Hecular's Revenge (2)

Hecular's Revenge (2)

Hecular lay back down in his coffin. His loyal apprentice Sevand, now a newly risen Skeleton, refilled the grave with all the dirt and gradually sank underground as well. In the morning sunlight, only signs of freshly turned earth remained. Southshore was still peaceful.

The disappearance of Smithers, the cemetery keeper, prompted the town's soldiers to take action. The men on night patrol all said they had seen the missing man carrying an oil lamp and a shovel before dawn. A brief investigation yielded no useful clues. Perhaps he would return that night. These days, not even bandits dared show themselves around Southshore.

One family visiting the cemetery before noon to pay respects to an elderly relative discovered something was wrong. Seeing the clearly disturbed earth, a mischievous child curiously dug at it with his fingers. A snow-white human hand bone suddenly seized his wrist. As the child began howling in pain, the Skeleton's other hand directly snapped his neck, and his cries stopped abruptly.

The dying screams of the others finally alerted residents passing by the cemetery, and the tragedy of everyone in Southshore began.

Seeing that his plan had been exposed, Hecular rose directly from beneath the ground. Skeletons filled the cemetery as they rose with him. In the span of a morning, Hecular had transformed many of the corpses in the cemetery into white-boned Skeletons. He continued casting his skeleton transformation spell as he shouted madly, "Run! Cry! Fear! Hate! Foolish humans, this is the price you must pay!"

The silent Skeletons marched quietly toward the center of town. Most of them had no weapons. The dead who had been buried with weapons became the few armed Skeletons among them. The clattering sound of bones advancing left ordinary residents without the courage to resist.

Some men tried to buy time for their women and children to escape, but individual resistance was quickly torn to pieces by the Skeletons. At some point, many homes in Southshore were set ablaze. Refugees fled everywhere amid women's screams and children's cries. Southshore, peaceful for many years, instantly fell into hell.

Heni Mareeb, the mayor, was stunned by the news of the Undead invasion. Leading the newly assembled town guard, he encountered the guard soldiers struggling to resist the Skeleton invasion on the northern side of Southshore.

"How are things? Did you send for help from Watchtower Village?" Heni anxiously asked an officer directing the battle.

"We just fired three red signal flares and received a response from them, but it will still take time for the main force to return and reinforce us."

"These Skeletons aren't very strong individually, but there are too many of them. The guard can still hold for now, but their stamina is dropping too fast, and casualties are beginning to rise."

At that moment, Bass and several councilors also arrived. Everyone was helpless before the situation.

"Light the bonfires in the dock district and evacuate all residents. Ailes Guwei, go to the docks and arrange for the children and women to board the ships first. If anyone tries to disrupt order, no matter who it is, kill them immediately!" Having made up his mind to prepare for the worst, Heni sent his young secretary and the guards to carry out the task.

"Are we really evacuating everyone, Mayor? I think we can still stabilize the situation. Once Captain Roderick returns with reinforcements, we can defeat the enemy." One councilor, reluctant to abandon his family's possessions, offered Heni his advice.

"Foolish! Idiotic! The guard soldiers are already at their limit. If they can't hold, everyone will die here! And if other Undead forces appear, who will be able to escape then?" Usually mild-mannered, Heni angrily rebuked the councilor who had spoken. The man flushed red and shrank back into the crowd.

"Have the town guard tear down everything flammable from the surrounding buildings. Prepare to establish a defensive line here and relieve the guard soldiers."

"Bass, organize all adult men to gather at the docks,

Then have them collect weapons from the warehouse. We need more people to defend our home." Though this method was extremely destructive, they had no choice but to resort to it to resist the Undead. Bass led people away to organize the force, while the town guard soldiers quickly formed up in the streets. House doors, dining tables, benches, and wooden barrels were piled into a half-meter-high barricade and doused with cooking oil as ordered.

The soldiers at the front, nearly exhausted, began fighting as they retreated. When they reached the barricade, the town guard stepped forward to meet the enemy. But poorly trained as they were, fear kept them from displaying their proper fighting strength before the Skeletons. People were killed on the line from time to time. They barely held on through their determination to defend their homes and the mayor urging them on from behind.

Seeing how poorly the town guard performed, Heni had his attendants help him into armor as well. The heavy casualties had dealt a severe blow to their morale. Without reinforcements, they would likely collapse soon. The guard soldiers who had just withdrawn were still eating and resting nervously nearby, unable to return to battle for the moment. It was time for his old bones to take the field. He wondered how much of his strength from fighting the Orcs remained.

Ignoring the attempts of those around him to stop him, Heni donned his armor and entered the battle. Though old, a veteran of the Orc war was still beyond comparison with these young men who lacked real combat experience.

Every full-force swing of his warhammer smashed a Skeleton to the ground and turned it into a pile of fragments. Wherever he went, these ordinary Skeletons were no match for him. Encouraged by Mayor Heni personally joining the battle, the soldiers began attacking with renewed effort. The tide of Skeletons was halted by the sudden burst of human fighting strength. The Skeletons at the front were cleared away, giving the soldiers hope of victory.

But soon, another wave of Skeletons surged in from the distance. This time, there were clearly far more armed Skeletons among them. Many had picked up weapons and tools abandoned by humans. The Skeletons holding pitchforks looked especially ridiculous, but the soldiers' newly raised morale was inevitably dealt another blow.

As the number of Skeletons increased once more, casualties among the town guard began to rise rapidly. Heni dodged an enemy longsword and shattered another Skeleton Warrior's skull, then began gasping for breath. The line was nearly impossible to hold.

Everyone retreated behind the barricade. A flaming arrow ignited the oil-soaked wood, and a wall of fire instantly appeared across the battlefield. Many Skeletons had their bones weakened by the flames and collapsed into piles of fragments.

But the Skeletons, knowing neither pain, fatigue, nor fear, continued advancing without hesitation. As the fire along the barricade gradually weakened, it was eventually covered in white fragments and extinguished completely.

The rested guard soldiers stepped onto the front line against the Skeletons. But before their strength had fully recovered, they now faced greatly increased numbers of armed Skeletons. Compared with the unarmed Skeletons from before, the difficulty of battle had surged.

Even a pitchfork through the leg could immediately deprive a soldier of his ability to fight. The guard soldiers still persisted in resisting, while those behind them began gathering every kind of flammable object that could hinder the enemy. Fighting and retreating like this, nearly half of Southshore gradually fell to the flames.