The anomaly happened on the second day of winter.
At first, there were only weak skeletons roaming the outskirts of the town, but their numbers soon began to increase. Even skeletal warriors armed with weapons were mixed in with them, and the townsfolk would be injured if they were even the slightest bit careless.
With the abrupt disruption of the plan, Angora was forced to stop all other work and focus on fortifying the fortifications around the town's perimeter.
It was a pity that the crude fortifications gradually lost their effectiveness after the skeletal mages showed up a few days ago: a single fireball would blow up the mud walls that the townsfolk had spent an entire day building.
If not for the fact that the skeletal mages were few in number and that several brave and skilled hunters had risked their lives to take out the skeletal mages that posed the greatest threat to the town, the town would have fallen on that very day.
Be that as it may, the town's situation was deteriorating by the day. Now that things had come to this, the townsfolk were forced to abandon the outer walls and retreat into the town, relying on the recently built residences as the center for defense.
After all, compared to the other houses in the town that had fallen into disrepair for years, the newly built residences were surprisingly sturdy despite being made of wood. They did not even flinch or show any signs of burning even after being hit by a fireball.
It was precisely because of the seemingly indestructible residences and Angora's repeated mention of 'reinforcements' that the townsfolk's morale had yet to crumble, and they could still fight back.
"Be that as it may, we're almost at our limits …"
Angora, the only one who could see the durability of the houses, scratched the back of his head in annoyance.
While the residences appeared as good as new, there was only a thin layer of HP left over from their long durability bars, and they were already on the verge of collapse.
Moreover, since the Overlord System did not provide weapons, the only things the townsfolk could use to fight the undead were farming tools apart from basic hunter equipment.
With the battle turning into a quagmire of attrition, the stockpile of weapons was almost depleted as well. After all, reality was different from the game, and inferior weapons would lose their edge after cutting down two or three enemies. There were also very few hunters' arrows that could be recycled, and most weapons would be rendered useless after a single battle.
If there was anything worse than this situation, it would be the fact that ever since the Skeleton Archers appeared among the undead, many townsfolk had been sacrificed.
Although the three who died were old men who could not dodge the arrows in time due to their old age, the population of the entire town was only 29 people. In an instant, a tenth of the population was gone!
The door was violently flung open from the outside, startling Angora who was still deep in thought.
Vela walked in from outside the door. She brushed off the snowflakes on her fur hat and asked impatiently, "My lord, when will the reinforcements you mentioned arrive? Everyone can't hold on any longer! "
'I would have said it to boost morale if I knew,' Angora thought to himself.
However, he definitely couldn't say such things out in the open. Otherwise, the remaining morale of the townsfolk would plummet and completely collapse.
"Don't worry, reinforcements are almost here. You just have to do your best to hold this place," Angora replied.
What he got in return was Vera's doubtful gaze.
Angora sighed almost imperceptibly and stood up from his chair. "There's no point in lying to you now, is there? How about this — I'll join the defense from now on. Surely you can rest easy now? "
Vela's expression was still doubtful, but the girl nodded stiffly and left the room first.
Angora felt an indescribable nervousness once he left the safety of the house.
To tell the truth, the undead's offensive was not particularly fierce. Compared to the battles between humans, the undead were much more leisurely, with the townsfolk behind the simple perimeter made out of wooden crates even having the leisure to drink a bowl of steaming oatmeal. Instead of attacking, the undead were simply wandering around, and would only attack when they sensed the presence of living beings.
That was precisely why trying to break out of the encirclement would attract even more attention from the undead. Once surrounded by a horde of skeletons, even Krum, the best hunter in the town, would not be able to escape.
Angora knew very well that while the defense appeared to be easy and could even be stopped by the common folk, the undead would not tire or sleep and would be attacking the perimeter twenty-four hours a day. Though it was not intense, the continuous assault would constantly wear down the defenders' spirit and will, eventually leaving them mentally exhausted or crumbling …
Be that as it may, Angora and the others could only keep fending off the undead's assault before they came up with a better idea.
"We've definitely been tricked by that noble!" Another day later, a young hunter's rationality finally snapped. His eyes were bloodshot from lack of rest, and he pointed at Angora with his machete that was riddled with chips. "There's no reinforcements! We're all going to die here! It's all over! "
With those words, he swung the machete that was used to cut down vines at Angora with a look of despair and madness on his face.
Angora, who had just taken down a skeletal warrior with great difficulty, was now half-exhausted, and had no way of dodging the enemy's sudden attack.
It's over.
I didn't think that I would die at the hands of my own people instead of the undead. The thought appeared in Angora's mind, and he found it rather ironic.
But in that split second, the equally exhausted Vela stepped forward and blocked the blow for Angora, even kicking the young hunter to the ground.
"Save your strength to slay the undead, get out if you don't want to live!"
"But Sister Vela … the town is surrounded by skeletons, there's no way any reinforcements could pass through them to save us!" The young hunter's expression was contorted as he wailed at the top of his lungs. "It must be that noble! He must be the one who lured the undead here! "
"Idiot, why would I attract the undead here? Am I going to kill myself?"
Angora mumbled at a volume that the hunter could hear.
Vela glanced at him, before turning to the hunter. "Now that things have come to this, the only thing we can do is believe in the presence of reinforcements."
That was when the townsfolk guarding another direction suddenly yelled, "Skeleton knights! It's a skeleton knight!"
Angora and Vela reacted at the same time, running towards that direction.
Not far away, they saw a fully armored skeleton knight riding on a giant bone horse with blue flames burning where its mane and eyes should have been. Like a road roller, it easily smashed the old houses in the town into pieces and dashed towards the houses in the center of the town.
Angora could not help but break out in cold sweat — judging from the current durability of the houses, they would most likely be destroyed if they were hit by that thing!