The anchor crumbled under another assault. I stood by and watched it fade into ash and glowing power before wafting away.
“Nicely done.”
“Do you even have a name?”
“I do, actually. Basil.” He pronounced it like ‘Baz-ill’, as if he was a proper British gentleman.
“You know, I’ve been meaning to ask. Why do all zombies sound like they’re posh Brits?”
“I don’t know what those words mean, but we’re talking in Zombie Common. It’s just translating through the system for you in a way you can understand. If there’s an accent, that’s on your end.”
“Well, thanks, Basil. I have two more of these things to go. God, you’re heavy.”
He grunted out a laugh. “I’d give you a hand, but I’m fresh out.”
I snorted a laugh. He was legless and armless. Something I was starting to regret as I hoisted him higher. I had a rope harness tied around him, and held the rope with one hand. He bounced on my back as I started off into the maze once more.
“I kinda wish I hadn’t… disarmed you so thoroughly.”
“You’ve got me falling to bits with that one,” he said through another gravelly chuckle.
“We need to focus,” I said. “Where’s the brains? I mean the other anchors. The brains can wait, anchors first.”
“I’m afraid I don’t get that one.”
“Pop-culture reference. Don’t worry about it. Other anchors?”
I felt him nod against my shoulder. He started directing me, looking from my back. It only took a few minutes to get to the next anchor.
“Oh, bad luck there, lad.”
He was right. I scanned the four zombies from just outside their perception. They didn’t notice me standing with one of their fallen comrades. Their stats popped up, but the boxes were short, with little information given.
‘Zombie
Level: 0
HP: ?
Mana: ?
Stamina: ?’
‘Zombie
Level: 2
HP: ?
Mana: ?
Stamina: ?’
‘Zombie
Level: 2
HP: ?
Mana: ?
Stamina: ?’
‘Zombie
Level: 3
HP: ?
Mana: ?
Stamina: ?’
This time, the level three was a woman. She didn’t look particularly strong.
“She’s kinda thin for a level 3.”
“Don’t let looks fool you. She’s young, too. A real prodigy. I heard she was turned only twenty years ago, and she’s already level 3.”
She still had hair on her head, though it was thin and patchy, and looked like it would break with the slightest force. Where the others had sunken eyes, hollow cheeks, and bones showing through their translucent skin, she looked like a sickly woman instead of a living corpse.
“There’s something different about her.”
“You’ve noticed that already, have you?”
“Why, though?”
“I’m sure you’ll figure it out,” he said. I could hear the smirk on his rotten face.
I dropped him like a sack of potatoes, then sprinted in. She turned first, a smile on her face. That worried me, but I didn’t let it stop me. I slid in under a swing from the level 0 and kicked his knee into next week. He went down while I jumped into a superman punch, taking out one of the level 2s. His head snapped back and body went limp. That left two: the creepy woman still smiling at me, and the level 0 jumping around on one leg. She wasn’t moving, so I finished off the level 0.
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Level 2 zombie killed. 20 xp awarded.
Level 2 zombie killed. 20 xp awarded.
Level up!
+3 strength, +1 agility, +3 constitution, +1 free stat point.
Level 0 zombie killed. 1 xp awarded.
The woman was still just staring with a creepy smile. It was made worse by her teeth; all blackened and crooked. It looked like she had some flesh jammed in there rotting away. I lunged in with a fast jab and felt my hand break. A flash of blue light spread from where my hand had been forced away, a few inches from her body.
“Do you like it? That’s my mana shield.”
I shook my hand out. It hurt, but not as much as I expected it to. She frowned when I didn’t respond. Then she started to move her hands and whisper under her breath, with energy collecting between her fingers. I lashed out with a savage kick, knocking her back and into the anchor. Her shield exploded and she screamed, losing control of the spell she was building. That flashed off, burning her face and leaving her with a screaming, skeletal countenance. It was horrifying.
I jumped at her, bringing both hands down on her skull and caving it in. Her XP popped in the corner of my vision while I started hammering on the anchor.
Level 3 zombie killed. 20 xp awarded.
The anchor crumbled away, and I breathed a sigh of relief. One anchor left. I checked my status again, waiting to see what a new level had brought.
Congratulations, you’ve leveled up! Level: 1.
Name: Alabaster Blackwood
Race: Zombie Human
Faction: None
Age: 20
Level: 1
XP: 36/105
HP: 146/280
HP regen per second: 0.12
MP: 0/20
MP regen per second: 0.00
Stamina: 120/140
Stamina regen: 0.08
Strength: 17*
Agility: 8
Constitution: 14*
Wisdom: 1
Intelligence: 1
Charisma: 1
Luck: 12*
Free points: 1
Titles: Primordial Undead, Prime Undead, Star-born: Dragon
Skills: Unarmed Combat
Abilities: None
Spells: None
Notes: English, Zombie Common
My strength was really high, as was my constitution. I had to remind myself, again, that this was real life. I had one free point to allocate, and tried to put it into Intelligence. The glaring ‘1’ really bothered me. It… didn’t work. I sighed, tried Wisdom and Charisma with no change. Then I put it into agility, and the free point disappeared. I hoped I wouldn’t regret the choice.
“You done yet?”
“Yeah, Basil. One moment.” I trudged back over to him and hauled him onto my back. He was little more than a torso, and with my increased strength, he hardly weighed a thing.
“Where’s the last one.”
“Last corner, obviously.”
I shook my head. “Just point the way.”
“Oh, ha-ha. It’s right over this way, sir,” he said with a mocking tone. I checked and saw him waving the stump of an arm at a different entrance into the hedge maze than I had arrived from. Several minutes passed, the quiet only broken by distant thunder and Basil’s occasional uttered direction.
Alert: quest updated.
You have destroyed three of the four anchors holding a portal open, through which an army is invading. Destroy the final anchor, close the portal, and maybe save your world. Or, you can find the leader and join them to rule over your own bit of paradise. 15 minutes remain.
Rewards: 150xp, 1000 recognition, undiscovered rewards based on choices.’
“Dammit, there’s a time limit now. How far until we get to the next anchor?”
Basil leaned his head to the side. “I think it’s just around the corner. How much time do we have?”
“Fifteen minutes.”
“Cutting it close. You better take the last group down quickly.”
I nodded, and we set off again. It took longer than I liked to find the last clearing, which was behind a clever set of double-backs. A timer window had appeared in the corner of my vision, and it let me know just how little time I had left.
Time remaining: 9:13
I finally spotted the final anchor and the four guards, and set Basil down. He nodded gravely. I returned the gesture. Then I flung myself into the conflict. I only had a moment to scan the four zombies.
‘Zombie
Level: 3
HP: 300
Mana: 20
Stamina: 80’
‘Zombie
Level: 2
HP: 240
Mana: 20
Stamina: 60’
‘Zombie
Level: 2
HP: 240
Mana: 20
Stamina: 60’
‘Zombie
Level: 3
HP: 320
Mana: 20
Stamina: 60’
This is going to be a hell of a fight. I got a surprise first blow, smashing the first level three in the face. He rocketed back, taking huge damage. I pivoted into a level 2 with a back-handed hammer fist, knocking her flat. During the turn, I delivered a savage kick to the other level 2. The final guard, another level three, caught me with a haymaker to the chest, and I flew back. Blood sprayed from my mouth.
The hit had been hard, but I guess less than 10% of my total health. I didn’t want to check my stats again so quickly. I had to be more careful, but the time limit meant I needed to hurry. I didn’t want to find out what happened when the timer ran out.
I stood, wiped the blood from my mouth, and readied for another charge. The level three that hit me smiled back, showing off a nearly toothless mouth. It was horrible to see. I couldn’t even tell if the zombie was male or female, all tells had worn away with time. They didn’t bother with conversation, and I was fresh out of quips. I launched myself back into the fray.
‘Flow like water.’
My Tai-chi instructor’s words came to mind as I wove through the hostile zombies. I used a mix of different martial arts. Tai Chi to Karate, Judo, even some Krav Maga. I had dabbled in all of them, only sticking around for a year or so in each. Even so, with my enhanced perception of my body, it allowed me to pick them up very quickly. I struck out with hard blows to nerve clusters. Krav Maga had moves designed to cripple, which was far more effective against the zombies. When joints broke, there was little the hostiles could do to counteract a physical impairment. Nerves were of little use when they had decayed decades or centuries before.
After another terse exchange, I took stock. I had several broken ribs, a crack in my right forearm, and black ooze was spilling over my right eye.
“Look at this. Freshie still has blood!”
Time remaining: 7:02
I couldn’t tell which of the four said it. Their voices sounded the same, like an old British woman was set on fire, perhaps while smoking an entire carton of cigarettes at once. It was as androgynous as you could get while still sounding vaguely human.
“At least I can still stand,” I spat back. It was true, too. Two stood at an awkward angle with shattered legs, the third hopped in place, and the fourth was on the ground looking up at me. I had managed to break both legs just below the hips with a well placed, very lucky kick. They might be strong, but time had done serious damage to their bodies.
“Just what the hell is going on here?”
A familiar voice drifted down. “Why is the portal unstable? How did you idiots already lose three anchors?”
I shook my head. One of his questions answered the other. The Necromancer is an idiot.
He floated into view, coming over the hedge. His eyes locked on me as soon as he spotted me.
“You.”
“Me,” I said with a grin.