CHAPTER 35_HEX - A Zombie Survival LITRPG

Ray

Ray slammed into the door that led outside, smashing it open with Althea hot on his heels. As he ran outside, he saw a plume of smoke and ash rising into the sky from behind the fort. An Orkin ran up to him from the training hall as he skidded to a stop to observe the rising dust cloud.

“Boss, da Gobbiez an us are all set up,” he grunted out. The accent was every bit as bad as Groks.

He nodded, “Get everyone moving towards the front of the fort. Seal the doors and leave one of the Orkin and a couple Goblins behind. Everyone else with me,” he ordered. He started moving towards the armory. His weapon was inside.

Althea followed him closely and was soon joined by Josephine. “What happened?” she asked as she join them.

“No idea. All I know is that one or more of the bombs went off way too soon for it to have been planned. Hopefully-“ Ray was interrupted by another massive explosion, followed quickly by a third one that was just as large.

“Holy shit, it sounds like a warzone over there,” he yelled over the sound of the bombs going off. Then he counted them, “That’s three. They took seven!”

He got into the armory quickly, retrieving his blade from a stand next to the door. Josephine helped him belt it on while Althea slid into some leather armor and grabbed a spear. It was the first time Ray had seen a Thymian wielding a pole weapon. The woman noticed his look of curiosity and just winked.

As soon as the blade belt was attached, he tossed a sweatshirt on and the trio ran towards the opposite side of the fort that faced the tunnel tower and land bridge. They met a half dozen Orkin and a dozen Goblins. The group followed Ray outside, while the remaining three closed and sealed the doors behind them. For better or worse, they were committed.

The group moved quickly between the buildings on the far side of the fortress, weaving in and out of old tourist attractions until they popped out on the road next to the shoreline. They had a clear view of the tunnel tower and the land bridge, and they froze momentarily in shock.

The entire area was a warzone.

The troops they had sent had been broken up into pockets of organized resistance, surrounded by what looked to be hundreds of giant spiders. Ray could practically feel Josephine shivering next to him. The things were the size of the German Shepherd they had back at the base. Only there were hundreds of them, with more streaming from the tower and across the partially destroyed land bridge every second.

“What the fuck?” Ray muttered, “Form a line! Move into those nasty fucks and smash them! Break out the groups and add them to the line as you can, send the wounded to the back!” he ordered.

His Orkin and Goblins rushed forward, smashing into the spiders with surprising fury in a tide of green bodies. Ray waded in as well with Josephine protecting his side and Althea on their flank with her spear. The trio wrought devastation wherever they wanted, cutting down dozens of the huge grey and black-mottled spiders as soon as they had engaged.

As they fought their way forward, they began to rescue the groups that had been split up. They added them to their number and advanced, driving the creatures back toward the tower’s land bridge. They had rescued four groups in total before Ray finally found Gale in the fifth, and she was hurt. Badly.

The Drakling was on the ground, swinging weakly at the occasional spider as they got close to her while her remaining Goblin escorts did their best to keep the eight-legged freaks at bay. It was only when Ray’s troops swept the harassing arachnids away that she breathed a sigh of relief and dropped the sword, the massive two-hander crashing to the ground.

Immediately Ray could see that the wounds were worse than he had initially thought. Gale was missing one wing entirely, with burns and stab marks covering her torso, chest, and left arm up to her shoulder. Her clothing and armor had been burned away, revealing her skin in all of its glory.

With zero hesitation, ray whipped off his sweatshirt and slid it over her head. Her gasp of pain not-withstanding, she was grateful for action. “What in Pantheon’s name took you so long,” she grated out over her pain. “We thought the first bomb would have gotten your attention.”

Ray shook his head, “We got in here in less than twenty minutes. I would say that was damn fast as far as a deployment goes. Regardless, good to see you alive if a bit banged up. Where’s Derrick and Grok?”

“Derrick is dead, I think. Grok was separated from me and mine while holding the bridge when the first bomb was detonated,” Gale said through gritted teeth. “The events are … complex. When we approached the tower, those monsters come out in the many dozens. We immediately retreated, however thy Engineer Derrick was determined to destroy at least the land bridge. He was partially successful.”

He nodded at that, “He blew up the first bomb then. What about the other two?”

“The remaining six we attempted to pull back, however, two were damaged and unstable. It was at that point our friend decided thy must be detonated to block the flow of the arachnids,” she explained. “He did so manually. That brave man is more than likely dead now.”

Ray grimaced at that. At more than a million NEX in cost, it was highly unlikely Derrick could be resurrected anytime soon. “Gonna have some Goblins help you back to the fort. We are heading to that bridge. Where are the rest of the bombs?”

“I ensured they were left at the head of the bridge. Those monstrosities did not seem interested in them. They should still be safe and … armed,” Gale said, cracking a small smile.

He rolled his eyes at the joke and stood up. “Get her back to base safely. The rest of you on me, we have some bugs to squish.”

“Technically, they are arachnids,” corrected Josephine.

“Whatever. They still go squish,” he quipped back. They quickly got back into the groove of killing the giant spiders. They hacked, slashed, and killed their way toward the land bridge. In the process they rescued two more groups, adding another dozen combatants total to their fighting forces, including the rest of the Thymians. He had yet to see the Aelvin or Verrick.

When they arrived at the bridgehead, they saw Grok. Or what remained of him at least. The Orkin had been shredded by the mandibles and claws of the spiders. But he had taken down more than a hundred of the things with him. His prized battle axe was laying on the ground nearby with the pieces of dozens upon dozens of the nasty things surrounding him. He had gone and taken the enemy with him.

Ray snatched the axe up, barely able to lift it, and placed it into his inventory. Grok would want that back when Ray revived him. If everything held true, he would be able to do so once with little penalty.

The fighting continued for the bridge, although the flood of spiders seemed to be dwindling. There were far fewer than there were before. That was both encouraging, and extremely concerning to Ray, as before this they had encountered hives of creatures like this twice before. Both times the stemming of the tide signified something much larger, and harder to kill, was approaching.

He was not disappointed.

The double doors that had been open and leading into the darkness of the tunnel tower were torn clean off their hinges and multiple arachnids the size of small cars burst out from the interior. While the prior spiders were much smaller, these had massive thick limbs, dripping maws filled with very un-spider-like teeth, and chitinous armor covering their bodies.

What Ray did not expect was the much smaller figure in the middle of the two dozen massive creatures. One that looked like a mix between a human and a spider.

With a torso joining a spider body, the clearly feminine form was moving rapidly away from the tunnel entrance and toward the battle line Ray’s troops and set up. She screeched to a halt, eyes wide in surprise as she caught sight of them. Turning back, and staring at the entrance to the dark interior of the tower, she bit her lip in an all too human way. Then Ray noticed the bundle in her arms. She was carrying a single large egg.

Then the undead burst forward into the sunlight. Many of them went down, bursting into flame and collapsing into charred hulks. However many more started to steam and smoke, the sunlight harming them but hardly causing the instant death of their brethren. As they emerged, they set upon the arachnids with the usual violent ferocity the brain-dead monsters displayed.

“They're attacking the spiders! What the shit, that one almost looks human!” he cried out, pointing to the spider woman who was cowering behind her embattled bodyguards.

It was at that point Remus showed up next to Ray. “Pantheon above,” he muttered much like one would mutter a curse. “They're fighting one another. We should attack now and push the spiders into the undead.”

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Thinking about it, and watching the female cover the egg, Ray made a decision. One that surprised most of the people there. “Advance! Don’t attack the spiders, hit the undead and push them back into the tower! Josephine, I need you to take some Goblins and grab and a couple of those bombs, we're going to put the fuckers inside and set them off! Save one for the land bridge though.”

Josephine shot off like a rocket, snagging a few Goblins off their feet with a gurgling sound as she hurled them at the bombs and get them situated.

As the group moved forward, the spider woman’s attention turned to him. Her eyes narrowed in worry and suspicion as she made eye contact with Ray. So, he did the only thing he could think of, he smiled and waved.

That seemed to disarm her completely. She sagged, either in resignation or relief Ray wasn’t sure. But something happened and the giant spiders, and the remaining small ones, facing them turned and set upon the undead with renewed ferocity.

“Don’t attack the spiders, focus on the undead!” Ray reminded them all.

Remus shook his head, “These creatures don’t think. You may be making a mistake here Ray. Best to get rid of them now,” he said before launching a fireball between two of the hulking arachnids and into the swarming undead monstrosities.

Remus may have had reservations about Ray’s instructions, but he still followed them. He took note of this for later, and would have to have a sit down with their remaining group members in order to ensure there were no toes stepped on. Ray had made a command decision in the heat of battle, and that would have to be trusted going forward to avoid any mishaps.

As his men and women engaged the undead at the side of the spiders, Ray made his way over to the spider-woman with Althea at his side. As he approached, she shuffled back, defending the egg she clutched in her arms.

Ray stopped where he was and, sheathing his blade at his side, held up his arm with his hand open in a placating gesture. “I don’t know if you can understand me. I won't harm you,” he said gently but loudly to carry over the din of battle. “Can you understand me?”

Slowly the spider woman nodded but still didn’t respond. Ray took that as a positive to continue.

“Good. I think this whole thing was a big mistake, us fighting. We are going to collapse that tunnel and prevent the undead from coming through it. You need to retreat with us, or when we blow it up you will all burn with it,” he said slowly, trying to impart the complex concept of a bomb to the eight-legged woman.

She seemed to think about it for a moment, then nodded. Halfway closing her eyes for a moment, she stood and moved over to him. She was much taller than he had realized, easily being six and a half feet tall on all eight legs.

She turned to the combat line and pointed, then slowly mimed walking back to the far side of the damaged land bridge. Then she pointed back at the town and made an explosion motion with her hand before finally pointing at the fuel cells that Josephine was transporting to the tower.

Chuckling Ray said, “Yeah, that about sums it up. When we drop those inside, we need to run. And fast. Can you wait nearby? I will let you know when it is time to go.”

She nodded and moved away, standing nearby and watching the battle anxiously.

“Can you trust her?” Althea asked worriedly. “They could turn on us the moment we least expect it.”

Ray shook his head, “No. No, I don’t think so. I think we may have actually found an ally. An unlikely one, certainly one that will take getting used to, but an ally nonetheless.”

They watched as the Orkin forced their way just inside the tower doors. They wouldn’t be able to hold against the sheer number of undead emerging for very long, but Josephine wasn’t waiting. Ray watched as she armed all three bombs at once and the rear line Orkin hefted the large rectangular devices. Then they threw them inside as fast as they could, one after the other.

Then they ran the fuck away.

“Oh shit! Oh fucking hell, run! Run!” Ray said, startled by the speed they had done what they needed to. They hadn’t given him any warning whatsoever.

The line disintegrated as everyone left sprinted down the land bridge and onto the shore. The massive spiders held the rear line, holding the undead at bay. There weren’t very many of them, but only two followed them onto the shore.

Then the tower erupted.

There was no better word for it. Ray suspected, looking back at this moment in time, that the Orkin had gotten at least one of those bombs into a shaft of some kind and deep underground into the tunnel itself. The resulting explosion jettisoned the entire tower, everything inside of it, and thousands of gallons of water into the air.

The explosion was massive, the shockwave rolling out and over the survivors knocking them all to the ground. Even the two remaining spiders were bowled over. The Goblins, being much smaller and lighter than anyone else, were hurled through the air like small screeching missiles. Only a couple died as they landed, but that was a couple more that wouldn’t be around to help in the future.

Large blocks of concrete and debris splashed into the water and onto the shore around them, raising clouds of dust as the remains of what they had destroyed crashed back into the earth from their failed attempt at accessing heaven.

As the dust and debris settled, Ray pushed several boards off of him. Sitting up, he saw many of his people stirring, and one of the huge arachnids standing back up, shaking the dust off itself like a huge eight-legged dog.

Looking over at the tower, he was pleased to see it had collapsed in on itself, the water draining from the bay and into the tunnel system below. He doubted anything would be coming after them from that direction now. The entire tunnel system under the river was now a watery grave. Sealed and silent, the undead couldn’t access them from that direction anymore.

He turned to the arachnid woman as she stood, brushing the dirt and debris off her chitinous skin.

Now he had another problem to address. One that he hoped would turn into a boon.

***

RAYMOND ‘RAY’ FINNEGAN

RACE

HUMAN

CLASS

NONE

NEX

CALCULATING

LEVEL

PHYSICAL STATE

TIRED

MENTAL STATE

CURIOUS

ATTRIBUTE

BASE

CURRENT

NEX TO INCREASE

STRENGTH

AGILITY

POWER

100

WISDOM

LUCK

400

JOSEPHINE SANCHEZ