Go-Go’s proclamation felt like a sucker punch, knocking the air out of me. No matter how many times I dealt with them, undead always took me back to that night in Laketown. Corby patted me on the head, tussling Allie’s hat in the process; his gentle touch shook me out of my funk, and I followed everyone else out the door.

It was a familiar and gruesome sight as undead surged through the city. I pushed through the feeling that I was eight years old all over again. I had unlocked and evolved a couple times over. I was ready to kick all kinds of ass.

Go-Go handed out orders, reminding us that there was a reason she was in charge. “Bentley and Bailey go to the main plaza and deal with the brunt of the undead Beakim Corbin start going down streets and clearing them out if you see a Commander or something else you can’t take yourself send a signal Nymia go building by building and take civilians back to the Guild for safety now go go!”

She took off by herself at a speed that made me look like a slime by comparison. Bailey and Bentley peeled off as our party took a street and went with it. There was no shortage of undead to choose from. As the rest of my party started clearing out a shopping street, I focused my senses and started sending out echoes. Unfortunately, there was no shortage of people in the line of fire. And I soon realized that the undead were already in some of those stores. I took off towards the nearest one. I ran in and dropkicked the head off the first ghoul I saw and stabbed another in the head. I looked over to the five survivors here. “Head towards the Guild; it’s safe.” There were a few more ghouls, but I was able to make quick work of them.

I ran back out into the street and narrowly dodged a swipe at my torso. A gigaghoul had managed to get past Bea and Corb . I ran under its legs and kicked one from behind. I kept at it, moving along with the lumbering creature so that it never had another chance to hit me with its massive sword. After a few more kicks, the leg popped off. I ran and jumped back and forth between some nearby buildings before jumping high above the gigaghoul. I spun with increasing velocity until my foot connected with the monster’s head, shattering it.

I made a mana field and used a rumble to shoot its sword off into a group of ghouls before making my way into a new building. I cleaved my way through a small group of undead. A kid was cowering in the corner, surrounded by what I’m assuming was once his family; I ran over and put on my Big Sis smile. “Hey, kiddo. Climb on my back, and I’ll get you to safety. It’ll be alright.” The rugrat hesitantly climbed up and started petting my ears. It was hard to be mad considering the circumstances, so I let it pass and hurried back to the Guild. I kept from going too fast so as to not send him flying by accident. I got him through the door and sped back out.

I was about to send off another pulse to check for survivors, but a javelin came flying at me before I could. I sidestepped and picked it out of the air with my foot. I sent out a pulse around me; there were twelve people surrounding me. One was about to jump off the roof next to me, so I jumped up and launched the javelin up to meet him, impaling the guy before he knew what was happening. “Assassins by the Guild!” I shouted, sending my voice far and wide. I sidestepped another javelin and narrowly ducked under an arrow. Nine guards came out of their hiding spaces and started advancing towards me in their full gear.

Guess they’ve decided to stop pretending we don’t know who they are. That probably doesn’t bode well for me.

I scanned over my attackers. Three swords, two spear, one axe, two mages, one mace, and then the javelin and bow and arrow that were still hiding; one of the mages was very helpfully wearing their healer’s gear to highlight my first target. None of them looked like the people who attacked us outside the city. Unfortunately, I wasn’t getting much of an opportunity to attack at all. It was all I could do to dodge and weave between them. They were clearly all at my level or higher. Staying was going to lead to certain death.

If this environment doesn’t work, shake it up.

I rolled under the attack of Mace guy and used my magic to launch him back, knocking into Sword Two and Spear One.

I took the opportunity to sprint away–right towards another horde of undead. Even with my speed, the guard assassins weren’t too far behind me.

Guardsassins? Guardsassins.

I made a mana field and set off magic under my feet, timing it with my jump. The increased force launched me clear over the horde, and the assassins started plowing straight through them. I tried to use the opportunity sneak away, but a javelin landing close to my leg quickly disabused me of that notion.

Where do they keep all those javelins?

Do you want me to answer that one?

Oh hey, Crayon. Nah, just musing to myself. Can’t talk too much; have to focus on the people trying to kill me. Talk to ya later!

I grabbed the javelin with my teeth and pulled it out of the ground before running back towards the assassins. Mace Guy was facing away from me, mashing a gigaghoul into paste. I tossed the javelin into the air and jumped to meet it, kicking it at Mace Guy’s head. Sword 3 managed to slice it out of the air without even getting near it.

Yikes. Need to keep my distance from that guy.

Mace Guy turned around and leapt towards me. I tried to ready a sonic blast to knock him away, but I didn’t have enough time.

Fuck fuck fuck

I braced for the hit when I heard an explosion to the side. A massive flaming blur slammed into Mace Guy, sending him flying. The flames died down, and Bea looked over and gave me a wild grin as we approached the ground.

Fuck, I want her. Wait, dammit, focus!

“Launch me at him,” I said.

Bea looked confused, but didn’t argue. She set off an explosion, propelling me towards Mace Guy, who was already trying to get up. By the time he realized what was happening, it was too late. My foot slammed into him, caving his skull in against the wall.

Down to ten.

I looked around and finally spotted Javelin guy. He was leveling a javelin while crouching on a balcony. But he wasn’t aiming at me; he was aiming at Bea.

“Bea, take cover!” I yelled while flinging the mace lying at my feet at his perch. The balcony shattered from the impact. As he was falling, Javelin Guy redirected his aim at me as I ran towards him. He managed to throw it before he hit the ground, and it flew into the side of my chest.

You asshole! Right in the boob!

I screamed and wheezed, but I didn’t let myself stop. I closed the distance before he could get up, kicking him in the heart as he tried to fumble to safety. I twisted and kicked the corpse at Sword Three, who cut through his friend like butter.

Nine.

He snarled at me. “Stupid fucking rabbit. I’m going to mount your pelt on my damn wall.” The swordsman readied another strike towards me, but was cut off by a charging otter slamming into him from his blindside. Bea took the opportunity to loose a charged ball of fire, incinerating Sword Three.

Eight.

“Thanks, guys. Could one of you take the javelin out of me?”

Corbin had a ferocious look in his eyes, but he obliged. I stifled a second scream as it was yoinked out of me.

I made sure we were all behind cover while I healed. Bow Guy was still out there somewhere.

“That asshole stabbed me in the boob.

I should’ve cut off his stupid junk

Chopped it up in front of him into cubes

Then feed it to that fucking punk.”

I felt the tissue reform and the bleeding stop as I took a big breath. “There are eight others, and they seem very determined to kill me. One of them is an archer and another a mage, so be careful. Any idea where they are?”

They both shook their heads.

“Alright. Let’s get back to saving people, but we stick together, yeah?”

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

Bea nodded and smiled, but Corby had yet to lose that look of pure rage.

I sent out pulses, and I felt two familiar ones surrounded by a wall of bodies. “Bailey and Bentley look like they need help. Ready?” Two nods later and we were off. I didn’t try to run ahead. Both because I was being very mature and cautious, and also because our path was blocked off by a horde of undead as numerous as wheat in a field, and it was up to us to do the reaping.

Fighting with Corby always felt so natural. We read each other’s movements so well and moved to cover each other’s blind spots. Bea was getting the hang of working with us as well. She was using her magic to cover our flanks and limit the directions the horde could come at us from. When she had spare time, she would lob massive attacks into the horde, thinning out whole chunks at a time.

We slowly carved our way through to Bailey and Bentley, who were both injured. I healed both of them as Bea and Corby continued to push through the horde.

“Thanks. We owe ya one,” Bentley said, stretching and readying himself to dive back in,

“Think we’re even after you rescued me in the first place,” I replied.

He shrugged. “So what’s the situation on your end?”

“Eight guardsassins left. Not even pretending they aren’t city guards; the ones left are a mage, healer, two swords, two spears, one axe, and an archer.”

“Gotcha. We got a lot of undead, but nothing too serious yet. Go-Go is pretty much clearing out the whole west side of the city besides herself. We ran into a few of your assassins. We killed one of the swords and one of the spears. The rest spread out, probably trying to find you again.”

I would say there was a lull in action as we waited for the assassins to strike again, but we still were fending off a whole damn invasion by ourselves. I had no clue where the rest of the city guard was, but this was a bigger bloodbath than Laketown by far.

The ghouls weren’t even that threatening to us, but they were a threat to the civilians and exhausting to mow down one after another. We shifted tactics and let Bailey and Bea cover the big mobs of ghouls while the rest of us took down the beefier targets. Corby refused to leave my side, and I didn’t try to argue. I had to concentrate more to take the gigaghouls and spitters on, which turned out to be an error as an arrow sliced along my ear.

“Round 2,” I cast my words to everyone else and tried to find cover while looking for the archer. I found cover in a shopping stall, but no sooner had I ducked under it did the ground cave in around it, pinning me.

Fuck fuck fuck.

I didn’t see where Corby had gone. I couldn’t calm down enough to manage a mana field, and I saw Axe Guy strolling up to me like an executioner. I redirected my efforts. If I couldn’t get clear, I could at least knock this guy away. I inhaled as much as my squished lungs would allow, and kept piling mana into my throat. I saw a shadow move in the corner of my eye, and I let the rumble rip.

He only went two meters. His feet didn’t even leave the ground. He grinned at me.

Well, shit.

His grin didn’t leave his face, but I watched as his head left his body. Corby cleaved clean through it, bloodlust in his eyes. He wordlessly lifted the rubble off me and quickly gave me a deep hug.

Bit of an odd time for a hug, but I don’t mi–

My thoughts were cut off as the sound of an arrow hitting its mark reverberated through me. Corby gripped me tighter, but I escaped his grasp and saw the arrow protruding out of his back, only a few centimeters away from his spine. He seemed to be stunned by the arrow, not moving an inch.

I saw red. I jumped up and plucked the arrow out of him. I tossed it as hard as I could back at its sender, but the archer dodged easily while nocking another arrow. I couldn’t risk Corby getting hit again, so I tried to form a barrier of sound to redirect the arrow. The arrow tore through it like it wasn’t there and lodged itself in my knee.

FUUUUUUUUUUCK.

I dropped to the ground. I would’ve been writing and screaming if I could move at all. An arm that felt like Corby’s scooped me up and started carrying me. He only managed to move a few steps before a flash of light shot down behind us. In an instant, the world was tinged with the same overwhelming pressure I had felt in Freshna, stopping Corby in his tracks.

A Commander.

I was going to have to do something fast. And it was going to be unpleasant. As the paralysis gradually faded, I kicked off the tip of the arrow and pulled it out of my knee, failing to hold back screams as I did. I focused on healing, careful to concentrate on expelling any foreign substances where my knee should be.

“Listen, knee, I need you to mend fast.

Or we’ll wind up being super super dead.

This moment shall not be our last,

Even though I badly want to crawl into bed.”

My knee started to mend itself, and I turned my attention to see what the Commander was doing. It had apparently found Sword Two and turned him into a snack as he walked through a building like it was a field of grass. Archer had left his perch to escape the oncoming monstrosity.

“Fuck!” he shouted as he fled. “No one told me they’d be bringing this thing down right in the middle of the damn city!” He ran right past us without even a second glance. I couldn’t focus on his escape because I was too focused on his words.

…wait, what? WHAT? Someone brought this thing down on the city. Intentionally? Fuck, no time to think about that. Have to get Corby to safety.

My leg was barely mended enough for me to move on, but it would have to do. I squirmed out of Corby’s grasp and got him up on my shoulders as I hightailed it out of there. I kept running in the opposite direction of the Commander, wanting to put as much distance between us and it as possible, no matter how much my knee throbbed in pain.. But then, I heard a shriek from behind me. That unmistakable sound of a child terrified for its life. I skidded to a stop and winced from the pain as I looked back, then looked up to see Corby’s face. “You want to stay with me, don’t you?”

He was still struggling to move, but his eyes said volumes.

“Fine. focus on being able to move. You may need to grab the kid for me.”

I ignored the screaming pain and ran at top speed. The Commander was slowly walking in the direction of the kid, still clutching onto a doll like their life depended on it. The ground started to shine brighter around the kid, and the sight twisted at my gut. I didn’t have time to think about it, though. I leapt through the air, and managed to use my good leg to grab the kid by the shirt and toss him to the side. He landed with a snap and I think I broke his arm. I landed in a tumble, Corby and I both rolling a meter or so.

The world seemed to slow around me. I saw Bea staring at us with utter horror, even as she mowed down mobs of undead . I gave her an apologetic smile and told her I loved her, hoping the words would reach her.

I turned around and saw a giant hand reaching down to grab me. The Commander was reaching toward me in the circle as it grew brighter and brighter. Corby reacted, driving his axe into the arm in time to make it reel back. He reached out to me and I tried to do the same. But I didn’t have the hands to reach him. The Commander wrapped his hand around him as the world faded to white.

I shut my eyes as the blinding light grew more and more in intensity. As the light faded, I could already tell something was wrong. The air felt stilted and gross. I blinked my eyes open. Sand stretched as far as I could see, and there wasn’t much else. Besides the three ghouls that were coming towards me, that is.

I tried to kip up, but my knee buckled in protest, landing me on my ass. I rolled to the side to avoid a ghoul trying to land on me. I kicked with my good leg and stabbed it in the brain. I wiggled my way up to a knee, then hopped up on my good leg. I landed a somersault kick on the second ghoul and then let out a sonic blast to knock the head off the last one as I landed on my back, exhausted. Before I knew it, an opposing figure was standing over me. It looked even taller with its long…ear?

No way.

“Cinnabun?”

Name: Nymia

Age: 18

Species: Rabbitfolk+ Lv. 101

Class 1: Musical Medic Lv. 41

Class 2: Student of the Unorthodox Blade Lv. 23

Stats:

Bonk: 164+16

Zoom: 411

Sturdy: 152+15

Senses: 408

Brain: 161

Mana: 218

Willpower: 359+362

Free points remaining: 0

Class Skills

* Sound magic Lv. 41

* Soundproof Lv. 41

* Calming Music Lv. 1

* Healing Words Lv. 38

* Medical Knowledge Lv. 18

Class 2 Skills

* Weird Stabbies Lv 23

* Easy Stabbies Lv. 23

* Studying Stabbies Lv. 1

* Zoom Stabs Lv. –

* Must stab weird Lv. –

General Skills

* No Sleep! Lv. 32

* Dodge! Lv 101

* Accuracy Lv. 57

* Sneaky Lv 101

* Stubbornness Lv 101

Species Skills

* Feet of Steel

* Enhanced Senses

* Forage

* Burrow

* Cuddles