CHAPTER 13_HEX - A Zombie Survival LITRPG

Ray

The spear came upwards into a thrust, skewering the undead through the center of its mouth and severing its brain stem. As the Goblin slave struggled to withdraw the weapon, a second undead ran in from the side only to meet its end at the hands of an Orkin wielding a massive steel-banded club. With a sickening splattering sound, the club met decaying flesh and painted the walls with gore and brain matter.

Ray watched from his side, observing the casual viciousness that each of the slaves that he had purchased displayed. They were each brutal and experienced with casual murder, making them effective killing machines when it came to clearing the undead. Not to mention Ray could both clear locations far more quickly and in a far safer manner than he had been before.

After his conversation with Gale, he had discussed the merits of hiring mercenaries, permanent soldiers, or slaves with her. Mercenaries were temporary but powerful and very expensive. They were discarded as a choice immediately. Ray could afford several permanent soldiers but could not meet the conditions of their employment such as food and lodging.

That left slaves as the only viable option.

The System viewed slavery as a mere commercial transaction, which sickened Ray on every level. But when it came to his survival of himself and the possible comeback of humanity, he was willing to do nearly anything to succeed. He spent all of his remaining NEX to purchase a half dozen basic goblin warriors and an Orkin fighter.

They were almost exactly how he had envisioned them from the fantasy books and shows he had seen growing up. The Goblins were small, fast, and vicious. They were also incredibly stupid, and although they could talk Ray couldn’t understand them.

The Orkin were another thing entirely. Six-foot plus muscle-bound murder machines. They were intelligent, tactical, and Ray could see immense utility for them in the future if he treated them well. The System didn’t allow for rebellions, but it did allow for the setting free of slaves. An option he was very much considering.

With Gale advising him on tactics and strategies, he immediately tasked them to clear the hex they were located in. There were nearly two thousand undead within his immediate area. Most of them hidden within shaded areas, warehouses, and abandoned buildings. It would certainly take a while to clear.

However soon enough the NEX was rolling in. Within a mere four hours, Ray had already gained back what his trek here had earned him. He immediately bought several more Goblins and Orkin, but this time he went out himself.

Gale had explained to him that his stats could be increased through using NEX, but only three times their total base could be purchased. Buying stats past that was not allowed by the System. There were potions, rare fruits, or divine items that could permanently increase stats, but those were exorbitantly expensive.

So it was decided that Ray would increase his the old-fashioned way before purchasing anything. This way he would maximize his gains when he did have to buy them. The hard way, however, meant fighting. A lot of fighting. And he certainly wasn’t going to do it alone or unprepared.

Ray and his small squad were currently in one of the nearby abandoned warehouses clearing it of all the undead. The Goblins were having a field day, as they enjoyed rampaging through the much slower undead. His Orkin slaves were much more cautious, not having the agility of their smaller counterparts. Although their superior strength enabled them to easily overpower twice their number in undead.

Wiping sweat from his face, one of the Orkin trundled over to him, stopping a few feet away. “Boss, deez skinny fukz are done forz,” it rumbled. “Diz building is cleaner den mawz deena tayba.”

The big lug's accent could curdle milk and certainly left a lot to be desired. But Ray wasn’t in any position to be picky at this point. He took a quick peek at the huge Orkin’s stats:

GROK

RACE

ORKIN

CLASS

WARRIOR

NEX

CALCULATING

LEVEL

PHYSICAL STATE

HEALTHY

MENTAL STATE

BORED

ATTRIBUTE

BASE

CURRENT

NEX TO INCREASE

STRENGTH

140

AGILITY

POWER

100

WISDOM

LUCK

200

Shaking his head at the disparity between his strength and this monster, he at least knew its name now. “Thanks, Grok. Take the Goblins and move to the next warehouse. If you run into anything but the basic undead retreat immediately and call for reinforcements,” ordered Ray.

Grok nodded and walked off, yelling commands as the group headed to the next building on their list. Ray pulled up his interface to see their progress. Yet another function of the System was that he as the owner could, anywhere within the territory he controlled, utilize the full functions of the System. Anyone else had to go to a specific building or location. Or make trades in person.

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Outside of his territory, however, was a different matter entirely. The System heavily restricted any information, use, or function when a leader left their territory. It meant that if Ray did step away from his sector for any reason, he would be just another basic bitch.

He checked his timer, aware that they were coming right up against the limit for beating the clock and establishing a true foothold in the hex:

UNNAMED HEX CLAIMED

SAFE ZONE CLAIM TIME REMAINING: 36:41:22

UNDEAD REMAINING IN HEX: 844

AVAILABLE NEX: 1844

They could certainly accomplish this, at least if everything continued going to plan. Gale was certain there were not many advanced or mutated creatures within the hex. That would have placed the core in danger immediately, something the System wouldn’t have allowed. It was callous and unfeeling, but precise and balanced. Always balanced.

Ray was convinced that they could meet the deadline with time to spare, particularly at the pace they were going. His NEX reserves were already over what he had spent previously, although Gale was always sure to pull him back and remind him that this was essentially pocket change. Even a poor citizen of an interstellar polity could buy a few Goblin slaves. They were, quite literally, cheaper than dirt. And probably more numerous.

As he headed back to their primary building, Ray mulled over his next few steps. Upgrading the building, and his troops, and getting more resources for defenses was first and foremost. Followed very closely by hunting down and killing his Skinwalker nemesis. Once Gale had heard the description of the monstrosity, she had quickly theorized it could possibly have been a sub-specie of a creature called a Wendigo. Only undead.

The interesting part is that the creature couldn’t grow or evolve through normal means. It had to actively hunt Ray in order to do so. It being locked out of the hex, even temporarily, made him feel much better, although Gale had warned him that specialized zombies could still be present. Advanced ones were highly unlikely though.

Ray pondered what the difference was, wondering if he had come across any of those yet. He knew that there were a few creatures had had seen or heard from a distance that could certainly fit the bill. The bile spitter came to mind almost immediately, with those white spidery creatures also lodged in his mind. Fighting that thing so up close and personal had been a nightmare, and very nearly lethal.

Shaking his head he walked into the office building through the newly built solid steel door. The bottom floor had been reinforced a bit, thick steel walls having been built out to fully block access to the core. Slanted windows created something that Gale called ‘fighting positions’, a location from where defensive measures and attacks could be employed.

The second floor had been partially renovated into a cafeteria and storage area, while the third floor was a barracks-style living and common area. Overall their little fort was shaping up quite nicely. Even their equipment stores were looking good. The amount of food, potable water, and materials the slaves had gathered put them in a good spot for the immediate future.

Gale was adamant that his next purchase be for a blacksmith. When questioned about why a blacksmith and not going straight to a nano-fabrication machine, a standard on any spacecraft, she explained that this world was now essentially tech level 0. It would be melee weapons, bows, and medieval armor for the foreseeable future. They could scavenge weapons, of course, but the system would not allow anything to exist outside of the planet's tech tier.

Ray sat down next to Gale, who was going through lists of contractors and upgrades that were necessary for the short term as well as creating a long-term list. “I see thou hast grown again,” she said with amusement.

He blinked, not even having bothered to have checked on his growth yet. Looking at his stats he saw that his strength had gone up two points. “Yeah, yeah I did,” he admitted. Then narrowing his eyes he said, “You know that’s not fair. I can't even see your stats. I don’t think it's right you have access to mine.”

Gale rolled her eyes. “Thou agreed to mine contract stipulations. This was but a single part of it. I cannot advise thou on thine development if I cannot see thy stats. It is simply required. Mine stats, however, cannot be viewed by thou simply because you are not of a high enough Wisdom. Grow more Ray, and more will be available.”

He was about to ask more questions when a number of his slave's icons vanished off the map. “What the fuck?” Ray grunted as he turned to look at what was going on. Gale turned to observe as well as even more icons vanished, leaving a single one left that was heading back to his location. “Shit, something in that large complex took out nearly every one of my guys,” he muttered.

“Indeed, something doth reside there. Perhaps multiple somethings. The speed with which it moved signifies either a large number of creatures or a single powerful undead,” Gale observed. “A slight possibility that it may be advanced, but certainly no greater than that.”

Ray had yet to figure out how the ranking structure of nonsentient beings worked, but he had learned that they were divided cleanly into three categories; Creatures, Monsters, and Beasts. The System had a full and partial compendium for purchase. Both of which were outside his means and would be for a long time. This was a large reason about why Gale was so valuable.

“What do we do?” he asked, “Should I get another group together and go take it out?”

Gale nodded, “Indeed. Numbers will be important. I would recommend putting together a team of at least thirty Goblins and half a dozen more Orkin. At a minimum.”

Ray quickly made the purchases and watching his NEX drop so much caused him to wince. Orkin and Goblins were classified as monsters, low-level ones at that. So they were fairly cheap. But buying them in bulk was still expensive with how limited his resources were.

Unlike sentients and contractors like Gale, monsters can’t move themselves. The System solved this issue by transporting them through some means to the buyer's location immediately. This ensured that the room became very crowded very quickly.

Ray raised his voice over the din of squabbling Goblins and grunting Orkin. “Attention, hey everyone …. Shut the fuck up!” he eventually yelled after being ignored. “All the creatures went silent immediately, their obedience ensured by the System. Just as he was about to continue, the door opened and Grok stomped in.

“What happened Grok?” Ray asked immediately recognizing his now go to Orkin. He focused his attention on the rather torn-up-looking green guy.

“Da boyz got shredded Boss,” he grunted out, dropping heavily into a chair. “It waz a good biggun, one monsta,” Grok explained, “Funny lookinz thing, dropped down fromz the ceiling and tore da Gobbiez some new breadin holez. I rand though, likez ya told me ta, Boss.”

“Good job. Now we at least know more than we did,” Ray said as Grok puffed up at the praise. “Can you kill it if I put you in charge of these guys?” he asked, gesturing to the group of Orkin and Goblins.

“Oh ya Boss, datz eazy. Just a big dead gobbla. Seen dem before I haz. If youze come den it would be eazy Boss. Real eazy,” the big green guy said with a grin.

Ray rolled his eyes. Grand. He was off to try and kill something that tore through enough Goblins and Orkin to be a serious threat. He just hoped and prayed it wouldn’t be his nemesis. That thing was far too strong to fight yet. Not to mention Gale said it was impossible for it to be in this zone yet, although she had also admitted this was a rather unique set of circumstances.

“Fine, let's get going. Everyone grab your gear and let's go kill a big fucking … gobbler,” Ray said to the ragged cheers of his new purchases. It seemed that monsters were always up for a fight, even if it meant they would do most of the dying.

Leading the motley crew out of the building, Ray found Grok walking next to him. Coking his head sideways he asked, “So, you have a story? Something that brought you here, made you a slave?”

Grok shrugged, “I gitz bored eazy Boss. Poundin da weaklings where I used ta livez got borin. Soz I’z went up to a System shop and sayz, “Hey, fight me!’ The dumb git put meh in chainz and I aint stopped fightin since den. It’z been great!” the big green guy explained.

Ray shook his head. Some people were just made for certain things. He guessed that Orkin were made for cracking skulls and fighting everything that moved. More the better for him then, as having a few guys on your team built for and will to march off to a fight at any time, anywhere, was a definite asset.

“Well, glad to have you I suppose,” he responded to Grok. The Gorkin snorted in response and spat a massive wad of phlegm onto the ground. “That’s … gross,” Ray followed up, much to his unusual companions' amusement.

It didn’t take long for the group to reach the huge warehouse in question. The words, ‘Titan Works’, were plastered on the outside of the twin doors that had been pushed open by the prior team to come this way. And perhaps, just perhaps, the warehouse had been the wrong term to use.

Now that Ray was seeing this place firsthand, he realized it was more of a chain of buildings inter-connected with a web of paths and breezeways. There were even a couple of sky bridges in the distance he could see.

Glancing upwards, he took note that the sun was past its zenith and heading toward the horizon.

“Well shit, I guess we better be quick about this,” he said aloud with concern, unsure if any undead would cross into his hex at night.

Grok only grunted in agreement.

***

RAYMOND ‘RAY’ FINNEGAN