Saku Bandits -

On the borders of the empire, in the area around the agricultural town of "Silia", was a notorious group.

As far as the bandits who are on the run are concerned, they seem to be quite large.

The total number of members exceeds fifty, including not only humans, but also goblins, orcs and other aliens that inhabit the vicinity.

Townspeople or traveling merchants who are attacked will be killed by men, and young women will be robbed along with their belongings.

Of course, the bandits will not ask for ransom themselves, and what awaits these poor women is the miserable fate of being sold to slave traders after being humiliated.

As mentioned earlier, "Silia" is only an agricultural town and does not have a large garrison.

Faced with the nimble guerrillas of the bandits, the local garrison was helpless.

The size of the garrison was limited, and it was difficult to set up sentinel posts at various crossings along the city and send enough personnel to be stationed.

The Saku Bandits are also quite good at breaking away with one blow, and the leader of the Bandits is a former mercenary with high martial arts, and is quite good at fighting in the wild mountains and forests.

The number of half-hangers, let alone exterminating the bandits, will be bitten back.

All in all, the Saku Bandits have become a disease in the hearts of the townspeople of Silia.

But even so, the Empire did not send regular troops to crusade against them.

For the empire, which is now suffering from external and internal troubles, I am afraid that it will not have the strength to take care of the safety of the border towns.

No one dared to walk the streets outside the city anymore, and the traveling merchants were forced to move in groups, while raising money to hire a large number of mercenaries and bodyguards.

On the surface, the victimization was brought under control, but it was only a temporary peace.

Over time, the bandits are forced into a predicament, and they will take risks to fight the mercenary bodyguards head-on.

Today, the bandit leader even made an almost crazy decision - to attack Celestia at night.

I have to say, it's really crazy.

You must know that the defensive facilities of towns and mountain villages are not the same at all.

Even small and medium-sized towns are surrounded by strong walls, and guards are guarded on guard towers.

The only entrance is the bronze gate.

Relying on a few dozen crudely armed bandits, they tried in vain to break through the complete city defenses, usually hitting stones with eggs.

It's just that the bandit leader has gathered a strong reinforcement that can subvert this common sense, the most feared of the magicians - the necromancer.

Necromancers, on this continent, are synonymous with disaster.

If you only talk about the destructive power of magic, it may not be as good as those elemental mages who manipulate natural disasters.

But they can spread something more deadly than destruction – fear.

Necromancy is able to manipulate the corpses of the dead, create ugly monsters, spread death like a plague, and turn vibrant cities into zombie kingdoms at your fingertips.

Although in the wizard industry, magicians who are involved in necromantic magic are considered outliers and are ostracized by their peers.

However, no one wants to face those monsters with flaws in personality and twisted good and evil.

The state will even recognize the legitimacy of necromancers, even if they know they will cause large-scale disasters.

Because, in the eyes of those in power, rare and powerful magicians are more valuable than thousands of civilians.

Thankfully, necromancer is an extremely difficult form of magic, so the number of necromancers is very limited, and the few necromancers are basically hermits who are immersed in research.

They all choose to live in seclusion near deserted battlefield ruins or desolate cemeteries, and rarely see the living in their dwellings.

As a matter of common sense, it is impossible for a necromancer to join forces with a bandit.

At the end of the day, their interests are not aligned.

Necromancers are on the hunt for death, and the bandits are only there to plunder their possessions.

So today's example is probably unique.

Three o'clock in the morning is the most suitable time for an attack.

Behind the low slope two hundred meters from the city gate, all the members of the Saku Bandits assembled, hiding in the shadow of the moonlight, looking out at the sporadic fires on the watchtowers of the city walls.

The bandit leader couldn't help but imagine the scene of leading his men to wanton slaughter soon after, and licked his lips.

"Master Magician! hehe...... My brothers and I are all set!"

“......”

The bandit leader said respectfully to the figure beside him.

It was a strange figure in a black robe covering his entire body.

The figure exuded a creepy chill all over his body, and he didn't reply, just bowed his head slightly.

Then he raised his cane, revealing his horrible arms like dead branches from his cuffs.

The ground shook as the purple gem at the tip of the cane shimmered with an unpleasantly cloudy glow.

Soon, the dirt under his feet cracked in large areas, and I saw that there were at least a thousand eerie bones breaking through the ground, and a mighty army was formed in an instant.

"Oooh...... This, that's a ......."

The sight of hell caused the bandit leader to swallow and let out a low groan of fear or awe.

The subordinates standing beside the leader had already been frightened by this scene, and sat down on the ground one by one with weak legs.

"My Army...... will help you break through the gates...... The soldiers defending the city will also be killed...... Our Covenant...... That's it...... Next...... I...... Freedom of Movement...... No problem, right......?"

"When, of course, no problem! When it's done, we'll give you fifty percent of the results...... Oh no!

The leader of the bandits, who is almost twice the size of the other party, seems to be a little shorter.

He did not go against the idea of the "monster" in front of him in the slightest, for fear that he would accidentally anger him and become a sacrifice to the bones.

"No ...... required"

After the black-robed magician finished speaking, he looked away as if he had lost interest in the bandits.

And this attitude is precisely what the bandit leader is most worried about.

Until now, he still couldn't see through the other party's intentions, on the surface, he was only benefiting unilaterally, and the magician wanted nothing else.

This made him instinctively feel dangerous, and he understood that there was no such thing as a pie falling from the sky.

The magician offered to help gratuitously, and he was certainly not stupid enough to believe it.

Necromancers probably have their own purpose, and it is something that mortals can never imagine, some kind of evil purpose.

But now, there is no time for him to think. As the army of bones attacked, the night raid began.

On the castle tower, the guards who first noticed the abnormality were stunned.

He couldn't believe his eyes, and he almost forgot to ring the alarm bell from the watchtower.

Bai Sensen's skeletal monsters approached the city wall like a tidal wave, their hollow eye sockets flashing with a dark red light.

The soldiers held their weapons in an embarrassed position, and everyone looked overwhelmed.

But that doesn't blame them, because most people have only heard rumors, and this is the first time they have encountered a real "undead monster".

As far as the eye can see, there are at least a thousand bone monsters, but they don't walk at the same rickety pace as the rumors say.

Rather, it was neat, like a well-trained army, marching forward in a phalanx.

In the eyes of the guards, they are far more terrifying than real troops.

It is a fear that humans absolutely cannot overcome, awakened from the depths of instinct.

"What are you doing in a daze! Shoot the arrows! Hurry up and release the fucking arrows for me! Don't let those damn monsters get a step closer to the walls!"

The soldier in charge of the team let go of his voice, hoping that his roar would drive away the timidity of the team, but he could not stop the tremor in his voice.

Arrows rained down from the walls, but the arrows cast in iron did not stop the monsters in the slightest.

And rightfully so.

Originally, a weapon like a bow and arrow did not have much lethality at all unless it hit the vital point.

When defending the city, the bow and arrow are mainly used in a dense long-range barrage, with the help of a condescending advantage to increase the range, and strive to damage the enemy first.

Pain slows down the enemy, demoralizes them, and disrupts the enemy's position, thus establishing an advantage before engaging the enemy.

However, for the group of bones in front of them that were not injured and did not know pain, using a bow and arrow was just a waste of effort.

The skeletal monsters were unharmed in the rain of arrows, and in a blink of an eye they came to the edge of the city wall, and they set up a strange bone ladder to climb up in a steady stream.

In the battle of city defense, in order to block the enemy troops who climbed the city wall, huge copper cauldrons were often lined up above the city wall.

Dumping the hot mud from the pot can inflict massive damage on the besieging enemy.

However, at the moment, these copper pots are just like bows and arrows, and they are not of the slightest use.

Soon, the skeletons were climbing the walls.

The next battle situation is self-evident.

In the face of violence called numbers, the garrison fell to the ground and was ravaged.

Most of the weapons and armor used by the soldiers of the garrison were made of iron, which was much better than that of bandits.

However, sharp weapons such as guns and swords do not do much to harden bones.

Experienced adventurers know that the most effective weapon against skeletons is a sledgehammer or an axe.

At the same time, the weight of the armor instead became a stumbling block when retreating.

The skeletons did not use weapons, but simply overwhelmed their opponents with their stacked numbers and weight.

The living were crushed into corpses by tons of bones, and the corpses rose again in the strange fog.

Of course, the soldiers who got up were no longer alive, but had been transformed into zombies by undead magic.

Zombies are more dangerous than bones.

On the one hand, not only are they able to use weapons, but their bodies have also become more powerful than they were when they were alive.

On the other hand, the soldiers defending the city will hesitate when facing their former comrades, comrades, and even relatives, which makes the battle turn into a one-sided killing by the aliens.

The remnants of the soldiers went berserk, and fear easily crushed the fragile spirit of humanity.

Soon, all that could be heard was the terrible screams on the city walls, and the thick smell of blood permeated.

In just a few minutes, the garrison soldiers failed to make any decent resistance, and the city gate was breached.

In the chaos of the battle, the bandits invaded the city without hindrance, and they marched at full speed, step by step, into the depths.

On the one hand, it is difficult to suppress the desire for plunder in his heart, and on the other hand, he wants to get away from the monsters behind him as quickly as possible.

This time, their goal was clear from the beginning - the Lord's House.

Even the bandits know that the nobles who are lords are often the richest in the town.

As the bandits drove in, no one noticed that the necromancer was quietly following them.