An Unexpected Assault

After the first roar, multiple other howls could be heard in response. They were not as loud but were just as sinister. After a few moments, rustling could be seen in the trees and bushes of the woods outside the town.

Alden stood up and reached for both his weapons while the knights started to give out commands.

"Everyone, get behind the gate now! Drop everything!" Fleyn ordered a full retreat back to the town and went to direct the flow of people back inside.

"Alden, are you able to fight?" Nylane drew her sword once more, intending to take on whatever was in the woods.

Alden nodded and followed behind her as the workers and soldiers ran by.

"Rawrgh!"

A roar similar to the first sounded off and all hell broke loose.

"What the…"

Alden and Nylane were both shocked as they witnessed the legions of undead appear. The thing they all had in common was that they were all animal corpses. Their bodies were all breaking apart and rotting but dark ominous energy was flowing from their bodies.

Wolves, bears and all sorts of wild dogs and felines were in the mix. Alden looked at a particular undead and felt a sense of familiarity with it.

'It can't be!? That's the one Geri killed'

Sure enough, there was a bear with hideous claw scars over its body and no flesh on its neck. From the way it looked, it was the leader of this horde.

"…" The undead bear's eyes had an unnatural purplish glow to them, which made it hard to tell where it was looking at. But for some reason, Alden could feel its intense gaze.

As the scarred bear walked out of the woods, its minions started to all charge toward the people.

"Hurry!"

<Lightning Surge>

Nylane used her spell once more and sent an enormous amount of energy to the undead animals. The ones who were hit crackled with electricity but only for a few moments. They struggled for a bit before moving again, albeit a little slower.

"Nylane!" Alden cried out as he intercepted the undead leaping at Nylane. She had drawn the attention of too many undead.

Meanwhile, a multitude of cries rang out from people who were being attacked by the undead. The archers did their best from the wall to fell the undead, but there were too many and the arrows had little effect too.

"Damn it!" Nylane lost her footing from the constant barrage of attacks and was immediately swarmed.

"Get off of her!" Alden shouted as he swung at the undead trying to kill Nylane.

<Holy Light>

All of a sudden, a bright and heavenly-looking flash of light erupted from Nylane. All the undead beasts attacking her recoiled in pain as the holy light touched their necrotic flesh.

<Flame Wall>

From faraway Fleyn cast her spell and made the remaining undead back off for a moment.

"We need to go now! Nylane are you alright?" Alden held out his hand to help her up, the undead were starting to head around Fleyn's spell.

"No, my ankle is twisted! I can't walk properly." Nylane winced in pain as she held on to Alden for support.

Alden frowned as he felt the full weight of Nylane's body with her armor on. Her armor was surprisingly light but it was still heavy enough that the tired Alden could not get them both to safety in time.

"Nylane, lose the armor now! It's the only way I can carry you back in time."

"…!" Nylane looked hesitant at first but quickly made up her mind. It had some sentimental value to her, but her life was of far greater value.

Nylane took out the remaining mana potion she was saving for Alden and looked at him.

"I owe you one."

She started to chug it as fast as she could and undid the bindings that fastened her armor. Alden did the best he could to help and they managed to slip her out of most of it.

"My sword is non-negotiable!"

<Flame Arrow> x3

Fleyn cast spell after spell to cover Alden's retreat back to the gate. Nylane was piggybacking on Alden and cast <Holy Light> whenever possible.

Concerned with the sudden turn of events, Daiyu drifted down to Alden despite his earlier words.

"Alden, I can stop them! All I need is your arm as a catalyst. I can let you cast a powerful spell in exchange." Daiyu offered as she wrapped her arms around Alden's.

"Alden!? This light, this presence!? You can't be thinking of using your power again are you?" Nylane said nervously as she noticed the change near Alden. He had graciously decided to save her so she couldn't complain, but that didn't mean she had to like it.

"Of course not! Arms don't grow on trees after all!" Alden smirked as he refused Daiyu's offer. His body was able to regenerate but he didn't want to lose another body part so soon.

'As bad as things are, our goal is to kill the Demon Gods. I can't lose my arm every time we get into trouble in a new place'

Instead, Alden put his faith in Fleyn and the archers who had now started shooting fire arrows. He didn't think he was in danger of dying that badly, the very last option was to abandon Nylane. But Alden had already made up his mind, they were all going to make it through this.

"Nylane, hang on tight! I'm going to run with everything I've got!"

At Alden's words, Nylane wrapped her arms tightly around his chest and held on. Alden tightened his grip on Nylane's legs and ran with all the energy he could muster.

"You can do it!" Fleyn shouted and gathered all her remaining mana.

<Flame Arrow> x5

The undead screeched as the spells fell them one after another.

In the end, Alden leaped past the gate and it was promptly dropped. Several undead made it through but were quickly ambushed by the soldiers.

"Thank Malvri." Fleyn sighed in relief moments before she passed out in exhaustion.

"Alden!" Nylane said as he fell to his knees. He was breathing and sweating heavily, he had barely rested and now all his energy was spent.

"Nylane, I'm going to take a nap. I leave the rest to you."

In a village far from Stonevalley, a horrible scene was taking place. Screams from the inhabitants echoed through the night as the Draugr were capturing them.

"No, no, nooo!"

<Absorb Soul>

"Auaaghh!" The man screamed in pain as Voll took in his soul. With each soul he took, Voll was able to take their muscle memory and martial prowess. All the techniques the man had developed in life were now his.

After his soul was taken, Voll didn't let his body go to waste.

<Create Draugr>

"Next."

The newly created draugr walked off as two other draugr came dragging another villager.

This process would repeat many times until most of the village was turned.

"Voll…" A familiar voice spoke as Voll finished off his last villager.

"Vostla.., are you done with your work?"

His love approached wearing a black cloak and a mask while carrying a black tome in her undead hands.

Voll himself was wearing black evil-looking armor while wielding a large demonic-looking scythe as his weapon.

"Yes, but these villagers have no knowledge of magic and pitiful amounts of mana."

Just like Voll, Vostla was also able to take souls. But she took their knowledge of spells and mana instead of their fighting experience.

"On to the next one then… the day will come for us to tear the royals apart limb from limb. And once they know true suffering, I will destroy their souls!"

"What about the young? And the children?"

"Leave them." Voll said as he commanded the rest of the Draugr army to start the march onto the next village.

"Monsters!"

A rock suddenly flew through the air and was going towards Vostla.

FWOOSH

Voll hurled his scythe towards the rock and smashed it into dust in mid-air.

"You dare harm Vostla!? I gave you mercy since you were young… very well then." Voll roared in anger towards the burning village as the sobs of the survivors were heard.

"Parents, go discipline your children!"