The closer the trio got to the gates, the more undead attacked them. Moreover, every single one of them had bright red eyes. At this point, some of the infected were even wearing armor, the scaley defense made them harder to take out when they were in groups and the more they took out the more worried the group became.
Jay had already used more than half of his mana so the group decided to start moving in and killing them in melee when it was safe to do so. But since this was rarely safe Jay's mana continued to be drained. Furthermore, he couldn't properly fight in a melee at the moment, leaving this aspect of battle to his generals.
Sounds of battle grew closer and closer and just a dozen meters away a large group of undead Iceborne were engaged with a couple of soldiers who were continuously backing away. Jay and his group quickly came closer and then the situation became clear. These Iceborne soldiers weren't the only ones fighting such an unfair fight, more groups could be seen everywhere. The Iceborne army had already collapsed and now there were only small groups left to resist.
At this point, the Iceborne didn't have any attention to waste on them as they were trying not to get any of the zombies' blood on them. When Jay estimated the numbers on the battlefield right now he frowned even more. He estimated there to be about 100 Iceborne soldiers and around 400 zombies currently engaged.
He frowned not because of the bad odds but because of the lacking numbers, there should've been more Iceborne here. Seeing how lacking the current numbers were he realized there might still be a large army but they had simply retreated, probably followed by a group of undead. It was here that general Green showed his true strength. Showing a rare sign of intelligence he didn't simply slash open the zombies' heads causing the blood to go everywhere. Instead, he used the back end of his spear and hit the zombies around in their chest causing them to fall on their backs away from the fighting, then the general stabbed the zombies in their eye, killing them.
Seeing this tactic work effectively, Geralt quickly copied him, saving a small group of Iceborne soldiers from certain death.
Said soldiers acted extremely indecisive when they were saved. They looked at Geralt for a second before looking towards Jay, indecisiveness filling their gaze. They had felt the death of their Lord and they were already unsure what to do, now that humans, a race they were currently at war with, saved them, they didn't know if they should see them as allies or enemies.
"This is no longer a fight between races, now this is a fight between the living and the dead, follow me and save your comrades!"
Jay's words awakened them from their thoughts and allowed them to see things as they were. If things continued as they were the entire city would be annihilated, and so they prioritized taking out the undead.
Despite how unsure they were at the moment, the Iceborne that were saved quickly rallied behind Jay.
'The enemy of my enemy is my friend'
These were words all races understood, the Iceborne weren't any different.
Seeing how the generals took care of their enemies the Iceborne quickly tried to copy it. And even though they didn't have nearly the amount of strength a Tier 1 fighter had, they were still relatively effective. Every now and then blood splattered onto a soldier and a few even got bitten, but the Iceborne had hardened at this point and didn't hesitate to kill those that had been infected, even if these were previously their friends.
After receiving a secret order from Jay, Geralt disconnected from the makeshift army and headed towards the castle. Meanwhile, Jay was thinking how to avoid any more casualties. He had managed to save 80 of the Iceborne soldiers at this point but there should be many more fighting throughout the western part of the city. Right now Jay already had a speculation as to why the virus had mutated.
If some of the zombies showed these signs it would be rather simple. One of the Iceborne the initial zombie bit mutated and those that they bit would then obviously also get the mutated virus. But since every single one of these zombies were mutated this didn't make much sense. It was only now that Jay considered the differences between races. It was likely the zombie virus simply reacted differently to the virus compared to humans.
Annoyed by his own mistake Jay continued leading the group. He knew he had to be careful, giving the orders the Iceborne wanted to hear. If they were told something that would make them doubt Jay's attention he would probably be killed by the Iceborne around him. Knowing how dangerous the game he was playing was, Jay stayed as much to the forefront as possible, so that once his army was in sight general Green would be able to protect him while he made his way there.
When he looked around he felt odd. During the night the Icelands always felt so peaceful, with its calm colors and soft winds. But whenever blood splattered onto that very same landscape it would change completely. Making it look harsh and dangerous. A smile crept onto his lips, even in the middle of battle he would think of such unimportant things.
The Iceborne around him who saw his smile unknowingly started to smile too, the mood in the entire army started shifting from nervousness to excitement, something that doesn't normally happen so quickly. The army started moving quicker, taking out their enemies with greater ease, working together as an actual army instead of a ragtag group of soldiers.
It was during the midst Geralt returned, once he sneakily handed an item to Jay, he also joined the battle once more.
The item Jay was now holding was something he had spotted inside of the library earlier, one of the magic items the Iceborne had found and stored. A small bird made out of ice with a couple of runes carved on top of it.
While bending over, pretending to check out his shoes to make sure no blood could make its way to his foot, he spoke a couple of odd words to the bird while inserting mana.
"Ji mashot garle"
A second later he got up again and flying at waist level was the little bird, without being noticed by anyone.
Right now the army moved faster and faster and they had managed to form a group of over 120 soldiers. It was then a loud voice sounded out from far above them.
"TO ALL MY SUBJECTS, THE MISSION HAS CHANGED, SAVE THE ICEBORNE!"
Jay's voice suddenly sounded out throughout the entire city.