Eleanor hit the ground hard. The impact knocked the breath from her lungs, the burn of blood mixing with the freezing bite of snow. The creatures closed in, snarling, their mangled bodies collapsing over her, teeth clashing as they lunged for flesh.

Her hand shot to the holster on her thigh. A throwing knife. She yanked it free and drove the blade into the skull of the nearest corpse. It convulsed, then went still. Another fell over her, jaws gaping in a wet, broken roar. Her hair whipped in the wind, the strands moving with precise control. She activated her ranked skill, manipulating her hair as if it were a set of extra arms. Her hair reached for the quiver and drew an arrow; she caught it midair and drove it into the creature's eye, pushing until it stopped moving.

She rolled to her feet in one fluid motion. The snow slipped beneath her boots, but her body moved on instinct. Three arrows, draw, loose, draw again. Each release cracked through the air, clean and final.

Then came the Warden. It charged across the snow, this time wielding a longsword caked in dried blood and frost. Eleanor steadied her breath, aimed for the helm, and loosed two quick shots. Both struck true, one through the eye, the other through the base of the neck. The body fell into the snow without a sound.

[You have slain a…] [You have slain a…] [You have slain a…]

She turned, her skin stinging under the cold. The cannon was just ahead, buried under a mix of snow and wreckage. She sprinted toward it, bow slung over her shoulder. Far across the field, the General was watching her.

"Goodbye, you bastard!" she shouted, pulling a magic torch from her inventory. She lit the fuse and backed away.

The world erupted.

The explosion ripped through the air, a deafening roar of fire and light. A blazing shot tore from the cannon, streaking across the gray sky like a comet. It slammed into the General and detonated, flames and shards of ice bursting outward as the ground trembled. The surrounding snow melted in seconds.

[You have slain a Midnight Warden General - Lvl 80]

The words flared across her vision, then faded. Eleanor collapsed onto her back, dazed by the cannon's recoil. The sound still rang in her ears. Blood coated her tongue, metallic and bitter. She coughed, sucking in the icy air, trying to make sense of what was left standing.

Slowly, she pushed herself up. The cannon was a wreck, split barrel, warped metal, smoke seeping from every crack. Useless now. She exhaled a sharp, tired sound and holstered the torch before gripping her bow again. The field was still burning. The smell of powder and scorched iron filled the air. Flames flickered across the snow as she ran toward her companions. The wind sliced against her face, the battlefield littered with corpses, enemy and ally alike, tangled in the same chaos.

"Are you all right?" she shouted, breath ragged, when she reached them.

"Never better," Gilbert muttered, trying to stand. His face was smeared with soot, exhaustion carved deep into his expression.

More undead staggered through the smoke in the distance. Allied soldiers pressed forward from the flanks, trying to stem the wave.

"We actually killed the General!" Gilbert said, staring at the fallen monster. Half the corpse was already gone, the armor dissolving into fragments of black light before fading completely.

"We need to move and help the others!" Eleanor's voice cut through the wind as she notched another arrow. There was no celebration in her tone, only focus.

The death of that General had shifted something. The undead ranks had lost their structure, moving erratically now, but there were still too many. Without their commanders, they faltered, but they didn't vanish.

"Light a bonfire!" she ordered, turning sharply. "In this storm, it's the only way to draw in any surviving troops!"

The warriors moved at once. Gilbert and Dustin scrambled to gather whatever they could: splintered beams from the fallen towers, torn canvas, even the remains of corpses. Anything that could burn.

A mage stepped forward, hands aglow, and unleashed a torrent of fire. Flames surged upward against the wind, roaring to life. The orange light cut through the storm like a blade, casting long shadows over the snow.

"Hold the perimeter!" Gilbert shouted, slamming his fist against his chest.

Eleanor scanned the field. Through the blizzard's haze, she saw figures emerging, soldiers drawn by the light, sprinting toward the fire. For a fleeting moment, hope stirred in her chest. Maybe, just maybe, they could turn this around.

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Then came the roar.

It wasn't human. Deep, guttural, a sound meant to freeze the soul. More followed, low growls and twisted howls rising in unison, a monstrous chorus. Eleanor lowered her bow, eyes narrowing. Through the veil of snow, three massive shapes broke through the storm. The Generals. Each step made the ground tremble. Their black armor caught the firelight, glinting with sinister red reflections.

"We're done for," Gilbert whispered.

The three monsters stopped just meters away, surrounded by a wall of undead. The air itself grew heavier. Eleanor clenched her jaw and raised her bow again.

"Run!" Gilbert shouted.

"No! That's what they want us to do!" Eleanor's voice tore through the wind.

"We can't take on three of them!" Dustin yelled back. "We don't even know if the others are alive! They might've run back to the castle, we could be the only ones left out here!"

The undead began to move, slow at first, then faster. The mages tried to cast lightning spells, but the storm scattered their aim, numbing their fingers with cold.

Eleanor steadied her breath. "Then we do our part."

She dashed forward, bow raised, arrows in hand. The Generals reacted instantly, advancing together, three predators closing in on prey. She fired. The arrow struck the first one square in the chest and bounced off with a metallic clang. For a second, she could've sworn the creature laughed. The trio halted a few paces away and raised their arms, a gesture of mockery, of challenge.

Behind her, the soldiers regrouped. The crunch of boots in snow, the ring of drawn steel; it all merged into a single, rising rhythm. Gilbert stumbled up beside her, breath ragged, blood staining the snow beneath him.

"Go to hell, you bastards!" he roared, hurling a hatchet. It spun through the air and struck one of the Generals squarely, only to bounce off harmlessly. The creature tilted its head, almost amused.

It raised one hand and pointed.

The undead surged forward. At first, a crawl. Then, a charge. Eleanor drew her bow again. Screams mixed with the monsters' howls, the storm's shriek, and the crackle of the fire. Cold and heat, fear and fury, all blurred together into chaos. And then…A different sound tore through the air.Metallic. Deep. Resonant. Like a hundred warhorns sounding at once.

The noise rolled across the battlefield, not the cry of a beast but something far older. It was as if the world itself had taken a breath and exhaled grief and fury in one single, echoing note. A sound of trumpets, long, heavy, and divine, cut through the storm. The generals froze. The creatures around them stopped mid-motion, turning toward the sound. Even the undead, obedient, ravenous, tireless, hesitated.

Eleanor and the others looked back. The snow was falling thick, a curtain of white that swallowed the horizon, but through it… something glowed. Red lights, faint at first, pulsing in the darkness. Dozens became hundreds. Then thousands. Her grip tightened around the bow as her pulse spiked. Those weren't torches. The glow was coming from eyes.

The shapes emerged one by one—statues. Soldiers carved from stone, moving with unnatural precision. Some human, others shaped like beasts or monstrous quadrupeds, their granite bodies grinding as they advanced. Every step made the earth tremble.

"It's over," Eleanor whispered, the words barely audible. "We're dead." She let the bow slip from her hands into the snow.

Gilbert and the others stepped back. None of them spoke.

At the head of the stone army rode a massive warhorse carved from marble, its hooves kicking up snow and sparks. On its back, a cloaked rider dressed in black, his face hidden behind a stone mask. He raised one hand. The motion was small, almost casual. The effect was anything but.

The statues stopped. Their eyes burned crimson in the white haze. Then the rider pointed—not at Eleanor or her allies, but at the three generals. The creatures turned to one another, uncertain. The air went still, as if the world itself had paused to listen.

Then the army of stone roared.

Warhorns bellowed through the storm, and the statues surged forward like an avalanche. The ground shuddered under their weight. The undead ranks shattered on impact. Arrows of carved rock streaked through the air, slamming into the generals. Stone blades sliced through rotting flesh. Shields crashed. The battlefield exploded into chaos.

Eleanor stood frozen. None of the soldiers moved. No one dared to lift a weapon or cast a spell. The statues passed by them as though they were ghosts, every one of them focused solely on their prey—the generals and their hordes.

One of the monsters vanished beneath a swarm of stone warriors, crushed until nothing remained. Another was skewered by hundreds of arrows, its body turning into a grotesque pincushion before collapsing. The last tried to flee but was tackled mid-run by a massive stone wolf that tore off its head.

The masked rider cut through the carnage, his black cloak whipping in the wind. Not a single arrow touched him. Eleanor couldn't move. Couldn't even breathe. The flames from a nearby fire danced against the storm as the rider slowed his mount, stopping beside them. The sounds of battle still raged behind, but here, for a fleeting moment, everything fell silent.

He turned his head toward the group. When he spoke, his voice was low and steady, carrying the calm of someone who commanded death itself. "Today is not our day to die, soldiers."

He tugged the reins, turning the horse away.

"Wait! Who are you?" Gilbert shouted.

The figure paused. For a heartbeat, nothing. Then a quiet laugh slipped through the mask.

"Bond. James Bond."

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