Dragon's Soul Chapter 132: Preparations

Atop the walls of Dark Sea City, thousands of men were stationed as guards along with hundreds of catapults to defend the city. Knowing it was only a matter of time before Zhang's forces arrived, Liu Biao had village and town within a fifty-mile radius of Dark Sea City evacuated.

All of the civilians were transported into Dark Sea City for their own protection. Once all of the civilians were gathered, the city gates were bolted by giant wooden beams and sealed by placing massive boulders behind them. This made it so it would be impossible for defectors to open the gates to let Zhang's soldiers inside the city and would also make it many times harder to break into the city.

Hundreds of thousands of civilians were then drafted to help defend the city, bolstering the Dark Sea Army's numbers to a staggering eight hundred thousand soldiers. Although these soldiers lacked training and discipline, none of this mattered because of the advantage given to those who were defending a city from atop its walls. With their numerical advantage alone they would be able to keep Zhang's soldiers at bay.

Liu Biao also offered high pay to any high-level warrior or mage who were willing to help defend the city, allowing him to gather twenty level seven warriors and twenty level six mages. 

With the size of their army and the cultivators, they managed to recruit, Liu Biao's generals were all feeling extremely confident in successfully defending the city. To them, this would be the perfect opportunity to gain merits because there was no possibility of defeat.

"What can that little prince and his strategists do against the might of our forces? Maybe once he arrives we'll be the ones to attack and stick his head on a pike." Some of them laughed.

While his men were feeling confident, Liu Biao was so worried that he could not even sleep at night. He knew the terror that men like Zhuge Liang could bring, to be able to kill thousands without suffering a single loss. Despite the size of his army and the experts that joined under his banner, Liu Biao did not feel confident at all. Rather he was busy coming up with possible plans to use to escape if Zhang's forces manage to make it into the city.

"What to do? What can I do?" He said over and over again trying to figure out a solution to his troubles.

As Liu Biao was wracking his brain trying to come up with plans within his study, his sons walked in.

"Father, what seems to be the problem." Liu Han asked as he saw how distressed his father is.

"If it's regarding that traitorous bastard Zhuge Liang, then we will be fine. There is no way they could possibly make it past our army." Liu Han added.

"Fool, never underestimate the enemy. Do you think Zhuge Liang has not planned for the possibility of us holding up in the city? You can't come close to possibly fathoming what goes on within the minds of people like him." Liu Biao said angrily as he saw how confident his son sounded.

"If you're worried father then how about we make it so they do not attack us." Liu Biao's other son, Liu Yuan said.

"If I could do that then I wouldn't be in the state I am in now…" Liu Biao said with a sigh.

"The answer is simple, I heard the crown prince of Aurora loves wealth and women. If it's wealth and women he wants, then we have plenty. We can offer him a large sum of gold and the most beautiful women our Dark Sea Province can offer if he chooses to accept our terms of returning our lands and withdrawing his forces from our province. When faced with the possibility of defeat and gaining nothing and the possibility of gaining something without having to even lift a single finger then I believe he will choose to accept our offer. If he doesn't take the offer, then we can even offer to give him a fraction of our land." Liu Yuan said.

"But how much wealth can we possibly offer to satisfy a prince. As for women I'm sure he has plenty, haven't you heard the tales about the beauty of the four princesses of Aurora. I say we use our martial might to crush him." Liu Han said, shooting down his brother's plan.

"Fool, if I was certain we can defeat them on the battlefield then this conversation wouldn't even happen!" Liu Biao broke out in rage at the idiocracy of his youngest son.

"Yuan, go have our men load thirty percent of the treasury into carts and find the three prettiest women within the city. No the ten prettiest women within the city. If he chooses to attack our city despite the difference in the size of our armies, then we can only use your plan." Liu Biao said to his eldest son.

"Right away father. Also wouldn't it be more convenient to simply store away the gold into an interspatial ring?" Liu Yuan asked.

"No, giving someone an interspatial ring with thirty percent of our treasury is one thing but showing someone thirty percent of our treasury loaded into carts is another thing." Liu Biao said.

Which is true, if one were to compare the enticement an interspatial ring filled with treasure versus the enticement hundreds of carts filled with treasure would bring, the hundreds of carts would certainly have a higher awe factor.

"I understood father, I'll go make the preparations." Liu Yuan said.

Back on atop the city gates, the Dark Sea Army's soldiers were vigilantly keeping an eye out for enemy movements. All of the trees and cover within four miles of the city was cut down or demolished, making it impossible for anything to close up in the city without the guards knowing.

"When do you think they'll get here." One of the new recruits said nervously. 

"Ha, what are you so nervous about? Do you not see the size of our army? The number of experts that our lord has managed to gather? There's nothing to worry about, the ones who should be worrying are those guys that came from Aurora." Another soldier laughed.

"The size of our army doesn't matter because if they attack there's still a chance that I'll die. So what do we outnumber them? It doesn't mean that all of us will survive." The new recruit said in a shaken voice. It was obvious that he did not want to be here but was drafted and forced to join the army.

"Calm down, there's a chance they won't even come." The other soldier said as he slapped the back of the new recruit's head.

However just as he finished his words, one of the other sentries yelled, "Movement within the tree line towards the northwest!" 

Soon after another sentry cried out as his voice echoed across the city thanks to the use of a magical voice amplifier., "Movement within the tree line towards the southeast!

After another dozen or so guards yelled out that the soldiers atop the walls realize that they were surrounded from three sides, with the last side being the ocean. 

From behind the tree line, an army of bones marched forth. A sea of undead skeletons slowly rattled their way from behind the trees and marched forth as the green mist rolled in behind them.

"Wh-what is this!" One of the soldiers atop the walls screamed as the skeletal army inched ever closer to Dark Sea City. It was obvious that their numerical advantage was lost because there seemed to be no end to the skeletons that were coming out of the woods.

After heaven knows how many skeletons marched out, hundreds of massive ghostly white spiders could be seen, followed by hundreds of thousands of soldiers either carrying a red banner or a black banner. 

"Inform our lord that the city has been surrounded and the enemy's numbers vastly outnumber ours. Also, inform the masters that had joined under our lord's banner that we are in need of their services." One of the soldiers who was in a higher position than the others commanded.

Mixed within the army of skeletons were hundreds of beautiful women with glowing green eyes. These women were the ones that Yuying and the others beauties had been training. 

Thanks to Yuying's teachings, they too were now able to raise the dead. Of course, they could not control as many as Yuying nor were their undead physically as strong as hers, however since there were hundreds of them the number of undead that could be summoned was staggering.

Although the number of skeletons along with the number of men within Zhang's army vastly outnumbered the soldiers within Dark Sea City, if a fight broke out, there was still no telling what the outcome would be. This was in part due to how weak the undead are, especially during the day.

Someone would need at most a single swing to defeat one of the undead who were swarming around Dark Sea City.

Before word reached Liu Biao's hears, the twenty level six mages and twenty level seven warriors arrived atop the walls. Each of them wore expensive looking gowns and gave off the air of a master, earning them the respect and awe everyone within Dark Sea City. 

These forty people were all given the best that Liu Biao could offer and were practically able to get whatever they wanted within the city. They were treated pretty much like kings.

"So the enemy has arrived, I guess we will show ourselves and tell them to go away or face out wraith." A middle-aged man with a large hairy build said.

"I bet they'll run away the moment they find out how high our cultivation is." Another man who had long droopy eyebrows and long streaks of white in his hair laughed.

"Of course, within the Warring States Region, it could be said that there isn't another group who can rival ours." A man with a white expressionless mask covering his face said.

"Let's get this done quick, I want to go back and drink some more wine and enjoy some more young men." A young looking woman in a revealing dress said. 

"Haha, when will you let me have a turn?" The large hairy man said with a laugh as he lecherous eyes scanned the woman's body.

"Now where is the enemy?" One of the people in the group of forty asked a soldier once they reached the top of the city walls.

"Th-they are everywhere." The soldier said with a stutter.

"Everywhere?" One of the forty"masters" asked as he walked over to the edge of the ramparts and peered out into the distance.

Once he caught sight of the countless undead below he could feel the sweat begin to gather on his brow. Before long the rest of the forty masters were able to see what they would be facing, a mixture of emotion could be seen on each of their faces, of course the man who was wearing a mask was excluded from this since his face couldn't be seen.

"I've never seen demonic beasts like those before and there are so many of them." Someone said while pointing toward the hundreds of Wraith Spiders who are now as large as horses.

"How is it possible to gather this man undead and control them?" Someone else pointed out.

Not long after seeing Zhang's forces the same thought ran through most of their minds, the thought of running away. 

However, despite wanting to run away, there was no way for them to. Dark Sea City was completely surrounded and there was nowhere to go but out to sea. 

Sadly, these hopes would soon be dashed because a fleet of a hundred and fifty ships soon sailed into view and formed an encirclement around Dark Sea City's Seagate.

"If there's nowhere to run then we have to fight." The large and hairy man who was a part of the group of forty masters said with a gulp. 

"ATTACK!!!" The man who wore an expressionless mask roared.

"Order the soldiers to fire arrows!" He commanded to one of the commanders of the Dark Sea Army.

Soon each of the forty masters would begin to use their magic while the hundreds of thousands of arrows were fired from atop the city walls.

The large and hairy man's body began to bulge and grow in size until he was as large as a house. After his transformation was complete he jumped over the city walls and came crashing down onto the ground. With a roar he smashed his fists into the ground, sending a large shock wave of broken rocks at the sea of skeletons.

From atop the walls, fireballs wore conjured, blades of wind were formed, and boulders flew into the skies before raining down below. Essence powered energy blades cut through the air as a wide variety of magic and techniques was employed. 

A few of the mages specialized in the element water and headed toward the sea where the one hundred and fifty ships were. Jumping over the city walls and landing on columns of water they combined their power to create a wall of water that towered into the sky. 

"With this, we can escape by sea if we can't beat back the enemy." One of the water mages laughed as the torrent of water toppled over and rushed toward the Red Mist Naval Fleet.

But unknown to these water mages, there was another water mage present. Within the crow's nest of the Red Mist Naval fleet's commanding vessel, Ling stood watching the torrent of water approach with a cup of tea in her hand. 

"Ice Demon's Eternal Prison!" She said as a needle sized icicle was made from the water in her teacup and shot out toward the massive incoming wave. 

Despite being a tiny fraction of the wave's size, when the icicle impacted the wave it caused the wave to slowly freeze solid right before it crashed down onto any ships. After using such a skill, Ling's face became pale and she had to drink a bottle of essence water to replenish her power.

The water mages who had made the wave were flabbergasted at what had happened to their creation.

"Move our ships back, I'll be engaging the enemy's water mages." Ling said as she jumped out of the crow's nest and a column of water shot up into the sky and caught her.

Chapter end