The torch fire and the quiet grunts of the guards did not foreshadow that tonight in the village was going to be any different than before, or even something unusual was about to happen.

Shhh

Yet this nocturnal calm was interrupted by a single flying arrow shot from my servant's bow, piercing the night air.

Shhh.... shhh... shhh... an arrow flew until....

It met the head of an unsuspecting guard, colliding directly with his forehead. As the guard was not wearing head protection such as a helmet, the arrow managed to pass through, penetrating his skull. Nevertheless, even the force of the shot did not manage to change that the projectile was made of inferior material thus it had to stop in half, but for us it is also better.

Death on the spot, a splash of blood to the side. It seemed that people in this world still needed brains to survive, one knows what to aim at.

The isolated guard had fallen so it was the turn of the next.

Shhh

Shhh

Shhh

Behind the first arrow came another and another, each like in a well oiled machine hit its target and killed anyone who happened to rear their head at the southern gate of the village.

Then according to my earlier plan hidden and unnoticed by anyone Randaloph, because there was no one to see him, jumped onto the palisade. Then, after quickly dealing with the rest of the guards, he opened the wooden gate from the inside, lazily levering up the beam blocking the door with his paw.

The road to the village stood open before them. Stage one completed flawlessly.

After crossing the gate, together with a team of archers and of course my bodyguard who would not let go, we began to stroll slowly along the wooden wall of the village, shooting every person we encountered. Locking literally and metaphorically everyone inside the village, in a cage with no way to escape.

Of course, the fresh human corpses tempted me to start a new round of experiments but luckily I managed to restrain myself, well maybe except for one small zombie who was now serving as a porter for the sucked out bones.

When I finished munching on the last carcass and the village didn't have a single guard left, I spread out the archers in a wooden circle at equal intervals. While standing alone in the middle like the conductor of my dead orchestra, I watched and observed everything from above watching the plan come to fruition before my eyes.

The bones moved, the troops set, the torches extinguished. The curtain fell.

At the same time, shieldmens along with Randaloph, who was insuring all this, had a much more difficult task.

After all, the captain of the shieldmens, according to my orders and also according to his limited consciousness, was to lead the rest of the skeletons from house to house, and kill, everyone alive inside the buildings regardless of age, sex or might. Randaloph, on the other hand, was to watch to see if the skeleton team acted according to plan, didn't accidentally leave out some person, some clever individual or if the army made too much noise. At least that was the plan.

The main captain, who possessed some shred of intelligence and the instilled remnants of organization, listened, not exactly word for word but listened. He led the entire remaining assigned army to the center and then distributed the individual skeletons to specific houses with my little help. Murdering family after family, woman after woman , man after man and child after child. There were to be no exceptions.

For most, death came in their sleep, sleeping they probably felt nothing stabbed to death in their beds. One quick stab in the head and there was no more trouble.

Those awakened, on the other hand, whether by instinct or the sound of crunching bones of an undead army had it much, much worse. For what does one adult male mean in a clash with a bunch of undead, no chance of winning. Men usually died quickly and painfully and if not they witnessed the death of the rest of their family, who were weaker and more vulnerable than them. Getting drenched in your own blood and hearing the screams of your loved ones.

Well, but what went wrong in that case.... well of course wolf, no wait not this time. This time it was I who messed up, through my exaggerated paranoia I took too long to wait.

~~~

"We won't make it, there's no chance, we started too late." I thought while standing on the walls and watched the slow rise of the sun over the horizon. The day is coming and we're only halfway through, every minute the chance of someone waking up on their own is increasing. I had to change my strategy.

I can't let any of the villagers manage to wake up and rally the others to a fanatic defense, or worse, escape unnoticed by the stupid archers to call reinforcements or warn other villages in the area. Even Randaloph will not manage to be in every place at once.

"Separate, split, and do not care so much about the sound produced. Slow running is allowed from now on." I ordered the skeletons through the captains.

"Split up so that each undead is isolated, one skeleton is one house. Captains outside for backup along with a small group for insurance."

This should increase the speed of the harvest by almost twenty times, or at least theoretically.

I gave the orders, looked up, and out of habit drew air into lungs I didn't have. Standing on the wall, I looked at the village, stood in the company of my tenacious knight who was not even leaving my side, even ignoring orders to move or do something. Well, that's something for something.

In front of me lay the sight of a vast number of the same wooden houses, with practically nothing different. Obviously, there were a few exceptions in this entire wooden landscape.

"Government building." I thought while looking at the large oblong stone building standing roughly in the middle of the circle. "Probably the village started this way because it's too symmetrical. It probably houses some kind of leader or village council."

Turning my gaze away from the largest building, I continued to look out for important targets for my own conquest, this time glancing at the tallest and also the most eye catching building, even more so than the government building.

"The church, although it was closer to some kind of chapel considering the size."

The church, unlike any other building, had many ornaments, but almost all of them were made entirely of wood. Probably the residents didn't have access to better materials or it was their way to honor their deity, deities. Almost all of them because the church's roof had a golden icon confusingly similar to the sun. Well, and if something is confusingly similar it probably must be that, just made by some amateur.

The image of the sun was also visible on small ornate pennants, each attached individually to the walls of the building. Suns were also visible on every metal element of which there were however few, but enough to separate the huge walls of wood itself.

Yet the fact that it was a church was also evidenced by a small cemetery located nearby where villagers could probably bury their loved ones.

"The cemetery, the graveyard will come in handy later. The graves won't dig themselves out."

I kept looking until I found something strange again.

"What is this, some kind of market," I said looking at the makeshift stalls around the circle.

"And these are probably the homes of some rich people" I commented as I saw individual stone buildings hidden on the outskirts of the village. Three different buildings located in different parts, each far apart as if marking some zone of their own. "Probably well defended."

"Further alone, they won't know perfectly well what hit them, now just where are the barracks?" I thought while searching with doubled force with my eyes.

"Ah here it is." I said pleased finally noticing a strange oblong wooden building connected to a fragment of wooden wall. "How did I miss it, doesn't matter."

" And that's it, I think, I know what to attack. I take the defense and leadership while the rest of my army will clean up the commoners."

Perfect timing to use newly acquired mana.

"Gawain what would you be saying for a light warm up for the bones?"

"Master?"

"I knew you'd like it."

~~~

Naturally, I started the attack from the largest one, the barracks. As those on the wall may have already fallen, but some still remained. Yet even this time the guards did not put up much resistance, the first was the element of surprise and now a disheveled Gawain. Worm-level resistance.

"What can I tell you Gawain, you surprised me with your prowess." I said slightly murmured to my favorite knight. Decapitating two people with one cut at the same time parrying incoming blows. It certainly changes the perception of the person you think you know

Gawain was a meat grinder when fighting mobs. If he is that strong then what about the top of this world, or maybe it's just us who are that strong?

"Master...?"

"Never mind, you need to say nothing more, I understand."

When the barracks were quickly cleared then obviously I did not stop there, the next building in order and where I expected the most resistance was the house standing in the middle, the city hall.

Nevertheless, after a few minutes being inside, I was positively disappointed, as I did not meet even the slightest threat there. The slightest. Two shots fired at two guards sleeping in front of the gate were enough to slip in unnoticed.

An inside was even easier, skeletons on command butchered the fat sleeping village chief and then his family. Such a large building for such a small handful of people.

As for how much gold, jewels or paintings were inside, corruption.... though there is no need to speculate. Of no use after the wealth hidden in the floor, I feed on death and not gold.... In theory, for such an amount, I could buy myself a handful of slaves. Something to consider later on.

With the death of the chief, the command structure collapsed along with the makeshift army. Only the rich, the clergy and the mob remained, obviously the best always at the end.