Volume One: The Infernal Lord’s World Chapter 19: The Strength of the Enemy

"What is this?" Chen Gu felt a strange warmth emanating from the peculiar crystal, and he nearly lost his grip on it.

"It contains the souls of myself and my soldiers, who have slumbered within the dreamscape all these years. Thanks to the dream, our souls remain largely whole. Do you see the tree to your left—the one you overturned?"

The elf's voice guided Chen Gu in that direction.

He approached the toppled tree, held up the strange crystal, and glanced beneath it.

There, beneath the roots, a body lay buried.

Yet the body was entirely petrified, covered in thick moss so dense that even the face was lost to sight.

Chen Gu stared, stunned, then placed his hand over the figure’s nose and mouth. To his astonishment, the body was still breathing.

"This is my body. Ever since I fell asleep and entered the dream, my body slowly petrified, becoming what you see now."

"You want me to return your soul to your body?" Chen Gu asked.

"No, that won't work. Instead, search my chest. You'll find a piece of metal there. That's my Hero’s Token, an insignia granted by the Elven Dominion. With it, I was allowed free passage through most of the realm’s cities.

"In addition, it permits me to freely replenish my forces in most cities. I have no idea what has become of the Elven realm now, but I believe that even if the cities are destroyed, something must remain."

Chen Gu nodded in understanding. The situation in the elven village had proven that, though the world was overrun by the undead, not every city was of interest to them.

Some cities, inevitably, would remain untouched.

If he possessed a Hero’s Token allowing him free passage through elven cities, that would indeed be a boon for his future plans.

The elf continued, "If you find such a city, please place my soul upon the Heroic Altar or at a tavern, and my soldiers in an elven lodge. So long as I can be revived, I vow to fight for you as your hero."

Chen Gu considered for a moment, then agreed without hesitation.

"Very well!"

With that, he drew his sword and scraped aside the moss from the chest of the petrified body, revealing a metal insignia.

The token was crafted like a leaf from polished metal.

On its front was inscribed the word "Archer," and on the reverse, the name "Fafnir."

"Is your name Fafnir?" Chen Gu asked.

"No, I am Allen. Fafnir is the name of my legion."

"A legion hero, then?" Chen Gu pressed.

"No," Allen replied, "I am a subcommander. I commanded the Third Archer Battalion of the Fafnir Legion, five hundred elven archers under my charge."

Allen explained his station, leaving Chen Gu somewhat at a loss.

In his mind, a hero ought to command an entire legion outright. But Allen's account was clearly at odds with his expectations.

"How large is the Fafnir Legion?"

With the Elven Dominion gone, Allen saw no reason to hide anything and explained swiftly.

"The Fafnir Legion’s full title is the Golden Twin Dragon—Fafnir Legion. The name comes from our core forces: two units of golden dragons, twenty golden dragons in all.

"We also field a Unicorn Charge of fifty unicorns.

"Three Mage Battalions: the Lightning Mage Battalion with two hundred mages, the Flame Mage Battalion with two hundred and fifty, and the Earth Mage Battalion with two hundred and thirty.

"Six Archer Battalions: the First and Second each with eight hundred archers, the Third through Fifth with five hundred each, and the Sixth with two hundred.

"Eight Sword Dancer Battalions: the First through Third each with a thousand, the Fourth through Seventh with eight hundred, and the Eighth with five hundred.

"Three Dwarven Battalions: Dwarven Shieldguards—two hundred, Dwarven Axebearers—three hundred, and the Golden Dwarves—one hundred and ten.

"Six Centaur Battalions: the Centaur Captain Guard with one hundred and fifty, the Blood Centaurs with three hundred, and four other battalions with four hundred and fifty each.

"Add to that three thousand assorted troops—faeries, forest sprites, harpies, and others. All told, nearly ten thousand strong.

"The legion is commanded by two main officers—both level ten heroes. I, as a subcommander, led only a small detachment; my rank is nothing special in the legion."

"What was the legion’s standing among the elves? What class of legion was it?" The sheer strength of a single legion made Chen Gu uneasy.

Allen took a moment to recall. "I don't know if things changed later, but when I received my final orders, our legion was classified as Maple-Leaf Grade—in human terms, a Type-B Legion.

"Type-B? So you also had Type-A Legions?"

"We called those Lotus-Leaf Grade. When I left, there were three Lotus-Leaf Legions and seven Maple-Leaf Legions—these ten were the Elven Dominion’s main forces, equivalent to humanity’s eight great legions.

"Below that came the Cypress-Leaf Grade—Type-C Legions—of which there were twenty. Needle-Leaf Grade were local forces, far more numerous.

"I'm not sure if, in humanity’s final war, the elves mustered more forces or if the strength distribution changed. One thing I can tell you for certain: every legion of Maple-Leaf Grade or above had dragons—golden dragons."

At this, Chen Gu remembered the scene that greeted him when he first entered this lordly world—countless bone dragons circling above the Black Keep.

Those bone dragons must have been undead, the remains of fallen golden dragons.

"I understand. I won’t provoke the enemy recklessly unless I am fully prepared. You said the elves’ strongest troops were golden dragons—what about the humans?

"Their eight legions matched your ten—what was their strongest force?"

Allen fell silent for a moment, then replied, "Humanity’s strongest troops were of two kinds. The first were angels, mighty enough to battle dragons. The second were the Blood Knights—sometimes called Divine Blood Swordsmen.

"They are madmen. If you encounter angels, you might escape by luck. But if you run into these so-called Blood Knights, and your blood fails to match theirs, you are their enemy. Their judgments can halve your fighting power in an instant."

"Do you think these angels and Blood Knights might have become undead as well?" Chen Gu asked.

"The angels, perhaps not—they are beings of pure light. But the Blood Knights are different. Wait... I recall that among humanity’s Blood Knights, there was once a hero whose veins flowed not with blood, but with the essence of Death itself," Allen suddenly revealed a crucial detail.