Not entirely unexpected, but still surprising, the pits near the stairs had filled up at breakneck speed!

Unbelievable how he could have missed something like that, but unfortunately tunnel vision was a common problem in a fight. As on a highway at high speeds, concentration always took a toll and could only thrive under special conditions.

His stats should have worked against that, but there was still a world of difference between grasping the new stats and remembering how something was supposed to work.

Besides, there was hardly time to find excuses for failure.

The innumerable bodies quickly suffocated even the Greek fires placed within. They literally just filled the pits with their bodies to the point that those behind them began climbing the steps to the city's perimeter defenses.

Basically, he didn't have much choice. Either he would have tried to hold his position or would have joined one of the encircled locations. In the current situation, the latter seemed much better than fending off a never-ending line of corpses tumbling towards his position.

Besides, it was still night, which made these bastards go faster than they've probably ever been in their lives. No, he preferred to climb onto Leica's back.

He didn't even have to think twice about which location to choose. Of both options, the mercenaries and a few worn-out soldiers in the surrounded barracks were clearly the better choice.

Although the other location had magicians and higher walls, there were certainly only unpleasant questions that needed to be clarified and some wankers who wanted to be flown out and he or his companion were not a damn air taxi that gave a few rich brats an easy exit .

No, with mercenaries he could at least brace himself for a certain distance, which was a souvenir of their vocation itself.

Something he could deal with more easily in a situation like this. Just to be safe, he removed the letter of recommendation from Dimensional storage and tucked it inside his cloak where he kept it handy so he could show it should he need it at all.

On Leica's back, they rose from the wall on which he was making camp and found himself only a minute near the mercenaries' camp, but still suspended in mid-air. In front of their wall, which was patched up in more than one spot, these stinkers crowded out. Using a few impressive fire spells, altering a normal fireball in various ways, he bombarded their ranks as impressively as possible. This was not to show off or make an impression, though, but one that guaranteed him not to be attacked if he landed in their midst.

He had no interest in friendly fire or being recognized as anything else that amounted to reinforcements.

So he waited a few minutes until he and his companion hesitantly settled down on the barracks square.

The reception was unexpectedly warm after being approached by an elderly man in his mid-thirties. This towered over him slightly by a whole head, which was surrounded by a strong steel helmet that only revealed his eyes.

His posture was intimidating, almost dominating, but not bossy or even unfriendly. But on the contrary. His voice had a pleasant smoky warm tone. His stature was emphasized only by the full body armor and a pair of axes hung loosely swinging from his hips. He was followed by someone in a different suit of armor that offered a complete contrast to his armor. The other man was only a few inches shorter, but the piercing eyes, standardized armor, and spear spoke volumes of their own. The man might have been something like a captain of the city watch.

The impressive chicken raised his hand in salute "Gunnar here what gives us pleasure?"

Magna spoke in his now very feminine voice, which he could hardly hide,"Magna, adventuress, magician and traveler looking for work as a mercenary! But with the couple of gifts of experience that populated this city, I just couldn't say no." Suppressing a simple giggle with his hand.

Gunnar seemed visibly surprised to find a woman instead of a man.

"Then you've come to the right place, although I don't think they can be offered a formal introduction to the guild or anything of that nature. As you can see, people are beating our doors right now." Gunnar said, visibly surprised by the answer.

Magna didn't hesitate and reached into his coat from which he pulled out Sam's letter of recommendation which he then held directly under Gunnar's face. Normally this was kept on hand in case of problems, but it should speed up the process.

The other man just seemed to be eyeing him relentlessly. It seemed he was trying to gauge him and her motivation. Standard behavior for guards, he told himself, and didn't pay much more attention to the man without taking his eyes off of him.

Gunnar promptly took the letter from him. Which he opened with an ease that such armored gauntlets never allowed to appear. He read the letter carefully until he let out a noticeable whistle!

"Border crosser, not a bad clan. Written by Sam himself, so you impressed her quite a bit. Instant recommendation about joining the guild and possible clan membership. The woman always knew how to secure talent." Gunnar grunted, clearly amused by the letter.

"Why here and not in the center. Our walls are smaller than the centers". The guard captain spoke in a very suspicious tone.

Magna visibly chuckled at the question, which seemed so obvious as an oasis in the desert. "You guys just made it look cozier!"

Leica was always close by. She also gave the guard a few fiery looks after sensing Magna's dislike of the guard. If the guard noticed, he would ignore the looks

. "Hidden something?" The guard captain raised his voice accusingly.

Again he had to giggle at the question. How else should he react about it? The question was simple as recited from the textbook. "Maybe? But I won't tell you," he chuckled to himself.

Magna could already see a vein pumping in the guard's forehead. Clearly upset at being played like this and ignored.

"Who do you think you are, you dirty little brat!" The guard captain started getting louder and louder.

Surprised by the rapid change, Leica began to bare its fangs. It would require little more than an imperceptible nod from Magna, and Leica would tear this guy to pieces.

"Leave it alone Michael! She hasn't done anything for us here until now. Quite in contrast to many others who ran away when the shit went into the windmill." Gunnar interrupted him with a lot more dominance in his voice!

"It's not over yet," the guard captain spat out angrily. Whereupon he shortly afterwards marched off insulted.

"Don't blame him, we're all on edge. After the city lord knew about the impending danger, since the gods offered him a task like anyone else with access to it, he hadn't notified anyone in the city. Not even the guards knew what kind of disaster was in store for us. Thought the walls could hold anything. But after a day the pressure on the gates was enough to make them splinter like old wood." Gunnar apologized to the guard captain.

"Was it the undead that got to him, an idiot town lord, or a woman on a flying wolf saving his ass?" Magna added with a chuckle to his explanation.

"You may laugh, but I can understand that, not even the highest walls would have brought me downtown without realigning the head of the idiot who rode us into this mess. Lost many good mercenaries here without pay. For a fight for which we are not armored, nor falls within our ordinary jurisdiction, for that is the responsibility of the damn monster hunters, or any of the temples!" Gunnar spat out those words almost like bitter medicine and somehow Magna had to sympathize. Yes, he just had to sympathize here. These poor bastards weren't defenseless or helpless. Relying not on walls or guards, they had an extremely dangerous job but were now being involuntarily recruited for a mission that wasn't one of their choosing.

"How long has this been going on?" With an air of seriousness, Magna asked him.

"Maybe two or three days? Seriously, our water supplies are running low, even though everything is already rationed. Either the undead will take us or the damn thirst will kill us." Gunnar said with a rare brief tinge of uncertainty that made it seem like he was actually weighing the options.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

"I could probably find a solution for the water." But I can't promise you anything. Get on your ground here.

With that, Gunnar's eyes seemed to grow as big as dinner plates. "By the gods. If you bring us fresh water then Sam can pack her recommendation. Then I want you in my clan." he commented with a throaty laugh more serious than expected.

"I still make my own decisions about where I belong, but thanks for another recommendation, the company thanks." Magna nodded at the mercenary's compliment.

"The company?" it escaped Gunnar confused.

Magna could only wave his hand there. How should he explain Earth concepts to someone? "An expression of where I come from, nothing moving."

With a nod, Magna asked a simple question. "Do you know what groundwater is?"

Do I look like a scholar to you? What's the deal with the ironfur shifter?

Magna: My partner, companion and my one true love! My cuddle pillow.

Before Gunnar could reply, he created a hole in the ground right next to them with his earth sculpting. Extremely deep, but just wide enough to fit a bucket! It didn't take very long until he hit groundwater. Despite the fact that the bottom was not sandy, he was able to hit water quite quickly. At the bottom, the hole began to fill with the broth from the soil. The quick success elicited a nod of affirmation from him, whereupon he enlarged the well slightly, creating a few walls around it that were at waist height so that no unwary mind would make a spontaneous trip into the underworld.

Elemental magic, you didn't lie.

Gunnar expertly waved a few of his men over, who spared Leica a few looks until their focus fell on the brand new fountain in their midst. Something that Gunnar happily commented on for the men with a few simple words and a grin that one could only guess under his helmet.

A generous gift from a new friend. Get someone to keep an eye on the well and have someone bring a rope and bucket.

Magna: I would still clean or boil the water first!

Gunnar seemed to nod in agreement: You are right and you are very welcome in my camp. We own the tents next to the barracks, you can have my adjutant's tent. He died yesterday and has no family.

Thanks for the water! This site did not have a fountain in opposition to the city center or the quarters. There was something like a conduit system, but that fell out with the attack, if I understood the guards correctly. So you just bought us a few days.

Magna followed him to their camp and gratefully moved into the tent next to his. The former adjutant's tent was nothing special, although more luxurious than the tents of the simple enlisted men.

Gunnar's and his aide's tent was very reminiscent of Sam's and her people's.

Heraldry was only found inside the dwelling, while the outside was kept in plain colors. Uniquely embossed with the crest of their clan and their unit!

In construction it was a bit reminiscent of the classic tents you would expect from knights, but also incorporated modern influences or something that could be described as modern.

The well-known leather coverings for the tarpaulins, so that they were protected from the rain, were missing. Only isolated sleeping quarters of the teams showed the use of this technique. Once again a clear difference between the realities. This had clearly shown that there were certain magical fabrics, base materials or enchantments that could give simple tent properties that were otherwise achieved with the help of other things.

While the interior of his new abode was not lacking in a bed, all armament, armor, and other personal belongings were presumably claimed by Gunnar or his people.

As simple as the simple cot seemed, it had been damn comfortable. In his previous life he had slept on quite a few cots, after all anything was better than sleeping on the floor.

Leica took the corner at the entrance while he simply threw himself onto the lounge with a few skins from his attic, where he could finally find the rest he needed.

Insane, but oddly enough, it was in the camp of these hired killers that he felt safest. Well, as safe as one could feel there. Ultimately, security was mostly a feeling for people. But these men and women had been a lot easier to judge.

Meanwhile, in front of the city, a strangely gruesome spectacle was unfolding, for the stream of dead people on the outer walls seemed unabated, which made the walls look from a distance as if they had a frightening life of their own. The undead on the weirs swayed like fields in the wind.

Their endless moans, hisses, salivates and shrieks filled the whole city with a sickening cacophony of noise that rose to a concert of terror. Everyone who was still awake had to witness this eerie event. Unsure if it would be the last music of their lives, if they would ever leave the city alive, or if they would soon join their former fellows in this chaos.

In the middle of the city center, surrounded by guards, a severely overweight man sat in a palatial dining room. The table in front of him was stacked with food that could feed a small army.

A guard captain who was remotely reminiscent of a knight in his demeanor, appearance and demeanor stepped inside through two double doors. His metal boots made an odd thud on his master's floor.

The city lord looked up as he tried to swallow the remains of what seemed to be filling his mouth. Before he was even finished, his raspy voice began to fill the room, "What's taking so long! Turn off the damn noise! I can't eat like that!"

With a seriousness that was never worthy of the question, the guard captain answered his master. "My Lord Giersin, unfortunately we are not able to leave the walls."

"This is unacceptable! Am I just surrounded by incompetent idiots? My brother was right about the borderlands, but if he hadn't caused so much trouble I wouldn't have to call this pile of dirt home." The exasperated gentleman belated about the situation in his city.

Angrily he threw the tray with his current dishes from the table. The food spilled on the floor of the room, causing a few servants to look at the dishes with growling stomachs. They had all been rationed for days.

"This damn job is my only chance to get back into the graces of the realm. Kurt sends the damn guards out inside town, notify them whatever you want, but tomorrow this noise will end. Let these slackers and cowards be as wild as rats to crawl away." shouted Giersin authoritatively.

"Yes, my lord." Kurt replied to his oath bound gentleman.

"And Kurt!?" Giersin blurted out with his mouth full.

"Yes, my lord?" Kurt asked his master again.

"Get me that magician on the flying wolf! It would make a wonderful gift for my cousin." With a greedy twinkle in his eyes.

*

*

*

It was crazy, but somehow Magna slept great in all this crazy chaos. For a brief moment you could forget sitting in the middle of a sea of undeath. There was still no efficient final solution to this problem.

What if I just lured them all back out of town to the Pit and filled it with Combustibles so I could burn the whole pack down in one fell swoop. However, would it be hard to keep them all together once I got them out of town?

"Another cup?" Gunnar Magna asked.

"What?" snapped Magna back to Gunnar.

Completely lost in his thoughts, he didn't even notice the infused cup that had been filled with a tea-like brew that somehow also bore some resemblance to coffee.

Gunnar had woken him up quite punctually, after which they had a stew at the campsite. Morale has been rising within these barracks ever since he intervened to supply water. It was better to be surrounded when there was water for everything but rations.

Although one could no longer be sure whether the smell really came from unwashed bodies or instead from the walking water corpses in the city itself.

The tar-like substance was not only reminiscent of coffee in its blackness, but also the similarities between the two drinks were recorded in terms of taste. Even if the taste was probably more comparable to Biwak coffee. Bivouac referred to a practice in the military associated with a camping trip where a certain coffee was served that even drove the worms out of a dead man's sack.

With a single sip, Magna gulped the coffee down her throat followed by a short cough, which only elicited a giggle from Gunnar's men, and yet anything was preferable to a cold wall.

For a brief moment one could even forget that a sea of bodies threw themselves against the walls of the barracks. The moment Magna was about to ask for a new cup, he felt a sudden, uncomfortable apprehension.

A glance backwards revealed the awkward stare of the guard captain at his back. Whatever this man came up with could not bode well.

With stilted steps, he approached their camp and not just the mercenaries. Just before he passed it with his boot, he paused in his gait in place.

In a plaintive, annoying voice, he spoke to him again, "A message has just arrived from the lord of the city. You, Magna, are now under the command of Baron Giersin. You are forbidden to leave the city. Otherwise, you will be branded a criminal!"

For a moment, Magna almost choked on the hot drink. Did he hear that right there? And this guy had the balls to just proclaim it like that.

It's best to just ignore it. idiots go away on their own.

With a barely concealed laugh, he finally spoke to the guard without even turning around, "Take off sparrow brain or I'll do you. Your lord can lick my crack!"

Without looking, Magna could already see the mercenaries grinning. Gunnar must have felt as shocked by what Michael said as Magna's sheer blatant disapproval of nobility, as well as the endorsement that went with it.

For a few seconds, the vein must have pumped like a heartbeat after a marathon at the disrespect on the man's forehead, because for several moments not a single word came back. Instead, very suddenly, there was the sound of a blade being pulled from its sheath.

The mercenaries took up their weapons just as quickly. Even Gunnar could see Magna reaching for his axe. The next voice to break the situation was accompanied by the deep tenor from Gunnar's throat "Michael, I have no idea what has gotten into you, but pulling the sword in our camp throws you and the town into conflict with the guild! Inside our Lagers are always our laws and this woman is our guest. I like you, but if this sword misses its scabbard by an inch, we'll have a bloodbath."

As if torn out of the trance, the sword was brought back. Damn it, Magna could even hear his face grimace as fresh leather was brought in and the guard captain turned on the spot.

During the whole situation, Magna hadn't once relaxed the string on his inner bow. As relaxed as he may have been sitting there, he really wasn't that relaxed. With just another wave of his hand, a thought, he let the brewing magic disperse in the ground. None of the mercenaries needed to ask for a spar. A step further and a thorn would have impaled the man like a shish kebab.

The whole thing is becoming more and more of a shit show! No good deed went unpunished.

The still grinning mercenaries seemed to relax very quickly. Until finally Gunnar spoke again "Damn little woman, you have a tongue like a toad when the flies haven't gotten caught in it. I've known Michael for a while, but I've never seen the man so upset."

How should he answer that? So Magna grunted his slightly lighter voice in response. Really, he missed the tenor of his own voice as much as he could.

Magna kept replaying the potential rewards that warranted this shitty show. Without the system showing its generosity, he would have disappeared from town after such an action became better known.

He knew it was going to be a long day, for one thing the damn corpses were slower during the day, for another he could clean the walls into a circle, but eventually it would finally, but slowly, be fewer and fewer.

"No offense, thanks for your support, but I could have sorted this out on my own. Also, thanks for the rest of the night and breakfast. I owe you a favor, Gunnar!" Magna made his first sound on the matter.

"As if you needed my help. This was about guild politics. Nothing for you until you're a part of it, but no one, not even a lord, draws a weapon within the confines of any of our camps," Gunnar snorted back in reply.

"Excellent, that's all said, if you'll excuse me, because as much as I appreciate your hospitality, I have work to do and the sooner I can get past this shitty show, the sooner I can get out of the place.

Without another word Magna swung onto Leica's back and spread her wings without any comment. A few seconds later they were finally airborne together again.

Magna wanted nothing more than to finish this damn quest. To make matters worse, the undead hardly gained any levels. He needed two hundred new levels for his next tier, and everything in that damn place belonged in Tier One's realm.

He spent the whole damn day burning through his mana in an endless loop.After the battlements were cleared, he began the stairways toward the outer walls destroy, which made his old camp safe again and he was no longer dependent on the barracks yard, followed by the systema tical cleansing of the city. Although the main streets kept filling up through the side streets, there was a strong decrease in the areas. Entire streets were swept empty, except for a few corpses that could not free themselves, most of them poured into the free spaces on the main streets. In fact, most of the between areas seemed to be slowly being cleared of the undead. Only the city center and the barracks were still under siege. Tantamount to a miracle, even living people in some places left buildings or stumbled up from basements. The few left the City of the Dead without a shred of remorse or even a second glance. Not everyone was outrageously lucky. Some, Magna could see from above, ran straight into small groups of undead that were left behind, only to join their ranks shortly thereafter.

But all in all there was finally a glimmer of hope, especially after no more flying beasts seemed to appear and although the display was still missing a few increases, some percentages were still missing, but after what was looming on the horizon that evening he should be able to fulfill his wish one end cursed.

For no sooner had he settled himself in his camp on the wall than the last rays of the sun illuminated massive shadows as they approached the city...