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A horde of Undead began to slowly climb the mountain, as they reached the peaks and the harpy tribe within the peak and the surrounding cave sections.

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Relentless and tireless, the skeletons of all shapes and sizes raised their weapons and pointed their arrows towards the flying warriors.

"GuooOOooOOOOooonnNNnn…!"

"OOooOOooOOOooo…!"

"GaaAAAaaAAaaaAAAaa…!"

The frightful roars of the undead, resonated in the union as the mountain's atmosphere changed, filling themselves with dread and ominous presences.

The monstrous roars resonated within the tribe of Harpy, as the people there began to be alarmed.

"An invasion?!"

"From where they came?! We are at the peak of the mountain! The Undead Labyrinth is at the bottom!"

"They're thousands of Undead! How can they climb up here like that?!"

"Hurry! Throw them out of the mountain! Don't let them climb any higher!"

"They have arrows! They shot down Ecyphe-san!"

"Laura and Vociphe as well!"

"Shit! What can we do?!"

"How is it possible for them to both climb and shot arrows at us?! And since when have Undead been so skilled to use bows and arrows?!"

"We can't escape without having to leave many children to their demise!"

"What can we do?!"

"Our bountiful population increase is not our doom!"

Not all of the Harpies were able to fly, as the younglings who have not developed feathers would not be able to escape as easily as the adults, and even if a strong male were to carry children with their talons, they would not be able to carry as many compared to the sheer amount that there were.

Because Harpies reproduced very quickly through the number of eggs they laid, there were always many children in the tribe, and although there were also more than a hundred young warriors, it was simply not enough to carry all the children by themselves and run away.

And it is not as if they would ever give up on their home, the mountain they had lived for hundreds of years.

Desephise, the chief of the tribe and one of the few direct descendants of the survivors of the war that happened in the past, cleaned the tears in her eyes as she glanced one last time at the eggshell of her daughter.

She raised her wings as she flew out of her tent, using her loud voice to increase the morality of her people.

"Don't give up, everyone! We will fight for our homeland! That is how we have been always doing so! Those that cannot fight, carry the children deep within the mountain's cave sections! Warriors, to the frontlines! Mages follow me!" she roared.

"Do as the chief say!"

"Let's go, everyone!"

"For our homeland!"

"For our people!"

"For our families!"

"For our children!"

Several burly Harpy men gathered over the frontlines as they bared their weapons, javelins, and bows, which they used their talons to attack from long distances, while those strong enough to fight with their talons alone equipped powerful greaves made with the metallic materials harvested within the caves.

Based on her appearance alone, Desephise would seem like a warrior-type harpy woman, a rare occurrence within the sexual dimorphism of the harpy that lived in the mountains, this was because of her strong and muscular body, her sharp and bigger than usual talons with enormous claws, and her long wings, due to inheriting the special bloodline of a few harpies from a different race than survived in the ancient war, her physique was of greater strength than any other female Harpy.

However, she was gifted in both strength and magic, and was one of the strongest mages amongst the tribe as well, teaching and leading her people across the years over magic and crafting.

Due to her efforts and those of her ancestors, the use of magic was widely established in the tribe, and almost every female that was physically weak to fight by themselves would learn magic to become more useful in battle.

After many generations, Desephise had gathered her own army of Harpy Magicians, that followed her through the skies as she glanced at the Undead with her eagle eye. Her long and gray hair waved through the wind as her emerald eyes flashed with a predatory light.

"The Undead seem to be at least of Rank 3 and above, chief-sama!" said a little harpy female at her side, who was actually of a normal size for an adult female, but before Desephise, she seemed small.

"We shall throw them our mountain before that happens!" said Desephise.

"Let's teach them that we are strong!"

"Let's do it!"

Desephise then ordered a few commands as the Harpies at her side began to chant the same spell in unison.

"Wind, we call upon you!"

"Bring forth your breeze!"

"Blow away our enemies!"

"Blow away those that dare to invade our homeland!"

Flash!

A sudden magic circle emerged over the sky as it was fueled by the Mana of all of the harpies.

Desephise poured her mana as she commanded the Harpies to unleash the powerful spell with a loud chant.

"Breezing Storm!"

FLASH!

The magic circle suddenly summoned a gust of powerful wind, that began to amass itself into a gigantic tornado, one after another, more of these powerful tornadoes appeared, until they merged together into a gigantic blast of wind and lightning.

The Undead glance atop their heads as the gigantic magic attack flew towards them!

FLASH!

BOOM!

Within mere seconds, hundreds of Undead were swept out of the mountains, their bodies were torn into pieces as they fell to the bottom.

"UUOOOH! The mages did it!"

"Good job girls!"

"Let's clean them up!"

The warriors at the frontlines cheered as they continued fighting against the remaining Undead after the 'swept' that the mages did, unaware that many more Undead began to appear one after another through the cliffs that surrounded their tribe.

"Haahhh… We did it!" said the harpies at Desephise side, although their attack was powerful, the amount of Mana used was also rather enormous.

"Yes, but our combined spell is infallible! With that, not threats can even come near our tribe!"

"Indeed, as long as we have chief-sama with us!"

Desephise sighed in relief as she glanced that the Undead lowered greatly in numbers. The spell they used was often a big final attack that they used as a last resort against powerful monsters that would sometimes roam near the tribe every dozen years, such as Wyverns.

Although it would not outright kill them, the monsters would be left scarred and wounded, most of the time escaping or being finished off by the male warriors.

The horde of Undead that marched towards the tribe was only but a fraction of the actual army, as the Harpies didn't realize that the rest of the army was moving through the forest that there were below right below them and near the cave sections.

"It seems that we have managed to stabilize the situation!" said a harpy.

"We did it!"

"Whew, we had to use our strongest spell straight away, but it was worth it…"

"Indeed!"

"Don't lower your guard, everyone, let's go assist the warriors at the frontlines with our small spells, things seem to be close to finish- Huh?!"

Desephise suddenly realized the enormous ominous pressure within the other side of the tribe, a sudden pressure that she had not realized before!

"Were they hiding their presence?! What the… Follow me, everyone!" roared Desephise, as she flew to the other side of the mountain, as she found yet another enormous horde of Undead climbing towards them!

"What is happening, chief-sama- Oh no!"

"It can't be!"

"More?!"

"From where these came from?!"

"We could not detect them!"

"Chief-sama, they're approaching!"

"What…?! No! Damn it…! Everyone, let's conjure another one!"

The harpies quickly began to conjure a new powerful spell, but they were quickly interrupted by a rain of arrows!

Flash! Flash! Flash!

"Agghh!"

"Gyaaaaaahhh!"

"H-Help!"

"Noo!"

"Tch! Damn it! Conjure Barriers!" cried Desephise with concern and frustration as she glanced a few of her companions fall from the sky as they were covered in arrows.

The harpies quickly generated a large bubble made out of spinning wind forces, protecting the surviving group from the raining arrows.

Desephise glanced below as she realized strange Undead were firing arrows, their appearance was vastly different than others, as they possessed many arms and were immense in size as if they were several skeletons stuck together like some kind of spider made out of bones that had many torsos atop its body, each torso had multiple arms that they used to throw countless arrows at the sky, such creatures were over five, and although they moved slowly, they held immense prowess.

"What are those things?! They're clearly not conventional Undead… have we fallen below the schemes of some kind of sorcerer capable of controlling Undead?! But what does it seek from us all up here?!" wondered Desephise, as she retreated with the rest of the female harpies while carrying the wounded inside tents.

"Chief-sama, things are getting worse at the frontlines!" cried a male harpy warrior, alerting Desephise.

"What is it now!? At the back, we got a whole army already!"

"They began to sprout out of the ground! The rock and dirt suddenly turned purple as the Undead began to appear! We are barely holding them back with all we got!" said the warrior.

"Damn it! Will we have to retreat then?! (Even if I use all of my power… I can only win enough time for everyone… but the children! We cannot carry all of them! What will we do?! I need to… secure some kind of route for them…! Ah! The cave sections to the southwest…)"

Desephise quickly came out with a plan, as she called back the frontline warriors.

"Those willing to fight to the death for the survival of our brethren, stay with me, and those that cannot, grab your things and regroup with the rest of the people in the caves! Open the way to the secret cave we found, and descend the mountain through it!" said Desephise.

"What?! But chief, if we are found by the Undead, then we0ll get trapped inside!"

"That won't happen! We'll hold them back with our lives!" said Desephise.

"But chief…!"

"Don't do that!"

"We cannot lose you!"

"Shut up! What kind of chief would I be if I end up sacrificing my own people for my safety?! I would not be able to honor my people nor my daughter! All of you have your families and your children. But I have lost everything. I have nothing to lose now! Go! Now!" said Desephise, as the warriors willing to accompany her to death remained.

"Chief…!"

"We shall fight with you until death!"

"We are old, but we are not weak!"

"For the safety of my grandchildren, I will give it my all!"

"Good, my warriors, let's go!" said Desephise, as she flew with the other warriors while the rest of the tribe ran towards the secret cave section that they had found several years ago.

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