Chapter 10: Breakthrough We are now at the borders of the region. A large wall now blocks our path, and groups of soldiers are guarding the wall. The guards did idle chat to pass the time. Wall Guard 1: “Come on, man! We are supposed to be celebrating!” Wall Guard 2: “Calm your ass; we will join the celebration after tonight. We need to make sure there are no survivors so that there will be no chance for them to mount a counter-attack.” Wall Guard 1: “Hero’s orders, huh?” The guards are not the usual sentry guards. These guys are Spear Vanguards. These huge guys were wearing heavy armor, long lances, and thick shields. Even though they are slow, they are perfect in holding defensive positions. We can’t take these guys on. It’s nighttime, so we used the darkness to cover our advance. We need a distraction for that, and Duke will be in charge of that. The main force now went in range quickly; they released a flurry of ice spells on the surprised the lazy guards taking down some of them. Guard Captain: “We’re under attack! Get to your stations!” The spear vanguards raised their shields high to cover themselves from the incoming barrage of spells. Guard Captain: “Counterattack! Marksmen! Use exploding arrows!” The marksmen drew their arrows and released a volley. “Pathetic.” The Duke made a mocking smile. Duke: “Release .” The volley of exploding arrows was blown away by a sudden appearance of a strong chilling wind that put out the fire on the arrows and also pushed them out of their course. The wall was not able to make any counter-attack as the leading force continue to rain spells. While this is happening, the decoy group went in quickly to destroy the main gate. We are standing by from a distance observing these events. When the decoy group was about to bring down the gate, suddenly, a huge person came down from the wall above. “Where are you going, little ones?” A huge human? No, it’s a giant. It was a giant that bore heavy armor and a lance. It has a giant arm guard, which I guess serves as his shield. It was a Spear General. One thrust from him threw the decoy group into different places. Damn it! We did not expect this guy. “Tch tch tch… these bones ain’t no match for me.” Each thrust produced a shockwave that pushed back the dread knights of the decoy group. Even when they got close, they just get pushed back by the giant armguard. The giant was about three times bigger than our dread knights. The mages from the decoy group then decided to release a torrent of lightning spells. Since the giant was wearing metal armor, lightning should be sufficient. But it was not. The lightning spells went like rain on rocks. “Lightning? Eh, no.” Lightning resistance enchantment? That is pure cheating! The spear general then charged through the dread knights. He broke through the front line and made a sweep attack that destroyed the mages of the decoy group. The decoy group was wiped out. As things were getting out of hand, a dark cloud appeared from behind the spear general. Skeleton Duke has entered the fray. A quick surprise thrust went through the left shoulder of the spear general. “Gah! Blinking, huh!?” The spear general made a counter-attack by swinging his armguard, but Duke swiftly avoided him because he was on a horse. Duke made quick attacks on the spear general. Using speed against him, the spear general seems to lose this battle. He also made hit and run attacks and wounds now started piling up on the spear general. Giant Guard: “Harggg! You mischievous rat!” The spear general then made a tremendous roar. It made the Duke hold on by thrusting his spear on the ground, but while this is happening, the spear general made a furious charge. With no spear to counter-attack and still immobilized by the roar, the Duke received the attack from the spear general with his shield. The Duke was sent flying by the intense thrust of the spear general, dismounting him from his horse. Giant Guard: “Hahahaha! Not so tough now, huh, bones?” Duke: “For the king…” A large shadow appeared from behind the Duke. ! His horse quickly recovered and picked him up. The shadow was above the Duke as he charged at the spear general. It was so fast that It could not be considered a charge but a blink. The shadow had a form of a knight with a spear. Both the shadow and the Duke impaled the spear general. The force was so strong that the charge continued up until the main gate, destroying it. Now is the chance to escape! While the mages from the main force are still suppressing the wall, we run as fast as we can towards the main gate. The Duke then removed the spear general from his lance and went to jump behind us. “Go! Remember, everything is for the king.” His back looked like a mountain from my view. He was going to cover our escape. We can rest assured. Suddenly holy lights appeared again. The harbingers of death had come. Eight paladin captains appeared. “BRING IT ON!” The large shadow loomed over the Duke and seemed to roar against the paladins. If this were to be his final stand, he would take them all with him. The paladins fought him at the same time. The Duke repelled them all and even counterattacking now and then. He was being backed up now by the dread knights from the main force. Five paladin captains fought him, and the other two fought the dread knights. . . . As we were about to cross the border, I felt a dangerous presence from my right. I instinctively dodge to the left. The land on my right was considerably flattened and was smoking from the heat coming from the war hammer strike. Close! Too close! It was a Paladin. "Where do you think you're going?" "Somewhere where none of your business matters." "I see." I signaled my men to continue. I’ll hold this guy back, or I think I will. Time felt like it stopped. Sounds of battle started to fade away. Maybe this was the moment before someone suffers actual death. No more reanimation for me if that hammer hits. I was brought back to my senses by the roar of the Paladin that started charging. He made huge swings towards me that I was able to dodge thanks to my skill, but one hit could turn me into dust because the war hammer was enchanted with fire. He made this downward swing, which I dodged barely, but he used his feet to kick me away when I was about to thrust my spear. The kick felt like it could kill me with force alone. I flew a couple of meters away. I felt the bones in my chest area crack. This situation is not looking good. He came charging, and I could do nothing but dodge, dodge, dodge. And there was this one opportunity. It seems like he wanted to test a hit from me. He intently made a huge sideways swing, which I ducked under and thrust my spear towards his abdomen. Ping! My spear broke! Now I have nothing but my shield. His next attack was not just a sideways swing; it was a whirlwind attack. When the swing was about to come back, I dropped to the ground. I hurriedly put all my negative energy I could muster into my hands. I held the Paladin's legs with my arms. Paladin: "What are you doing, you stupid bony shit?" I focused all the negative energies I can spare without dying into my arms. Paladin: "Oi, stop that! It was an improvised spell. I went away as fast as I could by crawling away. The arms that I left exploded in an icy blast. His legs were now frozen. “Why you sneaky little!” He tried to punch the ice from his legs to get free, but I used vast amounts of N.E. to produce that, so it was very thick. I used this time to escape from him. “You! I’ll get you for this! The next time I see you, I kill you for the second time of your life!” Armless, I hurriedly ran away with my life. I still had the leg bones from the rogue so I can run fast. I can faintly see black and white explosions from the other side of the wall. We finally got through the border. I wonder if Duke could handle them all or if he will retreat. I did what I could to escape. I don’t have any complaints, no matter how cowardly I appeared to others. I got away with my life or let us say my existence, so I am content with that. The land before me was nothing but mist and gray land. No living creatures could be seen from miles and miles away. Just the perfect sight for us undead.