The next couple of days flew while I prepared myself for the future, and asked myself many questions. Primarily, what exactly was I going to do out there? What is the point of leaving besides sheer defiance? If I had no answers to those then I’d be wasting my time. So the first step was planning what exactly I was planning to do once I left, and predict how Harald would react once he realized I was gone.

  On one hand Riverrun would lose one of very few protectors, but on the other the politics of the village would be simplified. My first step would be to wander until I simply couldn’t anymore, the System had mentioned a Merge when Riverrun was founded and something about a fog of war. With that in mind I needed to prepare myself to stick around close by for some time and regardless of what I wanted I would need to play the game until I was strong enough to start making the rules. And to do that, I would need to hunt.

  Robin and Eustace approached me the day I was supposed to leave, dumbfounded that I was capitulating to Harald and going to attack the Goblins. I thought about telling them my real plan but I didn’t. At this stage the only ones I could trust fully were the ones that I had either summoned, bound, or raised. A somewhat bleak outlook but it was what I was working with at the time.

  After two days of traveling my horde’s steady march came to a halt, Myer staring off into the distance with his hand raised. I approached cautiously and followed his line of sight. There was nothing there at first glance but after a few moments of silent observation I could just make out the thin line of spiraling smoke. I mentally commanded my murder to investigate, half a dozen ravens flew forward, disappearing into the trees.

  “Are we sure this is the wisest decision?” Elden asked in the silence.

  “Leaving Riverrun?” I glanced over at him.

  He nodded, “It feels premature, and rash.”

  “I would agree if the tension wasn’t palpable,” Myer added gruffly, “It’s only a matter of time before it implodes.”

  “That may be a reason to remain where we were and work our way through,” Elden continued, “Not all of them are the same. What about Robin or Eustace? And the many that will arrive in the future?”

  “It’s enough I left behind the Spectral Tutors,” I looked back towards the smoke, “They’ll survive.”

  “Or are you attempting to alleviate your guilt at abandoning them by leaving your minions behind?” Elden asked coldly.

  “Both.” I replied evenly, “There are good people there and I wish I could do something to help them but right now I can’t. I-, We’re not strong enough to do anything about the situation. So for now, we press forward and do what we can when we can.”

  Myer nodded his agreement but Elden still looked unsure about our course of action.

  “The goal right now is to go as far as we can, the Merge notification made it sound like we’re isolated. So there’s some sort of barrier out there somewhere, we’ll find it and then maybe we’ll establish our own little settlement.” I reassured my spectral companion.

  The report that came back from the ravens was intriguing but unsurprising, gnolls had set up some sort of campsite and were slowly growing in numbers. It would eventually grow into a settlement if left unchecked. The biggest question was how do I want to do this? Should I leave it unchecked? Or should I send the horde?

  My Aria Undead marched forward and I trailed behind with Elden and Myer, my Shade hiding restlessly in my shadow. We approached the camp cautiously, using the underbrush to obscure us and observed the goings on. There were fourteen, no sixteen gnolls wandering around the camp.

  Seven surrounded the camp that appeared to be on guard duty while others were taking care of various things. One gnoll was skinning something, it took a moment to register what it was. And to recognize the others. There were other people, their corpses at least, scattered around. Yet another reason to butcher them all.

  I sent out my mental commands and waited patiently for my undead to get in position before I focused on one Gnoll and cast Mark of the Grave.

  The Gnoll coughed and sputtered before vomiting black blood onto the ground, the others looked at them confusedly before realizing something was wrong. Partially spectral undead emerged from the forest, swinging their primitive weapons down on the backs of their unsuspecting prey. The alarm call went out, every Gnoll aware of the danger they were suddenly in.

  One approached the marked Gnoll crouching down with some sort of talisman, muttering something in their guttural whining language. A brief flash of light and the Gnoll stood staring at their comrade dumbfounded before they were shoved to the ground by their companion and were wracked by their claws and teeth, microscopic spores pulsing outwards with each violent movement. A fog rolled in, spreading from their fire and shrouding the chaos from view.

  I walked slowly into the camp watching my minions work, Harbinger taking the familiar form of a spear in my hand. The butt of which was planted on the ground. There really wasn’t much for me to do, Mark of the Grave was spreading quickly and efficiently, and my Aria were making quick work, their flaming teal eyes rushing menacingly through the thickening Fog of Dread. The sounds of combat died quickly, snuffed like the fire.

  I gazed around, perhaps I had been too brutal. The combination of abilities, while effective, were overkill. And I had been considering sending in the Winterbound.

  “This isn’t the Abyssal War Crowley,” I muttered to myself, plunging the tip of my spear into the throat of a Gnoll attempting to crawl into the forest, “These aren’t demons.”

  I dismissed the fog and took account of the bounty in front of me. Fourteen corpses, as well as some human ones if they could be salvaged. Two Gnolls had evaded the fight then. I sent the mental command to Grigori, and he darted off into the forest with his few ghouls. They’d track them down. In the meantime the Aria Undead began to line up the corpses for inspection, the Winterbound handling the delicate task of the human corpses.

  “My Lord,” Castien began, stepping up beside me, “The human corpses are unusable in their current state for your Aria Undead.”

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “How about for Shades?” I asked.

  “That is unfortunately not my area of expertise,” Castien responded, “Allow me to fetch Elden.”

  I nodded. Absently aware of Castien running off to get the Specter.

  The scene before me was horrifying to my old sensibilities, but it was unfortunately, my current line of work. And I could only be glad that the Trial had desensitized me to such things.

  “You want to create Shades from the remains of the humans?” Elden asked, appearing beside me.

  “If it’s possible, I need to level up each skill by using it.” I said, walking over to one of the aforementioned corpses.

  “It may prove difficult in their current state but you should be able to do it,” Elden replied after observing their states more closely.

  I held out my hand and focused on the skill, relying on the knowledge inherent to the ability before taking out the Tome I had received, its pages flipping to a section on Shades. It would indeed be difficult, only made more so by the lack of limbs by most of the corpses. If I could weave the corpses I may have had a chance.

  “Dammit,” I muttered, remembering the Corpse Weave skill I had passed up on during the Trial.

  Elden looked at me quizzically.

  “I can’t do it, the spell relies too much on the physical form,” I said, “Well I could do it but they would be less than ideal minions.”

  Elden nodded his understanding while I stepped away to consult my minion capacity.

  Current Minions: 35 of 202

  Plenty of room to add some new ones, I glanced over at the Seven Revenants and got to work raising the other fourteen as standard Aria Undead. Each Revenant received two more to lead. Bringing the total squads to four each. And my current minions to fourty-nine.

  Eight Ravens, five Winterbound, four Specters, one Shade, seven Revenants, three Ghouls, and twenty eight Aria Undead.

  “Not bad,” I thought aloud, “Plenty of room for improvement.”

  Grigori returned with only one of the escapees and one less ghoul, I raised the corpse to replenish the lost ghoul before we set off again. The Ravens flying high to spot any further encampments. It was time to hunt and grow the horde.

  There were plenty of lone Gnolls and while I allowed Grigori to hunt them and turn them, I allowed just as many to escape in the hope they would lead us back to an encampment. More often than not that was not the case, they would simply find somewhere to hide until they believed they were safe.

  I kept track of the different encampments rather than attacking them outright, there wasn’t a pattern initially but it seemed that the further and further we got from Riverrun the more frequent the camps became. And it began to look organized.

  “How many encampments are there now?” I wondered aloud, “Twenty-seven?”

  “It is quite the number,” Myer admired, “I didn’t think they would become so organized so quickly.”

  “This is likely the area where they met the least resistance,” Elden added, “There were multiple settlements that fell to the first monster release.”

  I nodded my agreement, “Which means we should keep an eye out for any ruins. It was only a week but maybe there’ll be something worthwhile.”

  “Looting, my lord?” Castien asked.

  “Of a sort. If we can establish where others settled down then we can try to figure out where exactly the Monster Release started. That is if they didn’t just appear from thin air.”

  “It certainly felt like they did,” Myer said.

  “Unless the release was staggered based on location,” Elden pondered aloud, “But why the sudden interest, Crowley?”

  “We’ll need to defend ourselves against the next one and assuming it’ll be like the first then we’ll want more time to prepare,” I answered, “If it is staggered or the monsters have to travel first and that’s what the timer is referring to then the further we are from the start the higher the chance of survival.”

  We continued like that for a few more days, taking note of the encampments and any ruins we found, which were not many. The most advanced one we found had the beginning stages of a well being dug. That is until we were near the goblin settlement, which had been a week long walk. It might’ve been shorter had we not stopped to track the gnolls. The settlement itself was uninspired but they had made quicker progress than the others I had witnessed.

  Their village had been built against a cliffside with a palisade stretching around it. Guard towers poked up here and there with archers standing watch. While others seemed to be coming out in groups of ten to fifteen, dragging Gnoll corpses and their own corpses back into the encampment. The sight around the palisade was something to behold. Piles of Gnoll corpses burning in the morning light, redoubts staggered strategically around the palisade, and active patrols of twenty or more walked the perimeter.

  I let out a low whistle while I observed, Harald was going to find his plan harder to execute than he was anticipating. Just how many Goblins were there?

  “That’s a lot of Goblins,” Myer observed ominously, “And the defenses alone are something to admire.”

  “How did they manage so much in such a short amount of time?” I wondered aloud.

  “A high population means a large labor force,” Myer estimated, “And they breed like roaches. They will only grow stronger.”

  “What are your intentions with them?” Elden asked.

  “For now, we’ll leave them be and continue on our way to the edge.” I answered after some silent consideration.

  While we marched on the Goblins took notice of the small company of undead and sent out a scouting party. Though rather than attacking they kept their distance and simply observed our passing. Which was a small relief, while I could use the experience I had no desire to fight off an entire village just yet. They followed us for half the day before turning around and returning.

  I sent a raven to watch them in return and was impressed at their effective withdrawal. They'll likely pose more of a threat than what was previously believed by the village. Of course that wouldn’t stop Harald from enacting his plan. Or mine for that matter. I returned my attention to the horizon, the sun was setting and it would be dark soon. Another hour and we would set up camp.

  And that’s how it was day after day after day, marching and waiting for something to change. Until finally it did, but it wasn’t what any of us were expecting.

  The Gnolls stood gathered around a large fire, shadows spiraling across the mountain walls while smoke gathered underneath the overhang above them. A large Gnoll, about the size of the one Harald had fought and beaten during the Monster Release, stood at the head of the crowd.

  Guttural whining blazing from its maw while motioning with its arms and large club. The rest of the Gnolls paying rapt attention, whining, or cheering the monster on. Weapons clanged together and drums were beaten. The energy, the primal rage of the beasts was almost palpable.

  I watched them with tight lips pressed into a frown, “This does not bode well.”

  I had been right, the Gnolls were organizing and not just organizing, gathering. The rough map we had drawn showed what could very well be forward operating bases. Scouting positions, war camps. The village needed to be warned. Robin and Eustace needed to know what would be coming.

  I shook my head, no, not yet. I couldn’t go back until I knew for certain if I was truly stuck here. I needed to follow the plan. After, I would warn them. But I needed to see if there was a way out first. If there was, there was no need for a warning, just an evacuation.

  Myer looked on, his eyes calculating, “What are your orders?”

  “We press on, avoid conflict for now unless it can’t be helped.” I replied coldly.

  He looked over at me, “Are you sure?”

  “They’re just another factor in the plan. But before we can start planning for them we need to know what we’re working with.”

  Myer nodded his acceptance of the order but I knew, I could feel it through our connection, that it left him unsatisfied. It left me unsatisfied too.

  But if we were going to survive this world, if we were going to survive Harald, we needed to strategize. We were playing the long game now, and if confronting the Gnolls didn’t work into that, then so be it.