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1052 Words
Matt cut down the closest zombie with a [Mana s***h], only to find that he received a fraction of the essence he should have. It was as if most of the essence had been suctioned off.
Cutting down a second allowed him to follow the trail better, and Matt saw a peculiar zombie standing perfectly still in the distance, watching them.
It wasn’t any zombie type that he was familiar with. This one looked like a normal human, but if their face was made of half-finished wax. The only sort of detail on the creature’s face was the circle directly in the center of its forehead.
“Did you notice that?” Matt called out, to affirmations from both Aster and Liz.
Liz called out orders. “I’m a little skeeved out by the monster absorbing essence, but I think we fight it. Aster, backpack time.”
Luna wouldn’t like that, but Matt agreed. With the rising fog, the shortest member of their team was at a distinct disadvantage. They couldn’t risk letting her contend with the reduced visibility on the ground.
“Let’s kill our way to the monster that was absorbing the essence. I think that’s the boss. After that, we check the building.” Liz finished up as Aster got herself settled.
With the plan settled, Matt took the lead as the fog rose to his waist.
A shuffling corpse walked into view, and Matt chopped it in half with laughable ease. It felt more like a Tier 2 or Tier 3 body than the Tier 8 monster that he should be fighting.
It only took seconds to kill the dozen slow zombies in their path.
They found the odd zombie still absorbing essence from where they last saw it.
When they were able to see it through the fog, the wax-like skin was in stark contrast to the vivid, purple eyes that tracked their every movement.
Matt launched a [Mana s***h] toward the zombie, slicing it in half, but no essence rushed into any of their spirits.
It fell where it stood, causing Matt to say, “That was too easy. And I got no essence.”
Liz and Aster agreed, while Matt thought over the situation. “Let’s get to the building.”
They reached it with little difficulty. The monsters they encountered were quickly killed as they passed.
The porch was only raised two steps, but the door had metal bars running across the entrance, preventing anyone from entering the building. Matt puzzled at the dead end as Liz and Aster continued to watch their surroundings for walking zombies that ventured too close. In a moment of morbid clarity, Matt realized that he hadn’t seen any other windows or entrances to the building as they had come upon the structure.
He was turning to Liz to question her about it when the bell chimed again.
All the fog dropped to the ground instantly, and they could see the entire field now that it was free from the obfuscating clouds. Eerie looking markers in various states of disrepair were scattered throughout the area.
The graveyard was ringed with a deep, dense forest that Matt expected to be the boundary field.
Using that moment of freedom, Matt extended his spiritual sense and found the rift exit inside the building, flickering nearby from what felt like the third floor.
Matt was about to suggest that they try to fly to the roof or cut their way into the building when Liz said, “Matt, look at the boss.”
Spinning, Matt found the boss standing where they had left it last, but now intact. It also held a large, single-edged blade in its hand.
As it took a step forward, there was a sickening sound to his rear, which caused Matt to spin again.
He found one of the ten bars that had been covering the doors was now retracted.
Turning back around, he noticed green energy rising from the ground, along with the returning fog, and being absorbed by the zombies. Their shuffles turned into walking strides as their movements smoothed out and their gaits lengthened.
He didn’t miss the monsters climbing out of the soil either.
Not liking where this was heading, Matt called, “Let’s take to the air.”
As he said that, Matt pulled out his flying sword, only to have it fall to the ground when he activated it.
“Fuck.”
The curse made Liz turn, who didn’t need things explained when she saw the sword on the ground.
Quickly retreating and stowing his sword, Matt followed Liz as she used a tendril of blood to cut her way through the zombies who had approached the building during their examination of the door.
As they hit the ground, Aster created a swarm of small ice projectiles and launched them at the monsters in front of them. The zombies fell easily, but Matt could tell that they were harder to kill than they were before the second toll of the bell.
One monster even managed to stagger to its feet after her attack despite a missing arm.
Speeding up, Matt took the lead and tore through the zombies in their way. When they had circled the building and found no other entrances in either window or door form, they paused in their run.
Matt half turned to Liz and asked, “What do you think?”
Liz shouted, “I think you made a really weird f*****g rift.”
Aster didn’t let the opportunity to yip her agreement pass.
Matt refocused them. “From everything I’ve seen, this seems like a mix of a wave rift and a timed rift.”
From behind Matt, he heard the whipping sound of Liz lashing out with a tendril of blood. She said, “Agreed. Do we retreat, or forge ahead?”
Matt thought their situation over, but Aster was the first to answer. “Fight by entrance. Retreat if needed.”
Nodding in agreement, Matt oriented himself and took off at a lope. The zombies were still easy to kill, but they apparently didn’t have issues with seeing through the fog as they chased them. The trio always had monsters approaching them, meaning that they couldn’t sit still if they wanted to avoid being surrounded.
- Writer
