The World of Tactics

Chapter Twenty-Two IX: Dire Homecoming

"Over here, guys. Once the reinforcement besieges the mansion, we will go undercover and secure the pathway to Mistress Lily, Young Master Hugo, and Miss Savannah. Remember, be swift and silent on your feet. Remember to stick to the plan.

W-wait! What's that? How can this be? Why are there so many zombies?

Has our plan been exposed? Shouldn't the reinforcement from the capital attract the attention of the undead monsters above? T-this is? Have we been betrayed? H-how can this be?"

A long while in mid-battle against the zombies...

"There are too many- Argh! Run! Leave me! Urgh...!

Grant, Stone, Bart, Josh, Tim... Tell others... T-t-trap...

L-leave me... Hur-hurry...

Burgh, no... not you... guys... too..." Froggers final moment before turning into a zombie.

---

Before he ended his turn, he commanded Lawrence to equip the land lizard's defense ring in place of the earth draco lizard's strength earrings. Then he moved Lawrence to where he previously was positioned and attacked the eighth bone walker. This is just a grantee to ensure that Dork does not suffer any damage, which would reduce the number of magic spells that Dork can cast because each spell costs one health point. He did not want to make any mistakes at this point, even though his group are much stronger than the undead monsters on the battlefield. He knew that such naïve and aggressive formations would be the death of him one day.

After the end of his turn, he moved Uzi to where he previously was. As for Goon, he had to make Goon loop a third around the fifth bone walker. Goon was now north adjacent to him and west adjacent to the eighth bone walker. He did not end Goon's turn and initiated Goon to attack the fifth bone walker. The very first attack did the job beautifully (Goon, EXP+100, Level Up). He could not have done any better. He happily allocated one point to Goon's maximum health point and two points to the skill stat. For Uzi's turn, he moved Uzi down south to two squares where the square was east adjacent to the eight bone walker and a square space away from Goon.

[Ally's Turn][6], Lawrence moved to the square that he was previously on. Since Goon was able to defeat the eighth bone walker, Lawrence did not need to do anything. Other than that, Lawrence just moved into position. Lawrence completely blocks the gap square in the middle. [Neutral's Turn][6]. As for Dork's turn to take action. Dork moved to the designated position that he commanded. Dork is now close to the bottom right corner and was only two squares away from the eastern edge of the battlefield. Since everyone was in position, the turns now turned toward [Enemy's Turn][6].

The first undead monster to move was the seventh flesh walker. The seventh flesh walker moved directly towards Lawrence and was situated north adjacent to Goon and west adjacent to Lawrence. Since he had commanded Lawrence to switch the equipped accessory to the other, Lawrence's strength had dropped by two points and Lawrence could feel the significant changes afterward. Now it was the same. During the bout against the seventh flesh walker, Lawrence could only deal one damage with a single counter-attack. As for the damage Lawrence suffered, there was none at all because Lawrence's defense stat had already reached eleven points with the additional defense boost from the equipped ring (Lawrence, EXP +25).

The eighth flesh walker moved over to the north adjacent side of Lawrence before attacking. It was not obvious at the start, but the eighth bone walker had fourteen defenses and Lawrence currently only has fourteen might in total. To which Lawrence suffers no damage, while he also can not pierce through the defense of the eighth bone walker (Lawrence, EXP+1). The ninth flesh walker moved to the square that was east adjacent to Lawrence and north adjacent to Uzi. This was the final gap where any other undead monsters could attack Lawrence. Lawrence suffered no damage as usual, while Lawrence could only counter attack dealt with only dealt one damage (Lawrence, EXP +25).

Once all of the three flesh walkers finish their turn. It was the fifth bone walker's turn to move. The target was Goon. At first, he had thought that the fifth bone walker would have targeted him instead, which was why he had readied himself. That was also why he felt a little awkward after he saw that Goon finished off the fifth bone walker with two good ax swings (Goon, EXP+100, Level Up). He helplessly allocated one point to Goon's maximum health point and two to the skill stat.

He was waiting for this moment, he had already looked at the big, tall, and bloated zombies in the distance. The first zombie to move was the one in the farthest west. The first zombie movement was simple because the first zombie just went straight down five squares south. The second zombie also did the same as the third, the fourth, the fifth, and the sixth. All of the zombies went straight down. He thought that it was quite weird since they were all too uniform. It was very unlike the flesh and bone walkers. He knew that the undead monsters were quite intelligent and the attractiveness of his summons did not work on them.

Now, everything makes sense. He became a bit anxious and impatient just thinking that there was something wrong with his family. He gritted his teeth, gripped his iron lance, and took a deep breath because he knew that he had to be calm at a time like this. It was [Player's Turn][7] and he needed to clear things needed first before moving on to find the truth about this matter. They are still in battle and it would be fatal to make a mistake just because he had become irrational at this point. He breathed out a long breath before turning his attention toward the battlefield yet again. It was not always good to get distracted all the time during battles. He needs to pay more attention to his new habits.

For their turn, he moved Uzi two squares straight to the eastern edge of the battlefield before positioning Uzi one square northward. This is just the start of his defense and choke point. Goon was the second to move and he moved Goon three squares eastward. Goon is now to the east adjacent to Uzi's previous position and north adjacent to Dork. Next, he moved himself to the west adjacent square to Dork. With that done, Dork was bottled inside the defensive formation. Unless Goon or Uzi dies in battle, then no undead monster could ever move in to attack Dork. Before his turn ends, he commands Lawrence to move into Uzi's previous position to attack the ninth flesh walker for some experience gains.

[Ally's Turn][7], Lawrence straightforwardly moves into Uzi's previous position and attacks the ninth flesh walker just like he had commanded. There was one reason why he would do so, even though Lawrence already had the defense stat that none of the undead monsters could ever deal any damage. It was on the off chance that Lawrence would be too exhausted by fighting against four monsters adjacent to the side.

Lawrence made a quick stab with the wooden lance that dealt one damage. In return, Lawrence also suffered a slightly painful stab that dealt no damage at all (Lawrence, EXP +25, Level Up). [STR+1] It was to be expected from Lawrence's low growth rates. Lawrence's only gain was an increase in the strength stat. Seeing this and comparing it to the trainees that he had been with over time. He knew within himself that his growth was abnormal to an exaggerated degree. None would have the same growth as his current self. He had grown rapidly in under a few turns. The other was leveling up through absorbing the experience within the soul core. He did not need to worry about levels at all because he could easily gain them in a battle or two against high-level monsters.

[Neutral's Turn][7], He did not command Dork because Dork was already safe after being boxed in. Dork only has two additional squares to move back and forward. Other than that, Dork's movement is limited. However, Dork was even happier being boxed. So, Dork did not move nor did anything and just ended the turn right there and then. He felt that their turns ended much quicker than the monsters and it was especially so when they were on the defensive side.

[Enemy's Turn][7].

The seventh flesh walker was the first to move and boxed into Lawrence's west adjacent square to attack Lawrence. There was a slight change this time. Due to Lawrence's increases in the strength stat due to leveling up, Lawrence's counterattack easily deals two damage in return (Lawrence, EXP +25). It was a neat amount of experience for Lawrence. Currently, Lawrence is only level twenty-eight, while roughly four or five levels lower compared to the overall levels of the undead monsters. Soon, Lawrence would be able to reach level thirty or so. By then, if he could help Lawrence reach the max level. It would be great if so because Lawrence could get a higher promotion while gaining the most out of the limited levels. Lawrence would also become a lot stronger after the higher promotion. He could leave Lawrence to protect and follow his younger brother Hugo as a retainer.

The eighth flesh walker moved on to the square opening adjacent to him and he knew that he was the attack target now. So, he readied his lance the moment the eight flesh walkers moved southward because he positioned himself south and Goon to the east. Also, Lawrence was blocking his adjacent north side. He only had one opening to the west adjacent side square and that was exactly where the eighth flesh walker was now positioned. Even though he did not suffer any damage if the eighth flesh walker were to attack one of the weak spots like eyes, nose, armpit, or crotch. Then he would suffer some pain. Hence, he was extremely serious and could not afford to become careless in the bout. He did not want to experience that kind of exotic pain.

He calmly, but surely was able to block the thrust of the eighth flesh walker with his thick shield. He felt a little happier at his first successful attempt at blocking. All of his previous attempts were only semi-successful. He counterattacked with his iron lance. The first hit deals twelve damage and the second counterattack deals the same amount of damage as the first. In total, he deals a complete twenty-four damage to the eighth flesh walker (John Smith, EXP +20x2). One more bout and he would level up. He plans on finishing off the eighth flesh walker in the next turn after that.

[Grant - A soldier under Froggers, he was one of the vanguards. A brave soldier that takes on the riskiest part of the job. The moment he was participating in a mission, he had always assumed the worst possible scenario. Even at the moment of his death, he had already written his will and sent it to his family, who were from a distant village. Due to his slick and quick action, the family was safe from all of the mess.]

[Stone - A soldier under Froggers, he was one of the vanguards. A stone soldier and was known for being a hard nut to c***k. He always had a tough skin and none of the soldiers were comparable to him when the defense stat was in consideration. Due to his high defense, he was secretly referred to as the next upcoming Sir Roylis Smith. Even at the moment of death, he still holds to his high defense. He had taken down at least three zombies before his last breath.]

[Bart - A soldier under Froggers, he was one of the vanguards. He had a muscular body frame and would usually show it off to others to gather their envious looks. Unlike usual soldiers, his body frame was just much bigger and more imitating. However, he was quite funny and would be able to give others a harmonious feeling. Even at the moment, he smiles and still jokes around to ease the situation.]

[Josh - A soldier under Froggers, he was one of the vanguards. He was not unlike all of the other soldiers. He was never known as a brave soldier, a stone soldier, nor a frontier soldier. His personality reflects that he was a coward. As for the reason why he offered to become the vanguard, none of the soldiers knew anything about why he would do so when he was afraid of losing his life. He was always afraid of death and till the moment of his death, his last expression says it all. However, the final moment of his last split remains in his life. His eyes were calm and as if he was relieved.]

[Tim - A soldier under Froggers, he was one of the vanguards. He was neither righteous nor evil. Even when he entered the vanguard squad, he never had any sort of noble thoughts. The reason why he became a soldier was quite simple. Food and gold coins. He was an orphan and such were the reasons why he did not hesitate to join the vanguard. He was quite hesitant when he knew that there were undead monsters. He did not hesitate to pick up his lance and honestly offered himself to partake in the most dangerous job. He had a history of hatred of undead monsters when he was young and even at the moment of death. He was satisfied to know that he had taken more than one zombie down with him.]