Puppet Town awoke before dawn.

  Magelights illuminated the crowded streets as every able-bodied person in the settlement prepared for the horde’s arrival. The stampede was approaching the border of the plains and would reach the wall sometime in the early afternoon.

  A half dozen crews had spent the night in the field and were waiting for the reanimated bears to cross through the borderlands. They were comprised of every beast rider in town, along with a handful of mobility specialists who could keep pace with the agile creatures.

  Those brave women and men were attacking from the saddle at this very moment, doing their best to whittle down the stampede’s numbers while spreading them out so fewer enemies would hit Puppet Town at the same time. The riders would return in a few hours to rest up, since they had another role to play during the battle.

  A second team was drawing a portion of the reanimated critters into a series of pit traps they had designated as “leg breakers.”

  Most of the techniques hunters used to kill regular beasts wouldn’t work on the undead, since they didn’t have any blood to lose or circulate poison. However, their muscles and bones were still required to support their weight and enable motion. The town’s trappers were taking advantage of the horde’s diminished awareness, extreme aggression, and massive bodies to target their limbs instead.

  Along with a series of pitfalls, they had placed devices that would restrict the beasts’ range of motion—everything from webbing to glue to skill-imbued ropes and chains that would clamp onto their legs and hold on tight.

  In addition to staggering the horde into manageable bites, this method provided an added benefit. These traps wouldn’t kill the undead creatures—or destroy them at any rate—which would let people come by later and pick up experience by scoring the finishing blows.

  There was a great deal more to the defenders’ plans, both behind and beyond the walls, but none of it applied to Edge’s role, so he didn’t know the details.

  The members of Trapper’s crew had been assigned to one of two groups. Riller, Jumo, and Violet would be fighting from the wall, where they could launch ranged attacks and Violet could restore everyone’s stamina with Traveler’s Boon.

  Edge, Trapper, and Sasha were on the team that had been tasked to kill the stage-three bear. They would be heading out after the battle began to intercept the gigantic ursine. It was running near the back of the horde, and they planned to lure it to a killing field they had prepared the day before.

  The crafters and support squads were hard at work as the crew made their way to the southern gate, going about their business with a brisk efficiency. Warriors polished their blades and archers waxed their bowstrings, mostly to give their hands something to do.

  The air was crackling with nervous tension, but the atmosphere was completely different from when the expedition was racing to reach the settlement before the Claws breached the wall.

  This time, they had control of the situation and hoped to eliminate the impending threat without any loss of life. In addition to facing an enemy that was far more predictable than the last, Puppet Town had weathered stampedes in the past—although not on the same scale or with their lives hanging in the balance.

  If anything, the people Edge saw seemed excited by the prospect of cycling up, ranking up their skills, and obtaining some high-grade crafting materials. Most of the beasts were bears and shouldn’t be able to climb the wall, so the biggest danger was the handful that could, along with the possibility of the northern gate being breached again. Even in a worst-case scenario, they had plans in place for both events that should keep everyone’s head on their shoulders.

  The stage-three bear was another matter entirely.

  It was gigantic, and with its superior attributes, the beast could scale the wall with ease, which is why Edge’s team had been tasked to engage the creature before it reached the settlement.

  When Trapper’s crew arrived at the staircase beside the gate, they climbed onto the ramparts, greeting some familiar faces along the way. They made their way over to where Able and Sakura were conferring with various team leaders, then waited until everyone had assumed their positions along the wall and adjoining watchtowers.

  When the horde was in range, Riller sent out his Scout Drone, and Momo projected the image onto the side of a building so everyone could watch the stampede approach.

  “It looks like the beast riders killed about 10% of them,” Sakura said.

  “The trap experts reported they managed to impair the mobility of about twice that many,” Able added. “They shouldn’t arrive before the fight is over, although we’ll have to deal with them eventually.”

  Everyone reviewed their roles while waiting for the horde to cross into the center of the biome. Thanks to Riller’s Drone and Sakura’s Remote Viewing, they knew the stampede had spread out into three staggered clumps—far enough apart that it would take about an hour for the last beasts to arrive after the first wave appeared.

  This time around, the town’s uncored residents were either playing a supportive role, focusing on ranking up their skills, or hiding in shelters. Regular bows and arrows wouldn’t do much good against the undead, and they couldn’t benefit from killing them anyway.

  The beast riders had returned while the wall teams were moving into position. They were waiting in the wings—ready to serve as a distraction and control the flow of incoming enemies, keeping the reanimated creatures from concentrating too much at any given point.

  After everyone was organized, Able briefed the defenders, reminding them that while this was a planned event, it was far from safe. Accidents or simple bad luck could get them killed if they weren’t careful. He also shared what the riders had learned while thinning the horde’s numbers.

  “Since these are reanimated corpses, they don’t have the same vital points as living beings. However, they need their eyes to see, and removing their heads will stop them dead in their tracks.”

  He moved on to cover several contingency plans, then wished everyone luck and turned them over to their individual team leaders. Trapper’s crew bumped fists and then went their separate ways—eager to put this crisis behind them and grow more powerful along the way.

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  Able stood beside Edge and leaned against his hammer, where they were joined by everyone who was taking on the stage-three beast. Dialla and Tessa were in one of the watchtowers, where the mayor could communicate orders via flares to the entire army if needed.

  After popping into his core to conduct a strategic review with Rue and his avatars, there was nothing for Edge to do other than cast his senses across the defenders of Puppet Town and let their voices wash over him. He caught random snippets of their conversations as the sun crossed the cloud-dappled sky.

  “I know you’re scared, but I’m here with you.”

  “I’m going to kill a dozen bears and turn their bones into armor.”

  “Whatever you do, don’t fall off the wall. You’ll be dead before we can hope to retrieve you.”

  “I shouldn’t have drunk that gallon of milk I left out overnight.”

  The chatter cut off the moment the first beast came into view.

  Even though Edge knew what was coming, it was nothing compared to the shock of seeing the undead with his own eyes. He pulled out his spyglass to take a closer look as one bear became two, then twenty.

  His jaw dropped as the first wave parted the grass and began their final approach to the settlement. Most of the beasts were shaggy gray bears the size of a wagon. Some of them bore horrific wounds, and while they were clearly dead, their flesh didn’t seem to be rotting.

  Edge had fought quite a few predators by this point, of the monstrous, bestial, and human varieties. Although he hadn’t realized it until this moment, they all displayed what he had come to think of as killing intent—the desire to end his life and the will to carry out the task.

  These living corpses didn’t display any killing intent at all, or any fear for their own well-being for that matter. The bears were utterly emotionless as they tore some unfortunate jobos apart. The beasts had tried to hide instead of run—unaware that a shambling legion of horrors was crossing the biome, and anything in their path was bound to be found sooner or later.

  The lack of a predator’s mindset didn’t make the undead any less dangerous—just harder to predict. They didn’t telegraph their intentions with gazes and posture. Didn’t show any anticipation, hesitancy, or drive to survive. Nothing beyond a soulless compulsion to kill.

  They would be in range in about five minutes, which gave Edge time to take a quick look across the battlefield and see what his friends were up to.

  Jumo had to stay on the wall since his arm was broken. He couldn’t fire a bow, but he could fling consumables and cast Piercing Javelin. His team was tasked with dealing with any beasts that managed to climb the wall or made it into town via other means. Riller and Momo were with him, along with most of the settlement’s stage-one warriors.

  Puppet Town’s cored alchemists and crafters were participating in this fight—Melchior and Ander among them. Earlier in the day, Edge had learned they could gain experience from fighting with their own inventions, which should yield major gains with all the weapons they’d mounted to the wall over the last few days.

  The alchemists had whipped up new weapon oils and various other substances that should be effective against undead enemies that were still at stage one. He planned to talk to them after the fight was over and learn more about the details.

  A big group of newly cored, stage-zero hunters was participating in today’s battle. They looked incredibly nervous, but they were in good hands and would only be allowed to fight blade to claw when the situation was highly controlled—mostly by luring individual stage-one beasts into kill boxes the earth specialists were creating, with experienced warriors ready to jump in if anything got out of hand.

  They would be heading out as soon as the stampede was slain to finish off the stragglers with broken limbs—further accelerating their development. They should all be stage one before the day is done. Still too weak, but in much better shape to survive than before.

  Everyone stopped talking when the horde came into range. Excitement and fear were writ clear on their features, but everyone looked ready to do their part. This moment was a testament to how much the town had changed as they adapted to their new lives, and Edge was proud of his people.

  “Ready,” Dialla called from atop the tower. “Target enemies along your assigned lane and open fire!”

  With that, the battle began. A cracking cacophony ensued as hundreds of weapons and skills filled the air, mowing down the first trio of undead in a single volley. Under the direction of their team leaders, the defenders kept pouring on the pain, transforming the sky into a shimmering tapestry of magical might and streaking instruments of mayhem.

  A dozen bears died in less than a minute, but more came running right behind them. Before long, they had nearly reached the wall by virtue of sheer numbers. Edge fired off a pair of Vacuum Blasts, reducing the stage-one bear to red paste.

  He needed his reservoir to be full for the big fight, so he watched as the other defenders let loose. He knew they had worked out a system to designate targets that would help them conserve mana and ammo, although the specifics were beyond him.

  While nine out of ten members of the stampede were bears, there was an assortment of other creatures mixed in. Some began scaling the wall or Leaping right over, and soon Jumo’s team had their hands full dealing with the problem.

  By now, the press was so thick the undead were climbing on top of each other, and there was a chance they would form a pyramid and gain the ramparts en masse. There was an emergency plan in place to set them ablaze if that happened, but it would ruin the beasts’ parts and ran the risk of setting the town on fire. Possibly the plains too, if the flames spread enough to overwhelm the biome’s natural defenses.

  While the snarling press of lethal creatures was frightening, none of this was cause for alarm. It just meant it was time for the beast riders to serve as bait.

  They emerged from the northern gate, attracted as many undead as they could, and then took them for a lap around the wall, where the crafters’ devices and a group of archers could thin them out. The turrets were armed and ready to go, but they wouldn’t be activated unless they were needed so the defenders could maximize their gains.

  The riders’ efforts kept the stampede from piling high enough to reach the ramparts, and the warriors had an easy time killing the bears when they were packed so tightly it was impossible to miss.

  Edge watched on with interest as a row of kill boxes was created to help the weaker defenders cycle up their cores and rank up their skills.

  First, an earth shaper used Manifest Mineral to create three thick slabs of stone, forming a box with the town’s wall on the fourth side. They let a single stage-one beast slip through before sealing it tight, trapping the creature inside while preventing anything else from entering.

  Since they would gain more experience in melee, the newly cored warriors climbed down a ladder while a trio of stage-one hunters held the beast back. After that, the recruits were allowed to engage the creature, with their guardians ready to end the fight in a flash if anyone got into trouble.

  Although they were battling with their lives on the line, Edge couldn’t help but smile as their voices reached him, reminding him of the early days of his adventures.

  “We couldn’t pull our weight when the Claws attacked, but that ends today. Let’s show our sempai what the next generation can do.”

  “I got it! It’s not moving. I just ranked up Slash!”

  “I cycled up, and I’m putting my points into Power. My new core is awesome!”

  “Holy shit! I just cleared the requirements to evolve.”

  Edge shifted his attention to the fighting atop the wall. He was just in time to watch Jumo turn a pair of giant frogs into pincushions with Piercing Javelin, pinning their limbs to their bodies while his team ran in and chopped off their heads.

  Riller was sniping like mad—each shot planting itself in an eye or joint where it would do the most damage. Momo was dealing with a climber beside him, and they seemed to have the situation well in hand.

  Edge was deeply impressed, but he didn’t get to watch the rest of the fight.

  He had no choice other than to wish them luck and pray for their safety, because that was when Sakura reported the stage-three beast had crossed into the plains. It was time for his team to lead the elite creature into their killing field and bring the big bad down.

  “That’s our cue.” Able hefted his hammer over one shoulder. “Let’s hit them hard and lay them low. I don’t know about you guys, but after this, I could really use a fucking vacation.”