Zoe spent the next two days around the entry point of the higher level zone. She found, and then fought, plenty more of the stick wielding zombies, and even a few with large rocks and felt pretty confident in continuing.

Their sticks, while much more dangerous than the wild slams, were also much easier to block with her shield. And their increased speed was noticeable, but didn’t pose any significant danger to her. She was still able to outrun them, and if she paid attention then getting a hit in with her Frost projectiles was of no issue.

She found that a sword worked much better against these zombies than the spear did, though. Which surprised her. Spears always beat swords, in any game she’d ever played. And a stick or sharp rock was kind of like a sword.

But reality was different. Against a reckless opponent who was willing and able to be stabbed just to get in a swing, the spear lost its advantage. A shorter, more agile weapon like a sword felt much better to her. She was able to move it around easier, and when combined with her shield, she was able to lock down the zombie’s movements quite easily then pepper it with projectiles.

Zoe finished eating her venison wrap and then stood up from the rock she was sitting on. Despite reading about zombies with armour and real weapons, she still hadn’t seen one. Perhaps they were something that happened even a little higher, once the zombies would reach the low thirties?

Thankfully, she also hadn’t heard of anybody screaming for help off in the forest. She knew that not helping them would be the right decision. That she wouldn’t be able to handle a horde of these quicker zombies while also protecting an injured person and didn’t want to have to make that decision.

She’d spent some time thinking about what she should do if she did hear somebody in need of help. Rush in and heal them then get out and hope for the best? Run back down and try to find help? She wasn’t sure, and just hoped it wouldn’t happen. Maybe as people got higher up they stopped being so reckless and wouldn’t get stuck up in a tree.

Or maybe, she thought more grimly, people couldn’t be in need of help up here. Maybe the zombies could climb up the trees, dismantle your shelter. Maybe your option was to flee or die.

She shivered. The morbid reality of climbing the dungeon was something she tried to avoid thinking about too much. People died, she knew that. Many of the people she never saw again left Gafoda back to the towns they had come from. But many others just never made it back down the mountain. She knew that. She just hated the thought.

It was supposed to be exciting and fun. She turned her attention up the mountain. People made their own decisions. They weren’t Zoe’s responsibility. She was here to explore and have some fun, and it was time to get back to finding new things.

Zoe started making her way up the path. She saw a few of the stick and stone wielding zombies on her way, and took them out before they noticed her with a couple of well aimed explosive projectiles that smashed into their torsos.

The next stage up the mountain would be magic, she knew. Exactly what magic the zombies would use seemed to depend on the how the dungeon was feeling when it created the zombie, based on what she’d read. And past that, very little about the dungeon was guaranteed. The difficulty remained the same, barring any particular weaknesses one might have, but the exact detail shifted from day to day.

It excited her quite a lot, knowing that she’d be able to explore and discover and see so many different ways to use magic. Part of her expected to see large signs at each of the thresholds describing exactly what theme the dungeon happened to be feeling on a particular day, though.

There were still some challenges the second stage of the dungeon had to offer that she hadn’t overcome though, and she wanted to at least show herself that she could handle even an armoured zombie before she continued on to the magical area, as much as it excited her.

Zoe didn’t know if they tended to show up in a particular area on the mountain, but figured that if they were going to be harder fights, they’d likely be closer to the end of the second stage than the start.

She continued her trek up to the next demarcation, and then decided to spend her time wandering around the higher area of the second stage until she’d found an armoured zombie. Most of the zombies further up were level twenty-nine to thirty-two. Higher than Zoe, at least when she last checked. Though still no more dangerous to her than the first stick wielding zombie she’d found.

And most still wielded sticks or stones, weapons were few and far between. The first one she’d found was a zombie with a rusted short sword. Her heart raced as she grabbed its attention to test her mettle against it, and then calmed down as the fight began. It felt the same as a stick when it slipped off her shield or scraped along her blade.

Another zombie with a hefty black mace was much worse, however. Her shield was, while better than taking a hit directly on her arm, not particularly effective against the blunt impact. It rattled her forearm, and no matter how she angled her shield or tried to deflect the blow, its momentum and heft meant she had to absorb a lot more of the impact than with the lighter, thinner weapons.

She found it much easier to dodge out of the way than to take the blows head on, and then use her shield and sword in combination to lock the zombie down. Maces were ranked much higher for her on her list of things to learn. Fighting against one was an unpleasant experience, though her health didn’t drop and she felt confident throughout.

The weapons were left on the ground when she finished the zombies off, and Zoe just left them. If she had unlimited, or at least a lot more, space in her storage bracelet she might have thought about keeping them. But the weapons were often misshapen and were always covered in rust. She didn’t expect them to be worth much.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

And if they were worth much, she expected to see a lot more people around here just collecting all of the weapons, but she didn’t. She did see some other people around her as she looked for her armoured zombie to fight, most of which were around level forty. But they all left the weapons on the ground as well, and Zoe accepted that as good enough justification for her leaving them on the ground.

Her hardest fights were the zombies who held large round shields in their free hands. She struggled to get a hit in with her Frost projectiles as the large shields they wielded covered up most of their body, at least from the angle she was able to fire from.

Getting in any damage with her projectiles or weapons became a much more difficult process, and she’d often just try and avoid them if she saw them in the distance. A simple shield made them much more dangerous than any weapon she’d encountered. Which combined with them also having a weapon made them an extremely unpleasant experience. Even her sword fell flat against the zombies with shields.

Her spear proved much more effective if she was able to actually keep her distance. She could make a move with her spear at one of the unguarded areas, and when the zombie moved to block it she could often slip one of her projectiles through behind their guard. It worked well enough, and she still wasn’t taking an excessive amount of damage, but she began to feel a slight concern about what an actual armoured zombie would be capable of. Especially if it also had a shield.

On the third day of her wandering around, she got the chance to find out for herself. She saw a glint reflecting off a rusted suit of armour that was wandering around through the trees a little ways up the mountain from where she was. It wasn’t quite in full plate armour from head to toe, but its torso and upper legs were covered in a solid sheet of metal.

In one hand, it wielded a bent spear and in the other it held a familiar looking round shield. She held her breath as she thought for a moment.

This zombie would be a difficult fight, she knew. It would be by far the most difficult fight she’d had. Shields alone were enough of a struggle that she didn’t try to approach them when she saw them. This had both a shield and armour even if she managed to slip past its guard. She could probably take it out from afar, blow it up with a few of her projectiles aimed at the unguarded spots.

But that wouldn’t feel right to her. That wouldn’t be truly besting it. She needed to defeat it even in a worst case scenario, or continuing up the mountain would be unjustifiably dangerous. But was she ready for it?

None of the zombies that she’d fought were too much of a challenge for her to handle. Sure the shields were unpleasant, but she didn’t lose much health fighting them. They were just annoying. None of the zombies were too quick for her to escape from. She needed to truly show herself that she could handle anything the mountain could throw at her, not just avoid all of the danger until she was in over her head with a situation she couldn’t handle.

Zoe took a deep breath, and summoned a frost projectile then enchanted it with Archery and fired it off at the zombie. It smashed into the zombie’s torso which turned to look towards her. She jumped and waved to get its attention, and then the zombie roared louder than any had before and leapt down the mountain towards her.

She grimaced, and hoped she hadn’t just bitten off more than she could chew. If the zombie summoned a horde then she’d have no choice but to flee. Maybe she could take it in a one on one fight, but if there were two or three? She had no confidence in coming out alive from that.

Zoe watched as the zombie barrelled down the mountain towards her. Its bent spear smashed through the shrubbery and was covered in greenery. She back up a bit and waited for the zombie to get closer.

And she didn’t have to wait long. Zoe braced herself and held out her shield to block the zombie’s spear, but it never came. The zombie kept rushing at her even as it got in range. Zoe tried to jump out of the way but was too late and both were sent tumbling down the mountain as the zombie smashed into her with its shield.

The zombie stood and roared at her again. Zoe got a look at it with her Identify as she scrambled to her feet as well — dark green thirty-six. The highest level zombie she’d seen yet, not that she needed her identify to know that. Even if it were lower level this was clearly the most dangerous one she’d fought.

Zoe took a moment to look around for any zombies that were attracted to the noise, and the zombie took the opportunity to leap at her again. She jumped out of the way and fired off one of her projectiles at the zombie while it tumbled along the ground again. It smashed into the zombie’s armour and exploded in a cloud of frost.

The zombie stood again and roared at her. Zoe felt fear welling up inside her as her heart raced. This zombie was fast, it was agile. It was powerful. She could outrun it, probably. But that had dangers of its own, especially if more zombies were being attracted by the noise of the chase.

Taking it out quickly would be safest, but Zoe had no clue how she could manage that. A body shot with her projectile would do nothing, and without first immobilizing the zombie, she would never land a head shot on it with both its speed and shield.

Zoe looked around again and saw another three zombies rushing through the forest towards her. She cursed under her breath and charged at the armoured zombie. It lifted its shield to block her spear, just as she hoped.

She fired off her two remaining projectiles. They smashed into the zombie’s feet and exploded in a cloud of frost. The blast washed over Zoe’s icy armour, shattering it. Both Zoe and the zombie fell to the ground. Zoe gasped and tried to catch her breath as she rolled down the hill away from the zombie’s spear but felt it scratch along her back.

The strange coolness of Restoration flooded her as she continued rolling before she stood up. The armoured zombie was crawling towards her slowly and Zoe continued backing away. The three zombies she’d seen were still at least another thirty seconds away.

Zoe took a moment to catch her breath, then resummoned her Frozen Arsenal and took off down the mountain back towards the road. The zombies tried to chase after her, but weren’t able to keep up with her speed. There were a few that jumped out from behind trees as she rushed past them but she was ready for them with her shield and kept running. When she made it to the road she sped up to a full sprint back down to Gafoda.

She let out a sigh of relief when she passed the gates and then made her way back to her room at the inn and passed out in the rough bed. When she woke up, she thought about the previous day.

It was good, she thought. It was scary, but she found her limit and lived. She didn’t stick around the finish off the zombie and risk herself for nothing. She recognized the danger and escaped. That was a success, she did a good job.

All that was left in Gafoda was finding out how much it cost to run her clinic and then it was back to Flester. She was excited to see Emma and Joe again.