I felt slightly dizzy from the amount of mana I poured into my spell. How many corpses were there? I had no time to count. I just kept reaching for more and animating them.

I felt Nyx beside me. A reassuring presence. I was so focused on my spell I would not be able to detect any monsters attacking me. And considering the crunching sound some tried… and became cat food.

I could also feel something else through my bond. I had given the new zombies limited orders. But suddenly they felt more coordinated. I stopped raising more and took a deep breath. Then I looked around.

My squad was still here but they looked at me with… fear? Nyx was munching on an assassin. The fighting behind us had stopped and soldiers emerged from the camp. Sarah was the first to arrive.

"Report."

"Goblins attacked from the forest. The skeletons stopped them at first but a few assassins broke through with some form of camouflage. I raised what I could and sent them to counterattack." I replied.

Sarah looked at the forest.

"Any idea how many are still left?" She asked.

I shook my head. "No. They had a shaman, I do not know if it is still alive."

"How many undead do you have?" She asked.

I focused on my bonds. My eyes widened. "I lost 6 skeletons but I have 57 new zombies…"

And I had certainly lost some during the battle. The goblins would have killed some of the new zombies.

I heard a gasp from one of the soldiers.

Sarah grimaced. "That was no normal goblin attack. They came from the river as well. At least thirty with some hobgoblins mixed in. They were prepared for mages with their assassins. I expect there were at least 100 in total attacking us. Probably more."

"Clearly a trap. We lost three soldiers." Lieutenant Melvin added. All squad leaders were here now. Helena was covered in blood but the rain was already washing it off.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"Helena, are you alright?" I hurried towards my girlfriend, she smiled.

"Yup. An assassin wanted to kill me in my tent while I grabbed my weapon. Yoru took care of him. Um, our sleeping bags might need a wash though…" She explained.

I looked at the cat, who sat next to her.

"Good job!" I said.

He nodded. "Meow."

"Meow." Nyx agreed.

The other people watched our exchange, confusion on their faces.

"They came at you in your tent?" Sarah asked.

Helena nodded. "Was I the only one?"

"Yes." The other squad leaders confirmed.

Sarah looked unhappy. "I don't like it. If we had spotted them a bit later a lot of us would have been caught with their pants down. Still, if we had not caught the ones from the river…"

"What about the ones that escaped?" Lieutenant Karl asked.

"Your zombies are still pursuing?" Sarah asked me.

I nodded.

"Ok, Melvin, Karl you stay here with the soldiers. Koyuki and Helena with me. Bring all of your undead." Sarah decided.

"What? That is…" Melvin tried to complain.

"You have your orders." Sarah stopped him. He grimaced but saluted.

"Koyuki, follow your zombies. I want to catch the ones who are fleeing." Sarah said.

The zombies I had raised near the forest were all in pursuit. The ones from the camp were still here. I noticed that some of them were bigger than normal goblins. And I saw one human…

Hatsumi put a hand on my shoulder. "He saved one of his comrades as a zombie. Raising everything was not a mistake."

Sarah nodded. "Raising your own soldiers in combat is generally permitted although it is often avoided for moral reasons. You did good here. Let's not waste any time though."

Hatsumi offered to guide us towards the zombies and we followed. She realised that I was tired from creating so many undead. She had organised the undead fighting inside the camp during the battle. That is why they had not simply charged after the other goblins.

"Why did you pick us? Why follow them with a small group?" Helena asked.

Sarah smirked. "Small? Koyuki has quite a few undead. But the answer is I trust you. This attack was not normal and any evidence the goblins might have needs to be secured. None of my usual people are here. Also, we have wounded and the camp needs protection. If this is a trap we can easily sacrifice the zombies and retreat. I would hesitate to pursue them without so many undead."

We did not travel long until we heard the sound of more combat. The remaining goblins made a stand in a clearing. The shaman was still alive, throwing lightning around.

Sarah touched the runes on her arms. "I will go for speed and defense. I don't need a lot of strength here. Helena, nuke them. Use the water and keep them contained. Koyuki, stay back and raise more. Hatsumi and undead, with me."

"Can we keep the cats here as defense?" I asked.

Sarah nodded, then she charged. Seeing a spellblade in action was always fascinating. Once our forces reached the fight she became a blur, slicing through everything. Hatsumi was right beside her, although a bit slower.

Helena began casting. The water underneath the goblins froze, trapping them. It made them easy prey for the undead. The shaman tried something to counter but Sarah was on him. She lobbed his head off. I wanted to raise more undead when I heard Yoru hiss, then I saw him jump. The draugr collided with a barely visible goblin coming right at us. Yoru's claws dug into the goblins face, who tried to scream as his blood seemed to freeze.

Nyx sat next to me and watched approvingly.

"How many assassins do they have?" I wondered. Then I focused on my necromancing once more. I kept raising corpses until I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked at Helena.

"You can stop, we have won." She replied. I sleepily looked towards the battlefield. Only our side remained. I wobbled, suddenly too tired to stand. Helena caught me. I checked my links. I had 73 zombies now…

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.