While we walked towards Skadi’s post, Nyx kept glancing towards the forest. Something had clearly caught her attention. All I could see were moving shadows, that might be animals. It could be monsters. I had no idea what actually lived in this forest. But what would attack a camp? Were they just watching? Or was I just seeing things?

The entrance had two torches. Skadi stood between them and looked towards the trees.

“Skadi, did you notice anything in the woods?” I asked her as I approached.

“Maybe, I am not sure. Do you think the teachers are testing us?” She wondered.

“You mean, a fake attack to see if we pay attention?”

“It would fit. A day of marching, then have us build camp, and when we finally get some rest stage an emergency.”

She did have a point. I sighed. “It would fit. Hey, at least we are already awake.”

“Assuming they attack now and don’t wait until the next guard shift.”

“I guess I should tell Torben.” His role was watch commander. Which meant he sat at a cosy fire drinking some tea.

I was just about to leave when Nyx grew to her full size. And then she roared. It was loud, deep and certainly woke a few people. It also got Cassie’s attention, who immediately rang the alarm bell.

I looked at the forest again and froze. A stream of creatures emerged and charged towards us.

“Spiders!” I shouted. They varied in size. Some were as big as a cat, others as large as a pig.

Skadi grabbed a two handed axe that was leaning against the wall. Wait, why did she have an axe?

“Where did that come from?” I wondered.

“I requisitioned it. But that is not the point!” Skadi answered. “Get behind me and hit them with all you have, we need to buy the camp some time!”

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While we had practised in our free time, I had never seen Skadi in a real battle. And we had never sparred with magic. She confidently took a position in front of me. Nyx stood by her side. I had learned one reasonable offensive spell so far, a necrotic dart. It shot a bolt of energy at a target. The magic should cause living things to wither and die. Well, depending on their strength.

As the monsters closed in I felt fear. The whole ground was covered in them. I could see eyes glowing in the darkness, as they approached the light. So many eyes… No! This was not the time to panic! I would not fall here! I was a soldier, a mage, a necromancer! I would show them!

I raised my hand, runes formed in my mind and I unleashed a spell. A bolt of black energy shot into the darkness and it hit one of the smaller spiders. It stopped moving, as its body withered. One down, an endless sea more to go.

Meanwhile, Nyx exhaled. The area in front of her was coated in mist. Not just the freezing kind, I could feel the death energy inside the cloud. Then she tore into the spiders with her teeth and claws. Skadi swung her axe at anything that came near and I unleashed additional bolts.

Our wall was meaningless against spiders. They could climb. It was only a matter of time until we would be surrounded. But the camp was stirring. Soon we would have reinforcements. Would it be fast enough?

There were quite a few corpses by now. I had only ever animated skeletons. And never in combat. Did spiders have bones? They had a hard shell. Could I animate that? Would they be zombies? One way to find out.

“I will try to animate some corpses, protect me please!” I shouted. Trying something new in combat was not the best idea. Being eaten by spiders seemed worse though. So I gave it a shot. I trusted my companions to keep me safe. I concentrated on a corpse. One? No, I needed more. I mentally tried to select everything I saw.

I did not completely lose track of my surroundings. I noticed an earth spike hit something nearby. An ice dagger buried itself in a spider that wanted to jump me. But I had to focus! I pulled mana from my core and flooded my body. Then I converted it to death mana. Runes formed in my head as I selected targets. I felt sweat on my forehead, as I desperately tried to complete the spell.

My efforts were rewarded. As I pushed mana through the runes, I felt the connections forming. Not every dead spider rose, but quite a few did. And they were ready to obey. My order was simple: Kill spiders!

I soon realised my mistake, as they attacked each other as well. It was carnage. I corrected my error, and instructed them to kill living spiders instead. It gave us some time. I felt slightly dizzy from the large amount of mana I had used. But I did not pass out. An explosion in the trench to my left signalled Cassie's arrival. Whatever she threw in there burned. And it did not stop.

Helena and Torben were here too. They had protected me while I was concentrating. An alarming amount of fresh corpses was near me. Skadi was breathing heavily, blood trickled from her left arm. Nyx was an embodiment of death, tearing spiders apart left and right. The assault lessened as undead spiders fought living ones. But it was not enough. There were too many. I needed…

The world was bathed in crimson. Suddenly the entire area in front of us turned into a sea of flames. The heat almost gave me blisters. I blinked, trying to regain my vision after the blinding light from the fire.

“Forest spiders. They are a delicacy if a skilled chef prepares them. What a waste.” Irene said.

I turned my head and stared at our teacher. She was calmly standing there. “Good job surviving and sounding the alarm!” She said and smiled at us.

“Was… was this a test?” I asked.

“Oh no! Nobody would be insane enough to sic an army of spiders on their students. They could have easily killed you. But that attack was not natural either. Someone disabled the wards we placed.”

I looked around. The camp was fully awake now. A lot of students looked confused, afraid, horrified,...

The battle was over. The teachers had turned the tide. I saw a few dead spiders lying around, but the majority had been incinerated. The area in front of the camp was scorched. No grass, no corpses, just ash. Only one of my undead spiders remained. I called it to us.

Nyx watched it crawl past her. Then she struck. Limbs were hanging from her mouth as she started chewing.