32.

“Eeewwww, why’s it so gross?” Santi heard Bianca mutter to Cameron as they stared down at the monster nest. He had to agree with her. He had never been a fan of zombie movies, finding the tales of stupidity in the face of devastation to be unrealistic. That and rotting, shambling, corpses were just gross.

The monster nest they were looking at was filled with zombies. Not all of them were human either. Goblins and some other monsters were standing around in a perpetual state of decay as well.

“What’s that dog thing?” Cam asked, cocking his head to the side. Santi looked at what Cam was staring at. It wasn’t a kobold like he first thought, its head was to wide and jaw too long.

“Gnoll. Nasty bastard. Their bite hurts. Even when they’re not zombies,” Santi informed him.

“So, these things are zombies then?”

“Yeah, just use [Identify] on them.”

“Don’t have it. Bianca, use [Identify] on them,” Cam said nodding at his partner.

“Cameron, they’re zombies.”

“I don’t think you used your skill on them.”

“I agree with Cameron, otherwise you’d know they’re [Reanimated Corpses],” Santi threw out.

“Can you guys knock it off, for like five minutes! Please?!” Chloe begged to their side. She had been so happy to finally have evolved, nearly bouncing in her joy. Now she was looking downcast as the three of them were bantering at each other.

“You seemed to have alerted them to our presence,” Daniel informed them as they all turned as one to watch the shambling mass start moving out of the graveyard.

“Ok, time for business. Cam and Chloe front line. Chad, you and me are in the back with the firepower. Bianca is counterattacking, Daniel and Hana will target their back line.”

“Santi? What backline?” Daniel asked, picking at a nail with his dagger.

“That Acolyte level necromancer that’s about to come out of the mausoleum.”

They all turned and watched as a hooded figure crept out of the marble mausoleum in the middle of the wilted cemetery. Everyone looked at Santi with a range of expressions, all the while the zombies got closer.

“It’s just cinematic. You don’t have a horde of zombies without a necromancer. What’s the highest level of the zombie?”

“Twenty-five is the highest I’ve seen. Peak Initiate,” Hana supplied.

“Which means that boss is likely an Acolyte. Simple deduction.”

“Alright, I don’t like smug, Santi. I’m going to go bash a zombie’s head in.” Cameron got up and flexed his freshly made shield and started walking slowly toward the horde. The rest of the team got up and started to follow, Chad staying behind with Santi as the rest of them pushed forward.

“You don’t ever worry about your sister?” Chad whispered as Bianca swung her macuahuitl in short circles.

“I’m here. I’d be more worried if I wasn’t around. Here, where I can be near her. No.”

If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

“Braver than me.” Chad drew an arrow and loosed, the arrow springing up into the air only to multiply and take the golden glow as it arced down into the center of the zombie mob. Bodies burst like overripe melons, spraying a black ichor and partially dissolved organs around.

“Oh, that’s foul. Glad I’m back here,” Chad said. Santi just smiled at him as Cameron hit the first zombie, a gnoll, in the head with his shield. His shielding skill appeared right before impact and the zombified gnoll’s head collapsed inward as Cam walked over it.

This nest was too weak to be a serious challenge for them. With only the single Acolyte monster here, it would have been better for a peak Initiate team to clear with the help of one or two Acolytes. Santi had scouted the entire thing earlier today, which was how he knew the necromancer was down there. He wanted their first mission to be a walk in the park.

So far it was looking like it was going to be a walk. Cam stayed in position in the front of the group drawing all of the attention. His skills and real shield kept them from overwhelming him and his axe strokes were always lethal. Bianca hid behind him, striking in the lulls as he repositioned the enemies into advantageous situations.

They really had that down. Moving together as one, their movements were in sync and they were rapidly cutting their way across the graveyard. Chloe was a few feet to their left and she had her own ideas of frontlining. If they were all dead, they couldn’t hurt the backline, could they?

Her System granted axe was a blur of violence as she removed limbs and heads with each blow. Santi followed along, not bothering to cast any spells as Chad just fired an arrow every now and then at clumps of zombies, helping break them up and cause a continuous stream rather than a wave of them.

Santi kept his eye on the hooded necromancer now that he was sure his frontline wasn’t incompetent. Having a few mage killers would be vital. Nobody wanted to be stuck in between a pair of mages blowing up the world around them, so everyone deployed mage killers. They didn’t just kill mages but rather any distance fighter. Mage killer just sounded cooler, so everyone used colloquialism.

Shadow chains emerged from the shade of a dead elm tree, wrapping the cloaked figures' limbs. They snapped taut and the necromancer couldn’t move. Daniel stepped out behind it and rammed his knife into its ribs. Santi nodded along, it was a good plan. Well executed too.

The robes shifted revealing a skeletal face with burning blue eyes. Too bad Daniel didn’t have [Identify] to realize that it wasn’t a mortal creature and stabbing it through the ribs wouldn’t do anything to it. Santi tensed, preparing to intervene. Daniel’s girlfriend beat him to it.

Her cloak disappeared as she stepped forward to drive a long branch at the creature’s head. It hit hard, the crack audible over the fighting, and the skull and the tree limb both blasted apart. A bright blue flame flickered between the cracks of the skull as bone fragments froze in midair. They started to come flying back, but Daniel was faster.

He reached in with his hand cloaked in shadows and ripped something free of the skull. The necromancer dropped limply to the ground and the horde it had been controlling simply fell apart. In some cases literally.

Santi thought it was a mixed bag. His frontliners had done a solid job, though they were fighting down a tier. Daniel had gotten arrogant and while his immobilization was solid, if he had been fighting anything else he would have been in trouble. It was alright, just things to be ironed out in practice.

“You guys did all the work. You get the rewards. Down in the mausoleum,” Santi waved at them and gave them a thumbs up. His three frontliners were a mess of rotting meat and clotting blood. They were glaring at him and Chad who had managed to escape unscathed from the carnage.

Santi had plumbed the mausoleum and it was truly a sight of horror. And stench. He had left the little treasures the necromancer had managed to secure so the team could get their own loot. That and he didn’t want to dig them out of the corpses. Really, this entire nest was just a mess.

“Don’t forget to burn it all down when you get in there!” Santi gave them all a thumbs up while staying far away from them. The venomous looks he was receiving told him they had noticed.

“You have a good relationship with them. Have you asked Chloe out?” Chad asked.

“Have you noticed we're in the middle of the collapse of civilization right now?”

“Hasn’t stopped your friends. Comfort can be found in the most trying of times. Life’s short. Even shorter now. Don’t let shit like that slip through your fingers.”

“Thanks for the advice, but I’m going to focus on the whole, keeping us all alive for now.”

“Suit yourself.” Chad strutted off, heading toward the mausoleum and leaving Santi to stew outside. He was too busy for romance. It was that simple. World to save, family to keep alive.

The next nest they were going to do was going to be unfortunate for Chad. He was going to make sure of that. Santi was certain he had seen an ant hill or something they could all climb into.

Maybe a wasp nest Chad could go and clear by himself? A sewer to pacify? Santi kicked his feet and waited, watching the shifting shadows of the cemetery as smoke began to leak out of the mausoleum rights as the team came trudging out. Aside from their particular scent and decorations on them, they seemed to be in a good mood. Morale was high as they were riding the high of evolution and victory.

Santi had a list of monster nests to clear out around the area and they were going to hit all of them as fast as possible. He didn’t think he could win the global contest, but he could definitely compete for the local.