We spent the day clearing out the undead scattered through the city to the best of our ability. We stopped before night fell and the crows’ vision deteriorated, but the rotten horde’s density had already decreased enough that by that point, I was having trouble finding anything through the vision of my rat shikigami.
Despite our efforts, we had by no means eliminated all the attackers. Judging by the scale of the destruction, it was obvious that the main force had already left the city, leaving behind only a small detachment. Yet just dealing with that had sapped us of so much energy and spirit.
The surviving citizens had now gathered in the few buildings that still stood. Everyone was exhausted, but since there was no guarantee that all the undead had been eliminated, those with any stamina left took turns standing watch through the night. The atmosphere was like that of a camp of war refugees driven from their homes.
“It’s just as we feared,” Ren said beneath a dim light.
We were currently borrowing a building that had been used for hiring carriages. The sun had long since set, and the drivers and stablehands were already asleep. We would’ve preferred to have been sleeping ourselves, but there was something we needed to discuss first.
“The enemy appears to be able to turn the citizens of the cities they conquer into undead.” Everyone’s faces darkened at Ren’s words, but the elf paid them no mind as he continued. “We faced several undead who appeared to be adventurers that I suspect were corpses from other cities.”
“Probably,” I agreed.
Because the army was tens of thousands strong, that was something we had feared. It was too large to simply be a mob of slaves and religious zealots. We weren’t able to discern why at first, but once we learned they were undead, we could guess where they were coming from.
“And an undead’s strength appears to be determined by the person they were originally. What a backbreaking day,” Ren said with an exhausted sigh. Despite his complaint, the holy knight didn’t have a single injury. The undead adventurers we’d faced had been relatively strong, but to have been selected by Fiona, he must have had considerable strength himself.
“Even if they’re dead, they’re still human bodies. The stronger their muscles, the more force they can produce.” What I hadn’t expected, however, was that they could still use magic. This world’s necromancers might have been capable of more than I thought. “The bigger issue is that if left unchecked, their numbers will continue to grow indefinitely.”
In each city that fell, the inhabitants became soldiers, causing the enemy’s ranks to snowball. There had to eventually be a limit to what the necromancer could control, but with their numbers already so great, it was impossible to know what that limit might be.
“This is beyond what we can handle,” I continued. “No matter how many we take down, it’ll only be a drop in the bucket.”
“Umm, we’ve already sent word to Fiona, right?” Yifa asked shyly.
“Yes, of course,” Ren said, giving her an uncharacteristically friendly smile. “I sent messengers to the princess and imperial court on the very first day. You need not worry, miss.”
“Why does it seem like this elf is only nice to Yifa?” Mabel grumbled.
Ren returned to his usual composed look. “Those who can see elementals are all kin. I feel a sort of affinity for her as fellows living among foolish humans.”
“Umm, I don’t really...” A distressed look appeared on Yifa’s face.
Since the capital has been informed, I’d like to think they would prepare some sort of countermeasure, but there are too many cases where reports like that are ignored. Unless we figure out what the emperor’s goals are, we can’t count on any help.
“You all have to continue fighting,” said Ren. “You have no other option, as I’m sure you’re aware.”
Nobody responded. He was right—the situation was unchanged from a few days ago. So long as we couldn’t return to the capital, all we could do was keep up the potentially endless fight.
“You understand that too, don’t you, Hero?”
Amyu didn’t reply to Ren, and a brief silence drifted over us before she suddenly lifted her head with a start.
“Huh? What?”
“You’re the one being asked to fight, not anyone else,” Ren said rather snidely. But Amyu, having seemingly paid no attention at all, only tilted her head in confusion.
“He was saying we’re gonna have to move and fight some more somewhere else. Think you’ll be okay?”
“Oh, yeah, got it.” Amyu nodded meekly. “Given how things have turned out, I guess that’s just what we have to do.”