(Almost a couple of hours later)

Me - soldier one, you have to get up. We are in pretty big trouble.

Soldier one is a pretty light sleeper, waking up the instant that I call him. A good quality for a soldier.

Soldier one - what happened, troop master. Are we being attacked?

Me - nope, it is something even more worse than that.

I motion him to follow me outside his tent.

Soldier one - now what happened, troop master.

Me - we are being stalked, soldier one. There are presently six beings that are hiding throughout the forest, at varying distances from us and they have not moved in the last hour or so. No beast in the forest is that still naturally. It is giving me a very bad feeling.

Soldier one - it could be some kind of a beast that is hibernating. There are a few beasts here that do undergo hibernation during the wave. Can't you describe them, maybe I can identify their species.

Me - to me they are blobs of mana. My effective vision is roughly 200 meters. Beyond that everything gets blurrier. Anyway, They are not hibernating. If they are then they would end up Dead. No hibernating being would be emitting so much mana, it reveals their position and is simply a waste of energy.

Soldier one - what else could it be then.

Me - we are in night wolf territory right now. It could be a family of night wolves chasing after us. assassins tend to be pretty predictable in their behaviors, though that doesn't make them any less scary to deal with.

Soldier one - well, if it is the night wolves, you should bring in jack then. Night wolves are pretty scary enemies to deal with. We had one attack the camp last year. It was discovered only after a couple of troops had been killed.

Me - not yet, if they are still here tomorrow then we will see what we must do. I don't trust that named one yet. He gives me a very fishy feeling. Anyway, soldier one you must set up a patrolling schedule. I know that you can't sense them, but it should make the enemy at the very least wary.

Saying so I return to my position and settle down. Another useful aspect of this body of mine is that it is pretty easy for me to stay stationary for a long time. If it was my previous body I would have already lost my patience and attacked the enemy already.

The night wolves are one of the two powerhouses that are inherent to the black water swamps.

It is easier to deal with this bunch than water wolves, at least according to jack. I have yet to face either on my own.

Anyway, night wolves are the assassins of this region. Their entire species holds the ability to hide their presence from their enemies and they are masters of sneak attacks. They are pretty crappy in a direct fight, though. I am sure of that now. I killed one of them with barely any effort from my side. Granted it had half my mana, even a goblin would have taken me a couple of moves to take out.

There operate in terms of families, where the night wolves trust only their kin. They are similar to goblins in that regard. I am quite thankful for that, after all, I do not want to deal with an army of assassins. That would be pretty annoying.

We are on the southern border of the swamp, so we are definitely in night wolf territory, unless that elder wanted to screw with me. anyway, I have a feeling I am going to hate dealing with night wolves.

(A day later )

Even now the enemies are outside, stalking our every move. One of them dared to come within my sights. well, let's just say that its bones now adorn my armor. Not that it made my armor any stronger. For now, bone king is mainly suitable only for healing my body.

While he does tend to be polite, he keeps to his own. Over the last few days, the number of times I have heard him speak can be counted on a single hand, and honestly, that is how I like it. If possible I would rather not have any interaction with him.

Even that would not be too much of a problem, I am quite similar to him in that regard. It is the atmosphere that he has. He emits such a creepy aura, a feeling that I only get from very few beings. He reminds me of something though I can't remember what. Every instinct in my body tells me that the boy is dangerous and should be killed immediately. I think it has something to do with his mana. Dark mana tends to be pretty weird in most worlds and that is honestly what makes it so deadly.

Anyway, right now me and soldier one are here in his tent to discuss our options. After all, he is the one that knows this land, after all, it was the named ones that attacked this place before, every time. I still don't understand what it is that they gain by sending a named one and a bunch of nameless ones to these lands. If their elder was not inside me, I would have thought, that they were trying to get me killed.

Jack - well, the position that they are at is right next to the borders of the water and night wolves. There should be some very strong families in this land. Nothing else can survive in this area. I suggest that we leave this base of ours to a safer location.

Soldier one - named one, right now it would be too risky for us to move about. We should wait and take them out before moving. Most of us can't show our strength in the swamp. It is nearly impossible for us to get a proper foothold there. Even you are affected, troop master.

Jack - it would be even more dangerous to stay here. It is barely protectable and even if we stay put they will destroy us. We will have to keep moving. Each family has anywhere between twenty to thirty wolves and we could be dealing with an alliance of families. The night wolves normally do not attack unless they are supremely confident. They outnumber us and it would be hard to fight even them in a direct fight, with our numbers. On top of that, they are assassins, they are not the type that will fairly or directly. Dealing with them is always very tricky. We will be moving the moment that the troops can move.

Me - what exactly is the plan over here, Jack. What solider one does say is correct. It would quite risky for us to deal with night wolves in the swamps, but what you say about this location is also true. We can't stay here forever.

Jack - there is a location quite close to our present location where we will be much safer there rather than in our present location. We can't even set up barricades in this location.

He said pointing to a location on a map that was laid out in front of us. The map is not too detailed but it will work.

Jack - this location is known as the fallen temple. It was originally a base that we built on the border between the water wolves and night wolves, but it has already fallen to the night wolves. It should be abandoned now that the night wolves control this region. We can use that position as our base.

Me - what about the location itself. Can it be defended? Are there any magic defenses and what about the physical defenses?

Jack - yes, troop master and it is pretty defendable, we should be able to hold it on our own. As for defense, that place has no magical defense, but it is surrounded by a wall and turrets, though I can't say if the turrets will even work. They are very old, almost a decade old.

Me - what about your powers then. You already know what the troop and I can do. No point in hiding our powers. I don't have anything in terms of magic, but my abilities in using close-range weapons are superior to anyone in your village, even your goblin knight is inferior to me in that regard. I have a mana sense that could allow me to detect the enemy wolves.

Jack - I don't think so, troop master. There are night wolves that hold the ability to not be detected even by mana sense. Otherwise, our previous campaign into their territories would not have been such a failure. Anyway, I have mastery over three spells. The first is known as the darkness bolt.

Mana gathers in his hand, forming a sphere of dark mana. It leaves his hand with a pretty high speed and hits the tent leaving a massive hole in the tent. It is a pretty damaging spell.

Jack - the second spell is known as dark shield. It is capable of blocking a first-step spell before being broken. and the last spell of mine is known as raise dead.

Me - you have a necromantic spell or not.

Jack - yes, troop master. Though right now I am nothing more than a glorified dark mage. The only necromancy spell that I have is the one that I told you about.it allows me to raise the dead, but the penalties are pretty heavy. The undead I raise will only have about half of their strength when living.

Me - is that why you have been sent to this location. Your kind should normally be worshipped here.

Jack - well, I Don't think that this is the case. I am still a necromancer, after all.

Me - I don't think that you would send a well-beloved figure to such a position. Did you do anything to piss of anybody.

Jack - the goblin mage tends to make pretty weird decisions. Nobody knows when and what kind of a decision can she make. She must have some kind of a plan.

Me - well, have you seen this location before?

Jack - I have not seen it before, but I think that we should be able to handle it. All of the named ones sent to this location speak about how easy to defend this location is. Though it must have fallen to ruin already, it is still better than this place.

Me - well, then you coordinate with soldier one and prepare to move out. You get ready for a fight, I have a feeling we will have a lot to deal with.

Jack - yes, troop master.

Soldier one - troop master, moving now would be pretty risky. The enemy can attack us at any moment. Isn't it better for us to stay put and defend against their attacks.

Me - I would agree with you if it was against other enemies, but against a group of assassins, staying put is a pretty dumb idea. For now, all we can do is risk the journey to this "fallen temple". The journey is not going to be easy. Go and prepare for the trip.

(After a couple of hours )

I did not expect from nameless goblins. Their leader is pretty skilled at what he does.

Well, we are already ready to move away from our temporary base. Well, the enemies are a group of assassins so I won't be taking the risk of not keeping my full focus on dealing with the enemy. That also means that I am temporarily disabling my recording magic.

A moment of carelessness will result in death with assassins. That is why I am going to hate dealing with the night wolf.