Shifting the quiver is such a hard and annoying job that I am cursing myself about why I had it set up in the first place. I was certainly exaggerating a bit when I said that it would have taken me a week to shift it. Still, it is going to take me a better part of a day to complete.

  Now, I am sure that you must be curious as to why I am doing this right now. I originally had no plan to mess with the quiver. I don't want to speak about it too much, (you never know who is reading these logs.) but I have a trap planned that will be able to take care of all the creatures attacking us.

  The single day that I took to rest worked wonders in ways that I had not expected it to. The next day, my thoughts were so light that I completed my string of water in a matter of five days. This is the fastest that I have inscribed a conjuration spell. (A basic spell like fireball would take me half a day for reference.)

  It might be my greatest achievement but overall, it has been a waste of time. We did try to use it a couple of days ago, but Shamon was not doing it justice when he told me that the creatures were going to be dedicated. When he said that they would have no other thought in their head, I assumed them to be mindless drones.c

  Now, the creatures are anything but mindless. A bit dumb maybe, but certainly not mindless. That is how they managed to screw with us in the first place. The damn beasts are using the corpses of their fellow troops to create a pile of corpses right on the wall.

  The first thing that they had done when they had done when they reached this place was to dig up the corpses of their fallen brethren. With the ice preserving their corpses, most of these bodies were intact.

  I think the creatures were originally trying to break open the flaw in the southern wall by launching the corpses at it. (It is kind of like the magic that they used for that ice spike. Instead of the spike, they launched the corpses. I seriously need to see how they are doing that.) With the iron skin, the gate can easily handle damage like that. (Even the ice spike, which is strong enough to freeze me to death only managed to make a crack in the wall.)

  Once the pile grew larger from their multiple attempts, the damn beasts realized that they could simply climb onto the wall. Once the beasts began to climb it, there was no way to stop them anymore. All of this happened during the time that I was busy inscribing the spell. If I was there at the battlefield I would have been able to delay this pile from forming. (I do not know of any magic that would have obliterated a pile of corpses, but a formation mage always has his ways, even if he does not know it at the moment.)

  By the time that I had entered into the fray, the ice beasts had already begun to climb the walls. Thankfully, just in this process of climbing it many of these creatures slip and fall to the ground. Many do not even rise. They just get added to the corpse pile which has completely covered the southern gate by now.

  Here I have understood the frenzy that these creatures can display. The instant that they are on the wall, they begin to bite and scratch at the soldiers. This they do even at the cost of their lives. An icebeast could have a spear in its heart and still, it will keep trying to take down the man that has speared it.

  Thankfully, at a time only three to four of these creatures manage to make it on the wall. That number has been growing steadily since the corpse pile has been growing. I have tried to help out the soldiers as much as I can. Most of the spears that I throw only end up adding more bodies to the pile.

  Similarly, I can't help out the soldiers for fear of friendly fire. Already the soldiers are dropping like flies. The ballista is very powerful and could have helped out a bit in the battle but ever since the melee has begun it has lain there useless. Manifesting it would have been too costly for the returns it would have given.

  Meanwhile, my soldiers have been facing some very serious losses. I have stopped counting our losses but we have dipped below fifty soldiers at the last count. At least we did not try and escape to the frozen peak. We would have been ripped apart on the plains.

  As for what I am doing at this moment, that would be two things. Physically I am in the watch tower, slowly but steadily shifting the quiver. At the same time, I have been focussing my attention on monitoring the remaining three sides of the fort.

  After all, it is clear that most of the soldiers have been concentrated on the southern wall. Rather than trying to help out in that crowded area, I am making sure that we don't end up being ambushed. The way that I am doing so is quite creative.

  I am linked with the formation core as I send the mana strings into the iron skin surrounding the fort. As long as a creature steps on the iron skin I should be able to tell their presence. It is a pretty advanced version of formation control, one that I have barely begun to use in general like this. This is better than me purely using my mana sense. It is pretty exhausting, but I should be able to pull this for half a week more at least.

  It is a more advanced version of the mana echolocation, except in this case, I am making use of water mana from the formation. Even I am surprised that worked. Controlling mana from a mana core without a formation to help you is supposed to be very hard. I have to admit that it is another achievement for me. I am just not sure if it is enough.

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  My warning system is not particularly precise. Still, it would warn me if any of the large groups were to reach anywhere close to the wall.

  (Almost a day later.)

  I have been patrolling for quite a while now. The situation has stabilized somewhat, though it is clear we are about to lose.

  Most of the soldiers are still pretty active but with the drowsiness of a person who has not slept for a week. That means that the pressure on the soldiers has reduced quite a bit. The soldiers are resting in groups of five. They rest for a couple of hours, sleeping a sleep that could have rivaled mine at the beginning of this mess and then return to fight.

  Well, The losses on our side have been quite heavy yesterday. I am sure that we do not have more than forty soldiers now. The attacking horde needs to be destroyed. I don't think that we will be able to survive a day in this place for long otherwise.

  Well, I decided not to distract Shamon from the southern gate until now. It has been quite a brutal fight, based on what I have seen. Still, it will not take me particularly long to reach him. He is presently resting in one of the rooms closer to the southern gate. Thankfully, the ice beasts have not tried an ambush from another location. I have to admit that I have been slacking in my patrolling. Well, if they were to attack I do not have any way of killing them. After all the ballista is not in a position where I can use it right now and quiver is also out of my reach now.

  By the way, I am already in the man's room, just waiting for him to complete whatever he is doing. Shamon is not in a very presentable state. (He is the soldierly type. They seem to be particular about this type of stuff.) He has the look of a man that has reached the very edges of his ability to think. The last couple of days have been quite exhausting for this man. Not that I am surprised, I have never seen a fight like this.

  He is at the moment sitting in the corner of the room, trying to meditate based on what I can tell. He is struggling with that the way he is twitching about. It can happen when you have too many thoughts in your head. I twitch similarly while meditating when my master gives me a difficult formation to inscribe.

  "Well, you are in quite a bind, aren't you shamon?", I speak, sitting next to him. That breaks his meditation in an instant.

  "Captain, well the last couple of days have not been very good for my heart. Regardless, I hope that you have a solution to our present problems. Even I am surprised that we have managed to hold against the beasts for so long.", Shamon says. "If these creatures were a bit smarter about their suicidal charge, we would have fallen already. Heck, I tremble to think what our situation would be if one of the troop leaders were leading them."

  "Well, I have a solution but it is going to be quite risky.", I begin. "I want to set a trap for the beasts."

  "There is no place to set a trap in this region, unless", Shamon speaks, realization hitting him like a battering ram.

  "Well, it is a bit of a risk but right now what other options do you have? Letting them in and killing them here is infinitely easier than trying to hold out like this. The beasts might have slowed down due to exhaustion but your soldiers are also one step from the grave. They are already being slaughtered by the dozen.", I tell him.

  "What about the troop leaders?", he speaks. "The troop leaders will be able to slaughter everybody here if we were to open our doors. Even you won't be able to fight three leaders, regardless of how exhausted they are."

  "Well, have you noticed the troop leaders anywhere, shamon.", I reply. " I have been monitoring the place for two days now. I have not felt their mana anywhere nearby."

  "Well, I guessed as much." The man speaks. "The troop leaders would already be attacking us, captain. With how strained we are, their attack would be enough to break the defense. I don't why but they must have retreated. Maybe the snowlord leading them feels like they have wasted enough already here. Then there is a chance that we can let them into the fort."

  "Well, then my trap will have a pretty good chance of working.", I reply. "If we manage to take care of the troop. Even in the worst case, we would be able to run away. If it is only three troop leaders, I will be able to protect you people while retreating. Unless you want to sink with the ship?"

  "That is not a problem, the fort can fall for all I care if we can live for another day. The problem is with the ice beasts. They are not particularly smart beasts, but they still tend to have very sharp instincts. If we were to suddenly open the gates after holding them off for so long, they would feel something wrong even if they are not able to specify what." He tells me.

  "Well, I can try and mimic a natural break of the gate. It would make sense with the number of corpses piled over it. It will take me some time to redirect the iron skin in that area, but after that, the gates will be quite fragile. Will that be enough to fool these beasts?", I ask him.

  "Well, I guess that could work. I honestly cannot predict with their leaders dead." Shamon speaks, "Regardless, how are you planning to trap these creatures, is it one of your formations? Maybe that ballista of yours."

  “There is a long tunnel near the east gate, which is meant to connect the armory to the living quarters," I speak. "It should be relatively close enough to the south gate so those creatures are pretty likely to follow us if they were baited inside. That is where I plan to strike the creatures.“

  “Well, we are entering into a state where we need desperate solutions. What you are asking is quite risky. To let the enemy into the fort will ensure that we will end up at their mercy if it doesn't work.“, he declares. “There is also the issue of the creatures falling into the trap. How likely is that?“

  “Well, I have not thought that far ahead to be frank. Still, get them into that tunnel and I will make sure not one of these creatures will manage to leave that tunnel alive. You just worry about baiting them.“, I reply.

  “Well, I think that might be possible, but it is still a big gamble.“, he speaks up. “If we do not end up killing them all, it is going to be a very difficult melee. Still, we might have a minor advantage in the tunnels. It is better than fighting them on walls at least.“

  "Figure out a way to get these creatures inside while I prepare the trap. I will manage the part of killing them.", I command him, feeling quite weird as I set the man's tasks. "As for the exact trap...........