“They have come,” I said as I looked at the tiny dot inching closer to us. The tiny dot is a horde, made of fifty thousand undead.
 
It had been only an intelligence, but now it has become a reality. It has made things more difficult than before. 
 
“Is everything ready?” I asked Stone as I turned to him.
 
He is the first one to receive the script, but it is not visible. Eudo had hidden it and unless one has a skill or spell, that lets them see the hidden; they won’t be able to see it.
 
There are thirteen people who have got the script. Mages as well as warriors. 
 
They are so versatile, that it had impressed Stone. I wish, I could get them, but they need it more than me, and seeing the horde coming toward me; I have become even more sure, that I had made the right decision.
 
“We are ready as we could be,” he replied.
 
Minutes passed, and soon, the horde had come close enough that, people could see it from the naked eye.
 
“My god, it’s another horde!” screamed a soldier, fighting on the wall. He panicked so much that the burning undead were about to take a swipe at him when the officer quickly appeared by him and dealt with it.
 
“What are you all scared about. It is just another horde. We have been fighting one and will be fighting this one too!” screamed the lieutenant.
 
Such scenes could be seen across the wall and the down.
 
It was a great decision to inform the officers. They are scared, but knowing about it in advance has helped them deal with it. 
 
Now, they are helping the soldiers to deal with it; stopping the panic from spreading.
 
It was going smoothly, but officers, Colonel Cardin, and others were keeping a tight eye on things. I have also made myself as visible as possible and my new skill, Governor’s Presence, is helping me a lot with that.
 
Hun!
 
The horde was only a few miles away when the undead did something.
 
They had stopped sending the undead and called them back toward them. It surprised me, I thought. They would intensify the attack with a second horde coming.
 
“The horde attacking the southern gate had retreated.” “The horde attacking the eastern gate had retreated,” informed the mages a second later.
 
“What do you think?” I asked.
…
 
Lich Savais
 
“Call them back,” ordered Knight Bartram. Immediately, I sent the message to the two hordes. 
 
“They acknowledged,” I replied.
 
He nodded and turned toward the second horde. It will arrive in a few minutes.
 
I am excited as we could finally attack. These past few hours were painful. If I were in charge; I would descend on the city with the whole horde, crushing everything that came in our path.
 
It is the way of the undead and was our initial strategy, but it didn’t work. We would have been able to manage it with the numbers we have, but our failure to kill their powerhouses and the death of ours have made Knight Bartram, hesitant.
 
Now, we will try again with more numbers and powerhouses.
 
The failure was not the knight's fault. It was the first time man had got the command and was full of confidence after easily conquering the two cities before hitting the wall here.
 
He had used the tried and tested strategy, but here, it had failed and the fall of that will go to him. I had already sent messages to the command; explaining what happened and shifting the whole blame on him.
 
“They are not panicking,” I said as looked at them with Sky Gaze. 
 
There is some interference, but not strong enough to stop me from looking. They don’t have a strong enough mage or the powerful tools for that.
 
“They have a good leader,” replied Knight Bartram.
 
I could see the bastard that I wanted to kill, standing beside the elder-blood. I want to cast the spell and snipe that bastard, but there is enough protection that it will be stopped.
 
I wish Garzun had been with us; that bastard had good sniping spells.
 
Finally, the second horde reached us and merged with ours, while three leaders came out through. I obscured them and other powerhouses with Sable Veil; we rather not give the enemies, the information on our powerhouses.
 
While the horde merged, the two parts of the original horde had also come and merged back with us.
 
Esalya joined us, and also Lowgust and Zylna. Unlike two parts of the horde, the third part didn’t lose any Level 30, but both had said they had come close to it.
 
I nodded at them and turned to the three people stopped in front of us.
 
In the middle is the Necromancer Daril. He is a man in his early fifties, holding a slender staff with a grey crystal. To his right is a short-stocky middle-aged man in armor, holding a thick sword and a big shield.
 
He is a Rovid Vansgart, a dwarf-blood warrior.
 
On the left is a woman, who is in her late twenties. Wearing clothes and light armor, with two daggers on her waist and anger in her piercing blue eyes.
 
She is a Blava Hanson. An assassin.
 
“Is my brother dead?” she asked, looking at me with her piercing blue eyes.
 
“We are not sure yet. He had removed his marker and there had been no response from him for the past two hours,” I replied, and could feel the anger in her eyes deepen.
 
I do not fear her. If we were to fight, I have complete confidence in killing her, but I do fear the people behind her. The faction had a huge clout in the kingdom.
 
“You should hope, he is alive, or you won’t like the consequence of it,” she said, looking at me and Knight Bartram.
 
For a couple of seconds, there was a silence.
 
“What is the plan?” asked Necromancer Daril. “We will attack the wall with the full force of the horde and crush through all the resistance until there are none,” replied Knight Bartram simply; making the grin.
 
There are eight Level 30s now and three new ones that came at good. Hard to kill.
 
“That’s how it should be,” said Vansgart with a grin, while others nodded.
 
“Let’s discuss the plan in detail then,” I said, and my staff lit up, bringing the rough projection of the city.
 
They had prepared for us, and we need to plan accordingly. This time, things will be much smoother, as we will not be blind to their powerhouses. We know who they are and what their strength and weaknesses are.
 
“Everyone understood?” asked Knight Bartram after he finished explaining his plan, and everyone nodded.
 
“CHARGE!”
 
Roared Knight Bartram and the horde of hundreds of eighty-thousand undead charged toward the city like a tsunami.
 
Every step of ours would shake the earth, and I could see the enemies on the wall shaking in fear, feeling it.
 
Even the bastard shook as he saw us coming toward the wall.
 
“Ready for assault,” said Knight Bartram, and I sent the message to the mages and readied shield spells for the assault of the cannons and spells.
 
Seconds passed as we got closer and closer, but not a spell came, or the sound of a cannon was heard. The last time, they had started bombarding us with both, when reached this close to the wall.
 
I was thinking that when I saw them doing something unexpected.
 
Abandon the wall.
 
I saw them moving away from the wall, men disappearing, that within seconds, there was no one on the wall. 
 
It shocked me; this never happens, unless there is a panic, but there was none. The soldiers were scared, but there was no panic among them. They had abandoned the walls at the orders of superiors.
 
This is shocking because this is the best way for them to defend against us. If they abandoned the walls and took the battle to the city, it would be advantageous to us.
 
They had done just that.
 
“Have they truly abandoned the walls?” asked Knight Bartram, sounding as shocked as I am feeling.
 
…
 
“Retreat!”
 
Ordered Stone and immediately, all the soldiers and officers began to retreat from the wall.
 
‘We are not defending the wall,’ It was never in our plan to defend it. It might feel idiotic. Seeing from the wall, we would be able to kill a large number of undead, but if our plan worked, we would be able to kill a lot more and would be much safer.
 
It will also give us a chance to win this battle, which we wouldn’t. If we fought from the wall.
 
There are over a hundred and seventy-five thousand undead coming for us. We could not defend against such a large number, even if we use every soldier we have to man the wall.
 
“Move,” ordered Stone and we began to move.
 
I could see the fear in the eyes of the soldiers, but they were following the orders of the officers. Moving at a brisk pace; we need to reach our destination before the undead catches up to us.
 
“They have reached the walls,” said Mage Ravill, and I turned back for a moment and could see the tide of them on the wall.
 
A few seconds later, they opened the gates, and a large amount of undead poured into the city. It usually happens when the undead conquers the city, but now, they have entered without it.
 
A few minutes passed, and the tide came pouring into the city.
 
Seeing that, many soldiers tried to move fast, but lessened their pace. We are already moving faster than the undead; we do not need to go any faster.
 
Six more minutes passed, and I had crossed the invisible boundary. As I did, a smile appeared on my face. 
 
Stone looked at me, and I nodded.
 
We have entered the outer range, and now, I could do something. Though, now isn’t the time.
 
Soon we reached the entertainment districts. I could see the one army moving ahead of us, while the third one had reached the destination.
 
They didn’t stop for us, nor did they need to.
 
“Slow!”
 
A few minutes passed, and we slowed down our pace. We had reached a very dangerous area.
 
“Separate, but walked within the white line,” ordered Stone as we reached near the establishment. 
 
There are mines everywhere, with only two hundred meters around the establishment is safe. We have created a circle of mine. Covering a large area with only an opening around the establishment.
 
Half of all the mines we had have been placed here, creating a death circle.
 
I looked at the establishment as I entered its inner range. To most people, the establishment starts from the compound, but its range has expanded and now are walking through its range.
 
Here, I could control the mist; and make it denser or lighter. As such, even our enemies wouldn’t be able to see anything if they walked down this path.
 
Though, I have no plans to do that.
 
We walked through the safe part, avoiding mines and then pitfalls, trenches, and other traps.
 
Soon, we reached the center, where two armies had already gathered. I could see Zela, Valentina, Hugo, and even Lt. Colonel Julian, with cannons around them, targeting all 360 degrees.
 
No matter, which direction the enemy decides to come; we will be ready to face them.
 
The armies merged, becoming one again. Many people had died, but there were still over twenty thousand people standing, ready to face the undead.
 
“Lord Governor, Commander,” 
 
They greeted. I nodded and took my place, before turning to the horde. It is massive enough to put a fear in the heart of even a seasoned warrior and now our patched army is going to face it.
 
The odds seemed impossible, but there was a chance. Let’s hope, they come from the direction, we want them to come. 
 
The fate of the city depends on it.

An.

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