Dark Haze

The sound of our forces must have been heard, and I walked with my people toward Border City. You could see the growing city and what seemed like a haze before bringing my attention to it. The haze was lightly black and sinister in color, and you could not help but wonder why it was there. This was no natural phenomenon; people rushed into the city as our forces marched. In the distance, you could see lone odd-looking stragglers around the city line. My scouts would soon report what was happening as the Empire retreated back into the City walls of Border City. This would be the largest fight yet, and my people were anxious. The forces of the Beast-kin nation marched steadily, closing the distance.

Soon, we would stop outside of range from the weapons along the walls, whatever those were. I was still unsure of Fortress's defense in this world, and the gap was making itself known as we inched closer and my worry grew. The Elite army was ready, and the illusionists were questioning when their big moment would come. The reason they were here was for the battle slaves of the Empire we had yet to see. That meant we had yet to see the main forces of the Empire. That meant the Elite army was still untested and unsure of itself, which was not good.

"SUPREME COMMANDER! WAR CHIEF URGENT REPORT!" A scout yelled out as they approached, and the beast-kin opened up to let a small mouse-kin move forward toward me. A rare Moue-kin in the army and was definitely a scout with the C-ranked mana that felt light and wistful, something new to me. The Mouse-kin ran up to the War Chief, who was nearby talking to an elder and me. 

The Elders were paying attention but did not join in, so they did not intimidate the Mouse-kin running up. "War Chief, Supreme Commander! Urgent report from the scouts. There are undead roaming outside Border City in that dark haze. They seem to attack whatever is nearby without an ally. We witnessed a skeleton destroy another skeleton and continue walking!" The Mouse-kin reported, and stunned looks from all of us were made.

What the fuck?!

There was no Dungeon here! 

I felt out with my mana and noticed a disgusting lingering, almost solid mana that could have only come from an A ranker.

The Elders and I reached out, and I saw the War chief looking the same before reaching out and realized that a new factor had entered into the equation. As we got closer to the border city, the haze started to get thicker. Now, with our own sight, we could see the Empire's soldiers on the wall, guarding with a line of silver armor. They were here, ready to defend their city with the dead, most likely inside the town as well. What the hell happened to Border City for it to have the dead roaming inside of it? 

"Some nasty Necromantic Magic is at work here," Queen Mira said suddenly, "Disgusting magic that can turn the mana around here into undead creations. It seems to be an incomplete spell done by someone in the A rank. They never completed the spell, though, and died before its completion. The mana hangs thick and solid but is ever so slow despite this spell being at least a year old." 

The sudden information from Queen Mira started making me remember the movements of the Empire, and I realized something. "We are going to face increased resistance in the city," I said while thinking, and I saw a couple of faces turn to look at me. "The reason the border was so weak was that something recently happened within a couple of years it seemed to have happened in Border City, with it only now being mostly dealt with. When we came crashing through the border, the Empire was still dealing with an A-ranked spell!" I exclaimed, pointing forward, "An A rank Necromancer spell that seems to be still surrounding the city!"

"That means there is probably a constant problem still inside the City!" The War Chief suddenly exclaimed, and as if to add emphasis to that, the black haze near the front gate started to twist and turn a little before moving into the ground, which then had a skeleton hand break through the dirt and come out of the ground leaving a small pile of dirt behind. It started to roam mindlessly afterward.

"There is nothing guiding them," Elder Leon suddenly added, "They are created then have no purpose other than to terrorize the population and attack randomly after being created in a random location where a dead body was once buried, it seemed. Although I am unsure about that last part as the Mana is solid." 

The sheer terror on a population the size of a city like Border City, was something that would take a lot of guard and military to control. They probably had to desperately bring soldiers and guards from other cities to control the population. That meant my thoughts on how hard this would be might even be worse than expected.

"This might be a hard fight," Elder Lily said, "They might have brought in mages and various A rankers to investigate the Mana and disperse it faster. We might be overwhelmed if we are not careful." 

"You killed an A ranker on the way out here," Elder Leon suddenly added, "Maybe they dispatched A rankers to the border Fortresses again and have yet to gather again."

"That is hopeful thinking," I said with a face of steel, hoping for it to be true. "The question is, do we attack on the first day or not?" I asked out into the group, and all of us went quiet as we moved forward.

We were soon reaching the line of halt, and no one spoke, so I did, "New information must be processed. We will stop short of attacking tonight. We will set up defensive arrangements and enchantments. We will discuss further once the Camp is set up!" I announced taking charge, and no one questioned me. "Sending out the orders now!" I announced, and the Elders nodded, looking seriously, and the War Chief and I started to send out Mana messages.

Looks like it was going to be more complex than we thought.

Meanwhile, on the wall stood a wall of steel-clad men and women watching as we halted our advance in the middle of the day.

Who knew what they were thinking?