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The snowfall began to intensify. In a sudden reaction, the undead army besieging the Afterglow Fortress started their counterattack.

“What the hell! The undead are throwing undead!”

The archer shouted as he intercepted a flying ghoul mid-air.

Just as he said, massive undead beings like undead trolls, ogres, giants, and mammoths were gathering skeletons, zombies, and ghouls and hurling them by the handful.

Half of them fell to the ground.

A fraction were smashed into pieces upon impact.

Some were sent flying outside the fortress due to excessive force.

The losses were visibly apparent.

The rest, however, successfully landed inside the fortress.

Naturally, the fortress’s troops weren’t just going to stand by and watch.

KishaAAAAA!!!

“Watch above! Oops!”

“Undead are falling from the sky!”

“Focus! Oof, you could get bitten!”

Although caught off guard by the unexpected attack, they were just lower undead.

Besides, since the capital was small, the enemies dumped into the fortress were smashed immediately upon arrival and thrown beyond the castle wall.

Crack!

“How dare you!”

Before the zombies and skeletons could converge on the concentrating Catherine, Mary tensed her legs. A shockwave, emanating from her extended palm, obliterated the undead.

Karem wasn’t just watching either.

Using a rusted heater shield he had just demolished to block a draugr’s attack, Karem then swung a leg bone he held and struck its head.

Next, he stomped on the back of a zombie crawling with its left side.

Crunch—

“Hoh.”

“What on earth is that sound of astonishment?”

“No, it must be the first time. You’re fighting better than I thought.”

With her skirt fluttering, Mary kicked a wight and looked back at Karem with a surprised expression.

She genuinely seemed impressed by Karem’s performance.

And it made sense; before Karem could say anything, undead began to fly in, and in the midst of responding, he was managing to fight quite well for a beginner.

He analyzed the situation without panicking.

Disabling the undead with minimal force and silencing them in one move.

Then, immediately identifying the next target.

If there were no more enemies, he would retreat and wait.

Although only one action was carried out at a time, there were plenty in the world who couldn’t manage even that. Although he should have been tired, perhaps due to his training from hard kitchen labor, his breath remained calm.

“Well, I did panic for a moment.”

Karem adjusted his grip on a skeleton’s leg bone.

“But it’s nothing compared to what Gordon put me through.”

“Oh, definitely.”

“No, seriously. How can a swordmaster harass one little kid like that…”

Gordon’s relentless training was thoroughly practical.

Even with the height and stamina differences between adult and child.

The difference between a swordmaster and an average person with decent stamina.

Even if Gordon were to wield only a spoon, only countering, without tapping into even 1% of his true skills, Karem wouldn’t have been able to touch the hem of Gordon’s clothes.

Karem tried desperately to land even a single strike on Gordon, but he found himself tripped, thrown, trampled, and rolling on the floor. Even Mary, who had been quietly observing, began to wonder if such ruthless treatment was necessary.

But such merciless training seemed to be quite helpful.

It was true that Karem had some talent in fighting, as Gordon had said.

“They’re throwing rocks!!!”

The large undead that had been tossing lower undead began grasping huge boulders and blocks of ice, hurling them toward the fortress.

With heavy crashing sounds, the incoming boulders and ice blocks began to pummel the fortress walls, the top of the fortress, and then the streets of Present.

Bang!

Crunch—

“Ballista No. 5 is broken! The joint’s snapped!”

“Quick, call a repairman! You, get the parts!”

“Spare large harpoons to other ballistas!”

The fortress troops employed various methods to intercept the undead army’s siege attacks, but still, some direct hits were inevitable.

Real damage to the fortress began to accumulate.

“…It’s falling over here! Get out of the way!”

Gordon bumped into Karem and Mary’s shoulders as he sprang out. Grabbing a spear lying on the ground, he threw it with all his strength.

SWEEEEEEEEE— BAM!

He intercepted a block of ice in mid-air.

“Lord Stark! Was that just now—”

“It was heading toward the Madam Mage.”

“Could it be intentional?”

“No way, it can’t be.”

Gordon shook his head as he snatched the ricocheted spear.

The spear shaft was fine, but the spearhead had vanished as if it had exploded.

“If I had known the Madam Mage’s location, I would have just focused the attacks on that direction. It was probably just a coincidence.”

“By the way, did you just intercept that clumsily with your bare body?”

“I did lend some aura, but still, right?”

“You’re certainly not human.”

“What? Hey, isn’t there more than just me behaving that way?”

Karem glanced in the direction Gordon was pointing.

Well, indeed…

A warrior bringing down a boulder with a spear.

A soldier exploding a mid-tier undead with a throwing spear.

Snow elf archers intercepting ice blocks with arrows, and so on.

Gordon particularly pointed out the elf archer in revolt.

“Besides, I can’t do what they’re doing with those bows.”

“Then I guess those on the other side aren’t human either.”

“Seriously…”

Gordon shook his head in disbelief before throwing the leftover spear, intercepting a boulder aimed at the ballista that he failed to catch.

Bang—

“This is just pitiful. My disciple doesn’t even know how to respect his master.”

“Respect? I don’t even land an attack, so what’s there to respect?”

“Anyway, Karem, you go inside for now.”

“Huh? Oh.”

At first, Karem wondered what he meant, but he nodded while looking around.

If it had been at the moment when the lower undead were pouring in, and even he, a non-combatant, had to take up arms, it wouldn’t have been now.

Now, it had become just a casual sprinkle among the chaos.

No, rather, the additional siege attacks, which had decreased, were far more threatening.

This was the same for the purpose of guarding Catherine.

The approaching lower undead and projectiles would be taken care of by Mary’s magic.

The blind boulders and ice blocks were intercepted directly by Gordon.

“I’m definitely not needed here.”

“You, a non-combatant, go inside. It’s standard practice to be inside when combat begins.”

“Looks like my task is set.”

Before he could finish speaking, Karem stole a quick glance at Catherine, who was sweating and focusing hard, and he tossed the round shield and leg bone over the castle wall.

“These undead that have eaten and died can’t be picky about their meals. You want to feast on them?”

“I want steak!”

“Please bring me egg tarts and crepe cakes!”

Before he could even finish his speech, a barrage of orders flew at Karem, who waved his hands dismissively.

“I’ll try to relay it. Just relay.”

But he couldn’t guarantee it.

*

*

*

As the siege attacks continued, the damage to the fortress amassed, and as the troops began to intercept the siege attacks, the undead army marched toward the fortress.

That meant the undead’s attack had intensified further.

Of course, as they drew nearer to the fortress, they faced increasingly fierce counterattacks, yet the undead army unflinchingly pushed forward, literally right to the doorstep of the fortress.

Even if the undead feel no pain or fear, and even though they’re manipulating the corpses of large monsters, they can’t simply break the fortress with sheer physical strength. So why am they accumulating such meaningless damage?

Richard soon learned the reason.

“Damn it! I never expected this to happen!”

As skeletons swarmed up to the castle wall, a mass of zombies followed behind, reaching up toward the wall.

Thus, ghouls and badly injured deer climbed on top over and over again, orcs with their chest torn apart came climbing, creating a mountain of undead.

Ultimately, this heap made up of undead was gradually rising.

They were stacking up, converging in one place.

“Chief!”

“Are your eyes just for decoration!? Throw the flame barrels down!”

“The holy oil has run out on Ballista No. 7!”

“Then pour holy water on them! Are the spells just for show!?”

Richard didn’t even need to respond as Baston, the captain protecting him, fiercely shouted while his skirt fluttered.

Though he was rather confused due to how organized the offensive was, the orders were immediately executed.

The command of their high lord was swiftly transmitted down like a waterfall.

A soldier, lighting up the flame barrel of the catapult, glanced down cautiously and then hurled it down.

SHUUUUUUUU— BANG—

A flame barrel fell onto the undead tower that had already climbed halfway up the fortress. It was quickly buried under the pile of other undead climbing over it, but that didn’t matter.

Even in the heap of undead, the wick was still burning.

Flammable mixture of oil and assorted ingredients ignited upon contact.

KABAAAAAM—!

Detonation.

As the tower of undead bodies building up against the outer wall exploded, black smoke billowed up to the sky. Similar occurrences were happening all over the fortress.

“Fighting spirit, survival of the fittest, the warmth of life, the sun, the fury of the storm!”

“If couples quarrel, they’d just be cutting the water, oh mistress of winter. The icy wind that terrifies every husband, bring it here!”

“This is holy water aged for five years in the shadows of the warehouse temple! You’ve probably never tasted it!”

Fireballs erupted, igniting the towers of corpses.

As the howling wind whipped up, the towering undead collapsed entirely.

Scattering holy water caused the corpse towers to start melting from the top down.

But the undead do not fear death.

The dead simply complied with orders.

Even as they melted down, the undead never ceased their relentless attempts to scale the fortress until they vanished.

According to the will of their master, who had raised them from death.

– Their response is quicker than I anticipated. –

Almost everything was going according to plan.

However, the giants seemed displeased, muttering grumpily.

Although their powers were not intact and the extent of their wielding strength was miserable.

The only influence they had stretched to the corpses at the base.

Even that was limited to the number of undead they could control at once.

The giant casually looked behind him.

The emaciated Grizzly Beaver chief was stirring restlessly and squeaking.

He was currently vying for control against an equally powerful grand wizard on the opposite side.

Of course, it was not a huge problem.

If the number they could control was small, they could just raise more as they fell.

The base of the mountain? How much life has died down there?

Moreover, their influence stretched over the entire snow-covered region.

To say nothing of the traitor’s fallen father, the giant also had, albeit imperfectly, achieved immortality.

Meanwhile, the grand wizard wouldn’t be able to use any magic while struggling against the chief. Other mortal wizards were nothing special either.

Although there were two swordmasters, that was no issue.

From the start, they never planned a direct assault.

– How long has this humiliation lasted? No need to rush. –

The abominable mortals of the Tomb Fortress likely wouldn’t even recognize they have parasitic creatures lodged in their base. Word had already spread, and activity would soon commence.

Disgusting as they may be, the troops of the Tomb Fortress were indeed elite.

Yet the giant decided to take his time.

After all, how long had he been asleep?

Compared to the wait now, it was but a fleeting moment.

His collaborators would also be waiting for their opportunity.

– Perhaps, I should enjoy myself a bit in the meantime. –

The giant expanded his influence even further.

With each break of the walls of Present and the outer walls of the Afterglow Fortress, more undead joined in.

The siege attacks by the elevated upper undead commenced.

The undead army was steadily increasing in numbers.

Now, several times more than before, the tower of corpses began to climb up the walls of the Afterglow Fortress once again.

 

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