"How's it going? Did those foreigners show up today?"
In the late afternoon, the guard who came to switch shifts asked Mike, who was on duty.
Mike just shook his head, "Today feels strange, huh? By their usual time, those guys should have been here, but today there hasn’t been a single movement."
"Maybe those foreigners realized that this strategy isn't working so well and are planning some other evil scheme. But, either way, we can’t let our guard down."
"It would be nice if they sent a few more targets our way. I could use the opportunity to practice my aim." Mike picked up his longbow beside him, full of determination.
Indeed, being up on the wall every day and taking down simple enemies builds a lot of confidence.
But, confidence isn’t always a good thing…
"Glub... glub..."
A sound like bubbles rising in a swamp suddenly appeared behind them.
The strange noise made them stop talking and look outside the wall.
In the distance, there was nothing unusual, no enemy in sight.
It was close!
That sound, not very loud but clear, came from nearby.
The ones making these strange noises were the corpses that had been lying on the ground for several days.
"What is that!?"
Mike pointed at the ground in horror.
The darkened corpses didn’t "resurrect" as one might expect, but they were writhing and crawling in the same direction.
With human bodies, it’s really hard to mimic the movement of crawling.
Because of this, the scene before them looked even more disturbing.
"Don’t just stand there, go sound the alarm!"
Mike slapped one of the guards on the shoulder, reminding him.
However, before they even moved, the sound of the alarm was already echoing from somewhere else.
It seemed that the transformation wasn’t happening just here; other places were affected too.
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"Damn!"
Mike cursed, watching the blackened corpses writhe and crawl, then he fired an arrow that pinned one of the bodies to the ground.
However, the corpse seemed to have immense strength.
With just two shudders, it broke the arrow and continued crawling toward the center.
"Hey! What’s going on here?"
The guards, hearing the alarm, quickly approached.
"Look at the ground."
Now, the blackened corpses began to gather in the center.
And at that moment, the ground started to tremble slightly.
Far off, a black line raised a cloud of dust, quickly approaching the human defense line.
"What is that!?"
The question didn’t last long, as the "black line" moved rapidly.
The sound of heavy footsteps seemed to echo beside them, and the "black line" revealed its true form.
— They were animals.
And... foreigners!
Among them were common animals like pigs, cows, and sheep, along with wild beasts like lions and tigers. Mixed in were some grotesque figures.
But, without exception, the eyes of all these creatures were filled with darkness.
Although it seemed as if they were running of their own accord, the strange movement suggested they were being manipulated, all gathered in one direction.
And, of course, that direction was the human defense line.
"Everyone, prepare for battle!"
The team leader gave the order, and all the warriors raised their bows while the mages and priests prepared their staffs, ready to face the enemy.
"Ugh!"
Suddenly, the corpses made a vomiting sound.
And they did indeed expel something.
It was a black, viscous, strange substance, like a pool of sludge.
This… was only the beginning of the transformation.
From the middle of that viscous substance, countless tentacles began to emerge, intertwining, gathering the corpses, and forming a mass in the center.
Though there were few corpses, the aggregation gave an eerie feeling.
They weren’t just on the ground, they were rising, taking on a different form.
"Release the arrows! Prepare the magic!"
A rain of arrows struck the black, sticky mass, but no one could confirm if any damage was done, as the arrows were swallowed by it.
"Magic, now!"
Unlike the arrows, the magic cast seemed more varied.
There were blue crystals, white light arrows, and fireballs.
The crystals and arrows had no effect, but the fire made visible movement in the black mass.
"Fire is effective! Prepare the fire arrows!"
The leader, alert, noticed this and gave the command immediately.
But before they could prepare, the animals and foreigners had already arrived.
They didn’t attack the wall but merged into the black mass.
From their bodies, a black, viscous substance began to ooze, merging with the mass in the center.
"Damn, what is that thing?!"
"Shoot the fire arrows!"
A rain of fire arrows struck the mass, which seemed affected, leaning back.
But before the humans could celebrate, the mass let out a deafening scream.
The piercing sound made them drop their bows and cover their ears.
When the scream stopped, the leader rose.
"Keep firing!"
He ordered, but as he looked around, he noticed no one was obeying.
"Hurry, shoot the fire arrows, what are you waiting for!?"
The leader shouted.
"Boss... boss..."
Mike trembled, pointing to something behind the leader.
"Huh?"
The leader looked beyond the wall.
After the scream, the black mass quickly began to fuse.
It crawled, rising up until it was dozens of meters high, casting a shadow over the humans.
Finally, the human corpses, animals, and foreigners formed a humanoid silhouette.
And on the chest of this black figure, a crack appeared.
That crack opened... directly toward the leader.
Swallowing hard, he stood completely still.
But, even so, he couldn’t avoid what was coming.
That crack opened...