The Exiled Lord: My Maid is a Battle Goddess-Chapter 175: The Storm Approaches(2)

"You actually have a Divine Chosen... If I had one, we wouldn’t be in this mess today."

Baron Mountain Ape was visibly envious, his gaze fixed greedily on Rosalia.

Rosalia, in turn, stared at him with the look of someone eyeing a delicacy, and gave a strange smile.

"Damn... this person feels... terrifying," Baron Mountain Ape shivered, his spine going cold as if a far scarier monster were staring at him. He nearly wet himself.

Phield scanned the surroundings and spoke seriously, "Lives are at stake right now. Don’t think about hiding your incompetence. Take the easternmost section of the wall to defend. My troops will handle the front, rear, and west."

If he could share a bit of the pressure, that was fine, though Phield hadn’t really counted on him much.

"Alright, but my family..."

Phield patted his chest confidently. "I’ve got it handled. People are already on their way to rescue them."

Hearing that, Baron Mountain Ape reluctantly headed to his assigned sector.

"I’ll go rescue them now. You be careful," Rosalia said, preparing to move.

"No rush. First, we raze the town."

Phield froze. "Huh?" 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

"Kill everyone in the town." His voice was utterly emotionless, chilling. "All the forces we can gather are here. The people in the town will only turn into monsters and threaten our rear. So, we kill them all. That way, you also gain energy for advancement from the slaughter."

"Oh? I thought you’d try to save them," Rosalia said with a hint of surprise curling her lips.

"They’re not my subjects, and they have no value. There’s no reason to risk our soldiers’ lives to save people who don’t matter."

There were easily a few hundred people in the town. If all turned into red monsters, Phield didn’t dare imagine the loss it could cause.

Rosalia nodded in agreement. "A decisive choice."

"I’ll stay here to command. Take the black crow and set out. Clear the town first, then find the Hannah the monsters mentioned. And be careful—not everything the monsters say is true."

"Those monsters have intelligence. They might lie. If danger appears, just run."

Phield knew they wouldn’t be especially strong, or they would have already come out to wreak havoc.

"Understood! I won’t disappoint you."

The corrupted Divine Chosen’s strange mark transformed into a streak of light that sank into the ground, marking the life convergence points of Mountain Ape City. Rosalia licked her lips and charged into the residential area with her greatsword.

Soon, heart-wrenching screams erupted throughout the town.

"Loose arrows!"

The red monsters entered crossbow range. Arrows flew from the walls immediately.

Though the mountain rain weakened their force, the volley still struck down over a dozen red monsters.

The red monsters were no ordinary targets. Rain or not, they didn’t care, quickly navigating the complex terrain to within twenty or thirty meters of the wall.

"Pfft~"

A spray of goo erupted. Tens of the small octopus-like creatures, launched by the red monsters, hit the wall and splattered into a bloody mess. Some fell on soldiers, writhing as they tried to parasitize humans.

"Help! It’s crawling inside!"

"Don’t go there! That’s where people pee!"

Feeling the monsters crawling over them, some soldiers jumped in terror, flailing wildly.

"Don’t panic."

Phield pressed a hand down on one soldier. With a flash of The Silver Iris Longsword, the octopus monster was vaporized by holy light.

The soldier broke into a sweat of relief, continuously bowing. "Thank you, my lord!"

Phield patted his shoulder and shouted to all, "Don’t be afraid of these little things. The more you move, the more dangerous it gets. Let your teammates handle them."

The defensive chaos quickly stabilized. The red monsters braved the arrow storm and reached the walls.

They seemed to secrete a strange fluid to cling to the walls. Roaring and thrashing their tentacles, they began to climb.

Though Mountain Ape City was poor, its walls were high and treacherous, with polished stones on top, ready to hurl down on intruders.

Below, gore and flesh flew everywhere, the disgusting fragments piling up like small hills.

The rare monsters who made it to the top were immediately killed by Phield’s own hand.

"Ahh!"

From the east, screams rose continuously. Soldiers shouted, "The eastern wall has been breached!"

Looking toward the sound, Baron Mountain Ape could be seen running toward his defense sector with five or six deserters.

Along the way, they had abandoned all their weapons and armor.

A few soldiers panicked, falling from the wall or landing straight into the monsters’ arms.

"Already breached? Even a herd of pigs wouldn’t fall this fast."

Phield was stunned. The wall had held less than half an hour without him watching, and it had already collapsed.

Red monsters surged through the eastern breach, climbing the wall, following Baron Mountain Ape, heading toward Phield’s position.

"Time checks out," Phield murmured, completely unshaken. He crouched slightly, then shot forward like a cannonball, smashing into the mass of red monsters and sending three flying.

Using the momentum, his longsword sliced through the pursuing red monsters, wiping them out entirely.

"Your ancestral artifact? If you don’t use it now, you probably won’t pass it to your son."

"Hidden... the artifact’s in the mountains. We can’t reach it now."

Baron Mountain Ape’s face was a grimace. He pointed toward the castle. "We can’t hold here. Let’s fall back to the castle defenses."

No sooner had he spoken than clouds of mist began rising from the town.

Trees withered, everything decayed. From the town came the wails of rotting corpses.

A horde of corpses surged from the gray mist, attacking indiscriminately. They collided with Phield’s rear defenses and fought the soldiers. Even more corpses tore into the red monsters.

"What’s happening?" Phield feigned shock, scooping up the dumbstruck Baron Mountain Ape. "You old bastard, making deals with corrupted beings... beasts."

"Huh? I swear I didn’t!"

Baron Mountain Ape looked nearly faint, pupils shaking. "It’s over... we’re done for."

He had no idea Rosalia was a corrupted Divine Chosen. Most people wouldn’t even think in that direction.

"Just like Nightfall Domain," Phield muttered.

The soldiers were already accustomed—ever since joining Nightfall Domain, they’d encountered corpses everywhere.

"Light the lamps. Through the gray mist—we move to the castle."

Phield had long prepared the tools for this exact moment, a faint smile tugging at his lips. The Death Mist will be our defensive line. From here on, it’s up to Rosalia.

Within the gray mist, Rosalia absorbed the surrounding life force. Energized, she swung her greatsword.

"Still far from third-tier, but my physical abilities have improved by another fifteen percent."

"Good. Too bad this place is barren, low population." The black crow perched on Rosalia’s shoulder, guiding her. "We head to the mountain. All the red monsters appeared halfway up the slope, out of nowhere."