Val was exhausted beyond reasoning. She felt as though everything was trying to ruin her life as well as her comrades. Worse yet, the deaths of her soldiers weigh heavy on her mind, and even now, her two proteges and Piker were still out there, trying to find Zeke, which she hated to admit might have been too late.
They were just waiting in the cave when suddenly a horde of zombies came and found them. They only just found out that there was someone in charge of the tower, a necromancer by the looks of it, and it looked to be nothing more than a child playing god.
The worst of it all was that the child was strong enough to make an army of zombies ready to take them out. It would’ve been easy to strike him out, but not only were they exhausted, the other soldiers were still recovering, so the leaders had no other choice but to hold out.
And when the giant zombie came around, Val was afraid that they might have to make sacrifices. She wanted to at least let the soldiers go as the other two took care of the giant boss, but she found out that she had to take out the smaller monsters before they could kill what in her eyes were children.
The other soldiers tried to help, but it was clear that things didn’t look good. Val hated that a small quarter in her heart wished that she and her husband could survive to get back to her daughter. She felt ashamed, but she would gladly give up her role as captain if it meant returning to her daughter. She clearly had no right to be in charge of a platoon if she let her own soldiers die like this.
But just as things took a turn for the worse, the giant zombieman was ambushed by a glowing ball of light. It was large enough to take on the torso, and powerful enough to actually manhandle the boss straight into the walls.
What she couldn’t believe was that there were people in the ball of light. That ball was a barrier, and it was none other than Zeke, Mikella, Myra, and Piker–the four that went off on their own have somehow come back to strike.
The zombieman was then taken straight towards the wall, and even went through it as it caved the tower in by destroying more walls beyond that. The mess that was created left the leaders in shock at the sight.
“That was…” Zacharia said, still holding onto his giant sword with a sweaty pale face. “The barrier mage, Zeke, and the others?”
“They found him!” Val exclaimed with unhidden joy. “And they came back!”
“And it looks like they seriously pissed off the kid.”
As though on cue, Val looked up to see the kid watching them from above with a sneer twisted into a look of rage. He looked baffled of course, just like the rest of them, but he quickly showed a look of absolute fury as he barked orders at his undead lackeys, and the two hulking zombies picked him up like he was a child and jumped straight down.
As they were zombies, they had no problems landing with ease on the platform, which they then hightailed straight after the hole that the zombieman created from the impact.
“We’ll need to back them up,” Cloud said. “But once we clear out the stragglers.”
“Couldn’t agree with you more,” Zacharia said, finally showing the brief of teamwork towards Cloud.
Val could only thank the gods for the chance. Her own fear was clutching at her, but seeing this now only concluded that they were still in the running. Gripping her sword like her life depended on it, she charged first into battle against the horde that wished to take more of these children’s lives.
…..
A cacophony of groans exuded from everywhere as Zeke tried to make sense of what just happened. His eyes were closed and his body felt numb and bruised. A strangely normal happening for him in this world.
Then he remembered what he just did, and looked up. The barrier was gone, as expected. He shouldn’t have gotten hurt throughout the process if that was the case.
He remembered the shattering that occurred the moment they hit the zombieman. He failed to take into account the strength of his comrades’ kinetic energy, and this was the result. He quickly looked around, surveying the area to find that he was truly far away from the others back at the cave.
This time, the room was different from the rest. It was a large hall, almost as though entering the final room of a ziggurat, arrayed with large pillars that seem to go forever upwards. Unlike the rest of the decrepit tower, this felt clean, almost untouched by the undeath.
He looked back to find what should’ve been the main center point. Not exactly a treasure trove or a throne, but at the least some important marking or figure. Whatever it was, it was absolutely destroyed thanks to the giant zombieman that was adorning itself in its place.
And from the looks of it, it was unmoving. Its eyes, or least he thought they were eyes, were glassy and distant looking, almost as if…
That was then he spotted the notification, and he pulled it up. It was as he expected, and he still couldn’t believe it.
> Level up! You are now Level 30. You gain 2 free points (2 FP total).
>
> You have gained +1 DEX from your class.
> You have gained +1 INT from your class.
> You have gained +1 SPI from your class.
…..
> Due to achieving level 30, you are now able to take in an attunement of your choice. Upon doing so will allow you to advance to Expert.
>
> Attunement available: N/A
Strangely enough, the last level up he remembered was against facing the red maned giant. Surely after that, he must have killed, or at least helped kill, more than thousands of zombies and other sorts of creatures.
Yet he only just now got a level after facing and killing what looked like the worst boss of the bunch. The experience ratio in this place was either incredibly crazy, or perhaps reaching level 30 was supposed to be harder than one would expect. If it’s the latter, including the special status XP share link, that would start to make sense.
He also considered that one-shotting a Journeyman mid rank boss wasn’t considered all that difficult. The easier it was to kill something, the lower the XP gained. That would make a lot of sense, even if it did seem unfair. He supposed those who relied on backstabs and surprise attacks won’t be as strong as those who faced them head on with a lot of risks involved.
After considering the risks facing that giant zombie head on, though, he would gladly take a hit in his XP gain to survive.
The bit about his attunement being unavailable actually distressed him a little. He hoped that it would at least show he could take a basic mana boost, just as he and Mikella planned–but it doesn’t look like their special status plays by the rules.
It looks like they have no choice but to take in any attunement they could find. The problem is–for how long can they hold out?
He was thankful that he had a message, or rather a warning of his coming milestone breaking, but he didn't have the time to go through it at the moment. He turned to find his comrades.
If he was fine, being weak as he was, surely the others would as well, but it’s another story if they were crushed underneath the zombieman.
Thankfully, he spotted his partner who was on the ground, her eyes closed but groaning profusely.
“Mikella!” He shouted, going over to her. He picked her up and lightly tapped her face multiple times, forcing her to wake up.
Feeling the urgency of his soft slaps, her eyes fluttered open to find him. “Zeke…? Zeke!”
Realizing the situation, she immediately got up, taking a glance at her surroundings with a wince from her injuries. She didn’t look badly injured, but like him, she must have suffered some mild hits and was sore all over. She must have also noticed the notifications as she first gave off a relieving breath, then turned to find him.
“Where are Myra and Piker?”
“I haven’t seen them yet, but they should be–”
“Hey!”
The two turned quickly to find Myra and even Piker coming up towards them. She ran towards the two, kneeling down at their level while Piker took his time. He looked worse for wear, somehow. Wounds were all across his body.
“Holy–Piker! What happened!?” Zeke shouted before he got up and offered to use Recovery. Piker took it with ease, letting off a relaxed breath before explaining.
“The barrier broke upon closing up. I managed to take the time to get ourselves away by using my magic to get us out. However, I didn’t see the two of you. I managed to get Myra out of the way, however.”
Piker explained how he managed to create snow from his attunement, big and fluffy enough to crash without too much strain. It actually explained the strange chill in the room, and upon observing closer, he saw bits of snow already starting to melt–the attunement’s magic not powerful enough to be left lasting long in the physical world.
“My body was too hot for the magic, so he used his body to protect me when we faced through the rocks. I was totally out of it by that point,” Myra then turned back to Piker. “Again, I can’t say it enough–thank you. Seriously.”
Piker only rolled his eyes, not willing to once again gain any praise. Myra, however, didn’t seem keen to let it go as she smiled at him instead.
“I’ll be fine now,” As though ready to move on, Piker thanked Zeke with a nod. “My Health is recovering over half now. You must preserve your mana.”
The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
“How is it now?” Mikella asked, giving her own thanks to Piker for the help with a nod. She turned to Zeke, who then looked back at his status.
He put all of his free points into his Spirit, the amount of mana on hand being the only tool he found useful throughout this whole nightmare. Despite reaching over 100 in his Spirit stat, he clicked his tongue as he felt his mana reserves.
“Pretty low, even after the level up,” Zeke said.
“Hey, considering you took this thing down in one shot, only having just a little bit of mana is pretty impressive,” Myra pointed out, and also pointed at the massive zombieman that was now truly deceased, strange as it was.
“It must be totally based on offense if it can’t handle that attack,” Mikella offered, rubbing her chin. “That or Zeke’s barrier’s a lot tougher than we thought.”
“Nah, it was your kinetic energy,” Zeke shook his head, surprising them. “My barrier couldn't withstand it, that’s why it broke apart. I failed to realize how much it was actually needed, so sorry for that…”
“Hey, we managed to survive, and we even took down the boss,” Myra then turned to Piker. “And even Piker isn’t scowling as much. It’s all good!”
Zeke did realize that despite being the only one hurt, Piker was indeed satisfied looking, at least when he looked at the giant zombie.
“We got three whole levels from that too!” Myra said, propping up three fingers to show. Even Piker couldn’t help but let a smirk escape from him.
“Lucky… we only got a single level,” Mikella groaned. “Though we finally reached level 30. Though… it didn’t mention any attunement to take on. We were planning on getting a simple boost, but nothing’s showing up for us.”
“What?” Piker’s satisfied smile disappeared, his brows creased in confusion. “Impossible, it should at least… wait…”
“Does this have something to do with you guys’ special status?” Myra said in alarm. “It literally doesn’t mention anything at all? Even when I got into Expert, I got plenty of choices, ranging from the simple boost to even the tiny bit of Nature from back then.”
“That’s what I thought,” Zeke grumbled, rubbing his chin. “It looks like our choice is to take in any attunement regardless of what’s around us…”
“But that’s–”
“You fuckers!” A high screeched voice echoed out, interrupting their conversation. “Do you have any idea how long it took me to make that zombie!?”
They all turned to find the voice belonged to none other than the child Zeke saw. Compared to before, the blond teen looked furious, being carried by one of his hulking bodyguards as each of them landed in front of them.
The teen practically fought off the zombie and got himself down, making Zeke realize that he was shorter than he expected. Perhaps around the low end of five feet.
That only made his scowling face all the more like seeing a chihuahua growling at them. It didn’t look any better that there were plenty of blood stains and other gunk staining his once modern clothing.
“It took me a month, a whole month, to make that wonderful zombie, and you all just take it out?! Have you no shame?! Camping is a total bitch move and everybody knows it!”
Zeke couldn’t help but just marvel at this small creature with incomprehension. Despite the gravity of this new reality, he was treating this as though it was an actual game. Mikella herself didn’t look very pleased, her face wilting into disgust at the kid. Still, there was that pinch of concern on her face, which Zeke realized was the same as his.
Myra and Piker, on the other hand, knew an enemy when they saw one. They each unsheathed their weapons, ready to fight to the death. So far, everyone else was busy with the numbers outside, and if this kid is responsible for them all, then taking him out would surely help with the situation.
But if Zeke could somehow convince Alex of his wrongdoing, perhaps they don’t need to go into a violent fight. Sure, he’d probably have to get punished, and he was certain that Alex won’t just suddenly go along with it. But it’s better to try at least, considering their circumstances.
“Hey!” Zeke shouted, getting his attention despite still scowling at them. “You’re from America, right? The good ole’ United States?”
That immediately got his attention, turning to the barrier mage. Rather than angry, he had a mixture of that emotion as well as shock.
“We’re from the same place,” Zeke said, making sure not to point out Mikella, but instead vaguely around them. He didn’t want to show any more information other than this. “You were sent here against your will too, right? Suddenly taken to this tower?”
Zeke tried hard not to add in ‘hell hole’ despite this place being everything but pleasant. Even if the kid would agree, it’s better not to add more aggression than necessary.
“You’re from America, too?” Alex said, his anger suddenly easing up now. “Seriously?”
“Yeah!” Zeke said, covering his chest with his hand. “We were stuck in a tower too, but we managed to escape. I’m not sure what happened to you, but if you’re in trouble, we can figure something out!”
He heard Mikella approach him, her voice whispering in his ear. “Zeke, what are you doing?”
“Trying to avoid fighting to the death,” Zeke commented softly.
“You seriously think this is gonna work?” Mikella added, a touch skeptic. “This kid isn’t working with a full set of tools, you know.”
“Not really, but any stalling is better than nothing, and if it works out, then maybe it’s for the best.”
Zeke knew this wouldn’t really work, not truly. The kid has clearly done some messed up things to get to where he is now, and if their theory of him having a too high of a level to make a stable mind is taken into account, it’s only even more natural that they won’t end up with a peaceful solution. Still, if Zeke could, he really would prefer not having to kill a teen over this.
There’s already so much death as it is. He would prefer not to add more blood to this situation.
“What do you mean trouble?” Alex asked, almost in offense. “You think I need any help? If anything, you guys made a mistake! This tower is my garden of death! Out of everyone here, I managed to kick their asses and take their corpses for myself! Once I figure a way out of here, I’ll show the world what I’m made of!”
Alex spread his arms out wide, a pure look of ecstasy on his face. Even the zombies on his side began to clap as though on cue, only adding more disturbing awkwardness to his declaration.
However, Zeke gawked at him, taking his words into thought–did he mean what he thought he mean?
“Wait, did you… did you kill the others that were stuck here along with you?”
He had an inkling. But he feared for the answer. However, his fears proved true as Alex only grinned back at him.
Shivers ran down his spine. Mikella’s eyes widened in alarm, then quickly shifted into rage, gripping her sword tighter. Myra and Piker could only frown further at the revelation.
Zeke’s mind whirled. Somehow, there was more people, just like how Zeke wasn’t alone in his tower, stuck with Mikella and Clara. But instead of working together, this kid just killed them. Were they one of the zombies that had attacked them, only to be struck down without a second thought by them?
“Do you have any idea what you’re doing?” Zeke fought back, unable to hold in his emotions. “You’re killing actual people! This ain’t a game, this is real life! Yeah, there’s levels and skills, but the people you’re killing are not NPC’s or computer generated! They’re actually real!”
“I know that, dumbnuts. Why, you think it was fake before?” Alex said, looking down on Zeke as though he was mentally damaged. “That’s why this world kicks ass! Way better than being back at the special home my parents sent me! Way better than being treated like some psychopath when my genius is actually better suited here than in that boring world! So don’t bother trying to ‘convince’ me to join the good guys–if anything, you guys are the dumb fucks who think this world is better off working together. Solo play all the way, baby!”
Zeke pulled his face with his palm, actually almost hurting from his words. Alex was truly out of his mind. Even worse when he unintentionally revealed his background, something that Zeke already kind of figured out, but didn’t think it was actually true.
Piker stepped forward, his glare returning in full force. “I had enough of this farce. It’s clear that he has no intention of stopping.”
“Sorry, Zeke,” Myra said, apologizing as she turned to him. “I know he’s probably from your country, but there’s no chance for this kid. We gotta take him out.”
Zeke tilted his neck, unable to go against his comrades’ words. They were right. In the end, a fight was inevitable. Mikella grabbed his shoulder once, nodding to him to get back into reality.
He knew there was no chance, but it was worth a try. But he only ended up regretting it. The amount of sins this kid wracked up can’t compare to even hardcore criminals in their old world.
Alex has no chance of redemption.
As soon as Mikella drew her own weapon at Alex, it was clear now that the time for talk is over. Alex sneered at them.
“Looks like you finally stopped wasting my time,” Alex declared, spreading his arms apart. “But if you don’t want to fight me that badly, then all you gotta do is join up with me. Don’t worry, I’ll take away that pesky life thing you have and make you ten times better, a million times better even!”
“Yeah…” Zeke shook his head. He honestly felt pity for him. Pity, but nothing else more. “He’s done for.”
“Says you!”
As though pretending that everything he said wasn’t hostile at all, he pointed at them angrily as his bodyguards ran forth. Myra and Piker first came up, trying to subdue the two.
But one of the bodyguards stepped in front and crossed its bulky fleshy arms. It suddenly radiated mana as clumps of stone and rock formed around it, defending each one of the mana-charged fire and ice blade attacks from the two fighters.
It swung its arms wide and pushed them away, and then returned to a guardian like stance of crossing both its arms again.
“Ugh, a defender, great,” Myra complained, clicking her tongue as she jumped forward to deliver a powerful overhead slash.
The earth-focused zombieman blocked it with just one arm, while using the other to defend against Piker’s low end attack, his blade coated in ice. The frost soon took over the left arm, with Myra taking that advantage to strike that one down as it was weakened.
However, a large slag of rock suddenly jutted out in front of her from the stone ground, creating a sort of spider web-like crack underneath as it took her flaming sword attack with ease. The flames dispersed as though the rock itself was made entirely out of anti-flame substance, leaving not even a scorch behind.
“What’s with this thing!” Myra cursed as she delivered blow after blow, but the zombie man refused to budge. Not even Piker could handle it, despite trying his hardest to cover the damn zombie in frost.
It continued to persist, as though it had nothing else better to do. But the better part was that it didn’t even attack, not once. Not even doing a counter attack despite having multiple chances for it. Zeke could only surmise that this zombieman was built entirely out of defense, and if he were to guess, it somehow has the body that had the attunement of earth, specializing in defense even further.
That alone made him dangerous, but soon the other zombieman rushed forward to take Zeke out, but Mikella intervened and struck it with her sword thrust.
Unlike the earth-based zombieman, this one was light on its feet as it suddenly somersault backwards, landing to a kneel.
Then, a burst of air ensued from its hidden hand, then pounced onto Mikella with a fast ferocity. It almost took her out if Zeke hadn’t prepared a barrier beforehand, stopping the powerful thrust of pure wind that was equaling a hurricane in sound.
The wisps of sharp wind showered around the barrier, but it never lost its density as Zeke dispersed it, as though the attack didn’t activate at all. However, the zombieman stood up almost menacingly, both its hands enshrouded in powerful wind that seemed to mess with their sight.
“Okay, this is unfair,” Mikella shouted, shifting her stance with her sword. “How the hell did this kid get these zombies with magic?”
“Pure skill and determination, baby!” Alex shouted out, pumping his chest with pride.
“...Don’t call me ‘baby’.”
Mikella’s voice darkened as her eyes sharpened, turning bright yellow as fury overwhelmed her.
As though summoning the power of a hurricane herself, Mikella dashed forth in a frenzy as she fought the wind zombieman in a whirlwind of blades and strikes.
She was using all her skills in concert, at least to Zeke’s eyes, ensuring that the fast minion doesn’t land a hit on her. She was even using her Sword of Lightning as more of a backup blade, using the lightning to get an edge. At this point, there was no need to use his barriers for her. With the rate she was moving about, he’d most likely get in her way rather than helping.
He also saw on the other side that both Myra and Piker, while not hurt at all, were doing their hardest to take down the earth minion with barely any change. At this point, it won’t do at all if left like this.
So Zeke decided. In order to end this all, he had little choice but to go after the main source of the problems himself.
But would he be able to handle it?