The horde had grown, eclipsing its previous size. At its head was the Rider, spinning a long whip in a circle above its head.

The Kode, Wheya, and townsfolk were all scrambling to see what was happening outside, and it didn't take long for some to begin relaying what was happening to those who couldn't see. Kenna was already on the walls when Beck reached her, his crossbow loaded and ready in his hands. Mason was close behind, pushing past people to keep up.

The crack of the whip could easily be heard from their position, and at the sound, the horde moved as one. The Rider let them flow around it, watching as the shamblers fell and rose once more to their feet. The townsfolk below began running to and fro, combatants rushing to the dual choke points where the tracks came in while the rest took shelter in their homes. Many of the Kode kept their positions on the walls, crossbows ready and waiting for the mass of undead to get within range. The Wheya mounted their bats, all but one taking off towards the horde. The remaining tribesman flew at top speed in the direction they had come.

Beck followed his friends, though he stayed on the platform when they jumped down. He had a good view of the horde from his current position, so he braced his crossbow against the top of the wall and surveyed the throng. Then the Wheya reached them.

Outside the effective range of the Kode's weapons, the Wheya began diving towards the shamblers. One of them chose to target a patch close to the edge, and just before his bat's claws could close around one, both him and his mount were thrown through the air with a peal of thunder. They were quickly consumed by the throng.

Beck was thankful he was too far away to hear the screams over everything else that was going on.

With the existence of SpellSlingers within the horde revealed, the Wheya were much more cautious with their attacks. Now that they were no longer hiding, though, the rotters took to filling the sky with flame and ice. The distinctive cracks of whips were answered with more peals of thunder when the Wheya braved the barrage, some being thrown from their mounts while others were able to slay one or two of the SpellSlingers hiding in the horde.

Once in range, the Kode loosed their crossbows in volleys between the Wheya's dive bombs. Beck ignored the dings and system popups, too focused on the encroaching enemy. The seconds blurred into minutes that felt like hours. His hand closed on empty air when he reached for another bolt, and the absence shocked him out of his rote state.

The horde as within spitting distance now, some faster specimens having already been dispatched along the tracks. The Wheya were beginning to retreat, their numbers having thinned to three-quarters of what they were to begin with. A youth made for a final dive near the front edge, only for another peal of thunder to throw him to the ground.

Before he even knew what he was doing, Beck had set his crossbow against the wall and vaulted over. A few people yelled as he went over. A roll absorbed the impact, and he came up running, drawing his knife from its sheathe as he did. With the horde's proximity, he quickly reached his destination, shoulder-checking a shambler that had laid its hands on the young man.

He pulled the youth to his feet and gave him a push, at which point the disoriented young man ran unsteadily towards the tracks. Beck couldn't spare him any more attention, though; The horde was closing around him. The shambler he had knocked down climbed to its feet, arms outstretched to take him.

His knife buried itself to the hilt in the thing's temple, and it went limp. Beck had to keep moving backwards to stay in front of the horde, batting away their questing hands. A flash of light erupted from a nearby grouping, the impact an instant later knocking him to the ground. The shamblers lurched as one, pursuing his scrambling form.

He got to his feet right as one of them made contact, its hands closing around his upper arms. Its jaws followed not long after, closing around his shoulder. Thankfully, the armor the Kode had given him took the brunt of it, and the shambler was too stupid to realize the futility of gnawing on the shell. The bad news was that he could barely move, and the rest of the horde was closing in.

Beck began to panic, and the world slowed around him. There had to be hundreds of the moving corpses, all waiting to tear into him. He was back in Sandwood, bleeding out and on the ground, with a shambler about to crack open his skull. For a split second, he debated on allowing it. Simply accepting that this was his fate, for an unconscious decision. The horde was closing in. It was almost time.

Before he could be surrounded, though, something scorching impacted the thing's head. Its grip loosened and its jaw went slack before it was carried away by the force of the blow. Without the restraints, Beck was able to continue his backwards scramble for the town walls for a moment.

He was promptly picked up and spun around, at which point he was able to full-on sprint, as well as fully take in the woman who had saved him again. Kenna ran beside him, moving at the same speed with significantly less effort. The two of them were able to easily outpace the horde, and once they reached the walls, she boosted him up before climbing onto them herself.

While they both caught their breath, Beck was finally able to assess the damage from his brief excursion. No real wounds, but the area that had been shot had a ring of ash where he had been hit. That would probably leave a mark.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Kenna's breathing normalized first. "That was stupid. You could have gotten yourself killed."

Beck took a second longer before he responded. "But I didn't."

A smile broke through the scowl on the large woman's face, and she laughed. "No. No, you didn't."

Beck stayed mostly quiet, his mind still on what just happened. When he looked over the edge of the wall, he found the horde drawing near. It wasn't long before the Wheya began cracking their whips from the in-built scaffolding, being answered in turn with a myriad of spells.

Kenna gave him a pat on the shoulder, then hopped down from the scaffolding and jogged back to the opening she had been at before. He was about to get away from the wall himself, try to find something else to do, when an older man took a lance of flame to his shoulder. Beck barely managed to grab onto his other arm before he toppled off the scaffolding.

Once the Wheya was settled, Beck sat him down and pulled his shirt away to expose the burnt flesh beneath. He cringed when he saw the hole that had been bored into the man's arm, the blackened flesh and bone still twitching. Unstoppering the waterskin the Kode had given him, Beck drew out a palm sized globule of cool water and pushed it into the wound. The ash and blackened detritus was peeled away, leaving only blood and red flesh.

After he withdrew the water, he found that a large portion was cauterized already. Pushing the water back into the wound, he did his best to ensure as little blood left the man's body as possible. That done, he held his hand to the side of the other man's head. A fever had taken hold of him. "Listen to me. I'm gonna take you to temple. We're gon' get you fixed up."

The blueish man just nodded. Beck lifted him to his feet, then took him as fast as their feet would carry them to the place he had met with his aunt. It wasn't long before they reached the little building, which was really too small to be considered a church. Nonetheless, he drug the man through the open door. "Auntie! I got a man hurt!"

It was only after the words left his mouth that he was able to take in the layout of the single room. There were around twenty beds set up throughout the building, and more than half of those had injured people of every populace present. Kode, Wheya, and townsfolk were all together here, just as they were outside. His aunt was tending someone on the far side, but her head shot up when she heard his announcement. "Set him on a cot, I'll take a look at him soon. There are bandages by the stove. Use those for what you can."

Beck nodded and brought his charge to the nearest mattress, laying him down on his uninjured side before grabbing the bandages. When he returned, he found that a good portion of the water he had been using had lost cohesion and spilled over the man and his mattress. An application of [Shape Water] saw that water drawn back together, and another had the bloody water separated and discarded while he made a compress from the bandages. Once the compress was complete, the remaining water went to soaking one end. After all that, Beck pushed the compress into the Wheya's shoulder as tight as he could before wrapping more bandages around and tying them to keep them in place.

Beck helped the man to lay on his back, then turned his attention back to his aunt. She was still tending the the same patient, the telltale glow of [Healing Hands] ghosting over injuries as she knelt and kissed the poor soul's forehead. It didn't take long, though, before the patient was fully healed and rushing back to the walls. Marina simply shook her head and walked over to inspect her newest charge.

She made an appreciative noise when she took in his work, then immediately set about taking it apart. Beck started to protest, only for the words to die in his throat when he recognized her usage of a skill. Once the compress was fully off, the skin had fully healed, though underneath it seemed hollow. At that, Marina turned to her nephew. "You did good. See what you can do for the others."

With that, she turned back and continued her work. Beck lingered a moment, long enough to watch as the space under the skin slowly began to fill out, before heading to assist others. By far the most injuries were from various burns, though there were frostbite and simple blunt force or slash wounds as well. Each necessitated different treatments, though he was best equipped to deal with the burns.

With every bandage, every soothed burn, and every thawed appendage, his surety of his care grew, until finally, after so many hours that his fingers were raw, there were no new patients. His aunt had finally exhausted her abilities, as well, with only a handful of townsfolk being left to wait for her healing touch. The two of them sagged into chairs as the bellow of a train whistle roused a chorus of cheers. Both had smiles on their faces when Kenna and Mason arrived to tell them of how they had driven off the Riders.

Apparently, Mason had used a massive shield to help stem the flow of shamblers while Kenna and larger Kode handled the corpses at the front, with Wheya targeting any SpellSlingers in the horde that got close enough and the townsfolk used whatever long weapons they had at their disposal to stab into the throng. It took hours, with the rotters only breaking and riding off after the train came close to town.

While they told their stories, Beck took the time to go through all the messages that he had ignored. The sheer number floored him.

You have aided in the slaying of a Zombie! x3

You have slain a Zombie! x5 Level Up! You are now lvl. 4! +2 Stat Points!

[Longarms] has leveled up! It is now Lvl 2! +1 Dexterity

[First Aid] has leveled up! x2 It is now level 3! +2 Wisdom

[Shape Water] has leveled up! It is now Lvl 4! +1 Wisdom