Watching Eldrian from the corner of his eyes, Ceph sighed.


    Eldrian called the lich insane, but his approach wasn''t by any means normal. To rip an enchanted, unstable magical boulder from the sky — at great speed even — was far from simple or normal. It exploding should be the natural oue.


    Yet, not only did Eldrian manage it, he even threw them into his inventory as casually as picking up pebbles on the ground. Only to them drop them from the sky.


    While the yers'' inventories differed from traditional dimensional storages, Ceph knew it couldn''t be easy. One misstep and it would explode in Eldrian''s face.


    ''The slime material is truly amazing.'' Ceph thought, it was a physical substance that could be formed into any shape given a clear enough image. However, it seemed beyond Ceph to manipte the slime.


    That, however, was to be expected. Unlike humans, mythical creatures such as Alicorns couldn''t bind with magical items. They could wield them just fine, but the weapons and armor would never be a part of them through a soul bond.


    ''And it isn''t just morphable.'' Ceph continued his analysis, all the while sending boulders falling. His approach was simr to Eldrian''s. But instead of throwing the boulders into a dimensional storage to rob them of their momentum, Ceph directed them downward with funnels of wind.


    To aplish this safely, he had to be careful to not cause undue stress to the boulders. Lest whatever acted as their trigger might react.


    Yet, even with all the care in the world, every fifth boulder Ceph sent down exploded sooner than expected. Luckily, Ceph was never in range to be damaged, though the resulting shockwaves always sent him stumbling through the air.


    ''Somehow, it is disrupting the flow of magic.'' Due to how new this slime material was, even Eldrian did not know all its abilities. And Ceph was confident his attempt just now had not been a nned one, but rather something Eldrian had done without clear forethought.


    ''Always so reckless.'' Ceph thought, but could not me his friend. Each boulder they stopped could save dozen of lives.


    —


    "Pros! Pros, are you okay?" Sofiera asked, rushing forward as he copsed.


    "I-I''m fine. Just... exhausted." Pros said, forcing a smile.


    It had been impossible to absorb the damage from the first volley. All he was able to do was deflect it. While the barrier had appeared dome shaped, it had actually been nted. Deflecting the worst of the explosions away from the wall and towards the earth.


    That had certainly been the right choice, but it had also led to the tunnels dug by the undead copsing. And as the earth started to give, the copsing spread. Even now, more and more of the border wall was falling apart.


    "Can you deflect the next volley?" Pros asked. Luckily, this possibility had been considered.


    While the sheer mass the undead were flinging at them boggled their senses, Eldrian''s Nova spell and the cannons were well understood. That the undead would copy one or the other was to be expected. Especially after a month of warfare.


    "I just need to deflect the st away from the walls, right? I think I can manage that." Sofiera said. Luckily, with Eldrian and Ceph thinning the volley, she would not need to content with a hundred of these explosive boulders. "But if there is another volley—"


    "Don''t worry. The soldiers should be well prepared for this." While drills had been impossible to practice, everyone knew what to do when they received the signal to retreat.


    —


    ''There charging,'' Eldrian noted, too far from Ceph for his voice to carry the distance. ''We should head back.''<novelnext></novelnext>


    ''Right.'' Ceph''s response came quickly. By now, the second volley was only seconds away from reaching the wall. The two had to retreat or they would be caught in the aftermath.


    As Ceph moved to pick Eldrian up, a massive wall of air appeared over the crumbling wall. A massive tsunami of dirt obscured everyone''s view. However, thissted only for a few seconds. The dirt tsunami was soon sted away as mes flew down towards the ground. It seemed the damage was contained.


    ''I guess it''s finally show time,'' Eldrian said, a slight smile forming as he thought of what was toe. The undead only had to move forward and the jaws of death would im them for a second time. And with them already charging, it seemed things would go as nned.


    —


    Seeing everyone scrambling from the walls, that had stood in their way for the past month, the undead were filled with glee.


    Those dumb idiots turning in terror to escape from a third volley appeared a delectable meal to the starving undead. Their frustration at the siege having grown greater with each passing day.


    The constant harassment from Evale and her party, and Eldrian and Ceph in the sky, had them burning with the desire to kill.


    Not to mention the strain ofcking proper sustenance over the past month. After all, their army did not contain any living individuals. The Zonthans were the closest, but none of the undead would even think of feasting on them.


    Even the calmer individuals among the undead fell to the bloodthirsty atmosphere. The first to rush past the slow horde of undead were the ghouls, followed closely by the vampires.


    Even the lich finally showed itself. Though it stayed at the back, behind the trebuchets, it appeared confident that they would finally breach through the damnable wall.


    The lich did not even want to think of what troubles wouldy ahead when they reached the city.


    No, it did not want to ept a possibility of a second siege. This war had supposed to only take a week, now more than a month had passed. When it returned home, the lich would be aughingstock.


    It was beyond frustrating, and it wanted to get back to its research. However, the elf that had peaked its curiosity and would not leave its thoughts was right there, in the sky. As if baiting it to move from its safety.


    By all rights the elf should be dead, however, the lich had confirmed he was not. After all, his soul had not passed. Granted, the lich could have been mistaken. But then it had received reports of an elf in Taur. It quickly concluded the elf must be one of the Chosen, and its interests grew even more.


    Oh, how many wonderful truths the elf could reveal to the lich. The mere thought made it almost rush forward, along with the rest of the army. To rush forward without thought of the dangers.


    It only barely kept itself contained. Knowing that an opponent that could actually pose a threat was hiding and waiting for it to make a mistake. It was not about to lose sight of the danger the war contained. To die here would be beyond humiliating.


    While the lich felt confident in its phrchy''s safety, it still felt danger from that individual. Like he had a method to attack the soul directly.


    Yet, even with that danger present, the lich could not help but think of all the things it would do to the elf.


    That he would not die made the lich all the more thrilled. It was truly curious what type of soul the elf had, how could the Chosen resurrect, and how had this one measly elf killed three of hismanders? Not to mention everything that had happened in its city.


    Oh, the many answers that awaited it!