By his command, dozens of zombies began to stand from where they were lying on top of the walls. Aleric had put almost every zombie he had there, on the walls near the gates, where the fortress was most vulnerable.
Now they picked rocks from prepared piles and began throwing them at approaching soldiers!
To get these rocks (and also more materials to block the gate), earlier Aleric had made the zombies disassemble parts of the fortress's inner buildings.
The zombies threw without any precision, but their strength let the rocks fly far. A deadly rain fell on top of the marching formations and on people about to ram the gate.
"Shields!" the count shouted below; the soldiers were already obeying, but only a few of them had them.
The rocks fell on undefended people, smashing bones and breaking the skulls of anyone unlucky. Even armor didn't protect from these blows!
In a single volley, the zombies wiped out at least thirty soldiers. Several rocks fell on the ram-carriers, but these people were quickly replaced by their comrades.
"Retreat from the walls!" Count Arstain shouted, being the first to move. "The spawns can't throw far!"
While the zombies slowly picked up more ammo, the soldiers quickly turned to a safer distance.
The justicar and the only non-wounded cleric shot several zombies down with rays of Light, but there were too many zombies for their magic.
Meanwhile, from his cover, Aleric gathered Dark energy for his next spell.
For it, he didn't even have to stand from his cover—but it was still incredibly hard to cast at such a distance.
Even with the Spine Staff, he was spending a large amount of mana just to make it reach his target—fresh corpses below.
"Kuivat annet hertllistaat kuoksoteleet ja taevat…"
Dark energy flew through the wall as Aleric fished for remnants of souls to bind to his service. The energy's stream was invisible to people's eyes, but those crossed by it felt the chill of the grave.
But trained templars and those who studied Light magic immediately understood what was happening.
"The necromancer is doing some magic!" Justicar Esvan shouted. "We can't stop him from here—we must breach these gates! Protect the battering ram!"
Soldiers moved to raise their shields above the ram-carriers. Others spread out, trying to avoid the second volley of rocks. It took another dozen lives, despite that.
In this moment, Aleric's spell was complete.
Right amid the soldiers, fifteen zombies rose from the dead to grab and stab their recent comrades!
Aleric wiped sweat from his brow, feeling his mana reserve growing almost empty just from that. There was little else he could do there now.
On his belly, he crawled to the ladder leading off the wall and toward his second defensive position. As soon as he could stand without being shot, Aleric grasped his Tarnished Star amulet and focused on gathering death emanations.
On the other side of the wall, his undead followed simple commands to kill, creating havoc and panic among the soldiers. Their lines were suddenly broken more than before.
It was especially bad among militiamen, who had the least training and fought with spears. They suddenly found that their weapons could do very little besides immobilizing the undead!
But this was the time for the templars to shine. Obeying orders from the justicar, they pushed through the frightened soldiers to chop the zombies with their axes.
Although they had taken a dozen lives before being destroyed, the overall army stayed strong, and people were riled at this small victory. Above the walls, the zombies were still throwing rocks, but they weren't going to stop the army's advance now.
CRASH!
The battering ram swung and smashed into the fortress's gates. The rotten wood broke immediately, but the gates didn't open.
"The gate must be blocked from the other side!" Count Arstain realized. "Keep ramming!"
"Raaaaaaaaaa!" the soldiers shouted, swinging the ram again even as more rocks were thrown at them.
CRASH!
An entire board fell out of the gates from the blow, and soil poured from the other side. The barricade shook.
CRASH!
Soil and rocks fell from the other side of the barricade. Following Aleric's orders, several zombies began fixing the barricade, but their efforts were too slow.
CRASH!
A rock fell off the barricade, smashing the skull of a zombie.
CRASH!
The entire construction wobbled; the top part slid off, burying another zombie.
CRASH!
The barricade fell with another miniature landslide. The gates, broken beyond recognition, fell apart in pieces.
Enough soil, rocks, and garbage were shoved away that a narrow passage opened at last. It was wide enough for two people to enter side by side.
"This is it! We take our victory now—for the Light and the king!" Count Arstain shouted. "Chaaaaarge!"
The soldiers around him cheered. Inside the fortress was protection from the rocks that were still peppering them from above!
"Count, no! This is a necromancer's lair—my men should be the ones in the lead!" Justicar Esvan tried to argue, but the count already smelled the glory of victory and was deaf to his words.
On the other side, the count saw only a few zombies and skeletons with rusted weapons. None of them could hope to even scratch his armor.
So Count Arstain dashed past the gates bravely. His hereditary sword of dwarven craftsmanship cut off the head of a zombie like grass. Next to him, his bodyguard chopped off the hands of another.
Slicing and dicing, the count rushed deeper and deeper into the courtyard. The slow zombies and fragile skeletons fell all too easily under his blade, and the blades of the bodyguards that joined him.
Emboldened by the ease with which their enemies fell, the count and his bodyguards didn't notice how far they got from the rest of their army.
And when another wave of skeletons approached, the count and his men didn't think twice about their glowing green eyes!