Dragon's Soul Chapter 60: Broken Walls

“Fire at will!!!” Zhang yelled as he made a small barrel in front of him appear and dip his arrow into the black substance inside. Once the arrow was dipped inside Zhang placed into a fire emitting from a torch. The instant the arrow lit on fire. The barrel was filled with oil.
 
Zhang released his hold on the bowstring the flaming arrow shot through the air and stuck itself into one of the silhouettes below. He did not give his soldiers barrels of oil because there was as chance they could set the wooden fort on fire.
 
The moment the arrow pierced into the dark silhouette it was set ablaze. However, it did not stop nor falter and continued walking toward the fortress.
 
Soon a hint of burning flesh entered the nostrils of the soldiers above the walls.
 
When the soldiers looked downward the silhouette that was. .h.i.t by Zhang’s arrow was a walking fireball with the outline of a person. As the fire on the burning person flickered it illuminated the surroundings revealing dozens of disfigured people with missing limbs slowly made their way toward the fortress. Rather than people one could call them corpses.
 
“Zombies? No couldn’t be….” Zhang thought to himself as he continued firing arrows to create more light sources below.
 
“Yuying what are they!?” Zhang asked hurriedly.
 
“I can’t tell unless I can examine one of them close up. It could be a number of things.” Yuying replied.
 
“Guess we'll find out if we make it to morning.” Zhang replied.
 
Zhang’s soldiers continued firing a constant barrage of arrows from above the walls but from the looks of it their efforts were futile. Despite being shot full of arrows or being lit on fire by Zhang the corpses below continued moving. Sure the fire would eventually would burn the corpse but that would take too long and could set the entire fortress ablaze.
 
As the thousands of undead descended on the fort the log walls began to creak and sway.
 
“Everyone off the walls! They are about to fall!!” Zhang bellowed as he and the three beauties jumped off.
 
Moments later a portion of the walls toppled over and came crashing downward.
 
“Fall into formation!! Form a phalanx!! Shield men in front with swords ready! Spearman behind them and archers in the rear!!!” Lu Xun commanded.
 
The soldiers following his orders condensed into a semicircular wall of swords and spears. Moments later the horde of undead gushed in from the opening in the walls. Luckily for them once the horde outside began gushing into the opening they stopped attacking the other sections of the walls.
 
Had they continued they Zhang’s army would of had been completely surrounded and most likely would not even have a chance at survival.
 
“Brace for impact!!” Lu Xun yelled as he raised his sword into the air.
 
Bang! Bang! Bang!
 
Sounds of banging against shields echoed through the fort. The soldiers cringed at screeching of nail sc.r.a.ping against metal as the corpses clawed away at their shields.
 
“KILL!!!” Zhang screamed as he jumped over the row of soldiers and wildly swung his halberd around. Everything in his path was cut to pieces but despite having many of their limbs severed the corpses continued to move. With each slash and cut the corpse's black color blood sprayed about.
 
“Hmph I’ll cut off all your limbs and then we’ll see if you can still attack.” Zhang said as he began dismantling the moving corpses.
 
As he hacked away at the corpses that was when he remembered something. If these were indeed zombies, then if he chopped off their heads then they would stop moving.
 
However, when he hacked off the head of one of the corpses it still continued moving.
 
“You’re kidding me….” Zhang cursed to himself. But he realized even if they could move without a head then as long as he chopped off of their limbs on top of sever the head then they would not pose a threat to his soldiers.
 
“Charge!! Hack off the arms, legs and head!!!!!” Zhang commanded.
 
“Yes my lord!!” The soldiers responded as the shield men bashed the corpses back with their shields and began rushing forward.
 
The soldiers of Aurora were trained to be able to cooperate with each other to their best ability. So as the shield men moved forward with swords in hand the spearmen helped them keep the corpses at bay using the length of the spears.
Shield men would hack away while using their shields to fend off attacks while spearmen stabbed their spears into the corpses and pushed them back.
 
Lu Xun and Sun Ce joined the battle and quickly made their way toward Zhang. Lu Xun showed that he was extremely skilled in combat when he incapacitated the corpses with a few simple swings of his sword. Whereas Sun Ce overwhelmed the corpses with his powerful strikes. These two mowed down all in their path just like Zhang.
 
“My lord fall back let us handle this.” Lu Xun beaconed for Zhang.
 
But Zhang completely ignores him and continues hacking away at the corpses.
 
Although they were able to change the flow of the battle into their favor there was no end to the sea of corpses that kept coming in through the fallen section of the walls.
 
That was when Ai yelled, “Everyone get back!”
 
Ai could be seen ascending into the sky using the Black Thorn whip to propel herself up. Then with a somersault she whipped downward while increasing the size of the whip.
 
BOOOM!!!
 
She had increased the whip to its maximum size and used its weight to crush a large portion of the corpses inside the fort.
 
“Move the lines forward!!” Zhang ordered.
 
“If possible we just leave the fort and break out of the encirclement.” Zhang thought. Although they could hold back the army of corpses now soon his soldiers will start feeling the fatigue of fighting an extended battle.
 
“Those in the back row begin readying the horses we will break out of the encirclement when a chance appears!” Zhang yelled.
 
Zhang’s soldiers pressed on and hacked away at the corpses they managed to push all the way back to the opening in the wall. During the course of the battle the clouds had parted and the rays from the moon once more shone down. Thanks to this visibility was greatly increased.
 
“Lu Xun have our men in the front lines swap with those in the middle.” Zhang ordered. He could see some of his men growing tired from the battle.
 
As Zhang looked around he could see one soldier had gone too far out and was surrounded. If he did not do anything, then most likely the man would be mauled to death so Zhang sprang into action. Skillfully weaving his way through the sea of corpses Zhang made his way to the isolated soldier.
 
The isolated soldier despite trying very hard to fall back was not able to. The corpses clawed away at his shiny black armor leaving numerous scratch marks on the armor.
 
“Stay back! Stay back!” The soldier screamed as he swung his sword wildly trying to break free. While swinging wildly the soldier could feel his sword strike into a hard object. When he tried to pull his sword back it did not budge and was stuck. The sword had hit bone and was caught.
 
“f.u.c.k! Come loose!” The soldier cursed as he tried to free his blade before the corpses swarmed him.
 
That was when something pulled his leg and caused him to lose his balance and fall onto the hard ground. The soldier watched with panic stricken eyes the dead began clawing at him and tried to rip him apart.
 
On particular corpse had a large odd looking worm sticking out of its eye socket. This particular corpse moved closer and closer toward the fallen soldier.
 
But before it could do anything a shining blade could be seen swinging upward cleaving the thing’s head and sending it flying into the distance. As the blade struck the soldier could see the odd looking worm retract inside.
 
“Are you alright!!?” A voice rang out as a hand appeared pulling the soldier to his feet.
 
“Ye-yes my lord. Thank you for saving me.” The soldier said gratefully.
 
“Fallback to the rear line and get some rest!” Zhang yelled as he opened a path.
 
That was when a voice could be heard in the distance. “My lord!!! The horses are ready!!”
 
Zhang’s plan was to get all of the corpses to concentrate in one location and then he could light the fort on fire and have his soldiers retreat by knocking down the wall on the opposite end of the fort.
 
But this was easier said than done. if they left up the offensive for even a moment then they would be overrun. And Zhang definitely did not was to sacrifice any of his men to secure an escape route for himself.
 
“It’s time for me to show you I can be of use.” Ling murmured as she climbed up the walls and began conjuring her essence.
 
Soon small blobs of water began appearing around her and the clouds above began spiraling downward. Ling was channeling water from the clouds and the air for her use. Soon a huge pool of water could be seen levitating above her head.
 
“Water Dragon’s Fury!” Ling yelled as the huge pool of water began turning into the shape of a long serpentine dragon. Under Ling’s control this dragon made of water.
Whoosh!
 
The water dragon came crashing down from above. The force from the impact of the water and earth alone was able to knock back many of the corpses. And to follow up on that the waves of water washed them away further.
 
Seeing an opportunity Zhang yelled, “Everyone finish them and quickly head to the horses!! Grab as much food as you can!”
 
While the soldiers were preparing to fall back Zhang ran toward the wall where Ling was.
 
“Jump down! I’ll catch you!” He yelled as held his hands out.
 
Moments later Ling jumped and her clothes fluttered as she descended into Zhang’s embrace.
 
After which he carried her like a princess to join the retreating soldiers.
 
On the other side of the fort the wall was being knocked down to create a way out of the fort. Once the walls were knocked down by the soldiers with a bit of help from Ai and her whip thousands of horses charged out.
 
Due to the congregation of corpses on the other side of fort this side was relatively clear.
 
“My lord where are we headed now!” Sun Ce yelled as he saw Zhang riding with Ling on top of his inferno wind walker as Yuying and Ai closing in from behind.
 
“We are going to Black Wind city! If we can get there we can hold out behind its walls.” Zhang said. They did not have the option of leaving the Black Wind Province due to most if not all of their supplies being left behind as they hurriedly tried to escape.
 
The trip over the mountains would take too long and without enough supplies they would be marching to their deaths. So their best course of action was to head toward the capital city and hope they don’t run into anymore undead.
 
Once there they could replenish their supplies and perhaps find help.
 
“Everyone move out toward the north!!!” Sun Ce yelled.
Since there were not enough horses Zhang’s soldiers had to travel with two or three men on a horse. Their added weight had made the horse’s speed drop.
 
As they rode away from the fort, Zhang turned back as Ling held onto the reigns. In his hand he had a bow and arrow. On the tip of the arrow there was a flickering flame and once Zhang released it, the arrow plunged into the wooden log wall of the fort.
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Sorry a bit short today :( Had to help do book keeping for the shop T__T. 
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And NOT ZOMBIES O_O