While we walked towards Skadi’s post, Nyx kept glancing towards the forest. Sothing had clearly caught her attention. All I could see were moving shadows, that might be animals. It could be monsters. I had no idea what actually lived in this forest. But what would attack a camp? Were they just watching? Or was I just seeing things?
The entrance had two torches. Skadi stood between them and looked towards the trees.
“Skadi, did you notice anything in the woods?” I asked her as I approached.
“Maybe, I am not sure. Do you think the teachers are testing us?” She wondered.
“You an, a fake attack to see if we pay attention?”
“It would fit. A day of marching, then have us build camp, and when we finally get so rest stage an ergency.”
She did have a point. I sighed. “It would fit. Hey, at least we are already awake.”
“Assuming they attack now and don’t wait until the next guard shift.”
“I guess I should tell Torben.” His role was watch commander. Which ant he sat at a cosy fire drinking so tea.
I was just about to leave when Nyx grew to her full size. And then she roared. It was loud, deep and certainly woke a few people. It also got Cassie’s attention, who imdiately rang the alarm bell.
I looked at the forest again and froze. A stream of creatures erged and charged towards us.
“Spiders!” I shouted. They varied in size. So were as big as a cat, others as large as a pig.
Skadi grabbed a two handed axe that was leaning against the wall. Wait, why did she have an axe?
“Where did that co from?” I wondered.
“I requisitioned it. But that is not the point!” Skadi answered. “Get behind and hit them with all you have, we need to buy the camp so ti!”
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While we had practised in our free ti, I had never seen Skadi in a real battle. And we had never sparred with magic. She confidently took a position in front of . Nyx stood by her side. I had learned one reasonable offensive spell so far, a necrotic dart. It shot a bolt of energy at a target. The magic should cause living things to wither and die. Well, depending on their strength.
As the monsters closed in I felt fear. The whole ground was covered in them. I could see eyes glowing in the darkness, as they approached the light. So many eyes… No! This was not the ti to panic! I would not fall here! I was a soldier, a mage, a necromancer! I would show them!
I raised my hand, runes ford in my mind and I unleashed a spell. A bolt of black energy shot into the darkness and it hit one of the smaller spiders. It stopped moving, as its body withered. One down, an endless sea more to go.
anwhile, Nyx exhaled. The area in front of her was coated in mist. Not just the freezing kind, I could feel the death energy inside the cloud. Then she tore into the spiders with her teeth and claws. Skadi swung her axe at anything that ca near and I unleashed additional bolts.
Our wall was aningless against spiders. They could climb. It was only a matter of ti until we would be surrounded. But the camp was stirring. Soon we would have reinforcents. Would it be fast enough?
There were quite a few corpses by now. I had only ever animated skeletons. And never in combat. Did spiders have bones? They had a hard shell. Could I animate that? Would they be zombies? One way to find out.
“I will try to animate so corpses, protect please!” I shouted. Trying sothing new in combat was not the best idea. Being eaten by spiders seed worse though. So I gave it a shot. I trusted my companions to keep safe. I concentrated on a corpse. One? No, I needed more. I ntally tried to select everything I saw.
I did not completely lose track of my surroundings. I noticed an earth spike hit sothing nearby. An ice dagger buried itself in a spider that wanted to jump . But I had to focus! I pulled mana from my core and flooded my body. Then I converted it to death mana. Runes ford in my head as I selected targets. I felt sweat on my forehead, as I desperately tried to complete the spell.
My efforts were rewarded. As I pushed mana through the runes, I felt the connections forming. Not every dead spider rose, but quite a few did. And they were ready to obey. My order was simple: Kill spiders!
I soon realised my mistake, as they attacked each other as well. It was carnage. I corrected my error, and instructed them to kill living spiders instead. It gave us so ti. I felt slightly dizzy from the large amount of mana I had used. But I did not pass out. An explosion in the trench to my left signalled Cassie's arrival. Whatever she threw in there burned. And it did not stop.
Helena and Torben were here too. They had protected while I was concentrating. An alarming amount of fresh corpses was near . Skadi was breathing heavily, blood trickled from her left arm. Nyx was an embodint of death, tearing spiders apart left and right. The assault lessened as undead spiders fought living ones. But it was not enough. There were too many. I needed…
The world was bathed in crimson. Suddenly the entire area in front of us turned into a sea of flas. The heat almost gave blisters. I blinked, trying to regain my vision after the blinding light from the fire.
“Forest spiders. They are a delicacy if a skilled chef prepares them. What a waste.” Irene said.
I turned my head and stared at our teacher. She was calmly standing there. “Good job surviving and sounding the alarm!” She said and smiled at us.
“Was… was this a test?” I asked.
“Oh no! Nobody would be insane enough to sic an army of spiders on their students. They could have easily killed you. But that attack was not natural either. Soone disabled the wards we placed.”
I looked around. The camp was fully awake now. A lot of students looked confused, afraid, horrified,...
The battle was over. The teachers had turned the tide. I saw a few dead spiders lying around, but the majority had been incinerated. The area in front of the camp was scorched. No grass, no corpses, just ash. Only one of my undead spiders remained. I called it to us.
Nyx watched it crawl past her. Then she struck. Limbs were hanging from her mouth as she started chewing.
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