The arriving guardsmen from the boat behind theirs immediately joined the fray, defeating the remaining foes.

“Form up!” ordered the captain of the 7th guard squad. “Keep your eyes on the forest. There’s likely to be more of them out there. We have to secure this place for the time being.”

“Yes, sir!” Answered the guards as one, forming a defensive line while waiting for the rest of the boats to arrive.

Soon, everyone was resting on the clearing, changing the guards that were stationed around the edge of the clearing every 15 minutes. Only a couple of undead showed up from the forest during their rest and those were easily taken care of by the seasoned warriors.

“There’s more and more of them.” Cruz noted as she wiped the black blood from the edge of her staff.

“These ones still seem to be on the weaker side.” Quentin noted searching is falling saponin for anything of use or value.

“I had to deal with an undead squire,” Regis just pointed at the plate armoured corpse. “If we we have the bad luck of running into an entire group of them later, that could be trouble.”

“Judging by what the scouts reported, everything in East Fork is trouble.” Amanda said as she tried to clean her hammer to the best of her capabilities.

The dark elf looked at the nearby squire he defeated, along with one of the archers Sophie finished off, deciding to cast charlatan’s wisdom on them to see if they were any different from the ones he fought before.

{Fallen Squire}

{Level: 5}

{Attributes}

Allure: 5

Deftness: 9

Erudition: 6

Luck: 6

Might: 12

Mind: 5

Physique: 11

Spirit: 5

Willpower: 5

{This squire of unknown origins was brought back from the dead through the power of foul magic. Its original attributes had been halved by becoming an undead. It retained some of its capability of using its ingrained special skills and items.}

{Fallen Archer}

{Level: 5}

{Attributes}

Allure: 5

Deftness: 12

Erudition: 6

Luck: 5

Might: 9

Mind: 5

Physique: 8

Spirit: 4

Willpower: 6

{This archer of unknown origins was brought back from the dead through the power of foul magic. Its original attributes had been halved by becoming an undead. It retained some of its capability of using its ingrained special skills and items.}

‘Both of these were only at the 5th level, and yet they were still a threat to us. When will we be strong enough to take these out effortlessly? Maybe when we become actual tier twos, it will be a different story.’ Regis thought to himself as he read the attribute scores of the dead opponents. It seemed that not only his mood was worsening. The atmosphere was heavy and the fact that the rain only let up a little, didn’t help either.

Everyone was soaking wet, their bodies shivering. Lighting a fire wasn’t an option and the hastily raised roof made from the branches they cut off from the nearby trees and bushes only provided some relief from the cold water droplets.

“I could give my kingdom for a drying spell right about now.” Valerie sighed as she twisted the edges of her clothes, straining them of water.

“If anything, we are lucky to have healing spells, because this is going to end up with us getting sick by the end of the day.” Her brother added.

“Alright,” Khan slapped the infernal on the back. “That’s enough with the depressing talk. You’re turning my adventure story into a grim dark and whiny one.”

“Is anyone else feeling hungry right now?” Letty asked with her eyes down as she rummaged through her small satchel. “I know we ate breakfast and everything, but I can’t help feeling hungry from all that rowing. “

“I could use a bite too,” Sophie agreed as she too pulled out a small piece of her remaining rations to eat while she still had the time for it.

Soon, the familiar and much hated line could be heard from the guard captain of the 7th squad.

“Alright everyone, it’s time for us to head out!”

“I fucking hate it when he says that.” Cruz spat on the wet ground before grabbing her bag and heading towards the pier where their boat awaited them.

As the longboats began to move forward once more, it became apparent that exhaustion and anxiety began to catch up with the small army. There were no songs, and there were no jokes being told during the following hours. The only sound that cut into the monotone silence was the seldom grunt one of the people rowing would make.

Hours passed by as the mercenaries, guardsmen and outlanders kept on moving upwards the river, the dark clouds continuously pouring down cold rain over them. As nightfall began to settle in, the sight of a distant structure came into view while the clouds finally let up with their downpour.

“That’s the river gate of East Fork.” Jakub said as he pointed towards the large stone arch.

Several corpses floated downwards the river, increasing the dreary atmosphere. With each passing minute, the anxious group of outlanders rowed closer to a large open gate. As they passed the carved stone archway that loomed above the slowly flowing river, the sight of well crafted stone buildings and cobblestone streets greeted them along with the stench of decay.

“Well this place sure stinks.” Khan said as he couldn’t stop himself from gagging.

“What did you expect from a corpse filled city?” Quentin asked while he kept on searching for enemies. There were several undead peasants and soldiers walking along the stone road beside river that cut through the outer area of the city, most of them not even taking notice of the slowly moving boats. Roughly five minutes later the sight of the market dock greeted them, reminding them that it was about time for them to fight a new wave of enemies.

“So, are we going with the usual?” Fabien asked as he kept on rowing, ready to cast his spells any time.

“Once we get to the dock, Khan gets out and ties us to the pier. Then, we form up and wait for the others.

“It’s best if we don’t get noticed by the enemy, but if it’s necessary, we’ll have to clear out the place as soon as possible.” Regis pointed out while trying to organize his spells in order of usefulness and arcana cost in his mind.

“The sooner we can get to the safe place, the sooner we can get some rest. not to mention that it’s getting awfully dark. Walking around with a lit torch is pretty much a death sentence around here.” Amanda tried her best to keep the pace, making it easier for the boatman to steer them closer to the pier.

“All right, let’s get this shit show started!" Cruz said as she cast arcana shield on herself, the rest of the outlanders following her example.

Khan the jumped out, safely landing on the dark and heavy boards of the dock. He yanked on the rope that was thrown over, tying it to one of the many wooden poles. As soon as everyone got out of the boat, Sophie loosed an arrow at the nearest undead commoner, taking it down with a single shot. The market square was surprisingly empty, having only a few ordinary looking dock workers and low ranking soldiers shambling about.

The sound of the first corpse hitting the ground forced the nearest ones to turn their heads towards the dock, finally noticing the new arrivals. Several low growls could be heard as they begin the move towards the outlander warband, raising their weapons in a threatening manner.

“I guess that’s our cue.” Valerie noted as she unfurled her whip, aiming at the head of the nearest fallen soldier in her vicinity.

By the time the whip’s cracking sound could have alerted any other enemies, pretty much everyone within striking distance of their chosen foes. Weapons flashed with red glints as most of the group’s members used similar power attack skills in hopes of quickly taking care of the incoming undead.

The seemingly empty market square began to quickly fill up with the incoming undead that poured out from nearly every street connected to it. Most of the fallen wore the clothes of ordinary people, marking them as low level undead. The ones that were armed however were anything but trash mobs. Regis caught sight of several fallen squires, archers, and even two robed figures amongst the incoming crowd.

“This is even worse than I thought.” Quentin admitted as he blocked an arrow with his shield.

“Let’s just hope that the others arrive quick, otherwise we’ll end up overwhelmed pretty fast!” Amanda replied as her flaming hammer struck one of the plate armoured squires in the chest, sending it staggering back.

A small bolt of pale green fire burnt through the air, hitting Khan’s floating shield, shattering it before striking the young warrior on the shoulder.

“Fuck!” He cursed as he tried to tear off the burning piece of armour with the little success.

Much to everyone’s surprise, Jakub splashed half a bucket’s worth of water on the burning youth, quenching the flames.

“Thanks old man!” He threw the words back before rushing forward with great speed, beheading the undead spellcaster with a furious vengeance.

Sophie began a war of attrition with the enemy archers, her quiver running dry fast.

“Hang on there!” A voice sounded from behind them as the boat with the 7th guard squad arrived.

The outlander warband kept on fighting with their backs to the dock, trying to hold up the enemy as long as they could, so that their reinforcements could get out of their longboats without suffering any losses. Once the guards joined in to the fight, the pace of the battle shifted as the undead enemies quickly began to be outnumbered.

From time to time, the sound of someone’s pained grunts could be heard as cuts and stabs were suffered, but luckily, no one perished before the third and fourth boats arrived, adding more people to their side. A good 10 minutes later the market square was filled with the rotting corpses of the city’s occupiers, guards and mercenaries standing at the entry points of the streets, looking out into the steadily increasing darkness.

“What do we do now?” Marcus asked as he pushed a piece of rag one of his men’s bleeding wounds to keep his companion from bleeding out until one of the outlanders could heal them.

“Look for anything that can be used as a barricade,” the guard captain of the 7th squad ordered. “Push carts, or pile up crates if you have to, but we must create a safe area for us. There’s far more undead here than what we have anticipated, so there’s little chance that we’ll be able to reach the inner town tonight.”

“Come on captain,” one of his fellow soldiers called out to the man. “It should be a good fifteen minutes of walking to the inner walls. We could make it in ten, if we hurry up.”

“Not with this many fallen between us and the gates.” The man shook his head.

“We can’t stay here either,” Another mercenary leader joined into the conversation. “A couple of crates and carts won’t stop an army unlike a stone wall would.”

“We could try to send scouts ahead to see if there’s any path towards the inner town with fewer enemies.” The captain of the 4th squad advised.

“Agreed,” Marcus nodded. “There are just far too many entry points to the market. We can’t defend them all and get rest at the same time. We would get overrun before midnight.”

“Alright,” the captain of the 7th guard squad agreed. “Close the entry points as I said before and send out the scouts. We will rest here for about an hour at most. If the scouts return with a good enough path, we’ll head out. If not, then we’ll reinforce one of the larger buildings to hold out for the night.”

In about 10 minutes, the entry points have been barricaded and the wounded have been taken care of. Both the mercenaries and the refugees began to openly loot the corpses of their enemies. The small group of outlanders followed the example of the others, pocketing their share of usable and valuable items, mostly consisting of a few coins and a refill of arrows for Sophie, along with whatever magic related items and the two robed figures carried with themselves.

Regis looked at the enemies he had felled, trying to assess their levels along with their numbers. He had defeated one of the mages along with a squire, an archer and three swordsmen that seemed to be of higher-ranking than most of the ones he had fought before. All of them were of the 5th level, earning him a decent amount of Amaranth for his efforts.

“Ghouls!” One of the mercenaries jelled as he jumped back from the hastily erected barricade as several fast moving creatures climbed over it.

“Not these fuckers again!” Khan said with both fury and hate in his voice as he held his blades, ready for a fight.

An arcane runic bolt struck one of the creatures square in the face, its head snapping back as the projectile burst trough its eye. The first wave of abominations brought along with them a sense of restlessness and the smell of decay that was soon overshadowed by the second and third wave that was reinforced by several undead warriors that besieged the barricades, almost managing to break them apart.

“I bloody hope that those scouts are going to return soon, otherwise we’re going to get shredded.” Cruz growled as she smashed the head of yet another one of her enemies.

“We’re going to get completely tired out if this keeps on like this.” Valerie stated as she panted while holding her whip that was now folded in half, taking on the shape of a long sword.

“Look at the bright side,” Khan spoke with an almost jovial tone as he wiped his blade to get the putrid blood off of it. “We get to collect Amaranth faster than we have ever before.”

“Any chance of you still having some of those magic seeds with you?” Osmond turned towards the young spell weaver, only to receive solemn head shake.

“Well that’s not good,” the pale youth sighed as he plopped down on one of the crates, trying his best to focus his mind on meditation in hopes of regaining some of his spent energy.

It felt as if the undead were gauging their capabilities, as no fallen attacked after this. The short time of respite they’ve earned until the scouts returned was used to its fullest. Regis looted the corpses of his newly killed enemies, gaining a small handful of silver coins with double of that in bronze.

Taking a better look at the carcases of the two spell casters, he found their sceptres shattered. ‘Soul-bound weapons.’ He thought as he shook his head before turning towards their satchels. Inside the small bags, a couple of miscellaneous items greeted him. He found some mouldy rations along with empty water skins, a few small pieces of parchments, and a stack of thin leather sheets turned into a makeshift journal of sorts. There were no no actually useful magical items inside though.

One of the spell casters however had an awfully familiar amulet in its neck. Regis carefully it took it off, wiping it on the torn robes before throwing it over to Valerie.