It was dark by now; if his internal clock was correct, the nearer they got back to the cave the clearer the sound of panic was. He could hear rushed steps, loud voices and the sound of arguments breaking out.
Mikael had earlier though their return would spark question, but it seemed something more dire was going on.
Entering once more into the large cave enclosure, he noticed that the cave was oddly lit by torches in a circular pattern, enough that he was able to see everyone present. And a large crowd huddled around something shouting hysterically.
" What is that, who brought it in here? Do you think there's more!?" A female Dreamer spoke hysterically, somehow, she managed to worsen the already panicked crowds' mood. She had a sort of sleazy aura Mikael did not like. And when he saw who she was clutching while muttering these words only made him sure. No surprise at all, it was the earlier thug like Dreamer. He did find this confusing though he had seen her earlier…
"Baby, don't worry I'll protect you." Mr. Tattoo replied, smiling smugly under the fawning of the female Dreamer.
They approached the gathered crowd to see what was attracting their attention. Mikael could see the scared ones and even the vomiting few and this easily caught his attention. The smell of fear was truly intense here.
"Oh my. "Mikael found himself saying. The smell of decay was strong and foul, practically oozing from the body. The thing was rotted, extremely so with disgusting odd liquid oozing from its orifices. It had parts of its body showing decayed bones and rotted of flesh hanging loosely. Its brain matter was exposed now dripping from the cracked skull of the creature and what truly interested him was the fact that this organism was still moving. Raising its arm as if to reach for all nearby life.
"A zombie. And from the looks of it, it was once a Dreamer." Zoe whispered next to his ear, noticing the similar dirty torn combat wear the Zombie still wore.
Mikael tried to use identification on the creature, and it worked.
[
Creature Type: Undead
Creature Rank: E
HP: 60
Strength: 15
Agility:4
Physique:6
Ability: Elementary Undead Necrosis
Skill: Slam, undead bite
]
The undead was surprisingly weak. Its agility was mediocre, and its physique was even more so. The only redeeming feature about it was its strength and the fact that it had an ability. Which from what Mikael could see was quite simple in its application. He was confused why this weak creature would cause the other Dreamers to feel so much fear.
[
Slam: Increases chances of crushing damage
]
Its health was also quite low. It could possibly take two attacks for him to kill such a creature. Maybe If he knew it's weakness the number would lower to one.
Mikael noticed the movement among the two leaders of the group. Mr. Snake hiding further and Mr. Soldier moving forward to act. The duopoly of this two was interesting to watch.
"All of you be quiet and listen." The cave which was quickly falling under chaos was silenced by Mr. Soldier. He stepped up taking control and trying to restore order. A group of Dreamers followed him, equally intimidating and muscular. But it was quite effective at grabbing attention.
"My name is Nikolai, a member of the Mountain Fist clan. AS you all have seen, this here is an undead. And unluckily for all of us, there are more of them countless more of them and they are thirsty for your flesh and blood. "Nikolai paused, his eyes probing and he could see the recognition in some of the people.
"These creatures are mostly active during the night, which is even more unfortunate for us. So, it might be the next few minutes, hours or even right at this very moment. But I expect a swarm of these creatures to attack. I'm notifying you all of this to help us in the defense. I will only help those who assist us in this attack. Get in our way, and I will personally kill you myself. "Nikolai released a burst of his killing intent. A promise to his word, and he would back it.
He further took out a large sword from his sword from his storage, easily being able to wield it and slammed it down digging deep into the ground.
"If you're ready to fight meet me outside." He said and moved away, his group of lackeys following him.
Mikael saw him leave, his speech inspiring enough to make other Dreamers follow right after him
"Hey Zoe, could you do me a favor." Mikael turned to her, and she gave curios look but still nodded.
The time for action had arrived.
.... Dream of Infinity
Nikolai's words had moved a group of the Dreamers, getting them to follow him. The brave of the few he would say. These were the people who were adaptable enough to understand what type of situation they were in. A lesser number remained in the cave. To fear stricken to act. Or simply unwilling to do so.
Mikael was among the group leaving the cave. Zoe would stay behind as they agreed.
Mikael mostly went to satisfy his curiosity about the possible attack. It was his first time seeing something as unnatural as an undead.
It was also time to stretch his arms.
The night air was significantly cold, a freezing chill that was more mental than physical. The surrounding was sufficiently lighted by the general stars above, to Mikael at least. But he noticed the direction of the forest was especially dark. Like a dark monster waiting to pounce.
Nikolai and his group were already outside, organizing a proper defense formation to handle the upcoming swarm. The position each person occupied based on their own weapon. Long range attackers in the back and close-range attackers in the front. It was a simple formation, but it was good enough for a group of people who did not know each other or wanted any part of this.
Mikael had already taken out his own weapon, the claymore. The balance and weight right in his arm.
There was a certain somber silence among the Dreamers. A mixture of fear, dread and acceptance. A true cocktail of despair that his sensory ability allowed him to detect.
"You don't look afraid." Nikolai asked him, Mikaels calm attracting his attention for some reason. He also had his huge sword in arm waiting.
He gave the man a silent nod. He did not see anything to be afraid of, just some dead walking corpse.
"You should say something to raise their moral." Mikael advised seeing that Nikolai was the figure head of this group.
He saw how his eyes changed a cold detachment to them.
"If they're too weak to handle a couple of undead, they're better of dying now." Nikolai replied with a dismissive tone.
Their brief interaction came to a stop with the approaching movement that came from the forest. The sound of groaning came from the darkness, multiple yellow glowing eyes followed soon after, countless of them, watching the group that had attracted them.
"Get ready and remember, strike the head." Nikolai offered his last form of assistance to the group.
The undead finally came forward, exposing their rotted forms. Their walking speed was a slow walk which you could easily avoid, but what was truly terrifying about them was their sheer numbers. Clearly past a thousand and still coming. That was what was truly terrifying.
The smell of death in the air grew stronger. Their disorganized steps as well as their groan and moans sending shivers down their spines. Some of the Dreamers overwhelmed run back into the cave, unwilling to risk their life. The sudden realization of possible death was to overwhelming.
Mikael maintained his position, somewhat nervous but still confident. What truly worried him was their numbers. His stamina was not infinite and even he would grow tired after a while.
The first wave arrived quickly and they equally retaliated, an unfair and unequal distribution of Undead for each Dreamer that was fighting.
"Graaa…" Mikael swung his sword, easily bisecting the undead in front of him, he felt a mild resistance, but it was still accomplished. The main reason he easily accomplished this was his own strength and Nikolai telling them the head was their weak spot.
[-60HP] Critical!
The undead dropped dead.
He did not stop though, cutting constantly around and quickly changing positions, a pattern growing to his slaying. A slash to the knee to knock one down and finish it off with a stomp to the head, another a direct bashing to the face with the pimple of his sword, and another a whip kick which directly obliterates its head.
[-60HP]! [-60HP]! [-60HP]!
Mikael was building a rhythm, one of dodging and attacking. He quickly found the fastest way to handle this undead was to quickly immobilize their legs and then smash their heads in.
The only downside of this was the spluttering of brain matter and rotted flesh. The smell was disgusting.
His side things were manageable, that was simply because of his efficient killing, and the added aid of the long-range attackers providing cover for those who were getting overwhelmed.
[[
You have been exposed to the infection: Mild 0.001%
Infection causes sluggishness and tiredness
Duration of the infection: 1 seconds
Infection will wear off after time elapses
Warning: An infection rate above 20% will result in an undead state
]]
An undead jump, using its dead allies as a springboard, its rotted teeth and ugly jaw hanging loose freely. Steel suddenly appeared and impaled it; the sword sliced through completely separating it. Two more rushed forward trying to take advantage and steel once more appeared, spinning in an arc that produced a visible sound, two heads rushed upwards, completely separated.
[-60HP]
[-60HP]
Mikael read the system notification, he was unsure how the infection had occurred, maybe simply touching the body fluids of the undead was enough to get infected. He wondered which would win out if the infection passed the critical rate. Would his super immunity system win out or would the undead virus.
The extermination had gone on for about 30 minutes and Mikael soon came to notice something in this Undead extermination. He was the one doing most of the work on his side of the extermination. The others close range attackers acting as support.
But he could see why, their damage output was simply too low. And their mentalities were even worse. In battle without a firm mentality, half the battle itself was already lost.
And the undead would take advantage of these by using the higher strength stat.
He, did notice while casually looking around how the group led by Nikolai was doing quite well also. Nikolai was even more brutal and efficient than Mikael at exterminating the undead, while Mikael would slash the undead head and the finally squash them, Nikolai directly bashed the undead using his large sword, crashing them into a disgusting meat paste.
"It's time for some chaos." Enough time had passed as Mikael believed. For Zoe to accomplish what he wanted of her would need some chaos. And realistically, Mikael did not believe they would last long if this stand continued. The Dreamers on his side had grown used to the easy killing pace which he allowed them to have.
They had zero advantage in this fight, no high ground and even worse no numbers at all. It was a fact that they had been significantly pushed backwards form where they originally started the fight
What Mikael did was quite simple, originally while fighting this horde of undead, he was acting as a wall in a way, thinning out and weakening the ones in the front while the other Dreamers finished those that got through. So, he started doing the direct opposite.
His movement become sluggish, his attacks were slower, and Mikael slowly started to retreat form where he was originally standing.
"Hold the line god damn it. Stop slowing down. "One of the Dreamers who had been enjoying his hard work shouted out annoyed. What was this guy doing, did he want them to face that large horde.
"I'm tired." Mikael said sarcastically and stumbled backwards while still retreating slowly. The region they protected was to the eastern side, and with his continuous retreat the more the horde advanced. He did this until he arrived close to Nikolai and his group of Lackeys who were protecting the north side.
"Shit, I can't do this, there are too many." The first Dreamer threw down their weapon and ran away making the situation worse.
"Arghhh. Get it off me!! My Arm... "Another Dreamer was tackled to the ground his screams dying away with the sound of battle. A spark was lit, a spark of fear that instantly spread throughout the entire crowd.
"ROAARRRRR!" The undead grew fiercer, finally testing blood for the first time. As they ripped the unlucky Dreamer apart. This savagery brough a group of the fighting Dreamers to a stop, a big mistake that instantly cost them. The horde surged forward, overwhelming them and engulfing them instantly.
And a chain reaction continued to happen, a Dreamer dies, another Dreamer stops fighting and dies, another abandons their posts causing even more death.
Was Mikael to blame for all of these, partially but not completely. The horde was simply too big for them to think they could kill off. For each one that they would take down, five more would replace, what he had done was simply speed up the process. Fear did the rest.
The Dreamers running away and abandoning their posts had become quite frequent. And with these running crowds were the undead following right behind them, slowly.
Mikael was still fighting, but it was quickly growing stale. The undead were not that hard to handle and kill, all you had to do was to watch out from being overwhelmed and considering they were only coming from the front, it was quite manageable.
"Oh, shit Baby, let's get out of here…" This was Mr. Tattoo who had spoken as he run away, not even looking at the woman he was calling baby.
Mikael had been paying attention to this couple, not because they were doing extraordinarily in the extermination, it was simply because he recalled where he had seen the woman.
Earlier, she had been among the group of lackeys behind Mr. Snake when Mr. Tattoo had tried to start a fight. And this recollection almost made him burst out in laughter.
Mikael saw how the lady who had been left behind to the horde by the man suddenly wave her hand and a thin object flew out towards Mr. Tattoo. He then saw how Mr. Tattoo came to a complete stop, his body twitching oddly and he finally slammed down. Her movement had been natural and perfectly executed.
After seeing the man had fallen, the woman went back to acting like the scared maiden, running back to the cave like the other Dreamers seeking refuge.
'A Mrs. assassin has joined the board.' Mikael was quite impressed by the poison she had used. For it to instantly paralyze the man was quite amazing. What happened next to him was quite gruesome. Revenge was truly a dish served cold.
The undead followed the running adventures, leading them straight to the cave entrance and right into the cave itself. Mikael saw this and smiled. He finally understood what the system had meant by saying the cave was currently safe.
Chaos had spread, and that was good enough, Mikael went back to killing, like a farmer harvesting his field in preparation for the winter and time continued to pass, excoriatingly slowly.
It went on like this until the one-hour mark and the horde finally stopped marching forward and their number thinned.
[[
Emergency Mission accomplished
Mission: Survive the Horde
Description: The undead rise once more during every night. Their numbers countless and their persistence unforgiving. Their numbers and strength will rise with each passing day,
Time limit: 60 minutes
Rewards: Medical supplies, 2000Achievement points
]]
All that work for this was not worth it at all. Mikael was deeply unsatisfied. But the information that the undead would continue to come the longer they stayed was quite worrying.
He noticed Nikolai approaching him, the same expression and the same silent seriousness.
"You let the undead in that region pass." He said it like a statement. Not a question or an accusation, more like a fact that he had observed.
"I was tired, they simply overwhelmed me, and I had no choice but to retreat." He also said it quite casually. It was obvious he was lying but so what. Who would care, the dead Dreamers.
Nikolai nodded as if he had accepted this answer and Mikael looked at him strangely. What was even the point of him coming to ask him.
"You're very strong. Would you like to join our clan. You'll be able to receive resources and information." Nikolai asked again. Mikael felt he was not very good at recruiting people. Or was he too direct.
"I'm not interested." Mikael answered casually and Nikolai nodded once more, he was quite easy to talk to.
"How long are you planning to stay here before you leave." Mikael asked changing the conversation. He had already wished to propose this idea since earlier. It was one of the reasons he even decided to participate in this fight anyways.
"Tomorrow, I have a gut feeling that this first wave of undead was the easiest one. And I have no plans of seeing the next. Why, you want to join us? "Nikolai questioned easily handling his rejection.
"No, I don't want to join you while you leave, but I do have a proposition…"
____________
Mikael moved through the tunnels once more. He had already shown Nikolai the guano deposits as well as explained how to make the grenades. The contract had been signed easily after he had explained their purpose as well with the clarification of the mission system everything had progressed as planned.
Mikael was now entitled to 1000 Dream points depending on the number of people Nikolai would be able to convince to join the deal. The contract simply stated that Mikael would give out the method for making the grenades and from each person that used this formula to make their own grenade would have to pay 1000 for it. What prevented them from being scammed was the additional clause that the people who used the grenades were not allowed to share the grenades they made. This forced everyone interested to join the deal.
Why would someone take on such a deal. The answer was quite simple. To stay alive. The forest had already shown it was a dangerous place. And those that had wanted to hide within the cave to run away from this danger had already paid the price with their lives. The Zombies that had broken into the cave had claimed several of the Dreamers' lives.
Mikael moved through the cave's tunnels walking further in. Sometimes he would stop listening and immediately after continue walking. This lead him until he finally arrived where he found Zoe leaning against the cave wall. Laying down and trembling beside her was a body covered with bruises.
Mikael approached and kicked the downed body and saw how the man shivered further. He was awake. And quite pitiful to look at.
"How did the negotiations go?" Mikael asked Zoe, uncaring for the trembling man.
"Yes, I managed to negotiate the conditions we agreed on. 1000 dream points for the crafting technique." Zoe replied with a small smile. Zoe was talking about Mr. Snake.
"What about this guy. Did you find out what's wrong with him?" You could call Mikael paranoid, but his instinct was one thing he forever trusted. And his instinct told him that there was something wrong with Mr. red hair. The way he had looked earlier at Mikael felt off. He would not have cared normally but his awareness had gone off.
"He's a member of a minor noble clan. His original plan was to rope you into a scheme of his and then jump in and save you so you could owe him." Zoe said normally but there was danger within her eyes. A deep threat as she looked at the red-haired man.
"And why would he do all that? "Mikael was most curious about this.
"In the Tower, how fast people progress is a matter of their own talent and potential. He most likely needed your help in doing something. Most likely gaining power within his Noble clan." Zoe said her voice even harsher. The way the way the red-haired man trembled most likely meant what she said was true.
"How would he know about my talent anyway?" Mikael asked but his eyes landed on the somehow blind eyes the man had.
Zoe saw the confusion in his eyes and quickly clarified.
"He possesses an ocular ability called the Byakugan. The Byakugan itself has high sensory ability but from what he told me, his bloodline seems to be of lower purity, so his eyes aren't that powerful. He managed to see your Immense Soul energy and wanted to sell this information. The most likely scenario after this would be a lot of problems for you. So, we should just kill him and pluck out his eyes. "Her tone was extremely dangerous as she spoke, making the shivering body tremble further. This also allowed Mikael to know that Zoe was now in the know of his Breadth value and that was what caused the shock he saw earlier.
"Please I can…" Mr. red hair tried to speak only to be kicked once more, a very clear warning.
"How impressive are these eyes of his." Mikael did not care much for the man, but these so-called mystical eyes caught his attention.
"The Byakugan is an ocular ability from the Naruto random world. It possesses abilities such as x-ray vision, 360 vision, telescopic vision and its most impressive ability is to perceive Chakra a form of life force energy. While impressive, its true limit lies in the bloodline purity, the user and the user's chakra capacity. For this guy, all I can say is that he's trash in all three aspects" Zoe explained further, and this even made the red-haired youth shocked, his earlier trembling stopping as he wondered how she was aware of that information.
These words brought a smile to Mikael as he now looked at the red-haired youth in a new light.
"What's your name Mr. Red hair." Mikael had a strange smile as he looked at the red-haired man crying his eyes out.
"Ronald…Ronald Morgan…" Ronald said keeping his eyes low not daring to look at the man. The threat behind that smile was too much.
"So Ron, how much do you think your life is worth?" Mikael was smiling. His voice was kind, and he even crouched down to talk kindlier to the youth. But the red-haired youth could only feel regret and fear as he looked at this devil of a man.
"I'm a bastard…my family doesn't value me at all…I can't give you anything. Please let me go…!" Ronald shouted his voice horse and panicked. He regretted his earlier thoughts now he just wanted to live.
There was silence and this made his dread rise further and further. Was he going to die.
"You can go!" Mikael said, still maintaining the strange smile he had. But his words had shocked the two who waited for his verdict.
...
A/N: Thank you for reading.