The first to charge forth was successful in striking his target. The thin blade was driven through the wights chest. The steel pierced through rotted flesh with a wet resistance, sinking deep into the center of its torso.

The wound he left behind was narrow and clean, and the force of the blow had knocked the creature over. But it was still alive. 

At the treeline to the north, more shapes stepped into view. Five additional undead emerged from between the trees and joined the first wave, 

KaMara had just enough time to see itsy down his target, before another corpse lunged toward her from the side. Its jaw hung slack, one eye clouded and useless, its fingers reaching for her shoulder as it stumbled into striking range.

Varius’ blade found Zombie4’s throat. The gladius cut deep, splitting dead tissue and spilling darkened blood down its chest. The creature staggered but did not collapse. Its arms continued forward in a blunt attempt to seize him, as though the damage meant nothing.

Yumi’s scythe cut clean arcs through the cold air. Zombie1’s head separated from its shoulders in a smooth descending stroke. Zombie2’s throat followed moments later under her spinning sweep.

Both bodies fell into the snow, but neither lay still The headless forms twitched where they had fallen. Fingers flexed weakly. One leg kicked once or twice against the ground, scraping against frozen earth. As if the body were still trying to move, and pick itself up. 

Two of the newly arrived undead from the north reached toward Yumi as she completed her turn, arms extending in grasping motions as they closed the distance.

Moo’s charge struck Zombie3 squarely in the torso. The impact launched it backward into a broken fence, splintering wood beneath its weight. It lay crumpled for a moment before its arms began to push against the ground. Slowly, unsteadily, it started to rise again.

To the east, Yukan’s spear ignited the field in a violent bloom of fae fire. The ring of flame expanded outward from his thrust, engulfing the approaching group of twenty. Sacred fire clung to them, burning through cloth and flesh alike. The undead collapsed under the blaze, their forms blackening and falling in heaps of char and ash.

The fire receded as cleanly as it had erupted, dying down without spreading to the village structures.

Through the drifting smoke, more movement became visible. Thirty additional undead advanced from the eastern approached. Stepping over the remains of those that had fallen before them.

Hiruq watched the flare of Yukan’s attack with open approval.

“Well struck, Koyake,” he called, before taking off in a breakneck dash. 
Mid-stride, his body shifted. Bones lengthened and reformed, white fur bursting outward as he dropped to all fours. In the space of a breath, a massive white wolf crashed into the nearest of the eastern undead. His jaws closed around one creature’s shoulder, wrenching it sideways, while his claws tore into another’s midsection and sent it sprawling into the snow.

At the center, Commander Rextelian’s voice carried over the clash of steel and the crackle of fire.
“Hold your line. They do not stop unless burned.”
His eyes swept the formation, measuring distance, counting numbers.
His gaze fixed briefly on Yume.
“You with the silver drills. If you intend to fight, now would be the time.”
He did not wait for a reply before turning to Emily.

“You. Burn what falls. If it is not reduced to ash, it rises again.”

Aya moved beside him, blade drawn, reinforcing the northern flank with two Nan Gau soldiers as they stepped in to support KaMara and Varius. Six pressed from the north.

All the while, the silver haired Fae was perhaps distracted. As while she was skilled with filtering out the unwanted noise of random brains; there seemed to be a presence calling her. Somewhere hidden in the forest, the Fae could feel a familiar presence. And it was almost as if it were a flashing beacon. Calling for her to come look.