Episode 8: Grave Under (9)

As the situation grew grave, the tight formation that the hunters had been keeping up slowly began to fall apart. Before the group knew it, they were already backed into a corner.

"Dammit... This is bad..." Jace frowned, scanning around the area in a hurry. "I didn't see that swordsman at all...!"

"H-Hey, Lazy Eyes... What do we do?" As the black-haired man racked his brain on the matter, Landon leapt back towards him. "Things aren't going as planned! A-At this rate...!"

"It's my fault..." Clicking his tongue, he gripped his pistol tightly in reply. "Everyone, regroup! Don't separate! Landon, we need to help Yun. Or otherwise, we'll be in trouble."

"Right!" Landon nodded his head. "Let's hurry!"

Without wasting any time, the two men dashed towards the injured Yun who had been attacked by the zombified Silas.

"Yun! How are your wounds?" Jace asked, hurriedly activating [ Soul Channeler ] on him.

"Cough... Not good..." he weakly uttered. "Silas' attack was too much..."

"Ugh... Save your breath, I'll try to help you." In a frenzy, Jace began to attack any monsters he could see in his vicinity, hoping to heal the wound caused by the swordsman. However, to his dismay, his healing wasn't enough to make any difference for Yun.

"Grr... Join us... Join the family!" The zombie swordsman lifted up his sword, aiming to seal the deal on the injured leader. "You will be set free!"

"Freaking zombie!" At that second, Hugo immediately intercepted the attack, clashing his axe against his blade. "OI! Jay! Hurry and give more commands! I'll hold this bugger off!"

"Urk..." Jace gritted his teeth as he glanced around the battlefield, taking note of the positions of the disoriented party members. "We need Yun's thunder so that we can safely deal with the lich. Without it, the horde is going to become a major problem..."

"What if I try to get the aggro?" Cole interjected. "If Fred and I can get most of their aggro, the rest of y'all can focus down on that damn lich! We just need to kill 'em and we're done, right?"

"That..." Jace who was still continuously shooting at each enemy he saw, hesitated to reply. "It would work but... The risks involved would be—"

"It's either we live or we die!" Cole stated. "The situation is getting worse by the minute! Come on!"

"..." The young man bit his lips, nodding his head. "Then hurry. Have Huey back you up, the rest will deal with the lich."

"You heard him," Fred stated. "Go!"

As the two men began charging into the horde of zombies, Jace's attention returned to Yun, still attempting to heal him up. Unfortunately, he was still in a terrible state.

"Ugh... This isn't enough... What do I do?" he frowned. "At this rate, he will..."

"Cough... Jay..." As Jace began to panic seeing that he was unable to help him, Yun called out to him. "Leave me be... It's better if you focus on the others... Cough..."

"But...!" his eyes shook at Yun's words.

"Your heals are better off used on the ones still able to fight," he stated. "I'm a lost cause..."

"No, that's..." Before he could finish his sentence, Jace saw that the Magician in the distance was about to cast another spell. "...someone! Hurry and stop the mage!"

"I-I'm on it!" Rei nodded her head, shakily pointing her bow towards the Magician. "U-Ugh... Ben..."

"Shoot it!" Hugo screamed, still fighting against the swordsman. "That bastard is no longer Ben!"

"...ah!" Rei cried out, sending out the arrow towards the zombie mage, piercing him through the chest.

"Hah...!" To the side of the monster, Landon rushed in, shooting out as many bullets as he could. "I'm sorry...!" Putting his all into his accuracy, he successfully killed the mage.

"Kehehehe... Die! Die! Die!" The little girl screamed, summoning more blackthorns in the area. "You will all die!"

"...watch out!" Huey cried out, creating a barrier around Landon.

"...!" Just as he was about to be struck by the vines, he was saved just in time. "T-Thanks...!"

"There's no time for thanks! Deal with the Synergist!" Huey cried out. "She's going to buff up the horde like crazy!"

As the battle raged on, Rei and Landon's attention quickly switched to the Synergist in the distance. Without any hesitation, they began to rain down attacks upon her.

However, right at that moment, the zombified Silas intercepted the attacks, blocking them with his body.

"Hey! Your opponent is me, you zombie!" Hugo cried out, rushing at the swordsman. "Leave that stupid Synergist alone!"

"Grr..." Just as Hugo's axe was about to behead Silas, a magic circle appeared below the zombie, buffing him. "Grrr!!!" At that moment, the zombie raised his sword, sending it straight down towards Hugo.

"...?!" Caught by surprise by the attack, Hugo hurriedly attempted to move out of the way. Unfortunately, the speed of the sword was too fast for him, forcing him to take a direct hit. "A-Ack...!"

"Hugo!" Landon cried out, quickly making his way over towards the zombie. Then, with his two pistols in hand, he pushed them against the swordman's body, shooting him at point-blank range.

"$*%^ you!" Hugo gritted his teeth, swinging his axe to decapitate Silas.

"G-Grrr...!"

"Take this!" From the distance, Rei shot out an arrow which pierced through the zombie, finally ending him for good.

"It's not over yet, the Synergist, deal with her!" Huey screamed.

"Already ahead of you!" Hugo, despite being injured, hurriedly rushed towards the undead Synergist and took her down. Now, all that remained was the lich. "U-Ugh... Now it's just that bastard left..."

At that second, a thin invisible string formed around Hugo and Landon.

"Go... I'll support!" Jace called out to the rest of the party. "Landon, go in point-blank, I'll heal up the hits you take!" Following his words, gunshots began to roar through the battlefield as the wound on Hugo's shoulder slowly began to close.

"It's the final hurdle!" Landon and the rest of the hunter's attention turned towards the little girl sitting on a lone gravestone. "We can do this!"

"Kehehehe!" Suddenly, the girl began to laugh maniacally. "Rise again, my family! Rise!"

"N-no way...?!" Right at that instance, the three defeated zombie hunters rose from the dead again, reanimated.

"A-Ah...! They're back again!" Rei cried out.