Apocalypse: Hero of Potato Fields-Chapter 378 - 363: Vampire Retreat

The vampires’ magic barriers shattered one after another, and the chimera forces plunged into chaos.

Corpses piled up like mountains, forming a massive heap at the base of the city wall, much like the scenes often seen when the residents of the Shelter fend off hordes of zombies.

Despite the heavy losses, the chimeras didn’t even slow their attack.

They simply continued their assault.

Some chimeras climbed the walls with their claws, while others hurled stones, weapons, and limbs at the defenders.

However, just as their relentless attack was halfway through, they suddenly turned and fled the battlefield.

Having lost so many mages, the generals made the only decision they could.

For their Plan B had already failed.

They retreated, awaiting reinforcements.

Not long ago, the vampires had deployed a vast squad to the island.

Their aim was simple: provoke the zombies into attacking the Shelter.

However, they encountered some unknown monster, whose body teemed with countless flying creatures.

While the chimeras and vampires were immune to the zombie virus, they were eventually devoured alive.

Against these enemies, magic was the only effective means, but most of their mages had accompanied the army to attack the Shelter.

This monster had four legs, two bony arms, a long neck, and an ugly head.

It was massive, shielded by bony protrusions, and the chimeras tried to sacrifice themselves to harm it.

The monster roared in agony.

Its legs were severed, one arm lost, and its head wounded.

Yet, it was not dead.

Like a turtle, the monster retreated into its armored shell, and the flying creatures began to protect it recklessly.

The vampires seized this opportunity to incinerate the monsters and chimeras together, then burn the monster from the inside.

The battle was extremely grueling.

Out of twenty mages and 500 chimeras, only fourteen vampires returned alive.

They were an elite squad, and these losses were devastating.

After catching their breath, the squad advanced toward the massive city, only to find charred ruins and the occasional aimlessly wandering First Level zombie.

The squad entered the heart of the city.

The mages had to walk since all the flying chimeras had been killed, but they did not complain.

They understood the nature of the mission they had joined, and knew their chances of survival were virtually zero.

As the squad roamed the city, wondering where all the zombies had gone, they suddenly found themselves surrounded on all sides by zombies.

Zombies poured out from apartment buildings, climbed out from underground holes, and leaped from rooftops and windows.

In a moment, thousands of zombies filled the streets.

A fierce battle ensued.

The vampires did not wish to die without completing their mission, but reality was cruel, and they were completely overwhelmed by the sheer number of First Level zombies.

Ultimately, they failed to incite the zombie army to attack the Shelter, leaving the Shelter threatened on all sides.

But the Zombie General also sensed an opportunity, dispatching a small team to test the human defenses.

However, the Shelter’s scouts detected them, and Lin Yi teleported hundreds of warriors and 2000 lightly armed Children of the Sun to defend the walls and the temporal outpost.

In just a few minutes of battle, about ten thousand First Level zombies were killed.

The Zombie General didn’t particularly mind losing some minions. After realizing the humans’ defenses were still strong, it abandoned the assault on the walls and reverted to the original plan.

Meanwhile, humans cleared the battlefield, trying to capture any injured enemies alive.

The professor was eager to study them.

The corpses were sent to Siri.

The Beetle Queen was overjoyed, as the chimeras were a genetic treasure trove. Each chimera was unique, even if they were mass-produced.

Azaros explained that chimerology was an extremely complex science, and creating similar chimeras from different species was unimaginably difficult.

Yet for ancient vampires like Mizar Altus, it was not entirely impossible.

But even so, two chimeras with identical appearances, attributes, and abilities would still have differing genes.

In other words, chimeras are valuable sources of genetic material, and Siri could use them for evolution—they were even more valuable than energy cores.

In this battle, the enemy lost 37,000 chimeras and nearly 600 vampires.

However, considering they still had 80,000 to 100,000 chimeras left, the losses didn’t seem so fatal.

But without the help of the vampires, Altus had no chance of seizing the Ark.

They couldn’t even climb the walls, let alone create living stairs like the zombies.

The chimeras could do it, but if a soldier fired an explosive arrow at the bottom of the "stairs," they’d all tumble down.

In this battle, many soldiers were severely injured, some barely dragged back from death’s door.

Generally, weapon-wielding chimeras possessed skills, sometimes quite formidable ones.

Even Fourth Level armor couldn’t protect soldiers from their magic attacks.

As the battlefield was being cleared, Lin Yi convened a military meeting.

"Listen up, I’m very upset, the air battle was botched—

we lost all of Kaya’s flying bugs, and a helicopter!

Da Chuan looks seriously injured, and his girlfriend is half-dead!"

"We didn’t know they had so many troops, boss?" Hubert sighed.

"Especially those guys riding on pegasus, they’re tough to deal with."

"Do you think I don’t know? But we must be prepared for any tricks!

What we’re facing now isn’t just zombies; these guys are at least as smart as we are.

The only reason we can hold on is because of our city walls and top-tier firepower.

We need mages, and a lot of them!

Speed up the recruitment process.

How’s the study of those vampire books coming along?"

"We’re still studying, but it’s really difficult..." Peter replied.

He was tasked with overseeing the research on the vampire library’s collection.

"Then go find Azaros for help! Give him one day! I want mages to learn to create magic barriers like those vampires!" Lin Yi was in a bad mood.

The shelter had suffered significant damage.

Thanks to him teleporting the wounded to safety, rescuers were able to bring them out of danger.

But there were still over a thousand wounded, with 300 of them seriously injured.

"Alright, Boss. I’ve seen those barriers’ effects first-hand." Peter replied.

He fought bravely, with a burn mark on half of his face as proof. Fortunately, he received treatment during the battle, so it wasn’t too disfiguring.

"Continue..." Lin Yi looked at Solomon, "How was the zombies’ attack?"

"It seems the Zombie General sensed something was off and tested us, but we drove him back to his lair."

"Good, Su Xin?" Lin Yi looked at the Hilania person flipping through a tablet.

Su Xin looked up, tapped the screen a few times, and then played a video.

The video showed a vampire fortress, or rather, what was left of it after the bombardment and Da Chuan’s destruction.

"Thanks to the drones, we’ve found all their hideouts."

Lin Yi quickly browsed the video that showed infantry and remaining aerial units rushing into four stone buildings.

Even a blind person could see these buildings weren’t big enough to house all those troops.

"So they’re hiding underground, huh? Any thoughts?"

"Not yet, it all depends on what they do next."

"We still have some time; keep monitoring them, don’t stop the bombardment. I want them all hiding underground."

The meeting lasted over an hour.

By the end of it, Lin Yi made some decisions and set a few goals.

Those goals would enhance the shelter’s defenses and help them prepare for the Ark invasion.

The plan was to use cannons and the Giant Dragon to level the enemy’s entire fortress, then locate and seal all the underground passages.

What truly frustrated Lin Yi was that, despite the hard-fought battle, there were barely any spoils to gain.

The Chimera’s equipment was nothing special, but some of the vampire’s gear was quite good, especially the equipment seized from the sixty Pegasus Knights.

Ordinary vampire rings could increase Magic Value by 4, but their rings added an extra 1 point to Magic Value and also had an interesting magical enchantment.

[Noble Mage Ring, Third Level]

Designed by the great Archbishop of the Zor family. Forged at the Capital’s Second Workshop. Item number 1290.

Magic Value +5.

Due to the magical enchantment, this ring can be worn with another ring that also increases Magic Value.

Their cloaks also provided a better Magic Value increase than ordinary vampire cloaks or human Third Level armor.

[Noble Mage’s Cloak, Third Level]

Crafted by the noble Totoji Miranda.

Attributes: Defense 10, Magic Value 18, Magic Value recovery speed +30%.

Infused with sun-protection magic.

Next were the mages’ weapons, which Lin Yi found very interesting.

[Pair of Mage Gloves, Third Level]

Crafted by the Mitsui family’s Gorr, a young but undoubtedly talented artisan.

This pair of gloves must be used together, significantly enhancing the wearer’s ability to control Magic Power.

Magic Skills +14.

Enhances the wearer’s ability to control Magic Power and Skills, magical enchantment: reduces Magic Value consumption of all Skills by 20%.

This pair of gloves was more effective than similar equipment, forcing Lin Yi to rethink his view on artisans.

Lin Yi spent the rest of the day handling various affairs of the shelter and then checked the West City Wall.

The city wall’s construction had been delayed due to the vampire’s attack, but if the workers continued through the night, it might be completed by morning.

As a source of pride for engineers and metallurgists, this experimental new wall stood thirty meters high and six meters wide, with quite fast construction speed.

Despite being easy to assemble and relatively light, the wall appeared incredibly sturdy and durable.

It was hard to climb, and even mutant creatures would take longer to breach it.

Once completed, this three-kilometer-long wall would fully cover the passage from the island to the former Fragment area.

It was costly, but if attacked, it would allow humans to respond promptly and defend themselves.

The workers were very concerned about potential attacks from the Giant Caterpillar monster, whose acid could destroy their efforts.

But for now, the Zombie General has done nothing.

He remained unusually quiet...

An hour later, Lin Yi found himself with nothing much to do.

All reports would take a long time to come together, so he decided to take a break.