"Hark, Borz, go!" echoed Ascalon's etherealized voice in the thoughts of all those wearing a white ribbon, including the headless old man sitting at the makeshift chair inside his wooden shack, arms crossed over his aged chest, while the other villagers guarded his door.

But the two beastkin were already on the move, their war parties consisting of 17 members each, straying to the side.

The Kobold, Hark, and his party of wretches dashed to the left, heading somewhere near the center of the vast, coffin-shaped Cemetery of the Damned to retrieve Nando's head first.

They would then retreat a bit closer to the others and dig a target grave where another bladeborn like them was buried.

The raid party of the Vorgr, Borz, on the other hand, was tasked to dig at least two graves, three if the situation allowed, somewhere around the right side — far, but closer to the cemetery entrance Daru first entered from.

Thrad and Aesyn's parties continued sprinting behind the top-ranker cohort.

Their target locations were somewhere still ahead, and until the vanguard passed the area, the plan was for those remaining to stick together.

The advance was swift and ferocious.

However, it was by no means smooth, as it was simply impossible to hide the presence of their small army and sneak around, especially not when they're going around digging graves like immoral bandits.

Ashen Cleaners and Twisted Custodians would call for reinforcements the moment they spotted the advancing Damnedlings of Egress.

Then, after gathering a wraith cohort of three or four members, they would charge and try to stop the abominable invaders.

Dealing with one or two cohorts simultaneously was manageable.

But there were times they had to fight three at once — at one point even four.

Inevitably, the Damnedling Army's momentum was stopped, and they had to deal with their opponents first before advancing again.

The resistance was fierce, but not unwelcome.

According to the previous knowledge shared by the old man, the wraiths of the cemetery were unkillable.

What he meant when he said they would be reducing their numbers was that, with every kill, the Gravewarden would have to use his powers to restore them, thus weakening the supposedly ineffable abomination…in some way they didn't exactly know.

The recovery process wasn't instantaneous, either, apparently lasting two to three hours depending on the extent of the damage.

This was why the wretches of Egress would always take their time to destroy the bodies of the wraiths thoroughly, to advance their side cause of weakening the Gravewarden.

After all, they would have to eventually face the abomination and kill it in battle.

There was simply no other way around it.

Done with further mangling the corpses of the fallen wraiths by ruthlessly slicing and dicing their severed limbs, the vanguard cohort proceeded, and the two raid parties soon followed.

From the western metal fences, they've traveled quite a few kilometers into the cemetery, and naturally, more and more opponents had been alerted by now.

The wraiths were far more sentient than mere Lost Damnedlings, after all, or at least their instincts were more complex, and their response to each situation varied.

The bony abominations had a basic level of logic and intelligence, at the very least.

For example, if there were too many enemies, they know it would be dumb to charge alone, and so they would call for reinforcements first.

They then learned that a group of three or four was not enough to stop the invaders, and so they attempted eight, then twelve, then sixteen.

If only enough reinforcements were immediately available nearby, the Egress Army would've been surrounded by the wraiths already.

So, now that the enemies know that the invaders couldn't be taken down by a small group, the Damnedlings had some time.

They were able to advance without enemies for a while.

Eventually, Aesyn's raid party split from the main group, too, then Thrad's, leaving the trio of top-rankers still advancing to draw the attention of the enemy.

The role Ascalon assigned to Daru could be considered contradictory to how worried he was for his safety.

However, the SS-ranker believed it was safer for their savior to go with him and Lesha, despite their roles being the most dangerous.

This way, they, the strongest bladeborns of the Egress Army, would be able to personally watch out for his safety.

The three continued forth under the SS-ranker's lead.

Then they came to a halt, reactions varying at the approaching enemies.

Part of their plan was to throw off the basic level of thinking the wraiths were capable of.

This would allow them to fight the bony horrors in manageable numbers.

Since they were a large group earlier, the wraiths of the cemetery had to wait for reinforcements, but now that there were only three of them, the enemies in the distance were compelled to move.

Two Ashen Cleaners, two Twisted Custodians, and one Accursed Soulcatcher hissed and screeched as they charged towards the vanguard cohort.

Ascalon and Lesha gulped, looking at each other and nodding.

It was quite a pity that their abyssal eyes couldn't reflect the duo's valiant resolve.

"I'll handle th–"

Before the cherry blossom-haired SS-ranker could finish his words, however, a pale golden blur dashed past him, en route to meet the elite among the wraiths in a duel.

A hint of fury borne of deep worry flared in Ascalon's heart.

Unfortunately, there was no time to reprimand the reckless newcomer, as the Ashen Cleaners and the Twisted Custodians were upon them.

Two dull and one ear-piercing clangs sounded almost simultaneously as the vanguard cohort engaged their enemies.

Lesha was naturally slightly worried, but far from the extent of Ascalon's.

She had crossed swords with Daru and felt that he at least wouldn't lose too quickly in a duel against the elite wraith, if at all.

There was even a fair chance he would emerge victorious.

The SS-ranker, on the other hand, was barely suppressing a curse, fully knowing that if he did so, he would be affecting the mental states of the other members of their little army negatively.

Ascalon could only redirect his frustrations to the two Ashen Cleaners in front of him.

Like so, the vanguard cohort's role as a distraction began.

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