Pandemonium. Like the reaper bringing down his scythe, it had suddenly swept across the encampment of survivors.

Sofia tightly hugged a rabbit doll close to her chest. She and her friends had been playing near one edge of the camp when the alarm was sounded. They had run off to find the adults, but Sophia had frozen up. The little girl whimpered as she’d found herself unable to move or even yell out for someone to notice her.

She just watched as on the far wall, a large crowd gathered. The Scouts with their bows synched up their shots as they loosed volley upon volley of arrows. At the same time, the Mages unleashed powerful and explosive attacks of their own.

But the explosions, yelling, and panic were all too much for her. It was just too close to what happened on the day she lost her mommy and daddy. Yet even as the other kids were gathered together and brought somewhere for hiding, none would remember to mention how she’d been left behind.

And with her in such an often forgotten area far away from everything else, nobody had run over. So all the little girl could do was watch from her spot as she remained like a trembling statue. At least for a while, it seemed like things might be okay as the denizens of the camp collectively pooled their strength together.

However, it didn’t take much longer before it all started to go wrong. The cacophony of Mana-based explosions were the first to die down as the Mages quickly drained through their Mana. Soon after, the Scouts also ran out and were unable to create more arrows.

The camp did have a supply of actual arrows that were manually made by hand. So they switched over to those as people started to run back and forth to resupply the archers.

But as the arrows were constantly being fired, even the stockpile they’d made was very quickly being used up. So it was only several minutes later that the last of hundreds of arrow volleys was let loose. And when the Scouts looked back for someone to give them more, they found instead themselves empty handed.

At that point was when they suffered the first casualties. One moment a group of people were working together to chuck large rocks off the wall. The next, a blast of ice magic hit them dead-on and partially flash froze them. The men and women of the camp yelled out with panic as the undead were then close enough for their own Skeleton Mages to assault them in kind.

Everyone on the wall was a valid target for the ice attacks. A Warrior tried to block a spell with his shield, but underestimated it and was frozen solid. Another man tried to get out of the way of a frosty blast. Yet it still caught his arm, which then shattered against the ground after he fell down. The once seemingly defensible perimeter had now become a death trap.

Sofia could only watch as things just continued to escalate from bad to worse. The screams and yelling from the people of the camp was soon drowned out by one noise. The rattling of countless bones as a seemingly never ending army of Skeletons started to breach the walls.

An awful screeching then began to pierce the air. Some Skeletons formed a pile that stacked on top of each other. Those at the top climbed over the pile and directly stepped onto the wall. While the Skeletons at the bottom simply just tried to mindlessly claw their way through the barricade.

A man covered in grime then ran toward the little girl. His eyes widened upon seeing Sophia, and her’s in turn became filled with tears. Someone had finally come for her! To save her and bring her to wherever the others were hiding!

But instead of grabbing the little girl, the man just shut his eyes and mumbled something that she couldn’t hear. And before Sophia even realized it, the man had already ran past her and reached the closest section of the wall. Where he even quickly climbed over it and jumped to the other side. Away from the side being breached by the horde of undead. And away from the camp that was currently being swarmed by their sheer numbers.

There was a harsh truth to the Apocalypse, where it was particularly brutal to the young children. While all of humanity had been given the gift of the System, it hadn’t done so equally. While little kids did have a Level and Stats like everyone else, they’d never received the option to pick a Class.

It had seemed that there was a cut-off for that critical feature. Where it appeared that only those at least in their early teens had quickly gotten the chance to choose their Class. But it meant that the people below that age were particularly helpless. Since on top of the disadvantages that being so young already carried in a changed world such as this, they couldn’t even use any Abilities.

Seeing the man run away caused something to snap inside the little girl. Of knowing how he had superpowers like all the other older people, unlike her. But he’d still decided to flee anyway even with those powers.

Clutching her rabbit even tighter, tears began to stream down her face. Yet even as Sophia started crying, that shift inside her spurred into movement. One moment she’d been locked in place and unable to move or even utter a single word. But seeing that man run away had ignited something deep inside her and allowed her legs to start going.

But Sohpia didn’t get far as she tried to run through the chaos. To try and find where her friends and all the other kids were being hidden. But the little girl didn’t get far as she heard something clang from off to the side. Startled, she tripped on her own foot and fell to the dirt.

She whimpered with pain as her arms slid against the dry ground. Sophia then turned as there was another clang of metal even closer now. Yet her blood immediately turned cold. A Skeleton dressed in crude armor was shambling straight for her.

Sophia screamed for her mother as she shut her eyes and curled into a ball. The undead raised a broadsword, aiming to split the little girl in two with just one swift attack. But before its blade was brought down, there was a whistle in the air. Then the thump of something heavy crashing into the ground.

“Come on, it isn’t safe here! Take my hand!”

Sophia opened her eyes, and they widened. She instantly recognized the person who’d just come to her aid. It was the new hero of the camp’s youth, Alex the Warrior.

—--

Alex surveyed the chaos as the camp had fallen into disarray. He’d just finished taking away the little girl and dropping her off at the entrance of the hidden bunker.

It was an underground hideout that they’d been digging out for the last couple of weeks. And if it was ever compromised, they’d also dug an escape tunnel from it to an exit point further out from the camp. For now though, it was still the safest place for the children and anyone else that couldn’t fight.

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He looked to those he’d just gathered by sweeping through the camp to organize them. A squad of teens who had their weapons ready for the battle before them. Once they were just the Level 10 greenhorns that were led by Jaco for their first real expedition. Now they were a team of battle hardened fighters that had learned to not blink even in the face of a charging group of undead.

As a team, they were used to going farther into the city and its dangers than most other scavengers dared. So while they were all tense from the ongoing chaos of the invading horde, the teens maintained discipline as they awaited directions from their leader.

“Listen up! As of right now, things aren't as bad as they appear! For the moment, the horde is still mostly being contained near the front! But that balance could change at any second as more keep pouring in! Evelyn! I want you and two others to make a sweep around the area! I already found one straggler, so there’s likely more!” Alex barked. With the current level of noise all around, he had to yell for them to even hear him.

“The rest of you are with me! We’re going to go straight for the wall to help lock it back down! Let’s move!”

With that order, the teens set out. One smaller team of three broke away to fulfill their task of checking for any undead that managed to slip past the frontline. While the rest of them under Alex went out to act as reinforcements for those defending the perimeter.

Even with the chaos of people running around, they remained a tightnit unit while navigating through it. When they soon arrived at the front, Alex didn’t waste any time as he jumped straight into the fray.

Most of the undead were just the typical riff raff of basic Skeletons. Those he could leave to the other defenders, especially as more and more Warriors and Martial Artists were arriving to help. Initially, it had mostly just been the Scouts and Mages manning the wall due to their ranged prowess. But now that the fight had broken into a melee, those who made it their specialty were now answering the call to join the battle.

So what Alex instead focused on were the stronger Skeleton Warriors. Even with their recently gained Levels, those weren’t something that most of the defenders could handle yet. They just didn’t have the experience necessary to fight foes that actually had powerful Ability-like attacks of their own.

Sword and shield in hand, the teen became a whirlwind of undead destruction. With every swing of his blade, bones went flying as a Skeleton met its final end. His gaze then became laser-focused on a Skeleton Warrior as it entered his vision.

Alex raised his blade and swung it down to release a horizontal Slash. The arc of cutting force tore its way through every undead in its path. His target tried to raise its own shield in a bid to block the attack. But it barely made a difference as his Slash easily tore through its defenses like a hot knife through butter.

Behind him, his team spread out to do whatever they could in each spot where the help was most needed. Thanks to the challenges that came with regularly venturing into the city, they were prepared for this. When it came to handling sudden battles with large groups of undead, Alex’s team was a well-oiled machine.

With a section of undead mostly taken care of, Alex made the decision to take a step back and allow others to handle what was left. Like his team, his focus needed to be on the hotspots. But as he made his way to another section of the perimeter, something got to the next undead before him.

A ball of Mana flew through the air above them and the Skeleton Warrior in their midst. And when it reached the space in the middle, it exploded into a shower of smaller bolts. Each one tore through the ranks of undead, while several slammed into the Warrior and quickly overwhelmed it.

“Alex!” a voice yelled out. He turned to the source and saw Sam quickly making her way toward him.

“Sam!” He hurriedly made his way to her in turn. The Mage’s robes were covered in bits of frost and mud, but she otherwise seemed unharmed.

“Things went to Hell right after we got hit by a volley of ice! What’s the current situation?!” Sam loudly asked.

“We’re containing most of the undead here at the front so far! As long as the wall itself holds up, it actually isn’t that bad while only so many can come in at a time! So for the time being, we just need to focus on regaining control and getting things stabilized!” he quickly explained.

But it was then that a set of guttural, inhuman screams rang across the perimeter. They both turned to see that a group of several Ghouls had arrived. They’d just smashed through the weakest link of the wall, the hastily made barricade blocking the front entrance. Circling in the air above them was well over two dozen Sirens.

Both Alex and Sam both cursed. While the elites of the camp could handle Ghouls, that was by no means true for the average member. It looked like this battle wasn’t going to end well for them anytime soon.

—--

Jaco had just admitted that they were currently lost in the forest. But he wasn’t too worried about it. Since as far as problems went, this was one that could be pretty handedly solved with magic.

“Now the good news,” Jaco continued before Evelyn could reply. “Is that there’s actually a pretty easy way for us to get unlost. So just wait right here for one second.”

“Wait? Wait for wha-” Evelyn started to ask. But she was interrupted as the form of the man before her quickly began to shift.

His body shrunk down as his clothes were exchanged for feathers. The Druid’s arms turned into a pair of wings, and his feet became a set of talons. Within just a few seconds, a hawk stood where Jaco had just been. Eveyn’s eyes widened as her mouth gaped at the sudden transformation. Yet before the surprised redhead could say anything else, the hawk spread its wings and rapidly shot upward.

Jaco couldn’t help himself from internally smirking just a little. Not counting that guy from the Chosen Few, Evelyn was the first human who’d get to see the new Ability of his Class Evolution. And it was always a nice feeling to show off, just from time to time.

Anyway, he flew past the top of the forest and continued to fly higher up. The world below became small and distant as Jaco ascended into the sky. Yet he didn’t go too far up.

That was a lesson already learned from when he first played around with his hawk form. He’d once tried to fly high enough to get into the orange-red clouds that acted as a neverending ceiling during the Apocalypse. Jaco had hoped to fly past the clouds and get above. Just so that he could see the sun again for the first time in nearly two months.

But Jaco never quite made it to that point. Before he even reached the clouds, his gut instincts started to warn him of an impending sense of doom. And as he flew a bit higher past that initial sense, that feeling had only continued to grow louder and stronger. It was then that the Druid decided not to test fate by pushing it any further. So it was with some regret that his hope of seeing the sun again was put away for the time being.

The Druid still didn’t know what the actual cause was that triggered his instincts. As the simple curiosity of finding out didn’t quite seem worth the unknown dangers involved. So with that in mind, there was a limit to the height he could safely fly at.

Jaco scanned the horizon as he flew around. His hawk vision allowed him to quickly ascertain their surroundings. With the tall towers of the giant fortress in the city as an easily spotted landmark, he was swiftly able to orient himself.

Let’s see here. If the fort is right there, then the camp should be this way. So I should only need to fly a bit before being able to see its outline and confirming that, he thought to himself.

It didn’t take him long before he flew over to a point where the camp should have entered his sight. Yet instead of just spotting the encampment and then flying back down to Evelyn, Jaco’s wings stuttered mid-flap. It took the Druid a moment just to fully process what he was seeing.

Oh no! Shit! Jaco cursed. The camp itself was barely visible as it was being buried. Columns of smoke were rising from it and into the sky.

From this far away, it looked like it was being covered by a swarm of grey ants. But he was quickly able to recognize it as a horde of undead, and a rather large one at that. He couldn’t even begin to count just how many there were in total. But the actual number didn’t truly matter in the face of what was happening. There would be no time for him to waste. They needed to get over there as soon as possible.

Because the camp was under attack.