The greatsword of the skeleton struck the knights dead.
They had no courage to charge against the Witch Demon King.
But facing Xue Dili, who appeared in a juvenile form, they not only had the courage to kill, they were audacious.
Unfortunately, even though Xue Dili's physical condition was like a makeshift adult male, the one controlling this body in battle was the iron-blooded General Barak of the Empire.
This was a compromise version reached between Old Deng and Xue Dili after some pulling and tugging, where Xue Dili relinquished control of his body and entered a semi-sleep state, allowing the old undead to control Xue Dili's body to fight.
This way, the erosion from using undead power would be significantly less.
And Xue Dili named this function — Old Deng Stand-in.
After personally killing these deserters, the old undead controlled Xue Dili's body to start chanting, and several flames began to consume the corpses.
This was a habit the people of the Empire developed to cremate bodies after the undead appeared on the continent, otherwise, these corpses would also become a part of the skeleton soldiers in the undead army.
Old Deng logged off, and Xue Dili raised his head. In the distance, the vanguard of the undead scourge was less than ten kilometers from the walls of the Imperial Capital.
And the last of the militiamen in the Imperial Capital, upon seeing the only Grand General of the Empire die to the undead scourge, fell into utter despair.
The Imperial Capital could no longer withstand the millions-strong undead scourge; even if it were millions of pigs, the Empire could not fend them off...
"Hey, old man, if we unleash all our power, can we kill that Witch Demon King on the Bone Dragon?" Xue Dili stood at the top of the tower, looking into the distance at the witch demon atop the massive Bone Dragon.
"Kid, I advise you to wise up!" the old undead's tone suddenly became stern.
He could tell that if he dared to say "yes," Xue Dili would have gone off to fight a showdown with the Witch Demon King.
This kid is the type who fears nothing at all, brimming with youthful vigor, given quasi-legendary level strength, he'd dare charge the Witch Demon King himself.
"Even at my peak, I could barely engage in a one-for-one with the Witch Demon King," the old undead said seriously, "But twenty years have passed, the Witch Demon King's power has grown, while my strength has waned due to seals and purification. Even without considering the undead army, facing that old corpse alone would be certain death!"
"There's simply no winning!"
The old undead's rasping voice reverberated uncomfortably inside Xue Dili's skull.
"Moreover, even if you kill it, it won't make any difference, in a few years it will resurrect and again unleash the sweeping undead scourge on the land, it's an absolutely unkillable monster, we can't win..."
"Take Alola and escape, being a deserter is disgraceful, but it's useful." The old undead seemed to completely throw away his pride; even if it meant dying as a deserter, he chose to face fleeing head-on.
Old General Barak died fighting for the Empire, he had done right by the Empire, and the undead Barak who survived has nothing more to do with the Empire, the Barak Family has bled its last for the Empire.
As Xue Dili listened to the old undead buzzing on, he raised his thumb, using the few bits of light, to compare it with the distant snow-capped mountain.
"Approximately 110 kilometers... the Imperial Capital is completely built at the foot of a volcano..." Xue Dili triangulated the points to roughly estimate the distance.
"You..." the old undead was utterly stunned.
In the past, he simply regarded the Holy Mountain as the dwelling place of the gods.
However, after modern education, he too understood that the Holy Mountain worshiped by the Church Court for thousands of years was merely a volcano.
There were no gods there, and certainly no Solar God from creation myths.
But just when Xue Dili mentioned the Holy Mountain, a particularly bad premonition surged in the old undead's heart.
This kid's up to something!
"What are you planning to do?" the old undead hurriedly asked.
"Well, I have an idea!" Xue Dili wore an expression of having an idea, using his thumb to point at the distant Holy Mountain.
"Since the undead army deliberately avoids it, can we assume the undead fears this volcano?" Xue Dili calculated the volcano's distance and height from the capital using triangulation, muttering to himself,
"Could be the high temperatures, could be something mystical, the undead are afraid of the volcano..."
"And a volcano basically acts like a pimple on the planet, you just apply pressure and it erupts, especially when it's an active volcano..."
"So, if I ignite the volcano, might I force the undead army to retreat?"
"Are you mad?" The only thought in the old undead's mind at that moment was this.
A volcanic eruption may or may not repel the undead army, but the people of the Imperial Capital would surely be doomed.
The fiery and smoky rage unleashed upon the earth would, in a short time, cover half the planet, causing global devastation comparable to something like Gatandje-level extinction.
"Don't worry, I've got a measure of it, I'll make it stop just before its limit, it won't fully erupt." Xue Dili began simulating estimates on the ground, calculating how much pressure and explosion would be needed to trigger a volcanic eruption.
Inputting basic data using parameters from Mount Fuji, the conclusion was that energy at least billions of times stronger than his most powerful Holy Light Technique would be required to cause an eruption.
As the undead army closed within five kilometers of the Imperial Capital, the entire capital seemed to catch a whiff of the undead army's rotting stench.
At that moment, the final reinforcements from the Church Court arrived at the walls.
Several hundred Holy Knights, less than a thousand priests, were all the Church Court could muster.
Moreover, even Alola, the Pope himself, personally came and saw Xue Dili, drawing unknown runes (mathematical formulas) in the sand.
And the overwhelming smell of undead.
"Your Holiness the Pope, step back! He is an undead!" The Knight Commander immediately drew his longsword, pointing it at Xue Dili.
In the Church Court's "Detect Evil" technique, Xue Dili was a massive "evil" entity.
Xue Dili stood up, for the first time looking solemnly at the Female Pope protected by the Knight Commander, who was the only living relative of the old undead.
How to say...
A bit like how he imagined "Queen Hera" from Greek mythology.
But at that moment in Xue Dili's mind, the old undead was completely raging, the sound of chains clanging resounding throughout his skull.
"Now's the time, the Witch Demon King has arrived, grab Alola and let's go immediately!"
The old undead had long lost any spirit to fight with the Witch Demon King; he only wanted to take his only granddaughter to the real world, to Blue Star, to a peaceful life.
"If you can do that, then I'll go along with your plan." Xue Dili smirked, directly handing over the control.
The next moment, an overwhelming, terrifying pressure erupted from his body, forcing all the Holy Knights to stagger back.
"Leg...Legendary Level... you are, General Barak!" Everyone stared in stupefaction at "Xue Dili".