There was still one problem, the soldiers. Obviously I could not trust the men who had accompanied Karl. But what about my soldiers? They had not given me any reason to doubt them, but after being stabbed I was a bit paranoid. Then again, they could have attacked me during the goblin attack.

"Squad, I trust you." I decided. They looked relieved as I told my goblins to stand down.

"Thank you, ma'am." Finn said.

"Oh, I do have some students with me. It might be dangerous for them. Maybe your soldiers can help keep them safe?" Cassie suggested.

I nodded. "Ok." Then I addressed Karl's squad: "You might all be innocent but I can't trust you right now. That means you will stay here, under guard. I will have 6 goblins watch over you. Do not attack them, do not flee, just stay here and you will be fine. I will collect you later."

I turned towards my soldiers. "Squad, keep the students safe. We will march towards the explosions and investigate. The zombies will do most of the fighting. If anything happens, retreat towards the camp with the students." I ordered.

It was a tricky situation. Cassie was responsible for the students in her care. But she was trustworthy and I wanted her as backup. We could not leave the students with the suspicious soldiers either. Ignoring the explosion would be bad as well, I was responsible for keeping the area safe after all.

Bringing the potential traitors with us could be a disaster. They could warn whoever might have planned the ambush. So having them here under guard might be the best solution. Hopefully I made the right call.

We moved quickly towards the explosion. The smoke indicated there was a fire but it did not seem too big. Sadly both of my scouts were still in the field, I could have used them right now. I wondered if one of them was investigating the explosion as well.

As we drew nearer I could see the site of the incident. A bunch of bushes had been trampled by something. There was a trail leading deeper into the forest. A tree had fallen and was smoking. There was no fire anymore, but smoking embers remained on the forest floor. I could also see two people in student uniforms.

"Zombies!" A woman shouted.

"Wait, they are not attacking!" A man replied.

I was expecting an ambush, but the students could be part of the bait. My undead were spreading out, looking for anyone hiding. Our soldiers were in the back, protecting Cassie's group. She was with me, and the cats were right next to us. Carefully we approached the two.

"Hello! I am Koyuki, a 2nd year student in charge of a squad of soldiers. Who is your commander?" I shouted from some distance away.

"He is chasing the beast! A monster attacked, it was huge! I caused some explosions but I am not sure what happened inside the smoke. Our commander pursued the monster but I stayed with Jim, he was hurt."

Now that we were closer I got a good look at the student. The woman who had been talking was covered in ash. Her black hair was a mess. She was helping a limping man. He looked a bit old for a first year student.

"I have never seen any of them before." Cassie said.

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"Me neither, but I haven't spent a lot of time with the first years…" I replied.

"I mean, it's not like I studied everyone on the trip. But I can tell you I haven't seen any of them. Although they are a bit dirty, I suppose…" Cassie mused. We had stopped approaching and stood about 30 metres away from them.

"Hey, Kim, come here!" Cassie shouted towards her own students.

"I demand some respect!" He shouted as he jogged over to us.

"Do you know any of those two?" Cassie asked, ignoring his complaint.

"No. They are not students. Look at them! Look at the hands! Filthy peasant hands." Kim sneered.

"We are students! We are from Shin's team!" The woman complained.

Kim snorted. "I think stealing an academy uniform is a crime. We should punish them!" He drew his sword.

"Kim, go back to the others!" Cassie ordered him. He glared at her.

"Careful, they might have ranged attackers, keep your shields up." I whispered to Cassie and Kim, while covering myself with a water shield.

"Surrender, or face the consequences!" I told the fake students.

Suddenly I heard a roar from the forest.

"See, we were telling the truth!" The man said. Both of them were slowly getting closer.

"Zombies, grab them." I ordered.

The man was no longer limping and drew a sword. Fire appeared in the woman's hand and shot towards me. My barrier held.

Cassie lobbed a potion at them. It collided with a fire shield and exploded. One of my zombies was too close and got blasted away. Sadly, our enemies remained unharmed. But that was not the only problem. The ground started to shake as a monster approached. The source of the roar.

It looked like a bear but was the size of an elephant. It had red glowing eyes. The left half of its face looked withered. A piece of flesh was missing from its head and we could see a part of the skull peeking out.

"That is a big zombie." I said.

Nyx licked her lips. Kasai jumped on Nyx' back. Then they charged. The bear tried to hit the felines with a paw but Nyx avoided it with ease. Then she jumped on its back. The bear was big, but not very nimble. It turned its head, trying to bite the cat. Nyx shrunk and kept dodging. Meanwhile, Kasai jumped directly onto the head. Her claws dug into the remaining flesh, then she opened her mouth. A concentrated stream of fire emerged, straight into the skull. Was she trying to melt a hole through the bone?

"Shit." The enemy mage said, while looking at the brawl. The man pulled a potion from his belt.

I readied my shield in response. I was focusing on defense. Cassie was not the best at it and I made sure to cover her and Kim as well. The student had failed to retreat as ordered. He had frozen when he saw the bear.

To my surprise, our enemy did not throw the potion at us. He dropped it in front of him and a cloud of smoke appeared. I prepared for a new attack, then I felt one of my zombies being destroyed. It had been approaching them from the rear. Were they running? I felt another one being cut down, slightly further away.

"Careful! They have left the smoke on the other side. I think they are fleeing but they could be flanking!" I warned, although they likely were fleeing. Sadly, my goblins lost track of them.

Meanwhile, the cats were still fighting the bear. His whole head was now engulfed in flames. He still tried to bite Nyx, who was running around his back. The bear was turning in circles while he tried to catch her. He was trampling a lot of bushes and two more trees fell as he collided with them. He also crushed one of my goblins, who was too slow to get out of the way.

"That is a pretty dumb undead." Cassie said, watching the bear.

"Yeah, but it is blocking our way if we want to pursue the mage. Or mages? Did the man cast any spells? Is he the necromancer?" I wondered.

My undead had not encountered anything else. Either the necromancer was watching from further away, or he was one of the two fake students. The smoke from the potion was clearing up but I could not see the fake students anywhere.

The ground shook as the bear collapsed. Kasai nimbly jumped from the corpse and landed right next to the head. Nyx was still on his back. She grew to her full size again, then unleashed a freezing mist on the skull.

"MEOW!" Kasai complained. The feline had been caught inside the spell and got wet. Nyx looked unapologetic.

The fire was out. The undead bear was now truly dead.

"How… how did the cats defeat such a monster?" Kim asked.

"It was big and strong. That has its uses. A bear like that could plow through a lot of soldiers. Especially if you armour it. You would also need to support it with regeneration. I bet stabbing it would not have been too effective but a burning potion might have done the trick as well. Honestly, that was a waste of an undead. If that had been a higher tier, it could have been formidable." I replied. "Also, if someone had stabbed me, it could have taken down my zombies. They did not have suitable weapons to deal with it. And if someone had given better commands it could have at least rolled on the ground to deal with Nyx on its back."

"Do you think they will be back?" Cassie asked.

"They could have reinforcements nearby. We should quickly search the area for anything they might have left behind, then retreat and report." I concluded.

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