Would you like to Combine the Psychic Skills; Syphon, Material Breakdown, Organic Breakdown, Yes or No?
Anton looked at the Notification again and pulled up his skill list. He had no other skills that synergized with those three. Syphon was skill level 20, but Material Breakdown and Organic Breakdown were only skill level 1. There wasn’t much of a chance of a new skill gaining any bonuses from the levels, but he needed something that worked a little faster and could also replenish his Psychic Energy so it wasn’t like he had a lot of choices.
Anton chose “Yes.”
Combine
Syphon – Level 20
Material Breakdown – Level 1
Organic Breakdown – Level 1
Total Skills: 3
SYSTEM Assist activated
Cost: 300,000 Credits
Cost Paid.
…
…
…
Hijacker of Divinity Title found; New Skill Adjusted
Pseudo Undead Perk found; New Skill Adjusted
Annihilate Life Perk found; New Skill Adjusted
Anti-Mage Ability found; New Skill Adjusted
SYSTEM Assist activated
Cost Adjustment: 1,000,000 Credits per Title applied.
Cost Adjustment: 1,000,000 Credits per Perk applied.
Cost Adjustment: 10,000,000 Credits per Ability applied.
Total Adjusted Cost: 13,300,000 Credits
Remaining Credits: 919,596 Credits
Skills Combined.
Calculating Results
New Skill Created!
You have discovered the Legendary Skill: Assimilation,
Assimilation
You may assimilate almost anything and Convert it to Psychic Energy, including mana.
Note that the Energies and Materials of the Higher Magical Sphere, Proper, are anathema to you. Should you try to assimilate such energies or materials, the results will be catastrophic.
Assimilation may be utilized in multiple ways.
First - You may assimilate anything within your Assimilation Field. Your Assimilation Field is a radius in inches equal to your Willpower Attribute centered on your physical body. The Rate of the breakdown is equal to one cubic foot equal to the cube root of your willpower plus one per skill level. Every cubic foot absorbed generates one Psychic Energy. You may filter out various materials as desired.
Second - You may absorb magical items within your Assimilation Field. The amount of Psychic Energy added is variable but follows these basic rules.
Basic or Common Rarity Magic Item: 10 PE
Scarce Rarity Magic Item: 20 PE
Rare Rarity Magic Items: 30 PE
Advanced Rarity Magic Items: 100 PE
Master Rarity Magic Items: 200 PE
Epic Rarity Magic Items: 1,000 PE
Legendary Items and Higher: Assimilation of Legendary or higher rarity Magic Items cannot be predicted.
Third - Upon Touch, you may absorb energy directly from any living target. Magical Defenses are useless against this attack. Technological defenses that prevent physical contact will thwart this attack: Thick metallic armor, Force fields, and the like. Simple clothing, such as shirts, underwear, and even thin Jackets, will not prevent this attack.
Upon a successful attack, you may remove a number of resources from your target equal to your skill level plus your willpower attribute bonus. Resources are removed in the following order: Psychic Energy, Mana, Stamina, and finally, Hit Points. Once Hit Points are reduced to zero, the target dies.
Fourth – Your status as Pseudo-Undead can be leveraged against the Undead. You may attack any undead within your Assimilation Field. Unlike the assimilation of living targets, personal physical contact is not required to assimilate the undead.
You may remove a number of resources from your target equal to your skill level plus your willpower attribute bonus. Resources are removed in the following order: Psychic Energy, Mana, Stamina, and finally, Hit Points. Once Hit Points are reduced to zero, the undead's link to the material realm is severed, and the creature is destroyed.
Fifth – You may Assimilate Magical attacks, Shields, and Effects.
Note: This aspect of Assimilation will not work on the Higher Magic: Proper.
With a thought, you may assimilate any spell that enters your Assimilation field. You gain an amount of Psychic Energy equal to the Spell level of the Magic.
Sixth – You may assimilate corpses. Corpses are defined as those beings that have died within one day. Corpses may be instantly assimilated and provide Psychic Energy equal to their physical weight. After the residual energies of the soul have fled, approximately one day has passed, and a corpse is treated as physical material for purposes of Assimilation; Psychic energy generated is based on cubic feet being assimilated instead of weight.
Anton wanted to try out his new skill. At skill level 1, he could only absorb up to 1,008 resource points every 10 seconds. The target's willpower would reduce that, but it was a start. Most of that initial amount that he could assimilate came from his willpower attribute. Still, he wanted to improve it because this would be the staple of recovering his resource pool. Anton opened his skill tab and dedicated 518 Psychic Skill Points to his skill Assimilation.
You have increased Assimilation to Skill level 2
You have increased Assimilation to Skill level 3
~
You have increased Assimilation to Skill Level 31
Anton smiled. Now, he could try out his new skill. He targeted the dead Nagians around him. Anton reached out with his new skill and activated Assimilation. That’s when he received his first shock. Nowhere in the new skill did it say he could only assimilate one thing, so he hadn’t thought to target just one. He was sure he could have targeted only one; he just hadn’t bothered. Instead, Anton assimilated all of the dead Nagians at the same time. Each of the giants weighed over 1,000 pounds. The Nagian with the Giant Arrow sticking through his head was back by the Universal Gate, so he was outside of his range but the four soldiers and the archer were within range.
Anton assimilated the five Nagians simultaneously. Energy flooded into. A lot of energy. 6,111 Psychic Energy, to be exact. The Mage had brought him back up to 1,287 of his 2,143 PE maximum. 6,111 points of Psychic Energy raised his Psychic Energy to 8,685, or 6,542 more Psychic Energy than he could hold.
Psychic Energy was not Magic. He was not immune to it. As the energy flooded into his body, the amount was far more than he was used to. It was 405% more energy than his mind was prepared to hold. Anton focused his incredible willpower on holding his mind together, but he knew that it would last a long time. He focused his will on holding it together. He had to get away. Caitlyn was far too close.
Anton moved
They were in the middle of a field about a half mile north of the hangar. A tree line off to the east looked like it might shield Caitlyn and the hangar. He could make it.
Anton did NOT, in fact, make it.
He thought about activating Specter but realized that if he shifted his focus, all the energy would be released. He decided to run. His maximum running speed was about 302 miles per hour. That was just around 441 feet per second. That was exactly how far away from Caitlyn he was able to get before his ability to hold onto the excess Psychic Energy failed. Even with his incredible Willpower, he could not hold onto a ball of energy that was four times more than he’d ever held onto before. The energy slipped out of his control and detonated.
Later, Anton would learn that In the microsecond of his failure, the energy equivalent to a small nuclear bomb detonated at his location. Everything within eight feet was atomized. As the energy wave pulsed out, it burned Caitlyn for 34 points of energy damage. Luckily, she had over 200 hit points, so it didn’t hurt her that much. The energy burst was followed by a pressure wave that knocked her away from the center of the explosion. As she tumbled away, she was able to cartwheel herself into the air, expand her wings, and ride the pressure wave up and away from the ground until she hovered over 1,000 feet from the center of the explosion.
The hangar, which was over a half mile away, had all of its windows shattered, but the people there were able to survive the pressure wave with little effort. Some of the personnel near the back or on the roof were affected when they were knocked off their feet and received minor cuts and bruises. Most of those inside the hangar survived the explosion without incident.
As Anton opened his eyes, he felt like he was waking up from a very long nap. He was sure he’d been asleep for quite a while. He looked around and found himself floating above a giant hole in the ground. Anton immediately knew that he was in his Specter form. He was having a little bit of a problem reconciling his death and where he was now, though.
Anton ignored the Notifications populating his vision and scrolled them back. He backtracked until he found the Notification he was looking for, which had one right after it that explained what had happened.
You have Died!
Psychic Energy has reached zero.
Your Spiritual form has dispersed.
Spiritual Form has dispersed? How long had he been dispersed? Anton looked around. He was floating over a crater that was at least 500 feet in diameter. Luckily, his Psychic Energy regeneration was up to three per second without Battle Meditation, so he was able to extend his time as a Specter as he pulled up his internal clock and checked to see how long he’d been dispersed. The Description of Specter said that he should only be dispersed for an hour, but he had a feeling he’d been gone longer, especially since it looked like it was the middle of the day and he’d been fighting the Giant Humans around the middle of the night.
Anton looked toward the Hangar and paused in shock. Where the hangar had been, buildings had been erected, and a wall had been raised that ran down the runway to the Southeast and Southwest. The Hangar was not visible behind the wall, and it was gone. He could see some buildings sitting on the other side of the wall now.
Anton pulled up his Personal Status and looked for the tab to his Domain. There wasn’t one. He no longer controlled the domain of the Hangar. He looked through his notifications and discovered that Felix claimed it six days ago. Six days? He double-checked the time stamps of his notifications and noted that a day had passed between his death message and when Felix claimed the Hangar. That had been six days ago.
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Seven days. Had he been gone seven days? How the hell had he been gone seven days? Anton dove into his notifications, looking for answers. He found what he was looking for in his Event Log.
Excess Psychic Energy assimilated.
Psychic Energy Containment failure is imminent.
Psychic Energy has escaped containment.
Physical Body has been annihilated.
Specter Form has been dispersed explosively.
Spectral Form has been Fractured.
NOTE: Normal Dispersion of Spectral Form is an estimate of how long it will take the Spectral Form to reform if Psychic Energy is reduced to zero normally.
Fractured Spectral Forms reforming from dispersion may take longer
Estimated time for Spectral Form to reform: 168 hours.
Anton read the Event log and then grimaced. It seemed that losing control of his Psychic Energy was a terrible thing for him. He could recover his Psychic Energy much faster with Assimilation. Still, he had to be careful because if he absorbed too much Psychic Energy, it could destabilize and explosively disperse him. Why hadn’t his new skill automatically prevented him from doing that? He knew the answer, even as he asked himself the question. Because he’d wanted to.
Well, at least he’d taken down the Elemental Node Gems and closed the Universal Gate. Wait, the description had said the Node Gems were artifacts. Could he assimilate those gems? He’d have to look into that, later. Right now, he needed to check on Caitlyn, Felix, and his Sister. Hopefully, the rest of his family was still fine in North Dakota.
Anton remained in his Specter form as he moved over to the small Fort where the hanger had once sat. As he floated over the new wall, he noticed that all of the structures seemed to be of Earthen construction. The hangar was gone and had been replaced with a small two-story structure that looked like a barracks of some sort.
As he looked around the small fort, he noticed three other buildings that looked about the same, one at each corner of the walled fort, which wasn’t really that large. It was just a little over the three football fields long to the southeast and double that to the southwest. All the buildings within the walls of the fort looked to be made of concrete or stone. As he floated through the fort, he saw that the outer wall was also made of concrete and had a walkway along the top with various access points from inside the fort. There were soldiers all along the wall on all sides. At the center of each side of the fort was a set of iron doors that could easily fit a vehicle up to the size of a large truck through if needed.
The area this new fort occupied was much larger than he’d thought when he first saw it from over a half mile away. The tarmac where the Earth Node had resided, as well as the hole, was gone. The whole area where the runway had been now consisted of plots for crops where plants were already sprouting. Out in the fields, he could see people walking up and down the fields casting spells.
The Fort walls stretched from where the hanger had sat southwest to the highway right outside the base, where they turned Southeast, then back to the Northeast, and finally back to the building where the hangar once stood. Anton checked his map and noted that the whole area was listed as the Domain under Felix's control.
It wasn’t a large area, but Anton could see that the area had enough buildings to house at least 1,000 people. He floated around the fort as he looked for the new headquarters building because the building that replaced the hanger wasn’t it. Honestly, it was kind of hard to figure out which building acted as the central headquarters, which was probably a good thing from a tactical standpoint.
Eventually, he did notice a lot of foot traffic entering and leaving one building near the center of the fort at the crossroads point where the roads from each gate intersected. As he floated inside, he saw Pavo, the Supply Merchant, working on something in a corner while a line of people waited to access his Military Supply Node. As he’d done many times before, Anton activated Manifest and stepped into Pavo’s line of sight.
Pavo jumped and then started asking questions that Anton couldn’t hear. Anton took that as tacit permission to appear and deactivated Manifest and Specter.
“…Caitlyn has been looking for you. Not to mention your sister. Do you know how much she’s been pestering me?”
“Pavo!” Anton said with a raised voice to get him to pause his tirade of statements and questions before he went on, “I don’t know if I ever told you, but while I’m doing my ghost thing, I can’t hear anything going on. If you can use Sign Language, we can talk, but I can’t “hear” anything anyone is saying unless I become physical.”
“Oh, sorry,” Pavo said.
“Not an issue. I was wondering where Felix is?” Anton asked.
“Oh? You haven’t been a ghost the whole time and just watching us?” Pavo asked.
“Nope, I was, for lack of a better description, taking a nap. Felix?” Anton asked.
“Right, the new Headquarters is on the opposite corner of this intersection,” Pavo said.
“Also, how’d you all get his fort up so quickly? It’s only been seven days,” Anton asked.
“I’ll let Felix fill you in,” Pavo said, “We were all told to send you to him as soon as you made it back.”
“Okay, thanks. I better get going then,” Anton agreed.
Pavo nodded and pointed in the direction of the building he needed to walk to. Anton turned and walked out of the front of the building. Pavo’s Supply Building was on the South corner of the intersection. There were no vehicles, but people were walking up and down the street. Anton mingled in with the local foot traffic, walked across the street, and stepped into the building. As he stepped through, he saw a woman sitting at a desk.
“Welcome to headquarters. Can I help you, sir?”
“I’m looking for Felix or Caitlyn?” Anton replied as he noticed two guards that were looking at him from opposite corners of the waiting room.
“May I ask who’s calling?”
“Just let him know that Anton is back,” Anton said as he looked back out onto the street and watched the people going about their day. Now that he had taken the time to look around, he noticed that there seemed to be electricity present, as well as smoke coming from another larger building down the street, which carried a hint of cooked bacon on the wind. Bacon?
“Anton?” Felix asked from the doorway beside the receptionist.
Anton turned and smiled, “Looks like you’ve been busy.”
“And it looked like you died again,” Felix said with a smile, “Come on, we need to talk.”
Anton followed Felix down a very short hallway to a small office. Felix went to sit behind a small desk with a working computer on it. Felix gestured to the chair opposite him, and Anton sat down. Felix reached behind him, opened a miniature fridge, and pulled out two bottles of water. He tossed one to Anton and took a drink of his own. Anton opened his water and took a drink. He hadn’t been thirsty, but the water hit the spot, and before he knew it, half of the bottle was gone.
“Looks like you were thirsty,” Felix pointed out.
“Yeah, I just put myself back together. Haven’t eaten or drank anything since last week,” Anton agreed.
“Can I ask what happened?” Felix asked before he took another swig of his drink and sealed it before putting it back in the minifridge.
“Did Caitlyn let you know about combining powers?”
“Yeah.”
Anton shrugged self-deprecatingly, “Well, the skill I created works really well. And it didn’t come with a warning of what would happen when I used it.”
“A 500 foot crater?”
“Yeah, but hey, the bodies were gone before I exploded,” Anton said with a smile.
“Yeah, like that mattered.”
Anton coughed, “So where are Caitlyn and my sister?
“Caitlyn and a few other scouting teams have been searching the area for survivors and bringing them back to the fort or one of our other settlements north of here. We’re trying to stabilize the area. Eventually, everything in this fort is going to be moved north, but we only just started to fortify the housing up north two days ago.”
“How are you doing that so quickly?” Anton asked.
“Simple answer: magic. Longer answer: some of the people we saved decided to focus on Earth magic, and that has allowed them to shape the earth and concrete however they wish. The wall around the fort went up within a day, and the structures within, within the next two days.”
“How many Earth mages do you have now?”
“At least 20. Some people saw how useful it was and asked Caitlyn and your sister to ask the Goddess to bless them with the ability to learn the class.”
“That shouldn’t have required Divine intervention,” Anton pointed out.
“It didn’t, but Caitlyn and your sister did as requested. One good thing was that the Goddess granted them some new spells as soon as they devoted themselves to her. That has given us the ability to create what you saw when you came back.”
“Okay, and my sister?”
“Your sister and the rest of your family are up in the hospital we have created north of here at the center of the fortified housing area. Think of it as an expanding fortress with layers and layers of protection with the hospital and other primary resources at the center.”
“My family, how did you get them from North Dakota.”
“Amelia prayed for it?”
“She what?”
“She prayed for it about three days ago. A portal opened up, and everyone back there came through. Your dad said it was just in time, too. It seems that the military was canvassing the city and looking for any survivors.”
“So, is this base a bastion of the Goddess Keres now?”
“A lot of us have become her followers and received benefits, yes.” Felix said.
“I guess that’s fine.”
“It is, and it isn’t Felix said.
“It isn’t?” Anton asked.
“Yeah, the problem with following a Goddess in his new world is that all of the Gods and Goddesses are now competing for followers, and anyone that doesn’t follow their deity is a heretic! Add to that that the conviction you receive is doubled when you kill a follower of a different deity…yeah, it makes for a bit of a problem when we run into the followers of other deities.”
“Are you being attacked already?”
“Oh yeah, we have raiding parties attacking us almost every day. Some are coming from the west, but most are coming from the north.”
“Every day? I’ve only been gone seven days,” Anton said. “Where is my sister right now?”
“Your sister is at the main fortified settlement north of here near Dover Park. We have soldiers both here and there to protect our interests. The only reason we’re still here is because we’re recovering resources from the base,” Felix explained.
“I wouldn’t worry about that so much. As long as you have Pavo, you can replace or acquire anything you really need, like food, weapons, and armor.” Anton said.
“True, but we just want to be prepared. Ammunition supplies are unlimited, and the raiders are getting bold.
As if summoned, a claxon went off, and a radio on Felix’s desk squawked. “Distress flair from the Hospital!”
Felix looked at Anton and started talking very quickly, “Two and a half miles north. The hospital area is near where the Dover Housing Authority used to be. Just follow Highway 1 north until it starts to veer off to the west. There are a couple of streets of houses, but from above, you’ll see the forest as a copse of trees in the middle of the houses. Just north of those trees is the building that’s been transformed into a two-story building, the only one in that area that is now the defacto hospital. Also, you’ll see walls around it. Now go!
Anton didn’t have to be told twice. He activated Specter and sped north. As he flew over to the highway and turned north, he increased his altitude to around 500 feet off the ground. As he sped north, he checked his current energy levels. It had only been five minutes since he’d reformed. His Psychic Energy was back to just over 1,000, even without activating Battle Mediation. It would have to be enough.
As he stopped above the hospital and looked down, he saw a scene from The Walking Dead. There were zombies, lots of zombies. As he moved between the fortified areas, he noticed that there were also animal zombies and skeletons. Unfortunately, he couldn’t use his Analyze skill while in his specter form, so he had no idea what level any of the other undead were
Wait, if these were undead, that probably meant there was a magical Death node somewhere nearby. First things first, he needed to make sure his sister and the rest of his family were safe. From above, the hospital was easy enough to spot. Luckily, from what he could see, the zombies weren’t like the zombies depicted in World War Z. These were slow, shambling zombies. There were a lot, but it looked like the guards on the walls were able to keep them from breaking through the walls or climbing over them.
Undead, didn’t his new skill allow him to hit the undead from a distance? And he had Spectral Scream. He could Scream a couple of times and then recover his energy as long as he could limit the number of undead. He absorbed energy from Anton and looked for an area where there were only a few undead. Then he saw it. There was an overpass where the main highway went under White Oak Road.
Anton went under the overpass, out of sight but within range of a couple of zombies. Anton deactivated Specter. He could hear the zombies on White Oak Rd above him, crossing from the north side of the road to the south. They were starting to get backed up, but that was fine. If he screwed this up, he should be able to get at least 400 feet away before he exploded…hopefully. If this worked, though, he’d be able to use Spectral Scream multiple times before he drained one of the moving ones to replenish his Psychic Energy.
Anton reached out with Assimilate. His range was only 85 feet. As he reached out, he felt that there were six undead creatures within range. He chose one, only one, and activated Assimilate.
Assimilate Activated
Level 1 Zombie targeted
Possible Resource Assimilation 1,038
Psychic Energy Absorbed: 5
Mana Absorbed: 5
Stamina Absorbed: 100
Hit Points Absorbed: 6
Zombie killed
Assimilation Overflow initiated.
Zombie Physical body assimilated and converted: 160.
Total Psychic Energy assimilated: 276
Anton felt the zombie disintegrate and fall apart. Gaining 276 Psychic Energy would allow him to use Spectral Scream at least three times before he’d need to assimilate at least one Zombie to recharge. It was time to go to work. Anton moved up onto the road, looked into the horde of zombies, and activated Spectral Scream.
Warnings scrolled through his vision as time froze around him.
SYSTEM Amendment Initiated.
Psychic Skill Spectral Scream was deemed overpowered.
Adjustments initiated.
Psychic Energy Cost: 10 per skill level.
Effect: Fear effect removed. The base attack has been altered to an attack made up of sonic and spiritual energy.
Area of effect Range: Reduced to 100 feet, 90-degree arc in front of the user.
Damage: (½ Sonic, ½ Spiritual) One point of damage per skill level
A wave of sonic and spiritual energy springs forth from the Specter. All creatures and objects within the area take one-half of the damage dealt as physical damage. Living creatures find their spirit directly attacked, which effectively doubles the damage received.
Limitation: This skill may only be utilized once per Combat Turn (10 Seconds).
Additional Modification. The skill upgrade method has been modified. Skill progression is now based on the number of successful attacks, not the total amount of time used.
SYSTEM Changes Implemented
Anton watched as the wave of energy issued from him. A quick check showed that he’d only spent 80 Psychic Energy for the attack. He noticed the change in the attack immediately. Instead of wiping out everything within 1,000 feet, he only affected the undead in an area out to 100 feet. As he took this in, notifications started to scroll down his vision.
You have killed…
Before the notification could blind him, Anton flexed his will and set the information to summarize.
You have destroyed 90 Level 1 Zombies
You have destroyed 87 Level 1 Animal zombies
You have destroyed 93 Level 1 Skeletons
You have destroyed 67 Level 1 Animal Skeletons
You have destroyed 42 Level 2 Zombies
You have destroyed 21 level 2 Skeletons
You have earned 46,300 XP
You have earned 4,630 Conviction
Total Successful Attacks 1,240 (840 + 400)
Spectral Scream has increased to Level 9
As the summary left his vision, Anton noticed that the undead he’d attacked were dissolving into smoke and vanishing. These undead were very obviously summoned or spawned monsters. The zombies that had been moving toward the wall to a fortified area turned toward him and started shuffling his way.
Luckily, they weren’t very fast, and none of them made it within 30 feet of him before he could use Spectral Scream again. He activated the skill again. Ten seconds after that, again. After using the skill three times, Spectral Scream reached skill level 10. His Psychic Energy had dropped by 260, but he’d regenerated 33 PE every turn, so he was down a net of 161 Psychic Energy from when he started. He still had 862 Psychic Energy, so he wasn’t worried too much about running out of energy or being unable to escape. He could easily use Spectral Scream four or five more times before he’d need to assimilate something. Of course, if he waited 30 seconds between each use, he’d regenerate 99 Psychic Energy, and his net loss would be one point, at least until the skill level again. If he was careful, he could conceivably keep that up forever.
That didn’t help him right now, though. Right now, he had hordes of undead attacking multiple locations. Before he could really start clearing out the undead, he had one more thing to check. He went over and found one of the bigger zombies that was off by itself and allowed it to attack him. There seemed to be a dark mist emanating from it, which could have been a death-based spell. Since he was immune to the magic, he ignored it. Instead, he allowed the zombie to attack him and was pleasantly surprised when his Physical Damage Resistance of 6 was enough to thwart the claws and teeth of the undead.
Anton’s thoughts were diverted to a nearby wall when his sister Amelia called out from the nearby wall, “Anton, What the fuck are you doing out there?”
“What’s it look like I’m doing?” Anton yelled back as he destroyed the zombie that had been attacking him with a Mind Bolt so he could look up and give his sister a smile.
“It looks like you're trying to get eaten by the Undead!”
“Nah, just testing a few things before I take them out,” Anton said.
“Okay? Sounds like you're overestimating your capabilities.”
Anton laughed, “I’m not. I’ll be fine. Are all of you pretty safe in there?”
Amelia gave Anton a thumbs up, “Everyone is here. Mom and Dad are helping out with the rest of the family inside the hospital. We have plenty of experienced guards here. That’s not why I called down, though. I called down because the Captain here asked me to let you know that these are great for leveling his troops. He said, and I quote, ‘If your crazy brother doesn’t get eaten by that zombie, ask him to hit the flanks and keep them centered on coming toward the fortified areas so our people can get some experience.’ This is me asking for him, obviously.”
Anton smiled, “Smartass! Yeah, I can see that. Okay, I’ll head up along the highway and kill any that have gone off to the East, then come down on the western side of the horde and make sure they're focused on coming toward you.”
Amelia paused for a moment as she leaned down behind the wall to listen to someone and then stood back up, “He says that his scouts are telling him the undead are staying pretty focused on once they reach the Casino. Before that, they’re veering off mostly to the west, but some have started heading east as well. He said if you could find the source, that would be a great help. Also, he said to say if you see a red flare, that means there’s been a breach and help is needed.”
While they were talking, another group of zombies had grown closer. Anton activated Spectral Scream and destroyed another 239 undead—none above level 2 yet, though. He hadn’t received another Class level, but Spectral Scream did increase to level 11. Anton smiled, “Clean up the edges and look for the source, and if I see a red flare, rush back to help. Got it! See you soon.” Anton acknowledged as he waved to his sister and then jogged off to the east toward Highway 1. It was time to corral some undead.