Sally gasped as the weapon rose from out of the box.

“A dagger?”

The dull-silvery blade hung in the air and rotated as if it was waiting for her to claim it.

Sally stared at it and moved closer. “Not a dagger that can raise my kills as zombies? Or enchanted to do double damage on Tuesday evenings?”

She grabbed it out of the air, and whatever magic held the display together dissipated—the box now just an inert tray of wood on the table. With a few test swings, the dagger cut through the air easily enough.

“No stat box for this either? What’s the point of the random chance without tangible stats to compare?” She growled as she cut more of the air.

“Odd, there should be something. Maybe you need to activate it, like how you had to level up to unlock skills.” Humphrey floated further back to be well out of the way of the errantly swung blade.

“Makes sense, actually; I’m betting monster equipment doesn’t have stats, correct? So I need to convince the System that I’m a Player?” Sally put the dagger carefully into a small leather sheath that had appeared on her belt at some point.

Humphrey was silent for a few seconds before answering. “Most Players aren’t usually this self-aware.”

“I spent a lot of busy-brain time with Systems in my previous life…” she scratched her head, “I think.”

The Observer said nothing further, so Sally shrugged and returned to the main hall. Her Party had managed to untangle themselves and stood awaiting their next task. With a glum smile, she gave Chuck a pat on the shoulder. It was hard to see how hurt he was visually - being a zombie left you with icky-looking patches that would count as injuries on a living person. Finding a way to heal her pals would be a needed step on her journey.

“Right!” She commanded loudly to all the zombies present. The shifting of dozens of pairs of red eyes to focus on her was briefly unnerving, but she continued. “I expect that miserable Cleric would have gone and whined to some tougher friends about our little dining experience,” she nodded to the several diners who still had novice-gore caked across their fronts, “and they’ll probably come back for revenge.”

She took a deep breath into useless lungs. Speaking in front of crowds wasn’t something she was used to, but it felt exciting now. “It’s time to put together our next plan for when they do.” A big smile crossed her face at the multitude of groans that passed for a response.

Sally felt powerful.

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“Killing zombies is pretty beneath us.” A raspy voice of a figure clad in dark leather bemoaned as their footsteps rang out against the stone road.

“As I said before,” the Cleric clenched his jaw, “there’s something else there. Some undead monster with some intelligence.”

“A ghoul, maybe? There wouldn’t be anything high-level like a vampire out here,” the third person in the group muttered to themselves, wiping a sweaty hand on their robes.

The Cleric exhaled through his nose. The fact that he had to bribe the Ranger and Wizard to come out so quickly was mortifying. Not only losing the gold from the novices earlier, it had now turned into a costly day. If he could at least kill that zombie woman who had mocked him, it would at least bring him some peace.

“You didn’t want a tank, neither?” The Ranger pestered, going over points they already had discussed before leaving the nearby village of Yarch.

“They’re zombies. We can easily keep out of range between the three of us, especially if they’re still in the diner.”

The Ranger shrugged in response and looked out into the forest while idly tapping his fingers on his slung longbow.

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Sally peered from a dusty window halfway up the wooden wall of the town hall, atop a stack of chairs. She had heard footsteps, and now that the bobbing globe of lantern light had started to sway up the end of the road, she knew trouble loomed.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

“Everyone shush,” she hissed down at the horde of zombies shuffling into battle positions, “they're here!”

Three figures emerged from behind the scenery, enclosing to a generous thirty feet away from the diner. She narrowed her eyes to barely pick out the details above their heads. Ranger… Wizard… and the Cleric from earlier. All level Three. That wasn't terrible, she considered; just by numbers alone, the zombies had more power to them… depending on how levels scaled.

She watched, eyes growing wide, as a small ball of light formed in the distant hand of the Wizard. Then, in a short second, the ball flew out and into the open doorway of the diner.

An explosion of amber and yellow flashed, blowing out the windows of the building and illuminating the whole mini village. Just as soon as the attack had occurred, the magic flames flickered away - surprisingly, not setting the entire structure alight.

“[Fireblast],” Humphrey whispered from way too close, “slightly different than [Fireball], the latter of which would set the building on fire.”

She frowned and watched the small group approach the diner. The Cleric led the way and stopped at the open doorway before he turned to the other two in animated conversation.

“Idiot,” the raised voice of the Cleric echoed around the town, “what do you mean only once per day?”

“Low-level casters,” the Observer rolled his empty sockets.

The Ranger walked slightly closer into town along the overgrown, patchy pathway. The cloaked figure knelt down and ran their hand through the dirt. He then stood and gestured towards the town hall, the other two cooling off from whatever argument they were having.

“Wet biscuits! Alright, they're onto us, deep breaths now.” She breathed in and out slowly, despite not having the mortal need to.

If there was one thing she was thankful for, it was that the lower floor did not have any windows at the front - most of the natural lighting came in through the windows higher up or from skylights in the roof. It probably looked quite pretty in here during springtime, she mused, before shaking the distracting thought from her head. It meant the only natural way in would be the door.

The Ranger drew his bow and notched an arrow, his footsteps approaching the hall until they stopped about forty feet away. The Cleric and Wizard joined him, and they began a murmured conversation.

“This is bad,” Sally whispered to the skull, hiding away from the window briefly, “three ranged classes against my slow pals?”

“Yes,” Humphrey confirmed helpfully.

Sally peered back out of the corner of the window. The Ranger had now nocked an arrow that had a very unfriendly blue glow pulsing around it.

Hells! There was no way the horde could cross that distance without being cut down. She was now glad she hadn't stationed her Party in one of the side buildings - although they would briefly distract the enemy, it would just have weakened the main group of zombies.

She waited for the inevitable impact of whatever skill the Ranger was casting with his arrow… but nothing came. Another peek revealed the trio had started arguing again, murmurs, but their body language suggested they were only keeping it down so as not to disturb the zombies.

This gave her a brief moment to think. Perhaps her plan might work; it just needs risk, patience, and sacrifice. Probably a miracle too.

“Psst! Everyone to the walls, slowly. You five go meet our unwelcome guests.”

The zombies that had been patiently waiting at the back of the hall began to filter to the left and right flanks, hugging against the wall as quietly as they were able. Which, to their credit, wasn’t too loud, considering. The handful of unlucky shamblers moved to the doorway below her and, after a brief amount of effort, pushed it wide open.

A streak of blue flashed across the space between the two groups as the arrow had been let loose. As it struck the first zombie stumbling through the opening, lightning arced from the impact.

Tendrils of white-blue light flickered between the other nearby zeds, and they shuddered and fell to the floor. The smell of burnt flesh and singed clothing filled the hall.

Sally held her breath by instinct, saddened at the loss of her undead thralls, but not wanting to give her position away. A buzzing filled her head, and she winced before a new UI popped up in her vision.

“What’s this?” she hissed through narrowed eyes as the buzzing pain slowly vanished.

“Combat UI when engaging a new foe - most turn it off unless it’s a special battle.” Humphrey sidled up against the wall, not wanting to catch an arrow either, despite being unable to be seen by the opponents.

“Yes, yes, turn it off.” The UI vanished, and she peeked through the window. She could just barely hear the conversation between the trio of level Threes.

“Can you see any others?” The annoying Cleric asked.

“Not from here. You really pulled us out here for a handful of zombies?” The Ranger seemed both disappointed and frustrated.

“Any others would have come out too.” The Wizard was quieter but seemed to agree with the Ranger.

Sally licked her lips. The next part was a long shot but might work if the adventurers were slightly divided. With a sigh, she readied herself.

“Oh, help, please! These zombies have me trapped!” She tried to sound as much like a maiden needing rescue as possible.

Humphrey raised himself to see through the window. “Don’t worry; they can’t see me. They appear to be arguing again.”

She strained her ears to try and pick their voices back up, but they had lowered them as they deliberated. They must not have bought it. Plan B would need to be conjured into her brain sooner than intended-

“Oh, looks like two of them are walking this way. The Cleric is just throwing up his hands in resignation.”

Sally turned to her Party, who were sat on the makeshift scaffolding of chairs and tables built in an archway high over the door.

With nervous confidence, she gave them the thumbs up and withdrew her dagger.