Chapter 76: The Rising Undead (Patreon)

*DING!* Quest Completed – Congratulations! You solved the quest of discovering the identity of the town founder. A Rare loot box has been deposited in your inventory.

[Attention!]

[The town founder for town 14 has been unmasked and, as per the stipulations that came with founding a town this early, this town has now been condemned. All merchant services have ceased and they will be moving on to other parts of the tower. All protections have been removed. Thank you, and I hope you’ve enjoyed your stay.]

Suddenly, a hand burst out of the grave in front of us.

We stared as a half-rotted corpse began to climb out of the ground. Its eyes were milky white and even with its partially decomposed body, we could see that it used to be a woman.

Damian shook his head. “It’s not Maria.”

*Beast Identified!* [Freshly Arisen Zombie] Level: 25 – These young walking corpses feast on the living and can spread infections through bites and scratches that regular health potions can’t cure. They may start off confused and slow from the resurrection, but they will become ferocious and focused as time goes on.

The zombie looked at us and screeched. It shambled towards us with its hands outstretched. I move to kill it, but Damian was faster with his crossbow and shot first. The bolt went through its heart, out the other side and kept going off into the tree’s.

The zombie seemed unbothered by the hole in its chest or its heart being destroyed as it stumbled towards us. It had lost some co-ordination but still seemed very determined to eat us.

I threw a questioning glance at Damian.

He shrugged. “What? I had to check.”

He magically loads another bolt, this time covered with barbed hooks, and shoots the zombie in the head. The bolt remained impaled inside and the zombie went still and dropped to the floor.

Damian nodded. “Got the notification. Destroy the brain and it dies. That old classic.”

“Level 25 seems pretty high for this floor,” said Hugo, sounding concerned.

“The System must be adjusting the levels for experience,” I replied. “And what did it mean by town 14? Did you ever explore the limits of this floor?” I asked Damian.

He shook his head. “I went fifty miles out and climbed the tallest tree and it just seemed to go on forever. Who knows how large the tower really is?”

I frowned. I couldn’t see a reason for why the System would lie about this and mess with us. So if there really were at least thirteen other towns out there, then this place has far more people in it than we first realized, too. Was keeping us isolated from them some form of test?

No, I couldn’t worry about that now. Not when there was a larger issue at hand.

“The bigger concern is the town being condemned,” said Damian. “No more safe zones for anyone.”

I invited him to join the party and then had to check in with the others to make sure they understood that too.

[Lucas Hudson: Did you get the System message?]

[Elise Evans: We did. Are you heading back?]

[Lucas Hudson: We are. I think this floor might be finished.]

[Elise Evans: Be careful. We can see humanoid monsters approaching the town.]

[Lucas Hudson: That’ll be the zombies.]

[Elise Evans: Zombies?]

[Lucas Hudson: I’ll explain later.]

More gnarled hands started to claw their way out of graves. The entire cemetery was full of escaping undead, which made me wonder if that was the System’s plan all along by including a cemetery here.

“Look,” Damian pointed.

Hundreds of them were emerging from the trees and they were walking a lot faster than the ones that just climbed out of the earth.

“We should move,” I said.

“No, we should stay and fight. Think of the points!” said Hugo, suddenly realizing that this was his chance to be a badass zombie hunter.

A hand shot out of the ground and grabbed my ankle. It held onto me with an iron grip that I couldn’t shake.

*Beast Identified!* [Freshly Arisen Zombie] Level: 28

I drew my katana and cut the hand clean off to free myself.

Despite their surprising strength, they didn’t seem to be very tough. But then again, considering their numbers, maybe they didn’t need to be.

The zombies had become a crowd that was getting closer. There were too many of them, and if we stayed where we were, then we’d soon be overrun.

We retreated and when I saw Damian head towards the church, I called out to him. “No, not there. We gotta get to the elevators!”

Anyone who goes into the church is just going to end up trapping themselves and since the town has been condemned, there won’t be any safe zone when the sun rises this time. Anyone who doesn’t leave this place soon is going to end up dead.

Already some of the undead had opted to ignore us and were at the church doors, trying to break in with their fists. If the wooden doors were made of the same wood I’d encountered in the tavern, then there was a chance that it might hold against the zombies.

Of course, that defense was then nullified when somebody opened the door, holding an axe and roaring a challenge. His shouts became screams as the zombies overwhelmed him by sheer numbers and began biting into his flesh.

The man disappeared under a pile of bodies while other zombies clambered over their own kind to get inside the church. More shouting and screaming then followed.

The speed of the zombies seemed to be increasing. The longer we stay here, the more dangerous this place becomes.

Damian grabbed my arm and urged me forward. “Come on, we’ve got to go!”

The two of us ran for the town while Hugo flew overhead. But we stopped once we reached main street. The undead had already made it inside the town and were smashing windows to crawl through or breaking down doors in their search for living prey.

Fighting quickly broke out across the entire town as sleeping residents came to.

It was good that everybody was on the same page here, but given the high level of the creatures, I wasn’t feeling optimistic about people’s chances.

Unfortunately, the main street quickly became too crowded with zombies and humans fighting. Damian and I were forced to divert into an alleyway.

I’d hoped to go around the fighting using side streets, but I paused when a man ran past. He was wailing and clutching a bloody stump when his hand used to be. A pack of hungry zombies jogged after him.

[Lucas Hudson: They’re getting faster. Damian, you okay to climb?]

Damian nodded, and we climbed up onto the roof.

As soon as we did, a zombie pointed at us and screeched, alerting everyone to our presence. A swarm of them ran for the walls of buildings and began climbing.

“Are they getting smarter, too?” Damian asked as we raced across rooftops.

“How should I know?!”

One zombie had climbed up ahead of us, hoping to cut us off. Its disgusting gnarled hand stretched out to claw at my face. I ducked, sliced through its neck, and then kept running.

*DING!* You have slain [Young Developing Zombie (common)] Level 29 – Experience Points and Currency Acquired

Level 29! How high are these things going to go?

Damian had run a little further ahead of me and didn’t see the two zombies behind him. I didn’t have time to yell out a warning before they tackled him. The three of them hit the edge of the roof and then fell over into the street below.

Worried about him getting overrun, I jumped down after him and cut down the pair of zombies with my sword.

*DING!* You have slain [Young Developing Zombie (common)] Level 27 – Experience Points and Currency Acquired

*DING!* You have slain [Young Developing Zombie (common)] Level 26 – Experience Points and Currency Acquired

I offered Damian my hand, but his eyes widened at something behind me.

“Get down!” he shouted.

I hit the floor just as Damian fired a bolt that had a small box taped to it.

There was a gang of five zombies sprinting towards us. The bolt hit the front runner and exploded like a grenade. The group collapsed in a tangle of limbs, still alive but very much out of the fight unless they can regenerate.

As we got to our feet, we thought we were in the clear until we heard screeching all around us. Zombies started dropping down off the rooftops, diving at us.

We fought back, killing what we could, but whenever we tried to move forward, another zombie was there. Worse yet, another pack of them came sprinting down the street.

[Hugo: There’s a huge horde that’s about to come down the street. You need to move.]

[Lucas Hudson: We will. For now, get to the tower and tell me what’s going on there.]

[Hugo: On it.]

I grabbed Damian and kicked the door down of some kind of store. We hurried inside, shoving away a zombie, and dragging a heavy stack of shelves over the door to barricade ourselves inside.

The few zombies that had seen us enter continued pounding on the door, but that was nothing compared to the horde that swept past.

The screeching and gnashing of hungry teeth. The lit street windows becoming darkened by their presence. The sheer numbers were so overwhelming that both of us had held our breath until they passed.