8 The City of the Dead
THUD
Another zombie fell dead to the ground. Yin had begun to pick them off easily as they listlessly wandered the streets. Some had seen her and, of course tried to bite her. But the main issue was their slow speed. They changed from slow walking speed to what could essentially be called a shuffle. And by the time they raised their hands, Yin had already buried the machete in their squishy heads.
Swiping the blood and brain off the blade, Yin snorted to herself.
"This is the safest, easiest way to go about killing all those zombies for the dungeon quest but.." Yin stepped over the decayed zombie corpse and made her way down the dilapidated street in front of her.
Stores lined up all along both sides had some of the undead in them while others were boarded up tight. But no real sign of life was really seen.
Yin looked at the Dungeon status screen.
[D-Rank Dungeon: Undead City
0/2 Bosses killed
49/1000 zombies killed]
Somehow, it felt wrong. Yin saw and heard a large group of zombies shuffling, groaning and gurgling as they made their way over towards her location. They could easily be out-walked without much issue. Yin took one step away from them and stopped, feeling a rejection from within.
"I'm.. running away from some regular undead..?" Yin asked herself, unaware of something stirring within her.
Yin stopped in her tracks and looked at the slowly approaching horde. And right on time, another message appeared.
[It seems you're struggling with this dungeon. A regular human knows not to engage a zombie horde and to pick them off one by one to conserve stamina. But when were you a regular human? When were you ever a human? I've decided. As a little incentive to help you spice things up, here's a quest or two. From Tearwyn and myself]
[Quest incoming... Quest received! Your bloodline has an issue with your current actions. Kill the zombies and bosses in style!
Rewards: Finally, some good fucking drip, Bloodline reward, ??? Reward.
Note: The more flair and style in which you destroy the undead, the more reward!]
"Haaah.. So that's what it is. You sure are asking a lot from an eight year old." Yin said, though the eerie smirk on her face betrayed any complaint she voiced.
"Let's see.." Yin took out her dust pistol and carefully looked around the street she was on.
A pub, a gas station, a convenience store and a few other stores that didn't quite give her fun ideas.
"Damn.. If only there were a Walmart nearby. Cars are all probably out of gas or missing the keys.." Yin muttered while walking into the pub and shooting two of the closest undead in the head.
BANG! BANG!
The noise, which she had been avoiding making before, sounded out, drawing the wandering zombies over to her location. Yin knew the closest ones would be there soon but she'd be out of the pub long before then. Leaping over the counter, she ignored the torn apart corpse of the bartender and grabbed numerous drinks off the shelf. Mainly bottles of vodka but anything strong would do. Yin reached into her ammo bag and pulled out a fire dust bullet before slicing the bottom off with the machete to get the processed fire dust within.
Yin opened a bottle of vodka and placed the volatile fire dust inside carefully before grabbing the nearby cloth rags which the bartender probably used to wipe down the bar. Yin then clicked her tongue as a zombie stumbled its way into the store. Yin sped walked over, shooting it in the head as she passed by. Only to see the horde maybe a dozen or so meters away. It had also grown in number too. What was once a few dozen, was now at least a few hundred.
"Good. Now there's the gas station.." Yin muttered, looking at the gas station.
Yin casually walked over to the gas station, pulling a pump and squeezing the handle. Thankfully, it seemed the pump was working and didn't have any safety measures in place. Yin tied a cloth around the handle and let the gasoline flow before doing the same to the other three pumps. The horde grew closer but the anxiousness and trepidation she felt before had vanished. Instead, a subtle change began to take place within.
"Was I really so cautious about these shambling, rotting husks..?" Yin caught herself saying before shaking her head.
The street had now became far noisier. With random straggler zombies emerging from the stores all around her. Their starved snarls, gurgles and groans almost deafening at this point. Yin climbed up a metal pillar until she reached the roof of the gas station.
"Come on now! You want a bite? Gather around, you pathetic sacks of disease!" Yin yelled out as the zombies all swarmed the gas station.
Spotting two more nearby store roofs she could easily access, Yin smirked and pulled out her dust pistol, shooting it at the gas soaked ground the zombies were all stepping in. A fire instantly started as the fire dust worked its magic, beginning to set the horde below on fire. Yin jumped off the roof and climbed onto the roof of a restaurant next door before carefully grabbing the vodka bottles loaded with fire dust and throwing three down below in different areas before diving away.
The gas station quickly turned into an inferno as the rotting bodies caught fire. And three seconds after she dove away.. the station exploded, sending chunks of charred meat and metal flying across the streets.
"Hnhnh.. hahahaha! Shit.. I can feel the heat from up here!" Yin cackled, looking down at the burning street as Zombies dramatically smacked into the pavement, cars, walls, through stores, fire hydrants and into lightposts.
[Level up!] [Level up!] [Level up!]
Seeing her levels rise quickly made Yin's grin deepen. The groans and sounds of flame became a pretty pleasant noise to her as she watched the street below. Yin snorted as one flaming zombie flew into car window, head first.
"GRAAAAH!" A feral sounding shout snapped her out of her amusement.
One very unique zombie was walking towards her. Being at least seven feet tall, it wore a black cowl over its face and had several chunks of metal embedded in its lower head. The zombie's muscles bulged through its ripped skin as it dragged a bloody, rusted greataxe behind it, looking up at Yin, as if to challenge her. Yin felt an increasing excitement at the prospect of destroying an enemy that size and strength.
Seeing that it wouldn't step into the inferno, Yin leapt over the ledge and grabbed onto a light post to slow her descent to the ground. Seeing her acceptance of his challenge, the Zombie pulled its greataxe into both hands and grunted.
[Observe: Zombie Lord Lv: 20 Age: 35
-----------
HP: 200/200 MP: 0/0 Skills: Infectious bite, Undead Strength, Berserker fury
Strength: 100: Vitality: 35 Agility: 10 Perception: 5 Intelligence: 10]
Yin furrowed her brows. It was definitely way stronger than a regular zombie. Tankier too. But it lacked speed, perception and it was dumb. Not as dumb as a regular zombie, but still. She could use that. If only she didn't feel the overpowering desire to crush its head with her bare hands.
"Tch.. damn it. Gonna be a battle freak, aren't I?" Yin cursed before opening fire on the Zombie Lord.
The flaming dust bullets had only left small welts in its skin, which it was unaffected by due to its lack of pain. Yin cursed before quickly ducking a powerful swing of his axe. Though its momentum continued, smashing into a car's door and sending it flying into a nearby store. Yin's eyes widened at the power before holstering her gun and holding the machete tight.
'He's at least superhuman in his strength. Weaknesses lie in his lack of speed and sense. I just have to get to head height to really do some damage..' Yin thought as the Zombie lord reared his axe back and began a shoulder charge at her.
Yin leapt to the side and watched as the Zombie Lord ran straight into two still burning zombies, crushing them beneath its feet before it managed to turn around. Yin had already begun to run after it began its charge, and using one of the nearby cars, jumped up and swung her machete at its head.
The Zombie Lord put its arm out before the blade struck its head, allowing the sharp metal to slice into its arm before grabbing Yin's waist in one hand and lifting her up to face level.
"Ugh! Fuck did you used to be in life? A gorilla!?" Yin grunted as she felt her aura strain from the powerful grip of the Zombie Lord.
Luckily, it wasn't content on just crushing her to death. The Zombie Lord pulled Yin in, jaw open wide, ready to take a bite out of her. Thankfully, it failed to trap her arms, thus when Yin got close enough, she quickly stabbed the Zombie Lord in the head before ripping the blade out and trying again.
"AAAUUUGH!!" The Zombie Lord bellowed in rage, slamming Yin's body into the nearest street light, then throwing her at the ground.
"Gff!" Yin hissed, stopping her momentum by planting her feet on the pavement and sliding to a stop.
Her aura flared more, as if in protest to taking all those hits. Yin saw its face leaking a thick, viscous dark red blood where she previously stabbed. Getting a strange sense of satisfaction from it, she quickly observed its health and smirked.
[Zombie Lord: 70/200 HP. CRITICAL HIT! Berserker Fury skill activated!]
Yin took another step toward the Zombie Lord as it reared its axe back, over its head. It then focefully threw its axe at her. Yin's eyes widened in surprise as she quickly dove away from the speeding hunk of rusted metal. It hit something behind her but Yin scrambled to her feet, too focused on the charging and now enraged Zombie coming right at her. Yin stood her ground and prepared to hit its head once more, like a deadlier bull fight.
"Time... this.. right." Yin whispered, taking a step forward to cut down the charging Zombie Lord.
As she prepared her swing though, a large fist took her by surprise from behind, punching her in the back, it caused her to fly straight at the enraged and charging Zombie Lord. Yin crossed her arms in front of her head and upper chest as the charging Zombie Lord clotheslined her, making her little body violently smash into the convenience store that had begun to catch fire.
Outside, another Zombie Lord had joined the injured one. Seeing fresh meat and that its comrade boss monster was injured, it took Yin by complete surprise and scored a serious hit on the girl that killed so many of its kind so quickly. Both Zombie Lords grunted animalistically before looking into the dark convenience store.
-Another place-
"Ooooh wow. That must have hurt for someone so small! She's even smaller than me." The cute, happy voice of Tearwyn exclaimed, watching the fight.
"Aura's almost shattered, fire's surrounding her.. Yup. Doesn't look good eh? But y'know.. I think she likes it." A soft, mature voice belonging to Hecate spoke up next to her.
"Like Sister Artoria and Raven~ I think she might have what it takes!" Tearwyn nodded, holding her head up with both hands and kicking her feet in anticipation of Yin's retaliation.
"Well that's partially why I chose her after all. That.. and they could really change things for- Oooh! Here she comes.." Hecate smiled, watching Yin walk out of the burning store with glowing purple eyes.
"Ooooh! Her Semblance is finally revealed? What is it? It reminds me of.." Tearwyn tapped her chin in thought.
"Burn. Let's call this one.. Ignition." Hecate stated, looking at the now, quite frightening grin on the eight year old's face.
