“What?! Already?” someone exclaimed in panic.

  Immediately, the command tent plunged into chaos as players scrambled to process the news. The muffled sounds of battle outside intensified, now accompanied by screams and the distinctive groans of the undead as they drew closer.

  Sean clenched his fists. “Everyone! Let’s do this and give those undead a payback they’ll never recover from!”

  “Ooohh!” everyone shouted in unison.

  Auralise nodded. “Stick to the plan—delay them at all costs! We can’t let them break through without resistance!”

  Chicken, ever the first to act, beckoned Sean and the others. “Let’s go! Hurry! We’re heading to the front as planned.” Without waiting for a response, he charged out of the tent, brandishing his new magic knuckles.

  As Sean and his party stepped outside, the chaos of the battlefield hit them like a wave. Flames roared in the distance as flammable traps were triggered, casting the sunset sky in a blazing palette of orange and red. Swarms of undead creatures advanced in an unrelenting tide, seemingly unaffected by the fire.

  Sean realized that they might not have time to fully execute the plan. Time was running out, and the enemy was closing in too fast. Their best hope was to delay the advance and buy as much time as possible.

  “Formation, now!” Sean ordered, prompting his party members to assume battle positions and prepare their spells.

  Being the players with the highest close-combat stats, Chicken and Butterfly took the front line without hesitation. Despite his mediocre progress as an acolyte, Chicken excelled as a Ki-Warrior, making him one of the best dual-path players in the game. Alongside him, Butterfly’s powerful bloodline ensured that any enemy coming their way would be easily torn apart by the duo.

  Scarlet, close behind, brandished her katana; she was an expert swordswoman. Though the game revolved heavily around magic, Scarlet’s real-life mastery of the katana would pay off.

  Holding the rear, Patrick and Sean took charge of magical support. As the party’s primary spellcasters, they boasted an extensive repertoire of spells designed for both offense and crowd control.

  Standing at the center, Sean activated {Shadow Arise}, summoning five shadow puppets that materialized around him—each half his size and clad in shadow weapons and armor. The puppets moved with eerie fluidity, darting into the fray to disrupt and slow the advancing horde.

  The surrounding players, who had gathered to confront the advancing undead army, perked up the moment they saw Sean and his party. Immediately, their expressions turned more confident, bolstered by the sight of these renowned, highly ranked players.

  “Advance! Kill the undead!” Sean shouted, holding up his obsidian staff toward the sky.

  “Let’s-a go!”

  “Aaah!! Let’s send these zombies back to the grave!”

  “May the Force be with us!”

  “Wubba lubba dub dub! Time to wreck some undead!”

  “Who’s that coming back to life? It’s your mom!”

  “I’m not dead, I’m just… undead curious!”

  “Are these zombies going ligma? Ligma balls!”

  “…”

  As always, the players shamelessly shouted catchphrases from movies, games, and internet memes that they could think of as they rallied behind Sean’s party. Still, it didn’t matter how ridiculous their shouts were; their high spirits infused the battlefield with an odd mix of absurdity. Whether ready or not, they came face-to-face with the horde head-on.

  The forefront of the undead army then collided with the players like a tide of decay. Skeletal warriors rattled as they swung their rusty swords at the players, and ghouls lunged with their sharp claws. Their eerie groans mixed with the explosive noise of magic spells as the battle erupted into chaotic intensity.

  A flaming arrow zipped past Sean’s shoulder, piercing through a line of skeletons and igniting fiery embers in its wake. Patrick followed up with {Wind Cutter}, shooting several razor-sharp blades of wind that tore through the ranks of the undead army. Clearly, they were showcasing just how far they’d come in their mastery of magic.

  “Attack, my shadow puppets!” Sean commanded, sending his shadow puppets darting into the fray, slashing and grappling with uncanny precision to disrupt the undead’s relentless advance.

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  At the front, Chicken moved like a professional MMA fighter in overdrive, but with far more destructive power. His ki-infused fists glowed faintly as he threw bone-shattering punches with his magic knuckles, caving in skulls and ribcages with brutal efficiency. Beside him, Butterfly fought like a total beast, tearing through zombies and ghouls, ripping them apart like they were marshmallows.

  Sean shuddered at the thought of facing Butterfly in battle. Thankfully, she was on his side… Or was she? That fierce expression of hers gave him some doubts.

  Meanwhile, the other players were not that far behind in total kills as they unleashed their barrage of spells. Earthen walls erupted from the ground, shielding them from volleys of crude arrows let loose by skeletal archers. Icy spikes impaled advancing ghouls, while bolts of lightning and roaring fireballs rained down, electrocuting and incinerating clusters of undead. The battlefield turned into a storm of destruction as the players stood firm, despite the enemy’s overwhelming numbers.

  Nevertheless, the undead kept coming and coming in an unending tide of rot and bone. For every cluster they destroyed, another wave replaced their fallen brethren. The players’ stamina and mana reserves were quickly depleting, despite their efforts. Even though they brought mana-restoring potions, and their acolyte robes helped restore their stamina, it was becoming clear that a battle of attrition against a significantly larger undying army was unwinnable. The casualties on their side were mounting at an alarming rate.

  Sean and his party were no exception. Though top rankers, their abilities were only marginally stronger than the other second-stage Initiate Attunement players around them. Although Butterfly continued to let loose in the midst of the undead horde, she had accumulated multiple injuries and was noticeably slowing down. Sean himself was feeling lightheaded from mana exhaustion.

  As the undead horde pressed them back, the players’ lines began to falter. Then, out of nowhere, a series of deafening explosions erupted within the enemy ranks. The battlefield lit up with flashes of brilliant energy as bursts of magical force tore through clusters of undead.

  “Aaahhh! It’s Aphrodite’s cannons! Run!!” someone screamed in panic, scrambling away.

  “Take cover!” another shouted.

  Boom! Boom! Boom!

  The ground shook violently as the cannons unleashed their barrage. Clearly, these magic cannons were wildly inaccurate. Even though the players on the front lines scrambled to escape, some weren’t fast enough. Those unfortunate enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time were injured—or worse, killed—by the errant blasts.

  “Fuck you, Aphrodite! Watch your aim!” a male player cursed, shaking his fist toward the distant artillery before he was engulfed by an astray blast. “Argh—!”

  Sean ducked as another explosion erupted uncomfortably close. Oof… Whoever’s operating those cannons doesn’t have a clue what they’re doing. He shook his head, retreating further from the chaos. Or maybe the cannons themselves are just flawed. Yeah, that’s probably it.

  Despite the “support” causing almost as much trouble as the enemy, the blasts from the magic cannons had wiped out most of the undead swarming the front lines. This sudden reprieve granted the players a precious moment to catch their breath and regroup.

  However, the respite was short-lived. A sudden roar from the enemy lines caught Sean’s attention. Emerging from the darkness was a towering undead knight, clad in rusted armor that clanked with every step. A massive greatsword, pulsing with a sickly green aura, was gripped tightly in its gauntleted hands.

  “GRRAAH!!” It let out an ear-piercing screech that seemed to rally the undead around it as they became more aggressive.

  “Holy shit! Big boss incoming!” Sean shouted, pointing toward the monstrosity. This was the same undead general they had spotted when scouting the army.

  “We’ve got to take it down, or we’re done for!” someone yelled, panic creeping into his voice.

  “Are you insane? That thing can tank a direct hit from a magic cannon without flinching! What’s a couple of spells going to do?”

  Indeed.

  As expected, the undead knight displayed endurance that far surpassed any magical beast or extraordinary life form the players had encountered until now. Even the mighty queen spider, once thought to be invincible, paled in comparison to this monstrosity. While none of them had faced it in direct combat before, they knew it wouldn’t go down easily.

  “In any case, we’re not losing without putting up a fight!” Sean growled, beginning to cast a spell. “Everyone, fire at will! {Latent Fireball}!” A black fireball erupted from the tip of his staff, streaking toward the undead knight like a comet of darkness.

  Originally a Bet-tier spell, Sean had downsized it to Aleph-tier using the Spell Generator and knowledge from the inheritance. However, it was able to retain most of its devastating firepower, making it the most powerful spell in his arsenal. The fireball exploded upon impact, engulfing the knight in black flames.

  Everyone else followed suit in unleashing a torrent of elemental spells—bolts of lightning, spears of ice, and blazing infernos that lit up the battlefield. As the spells collided, they triggered a thunderous explosion that engulfed the knight and nearby undead in a swirling inferno. Dust and debris billowed into the air, obscuring the battlefield in a thick haze.

  “Did we do it?” one player asked hesitantly—likely Zylvern.

  “Oh, come on, don’t jinx it!” another snapped, just as a chilling roar echoed from within the smoke.

  True enough, as the dust settled, the undead knight emerged unscathed. In fact, it raised its glowing greatsword high, radiating an ominous power that sent shivers down Sean’s spine. Clearly, it was preparing to strike back.

  “Yep, that’s on you,” someone muttered grimly as the players braced for the knight’s retaliation.

  “Well, I couldn’t help it! It was itching me in the deepe—”

  Before Zylvern could finish, the undead knight swung its massive greatsword in a wide arc. A glowing, sickly-green slash of energy surged forward, cutting through the battlefield like a scythe through wheat.

  The attack was devastatingly fast and precise, catching the frontliners off guard and flinging players aside like ragdolls. Some were bisected cleanly, their bodies sent to the air before crumpling to the ground in gruesome halves. Others, luckier but not by much, lay groaning in agony, missing limbs or pinned under debris.

  “Aaaahhh! Zylvern! Zylvern is dead!”

  “My leg! It’s stuck in a tree! Somebody help me!”

  “Aargh! Help! I don’t want to die again! I just worked off my last death penalty!”

  “Anyone see my arms? My username may be ArmlessKing, but that doesn’t mean that I’m really armless!”

  The battlefield descended into chaos as panic spread among the surviving players.