The Exiled Lord: My Maid is a Battle Goddess

Chapter 325: The Prelude to a Fight

With her hand raised, Ophelia let out a bloodthirsty laugh.

"Kill them all."

The orb in her hand flared with light once more.

"Halo of the Mad Dead!"

The eyes of the Nightfall Domain corpses instantly turned blood-red. Maintaining a tight formation, they charged forward in a counteroffensive, thrusting their spears out as far as possible. A forest of spearheads met the oncoming undead head-on.

The rebel corpses showed no fear.

"Splurt! Splurt!"

The sound of blades tearing through flesh never ceased from the moment the two sides collided.

Large numbers of Corrupted Cavalry were skewered by the spears like meat roasting on spits. At the same time, the Nightfall Domain corpses suffered heavily from the charge of the heavy cavalry. More than a hundred were crushed into mangled limbs and shattered remains in an instant.

Phield felt his scalp go numb at the sight.

Fortunately, humanity possessed technology, magic, and intelligence. If they ever tried to fight Corruption through pure brute force and close combat alone, they would probably collapse and be annihilated just like the ancient civilizations.

"Are we going to push all the way through?" Rosalia asked. "Even though we’ve cut off Bull Territory’s reinforcement route, the Corrupted Cavalry are practically endless."

With a wave of her hand, divine power surged forth, instantly subjugating over a hundred wild corpses.

"No."

Phield shook his head and sneered.

"Hold the position and wait for my next move."

"The battle has only just begun. We can afford to make mistakes."

Losing some ordinary corpses meant nothing.

A black crow circled above the outskirts of the border fortress.

The third-tier Corrupted Divine Chosen, Broken Wing, had just finished implanting eggs into a fresh batch of villagers. Emitting strange insect-like chirping sounds at bizarre frequencies, she leisurely wandered through the outer perimeter.

"Did you see that monster? Damn it, I swear I’ve never seen anything that terrifying."

"She doesn’t even have a jaw."

"Corrupted creatures are monsters wearing human skin to begin with."

"I wonder what the lord is thinking. He’s constantly feeding villagers to them."

"You think you’re smarter than they are? If the nobles arranged it, there must be a reason."

The soldiers atop the walls whispered among themselves.

"Silence and stay at your posts."

A fanatic from the Shadow World Sect arrogantly barked at them.

"If I hear any more complaints, I’ll throw you down there and feed you to the corpses."

"Y-Yes..."

The soldiers were furious, but remembering the orders of the new Baron of Bull Territory, they could only continue standing guard.

"The supply line has been blocked... Without soldiers, efficient slaughter becomes impossible."

Broken Wing lifted her head and wiped the blood staining the corner of her mouth.

"Agnes. Weakling. Obstructing my search for food. Seeking death."

Half a year earlier, the higher authorities had ordered all powerful Corrupted creatures to stay away from the three outer territories. Broken Wing and the others had disobeyed because they could not endure their hunger. They had even formed a cooperative arrangement with humans. If discovered, internal conflict would be inevitable.

The thought of Agnes’s disgusting face and the delicious food she had worked so hard to secure made Broken Wing emit a low growl.

The smooth flesh along her back suddenly split apart.

A pair of translucent, magnificent insect wings unfolded.

Using a unique frequency, she issued her command.

"Divine Guard. Assemble."

As though answering the command of their queen, a large number of egg-infested villagers staggered out from every corner and crevice.

Their bodies had been torn apart beyond recognition. Most of them no longer even possessed intact reproductive organs. Countless insect eggs infested their flesh, many of them still writhing.

"Those villagers... aren’t dead?"

The soldiers on the wall stared at the scene below and nearly vomited.

"Look! They’re turning into insect monsters!"

The villagers convulsed violently.

Then tentacles, insect claws, and wings burst from their bodies. Powerful life energy spread outward in waves.

Under Broken Wing’s leadership, the insect creatures surged toward the area where Phield had blocked the Corruption forces.

"She... she’s leaving?"

The fortress garrison could only stare blankly as endless corpse hordes continued gathering in the distance.

Without the restraint of a Corrupted Divine Chosen, would these corpses truly refrain from going on a slaughter spree?

The moment Broken Wing departed, Phield received the information.

After all, his black crows had been monitoring the fortress perimeter the entire time.

The Sacred Griffin Empire, along with most nations of this era, possessed woefully inadequate intelligence and reconnaissance capabilities.

As for the simple-minded Corrupted creatures, their heads contained little beyond instinct and impulse.

"So she can fly."

Phield frowned slightly.

"Doesn’t matter. I was worried she wouldn’t come out."

He immediately turned toward Ophelia.

"That’s enough. Take control of the corpses and follow the rebels’ usual movement patterns. March toward the border fortress."

"I understand."

After only a moment of thought, Ophelia began carrying out the plan.

Meanwhile, Richard, the newly appointed lord of Bull Territory, lay sprawled across a luxurious new bed, surrounded by beautiful women.

"This is the life."

He shook his leg contentedly while enjoying every imaginable indulgence.

"This is what power and money taste like."

"Those old bastards should’ve died long ago. They made me live like a pauper while preaching loyalty to the Empire. The whole thing was rotten to the core."

"They were absurdly healthy. Men in their forties and fifties without a single serious illness. I practically had to do the job myself."

"At that rate, I would’ve been seventy before inheriting Bull Territory."

"Hehe, exactly."

His Divine Chosen, Polly, happily fiddled with a magical device in her hands.

"Someone hired us to kill Phield. They even sent plenty of gifts to congratulate you on becoming Baron of Bull Territory."

"Who?"

"No idea."

Polly casually picked up an apple and took a bite.

"But that person brought some interesting news. Apparently, Phield may have established a territory in Nightfall Domain, or perhaps discovered some ancient ruins. Personally, I think the latter is more likely."

"Very possible."

A vicious gleam appeared in Richard’s eyes.

"Only those of us living on the frontier truly understand how terrifying the corpse tides are. A useless coward like Phield couldn’t possibly survive in Nightfall Domain without some extraordinary opportunity."

"I never liked his face when he first came to Bull Territory."

"Within the next couple of days, we’ll take the border troops, find him, and kill him. Hopefully we’ll discover something valuable on his corpse."

With that, Richard raised his wine and took a blissful drink.

"I love you all. Hahaha!"

"My lord is so unfair. You should only spoil me."

"I love you too, the wise and mighty Baron Richard."

The women eagerly crowded around him, doing everything they could to please him.

"Enjoy yourselves. I’m going to get some rest."

Polly yawned and slowly walked out of the room.

At the doorway, she glanced back at the women and curled her lips into a strange smile.

"Love? Affection?"

"They’re nothing more than lumps of flesh waiting to be sacrificed."

Some time later, Broken Wing and her Divine Guard arrived at the region where Ophelia had intercepted the corpse hordes.

The battlefield was littered with ruined bodies.

Everywhere lay the remains of Corrupted creatures.

Cold winds howled through the area, while foul black blood pooled into stagnant crimson swamps.

Rosalia sat casually atop a towering mountain of corpses, her greatsword resting across her shoulder.