For the next two days we continued our hit and run tactic. While displaying a certain amount of strategy, it seemed there was still some minor restrictions on the gnolls that made them seem more like pre-programmed mobs than a rival species to humanity. They couldn’t just up and mobilize their entire army to deal with us, nor did it seem like they were setting ambushes or adjusting to our activity: the size of their patrols stayed at five. Also, they seemed to replenish the patrols less and less often.

On the second day, both Mark and Glenn had managed to hit Level 20, which was closing the gap between us. Jessica and I managed to get to 27, while the remaining members all reached 26. We powered up as a group, and this far our decision to take on the gnolls had been smooth sailing.

There was so little risk involved in this strategy that it seemed almost pointless to do anything else. We had stopped searching for a dungeon and focused on grinding via gnoll patrols. We moved along the paths of the forest and tried to be unpredictable, working our way around the outskirts of the massive city, heading north, reversing south, going to the east and then to the west, trying to keep moving while also maintaining an efficient kill speed.

“Getting harder to find patrols,” Jessica said from the front. She was our scout, and almost always gave us the advantage when it came to encountering enemies. We were never caught unprepared, always being able to set up against the incoming patrol, and usually making quick work of them.

By mid-day I felt that our rate of EXP gain was really going downhill. And then it became clear that ninety-five percent of the patrols were gone, maybe even ninety-nine percent. There were virtually no gnolls available for us to hunt. We moved around constantly searching for them, but the gnolls were no longer coming out of their settlement.

To us the hundreds of gnolls we killed was a huge number, but had it really been enough to trouble the empire? Given the massive population that must reside in the city, these patrols we’d been picking off were just a fraction of the cost to them of a real battle. Assuming they were not fully sentient and independent but some kind of spawns, why would the patrols dry up?

We maneuvered around east of the city for most of the afternoon before finally finding a new patrol pack to slaughter. At last. It should have troubled me that this was the only patrol we’d seen in hours and why it was here now. We just… pulled.

In fact, we pulled and dealt with the pack as usual. No one questioned the changed pattern of behavior as we stood over the corpses gathering the miscellaneous loot. It was only after the rations, bandages, and potions were distributed did things go terribly wrong.

“We’re surrounded,” Jessica suddenly looked at me, face pale, “they’re on every side.” I couldn’t hear or see anything at all. It was that empty forest all around us, and yet I could imagine how the gnolls were stealthily creeping in. “We have to go now or we won’t have any chance otherwise.”

No one questioned her. The expression on her face was stern, which meant the situation was probably worse than what she let on. She picked a direction and started to run, “Get ready to fight,” she yelled at us. We should never fly too close to the sun, yet this was one of those moments we had slipped up and were doing so.

I didn’t hold back at all. Sprinting, I raced towards the front while bringing my undead squad out. “Killing or running?” I yelled as I passed Jessica. I couldn’t see how many enemies there were; I didn’t know how hopeless fighting our way out would be.

“Just run!” she cried. Things went from bad to worse. As soon as the first pack of enemies came into view I realized why we couldn’t try to make a stand. There was just a sea of gnolls in front of us.

“Support me!” Alan yelled at us, and then charged in without fear. He directly crashed into the first row of attackers in our path. The frontline of the shield wall the gnolls had put up crumpled in an instant. “I’ll open a path!”

Richard joined directly beside him as the two began to bulldoze a path through the ranks of gnoll troops. Maria shot out explosive arrow after explosive arrow as close to our tanks as she could. Gnolls were sent flying through the air as we struggled to carve out a path through their army.

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My undead warriors reached the gnoll line, and like a row of linebackers, they rushed into the breach in the wall of gnolls like a crashing wave. Metal hitting metal rang out, and those gnolls that weren’t knocked aside by the physical force of impact were stabbed and pummeled by my skeleton troops.

I channeled Decay at the closest gnolls. Their faces aged rapidly, and the clarity of their eyes faded until it was a murky gray. Despite experiencing what was no doubt incredible pain, the gnolls didn’t break rank, and fought with everything they had.

“FASTER!” Jessica yelled. The gnolls were closing in on all sides, and as soon as they reinforced the troops in front of us, we would truly be at a dead end. We were making progress, even though the advance of Alan and Richard had slowed; we were about two-thirds the way through these mobs and I could see spaces between the trees beyond their back line.

The cackling of the gnolls as they fought raised every hair on my body. Despite them dying in droves, despite their flesh being rent, their howls sounded ecstatic.

The situation was not looking good. “Have your skeletons support me!” Richard suddenly yelled back to me. There was no time to ask in what particular way he meant. His shield started to glow white-hot as he leaned forward. I understood; he was going to plow on through behind that shield with sheer force.

On my command the undead melee classes sheathed their weapons and then balled behind Richard. There was no other way to offer support except to push him forward. His shield glowed as bright as the sun, and every enemy it touched screamed in agony. While the gnolls weren’t undead, touching something filled with so much holy power still seemed to be able to deal terrible damage to them.

Lucas was in the fray as well, doing whatever he could to assist in breaking through. He took the easy kills when presented with them, but otherwise worked on maiming enemies: breaking or slicing the tendons in their legs, or removing arms. Without the support of those appendages, they couldn’t defend against our push.

With Richard barreling forward, the final rows of gnoll soldiers didn’t last more than a few seconds. Richard came out beyond them and nearly faceplanted on the ground from the force of the push from behind him. My skeletons, however, were recovered and I immediately had them form a wall on both sides to keep the gnolls from closing in on us as the rest of the group dashed for freedom.

Paired with the support of Anna and Maria, keeping the opening wide was easy. “Rush through!” I yelled at everyone, holding back so that I was the last through the gap we had made, “Keep running! My undead troops can hold them off for a bit.”

Without hesitation, the others raced off in front of me, and I didn’t wait around either. My undead soldiers could be re-summoned, there was no point in being frugal about the MP in a life-or-death situation. We got about a hundred meters clear from the precious seconds my undead bought us, but it didn’t seem to be enough.

“They’re gaining on us,” Jessica called back, ‘closing in on all sides.’ This was their territory after all. Expecting to outrun them on their own turf was a laughable joke. Not only that, their powerful legs were perfectly suited to move through the forest at rapid pace.

I could hear a growing cackle of canine laughter as they raced after us. The sound grew louder and louder in my ears; they were getting closer with every passing second. My undead had mostly been destroyed and there was no opportunity to resummon them.

It was a miracle that none of us had tumbled and fallen so far. The forest floor was covered with thick tree roots that protruded from the ground, creating uneven footing every few meters, and the vines were everywhere. Getting stuck and tangled up would have been incredibly easy if Alan wasn’t hacking away like a madman at the front.

Time seemed to slow down as the beating of my heart filled my ears. My fingers were icy cold and I could barely breathe. We hadn’t stopped running for over ten minutes in such a challenging area. My legs were screaming.

“We aren’t losing them,” Jessica forced out the words. Her voice was dry, like me the constant running must have sucked every drop of moisture from her mouth. My nose ran a like faucet and my face felt flushed and sweaty.

“Don’t stop.” Lucas yelled out. We ran and ran, and eventually we exited the forest and into an open field. This was both a blessing and a curse. The footing was more even here, which allowed us to move faster, but we were fully exposed. There were no trees or cover for us to hide in, and as soon as the gnolls exited the forest and joined on the grassland, they drew their bows.

First it was just five or six, but soon dozens had accumulated there, and the number was climbing. The twang of their bows filled the air and drowned out everything else. Arrows whistled past us, every single one a potential kill shot.

“Are we going to die like this?” Anna cried. The archers had gathered in such numbers, it was only a matter of a few more seconds before it would be raining arrows. There wouldn’t even be a gap between the arrows to dodge into. Their oncoming melee classes gave us no time to stop either. All I could do was prey their aim was poor today.

“There’s something ahead!” Jessica was leading the front still. I couldn’t see what she was referring to just yet, but a surge of hope immediately bloomed inside of me. Every one of us put a hundred-and-twenty per cent into it and pushed ahead, and after I breached a small hump of a hill, I saw it.

There was a black circle in the middle of the grassland. A giant hole had opened up in the earth, except it was too clean to be natural. It was a perfect circle, the edge wasn’t dirt or grass, but some form of tile or stone with intricate carvings lined the outside.