mulated in the areas that the resistance had originally had already thinned out to the point of it being non-existent which disables any undead that enters the s.p.a.ce. Just like fish can"t breathe outside of water, the undead cannot function well in miasma deprived locations. Reserving this knowledge for himself can give him an edge against these sly old foxes.
With Marduke"s urgency, the rest voted with Acker naturally harshly reprimanding Marduke while turning his hand away in rejection to the cooperation. The rest agreed and would send a ma.s.sive force from each of their own forces from different regions of the world to deal with the growing resistance.
"With this, we expect that you would do well in eradicating this rat that"s been infesting our world, Marduke. Do not let us down!" Said Althel as he showed his fiendish smile with b.l.o.o.d.y maw showing his fang-filled mouth.