I found somewhere to wash my hands and feet.

Right now, I crept along the roof and, after checking, jumped an alley and continued. I kept low and off the skyline. I was working my way parallel to a road that led to the city centre. There were undead scattered everywhere, but only the civilians. The higher-ranked ones had obviously been gathered together somewhere.

I was over halfway to the city centre, and it was mid-afternoon. This careful and watchful is also slow. Night might, in fact, be better for me. I had raided an empty house for some food. I was actively avoiding fights. When I had to cross roads or open spaces, I waited for the least number watching me and dashed across using my skill. Then, I climbed to a roof and crept away. If I got chased, they would soon lose interest and wander away.

That was when I heard fighting. It was coming from the road away from the one I was following. I decided I would go and look. I wasn’t going to risk intervening unless I thought I could get away. I remember the man in dark leather.

Don’t Die is now at the top of my list.

I worked my way toward the sound. I didn’t hurry. Careful and watchful. I found a roof where I could see. I am pretty sure it was an adventuring team, plus a couple of extras. One of the extras was definitely silver, while the rest of the group was bronze. They had a bronze-rank healer.

The adventurers were obviously trying to run to the gates and to get out. They were clashing with civilian undead. They had killed some, but a lot they left maimed behind them. I don’t think they have worked out the secret of killing them.

The trouble was the sound of the fighting had drawn more undead to them and was continuing to do so. In my opinion, they needed to move fast and turn it into a rolling fight, or they would get swamped, or the higher-ranked people would come. There were two in heavy armour, so there was no chance they could do what I was doing.

I am not yet iron rank. There is no way I could help them.

Then I saw a robbed figure at the end of the street, surrounded by higher-level undead, all armed and armoured. I looked the other way, and I am sure it was the dark leather man with another group of higher undead.

I started backing away. Then, the Silver Rank Adventurer became aware of the two groups. Silver rank senses are good. He suddenly broke off the undead he was fighting, crashed straight through a building, and started running. The bronze rankers tried to follow, but there was no way they could keep up. The higher-level undead went after them. I am sure they will have another group of higher-ranked undead stationed at the gates. I would.

I quietly backed away and continued my slow and careful approach, although I was starting to lose hope. It was not even a day, and the city was overrun. I hope the silver ranker gets out and sounds the alarm.

I broke into another house to find some dinner. The first house had a barricaded-in family, and we gave each other a fright. I advised them to sit tight, let no sound or light out, and wait for rescue. The Dad and I shared a look because we knew rescue was two weeks away at best—probably longer if we needed to wait for gold rankers from Vitesse. We would need gold rankers. Hopefully, they could at least portal to Stillwater and come from there. Once the first responders get here they can portal people closer. Gold rankers can move fast.

The family had given me some hope. There will be others hunkering down and hiding. The undead leaders didn’t seem that interested in normal people. They wanted Iron rank and up.

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

I was on the edge of the city centre now, and the undead were more numerous. I was going to wait for the night before going further. Many times, I almost abandoned this and was going to head out of the city. I still think I should have, but I am here now. There are abandoned shops I could raid for gear and then run. Never mind, I can see Jeb's shop and apartment from the roof. I might as well finish it.

I passed up the opportunity to raid shops because I needed to travel light. That was, except for one shop: a weaponsmith shop. I traded my kitchen knives for good fighting knives and my hand axe for a couple of throwing axes. I wasn’t going to throw them, but the war axes were too heavy. They were the best I could wield. Once again, I lamented the lack of the Power attribute. That and my small size.

While I waited for darkness to fall, I meditated. I felt my Razor Sharp skill go up. I had been using it all day in a stressful situation, so that was fair. Then, I also felt my Hunter's Senses Skill go up. That was good. It was the key to my survival.

Once it was fully dark, I moved out. It was an overcast night, so it was very dark. My perception gives me more sight in low light, but this is too low. You don’t realise how much ambient light there is in town, which comes from buildings and businesses until it is gone. If I couldn’t see much, I doubted the undead could see anything. I knew sound attracted them, and I was using my hearing to track them as they would continue to shuffle around in the dark.

Several times, just crossing the street, I would see the shadow of the undead as I was almost on it. That was the most nerve-racking part of crossing the road. All these were normal rank, so they could not detect auras any more than I could. I did not want to run into something that could. Maybe I would be mistaken for one of these, but I was betting their aura had changed. I tried to keep calm, but when the shadow next to you moved and was an undead, it was not really possible.

I got across the wide main street and immediately climbed a building. I rested for a minute. It was marginally brighter up here, but I still went carefully. I passed the Magic Society building, and it had been targeted and was raided and trashed. There were undead wandering through the building. I assume the Adventure Society building was worse. I wasn’t going to go near it, though.

I went through Jeb’s upper window and thoroughly searched the top floor. No one was there, and it looked like it hadn’t been touched. The door at the top of the stairs was closed and locked. I opened it and carefully went downstairs. The shop windows were smashed, and the door was open and hanging from one hinge. There was currently no undead in the shop. No sign of Jeb either.

I noticed the expensive high-level skill books were missing. Those in charge were not above a bit of looting, I see. They left all the low-level ones. That was fine by me. That was what I needed. I know it is only head knowledge, but any knowledge would help me now. It was part of the reason I kept coming. I retrieved my pack and gear and looked for what I might need. I had limited space. Even I knew using one skill book after another was a waste, and you wouldn’t get much from it. The Spirit Attribute empowers the mind, and my Spirit Attribute is at the Iron level.

‘Iron-level Axe Work’ was one I was going to use straight away—well, straight away, as soon as I could get some light. I put ‘Beginner Knife Skills’ in my pack for later. That would help me use the most common weapons. I wanted some distance as well, so I put ‘Spearing the Opposition’ in. I could make and sharpen spears, and they were quite common and easy for beginners to use.

That was all. I looked at the knowledge books, but I knew these forests quite well, and if Jeb were alive, I would owe him big anyway. I went back upstairs, went into a closet, lit a candle, and used the axe book. That way, I wouldn’t have to carry it, and I immediately knew what I had been doing wrong with axes and why the big axe got stuck. It has partly to do with the design and partly with the way I used it. It was also partly the nature of axes, and I would need to watch that. I would practice once I was out of the city. Hopefully, I won’t need it sooner. Who am I trying to kid?

I wanted to be out of the city before first light. I wanted to say a prayer for Jeb, but I didn’t know which god to pray to. If he was dead, I wanted him to be with the god of Death, not the god of Undeath. I would prefer he was alive, but I wasn’t holding out much hope.

It was time to head out and see if my family was alive.