Steampunk Era: Mad Abield

In the woods, the straight-line distance of 700 meters and the actual walking distance are two different things. Malin’s side had already completed all preparations for the defense line. According to intelligence from the Druid Master and information Jason obtained from satellites, the several thousand-strong Chaos forces were still nearly two hundred meters away.

The good news was the terrain from there to here was quite clear. The light cavalry who drew in the Chaos troops even caused some casualties—they cut across the rear of the Chaos forces, taking down dozens of followers before returning with the enraged Nagoth troops hot on their heels.

The half-giant lad did well, Malin noted as he watched them cross the floating bridge at the narrow beach—the bridge was sturdy, but its range had already been measured, and the cannons on the high platform behind lowered their barrels, ready to blast the bridge and the Chaos forces on it sky-high at any moment.

"They’re coming," Malin observed as he saw the Nagoth troops emerge from the bushes, watching the ladies and missies pretending to be clueless civilians on the riverbank let out screams and scamper to the sides. He saw the Nagoth troops roaring as they crossed the bridge, some of them too impatient and diving directly into the river, only to struggle a bit before disappearing without a trace.

"I’ve detected Nagoth souls, there might be Great Unclean Ones," Clovis pointed to the right flank of the Nagoth forces—that is, to the left from Malin’s perspective. Malin immediately followed her direction and saw those little things screaming as they leapt into the water, then disappeared as if they had melted away—Holy Water posed a deadly threat to these corrupt offspring.

Malin immediately relayed this discovery to Duke Brice, the legendary figure stated that if such a Great Unclean One should appear, he would stand up and face it.

The damned Nagoth took several casualties before realizing there was something wrong with the water, so in a fit of rage, they stormed onto the bridge.

By this time, the protruding U-shaped beach head was packed with various Nagoth units—local followers armed with all sorts of strange and exotic weapons; the Nagoth souls were shrieking as they launched an assault, and what appeared to be creatures from an outer plane were amassing—deformed and twisted like the orcs, their bodies covered with hair and two huge, curved horns.

"Goatmen? No, goatmen don’t look like this," Lillim was somewhat shocked, and Malin cast a Soul-calming Spell on her: "Those are Beastmen."

With knowledge from his forebears surfacing in his mind, Malin explained those monsters that wore only strips of cloth around their waists, then he pointed to the horned humanoids, "Those are Pus Hosts, Nagoth’s legions from another world, these seem to be their vanguard."

"If they win here, what we will face in our world is the army they summon after sacrificing our flesh and souls," Faye fell into silence, but eventually smiled and shook her head, "We won’t let their plans succeed."