The moment Jin's command swept across the battlefield, the Eighth Legion moved.
The first to advance were the forces under Igris. Rows of armored Shadow Knights marched across the dead grounds surrounding Prince's mansion, accompanied by swordsmen and spearmen whose bodies were formed from dense jet-black shadows. Violet flames burned within their helmets, and unlike the mindless undead commonly found throughout Death Land, every soldier moved with military precision, maintaining their formation even as their pace gradually accelerated.
On another section of the battlefield, the forces under Tusk began moving as well. Their formation was dominated by enormous High Orc shadows, many of them carrying heavy weapons large enough to crush ordinary undead with a single swing. High Orc shamans remained further behind the warriors, their staffs glowing as layers of magic circles gradually formed above their ranks.
Together, the two forces spread outward from Jin's position and advanced toward the combined army waiting ahead.
Their opponents looked far less uniform, but their scale was no less imposing.
Thousands upon thousands of zombies controlled through Prince's crown gathered beneath Simon's command, filling the dead land around the mansion with an enormous mass of decaying bodies. Some were barely recognizable as humans anymore, while others had developed stronger bodies after wandering Death Land for years. Mixed among them were the skeleton soldiers under Manus, whose disciplined formations brought a degree of order to the otherwise chaotic sea of zombies.
More importantly, the strongest fighters on Simon's side weren't standing behind their troops.
Pier was already advancing alongside the front ranks with his enormous greatsword resting against his shoulder. Prince moved through his zombies nearby, visibly restless as he waited for the armies to collide, while Manus walked at the head of his skeleton soldiers with one hand resting calmly upon his sword.
However, Simon himself remained behind.
With Prince's crown resting upon his head, Simon concentrated on the countless sensations flowing into his mind while keeping his golden eyes fixed on the army approaching from the opposite side. Controlling so many zombies already demanded an enormous amount of concentration, and adding himself directly into the frontline would only make that burden more difficult to manage.
There was another reason he stayed where he was.
Beyond the marching shadows, Jin hadn't moved either.
The Eighth Legion Commander remained in exactly the same place, his massive scythe held casually at his side as he watched his army advance without following them. From Simon's perspective, that made approaching the frontline even more dangerous. If he committed himself to the battle and Jin suddenly moved, Simon wasn't confident he would even have enough time to react.
If Jin knew what Simon was thinking right now, he would probably say something like, "You're overestimating yourself way too much."
Yet the longer Simon watched him, the more uncomfortable the difference between them became.
Simon remained behind because he needed to command his army, maintain the crown, and keep Jin under observation.
Jin remained behind because, from the beginning, he apparently saw no reason to move.
Before Simon could think any further about that difference, the battlefield itself demanded his attention. The two enormous armies were already closing in, and the remaining distance disappeared rapidly as the sounds of thousands of undead footsteps merged into a continuous rumble.
The Shadow Knights lowered their weapons.
High Orc warriors tightened their grips around axes, swords, and clubs, while the shamans behind them raised their staffs. Across the field, the zombies answered with shrieks and guttural roars as Manus's skeleton soldiers lifted their weapons in unison.
Then the two armies finally met.
BOOOOOOM!
The first collision sent a violent tremor across the grounds surrounding the mansion.
Igris's Shadow Knights struck the zombie horde like a black armored wedge. Spears punched through the first ranks with enough force to impale several zombies at once, while swordsmen immediately filled the openings and cut down anything that slipped between the spearheads.
Zombies threw themselves against shields and armor without concern for their own bodies, but the shadows continued pushing forward together, advancing step by step without allowing their formation to break.
The difference in individual strength became apparent almost immediately.
A dozen zombies piled onto one Shadow Knight and dragged him down beneath their combined weight, only for the soldiers beside him to close the gap before the formation could collapse. Several swords flashed through the mass, severing arms and heads, and within moments the knight was back on his feet and advancing alongside the others.
On Tusk's side, the difference was even more violent.
A massive High Orc swung his axe horizontally and smashed several zombies away at once, sending broken bodies tumbling across the dead ground. Another drove his weapon downward into a dense cluster and scattered them apart, while the High Orc shamans behind the frontline released their completed spells.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOOOM!
Explosions rolled through the zombie ranks, tearing open large gaps that were immediately occupied by advancing High Orcs. The zombies possessed the advantage in sheer numbers, but each exchange cost Simon's side far more bodies than it cost Jin's.
Manus's skeleton army fared better.
Unlike the zombies, they maintained proper formations and supported one another when the Shadow Soldiers pressed forward. Skeleton spearmen held their ground while swordsmen attacked from behind them, and whenever one section threatened to collapse, Manus redirected nearby troops to reinforce it.
Even then, they were being pushed backward.
The Eighth Legion wasn't simply stronger.
Its soldiers fought as though warfare itself had already become instinct.
Pier, Prince, and Manus were the only reason the difference hadn't already turned the first clash into a complete collapse.
[Kuhahaha! Come on!]
Pier's greatsword tore through several shadows in a single enormous sweep, scattering their bodies into streams of black smoke. He immediately stepped into the opening and swung again, forcing the surrounding Shadow Soldiers backward long enough for the zombies behind him to flood into the gap.
Prince was even less restrained.
[Out of my way!]
He crashed shoulder-first into a Shadow Knight, carried the soldier several meters, and slammed him into another shadow before driving his fist through the first knight's chest. Without stopping, Prince grabbed another soldier by the helmet and hurled him into the approaching formation.
Meanwhile, Manus moved with none of their brutality.
His sword left its sheath for only an instant.
Shing!
Several Shadow Soldiers stopped simultaneously before thin lines appeared across their bodies. Their upper halves slid apart, allowing Manus's skeletons to surge through the opening and temporarily regain the ground they had lost.
However, Manus had barely taken several more steps when he noticed something strange.
The shadows he had cut apart weren't remaining on the ground.
Their severed bodies gradually lost their shape, turning into dark smoke that drifted across the battlefield. The same thing was happening everywhere. Shadows crushed by zombies, shattered by Prince, or torn apart by Pier were disappearing one after another, leaving only the corpses belonging to Simon's side behind.
[What...]
Before Manus could finish speaking, he noticed something strange happening several meters ahead. The dark smoke left behind by one of the fallen Shadow Soldiers had begun gathering together again.
As more smoke gathered, it slowly took the shape of an armored soldier. Moments later, the very same Shadow Soldier Manus had personally cut apart was standing before him again, completely unharmed.
And he wasn't the only one.
Across the battlefield, the other fallen Shadow Soldiers were also reforming from the dark smoke. One after another, their bodies returned to their original forms until the soldiers that had been defeated only moments earlier were standing once more.
Then, as though nothing had happened to them, the Shadow Soldiers immediately returned to the battle, charging toward their enemies once again.
Seeing this, Manus tightened his grip on his sword, his eyes fixed on the very same soldiers he had cut apart only moments earlier.
[What...?! Those things can regenerate?!]
Even with his experience as an Ancient Undead, Manus could hardly believe what he was seeing. And as more Shadow Soldiers continued returning to the battlefield, the others soon began to realize the same terrifying truth.
Prince had just crushed another Shadow Soldier's skull when a familiar armored figure stepped into his path. For a moment, Prince merely stared at the violet flames burning inside its helmet before recognizing the dent still disappearing from its restored armor.
[You again?!]
Prince punched it apart for the second time, but instead of looking satisfied, his expression twisted with irritation.
[What the hell are these things?! How many times do I have to kill the same bastard?!]
Pier had already noticed the same problem. Every powerful sweep of his greatsword could destroy several shadows, but the victory never lasted. Those soldiers simply dissolved, returned to the darkness, and eventually reappeared somewhere behind their formation before marching back into battle.
As the battle continued, the difference between the two armies became increasingly clear.
Every zombie destroyed by the Eighth Legion remained dead, while the skeletons shattered by the Shadow Soldiers lay scattered across the battlefield, never to rise again.
Meanwhile, no matter how many times Simon's side managed to destroy the Shadow Soldiers, they simply regenerated and returned to the fight as though nothing had happened.
The battlefield gradually became covered in the remains of zombies and skeletons, while the Eighth Legion's numbers seemed almost unchanged.
Simon saw all of it.
Through the crown, he could feel entire groups of zombies disappearing one after another, and the information flowing through his mind painted an increasingly unpleasant picture. Even with Death Land providing him with an enormous numerical advantage, continuing a direct battle of attrition would only waste that advantage.
This isn't going to work.
Another group of zombies vanished beneath the weapons of the Shadow Knights, only for two shadows destroyed in return to rise again shortly afterward.
Simon gritted his teeth.
Destroying them isn't enough. If they can keep coming back, then there's no point in trading bodies with them.
Instead of sending another wave directly forward, Simon forced himself to look at the battlefield as a whole.
The zombies didn't need to win individual exchanges.
They didn't even need to destroy the shadows.
What Simon possessed was numbers, and if killing the enemy wasn't enough, he would use those numbers for something else.
His command spread through the crown.
The change began near the center first. Zombies that had previously thrown themselves directly against the Shadow Knights suddenly stopped trying to overwhelm them through brute force.
Several groups began attacking the sides of their formations instead, while others deliberately piled onto individual soldiers, grabbing arms, legs, shields, and weapons simply to restrict their movement.
At the same time, Simon redirected another large group around the main engagement. Instead of reinforcing the frontline, they spread across the open grounds surrounding the mansion and struck the Shadow Army from wider angles, forcing several formations to turn and respond.
Manus quickly noticed what Simon was attempting.
Without needing further explanation, the Ancient Skeleton adjusted his own forces accordingly. Rather than wasting his disciplined soldiers in the same chaotic exchanges as the zombies, Manus began concentrating them against shadows whose movements had already been restricted.
The effect wasn't enough to reverse the battle, but the pace finally changed.
Shadow Knights that had previously advanced almost without interruption now had to repeatedly cut themselves free from masses of zombies.
High Orc warriors continued crushing everything within reach, but even their enormous bodies could be slowed when enough undead surrounded them at once. Whenever a section became bogged down, Manus's skeletons pressed forward and forced the shadows to spend even more time breaking through.
Pier laughed when he realized what Simon was doing.
[Kuhahaha! That's it, boy! If killing them doesn't work, bury the bastards in bodies!]
[That's your brilliant advice?!]
Prince shouted back while tearing a Shadow Soldier away from several zombies.
Despite his complaint, he immediately took advantage of the opening Simon had created and charged into another section of the formation.
Little by little, the relentless advance of the Eighth Legion began to slow.
Simon felt it through the crown before he could see it clearly.
They weren't winning.
Far from it.
Every exchange still favored Jin's army, and the number of zombies disappearing from Simon's control continued rising at an uncomfortable rate. However, the black tide that had been steadily advancing toward them was no longer moving forward with the same ease.
For the first time since the clash began, Simon had bought himself breathing room.
However, there was one thing Simon had never even imagined.
From the very beginning, Jin hadn't been taking the battle seriously at all. Not to mention, the Shadow Army he had summoned so far was nowhere near his full force. It was merely a small fraction of his entire army.
Or rather, to be more precise, his order had been to "play with them."
Yes, play.
Because as far as Jin was concerned, this wasn't even a real fight.
Far behind the Shadow Army, Jin watched the adjustment unfold from beginning to end.
A quiet chuckle came from beneath Jin's helmet.
"Hehe, not bad."
He could see what Simon was attempting.
"Once you realized that defeating my soldiers wouldn't keep them down, you stopped wasting your numbers trying to kill them. Instead, you're using those numbers to restrict their movement and letting Manus's forces exploit the openings."
Then Jin looked beyond the fighting frontline.
"Unfortunately, Simon..."
Jin rested one hand against the shaft of his scythe as he watched another wave of zombies sacrifice itself merely to hold back a single formation of Shadow Knights.
"Using overwhelming quantity to compensate for inferior quality is a perfectly reasonable strategy. But that strategy has one rather obvious problem."
Jin's violet eyes narrowed slightly.
"It only works when your opponent doesn't possess overwhelming quantity as well."
His gaze swept across his army before returning to the battlefield.
"And unfortunately for you, my Legion has both."
Quantity. And quality.
Jin thought about those words as he continued watching the battle unfold before him. Simon's decisions weren't necessarily wrong. In fact, they could even be considered the right ones, if only he knew what was really going on.
After all, even if Simon had managed to slow down the Eighth Legion's advance, at best, he was only delaying the inevitable.
More importantly, Simon had yet to notice the most troublesome part.
Amid the deafening clash of undead, Pier, Prince, and Manus were already fighting at the frontline. The three strongest figures on Simon's side had personally entered the battle just to keep the Eighth Legion's advance under control.
Yet on Jin's side, the commanders responsible for the forces currently pushing them back had barely participated at all.
Igris stood behind the knight formations, one hand resting upon the hilt of his sword as his violet eyes calmly followed the battle with his blade remained sheathed.
Not far away, Tusk towered over the High Orc forces with his staff planted beside him. Magic continued to erupt from the shamans under his command, but their commander himself had yet to cast a single spell.
After observing the battle for a little longer, Jin finally decided it was time to make his 'real move'.
In fact, although Jin and his Legion were currently playing with their opponents, that didn't mean he wasn't serious about helping Simon and the Seventh Legion grow stronger.
After all, in the original novel, Knox had always felt that Simon possessed some ridiculously strong plot armor. But that was in the novel, and now, this was reality.
There was simply no way to predict what kind of butterfly effects might occur just because Knox had been reincarnated into this world.
With that in mind, what Jin wanted to do right now was simple. He wanted to show them what the Shadow Monarch was truly capable of, and what the Eighth Legion was really like.
And most importantly, he wanted to destroy the Seventh Legion...
Without actually 'destroying' them.
Having made up his mind, Jin's eyes suddenly flashed beneath his helmet. He spun his scythe in his hand before slamming the bottom of its shaft against the ground.
THUD!
The moment the scythe struck the ground, an invisible wave spread outward from Jin, quickly sweeping across the entire battlefield. It passed through the ruined buildings and both armies without leaving a single trace of damage.
However, the moment that wave passed through Simon and the others, their bodies suddenly trembled.
Simon, Pier, Prince, Manus, and even the zombies and skeletons fighting across the battlefield were affected. It didn't matter whether they were living or undead.
For a brief moment, they all felt as though the Grim Reaper himself had set his eyes on them.
However, none of them realized what Jin had just done.
With that simple movement, Jin had unleashed something without anyone realizing it. Although nothing seemed to have happened at first, the Seventh Legion was about to experience something far worse than anything they had faced in this battle.
'Something' that would force them to experience the same nightmare over and over again, no matter how many times they tried to escape it.
In other words...
They were about to find out what it felt like to be Natsuki Subaru.