In the World of Sword and Magic as Space Marine

Chapter 12: Punch and Earthshaker

"They are everywhere!"

"Hold the line! Hold the line!"

"Skeletons are coming out from the ground. They were ready for us."

"Your highness, we have to pull back. The supply troops are in a safe distance, we have to retreat." Sir Winton, the main retainer of the Prince Benton advice prince, but Prince Benton was busy slaying skeleton spearmen and zombie mobs.

"No, we will hold the line here and end this now. This undead army is being controlled by a vampire lord, if we can slay it the rest of the army will fall." Prince Benton said to everyone around him as he killed two zombies next to him. Suddenly, three skeleton spearmen appear from behind two zombies and stab Prince Benton's horse.

With the fatal injury, the horse fell as Prince Benton stumbled to the ground and saved himself in the last minute with the roll. Prince Benton got up from the ground and struck the nearest undead while his retainers repositioned themself to protect the prince.

"Hold the line, they are nothing but mindless minions." Prince Benton gave his command to his knights but he knew his troops were slowly overwhelmed by the undead while gaining new soldiers at the same time.

As the fight continues, large monsters appear in the front line and start to devastate the knights left and right. 30 Minotaurs skeleton warriors with heavy weapons manage to overwhelm the knights on horseback with a single strike and crush their heads with ease. The balance of the battle changes dramatically and Prince Benton's knights start to lose their confidence.

"We can't hold them anymore, we have to fall back to the city." One of the knights yelled but just as he was about to turn his horse around, a group of zombies slammed into the horse knocking him down. Seeing the opportunity of the stunned knight on the ground, zombies drag the fallen knight and start to rip him apart. Seeing this, Prince Benton lost his concentration for a second but that was enough for one of the Minotaurs skeleton warriors to hit him with bone mace, disarming the prince.

"Your highness! Defend the Crown Prince, we need to..." Sir Winton couldn't finish his order as a black arrow pierced Sir Winton's left eye. With second leadership down, knights lose their fate and start to fall back more and more. With all this happening, none of the knights saw a giant black armored templar approaching the battlefield with unbelievable speed.

------------------

BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!!!

Four precise explosions destroyed the undead army's push against knights, giving breathing room to the living.

"TAKE THE WOUNDED AND RETREAT TO THE CITY! I WILL HOLD THEM OFF" With a booming voice, William gave the command to the troops as he pulled out more grenades. This time, instead of frag grenades, he pulls out Prometheus grenades to create a firewall between knights and undead.

BOOM, BOOM, BOOM…

Multiple explosions can be heard once again as the violent fire starts to engulf the skeletons and zombies. Taking this chance, everyone slowly falls back to the city as William uses the flamer to create more firewalls. Eventually, everyone who is alive managed to make it back to the city gate. William, confirming that he is the last living being on the battlefield, put his flamer in the inventory and ran in full speed back to the city.

Thanks to his Space Marine biology, William made it back in no time as his full speed can outrun any undead. Seeing this happening, Sir Dolven's soldiers close the gate a moment William made it back to the city.

"William, are you ok?" Sir Dolven asked William but William wasn't listening to the single word coming from the knight commander.

"How many did we lose?"

"Only 120 knights made it back and half of them are injured and out of action until they are healed." Sir Dolven said to William with a saddened voice. Prince Benton's royal cavalry is mostly composed of minor nobles' sons that support Prince Benton in political ways.

"Where is the prince?"

"He is with the retainers. Well, there are only three of them now instead of 14." Sir Dolven pointed behind William, turning around William saw three people attending the prince near the closed gate.

William, seeing where Sir Dolven pointed, starts to walk toward the group next to the closed gate. When he finally arrived, he immediately punched the prince's stomach and face, denting the prince's armor and helmet.

"You stupid fool, I should have just let the undead rip you apart instead of saving your skin. You are not ready to be a king nor lead soldiers to the war!" William then lifts the prince and tosses him to the retainers.

"Take him away and heal him. We are now in survival mode and have work to do."

------------------

"Do you know what you just did? You punch the prince, you won't survive the wrath of the king when he finds this out." Sir Dolven said to William as he halted the other knights from attacking William. After all, William did punch their prince to the point he went unconscious with few broken ribs.

"I will face that problem when we survive this mess," William said to Sir Dolven as he walked towards the wall defense. It will most likely be a difficult siege battle as the undead army will go on full force without fear or fatigue. Without killing the vampire lord, there will be unlimited undead for days to come.

When William and Sir Dolven made it to the top of the wall, the fear ran down on Sir Dolven's back as he saw on the other side of the wall. The fire died out as the battlefield is now filled with the undead army three times larger than before. The skeleton soldiers of all races, zombie hordes, ghouls of all sizes and finally a Grave Guards and Crypt Knights, a powerful undead knight with the finest weapons.

"Looks like they were ready for us, this is three major armies altogether. This means we have not just one vampire lord but three total." Sir Dolven whispered to himself as he saw an unstoppable force in front of him.

"When you said three vampire lords you mean those three right there?" William pointed his finger at three men riding a skeleton horse with expensive but tattered armor. Thanks to William's helmet he could see them in close range compared to others who couldn't see without focusing their eyes.

"Yea, I see them. They are indeed vampire lords. Looks like they are keeping themself away from the combat range." Sir Dolven said to William, but what he heard next is a surprise to everyone as William gave an order to all.

"Everyone take cover, do not peak your head out until bombardment is done!" With that sharp whistling sound of the artillery, an entire battlefield suddenly engulfed with fire and explosion, shattering the very earth undead is standing and bringing the might of the Astra Militarum