There was little else to do other than watch the encroaching dust cloud. I stood shoulder-to-shoulder with other city guards and Prince Leopold, although none of us spoke to one another for a long time. Mages were spread across the walls in small groups so as not to bunch up for the Liches’ spells and cover the most amount of area. The only concentration of mages was at the repaired breach.
In truth, we could only assume what the undead were going to do. After all, this was an unprecedented attack outside of a dungeon with so many Liches present. Common sense would just see the undead shambling toward us via the shortest route in order to overwhelm and destroy us. But we had no way of knowing for certain.
It was not uncommon for Liches to command their undead more effectively as they would lay ambushes or traps or even retreat when nearing defeat in dungeons. However, with the cloud signaling the enemy's whereabouts and the information from the scouts, they don’t appear to be surrounding the city as an army would.
Which is worrisome. It’s almost like they know there is a breach in the wall. Yes…there are far too many incidents lining up for all of this to be a simple coincidence. Either way, it matters not.
The wait was not long either. After about twenty minutes, the first silhouettes of the undead could be seen shuffling into view. The effect was immediate. The two men next to me gritted their teeth as they muttered various profanities. And they were not alone.
“What is this madness?” Prince Leopold muttered.
It appears the undead aren’t completely senseless.
It wasn’t just the appearance of the undead that unnerved and enraged people but rather the type. Leading the pack were shambling, rotting corpses of people—Zombies. Villagers with tattered clothes and decaying flesh, border guards with swords sticking out from their bodies, still lumbering forward undaunted. For the defenders atop those walls, there very well could be uncles, brothers, sisters, or any amount of family and acquaintances amongst the millions of walking corpses. It was a psychological attack meant to confuse, anger, and lower the people’s morale before the battle even began.
The enemy was still out of range for most attacks, so I took the opportunity to do something I had yet to do. I focused my Dragon eye to see further and directed mana from my body as I activated Soulsight. I believed it safe to do despite the numerous monsters in front of me, and thankfully, I was correct as I did not sprawl out on the ground in agony.
From atop the wall, I investigated the souls of the undead to confirm a theory. These creatures may not be “alive” in the sense that they have a soul. Instead, they were just merely corpses being commanded by unseen hands or magic. However, I was wrong. The world lost its color and features as I focused my eye on a single Zombie at the front of the pack, a man, or at least what was left of him.
At the center of his rotting chest was a flicker of light, no bigger than a candle flame. The woman next to him was the same, as was the one after that and after that. Their souls were not the same either, just like a living person. They were all unique in their own way. Which all but confirmed it.
These people. Their souls, at least, are tethered to their bodies despite being dead.
If the body was a vessel that contained the soul, and the vessel was dead and decaying, how was it that the soul remained? Outside of the tiniest flicker, even smaller than what a child would have, how was it possible? Initially, I did not see anything to answer my questions: no chains binding the soul, no spell cores inside the bodies, and nothing indicating anything.
However, that only remained true upon an immediate inspection. When I strained the vision of my Dragon eye more and more, nearly to the point where I was looking the corpses in the eyes despite being miles away, I saw something. It was faint, barely perceivable at all, and even then, it seemed to flicker in and out of existence. It was a thin, white line or, perhaps more accurately, a string. The string seemed to attach itself to the fleeting souls of the undead and headed off somewhere into the distance, deep within the ranks of the encroaching horde.
I see…perhaps it is true that the Liches really are binding people’s souls with magic and controlling them. Or maybe it is something else. I couldn’t tell.
The moment I ceased providing mana to my Dragon eye and returned to normal, shouts began ringing across the wall. The bells tolled relentlessly, signaling the attack as the horde shifted. It was like a black cloud was rising from the horde, moving as a single mass directly into the sky. Within minutes the entire morning sky was plunged into darkness.
“Mages! Prepare!”
The orders came down the line as I started to form a spell core. The black mass came closer and closer, and it became clear what it was. Thousands upon thousands of decaying, rotting birds and flying monsters were flying directly at the city. It seemed they were hiding amongst the corpses. No doubt it was a move by the Liches.
The sound of flapping wings, distorted squawks, and pained cries filled the air. And a moment later, the air buzzed with mana as spells lit the sky up and impacted the darkness. Balls of high-pressure water dropped dozens to the ground, crushing them. Razer sharp blades of wind sliced others into rotting chunks, and globs of flames burned the endless flying mass.
I launched a Fire Lance into the cloud, incinerating hundreds of more miniature monsters and birds to dust in an instant. And even that was not enough to clear the sky in the immediate impact. The wall of flying creatures seemed as endless as the horde on the ground.
Prince Leopold launched multiple bolts of brilliant golden lightning into the flock. His lightning arced from one moving corpse to another, burning the smaller creatures to ash and dropping the larger ones to the ground, only for them to be lost and consumed by the endless numbers. I fired spell after spell and, seeing Leopold’s success, opted for lightning-based at that distance.
My golden lightning bolts pierced straight into the crowd, reducing even more to dust before arcing off. Regardless of the dangers of the hundreds of spells, the swarm merely reached out, undaunted by the deaths of those around it. It just wasn’t enough.
There were just too many. They will reach the walls.
My concerns were doubled as a familiar screech echoed above all the other shouts and noise of the monsters. A figure with the head of a bird and the body of a lion dived out from the swarm at immense speed and barreled straight for a section of the wall where a ballista was stationed.
“A—an undead Gryphon?” Prince Leopold stammered.
“Remain here. I’m going to face it,” I told him.
I didn’t give the young prince time to answer me as mana coursed through my muscles. I sprinted across the battlements towards the ballista team, racing the Gryphon before impact. I hurdled over people and jumped atop the stone parapet, only to launch myself into the air.
I changed my gravity to fall into the incoming Gryphon and, thankfully, was able to make it just as the beast reached the wall. My spear thrusted into the monster’s exposed neck; I felt flesh give away, and the stench of rot filled my nostrils. The beast let out a roar, and I let my body crash into its side, knocking it along the battlements.
In a jumble, I ended up rolling with the creature while others managed to move out of the way. But despite landing a critical blow to the monster, it continued to writhe and fight undeterred. As it rolled over on its feet, pulling itself free from my spear, it swung its sharp talons at me at lightning-fast speed.
I tilted back, dodging the swipe by a hair's breadth. Mana coursed into my spell core, and a white flame erupted on the black blade of my spear as I sent it straight into the creature's skull. With all my weight behind the thrust, I overtook the creature, sending it onto its back. My spear cut through and burned flesh and bone, and the rotting monster flailed at me. But once I broke through its thick skull, I felt the soft, mushy flesh of its brain and poured more mana into my spell core.
From inside the monster, its head exploded into white flames and tainted bits of flesh. I jumped back and off the corpse as a torrent of white flames erupted from my hands, burning the corpse down to the bones. The smell of burning, decayed flesh was sickening, but I could not let up. I had to burn even the bones to dust as we could not allow such a monster to be revived. Every moving corpse reduced to nothing was one less threat.
My success was short-lived as there were no shouts of victory as the swarm finally hit its mark. A tidal wave of birds and monsters swept over us, and with a single swipe of my spear, I sliced a large bat creature in half. My outstretched hand sent flames into the air, torching even more.
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The defenders around me wildly attacked the air, and even the most untrained of defenders hit multiple creatures with a single swipe. Their blunt hammers smashed the birds and monsters into pulp; shields blocked the endless numbers as they mindlessly dived into us. There was no thought behind the creature’s attacks. Heedless of death, they never dodged or strafed but simply just dived straight at the closest living person.
And not all was well. Defenders were being swarmed on all sides, and a woman’s body crumbled to the ground as a bird flung itself directly at her head, plunging its beak into her face. The bird was stomped on by another, and everyone frantically began attacking anything and everything that wasn’t Human.
Spells lit the air up, torrents of flame burned nonstop, and rocks from earth mages crushed bodies into bloodied messes. It was a bloodbath.
I took up a position with a group of guards and soldiers protecting the ballista. The ballista team frantically reloaded and shot the massive bolts into the fray, reducing monsters to a paste. My flames scorched hundreds of the flying menaces, and my white flame-clad spear claimed many more alongside it. In the distance, another screech of a Gryphon could be heard, followed by the screams of people and the crashing of rock and stone. That Gryphon was way too far for me to handle. I would have to rely on someone else to deal with it.
It was nearly impossible to see what was going on with all the chaos. The aerial undead were not only mobbing the walls but were flooding down into the city below. Mages, knights, and other defenders were now battling the masses down there as well.
I stepped on the rising corpse of another giant flying bird monster the size of a large dog as it writhed on the ground despite having its head split open. The bodies that had not been wholly destroyed began squirming and moving on the floor, moaning and yelping as they came back to life.
I was only one mage amongst many that could dispose of the corpses in an instant. I opted to stop swinging my spear entirely and instead solely focused on fire magic to burn everything. I dodged just enough to avoid having my head skewered, only for the attacking bird to slam into my armored chest, killing itself on impact. I moved back and burned it into nothing.
I continued to use my magic to scorch that body, more of the undead, and even fallen allies on the cold, bloodied stone.
Under the direction of knights and other leaders, the defenders began to pile the corpses, most of them still moving as they tried to put themselves back together. For whatever reason, the effect wasn’t as quick as it was in the dungeon a few years ago. Perhaps it had to do with the distance from the actual corpse to the Lich. Regardless, teams of mages went around, burning the corpse piles and filling the air with a putrid stench of burnt flesh and smoke.
A quick glance showed that, all things considered, the damage was minimal. The deaths weren’t numerous for such an attack; the greatly wounded could be treated despite their numbers. But in the end, most only came out with minor or insignificant wounds. However, the city below could not claim as such.
Defenders of all types were placed in the city for cases just like that but the flying undead had taken root, causing havoc below. It would be some time before the lower city stabilized, but time was neither a luxury we had nor could afford as the undead had achieved their goal.
I gazed out into the once-empty field to witness the sea of shuffling corpses walking straight to their dooms. They cared not for the ditches and stepped directly into them; their bodies piling into the water and sinking. They crawled over the sharp traps that impaled them. Their moans echoed around the entire city as the empty trenches we built by the dozens were being filled. They had already filled the first lines of defense. Their distraction had mostly worked, and a new problem was already on the horizon.
Boom.
A section of the wall in the distance suffered a significant impact. The defenders atop the wall in that immediate section were gone. A bloody boulder with the remains of people crashed into a home, flattening it.
In the distance, massive hulking figures loomed. The books I read did not do them justice. They were far more hideous and unnerving in person. The giants were not entirely made of a single entity but rather what looked like hundreds upon hundreds of bodies forced and mushed together to create some kind of hideous combination vaguely resembling a giant person. The smallest was at least twenty feet tall, while the biggest quickly reached forty.
Corpse Giants.
A boulder thrown from one of the giants arced through the air. I flipped my spear around and aimed the golden Wyrm horn at it. Mana coursed through my body as I formed a double spell core. The earthen bullet the size of a person’s head formed from thin air, and with an audible crack, I launched it.
The spell hurtled forward and intercepted the boulder mid-flight, destroying it and sending the splinters spraying harmlessly into the open field. Another series of boulders were launched, and I jumped atop the parapet and began rapidly shooting them down as best as I could. The furthest ones were the most difficult to hit, but even so, there were only so many giants, and they were somewhat sluggish in their attempts to pick boulders up and toss them.
After I missed about two boulders that hit the walls, I got the timing down and was able to snipe the boulders closest to me. Thankfully, I was not alone in my attempts. Other sizeable chunks of rocks and lances of fire flew through the air to counter the flying boulders with extreme accuracy.
The far right side must be Bowen. As for the fire mage…they are closer to the breach. It must be War God Vasquez.
“Launch! Launch the ballista! Mages, aim for the giants!”
Orders came down the line as the bells tolled three times in rapid succession, the signal for the siege equipment in the city to begin firing. Boulders from our side fired and arced over the city’s walls and crashed into the undead army, crushing corpses and rolling others over before coming to a halt in one of the various trenches.
Seeing that their attempts at siege weapons failed, or instead on the order of the still-hidden Liches, the Corpse Giants stopped their rock-throwing and began to move toward the city. Thankfully, they didn’t appear to possess insane speed as they lumbered forward. However, their sheer size allowed them to crush the traps beneath them. However, they were not big enough to cross the trenches unscathed. There were about a dozen Corpse Giants spread across the field, and they could not avoid the pitfalls. Many fell into the trenches and were forced to clamber out and over them. It was a slow process, but our defenses were working as intended.
“Launch!”
The ballista team to my right fired a bolt at one of the giants. The massive arrow arced in the air and, with impressive aim, hit a Corpse Giant directly in the chest as it was pushing itself out of a ditch. However, the monster cared not and continued to climb out and start its ceaseless march forward once more. Ballista teams across the walls also fired their own; some were direct hits, and others grazed or missed entirely. Either way, the siege weapons were not enough to halt the monsters.
Mages quickly began rapidly firing spells at the giants, but unlike the tiny birds and weak flying monsters, their spells had little effect on the Corpse Giants. Even a Fire Lance, which hit a giant in the leg, only slowed it down for a moment as the creature regrew its limbs and stood up again.
“Apply the fire bombs,” I ordered loudly.
The team quickly set another bolt, and one of them tied one of the glass containers to it. It only took the team a few seconds, and they were ready for another launch. The team’s captain gave me a nod and then gave everyone the order to launch. The ballista shook and released the bolt. The team’s accuracy was just as good as the first, and I wasted no time sending a Fireball alongside it.
The bolt hit a Corpse Giant in the lower thigh just as it stood up, and my Fireball was right behind it. The ensuing mixture of fire and alchemical concoction created a massive explosion that shook the air and sent a blastwave. The smoke cleared, and the Corpse Giant had been devastated.
It was limbless, its head entirely gone and nothing more than a smoldering torso that was sent back into the trench in which it crawled out of. Even though it could regenerate and would eventually rise again, it would still take time. At this rate, we would disable most of the giants before they reached the walls. But…there was a singular looming problem.
The largest of the Corpse Giants had yet to make a move. And unlike the others, there was something off about it. It lacked the same grotesque amalgamated appearance as the others. That one seemed to be one whole being, as if it really were a giant turned into an undead.
And then it crouched down low and started to run.
The monster quickly gained speed, and people let out audible gasps as it bounded over the first set of trenches. The creation continued to run as spells hit it, but nothing happened.
“Launch!”
The ballista teams sent another volley of bolts at the creature. Some of them were bound to hit it, but the creature leaped into the air, dodging most of the bolts, and with a single swipe of its arm, it hit the rest, batting them away, and continued running. The ones that embedded themselves into its arms were ripped out as the creature continued to run forward, straight at the breech.
I sprinted across the battlements with mana-enhanced steps in order to reach the breach. That creature was not like the others; it was not so simple-minded, but it showed a tremendous amount of intelligence and agility, just like a high-threat level monster would. If that thing made it to the wall, it would surely blow through the breach.
It had to be stopped.
But there was a great distance to cover, and the Corpse Giant, with its long legs and frightening speed, was closing in. I wouldn’t make it in time as it leaped over the trenches, shrugging off magic and ballista bolts alike. And just as it was nearly at the wall, in the distance, I watched a figure clad in black armor jump from the wall.
A great red flame engulfed the Mythril axe in his hands as he fearlessly leaped toward the creature. With a roar of man and flame, War God Vasquez brought down his axe atop the monster’s head. Flames sprouted out in all directions as a sweeping line was cut down the creature from skull to groin.
The corpse giant, with its momentum, fell apart to the side and crashed into the dirt, kicking up dust and debris. It rolled off and over into a trench, and atop it stood War God Vasquez. He raised his giant war axe into the air with a roar.
And the defenders roared back.