Chapter 275 – Weighing the choices.

“Lord Arthur, the monsters are retreating…”

“They are retreating?”

“Yes, Lord Arthur.”

“Why would monsters retreat from battle? Isn’t that rather odd?”

“Yes Lord Arthur, usually undead creatures like skeletons don’t have the wit or danger assessment abilities for battle tactics.”

“That’s what I thought, it must have been the Lich controlling them.”

“That is a possibility but Liches are said to be able to create high-level undead that have higher intelligence and are capable of ordering the lesser ones.”

“Didn’t the scouts spot a strange-looking skeleton among the others?”

“Yes, Lord Arthur, that one could have been capable of ordering them to return but it could also be possible that the Lich is somewhere close.”

“That’s troublesome…”

Arthur Valerian was sitting in the main guard tower where Mary was answering his questions. He had not participated in the battle but the tide of blazing white skeletons had actually made it to the gates. The foes were quite troublesome as conventional ranged weaponry didn’t work too well, arrows that weren’t magical wouldn’t have any flesh to stick to and poking holes in the bones was not very effective.

It would require quite the archer to connect with the monster’s magical core from within the city walls. However, Arthur’s forces had one ace in their sleeve, to combat the evil cultists they had been developing holy weapons. They had been mostly manufactured by the city Runesmith and were quite potent when going against these monsters.

The whole siege didn’t take that long, first, it started with many of the adventurers and dungeon guards fleeing back to the city. It started out small with a handful of skeletons but soon turned into a small battalion of around two hundred skeletal monsters trying to get it.

There was no rhyme or reason for this charge and they b-lined it for the front gate which was a hard point to besiege. The magical turrets that were installed played a big role in the defense as they were able to successfully bring down a large chunk of the skeletal monster charge.

Yet after the monsters attempted to climb the walls the defensive turrets started to have trouble with the angle of their targets. The soldiers had to poke the monsters away with their long spears while also barricading the front gate that was being pushed into. The monsters looked light but they had a surprising amount of power and didn’t tire.

This small city didn’t really have that many soldiers. The weapons that were assembled by the runesmith amounted to a little over a hundred. This left the three hundred remaining soldiers and guards with lesser weapons but enough to stem the tide. Soon the adventurers joined the battle and together with the guards were able to push back the maddened monsters.

The divine swords, shields, and spears were rather well-designed to go against these monsters. With a good poke of a spear tip and activation of the smite spells it only took one hit from a tier 2 class holder to defeat one of these skeletons. However these weapons had one large downside, they held up to ten charges of this spell before they needed to be refilled by the priests.

Luckily for the city, the priests were more than willing to combat the undead monsters. They had sent over their priests to recharge the weapons. They truthfully expected a bit more resistance from the monsters that soon retreated back towards the dungeon. This was at the same time as a strange black skeletal monster was spotted which was probably the one in control.

“So how you feeling after your first ‘battle’ little Lord, although I don’t think we can consider those lesser undead much of an army.”

“How dare you…”

“It’s fine Mary.”

The conversation that the two were having was broken by a large man appearing in the guard tower. The room they were in belonged to the guard captain but was now occupied by Arthur, his knights, and aides. Mary didn’t appreciate the nonchalant tone the guild master had but she could not really go against a tier 3 person. Her side lacked someone at this level which would make things problematic.

“Guild Master, glad that you came, I must thank you for your corporations, the adventurers were quite useful, please sit down I would like to hear your opinion about their strange behavior.”

“Aye, I see that you noticed.”

“Indeed, do you think that it could have just been a scouting party?”

“That’s unlikely, probably the Lich pulled its troops back out of fright, those undead tend to be very cowardly, it’s more likely that it will retreat to its lair and surround itself with more undead, perhaps after bolstering its forces it will make another attempt.”

“Hm…”

It seemed that Aurdhan the guild master didn’t believe in the undead uprising. It was more probable that it would start playing the waiting game. This would give them enough time to get a platinum adventurer party over for help. With them around and some help from gold ranks the dungeon could be taken back.

“But…”

“But?”

Aurdhan rubbed his chin before dropping his body on a nearby chair without really asking for permission. His expression changed to a more serious one as well as his tone which was not something Mary appreciated.

“There is a possibility of it being unique, the chances are low but it could be planning something, it’s already using higher-tier undead as proxies, this could become troublesome.”

“Then what would you advise us to do, Guild master?”

“You have two choices little lord, either we wait for the adventurers to arrive or you assemble a force now. I would advise against the second one, you just don’t have the manpower.”

Mary narrowed her eyes at the way that the guild master was referring to Arthur but couldn’t really find anything wrong with the tactic. Perhaps a large enough force could deal with the monster but a lot of lives would be lost in the process.

The city guards were not used to fighting in small spaces like in the dungeon or used to the hot lava as much as the adventurers were. It was probably crawling with the creatures along with a monster that could create more of them without an end. While it would be best to take it out before the skeletal army was restored the lack of troops was apparent.

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“I see, thank you for your insight.”

“One more piece of advice before I go, you might want to visit our little runesmith, he might be of some help to you.”

The guild master gave Arthur a little wink before raising his large body off from the seat. He was not really given permission to leave but Arthur didn’t really mind. He knew that respect had to be earned and this was a chance. If he performed well then he might gain some of it from the guild leader.

“How dare he act this way in front of the lord? Give me an order and I will…”

“That’s enough Mary, we need that man to protect the city, the black skeletons are considered to be tier 3 right?”

“That is correct…”