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Clunking clanks of rusting armor sounded in the forest, yet Jay was already concealed at the edge of the trail as his skeletons had pre-warned and protected him.

Jay was realizing that effective commanding relied not only on orders flowing down, but on information flowing up the chain of command - from his scouts back to himself.

Sure, from Lamp to Blue to Jay, it was a small chain of command, but a useful function on a small scale would be just as effective on a larger one, if not more so.

Jay counted the incoming enemies, and he was surprised at the small response force after he had cut off the nutrient supply root.

“Hmm, another group of seven. I wonder if that’s the optimal number.” Jay gazed at the incoming soldiers from behind some large roots of a tree.

Three were in the front with three behind them, following along the root. Another one was at the very back, which stood out from the other six as it held a two-handed sword - and unlike the others, the one at the back was the only one which was periodically looking down, checking the large flesh-like root they were all following.

To Jay it seemed more animated, more intelligent compared to the others, like it retained part of what made it conscious somehow.

Suddenly, contrary to Jay’s expectations, the skeletons attacked.

“Huh?”

Oddly, it was not a sneak attack at all, making Jay wonder just what exactly Blue was thinking.

While there was no warning, the skeletons didn’t attack from the back. The knights easily saw them coming and readied their weapons in time, meeting the offensive with clashes of their own swords.

Five skeletons verses seven knights - the odds were not in their favor, and as the battle started, the skeletons were quickly put on the defensive.

“Just what is Blue doing here… it knows better than this…”

Swords clashed and rattled, and Handy was the first to fall; being lower level without armor had its drawbacks.

While the skeletons had learnt that weak spots of the knights was the parasite living in their spine, it was a difficult task to slip their swords between their armor to sever their spines - especially when the knights were facing them. They couldn’t reach their backs.

Jay already had a mound of skeletons at his feet, green mana swirling through it as a skeleton rose from the shifting bones and assembled; Handy reanimated and sprinted back to the battle instantly, albeit without a weapon.

The spectral armor of the higher level skeletons gave them longer endurance in the fight, but it was a losing battle as the numbers were not in their favor.

Red was fully focused on defense, and held the aggression of three knights. Their swords clanging against Red’s new metal chest piece, the swords scraping and sparking across its surface as its skeletal body underneath was protected - but for how long?

Sweeper was about to perish, having to deal with two knights now that Handy was slain; Handy was still sprinting back to battle.

Blue and Lamp each dealt with one knight, though Lamp was coming to terms with fighting the dual-wielding knight who seemed more intelligent than the others.

While the skeletons could fight on mostly equal terms with the knights, the dual-wielding knight proved to be a problem for Lamp who had similarly unique weapons. Perhaps this was why the dual-wielding knight chose to fight Lamp.

It’s shepherds crook was slapped around as if it was a child’s wooden practice sword, while its gut knife was going practically no damage at all; not only was the blade short, but even getting into range to land a hit was proving to be a monumental task. The two-handed sword simply had too much range. The only upside was that the shorter knife made for quick parries, and having two weapons helped with defense; Lamp was more annoying than troublesome to the knight.

The sweeping swings caused Lamp to jump back, while other times the knight rested the blade on the back of its gauntlet and charged forward as if it were wielding a heavy spear.

Clearly, it was well-trained - or at least, the knight was well trained before it became infested with parasites that took over its body, and perhaps, its mind.

Jay continued to watch from the sidelines, wondering if this was a fight the skeletons could win - nothing would change if they were forced to fight a defensive battle, and Jay didn’t have the mana to endlessly raise skeletons.

“If no knight’s die, then nothing will change...” Jay thought, glancing at his sword, and then looking into the forest, as he found himself with two options.

“Do I fight or run…” he wondered.

His presence in the fight, along with the necrotic helminth and a few explosive tooth spells would definitely creates waves in the ebbs and flows of the battle, but there was one particular risk that caused a stir of fear in his heart - parasites.

It was the parasites which infested the bodies of the knights. If a single one landed on Jay’s flesh, he didn’t know what would happen.

Would they burrow into his skin, make their way into his lumbar and begin to eat through his spinal cord? Or would it simply slide off his skin? Would he even be able to stop such a parasite once inside his body?

He was not naive or wistful enough to hope that his necrotic mana would give him immunity. Parasites were a physical thing after all, and the other parasites currently residing in his arm already proved that his class wasn’t a magical cure-all.

Even as he thought these things, the battle continued and only convinced Jay not to join it. The swords of the skeletons were each coated in a disgusting slime-like blood, and each time a sword was pulled from the enemy’s armor, a slithering mess of parasites would come with it, spattering and flying everywhere.

“No. If I go down, it will all be over. I don’t need to be loyal to my skeletons. They will rise again, and I will not.” Jay thought, “I don’t need to go down like the lord of a crumbling castle. It’s just foolish.”

Yet just before Sweeper stumbled and staggered, Handy rejoined the battle - yet it didn’t help Sweeper, instead it pounced on the skeleton that Blue was fighting, wrapping its limbs around the knight and hugging its body.

Jay simply watched in amazement, “What is Blue planning…”

This one decisive moment was what Blue was counting on - it stepped between the knights, and plunged its sword into the spine of one of the three knights assaulting Red.

The two-handed knight raised its helmet, glancing around. One of these undead came back while one of its knights had perished? It knew something was wrong.

Next, Sweeper crumbled, the second skeleton to fall - yet the two-handed swordsman kept its head raised, analyzing the battle. It seemed to be calculating as it looked around, becoming more defensive in its fight with Lamp.

Red was now facing two knights, yet Blue was now joining it, making it a two on two fight - and using its new armor it would be able to shrug of a few hits while getting its sword close to the enemies spine.

Out of all the skeletons, Red was the most proficient in killing these types of enemies, and was the only skeleton to have won a one on one fight thus far.

In a few moments, Red managed to take another knight down, but before it could take another with it, reinforcements came. The knight’s that had destroyed Sweeper swarmed over, locking Blue and Red into a two versus three - though Handy was about to fall again, and it would soon be a two versus four, locking them into another losing defensive battle of attrition.

Jay quickly resummoned Sweeper and sent it back to the fight - yet he couldn’t help but wonder why the intelligent two-handed knight was not dominating and destroying Lamp.

“The normal knights can go even with a skeleton, so surely it can destroy Lamp whenever it pleases…?” he thought - but Jay soon had his answer.

As Sweeper ran from Jay’s position, the two-handed knight’s visor looked up and Jay could tell it was staring right at him, seeing his head poking from behind a tree. Jay had given away his own position, and by the relative ease with which the two-hander was fighting Lamp, Jay knew he was in trouble.

It’s focused eyes locked onto Jay’s position as it released a powerful swing with its sword, causing Lamp to jump back - yet it didn’t continue the engagement, instead, it sprinted towards Jay.

“Fuck.”