“How long do you think we have?” Harvey asked.

  “No clue. Could be an hour, or it could still be a few days. Either way, we need to rest while we can,” Julian answered.

  “Let’s at least sit in the watchtowers, I don’t want an army sneaking up on us,” Harvey sighed.

  He felt like death, and the bat hadn’t even touched him. The inky veins of his weave weren’t large enough to force the essence Booster needed without straining themselves, but even if they could, he’d still suffer from a complete lack of energy. Pulling two potions from his slipsack, he downed an Endurance and Essence potion one after the other.

  “Did you get hurt?” Hannah fussed.

  “Just tapped out at the moment. How useful I’ll be in the fight depends a lot on whether it’s an hour or a few days,” he said.

  Sadly, it was the former. The last rays of daylight were still casting long shadows when ghostly teal lanterns appeared on the horizon. The usual sounds of the forest were gone, replaced by a steady rattle of bone and the low growls of wolves.

  “Get ready,” Julian whispered. “Harvey, stay behind cover and try to count how many there are. If you think we can’t handle it, blow them up. If we can, shoot a fireball and I’ll jump over the wall.”

  “Why aren’t we using the traps either way?” Hannah hissed.

  “We don’t want to expose the traps early if it’s just a small group sent to investigate. Harvey, I trust your judgement,” Julian declared before leaping out of the watchtower. Hannah did the same, mounting the large deer lying in the dirt beside them.

  Ducking behind the waist-high wall, Harvey pressed his body into the wood. He couldn’t feel it through his armour, but the boards looked like countless splinters just waiting to happen.

  Hard to get a smooth finish with swords instead of sandpaper.

  The somewhat shoddy construction did have the benefit of a few small gaps in the wood, and it didn’t take long to find one large enough to peer into the clearing. Out of the trees, two mutilated wolves stalked into the clearing, followed by five skeletal warriors clad in simple black robes.

  The bottom half of the wolf's jaw had been replaced by black metal hinges covered in wicked fangs. Their ribcages were exposed, revealing a sickly mist trapped within. The rest of their bodies were still covered in fur, but it looked more like they wore their pelt more like a costume than actual skin. Striking teal eyes scanned the clearing as they sauntered toward the walls, sniffing the ground like dogs.

  Please don’t be magic bomb squad dogs. He prayed. They’d passed almost a dozen buried charges already without alerting, but he could never be sure.

  It was hard to get a bead on the skeletons behind them since any weapons or armour they wore were covered by the robes. All he could see were floating skulls illuminated by a metal lantern containing an orb of teal fire floating in front of them. There were minor differences in the size and shape of both the skulls and the bodies hidden underneath, suggesting they might not all be from the same species. All shared the same teal swirls filling their eye sockets that they’d seen with the Graveweavers.

  “Finally! We have reached the first settlement!” A raspy voice called out, stopping 10 feet away from the wall. Harvey could feel he was standing right on top of an arc charge, but held his itching trigger finger.

  “How exciting! Inside awaits the first children of the next generation of our sons and daughters,” Another, decidedly more feminine voice added.

  Sons and daughters?

  “I’ve waited so long for a son of my own,” the first skeleton added. “It’s a pity we’ll have to wait for the trial to end before the gate is strong enough to send an ossuary.”

  “Hopefully, we won’t need one. If we can convince the humans to come willingly, they can be reborn here,” the other replied.

  “Sister, you cannot still believe the humans will turn peacefully,” the first skeleton rattled.

  “The general did, and he believes more will follow his path if we can only show them the way,” the softer voice replied.

  “Killing them is easier. The product might not be as strong as a revenant, but that can be remedied with time.”

  “Easy or not, we have our orders. Promise you will let me speak with the humans before any bloodshed,” she demanded.

  “Fine! But the second I see a sword, I’m going to start cutting.”

  “People of Earth!” She shouted, like a preacher standing at a pulpit. “My name is Sarah, and I am an envoy of the Undying Prophet. I come to share salvation both for you and your dying world. The System has put you in our path not to be slain, but to be saved! To be freed from the sickness, sadness, and suffering that come with the shackles of life. Your minds can live in eternal undeath if you only welcome the change to your bodies.”

  The shackles of life? Are they just missionaries trying to convert us all into more undead followers?

  The thought sent a chill down his spine that was worse than if they’d been bloodthirsty lunatics. Harvey knew Julian and Hannah weren’t going to buy any of this, but what about everyone else? If this Undying Prophet was able to convince even a few people that escaping the trial was as easy as letting the necrolords convert you, they’d lose before the war ever started.

  The priestess kept shouting while Harvey sat frozen in the watchtower until her conviction began to fade.

  “He… hello! Is there anybody there?” Sarah asked.

  “Not interested!” Harvey shouted, pulling two arc charges from his slipsack and tossing them into their midst. He hesitated to detonate one of the caches of essence crystals just in case a skeleton survived, but he still wanted the momentary panic a lightning grenade could create. Hopefully, if one did escape, all they’d know is that the humans have made some cool toys.

  Deadly arcs bolted between the orbs and hooded skeletons, burning holes in the cloth to reveal black metal armour beneath. In games and movies, skeletons always wore armour that bulked out their frame to the point they looked almost human. This was different, with each metal plate clinging tightly to their slender bones. A teal mist leaked from every hole in the robe like holes in a balloon, bathing their surroundings in Undeath.

  Julian leapt over the wall and ran towards the closest Undead. Harvey willed the chaotic lightning bolts away from his friend and watched as Julian took a wide swing aimed at the skeleton's neck. It was stuck trying to retrieve two handaxes from under the robe, but was unable to raise them in defense while the lightning overwhelmed its motor functions. He expected the swing to chop the head clean off, so he froze when the body was instead thrown away with a dull thud. Instead of bisecting the spine, the surprise attack had only carved a shallow groove in the bone, revealing aquamarine marrow beneath.

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  It survived?

  Momentarily stunned, Harvey barely managed to land an attack of his own before the arc charges ran out of energy. Searing orbs of forgefire appeared in both hands as he filled the Fireball sigil on his palm. Considering only two of the skeletons had spoken, he assumed they were the leaders and sent each an explosion that burned away the rest of their robes. The man was covered in metal from the neck down with a mighty longsword at his waist. The woman wore a set of more ornate robes beneath that radiated an icy aura, which repelled his flames.

  Buttercup burst through the front gate, stampeding towards a wolf and launching it with his marble antlers. Hannah landed two arrows in its underbelly as they ran under it, both scraping against the ribcage and swirl of energy before jutting out of the fur. The wolf landed in a heap before rolling to its feet, seemingly unaffected by the arrows. Unfazed, she kept unloading arrows into the beast as Buttercup put some space between him and the undead. Each arrow was infused with more essence than the last, proving her skills were still working despite the wolf not caring about becoming a walking pincushion.

  “No! Stop!” Sarah screamed when the lightning finally abated. Julian didn’t listen. His body and sword swelling to twice their normal size as radiant flames erupted from his skin. He charged toward the injured skeleton, his sword screaming through the air before a sickening snap filled the air.

  “I told you, sister,” the man seethed. “Kill them!”

  A clash of steel rang out as Julian’s blade was arrested by a swing of the heavily-armored foe. The skeleton's arms shook precariously as he desperately tried to overpower Julian, but he only managed to slow it down before stumbling back. A second skeleton swung his own set of handaxes into Julian’s leg, but was unable to break through the armour.

  Seeing the mayhem made Harvey freeze. Battling beasts was chaotic enough, but sentient beings like these undead had skills and legacies of their own. He saw a tattoo flare on the sword bearer’s skull as a spectral spider appeared in the air behind him, trying to latch on to Julian’s arms and restrict his movement. It barely impeded the hulking man, but was enough of a distraction to allow the axe wielder to release a gust of toxic mist from his mouth. Julian had his hands full fighting off both men, and he saw Hannah being assailed by both wolves while blasts of force from Buttercup’s antlers intercepted arrows shot from a bow made entirely of bone and sinew.

  He needed to tip the scales. An icy aura leaked from the robed priestess as snowballs appeared from a sigil on her hand. Her eyes radiated rage and disbelief up at Harvey, and she heaved the projectiles his way. A quick burst with Booster sent him flying out of the tower just in time to see blocks of ice entomb the spot he’d just been standing in. Two more snowballs were already forming in her hands as he began falling towards her.

  Despite his tired weave and half-empty essence reserves, he chose to activate his most expensive skill. A massive hammer appeared in the sky above his head, mirroring the weapon in his right hand. Innovator’s Arsenal was his only Class skill that scaled with Willpower, and his recent gains made the construct significantly larger and denser than when he first got the skill. Now, instead of looking like a ghost of his real weapon, it was beginning to look more like the real thing.

  Seeing the attack, the mage dropped the snowballs at her feet, using the ice as a protective barrier instead of a restrictive tomb. It was nowhere near enough, especially when Harvey released a controlled jet of flames from the back of the hammer head to put the force of a rocket behind his swing. He’d discovered that one of the benefits of implanting his weave into his weapons with Soul Forge was being able to use skills like Booster on them as if they were actually part of his body. Ice shards were sent in every direction like shrapnel from a grenade, pinging off his and the others' metal armor like they were cars in a hailstorm. A pained shriek followed as the hammer brought Sarah to her knees, her bones creaking ominously as she pushed back the steel.

  That single swing was enough to fully charge the kinetic batteries of his projection, so he lifted the hammer before a second rocket-powered swing buried the woman in a crater filled with lightning. Overcharging the inscription disintegrated the construct as soon as the swing ended, exposing the body writhing inside the crater. Her icy robes that had repelled his forgefire were in tatters, whatever inscriptions bolstering them having been broken by the eruption. Both arms were broken, and massive amounts of essence were leaking from the exposed marrow.

  A second explosion sent wolf bones flying through the air as a second-tier Critical Mass arrow exploded inside one of the wolves. He heard Buttercup whine in pain as the second wolf bit into his neck, but just as he turned to help, a deafening clang filled his helmet. Dirt and decaying leaves replaced his view of the clearing through his helmet as he skidded to a stop. Rolling over, he saw the sword-wielding undead standing above him. He must’ve approached in Harvey’s blind spot and thwacked the back of his head, or at least that’s what the ache just above his neck was telling him.

  “You dare destroy my sister’s bones!” he screamed, raising his sword high in the air. Raging turquoise flames covered the blade just as it crashed into his chest. It wasn’t enough to pierce his armor, but the impact sent blood pooling into his mouth. The flames remained even after the sword retreated, sticking to his armor and searing the strand of his weave embedded in his chest. In response, a burst of lightning erupted from the breastplate, but it only served to fuel the skeleton’s rage. Instinctively, he retracted his weave from the armor, saving himself from the agonizing flames while sacrificing the stats Soul Forge provided.

  He had to do something. Fast. Without his own soul empowering the steel, the next strike might be enough to break right through the metal. This skeleton was at least approaching middle F Grade, and seemed to be no stranger to cutting people down.

  Harvey was seeing stars and barely managed to raise his shield in time to intercept a second blow. Fangburner covered the shield, releasing a burst of forgefire where the stone barrier split in two. Again, ghostly flames were left in the sword's wake, forcing Harvey’s weave to retreat once more. A brutal kick nearly broke Harvey’s neck as his helmet went flying off his head.

  The skeleton loomed above, a devish grin somehow appearing on his face despite lacking the lips to form one. Stepping onto Harvey’s shoulders, the man held his sword in a reverse grip with the tip hanging just above his throat.

  “Help!” he croaked.

  “You will never awaken,” he spat. “Your bones shall replace those you destroyed of my sister.”

  “NOOOOO!” Julian roared, tackling the man to the ground. His sword was close enough that it carved a deep wound in Harvey’s throat, and he felt warm blood flow like a waterfall down his neck. Rolling away, his shaking hands fumbled for the slipsack at his waist to retrieve a health potion.

  The sweet strawberry taste washed over his body, supercharging his vitality to stitch his wound closed and clear the cobwebs from his addled mind. He saw the second axe-wielding skeleton dead on the ground, along with the second wolf. Buttercup’s silky brown coat was stained red from multiple bite wounds, but a radiant glow from Hannah’s palm rapidly healed him as he charged the skeletal archer. Julian had kicked away the black sword and was grappling with the bony warrior in a brutal melee.

  The sound of flesh punching bone disappeared as an unfathomably cold block of ice appeared around his head, freezing his eyelids open. His eyes burned from the biting cold, and he turned to see the disfigured body of the priestess kneeling beside the crater he’d left her in. The bottom half of her jaw was missing, and a hairline fracture spread from the top of her right eye to the back of her head. Cracks and fissures covered her bones, revealing the rapidly fading marrow beneath. Her weave was on full display as she blasted her aura, willing the ice covering his head to send its sheer cold deeper into his body.

  His own aura retaliated, utterly crushing hers as forgefire swelled around his head courtesy of his Booster skill. It took almost all the essence he had, but the block eventually steamed away, leaving him dry and warm in an ocean of mist. Using his very last drop of power, he formed a small fireball that was launched at her head. Screams filled the air as she was boiled alive, and he urged the flames to break down the bones like they were nothing more than raw materials loaded into his crucible. For a moment, he felt the fire listen, only for the feeling to slip away.

  Not leaving anything to chance, he hobbled over and swung Aftershock into the crown of her skull. She crumpled to the floor, but Harvey kept swinging until the half-baked bone collapsed beneath his hammer. The relief of finally killing the ice mage was overshadowed by the pain overwhelming both his body and soul. Harvey tried to push back to his feet, but collapsed to the ground when the loose soil slipped out from under him.

  Ahead, Julian was raving like a wild bull, his meaty, oversized hands slamming the skeleton’s face into the ground over and over again. The skeleton failed beneath him, ineffectually pounding into Julian’s back.

  “You stay away from my friends! You could’ve killed him!” Julian screamed.

  “You’re already dead,” the skeleton hissed, the words going wavy as his skull was hammered into the ground. “The general…”

  A sickening pop interrupted his final words when his head was viciously ripped from the spine. Harvey’s heart ached as he heard his friend begin to sob, Julian’s entire body shuddering as he threw the skull into the dirt before scrambling to Harvey’s side.

  “Harvey?” he whispered, tears streaming down his face.

  “I’m ok,” Harvey assured.

  A final explosion of Hannah’s Critical Mass arrow finished the final skeleton, and Buttercup clopped over to them.

  “How are we supposed to kill an army of these things?” Hannah lamented.