Ethan shot up from his bed and moved his curtains. He peeked out the window. The bells rang and guards on duty were already running around. He opened up his dress for fresh clothes and then took out some protective leather items that he had enchanted. He slipped on the loose-fitting clothes before putting on his boots and the leather items. Ethan sinched them so they held firm to his body but weren’t uncomfortable.

Ethan looked over his stuff making sure he didn’t leave anything. He looked around the room once more before grabbing his bag and running outside. Soldiers were forming lines outside and people began lining the walls. Ethan followed the outpost’s path towards his predesignated location. When he arrived at the army tent Arron, Rich, Lydia, and Harrold were already inside.

“Welcome in,” said the general to the group. Inside other gnome, commanders shuffled in. “Our scouts spotted them moving faster than expected and warned us. They were about thirty minutes away from the first traps when the bells were rung but the time has shortened. The ghouls have started sprinting ahead of the pack and the spirit entities are following the group. You all have your assignments already. Connect with this communication crystal here.” He placed his crystal on the table. “You will receive orders from my or my second in command when needed. Until then follow the plan. You are dismissed.”

The people lined up and tapped their personal crystals to the general for communication. Both crystals would then glow in response. Ethan joined the line behind Arron and followed him out of the tent.

“Are you ready?” asked Arron.

“Yes. Good luck out there.”

“You too.”

Arron and Ethan parted ways. Ethan followed the steps up the fenced wall and found Khan. He was with the other light mages chatting.

“Ethan. Welcome. Do we need to do anything right now?” asked Khan.

“Just cam your nerves and remember to conserve your mana and carefully aim your shots. I will make sure you don’t get hit by anything. The spirit undead will be here soon. Focus on them and let the others worry about everything else.”

The group spread out evenly on the wall. Ethan got in the middle of the group so that he could help the mages if something went wrong. Down below him, the army lined up behind the traps. In between the group's Carter, Walker, and Lewis were meeting with your team leaders and preparing. Ethan felt the undead before he could see them in the trees. He felt the density of darkness mana spike and he felt it pull at him, but he ignored its menace.

Through his communicator instructions were given.

“Arrows and the ready. Prepare initial traps A through C.”

The ghouls rushed through the trees. The mouths hung open with poisonous drool as they sprinted forward. The Sprits floated above them. Each of them held their face stilled in horror or screams. Ghostly mist flowed from their bodies as they hovered above their comrades.

“Activate the traps. Fire the arrows”

Ethan and everyone else watched the traps activate. The line of trees quickly grew spikes and impaled the unlucky forces. The ghouls further ahead didn’t look back and instead fell into one of several pits that had revealed themselves. Some of the ghouls struggled to get out while others were torn about right away. As the ghouls moved forward they either walked over their dead friend or around the traps. The initial follow of arrows pelted a few of the ghouls. Each of them caused the flaming arrows to catch the ghouls on fire as well.

Ethan focused his power on the spirits. He first lets Khan, and the others fire a few attacks before he went. As Ethan had requested the group was careful and focused. The first shots all hit their targets causing the spirits hit to burst into illusory flame. After the attacks hit the spirits they were much more cautious but still rushed forward. Khan still hit his target but the other mages were less so. Ethan fired off [Death Bolt] and cut down the spirits that were getting too close. Each time they were hit by the attack the spirits disintegrated immediately before the bolt impaled ghouls down below.

The undead pushed forward on their campaign to siege the outpost. They had begun to spread out and forced the archers to spread out further. Stronger undead called wights used magic to disrupt the General’s tactics Slower skeletons also joined the fray which took longer to take down. A few more traps went off sending bones flying. The skeletons threw themselves at the traps and the wights used their magic to stop them from reaching their full potential. Earth mages used the mazes and walls to slow the undead. As the undead got closer a skeletal knight rode on its horse corpse towards the gates. The armor fused to its body held as arrows pelted it and so did a few spells.

The skeletal knight held out a sword and it began to glow with dark magic. It sped up in its charge and bulled right through the earth walls. The undead diverted and followed it through the new path. When the skeletal knight hit the gate it splintered open. The shattered pieces flew forward for a moment before shields blocked it and the debris was thrown back at the knight. Mages from inside the outpost threw attacks at it. Ethan was preparing to step in and kill it when Lewis hit the knight with a well-placed fireball. The knight fell apart from the fireball and the damage it had sustained.

“All infantry units charge. Slow the undead. Create the defenses,” said the general.

The army marched forward out of the broken gates. The walls around the gate were now cracked and unstable. The front-line groups rushed forward to meet the ghouls that had followed the knight. Carter and Walker were near the front and worked together as spearmen with shields held back. Carter created small earthen walls for them to hid behind while Walker grew more vines and softened the ground causing the undead to stumble. The ghouls clawed at the defenders. As they got hurt the defense started to collapse.

Ethan turned to the other light mages. “I will deal with what is left of the spirits. You are needed by the entrance. Stick with one of the mages. Arron or the others will do.”

The light mages nodded and understood. They dropped what they were doing and left for the ground floor. They took this time to recover some mana as they rushed to their new positions.

‘We need to push them back. Maybe this spell will do before too many people get in the way.’

Ethan cast [Ghost Hands] and the mist formed around his hands, but he began to modify it. The mist thickened and turned black. The spell transformed into [Deathly Ghost Hands] a combination of [Death Bolt] and [Ghost Hands]. Ethan launched himself over the wall and landed within the undead. With a swipe of his hands, the undead was sent flying back. The claws of the hand-dug into the creatures and had a corrosive effect on them. A skeletal knight came at him and struck with its sword. Ethan had a [Mana Shield] up to meet it. He took a few steps back from the blow but was unharmed.

Ethan put more mana into his spell which caused the hands to grow larger. He took the two magical hands and grasped the skeletal knight after a brief struggle. With focus and power, he squeezed the knight and crushed it as the corrosiveness did its work. After dealing with the knight, he stepped back a bit exhausted. He shrunk the ghost hands to regular size and resumed killing the undead this time dealing with the spirits which were now hurling illusory flames.

The illusory attacks hit the walls and started to damage them. The water mages and others were unable to put out the flames. Only by killing the spirits did the flames change into real flames that could be extinguished. Most of the mage's efforts of all types now we're on the wights that used the magic of their own and the spirits as a secondary priority. The light magicians led by Khan worked on triaging and bringing the injured back inside so they couldn’t deal with spirits.

The earth mages such as Carter and the earth mage trap master dealt with the spirits the best. The spirits were becoming an increasing problem because they could easily breach the walls. Now that they had set up more defensive structures they fought the spirits. By sending rocks and dirt into the air with magic the spirits were disrupted and became tangible once more allowing them to be damaged by good archers.

The general had the human soldiers push forward while some gnome soldiers joined more actively in the battle. Occasionally traps would activate throughout the battlefield sanding dirt and debris into the air. In the thick of battle, soldiers swung their blades cutting down the undead while avoiding getting hurt the best they could. Lewis fought amongst them working with the other fire mages to destroy them further. It was important that bodies from either side did not pile up too much lest the necromancers just bring more troops back to life. It would be a forever losing battle in that case. Lewis brought flames around his body as he fought to prevent attacks. It was a skill he was slowly improving on but needed some work because

It cost a lot of mana to use. Lewis watched his mana pool shrink as it neared ten percent. With his flame cloak, he punched and lunged at the zombies, and they burned away at his touch. From his perspective the battle was chaos. Other than the fact that enemies were in front, and allies were behind him he didn’t know what was going on. Occasionally he caught glimpses of Carter and saw nature magic reminiscent of Walker’s but that gave little information.

Ethan’s position was a bit clearer. He had created giant magic hands that stood out in front of the troops. With his help, the push towards the trees was easier until Ethan decided to cast from the wall instead. After the incident with the skeletal knight, a gang of wights decided to jump him and throw all their magic and bodies at him. When he returned to the wall his leather armor had new burn marks on it and some claw-shaped tears in them as well.

When the light mages joined the ground troops Arron took over watching them. He used his water magic to replenish the soldier’s health that was brought to him and also cast supplementary spells on the troops in front of him. The durability of their weapons and armor increased and so did their energy. Arron watched over the light mages carefully. On one occasion he had to cast [Mage Armor] and step in to protect one of them when a wight got up close to them. Arron dealt with the wight with a quick [Water Blade] to its head and down its body. Afterward, the surrounding soldiers learned their lesson and became more cautious of the attacking wights.

As the fight continued the weaker magicians tapped out and had to retreat if possible. The ones near the front line continued to fight while those still launching projectiles from the wall recovered in safety. Their effective numbers were dwindling, and the stronger mages were forced to pick up the slack.

More skeletal knights on horses charged their defenses now that Ethan was no longer on the front lines. It took at least three mages at a time to deal with one on horseback if they were lucky. Their attacks cut through soldiers if they weren’t careful. It had slowed their push. The outpost’s army was now halfway between the forest and the walls. All of the traps had gone off by now whether it had been a human or undead above them. The earth mages sculpted the land when possible to clear debris, bodies, arrows, and remnants of traps or whatever else they found so that the soldiers could keep pushing.

Within the walls of the outpost Khan and the light mages had tapped out from healing and other mages took up their places. Carter had pulled back next out of the four because of the exhaustion caused by pushing for new ground and creating new blockades. Lewis was next but not by much. The wights tired him out and forced him to take a break. Walker was still going though. She used her nature and plant magic carefully to ensnare more problematic undead like the knights so that the regular soldiers could finish them off.

Ethan watched the wall and helped protect the wall. A few soldiers ran around the wall with buckets to douse the illusory flames when they returned to normal. The walls like many things in the outposts was made of plants. That didn’t mean it wasn’t strong, but it was less structurally sound when flames were involved. Magic coated the walls, so it did not fall right away but cracks were showing. Ethan had moved inside the outpost to deal with the spirits. Now that the battle was in full swing spirits floated around from all sides harassing and attacking things. Fear spells were thrown around liberally by them and the illusory fire soon followed. Ethan focused on protecting a few key areas of the wall. The pillar protected against spirits entering, but with enough force, a few were let in at a time. He focused on these bunched-up spirits and dealt with them as they arrived. It would become dangerous if they entered and started to burn buildings, especially those that housed currently wounded or other non-fighting personnel.

Ethan was killing the latest group of spirits when he and everyone heard a large roar. He turned his head and looked towards the forest. He saw the trees shaking before the creature came. The other people on the wall slowed for a bit to watch what thing the necromancers had for them next. The soldiers on the ground could not stop and most didn’t unless they wanted to die to the nearest undead.

The undead that stepped out of the trees was undead in name only. It stood with its head peering above the trees. Its massive body was made of people that had become stretched and warped by its creation. The construct continued walking forward its face eyeless. It only had a mouth from which it consumed people. The monstrous thing stepped forward and walked right over the skeletons and zombies below it. It scooped up the broken undead and absorbed the broken undead growing taller while doing so.

Ethan watched the flesh golem that looked almost twice as large as described in the necromancer book continue to stumble forward. A few others recognize the deformed beast. He took out his communication crystal and warned the others.