A Rattling Monster

After a few minutes, I notice no change inside the ramparts. Those bloody priests are efficient; I have to give that to them. And with the local environment, I guess the most basic blessing will be able to save a life already at death's door. But thinking you can get away unscathed? All you will receive is painful after burns. I order my skeleton magicians to fire the first volley of the spell. The humans are clearly shocked by that since a lot of them are touched by the spells. My army is clearly coordinating with each other, since not a single skeleton fire on the same location as somebody else. That means, more victims and a bigger area burning.

Seeing the archers currently retreating from the edge of the ramparts, it is time to use my Chosen for the charge. I fire at least seven orbs before managing to form a hole big enough to let them pass. I can see from that hole the terrified faces of the pikemen behind the door. Unfortunately for them, there is no magician to rally them in front of my Chosen after they will breach the door. And like the scene of a very famous movie, the brave and proud soldiers are getting quickly overrun by armored giants.

I can see number two lead the charge and pierce the wall, swinging his axe left and right. Each time he does that, a few soldiers lose their lives, cut in half by the sharp weapon. No matter what it is, their steel armors, their iron shields, their helmets, their chest plates. All is destroyed in one hit by my Chosen. Causing chaos among the guards, and beginning to paint the streets red. Exactly what I was expecting from my most recent creation. Leaving the crossbowmen under the fire of my magicians, I approach the door.

The fifty men that were guarding the gate are now all dead, dispatched in a little more than 20 seconds. The hole formed by my acid has been enlarged, letting at least two of my normal skeletons pass at the same time. I can see some of the Chosen take cover under the wall while the rest is hacking the remaining wooden door in pieces. They can't allow their axes to be broken by doing the same on the iron grid, but for the wooden door, it will not be a problem.

Right now, my Chosen have only taken some minor damages, and are protected from the crossbowmen. There is a blind spot just under the gate, where only people on the streets can target me and my skeletons. But, all the humans that are present in that street are dead, their blood flowing even to the gate. Seeing that, I do what everybody will do. I crouch a little and absorb all the blood near me. Seeing my mana being replenished, I begin to smile. Just a small part of everything spilled on the ground, and I can already create a new magician. But, it is not enough, I need something that can create a diversion.

I decide to create some zombies, and since there is a lot of corpses nearby, I want to try something else. Since all of my creations were based on my imagination and my mana, what happens when I try to use [Raise Undead] on a body? Will it cost less mana? That would be great. I search for a few seconds and see a corpse that only has a hole in his chest. His heart is missing, and a part of his lungs was removed. I guess one of my Chosen literally grabbed his heart, well, they have the strength to do this.

I surround myself with a huge cloud of darkness, to prevent anyone from targeting me while I try my new experiment. I put my two hands on the body, and think of a zombie, the same zombie that I created, one that is resistant to magic, strong but a little slow. After a short moment, I see my creation, it is the very body that I used, with all his equipment. But after looking at my MP, I notice that it is the same cost. Damn, that was a failure, except the face of the zombie and his appearance that are a little cleaner, nothing changed. Well, I had to try that one day, because if that worked, that would spare me a lot of mana.

After searching for every single drop of blood, I manage to create ten zombies, capable of taking the hit for my Chosen. I order all of them to split in two groups and begin to climb the stairs leading to the ramparts. That way, I and the Chosen stay safe, my skeleton magicians keep firing at the soldiers visible on the ramparts, and a horde of zombies will, in a very short time, join the party. And it doesn't matter how many fireballs touch them, they will be able to survive the hit and only have one order, kill every human they see.

(Ok, so we have a small problem with your brilliant plan. The stairs are blocked by some soldiers with spears, they have managed to plant the head of the spears inside the flesh of the leading zombie. On each side, so, the two groups are blocked, they can't progress.)

Fine, so I have to take command of the problem. Number, number? Zombie in front! I receive their answers, meaning I am in contact with the two undead that are skewered on the pikes. That's great, I ask them how and where they are pierced by the human weapons. Shortly after, I understand that they are completely stuck, there are at least ten spears incrusted in their flesh. And since it is some stairs, the rest of the group is pushing on the leading zombie, preventing him from backing off. They can't climb above him either.

I guess the intelligence of those zombies is clearly lacking compared to that of a single skeleton. Otherwise, they would have retreated, grab their immobilized fellows and then charge again, and making sure that the same situation won't happen again. But no, they keep rushing toward the closest human and at the same time, prevent everyone from doing so. Now I understand why they are cheaper than the skeleton warriors. Because they are dumb!

Let's keep calm, I ask every zombie to step back a little and the closest to the pierced undead to grab him. After receiving the confirmation that everyone is out of the spears, I ask only two zombies in each group to walk toward the guards. I order them to grab any spears that are in range. Shortly after, I hear some screams coming from the stairs, I guess they succeed. I tell them to keep doing that, while the other zombies are in charge of killing any humans that have felt. The stairs on my left are cleared a lot faster and they begin to charge on the ramparts. That time, I let them do whatever they want, only to kill a maximum of guards.

As for the right stairs, I have lost the connection. I keep asking mentally a report, but nothing arrived. What happened?

(The priests were located on that side after the failed plague attack. So, seeing the zombies grabbing the nearby guards, they have sung a strange melody, and after that, all the undead were burning. That should be a spell really efficient against undead, and that's only the beginning. Like I said, it is some priests from a local church, not the men from the Church. They will arrive with holy water, blessings, countless blessings, and some equipment that will tear apart your zombies. As for the Chosen, they will have a hard time surviving, but there is a still a chance. Anything else will be destroyed.)

Well, I guess I only have to take the stairs to my left and let the right side stay alive a little longer. I climb toward the ramparts, with my group of Chosen following me. At my arrival, I can see numerous dead bodies, most of them are bleeding. There are some burned corpses, probably the doing of my skeleton magicians. But the majority was still alive, and killed by my zombie. I see that three of them are running after the fleeing guards, in front of me. As for the other two, I turn to the other side. Only to find two rows of crossbowmen and some priests looking at me.

The faces of all the guards are terrified. They are looking at my three shadows and my Chosen, with big open eyes. I guess they were not expecting us to get here so quickly. In front of them, the bodies of my two zombies, totally black. The burning part was true. But, as I look in the eyes of the priests, I don't see fervor and bravery. What I see is sheer terror and despair. Something is telling me that they are absolutely not confident about facing me or my Chosen. Well, that's really a shame, because you won't be able to slay anymore of my zombies.