As soon as he appears the army starts marching towards the human town. It looks like my guess was right, the men that were closest to the maker are her generals. It does make me wonder why she didn't show up herself, then I notice something.
Even though the male walked out of the jungle, he stopped while still in the shade. Maybe he really is a vampire and is avoiding direct sunlight, if so I may have found the maker's weakness. Originally I didn't plan to interfere in this conflict, but now I can learn something important.
So I fly down towards the general until I am in range, then I fire wind blades at the trees. In an instant all the trees providing shade to the general are cut down and falling. The general turns his head and stares at me, but only until the trees fall enough.
When the sunlight hits him he lets out a scream of pain before turning into a blur. He didn't burst into flames but the sunlight obviously hurt him quite a bit. As the general retreats into the jungle the undead stop being organized and turn into a mob.
Instead of marching towards the town in an orderly manner they are now just a mob. This should make the fight a little bit easier for the humans, at least until nightfall. Once the sun goes down the general will probably return to take command.
Still, I learn two important pieces of information from this little bit of interference. One, sunlight hurts them and two, the range for them to control the undead is limited. The maker can probably send out orders to all the undead, but needs the generals for fine control.
This also tells me that the maker's ability to see and control the undead should be limited. Considering all the undead have her energy inside them, the more undead there are the weaker she should be. That can't be all of it though, the undead must do something for her.
My best guess would be that she takes some of the energy from the undead's kills. Otherwise making the undead army bigger would be counterproductive. Either that or she somehow gains strength from having the army under her control.
For me, the first option would be better, since the more her energy spreads out the easier it is to steal. Once I am sure the general isn't returning right away, I go back up to observe. I am hoping that the humans will win this first fight, that way the maker should get serious.
Right now she is probably thinking that me opening a gate is some kind of trap. That is probably why she only sent one general through, he is the scout. As I watch, the undead finally get close to the town and the humans start their attack.
Arrows and spells fly from the walls of the town and start raining down on the undead. Normal zombies and skeletons would be destroyed easily, but these are a lot tougher. A few undead do go down under the bombardment, but the rest continue towards the walls.
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It doesn't take long for the undead to reach the walls and start trying to climb them. This is where the humans are able to inflict a lot more damage to them. It is almost like watching a movie, the undead corpses are piling up fairly quickly.
However, much like what happened in the captain's test, the bodies start forming a ramp. The remaining undead start having an easier time getting up the wall and the humans start having more trouble. Soon humans start dying under the attacks from the undead, and then they get back up.
Each time an undead dies I can see the energy racing away towards the gate. However, these new undead that are being created don't have the maker's energy inside them. They appear to just be normal undead, which means my guess was at least partially wrong.
The normal undead are easier to kill, but they also create an emotional burden for the humans. Cutting down an undead that was someone you knew is not an easy thing for most people. Despite that, the humans continue putting up a good fight against the undead.
The avatar is just standing on the wall watching, he hasn't done anything yet. He hasn't even given any orders to the humans since the start of the battle. I am a bit disappointed, I want to see just what the avatar is capable of.
While I plan to try and avoid fighting him, you never know what might happen. Knowing ahead of time what the avatar is capable of would be nice, just in case. However, it doesn't look like the undead are going to be strong enough to force him to act.
Half the undead have already fallen and the humans have only lost two dozen or so troops. So far the humans are winning hands down, the fight isn't as close as I had hoped. However, that might just convince the maker to come through the gate.
If the maker comes through then she should bring all of the undead with her. That would mean the island is safe for me to go back and search for more gems. I could also explore where she was imprisoned and maybe learn more about her.
Watching the battle continue I have a sudden idea, so I fly down to the edge of the jungle and land. Then I shapeshift into a human, take out the warhammer, and wait. The next time one of her undead dies I swing the warhammer at the ground as the energy rushes past.
Surprisingly it actually works and I am able to intercept the energy with the warhammer. This means I can steal the energy without even having to fight the undead! If anyone spots me I am sure they will think I am crazy as I stand here beating the ground.
However, collecting energy is far more important than what anyone around here thinks of me. If the avatar sees me then it might even make him underestimate me later on. Whatever the case, I am getting to steal energy from the maker so I am happy.
The only thing that worries me is that the sun is going down and it will be dark soon. The general will probably appear the second the sunlight is no longer a threat. I would prefer to be gone or at least back in the air before that happens.
Since I have no idea how strong the general might be I would prefer to avoid fighting one for now. There is too much depending on me right now for me to be reckless. Despite what the goddesses think, I can be careful when I need to be.
By the time I collect a hundred energy the sunlight is almost completely gone. Even though I want to steal more energy, it is probably not safe for me to stay. So I take off and return to my observation of the battle from above.
Unfortunately, the battle is almost over, I missed most of it while I was stealing energy. The humans haven't suffered many more casualties and the undead are almost all gone. The avatar is still standing where he was earlier, it looks like he hasn't moved at all.