Right as I was about to run up the stairs I looked back, something tickled the back of my mind. What I saw made me furious. A pair of Wolfmen had scaled the back wall and were stalking along the wall. They seemed to be looking for something.

After dealing with just one Lycan one on one I knew I wouldn’t stand a chance against a wolfman, let alone two of the furry bastards. I growled and bit the corners of my mouth. “Shit.” I spat and as I was about to turn and run up the stairs something came to me.

Notifications!

Congratulations! Levels increased! Skill levels increased! Special rewards for beating a Lycan single-handed while wounded!

I smiled as I called up all of the skill and level up notifications.

Death squire lvl. -8 > lvl. 1

Necromancer lvl. -8 > lvl. 1

Shadowmancer lvl. -8 > lvl. 1

Basic Unarmed combat lvl. 4 > 5

Basic Evasion lvl. 6 > 8

Basic Parrying lvl. 3 > 4

Basic Shield use lvl. 7 > 9

Basic Improved Reflexes Lvl. 1 > 3

Basic Improved Stamina lvl. 1 > 3

Seems those two skills came in handy more than I originally would have thought.

For killing the Lycan the following have been granted to the user!

Stat points: 2

Skill points: 1

Ability point: 0.5

Skill: Basic Claw combat lvl. 1

Skill: Basic Improvised weaponry lvl. 1

Skill: Basic Intimidating growl lvl. 1

Skill Basic Claw combat has been absorbed and improved by Unarmed combat!

Huh? Interesting. New skills! But the best of all I now have a single ability point! Regeneration I choose you!!!!

Ability point spent! Minor Regeneration has been upgraded to Moderate Regeneration.

Moderate huh? Well I could already feel a change though it was just a little faster, it wasn’t something that could sustain me through combat.

I had to hurry so I moved on to spend my stat and skill points.

Strength Increased: 21 > 25!

Gained the Skill! Basic Power strike lvl. 1

With that finished, I was about to run up the stairs when I suddenly got another notification.

The following skills have been gained from activating previously locked classes.

Wait they had been locked?! What foul failure to relay information! If I’d known that I’d have tried to go on a killing spree in the forest!.. ok maybe not, but still!! I call foul!

Death squire skills: Basic Death’s tug lvl. 1 and Basic Deaths armour lvl. 1 (passive) (Choice needed)

Necromancer skills: Basic Death sense lvl. 1 (Passive) and Basic Raise minor skeleton lvl. 1

Shadowmancer skills: Basic Shadow strike lvl. 1 and Basic Shadow bolt lvl. 1

Choice?!

Choose one of the following options!

Bone (Rips the bones out of corpses around user to clothe the user in bone)

Flesh (Clothes the user in flesh, increasing the users strength)

Ethereal (Ethereal flames enhance armour the user already wears)

Fuck it I'll take Ethereal! I’d rather not be clad in flesh and I already have something that’ll let me get armour through the carapace. So why not enhance it already.

I smiled a little before I heard the howling of the wolves and my mirth slipped away.

I ran up the stairs as I knew I had to ask those three to get those wolfmen. I wasn’t cut out for it but they just might. After all, they were a higher level and better trained than my new body.

Once I reached the top I saw a Lycan about to strike Olive and I decided to try out intimidating growl. They all froze. Woah! Maybe a bit too effective in this scenario? Or does my appearance also have a factor to it?

Oh well, I need them to go and right now. I activated the full effect of the defensive carapace and then spoke. “ Get into the town! They are coming over the undefended spots!” Then I charged forwards, raising the axe into the air and the using power strike right onto the Lycan’s skull. “Go!” I snarled at them.

They flinched and then looked out towards the town and noticed the wolfmen. “Just go, I’ll try and hold them off here. You guys are better suited to dealing with them than me.” I said as I turned and looked at one of the dead wolves. Could it work?

I watched them leave and right as a wolf was almost over the wall I smirked. Death's tug forced the wolf towards me. The confused animal was met with a shadow strike to the throat. Ok that is strange.

Shadow strike caused the blade to be bathed in ethereal shadow and then my hand seemed to just slip through to the spot I had aimed. Well, as cheaty as this ability seems I have it so I’m not mad.

Deciding to do another test I reached out with my new death sense and almost fell down onto my knees. There was way too much of it at the base of the wall. With a heavy breath, I reached out again, towards one of the starved wolves corpses.

Raise minor skeleton worked! Though I noticed the blue ethereal flame that sparked out of my eyes at using it. It was so darn strange to suddenly say words so horrid I felt like nails were running down my bare spine. I understood them clearly as I spoke them, the language so long dead it belonged to the dead. “Arise and serve thy master, as with life so with death.”

I felt one of the corpses bellow rapidly decay to a skeleton. The eye sockets began to burn with a pale balefire. With a mental direction, it began to tear into the confused wolves around it.

It didn’t last long but it did sow confusion in their ranks.

Before I could try for raising another, a Lycan came over the wall. I activated Deaths armour and once more I spoke in that ancient language. “Death’s mantle is mine to wear for it guards me.” Wow, that was corny but still works.

The Lycan’s claws didn’t sink in as much as they should have, though I still felt the impact. Around me was a very thin sheen of blue balefire that clothed me in a thin outline of a full-plate armour. With a snarl right back at the Lycan I thrust my sword at its shoulder with a shadow strike and a downwards power strike with the axe at its clavicle.

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

It seemed I had unconsciously activated intimidating growl as the Lycan stiffened just long enough to be hit. Though I’d like to continue like that, since it did make them easier, it was hell on my stamina.

I was already panting raggedly. I was running low on strength and of course, I felt we’d only had gone through maybe half. As the wolves were coming less and less and more Lycans were flowing over the walls.

“They weren’t this many earlier!” One of the Guards close to my spot shouted as he impaled a Lycan on his spear.

I was a little confused at that. “You mean there are more than you guys saw?!” I shouted back before having to dodge out of the way of a Lycan swiping at me. Hooking my axe with the Lycan’s leg and pulling made the creature fall. I followed with a stab into the creature's neck and then a smashing strike with the axe.

It seemed as long as one managed to get the Lycan’s off guard they had a hard time to adapt. Wish I’d knew that with the first one.

“Yeah! There’s way more Lycans!” The guard then finally replied as he pushed a Lycan over the wall.

I cursed and continued to fight. Raising one more skeleton below. I had to find a limit but I couldn’t really do a whole lot. Turning the other way to look at the Guardhouse I couldn’t help but marvel.

Grandon stood tall and flung Lycans and wolves over the walls left and right. He was almost like a one-man army. But I could see him slowing down as fatigue built up. “We have to buy some time!” I called at him and then had to take a step back as a Lycan swiped at me, cutting into my leather armour. I had to make my front face my enemy at all times as the back was just a tattered mess after the first Lycan.

“Here!” A familiar voice shouted and what I could only call a Molotov cocktail flew over the wall and created a wall of flame which made the wolves move back. Campbell looked like Bruce Campbell trying out for Rambo as a doctor.

A bandoleer around his waist, over his shoulder and chest filled with Molotov’s, all while wearing a ragged doctor like coat.

Thanks to his quick wit we managed to finish those on the wall and bought breathing room. Guards taking a few Cocktails and creating a ring of fire around the town with them.

“How did you make enough?” I asked as I let the carapace fall back as well as death’s armour. I looked at the old man who was panting after moving so many bottles to us.

He smirked knowingly and then tapped his coat. “What do you think I’ve been doing while the rest of you were preparing?” He said and I shared his smirk.

Grandon came to us and he eyed me hard. “Necromancer huh?” He said low enough that nobody would hear besides me and Campbell. I stiffened a little, remembering that necromancers don’t have the best reputation.

Grandon just smiled and nodded to the edge of the wall. “Think you can make some surprises for our “friends” on the other side?” He asked and both me and Campbell looked at him with surprise.

“What? You look like hell so I can see you're on our side. Besides, we need all the help we can get and you know it.” He then said sternly and I had to give him that.

“I can see what I can do but I just hit level 1 so I don’t think I can do much.” I replied and Campbell did a double-take. Grandon seemed a little surprised but not as much as Campbell.

“What?” I asked with a raised eyebrow. “You try brawling with a Lycan in a confined space.” I said pointing with my thumb at the hole in the ceiling on one of the houses.

Both seemed to have an ‘Ah’ moment and then nodded at me.

“Go get as many as you can, anything will help.” Grandon said as he placed his hand on my shoulder and I smiled at him.

“You have any of those concoctions of yours?” I then asked as I was about to step away.

Grandon simply raised an eyebrow at me. “What? Aren’t they a sort of mix of a stamina potion and minor healing potion?” I asked looking around at the tired guards and the volunteers that were left. We had lost almost a third of our forces and the hardest part was yet to come, we were all exhausted to a degree.

Grandon conceded the point and as both he and Campbell were on their way back I gripped his arm. “There are two wolfmen in the town. I sent Bertie, Nicholas and Olive after them. Please check on them. We can’t have them die and those wolfmen lose in the town.” I said and I got a firm agreement from the man who’s job it was to keep everyone safe.

“Thanks for letting me know.” He said and his eyes hardened as he almost jumped down the stairs and raced into town.

“I’m much too old for all this running around business.” Campbell grumbled but went down the stairs just as well.

I smiled as I watched them leave, then turning around I leaned over the wall and began to raise as many skeletal wolves as I could.

I managed around six skeletal wolves which I had to move around in the moat and lay in wait. The guards and militia, I think I should just call them that, began removing and fixing up the spikes at the top that they could.

Once I had finished raising and positioning the skeletons I moved to help the rest.

The fire gave us a good twenty minutes of calm, I had to give it to Campbell, he was good. In that time everyone got some of Grandon’s concoction and were at least in better shape than before. He’d even brought Bertie and the others with him as he tossed two Wolfman heads over the wall.

Note to self, don’t fuck with Grandon.

I had tried to raise a Lycan one but it seemed they weren’t minor skeletons. As such I thought wolves were about the highest I could raise right now. Even worse they were a little weaker than the wolf they came from so I had to rely on sudden surprise attacks with them.

“Maybe they can grow?” Campbell said to me as he looked over the wall as the flames began to lessen bit by bit.

“Hm?” I asked raising an eyebrow at him.

“Your summons… I’ve heard some wizards and mages that specialize in summoning can let their creations grow. So maybe you can level them up.” He said with a smile and a knowing glint in his eyes.

“I hope so… Though I think these will be too weak for the battle ahead. Maybe once it’s all over I'll raise a small pack for myself.” I muttered as I eyed the old man. I was beginning to suspect he had another class besides apothecary as I’d originally thought.

Before I could ask he let out a click of the tongue. “Darn, not as lasting as I thought.” He muttered in an annoyed tone as he began to leave. I looked and saw some of the Lycans jumping over the flames and charging at us once more.

I sighed. “Get to safety old man. I wouldn’t want to see you get hurt.” I told him as I got ready with the guard trio. I didn’t let my summons make a move just yet though. Campbell just harrumphed at me and made his way down the stairs, as if there was nothing wrong.

The guard trio and I simply chuckled at that and then got ready to welcome the third wave. It was maybe a dozen in total. The Lycans ran over and maybe four or five died on the new spikes but the others we fought and cut down with almost no injuries.

I could see it, the defenders had a second wind and were fresher for the coming fight than before. I felt we could do this.

Then a howl so loud I had to hold my ears blasted out and killed the flames. Then I saw it. The worg. Tall, imperial and strength personified. It had no equal and was as big as a freaking horse or even bigger. Around it I saw just a few Lycans, the rest Wolfmen These, however, seemed like the bodybuilders of the species.

Much buffer and even looked more brutish they turned their backs to us. I wondered what was going on when they suddenly gave a wolfman a boost and the fucker came flying on to the top of the wall!

“They have catapults now?!” Nicholas cried as he managed to make a Wolfman land on his new spear. Then Bertie and I cut the thing down. Olive continued to shot her bow after getting a new full quiver and she seemed to focus on the brute Lycans.

She was clever I had to give her that. With as loud an intimidating growl as I could manage I leaned over the top of the wall. A signal for my skeletons to rush into the thick of it and go for the brutes. Olive had given me an idea.

“Aim at their knees!” I shouted and Olive and the few archers we had left, let loose.

We managed two of the six brutes before the worg seemed incensed and roared. Sending out a shock wave from its maw that shattered my skeletons as they were almost at point-blank range. The defenders on the walls faltered and four people died as the wolfmen took advantage.

“Damn it!” Bertie shouted as he rushed one of the Wolfmen and actually soloed the thing. I had to admit I was jealous of his swordsmanship.

Myself, Nicholas and Olive took another down together. Grandon took another down on his own and the rest took care of the last two.

Looking over the parapet at the worg, I ground my teeth a little. Raising a hand towards it, I flipped it off as I cast my spell. “Let the shadow serve as my arrow.” I spoke in a language similar to the tongue of the dead but this one seemed much more silent and smooth.

A cloud of black smoke seemed to coil around my fingers and I fired the shadow bolt at the worg.

It snorted at the bolt and it turned to hit one of the wolfmen next it in the face, killing it but leaving me slack-jawed. Nicholas came up to me and noticed my look. “What happened?” He asked as he looked from me to the worg.

“It just SNORTED my spell away!” I said incensed at the Worg, who seemed to chuckle at me as it made that eerie dog smirk I’d seen so often.

“It did what?!” Nicholas said and looked at the thing with disbelief. “It can’t do that or shouldn't be able too….right?” He swallowed. “Can it?” He asked and I shared the fear in his voice, this thing was way beyond us.

“I hope Bertie and Grandon can take that thing on.” I said as I noticed the “catapults” load up again. This was not going well at all.

As I saw them vault the wolfmen into the sky I muttered to myself. “This is going to be a long sucky night.”

And by god it was. They kept throwing in four wolfmen at a time and then waiting around five minutes to allow us to deal with them before launching the next wave.

I had to wonder if this beast was smart or not. Why waste such good troops in such a manner?

When only the Worg, the four bruiser Lycans and around twenty or so wolfmen were left I began to understand the strategy. This was the worg’s real pack. The others had just been disposable chaff to blunt our teeth with.

“Oh sh” I began before the worg sent out another shock wave roar right as the last four wolfmen landed. Then the whole pack charged in. I was battered to the side with a deep gash in my side by the wolfman that landed next to us. Yet through the pain, I sent the attack order for my last raised skeletons.

“I hadn’t just been idle ya mutt.” I growled right as I unleashed my intimidating growl into the air as my forces charged. I only managed to stun ten or so, and four of those were because of proximity, I think.

I didn’t hold out much hope for the skeletons as they tore into the pack and the pack began to rip them apart.

With a dodge to the left I managed to hammer the axe into the wolfman’s side, which allowed Bertie and Nicholas to bring in the final strikes to bring it down. I looked at my short sword and winced. It was blunt and I suspected the only reason the axe worked was due to the strength of the swing and weight of the material.

“We need sharper weaponry!” Bertie shouted and rest of the reserves moved up to allow us to fall back and try and sharpen our weapons a bit, or change them out entirely.

Grandon stopped me as I was about to put the axe away and pointed me at another that wasn’t being used. “Switch with that one.” He said before taking the blunt one and chucking it at a wolfman, injuring it severely.

I nodded and went for it. Olive throwing me a spare short sword on the way back. We just arrived back at the guardhouses stairs when the doors blew inwards from another roar.

Myself, Bertie, Olive, Grandon and Nicholas along with two other guards were blown back as we were the last to arrive. In strode the Worg’s forces, with the Bruiser Lycans moving in a wedge pattern before it. At the front a single hulk of a wolfman leading the bruisers. It was like if Arnold and Stallone in their primes mixed together with a bodybuilding gorilla.

It was all corded strands of flexed muscle, I could see it even through the short black fur that covered it.

“Dear all-father.” Olive gasped as she got up on her knees. “It’s an Ogrewolf!” She said, her face going utterly pale. I guessed by the name it was a wolfman evolution that was not only focused heavily towards strength but was as vicious as it was rare.

One of the Guards ran at it, holding his spear before him along with his almost round wooden shield. I didn’t even see the strike. The man was there one moment and then he was flying back as debris. The Ogrewolf letting out a short snort of contempt.

“Y-you think you can take that?” I asked looking over at Grandon. He looked at me and I could swear his face just said one single sentence. ‘Have you completely lost your damn mind!’

I just shrugged a little and looked right back at him with a look that said. ‘Well, what the hell could I do?!’

We both then chuckled a little at a dark humour shared between us. “Oh we are fucked.” Nicholas said as he stood up, his new weapon a glaive.

“Just kill as many as you can.” Olive said as she brandished her arming sword and a large kite shield of steel-reinforced wood.

“Yeah, let’s just get as many as we can.” Bertie said as he stood up, his longsword sharpened up and a steel kite shield, taking almost a heroic pose.

I looked from them and gave Grandon a raised eyebrow, he just shrugged and stood up himself. “Might as well.” He said grinning at me as he raised up his new weapon a two-handed axe used to chop down huge trees.

Another guard stood with a spiked maul and a wooden shield standing bravely despite his legs shaking.

“This is so damn cliché.” I groaned as I stood up. Taking a firm grip on my weapons and activating everything I had for the coming fight.