Erika gave ground as the snarling zombies came after her, narrowly avoiding strike after clumsy strike. “Fucking really?!” she screamed, lashing out at the closest zombie after a rusty sword grazed her arm. Her iron-studded maul slammed into the zombie’s arm with a loud crack that caused the offending weapon to drop to the ground with a clatter. Though disarmed, the zombie didn’t relent and reached out for her, its right arm hanging oddly at the elbow. Before she could attack again, the other zombies crowded in from the sides and forced her back again.
Stepping back again, Erika nearly slipped as something gave under her foot, barely recovering in time to throw herself out of the way of a reckless undead charge. “Oof!” The air flooded out of her lungs as she slammed into the wall, but she didn’t stop to catch her breath, instead rolling away as a metallic shriek echoed through the hallway. Stone shards left lines of heat across the exposed skin of her face and neck.
“Graarrgh,” a zombie groaned as it struggled to pull its battered axe from the stone wall, leaving itself exposed. But Erika couldn’t take advantage of the opening as the other zombies surged around it, weapons pointed at her.
Sucking in a deep breath, Erika swung her maul like a bat, and by some mix of skill and luck, the weapon knocked the nearest zombie back into its fellows, giving her space to follow up with another swing that sent a zombie’s rusty sword skittering across the stone floor. Before she could go for a kill or another disarm, the three zombies managed to untangle themselves and stumbled after her, forcing her to give ground again. Once again, she retreated a few steps and swung as the zombies got in range, knocking one back to tangle up the others. This time, before the zombies could untangle themselves, she stepped forward as she swung, driving her maul into, and through, a zombie’s head in a spray of rotten gore.
Though she managed a kill, it did little to relieve the pressure as more zombies slipped past the fight ahead and pressed towards her, forcing her to give more ground. Though outnumbered and far from skilled in a fight, the one thing she had going for her was that the zombies lacked any sort of creativity. Again and again they would charge in an uncoordinated mob, only for Erika to knock one back and tangle them up, giving her more free shots weapons fell from unfeeling hands, arms and legs fell limp or hung at strange angles, and corpses with crushed heads fell lifelessly to the ground as Erika fought. With every kill she could just imagine the pool of her EXP growing, promising fuel for future strength, but it did nothing to help her then and there. Sweat stung her eyes. Her chest heaved painfully as she sucked in desperate breaths. Her arms felt heavy, the maul moving slower and slower with every swing. She lost count of the zombies. How many still waved weapons, how many chased after her dragging broken limbs, how many she killed. It was all a blur of violence and sweat and pain.
Then her weapon broke. The maul, already old and well used, shattered with a loud crack as she slammed it into the armored shoulder of a zombie. Ineffectually throwing the splintered remains of her weapon at the horde, she palmed her dagger as she looked around for another weapon, only to see a writhing swarm of the undead pushing towards her down the dimly lit tunnel, White Knight and Pinpoint no longer in sight. Every weapon she saw was in undead hands as they pushed after her, and then her eyes landed upon the glowing blue torch. She hadn’t dared touch another since the explosion, but the flames had been a powerful weapon before, and she was out of options now. Sprinting to the nearest torch, Erika ripped it from the wall and flung it with all her strength at the closest zombie. The torch spun end over end as it flew, the cold blue flames guttering before the handle glanced off a zombie’s tattered armor and sent it smacking into the wall. Erika winced as the zombie she aimed for took a step towards her, and then the hallway filled with blue flames.
A cold wind ripped her breath away as a wave of pressure pushed her back and forced her eyes closed. All she could hear was ringing in her ears and the rapid thumping of her heart for long moments, and then she heard something else. Crackling flames, moaning zombies, shouts, and gunfire.
“Police! Survivors call out!”
The zombies flailed as the blue flames ripped through them, their roars and groans mixed with the crackling of flames and bark of gunfire.
“Survivors in the hallway, get down!”
Erika dropped to the ground as the crackle of gunfire drowned out other noises, and the zombies in front of her began to drop. Soon there was nothing but burning corpses, and before long the flames burnt out and more figures stomped through clad in black tactical gear and wielding dangerous looking weapons.
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“We got a survivor over here,” one called out as he approached her. Taking his hand, Erika let him pull her back up with one hand, the other cradling a massive shotgun. A middle-aged local man looked back at her through the clear faceshield of his helmet. “Escape portal’s just ahead,” he said, pointing over his shoulder with a thumb.
Nodding, Erika turned to look towards where Pinpoint and White Knight had been fighting. “Where’s Pinpoint and White Knight?”
“Class D contact!” The officer’s radio crackled.
“They secured the portal, now head that way. I have a date with a Class D.” Hefting his shotgun, the man jogged ahead, pushing into the gloom as more survivors ran past.
Erika turned to watch where the man disappeared for a few seconds before Mary emerged from the gloom.
“Erika! You’re alive! Let’s get out of here!” Unresisting, Erika let the shorter girl drag her down the hallway until they emerged into what looked like a large underground throne room. Dozens of uniformed people filled the room, police standing guard while paramedics rushed between survivors, some sitting or lying on the stone floor as paramedics patched them up, others being directed towards a large, swirling blue ball of light. But what grabbed her eyes was the massive armored form next to the portal with White Knight standing next to it.
A trio of loud booms came out of the hallway they just emerged from. “Big one’s down,” one of the police radios crackled.
After a brief examination by a harried paramedic, the two of them were directed to the portal. “Just scratches and bruises. Head out the portal to the secondary triage station.” The man pointed at the glowing ball before running off to examine someone else.
Erika and Mary exchanged a look before shrugging and walking to the portal. As they moved, the notifications from the fight finally popped up.
*Ding!* Your party members have defeated Zombie Soldier (Class E) x39! You have gained 1950 EXP! Congratulations!
*Ding!* Your party member has defeated Zombie (Class F) x98! You have gained 980 EXP! Congratulations!
*Ding!* You have defeated Zombie Soldier (Class E) x6 with assistance from your party! You have gained 2250 EXP! Congratulations!
*Ding!* You have defeated Zombie (Class F) x12 with assistance from your party! You have gained 900 EXP! Congratulations!
*Ding!* Your party members have defeated Zombie Titan (Class D) x2! You have gained 500 EXP! Congratulations!
*Ding!* Your party members have defeated Ancient Lich (Class C)! You have gained 500 EXP! Congratulations!
Erika’s eyes widened as she saw the numbers pop up. They fought well over a hundred of the monsters, and even a pair of C class monsters. She assumed the massive armored form White Knight stood next to was one of the Zombie Titans, but where was the Lich, and Pinpoint?
“Head through the portal fair maidens,” the D-Class hero said. “The authorities have set up a safe zone on the other side. You are safe now.”
Mary seemed to sag with relief and started to move to the portal, but stopped when she realized Erika hadn’t moved. “Where’s Pinpoint?” Erika asked the hero. The woman knew she’d awakened, and she didn’t want to deal with the suits on the other side without her there.
“She took a bad wound in the fight against the bosses,” White Knight started to say.
“She’s dead?” Erika asked forcefully, her heart falling into her stomach. She hadn’t known the hero long, but Pinpoint seemed like a good person and willing to help her keep out of the spotlight. Without her…
“What?!” White Knight said, dropping his cringe-inducing hero voice out of surprise. “No, nope, she’s not dead. She just took a bad enough wound that we had to force her out as soon as the portal opened to get treatment.”
Before White Knight could keep talking, the portal arced with energy before a humanoid silhouette appeared and quickly resolved into the shape of a muscular man with chiseled abs wearing skintight spandex that left nothing to the imagination. Especially not the wildly obvious bulge.
“Lua, sir!” White Knight shouted, saluting the man as soon as he appeared.
“Yeah, yeah, drop the salute. I’m taking over ops here. Tell me what happened White Knight,” the man said, ignoring Erika and Mary.
White Knight started to recap everything that had happened and Erika tried to listen in, but was distracted as Mary grabbed her arm and tugged her close. “That’s Lua! The Class B hero! Can you believe it Erika?!” Her friend excitedly whispered, drowning out White Knight’s words.
“—ran into the final boss, a pair of high Class Ds, maybe low class Cs, and a high C or low B. The stronger monster was a summoner type that—” White Knight stopped talking at a gesture from Lua.
“Civilians, this doesn’t concern you. Head through the portal,” he said, staring them down.
Erika felt like she was sitting in a canoe in the middle of the ocean staring down a hurricane. The sense of power she got from the man was overwhelming, and every fiber of her being screamed to get away from him, to try not to attract his attention again.
“R-Right, let’s go Mary,” she said, pulling her friend along while the girl practically drooled over the hero.
