Chapter 11 - Necessity

"Fuck!" Turning around Aaron sent his sword flying towards the landing zombies with all his strength chopping off their legs bellow their knees, the first five zombies fell down but started crawling towards the defenders with their arms.

Beta 2 jumped out of the command tent lifting his sword "Charge them! Slay them before they recover from the fall!" leading the hundreds of survivor holding all kinds of swords, knives, fire axes and even shovels they attacked the creatures as they fell.

The civilians holding guns started shooting the other zombies still in the air as the ones in the ground were immediately swarmed by Beta 2, he sent his blades flying chopping off limbs or blinding the dead when they were about to kill one of the survivors but his true attention was on the abomination behind him, harassing and trying to delay it with <Titan's Hand>.

His distraction cost him as a armless dead goblin pounced him, it's teeth were blocked by the armor but the momentum nearly caused him to fall, pushing its head aside he used one of his daggers to pin its mouth close before trying to push it away with his leg

BOM!

[you suffered - 11 % HEALTH]

The zombie grabbing on to him exploded in a pink cloud of blood and bone shrapnel sending him tumbling through the air to fall in a heap, all around him men screamed in pain as the zombies they were chopping exploded sending pieces of bones flying everywhere.

"What the fuck!" since his armor had once again absorbed most of the damage he wasn't really hurt but the impact had still stunned him and dispelled his strings "Command what the hell was that?" "Our best guess, it was a spell called corpse explosion" getting up he started to look around for his weapons even as more zombies started to rush from behind the abomination or falling from buildings around him.

"Loki, the good news is that the Elite must have shown himself to be using such spell and, at this time, it is unlikely he can use the zombie eyes to see what's happening, the explosions will most likely be in large droves and at random times, just keep your distance when they stop moving"

From the other side of the street Erick came running to help defend the place but stopped at his tracks at the sight of the abomination "What the hell is that?" "The fuck if I know!" looking at the translucent apparition shinning behind Erick he had the desire to ask the same thing.

[Shade– Level 11

HEALTH: N/A

STR: 3 END: 0

DEX: 12 SPD: 18

WIS: 0 INT: 0]

"So, wanna switch?" "Oh thank god yes!" with renewed vigor Erick lifted his giant sword and charged the abomination, materializing a string he curled it around a makeshift spear and hurled it towards the shade, it didn't even bother dodging as the spear sailed right through it with no resistance.

"What a pain" walking towards the creature he lifted two pieces of burning wood hopping that fire could hurt the damn thing, sending one of the pieces flying towards the creature he used his string to swing the other one sideways towards it's body, the first one passed right through its head once again harmlessly but, as the second one was about to hit the shade moved, it left only a blur in the air as it retreated faster than he could believe, narrowing his eyes he wondered, now why would it dodge? The fire clearly didn't hurt it.

Smiling at the simplicity of it he dropped the last plank and instead sent his invisible string towards the flying thing watching as the spirit dodged aside faster than he could move his power, materializing a dozen more he sent them at the thing trying to block its escape.

Using a few seconds to watch the battlefield he saw Erick fighting the abomination using superior speed and skill to dance around the stronger creature the fight was actually quite even but the others were in a far worse situation, the remaining Einherjar were engaging the zombies with melee weapons, relying on their armor to resist bites and explosions as the rest desperately tried to keep their distance or run away "Fight damn it! Fight if you don't want to die!" screamed Beta 2 as he continued to wave his sword even with 4 zombies hanging on to his body scratching and biting his armor, many of the men had already been gnawed to death joining the other side soon after.

Shifting his attention back to the shade he started to do more than just keep it at bay using his hands to increase his control and speed but the spirit was just too fast dodging in and out trying to approach him, they were in a deadlock, glancing at his mana in the corner of his vision he saw it was only at 239 and going down fast, he was fighting a losing battle.

Fuck he had no time for this kind of crap the civilians were dying all around, remembering the minotaur's horn on his back he pulled it out and threw it towards a disheveled woman "Hey you! Catch!" nearly dropping her gun the woman catch the item "Blow It now!"

With no time for further explanations he turned back and charged the shade, he didn't really care if the useless people got killed but it was still a waste of resources they couldn't afford right now, as a second round of explosions rang out among the zombies he decided it was time for desperate measures.

A horn call sounded loudly behind him and seemed to fill the very air strengthening his resolve as the shade screeched eerily and dived towards him taking advantage in his lack of attacks, letting himself wide open he watched as the shade plunged its hands right through his armor and into his chest.

Cold air filled his chest burning his body and internal organs as he screamed in pain and pulled all the strings he had manifested back towards his body, the closer they were the faster he could move them, catching the shade by surprise he managed to trap it and hit it with a dozen strings, they passed right through without resistance leaving glowing paths in their way, the shade screeched in pain and fell in pieces

[You suffered - 78% HEALTH]

[You have slain Shade level 11 + 220 XP]

[Congratulations you have reached level 4, as a human you gain 1 attribute point]

Falling to his knees he threw up pieces of ice inside his helmet frosting his visor, taking off his helmet despite the danger he continued throwing up ice and blood all over the floor as his body was consumed with pain, looking behind him he saw the armed civilians recovering their courage and fighting back, probably the effect of the horn he wished he had remembered it earlier.

Despite their newfound enthusiasm he knew the survivors couldn't hold on for much longer, he briefly considered escaping, it wouldn't be very hard with just him but he knew Erick and the Einherjar would never agree, besides his father would probably lock him up again for disobeying orders, taking out one of his three healing bottles he drank it whole seeing his health climb back up to 45% his pain becoming far less.

Getting up he put his helmet back and turned around to help the survivors trying to buy a little time for… something when command contacted him again "We found him Loki, the elite is ten blocks to the right of your location using some kind of sacrificial magic in open air, there are at least a thousand survivors with it"

Looking around he found a old man holding one of their rifles, using a string he pulled the weapon out of the man's hand and watched as the startled guy was pounced by a zombie, going down with no weapon to defend himself, Aaron lamented the loss but he just didn't have time.

Running towards the right he stepped over the corpses of many fallen zombies moving too fast for their flailing hands as he used his powers to pull himself into a rooftop and continued running.

A flash of red in his motion sensors warned him just in time to turn his body and avoid the talons of a large owl, its neck half eaten by some creature its eyes dead, he felt a small impact from his back as a huge vulture slammed into him followed by another big bird and another.

Although their beaks and talons couldn't hurt him through his armor he was soon surrounded by a huge flock of the creatures flying around and attacking, his vision was completely blocked, looking at his mana blinking at <63/1112> he briefly considered what to do when huge talons broke through the bird encirclement.

Throwing himself back one of the talons still hit his chest driving him into the concrete roof and causing him tumble back nearly falling off the edge, looking down he saw two deed scratches on his right shoulder and one in his belly.

Pulling up his rifle he thanked god it was one with a grenade launcher attached , shooting towards the flock he hit a falcon exploding barely 9 meters from him, small fragments pelting his armor with bruising force but the effect over the undead birds was far greater, another two shoots and he managed to decimate the creatures.

Without so many birds flying around he managed to see a man sized red and black eagle flying into his direction, its chest was caved in and it had the same dead look in its eyes.

[Terror Bird (dead) – Level 4

HEALTH: N/A

STR: 12 END: 8

DEX: 7 SPD: 16

WIS: 0 INT: 0]

Aiming at the creature he sent a string of bullets into its head but the creature didn't stop, diving at him undisturbed by several new holes in its brain, he dived out of the way and turned shooting his last grenade but the bird was too fast flying out of the explosion range, releasing the riffle he let it hand by a strap over his left shoulder and pulled his handgun once again, he didn't have time to reload so he only shoot 4 times, with the help of his helmet he managed to hit with 3 of them.

The exploding bullets blew up half its head in a shower of blood and the Terror bird fell down on the roof flopping around uselessly without eyes, ears or beak to orient itself, holstering his handgun he moved on, using his power to form ropes between the buildings and moving in a straight line towards his target while his mana went down <21/1112>.

Finally he got as close as he dared, crawling towards the edge he peeked out at the street, the undead mage was standing on top of a 15 meters tall pile of cars and between two minor abominations like the one he had faced, around them were a sea of zombies, there were at least a few thousands surrounding a couple hundred survivors kneeling.

As he watched a mindless zombie picked up a young man and kicked away the child who was clutching at his arm, the man struggled and the child cried but another survivor covered her mouth and the zombie was just too strong dragging the young father to the top of the car pile to stand in front of the elite, using his helmet's zoom he inspected the creature.

[Undead Mage (Elite) – Level 10

HEALTH: N/A

STR: 6 END: 4

DEX: 5 SPD: 7

WIS: 2 INT: 7]

It was actually a small goblin wielding a skull cane "Control how is the situation at the nodes?" "All nodes are relatively safe the attack is concentrated on the city core, Siegfried has retreated inside a fortified building and they are taking heavy casualties!" The mage made the man kneel on the ground, its rotten mouth started to chant in a strange language as it drew on the man's face with blood them slit his throat, gathering the blood in a bone bowl he ignited it in purple flames and spilled it over its own head.

Laying his riffle on the ground he secured it with a proper support then laid down and took a proper shooting position "Control what's it doing?" "Probably gathering power, there is no way a level 10 elite can create such powerful abominations by itself" moving slowly to avoid detection he pulled out his riffle current ammunition and recharged it with his only magazine of high explosive incendiary bullets, breathing in and out slowly he used aim assist to line up the shoot.

"Command what happens to the zombies if the elite dies?" "they will continue attacking but without any coordination or corpse explosions" "That's what I was afraid of" Taking one last look at the kneeling survivors he steeled his hearth, closed his eyes and breathed deeply, when he opened them again he was ready, released his breath he pulled the trigger.

Two bullets hit the elite's head and another three its hearth before exploding its skull and igniting its rotten clothes, releasing his riffle he let it fall to the side and crawled away from the edge before fumbling with his helmet, taking it off he threw it aside heaving in desperation, it had been a long time since he last cried.

He had thought dead no longer bothered him but now he saw there was a clear difference between knowing he caused hundreds of innocent deaths and seeing it with his own eyes, down the street the burning mage lost control of the zombie horde, inhuman screams of excitement and rage mixed with those of terror and begging as the zombies reverted to their true nature starting to slaughter the survivors.

[You have slain an elite Undead mage level 10 + 160 XP]