Chapter 43: The Rest of Humanity

They stood still, not making a move. I pulled my helmet off my face. I grinned, “Come on guys. Calm down. I saved your asses again after all.”

I put my hands on my hip before a dagger appeared right in front of my eye. It was fast, fast as Althea. I couldn’t dodge, but I shut my eye. The glass dagger didn’t even sink an inch deep before it snapped. 

I jerked my hand outwards, gripping around the wrist of my attacker. It was the assassin chick who was finishing off the other zombie cores. With my free hand, I pulled out the bit of glass from my eye before flicking it away. It clattered on the tile floor as I turned towards her face.

What looked back was pure fear, the kind of look you give when you know you done fucked it up. I frowned, 

“Don’t do that again, uh-” I glanced upwards and identified her,

Sarah Smith(lvl 188) – A member of the town’s scouting party, Sarah Smith is the highest level and most experienced member. When Yawm first came to Earth, he entered BloodHollow and proliferated rapidly afterwards. The sentinels defending nearby priority dungeons abandoned their posts to assist the legion with containing the infestation.

This allowed Springfield to stage an evacuation. Most of the residents were left behind, but a few of the more skilled fighters escaped. They’ve organized a defense force in retaliation against the coming horde. The difference is that these members refuse to fall in line with the steel legion.

They believe that the steel legion is using the infection as an excuse to stage an invasion of Earth. For this group of independent fighters, Sarah Smith is considered their most valuable asset and the spear head of the entire operation they organized.

Being one of the only members capable of killing even the lowest level of zombie, she and her party were tasked with clearing out portions of town to gather supplies. During the process, the group of five developed strategies and tactics for handling the Spawns of Yawm.

She focuses entirely on assassination. She hides and waits for the right moment to strike before attacking. Her damage is very high and comes in bursts. Your defenses are far too high for her, so you have nothing to worry.

I held her up there for a minute while I read her status. It was large compared with most of the ones I’d seen up till now. Sarah started groaning about her wrist, so I tossed her onto the ground. 

She turned back at me, not moving still. I rolled my eyes, 

“The fuck is wrong with you people. Was I really that scary? I mean come on. Get over it and move on. We don’t have time for you guys to gawk and stare all day.”

Stacy was at the back of the group, decked out in military fatigues. She whimpered,

“You’re…Daniel?”

I threw up my hands, “No fucking duh. I’m already tired of this. I save your asses and this is what you do. Piss your pants?”

David tossed his shield to the side of him, the rock shaking on the floor. He stepped forward,

“Hey there. I’m uhh…It’s good to see you?”

I reached out a hand, “Likewise.”

We shook our hands before he scratched the back of his head,

“We’re sorry about being scared. You just ate one of the zombies. They’re supposed to do that to us, not the other way around.”

I shrugged, “Eh, I’m supposed to be some harbinger of destruction nonsense anyway. Might as well reap the benefits right?”

A small laugh escaped David,

“Yeah, I guess so…You’re still Daniel then.”

I nodded before the other shield guy threw his stone shield to the ground. The girls in the back lowered their guns before I raised my arms,

“Hellalujah. You guys can move. It’s a miracle.”

The group laughed a little, the tension ebbing out of the situation. David smiled,

“Well, it’s crazy seeing you here. Who’re your friends?”

I gestured an arm towards Kessiah and Althea,

“This is Kessiah, and this is Althea. Try not to say anything snappy. They both bite.”

Kessiah hit my shoulder. I laughed as I slid sideways. The sound of it was loud enough to scare the others though. The other shield bro beside David had a deer in headlights sort of look to him again. 

Kessiah ignored it before walking up and reaching out a hand to David. Her fingers wrapped all the way around the back of his hand. It must have been like shaking hands with a giant.

Kessiah smiled, “Good to meet yah David. I came by to help Daniel clean this mess up.”

He just glanced up at her, stunned. The others seemed overwhelmed as well. Kessiah brandished her white hair, making it flow out to the side. With canines jutting from her grin, she put her hands on her hips,

“I know, I know. Take your time basking in my radiance. It’s a lot to take in.”

I pushed her aside, 

“Yeah, that’s about enough time. They may get a sunburn if they sit here any longer. Either that or skin cancer.”

Kessiah frowned before Althea chimed,

“Good to meet you all. Now let’s go Daniel. We saved them already. We don’t have time to waste.”

I pointed at her, “Good point.” I glanced back at the group. “I think I have a few things that could help you guys.”

I walked over towards Kessiah. She carried a satchel along her back full of random supplies. Mainly food, but there was other stuff as well. I took out a few sharpened bits of my armor. I made quite a few extra pieces of this stuff by now. These guys could get a lot out of it, especially considering how Sarah just broke her weapon on my face.

I tossed a few daggers and a small shield and sword at their feet. David walked up and lunged onto a knee as he inspected a few pieces of the armor. He grinned,

“Hell yeah. This will help us tons. I mean, tons of tons.” He glanced up at me, “Thanks Daniel.”

“No problem. Anyways, we’re going to clear out the rest of this area. If you head that way-” I pointed towards where we just came from, “Then you won’t find any spawns. If you come near us while we’re clearing out the area, we may kill you. I’d recommend just waiting over that way for like…ten minutes.”

Sarah squinted her eyes, 

“Ten minutes?”

I bent over and flicked her in the forehead. Her head flew back before I turned back towards David, “Yeah. Ten minutes.”

Stacy shouted, “Why’d you flick her, asshole?”

“Cause she stabbed me, dumbfuck.”

Stacy squinted her eyes too before I waved them off as I turned around. I walked off,

“Good luck then. I hope this helps.”

David shot a pointed glare at Sarah and Stacy before he grinned at me, “Yeah, it does. Thanks for the save too. Can’t remember if I ever thanked you.”

We walked out of the store, heading towards the rest of the strip of stores. Off in the distance though, I could hear them talking.

Stacy snapped, “What a conceited asshole.”

Sarah said, “Yeah. I really didn’t like that guy.”

Althea turned towards me,

“Why are they complaining? You just saved their lives.”

I shrugged, “Some people don’t care what awesome ass present you give them on their birthday. All they care about is the wrapping paper and bowtie on top.”

Althea looked confused, but Kessiah put an arm around her shoulder, “He’s saying that some people want you to save them a certain way more than they want to be saved. It’s just how some people are.”

Althea rolled her eyes, “That makes no sense.”

I shrugged, “Who knows. Maybe that’s why they joined the defense force instead of the legion. They want to be saved a certain way.”

Althea sighed, “Man, that’s dumb as fuck.”

We continued on before I checked out my status. I’d gained 21 levels while we cleared out the infestation earlier. The overall speed of my level gains had plateaued. I could rationalize that though. More exp needed per level and less exp per enemy meant slower leveling in general.

It was enough points to matter though. Which stat to decide on next was the real question. I figured getting into the constitution-strength-dexterity chain would be good. I didn’t know which to invest into first though. Unlike with endurance, I didn’t get a massive 50% bonus towards these stats. I got 10% at most, meaning it would take a lot longer to develop them.

So long that investing into each stat individually would be a better, in my mind at least. I only needed the level 100 perks out of the stats I chose though. After that I would probably just invest in endurance until I found a reason not to.

The stats I wanted most were strength and constitution. Strength would be invaluable since it acted as a multiplier for my augmentation magic. The stronger I was at my base level, the more of an impact the runic energy would have. That meant strength would be a must. Constitution was a trickier subject.

The weight and density would be nice, but I already had capped physical damage reduction. When I remembered Elijah though, my thoughts changed. The ground quaked beneath each of his steps. When he swung his wings, they created tempests that could send people flying. I didn’t care about flying, but damn did I want to quake the ground under each step.

It would make me much harder to knock around, which would be a serious problem in the future. Anytime Kessiah hit me, the difference between us was obvious. She wouldn’t even budge, and I would literally drag my feet on the ground just to get steady. I needed constitution even if I didn’t want it. Besides, it would spill over into strength, which was my next investment choice.

So I dumped all my points into constitution. My body grew from within my armor. The skin I’d become so comfortable in strangled me for a moment before the armor split. Several sharp cracks later, I heaved for a few breaths before my armor regrew, filling in those cracks. The sudden increase in size was obvious.

I caught up with Althea and Kessiah as I glanced at my status screens.

Level 294Attribute TotalsStrength – Increases carrying weight, maximum speed, and physical power54.5Constitution – Increases hardness, density, and weight of your body82.5Endurance – Increases regeneration of stamina, health, and their totals540Dexterity – Increases ease of movement, flexibility, and reflexes35Willpower – Increases internal motivation, mana regen, and Mental Res258Intelligence – Increases memory, critical thinking, and total mana pool101.4Charisma – Increases likeability, persuasion, and decreases prices at shops29.3Luck – Increases money found, odds in your favor, and chance of rare events54.4Perception – Increases comprehension, the five senses, and awareness31

Daniel HillsideTotalsRegenBuffs/DebuffsHealth19,938/19,9384131.2/minOppression Damage- 10,000+30%hp/minStamina12,117/12,117158.4/secElemental Res – 97.5%Harbinger of Cataclysm17,362,985/256,000,0000/per minPlasma Res – 97.5%Phys Dam Reduction – 97.5%Rad Res – 97.5%Phys Dam Bonus – 814%Mental Res – 97.5%

My stats were leveling slowly but surely. Now I just needed my leveling perks, to finish the genesis of potential tree, and gain a fuckload of levels. I’d be damn near invincible then. Getting there would be the problem.

So we reached towards a few more of the stores. The dense hordes made progress slower than normal, but the extra weight helped me. At one point, a zombie leapt from off a roof towards me. I ripped a car door off and slung it at the thing. It pierced into the core of the creature, crushing it. Stuff like that required an amazing amount of bulk. Otherwise I would sling myself instead of the car door.

That being said, we cleared the few restaurants, letting those fuckers behind us get what they needed. I didn’t enjoy helping them, but having regrets like with Michael and Kelsey was a bad idea. I figured taking a few minutes to help them wasn’t a big deal in the grand scheme of things. 

Regardless, we kept crossing deeper into the town before we reached the second part of Yawm’s sanctum. The fungus became prevalent again, and instead of fighting spawns, we fought grikes and unnamed ones. It was a refreshing change of pace considering we’d killed so many zombies over the last few days. 

The sun was setting as we cleared out the next set of ten blocks. We were beside an interstate bridge, nothing really near us besides a few streets and lights. I gained another 5 levels, putting me just shy of my necessary constitution for the leveling perk. 

It was a nostalgic place for me. The large, slanted walls of concrete rose above us on both sides. It wasn’t the biggest bridge, just large enough for a small, two lane street to slide under it. Graffiti littered the concrete beams and walls like little dots of color in all the tan rock. It was like a wind tunnel under there, the cool breeze refreshing after such a hard day.

I’d already shut off oppression, and I was walking with the others as we chat about the day. Under the orange glow of the tall streetlamps, Kessiah put her arm out in front of us. We stopped as Althea turned towards Kessiah and said,

“What’s wrong?”

Kessiah narrowed her eyes, “Someone’s watching us.”

At the other side of the bridge, a collection of mana coalesced into a figure. Hunched shoulders, humped back, and a flowing red cape behind him, a single pale eye stared at us from under his hood. Sheets of gray armor covered his deformed figure.

On his right side was an enlarged arm, thick as fridge. He lacked a left arm, but his cape flowed towards its absence. The red, faded fabric contorted into sharpened fingers, like a three fingered hand. Just enough fingers to hold, but not enough for anything precise. I doubt he intended to use it for knitting anyways.

A gray beard reached halfway down his chest, crumpled and frayedd. It looked more like a broken, steel cable than hair. On his right hand, he held a simple, rusted piece of metal. It was more like a hunk of rusted iron than a sword even. From his chest, he boomed out his voice like an old man with fire still in his chest,

“Who goes there?”

Kessiah stepped in front of us,

“Noone. Why don’t we mind our businesses and just leave.”

It was the first time I’d seen Kessiah even think of being defensive.

The man replied, 

“I cannot. This is my duty. I protect my master’s haven. You all seem lost, running through here.”

Kessiah shook her head, “We know where we’re going. In fact, we were just about to leave.”

The man dragged his sword across the ground, sparks shooting off the pavement. An aura surrounded the sword, like it could cleave through someone’s soul. He said,

“You’ve harmed my master’s haven. While I respect you, I cannot let you leave unharmed. This is my duty. I will give you the honor of fighting a battle before your death. It is far better than what the other followers would do for you. Be grateful.”

A bead of sweat fell off the chin of Kessiah. She bit her lip, “Can we just, I don’t know, do something else besides fight to the death. I’m kind of out of it by now.”

Althea whispered, “How did he sneak up on us like this?”

Kessiah elbowed her, “How the fuck am I supposed to know? Otherwise he wouldn’t have fucking snuck up on us.”

I little laugh escaped me before the man pointed his sword at us and boomed, 

“I see battle excites you, even in the face of death. What is your name, little lamb.”

“Why do you need to know my name?”

“I am blind. I may only see through my ears and other senses. Now tell me your name.”

“It’s uh, Michael.”

“Then you and the other one, step aside. The greatest of you, that remnant, shall fight me. You two may fight against two of my disciples. We shall see who wins.”

A ragged gasp escaped Althea as the old man continued, “Do not fret, children. If you defeat my disciples, then you will become one of my own.”

I rolled my eyes, “Let’s just kill each other already.”

The man took another step forward, entering my range for checking out his status.

Dakhma Wike, Wielder of Blood and Bane(lvl 3144) – One of Yawm’s four followers, Dakhma is a slave who rose to the position of knight under Yawm’s order. He is a symbol of Yawm’s supposed meritocracy, since he started at the absolute lowest rung of their society. Even lower than a spawn.

With a vast pool of experience, he uses his living cape and enormous right arm to outmaneuver and cut his opponents to pieces. Little is known about Dakhma, but one thing is clear, you would do well to avoid him at any and all costs. 

I whispered, “We’re fucked.”

Kessiah grit her teeth and snapped, “We’ll have to see. Maybe he isn’t so tough…”

His disciples coalesced beside him, both of them in gray sheets of armor like Dakhma. I still had no fucking clue how they did that. Both of them wore long cloaks and hoods like the other named ones. The thinner of the two carried a sword soaked in a sheen of green like a sword of jade. The other had a cloak with a rougher, more torn appearance.

 Mightus Tyko(lvl 438) – A disciple of Dakhkma. Found as a slave working in the mines of a small, torrential planet, Mightus used the takeover of Yawm as a way to propel himself out of his drudgery. Despite his lack of proficiency for strength oriented combat, Mightus has compensated by taking advantage of several racial qualities.

As an amphibious creature, he coats his skin with mucus. With the help of Yawm’s cult, he has created a sword that uses his own mucus mixed with several compounds to create poison. This makes him very dangerous for squishier combatants. 

After analyzing your build, you would make an excellent match against him.

Galt Morn(lvl 346) – A disciple of Dakhma. He is a member of a golemic race, meaning his skin is covered in stone. While not as hard as most conventional armors, it offers solid protection against most light attacks. 

This is because his race lived on a planet with a thin atmosphere. The intense waves of radiation fed the animals that could sustain the punishment. The others would die. His race found that a thin coating of stone kept them alive and well. They often eat stones to help grind up the tough fibers of plants native to their home world.

You’re a fair match, though the fight will be a tough one.

Althea whispered, “That Mightus guy will probably kill me. I can take Galt.”

I whispered, “Jump back. I’ll charge forward. I’ll be trying to hold mightus down.”

My runes charged with energy before building until the energy shot out large arcs of lightning. My fists hummed with power and my armor grinned with me. I spread my arms, 

“Come on then.”

Dakhma’s cape whipped around him before crushing deep into the pavement. The three fingers gripped into the stone before sending Dakhma flying in a sideways circle. Like a cyclone, he spun through the air with wind blowing Althea backwards. 

When his sword collided with Kessiah’s arm, a sound like a skyscraper collapsing busted my eardrums. A car window in the distance shattered. The force of the impact crushed the ground beneath Kessiah, but she grinned. She didn’t block the sword. She caught it with her hand. 

With a quick whip of her wrist and arm, she pulled Dakhma into the ground. Dakhma’s living cape caught him, letting him rotate mid air and kick Kessiah. Kessiah shot backwards, slamming through a pillar of concrete and landing on the wall behind it.

The bridge wobbled above us, chunks of rock falling off as Althea shot backwards. She was over level 260 by now, with a lot of her stats put into strength. She may have even gotten another leveling perk. I didn’t know for sure. 

What she did gain was far more finesse with her powers. One of her arms reformed in seconds as she jumped up towards the top of the bridge. Mimicking the cape of Dakhma, the three fingered limb stabbed into the concrete above before she fired several shots at Galt.

I dashed backwards from Kessiah and Dakhma’s tumbling. It was like the world crumbled anytime they punched or kicked. Just being near it was nerve wracking, like watching a tornado coming towards you.

As I distanced myself from them, a blip of shadow blurred beside me. Without hesitation, I activated oppression. A howl of pain let out near me. Turning towards it, I dashed at the sound like a demon running out of hell.

Mightus was tumbling on the pavement, his robe getting torn as I charged towards him. Right as I neared him, he turned towards me with his blade shooting towards the left side of my neck. I shrugged my left shoulder, his blade catching on my armor.

I shot out a quick jab with my left hand, but he ducked below the strike. He pulled his sword from my armor and whipped around in a circle. His blade built in momentum, but instead of letting him finish his fancy footwork, I charged him.

I tackled into him, sending us both rolling onto the ground. When we stopped, he was on top of me. He grabbed his sword and drove it down towards my neck. Growing my armor, several black spired of armor shot out and guided the sword towards the side of my neck. The saber dug a foot deep into the concrete before Mightus raised his hand.

When his fist came down onto my face, my armor cracked open into a set of teeth. They clamped down onto his hand. Mightus howled, his voice high and gurgling. He grabbed the embedded sword and pulled, letting him jerk out his arm from my armor’s jaws.

Streaks of blue blood leaked from his forearm. Long, jagged cuts traced up and down the exposed forearm. I turned myself back onto my feet before he sprinted towards me. When we met, he ducked under my jab and slid past me. Running away, he pulled out his sword and darted towards Althea.

My runes charged as I sprinted forward. The rocky skinned Galt had his legs pinned into the pavement. Althea was firing out multiple harpoons into his chest as he struggled to dodge her bolts. Mightus leapt towards her like a panther pouncing.

Althea dislodged herself from the concrete, firing two bolts midair. Mightus controlled himself in the air, spiraling in unnatural ways. The bolts nicked him as they passed, but they didn’t pierce. It made me wonder what was under that caped hood.

I couldn’t watch anymore though. Galt had pulled the harpoons out of his feet. He shouted at me with a raspy voice, “Why not have a real fight?”

I grinned before sprinting towards him. With a wide right uppercut, he tried hitting my gut. He was fast, but not as fast as Kessiah. I sidestepped towards his right side. With his back facing me, I snapped a vicious left hook into his jaw. 

The pavement crushed under my foot with a clean connection. The rockface chipped as Malt lost his balance. He stumbled as I lunged forward. I stomped my heel and drilled a right hook into his side. Rock chipped off my hand, powdered like sand. Using the momentum off my last punch, I swung my right hand for another quick strike onto his chin.

Teeth fell out of his mouth along with his busted face. He whipped his left arm out towards me, but I leaned back. The wind of his fist brushed against my face before I pulled back towards him right after his swing.

I pushed off my back foot, slamming a left straight into his nose. The rock crumbled further as he fumbled further back. I kept steps measured, keeping just close enough to attack but far enough away to prevent retaliation. Each time he almost fell, I would angle my hits to keep him on his feet.

He was stronger and faster than me no doubt about it, but I could reliably grind his skin to powder like this. He wouldn’t be able to take the punishment forever. Compared with me, Galt was an awkward, flat footed fighter. I pressed my advantage as his swings grew wider and wilder. It made him all the easier to deconstruct. 

He swung a left hook towards me. I ducked under it and slammed a right straight into his stomach. He tried lifting his knee into my chin, but I stepped towards his right while dragging my left hand. The fist slammed into his again, stunning him. Red blood spit out of his mouth before I tagged another right hook into his body, then a left overhand into his opened jaw.

The bones keeping his face together snapped and popped as my fist dug in. He fought like he had never even considered technique. At least Mightus made the fight chaotic and interesting. This was like a wolf picking apart a deer with no horns. It was only a matter of time.

That was until he fell backwards. I darted towards him, but he threw his cloak at me. The fabric covered my eyes, blinding me for a second or two. Once I got the cloak off, a fist slammed into my armored face. 

The metal covering my face sunk inwards as my body was sent tumbling backwards. All the extra strength and speed he had came together at once. Everything in sight tumbled, like the world was flipped upside down over and over. I landed against the concrete barrier before everything turned gray with the powdered mist.

He dashed towards me, the gray cloud flying outwards when his fist smashed me deeper into the concrete. My chestplate dented inwards before he slammed his fist into me again. My armor dented inwards again. A barrage of blows ushered out like a hurricane from hell. 

He didn’t stop and throw me out like in the movies. Galt kept smashing until he ran out of stamina. At that point, he fell towards his knees. Heaving for breath, the dust cleared.

I couldn’t see what my body looked like, but I could tell many bones were broken. I pushed my crushed body out of the wall. One of my feet bent the wrong way, same with my left arm. The bottom jaw of my armor was jutting sideways. Blood spilled all around me, slick and thick. A bone jut from my right arm. In the end, however, I was still alive.

As Galt recovered his stamina, he watched my foot snap back into place. He watched my jaw and left shoulder realign back into socket. He watched the bone of my right arm disappear back into my flesh again. My armor grinned with me.

Galt stood with shaky legs, “Who are you?”

I leaned forward, one foot in front of the other. The energy of my runes recharged, glowing a vibrant orange. The lightning grew in intensity as I glanced at him,

“The eater of monsters.”