Rhine stood on the rammed earth wall directly above the camp's main gate. His salt-and-pepper hair was slightly disheveled by the night wind, but he didn't raise a hand to tidy it. Instead, his gaze was fixed on the distance, looking toward the only road leading from Silver Sand Lake into Greystone Post.
Night was falling over the landscape, and the last traces of twilight were gradually fading. The only light remaining came from the faint glow of torches.
Below him, the heavy wooden gate was shut tight, barred by a thick wooden bolt. Standing beside him were his six personal guards, each of their faces grim and solemn.
Slightly further away were the lackeys who had been hastily assembled—about sixty or seventy of them. Holding torches and various weapons, they wore fierce expressions.
“Commander,”
a guard whispered beside him, “another sentinel flew over. That’s already the third one.”
Rhine did not look up. He merely gave a slight nod. He was completely powerless against the druid's sentinels now, forced to let them circle overhead and map out every layout within the camp.
In the past, a simple spell would have been enough to destroy such a sentinel. But now...
He raised his hand and glanced at the Ring of the Exiled on his wrist. Under the suppression of this ring and the chaotic magic turbulence of the Golden Sea, he couldn't even cast a First-Circle spell.
But so what?
Rhine pursed his lips, which then slowly curved upward into a smirk.
From what he knew, the combat forces the Imperial Princess had at her disposal amounted to nothing more than a dozen or so guards. Even with the druid Elon Windrunner by her side, high-tier spells were completely unusable in the environment of the Golden Sea.
He had heard there was also a necromancer, but that person was an utter waste. In Rhine's eyes, he was probably just a pet dog the princess kept around for amusement.
In the end, it would come down to close-quarters combat and swordsmanship.
And on his side, they outnumbered the enemy several times over. Moreover, defending from behind a wall gave them every geographical advantage.
“If they dare to launch a frontal assault, they are asking for death,”
Rhine muttered to himself, his expression growing more confident. “So sending those sentinels back and forth is nothing but a bluff. In the end, they will still have to negotiate with me face-to-face.”
By now, Rhine had relaxed a bit. He reached down to touch the hilt of the sword at his waist and began to re-evaluate his defenses.
Since the sentinels were still circling overhead, it meant the Imperial Princess had no intention of making a move just yet.
He might as well use this window to have his men reposition and hide. Even if their initial positions had been exposed, the enemy wouldn't know about their subsequent adjustments, which could yield a surprising advantage.
Rhine turned around and began to issue orders. “You, go put out the torches in those spots. Don't let the sentinels—”
Before he could finish, a sudden cry of alarm came from beside him. “What... what is that?”
It was a young man standing on the far left. The torch in his hand trembled as he pointed directly ahead, outside the camp.
Rhine immediately turned his head and looked in the direction he was pointing.
At the horizon where the grayish-blue sky met the dark brown sand, a dozen pale figures were slowly emerging.
They stepped out from the shadows of the desert, marching with steady, unhurried steps. Though their formation was somewhat loose, they exuded an incredibly oppressive aura.
In the eye sockets of the leading skull, a ball of eerie blue fire burned. Behind it, a dozen skeletons marched in single file, each holding digging tools like shovels and hoes.
“Undead!”
“It’s the undead!”
“There are so many of them!”
Unlike Rhine's calm personal guards, the lackeys clearly panicked. The light of their torches flickered violently as they instinctively began to shrink back.
Rhine, on the other hand, felt his eyelid twitch violently as he stared at the dozen or so skeletons.
How could anyone summon so many undead in the Golden Sea?
Even low-level skeletons required continuous mental strength to maintain. How could anyone manage that in this chaotic Golden Sea?
Just what was the background of that necromancer?
Rhine didn't know much about Shane. He had assumed he was just a necromancer scraping by by relying on the princess's entourage, acting as a mere pet under her protection.
After all, the princess had a druid by her side. Even if suppressed in the Golden Sea, a druid was still far stronger than an exiled necromancer.
But looking at it now, this was not something that could be achieved through mere intimidation.
Summoning these dozen skeletons was clearly a high-risk gamble where the necromancer was putting his very life on the line. What was making him work so hard? Was it the charm of the Imperial Princess?
The more Rhine thought about it, the tighter his brow furrowed, but he quickly calmed himself.
After all, the enemy hadn't attacked the camp yet. There was no point in dwelling on this now.
But as the undead began to form up outside the camp and raised their digging tools high, Rhine's eyelid twitched once more.
Surely they didn't want to dig up the foundation of the wall?
Then, he dismissed the idea as utterly absurd. Although the wall was made of rammed earth and thick timber, it wasn't something a handful of undead could destroy with mere digging tools.
Yet, once the thought arose, he couldn't push it out of his mind.
Looking at those fleshless, bloodless monsters, he didn't dare to gamble.
So he called over a personal guard and whispered instructions. “Go gather all the hemp ropes. Station a few men at regular intervals along the wall. If those undead start digging at the base of the wall, send men down to clear them out. Move quickly.”
The guard accepted the order, turned, and left quickly.
Before long, the sky grew completely dark.
On the camp's walls, only the light of the torches flickered. Down below, the undead still stood in place.
An hour had already passed.
The enemy hadn't made a single move, which made Rhine feel uneasy again.
It was one thing for the necromancer not to show up, but the Imperial Princess and her guards hadn't appeared either.
Could it be that the princess had only sent the necromancer?
And that guy didn't care at all, just sending a few skeletons to put on a show?
Just as he was thinking this, the skeletons moved. They lowered their arms and took their first step. Dozens of skeletons began to pace forward, advancing toward the camp's wall in unison.
Rhine's heart tightened, and he immediately ordered, “Everyone! Raise your torches high! Don't let those things reach the base of the wall! Throw stones down at them!”
Following his command, the lackeys on the rammed earth wall hurriedly raised their weapons, and all kinds of chaotic noises began to ring out along the wall.
Suddenly!
Boom!
A violent, muffled explosion erupted from inside the camp. Everyone turned back toward the interior of the camp in shock.
In the northwestern corner of the camp, several adobe houses had mostly collapsed. Amidst the swirling dust, a massive, dark brown silhouette suddenly leaped out.
Its body gleamed with a dusty, dark luster under the torchlight. Its giant pincers flared, and its stinger was raised high, the green glow at its tip exceptionally piercing in the night.
“An earth stinger! It’s an earth stinger!”
“How could it appear here?”
“Help! Run!”
Chaotic cries instantly erupted within the camp. People scattered in all directions, and the scene became completely uncontrollable.
Standing on the rammed earth wall, Rhine was unable to process what was happening for a moment.
An earth stinger? Why would a creature that feared crowds appear in a human settlement?
Could it be...?
Rhine looked up. Another pale blue phantom glided overhead. He gritted his teeth, knowing this had to be the Imperial Princess's doing, but he couldn't let the earth stinger continue to wreak havoc inside the camp.
“Some of you, come with me! The rest of you, guard the wall! Do not retreat a single step!”
He had no choice but to deal with the earth stinger first.
Meanwhile, on a sandy slope a few hundred meters outside the camp, a figure seated on a skeletal warhorse appeared, with Elon beside him on the back of a camel.
Elon opened his eyes and said to Shane, “Sara is in position. We can proceed.”
Shane nodded, looking in the direction of Greystone Post.
This was only the beginning.
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