Scorched earth flew through the air, adding further to crater filled earth. The Onigarians attempted to eliminate as many Tarian soldiers as they could as the Tarians launched their own magic, aimed at both the Defenders, and the city beyond.

The Onigarians had mages specialized in intercepting the projectiles, preventing them from reaching the city, but there was simply too much. There was no doubt that many civilians hiding in their homes had their lives extinguished without knowing what had happened. Many more had their homes destroyed.

Fires raged within the walls as the Fire Brigade did their best to combat them. The braver civilians left their homes to aid the Brigade.

All of this went unseen by Alaster. He knew that it was happening, but he was unable to focus on it. He had his own issues. Namely, the entire Noln Detachment charging towards his position.

Their Mages maintained Magic Shields over their comrades as they charged, protecting them from the Magic raining down on them. None of the shields were able to withstand Alaster’s Magic, but it was enough to limit his victims.

The Undead Archers loosed their arrows, the projectiles passing through the Magic Shields without any interference. Most were blocked by the Soldier’s shields, but occasionally one would slip past their defenses and dig into the flesh of a Tarian Soldier.

Alaster’s three Undead Mages cast their Magic, releasing their [Necrotic Bolts]. Two of the trio were raised using Adept Cores, making them much stronger and intelligent. Though to Alaster’s annoyance, they still only knew [Necrotic Bolt] and [Bone Crafting]. The singular Novice Mage spent its time beside the Undead archers, creating more arrows.

Alaster limited himself to only using a single [Dead Bomb] at a time, and only after he had recovered the Mana Cost. He had no doubt that the Tarians had prepared counter measures against him specifically.

Despite the several hundred Onigarian Mages and the siege weapons, the majority of the charging Tarians reached the walls. The Tarians climbed the ladders and charged up the Siege towers. In no time at all, the Soldiers of both nations were engaged in a furious melee of blood, death, and screams.

Alaster’s section had only one difference, only the Tarians were screaming. The Noln Soldiers might have been hardened veterans, experienced in war and death, but even they were unnerved by the silent efficiency of the Undead before them.

The young man held his Adept Undead back for now. He wished to see the difference between the Noln Soldiers and the standard Tarians. And the difference was quite clear. Despite their fear, natural for any mortal in a battle such as this, they charged against the Undead without hesitation. They worked together to cut them down. Their Levels were not obviously higher, but the way they used their Levels were.

Alaster had the Defender’s advantage, but his Undead were still being cut down at an alarming rate. Though it was not one sided. Many Noln Soldiers joined the Undead in their rest. But unlike the Undead, it was not their final rest.

The Soldiers upon the Ladders had not yet managed to climb onto the walls, the Blackguards were able to hold them off with their spears. Though the Soldiers on the Siege Tower had managed to spill forward, onto the wall proper. They had even managed to cut forward, separating the two sides of the wall from each other. They quickly came to regret that as the Onigarian Soldiers on the inner wall sent wave after wave of Magic and Arrow into their flank.

The Onigarians atop the towers had been asked by Alaster to focus on the Soldiers at the bottom Siege Tower. The defenses there were tough due to the concentration of Soldiers, but Alaster knew that if they attempted to assist Alaster atop the wall, they would only hinder him and his Undead.

As of yet, the Noln Soldiers were much stronger than the Tarians, but had not impressed him. He had not even moved a single step since the battle began. He remained in the same spot in front of the wooden bridge connecting the two walls.

Not even his Adept Undead had been given the opportunity to fight, much to the Dread Knights’ annoyance. They anxiously shifted around, pacing back and forth. Their entire bodies shivering. Not due to cold, or fear, but bloodlust.

They looked towards Alaster in a manner that he could not help but compare to a puppy begging for food from the table.

Alaster sighed, “Fine, go on.”

The two Dread Knights bent their knees and opened their claws hands. Raising their heads to the sky, they uttered a bone chilling roar. One that echoed through the battle, causing hesitation. One that was filled with the unbridled joy of death.

The Dread Knights charged forward, their bodies low to the ground. They jumped over the lines of Undead, right into the mob of Noln Soldiers and away from Alaster’s sight. Not that he needed to see them. The spray of blood and flying body parts revealed their location.

The War Born weren’t so enthusiastic, though they too charged forward, melding into the line of his Undead and quickly overpowering their opponents through pure skill; skill that was improving as the battle dragged on. Their strikes became faster. Their thrusts, sharper. Unlike the Knights, whose weapons and armor also became stronger the more blood they consumed, the War Born weapons remained the same. As the stress of battle slowly reduced their weapons to mere chunks of metal, they discarded them with ease, picking up another and resuming the massacre without pause.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

As previously ordered, the Guardians stayed at the bridge. Alaster had wanted to place them at the Siege Tower bridges, limiting the Soldiers that could get onto the wall itself, but upon seeing that the entire Noln Detachment was headed for his section of wall, Alaster changed his mind.

Alaster did not see the Shadow Assassins advance, though he could feel them. He could feel their location as they seamlessly melded from shadow to shadow, silently eliminating a single Soldier at a time. Visually, that was not nearly as impressive as the War Born, and certainly not as much as the Dread Knights, but Alaster was still quite happy with them.

Each of the Shadow Assassins’ targets were those attempting to command or those that stood out due to their strength. In just minutes, the Noln forces atop the wall were without command or elites. In the mess of battle, compounded by the crowded conditions, none of them spotted the Shadows as they silently worked. They only saw the blood, and the bodies as they fell.

With the Adept Undead, the Noln atop the wall were slowly being wiped out and pushed back, but Alaster was not done. Closing his eyes, he focused his Mana into the piles of corpses below the wall. While the Noln Soldiers were focused on the battle atop the wall, the Horde Legion slammed into them.

Overcome by shock and fear at seeing the rotting corpses of their own mercilessly carve into them, the Soldiers retreated, though not entirely. They retreated from the Legion, reforming their own battle lines five meters away. Though in doing so, they cut off their own men and women atop the wall.

The Legion advanced without mercy, sealing away the Siege Towers and Ladders and entering into a melee among below the walls. A situation that the Onigarian Mages atop the Towers took full advantage of. The Noln Soldiers were unable to defend against the Legion properly without forming up, but the moment they did so, the Onigarian Mages rained hell down.

Alaster had already informed the Onigarian Mages on the Towers not to worry about hitting his Undead Legion. Another thing the Onigarians were quite happy with. Without the need to carefully place their spells, they let loose.

The Undead atop the walls gradually finished off their opponents. At which point, the Dread Knights, their armor and serrated blades glowing brightly with empowered blood lept from the walls and into the Noln Soldiers below the walls.

Alaster was almost disappointed. The Noln Soldiers were better warriors, but not nearly enough to combat his entire Undead Army, at least not while they were limited by the walls. On open ground, he had no doubt that the Noln would have quickly wiped out his entire army. Even now, the Horde Legion were being cut down with ease. The only reason they had not already been eliminated was the Onigarian Mages.

Though the Dread Knights were having a blast. Below the walls, where all the blood of every attack had turned to mud, refusing to dry up, Alaster could see them with ease from atop the wall. He doubted any but a dedicated Expert could defeat one of the Knights now.

But dedicated they were.

One moment, the Knights were joyfully cutting down Soldier after Soldier, the next, they had both been blasted back, slamming into the wall below. Neither destroyed, but both severely damaged, their armor fractured.

Alaster raised an eyebrow beneath his helmet.

Out of the crowd of Noln Soldiers still combating the Horde Legion, walked a dozen Soldiers. They all wore more elaborate armor, designating them, at a glance, as special, but it was not needed. Alaster could tell that they were each Expert Level.

They casually batted away any of the Legion that attacked them, so Alaster just gave the mental order to ignore them. It was better to keep the common Soldiers busy for now.

‘So this is their strategy to deal with me.’

‘Most likely. Holy Magic would be even better, but that is very rare, and almost always single target. Not very useful against someone that can summon an army.’ Sedall spoke.

‘But is this really all they could muster?’ Belgroth questioned.

‘Bel, they are all Experts. They stand at the height of public standing. They are the strongest beings Humanity has to offer, at least to public knowledge. And there aren’t a lot of them. At least not compared to the number of Adepts.’ Alaster explained to the Demon as he walked down the Siege Tower ramp.

The battle was raging all along the wall, but the battle was at a standstill before the Main gate. Alaster almost chuckled at the thought of the Soldiers within the bailey wondering if they were going to get a turn. Normally, most of the enemy would have funneled through the gate, but today they had focused on the battlements above the gate.

If the Tarians had gone through the effort of gathering a dozen Experts in one spot to deal with one person, it was only right for that one person to come down and welcome them. And kill them.

If these Experts moved through the other sections of the outer wall, they would be quickly lost. Sure a few of the Experts might be killed in doing so, but the result would drastically change the entire Siege. They might even manage to pierce the inner wall, allowing the Tarian Soldiers to storm through into the city proper.

Alaster could not allow that to happen.

Finally setting foot on the ground below the walls, Alaster stared at the Experts as they spread out in a line a good thirty meters away. Alaster would have expected to step into mud, but the ground was only slightly wet. The Dread Knights had absorbed all the blood, leaving very little liquid left. Even now, after taking the full concentrated blows of an Expert, both Dread Knights were clawing their way out of the rubble of the wall.

They were pissed at being thrown out of the fight, but excited at having an opponent worthy to fight as charged up as they were. Unfortunately for them, Alaster ordered them back to be healed by the Mages. Alaster’s army of Undead were powerful, but against the power of Experts, they were not sufficient, and would only get in the way.

Unless reinforcements came from within the city, Alaster was alone.

Driving his halberd into the ground, Alaster began to lightly stretch. In doing so, he was also meditating, recovering his lost Mana as well as calming his mind. He was only one Expert against a dozen. He was certainly a powerful one, but powerful enough to defeat a dozen well-armed, well trained, and prepared Experts who had all likely fought together many times?

Who knew, but Alaster was excited to find out.

Activating [Death Embrace], Alaster felt his mind change from one of emotion to one of pure calculated slaughter. The mind of the Undead.

Alaster grabbed his halberd and lowered his center of gravity, preparing himself for the battle ahead.

The Experts took as that the sign to begin and charged, covering the thirty-meter distance in just two seconds.

It had begun.