The True Enemy Revealed

by Jason Cheek

  Shoving my inner greed monster back in its cage, I quickly surveyed the rest of the battle going on around me. While the remaining Chaos Storm officers had been ripped apart easily enough by the horde, the courtyard was another story altogether. Standing up straight, I frowned at what I saw. On the outside of the undead horde, the players were quickly peeling the mindless undead away from the pack as if they were peeling an onion.

  Obviously, the Chaos Storm members knew what they were doing and how to play their classes. I’d be lucky if it took another three to five minutes for them to cut the horde down. Besides, without a player directing their pets’ attacks, the zombies were just regular monsters reacting to attacks automatically. Hell, the only reason it was taking this long was because only so many of the players could surround the horde at one time. Even so, that wasn’t my problem. What I had to do was find my charges and hunker down.

  Ordering my zombie pets to surround me, I used them to push my way through the mass of brawling zombies to where I’d last seen Princess Reeva. The problem I now faced was that the majority of the zombies were trying to go after the players attacking us from the inner courtyard. I found my target a short ways away hunched protectively over her younger brother. As soon as I approached, the woman’s haunted eyes looked into mine.

  “Why are you helping me after everything I’ve done?” Princess Reeva asked, wiping the tears from her cheeks. “I’m an oath breaker.”

  “All of us deserve a second chance to right the wrongs we’ve done.” I answered back, levelly holding her eyes. “If I let you swear to me a second time, will you do so in good faith or should I leave you here to your fate?”

  “Please, Star … I mean, Lord Ironwolf,” Princess Reeva said, bowing her head in humility. “Let me serve you faithfully as a loyal vassal to fight these …,” she paused as her voice dropped to a hoarse whisper, “monsters.” Her red-rimmed eyes looked out at the ruined courtyard and the battle raging around us as she spoke more forcibly. “All of these monsters!”

  “I will hold you to that oath, Princess Reeva of the House of Isolde, but, if you break your word to me again, I’ll take your head myself.” I said, serious as a heart attack. Seeing the uncomfortable look on the Princess’ strained face, I explained my reasoning. “It’s no difference then how you’d treat a vassal that had broken their oath to you.”

  “I have given you my fealty on my own accord,” the Princess stated in no uncertain terms as the tears ran down her face, while she held her hands against her younger brother’s chest wounds. “As long as you hold to your honor and oath to the people of the Kingdom of Kader, I will serve you faithfully.”

  “The let us speak of this no more,” I said, kneeling down beside them. Quickly, I had my zombies surround the three of us as I checked over the young Prince. My Regeneration spell had kept him alive, but the majority of the spell’s restorative energy had been used up on sealing the wound in his chest. That brought the young Prince up to a little over a hundred points of health and some change which was slowly increasing by the second. As his hand weakly reached out for his older sister’s, I hit them both with a Regeneration spell.

  There was no time to explain the rest of my plan as I pulled Princess Reeva down over her brother. Ignoring their questioning looks, I ordered them both to stay quiet as I stepped back and had my zombies cover them with their bodies. Any time now, I knew the shit was going to hit the fan and I didn’t want them to be eaten by accident. Especially not after all the work I’d done to save them. I was just turning back to the battle when an inhuman shriek drowned out all sound in the keep’s inner courtyard.

  For a second, the Chaos Storm alliance members stopped in their tracks as a change came over the surviving zombies. Instead of responding sluggishly to the players’ attacks in ones and twos, all of the undead turned around as one and launched themselves at the living enemy in a ferocious wave of fangs and claws. These weren’t the same confused zombies they had just been fighting, but super-fast feral creatures, like zombies from the movie 28 Days Later, that launched themselves deep into the Chaos Storm’s ranks in an out of control stampede for brains.

  Whole sections of the enemies’ formation collapsed as the middle rows fell back in horror while their friends began being eaten alive right before their eyes. Everywhere I looked zombies were leaping on top of anyone living within range and dragging them to the ground, while ripping into their bodies with claws and fangs as the undead began fighting in earnest for the first time. The horrific gut wrenching screams of agony and fear didn’t help the defenders morale either as the Chaos Storm advance came to an abrupt halt.

  Up till now, the mass of zombies had been nominally defending themselves when attacked. While the chain of orders that had been laid on top of them allowed them to be somewhat useful when their owners weren’t in range to direct them, it left the pets fighting mediocre at best. Now though, they were like foxes in a hen house as bedlam momentarily reigned.

  I’d been expecting this, since turning the zombies loose had always been part of the plan. The worst part was that I had to survive for the next three to four minutes until my trump card could come into play. Making sure there were no undead in range that would retarget onto the Prince and Princess, I had my pets stand back up as my charges looked out at the frightful scene happening around them. Well, the Prince did at least, since the Princess had been fighting around zombies for a few days now. Princess Reeva helped her younger brother to his feet as they both hesitantly stepped up behind me.

  “How are we going to get out of here?” Prince Lekroth worriedly asked. “The courtyard is completely blocked to the gatehouse.”

  “I’ve got that covered,” I said distractedly as I watched the time on my HUD. Before I could say more, a jagged actinic flash of light flared over my head from the balcony. This close to the keep, I couldn’t see what was going on, but as the harsh light flared again, I knew it was my ex-girlfriend doing her best to fry the Battle Priests. Looking back at the Prince, I heard the young man curse.

  “That’s Cristiane’ Lightning magic!” Prince Lekroth explained at my questioning look. “I’ve seen her drop five equal level warriors with one blast.”

  “She killed them with one blast?” I asked in consternation.

  “No, the attack locks up the targets’ muscles for a good five seconds or more, besides doing massive damage.” The Prince added as he worriedly looked up at the balcony.

  “If you’ve got a plan for how we’re going to get out of here, now is the time to use it!” Princess Reeva worriedly said, as another blast lit-up the balcony.

  Quickly, I began buffing the three of us with everything I had as the Chaos Storm alliance members began to form up into smaller and smaller groups to take on the undead horde that were ripping their people apart. In response, I began hitting the players’ lines with my Ice Barrage AOE. The attack caused several of the groups to wipe, but there were just too many for me to make a dent in their overall numbers.

  At the two minute mark they’d managed to stop the feral zombies’ chaotic advance completely and were simply holding the lines as the players cut the undead down like clockwork. By the time my HUD at hit the three minute mark, the battle had completely turned. All around us, the Chaos Storm players were advancing and effectively taking out the remaining zombies left in the inner courtyard. I was just repositioning my zombies to surround us, when a mocking voice called down to me from the balcony.

  “You lose, Jay!” Looking up, I saw Julie looking down at me triumphantly as the battle raged behind her. “I told you, it didn’t matter how long it took that I’d get all of you back!” She screeched, looking down at me with crazy eyes. Just another reason I was happy to be done with her, I thought with a shake of my head.

  “Get everyone back?” I shouted up at her in exasperation. “Why’s that, because I didn’t want to sleep with you and everyone else you were fucking at the same time?”

  “I can have sex with as many peo
ple as I want, it’s not like I was doing anything wrong!” She shrieked back at me.

  “I never said you couldn’t sleep with anyone you wanted! Hell, you can suck as many bags full of dicks that you want all day long. You’re just not going to do it while you’re dating me!” I shouted right back at her. “Although, I do wonder if there is any tread left on that tire of yours by now?”

  For a moment, I thought her face was going to split down the middle as my words pierced her brain. Don’t get me wrong, it was a brutal thing to say, but, then again, I was trying to push her over the edge to use that level 200 scroll of hers. Besides, everything I’d said was true. Well, except for the tire tread comment. That, I just said to piss her the fuck off and push her over the edge.

  “You’re such a fucking asshole, Jay!” She screamed as her face turned beat red.

  “I learned from the best.” I shot right back, as a strangled cry came from her lips.

  “Just for once would you shut your freaking mouth?” Julie shrieked, as she punched out a fist to send a bolt of pure lightning down at me that was as thick around as my leg.

  I blocked the bolt with my crossed weapons as the majority of the blast dissipated on my Holy Shield. It hadn’t even touched my Bone Armor or Mage Armor underneath. Not that it would have done much if I hadn’t had all three shields in place, since between my Ring of the Elemental Shaman and Black Coral armor, I had a combined forty-five percent resistance to elemental magic. It would have been fifty percent if I’d had my shield with me. Best yet, the ineffectual attack just seemed to piss her off that much more, especially when I put the Holy Shield right back up.

  "That's what I heard your last lover said about your legs!” I yelled back up at her. Hearing no immediate comeback, I glanced up to see her livid face turning purple. Obviously, it must have been one of those off the cuff remarks that had struck a little too close to home. For a moment, I thought that her eyes were literally going to pop out of their sockets.

  “I’m going to kill you and all of those losers you call friends!” She shrieked, with bloody murder in her eyes.

  “You always think you’re so smart! Like I’d fall for that same crappy graveyard trick you pulled against Apoxsee!” Julie spat, mocking me like I was some sort of noob. Taking a ragged breath, she continued in a somewhat more controlled tone, pointedly looking out at the courtyard where her people were slaughtering the remaining handful of feral zombies attacking their lines. “You’ve already lost here, loser.”

  Following her eyes, I saw that she was right. Her people had only lost about two hundred and fifty of the two thousand plus players that had been crammed into the keep’s inner courtyard. Holding her head high, Julie superciliously continued.

  “Once my people slaughter you here, I'm going to kill all of your NPC forces at the graveyards and then spawn camp your sanctimonious ass until you rage quit! Then we’ll see whose laughing!”

  It was about then that I heard the commotion I’d been waiting for. The noise quickly grew to a point that it was loud enough that it could be heard over the sounds of battle around us. Without hesitation, I called my manifested pets to me as I threw my head back and laughed.

  For a moment, Julie just looked at me like I’d completely lost my mind. That was, until she took note of the sound too. As she looked towards the main gates to the keep, I saw her eyes widen in shock as I did my best to stoke the fire. I had no idea how it must look from where she stood, but I figured the incoming horde had to be an awesome sight to behold.

  “Did you really think this was all the forces I had?” I called out casually. Seeing the horrified look on her face, I smiled broadly while proverbially talking out my ass. “The truth is Julie, Hefe told me everything. We planned this whole thing out together.” I said, waving an arm at the fighting in the courtyard. “I'm here to take over Telrain and de-level all of your asses back to zero!”

  By then, the rest of the Chaos Storm members were realizing something was wrong. A handful of the smarter players had begun racing towards the keep’s main gate. It was really the best move possible. If they could create a bottleneck to hold back the horde or even close the gates, they could hold out against our zombie forces indefinitely. Thankfully though, only about twenty-five groups had that epiphany, before it was too late. The rest of the two thousand plus players were completely out of position and had no understanding about what was going down.

  The Defensive and DPS Warriors in the know began creating a makeshift shield wall across the opening as mages began casting Frost Nova while everyone else tried to force the gate closed. Those Chaos Storm players might have succeeded if not for Kitano, my manifested pet, who was at the head of the out of control horde. In his silhouette, Shadow Fang ran next to him like a living shadow with snapping fangs as they rushed the hastily constructed defenses.

  I could just imagine the melee classes’ faces as the massive Cave Bear charged their line at an all-out sprint. His enormous mass nearly filled up the entire passage as he charged into the gatehouse’s archway. Behind him, the slavering faces of the undead horde went back as far as the eye could see in an awe inspiring mass of necromancy power.

  I couldn’t actually see much of Kitano, until he rose up on his hind legs and bellowed. The intensity of the roar hurt my ears even from where I stood on the other side of the courtyard. Its effect on the defensive line was visible. I swear it must have been some sort of special attack, since I immediately saw several Warriors suddenly turn around and flee as fast as their legs could carry them, while the other half of the line cowered in fear.

  Before anyone could recover, the Cave Bear bodily crashed into the blockade across the entrance, moving full tilt like a living battering ram. It was an epic hit as Warriors, Rogues, and Battle Priests were blasted into the air from the impact like a cue ball hitting a tight rack. One unlucky fellow was snatched up by the face as the bear’s enormous jaws closed around his head. His horrified screams echoed around the inner courtyard, before the man was flung away like a limp rag doll. He’d barely taken any damaged from the assault, since he was actually a higher level than my manifested pet. Still, the absolute look of terror in the man’s eyes said the experience had left its mark on his soul, before he disappeared into the mass of packed defenders.

  Shadow Fang was there too, lunging at his attackers as fast as a striking Black Mamba. While his attacks were barely strong enough to hurt his enemies, his fangs still managed to rip jagged tears in throats and faces with relative ease as he pounced from caster to priest like a flittering shadow come to life. Spells and ranged attacks were disrupted again and again from his efforts. Due to the mass of attackers overwhelming their defenses, the Chaos Storm players’ fighting for their lives against the unending horde of zombies didn’t realize he was such a low level. Otherwise, they’d have just ignored his attacks completely.

  Even worse for our enemies, their healers and mages were packed in together at the rear of the enormous formation like sardines in a can. It was the typical spot for the physically weaker casters and range attack types without heavy armor or shields. Although, in the current situation, it was the last place you wanted to be, I thought as the continuous wave of zombies crashed into the rear of the Chaos Storm raid. When I say a wave of zombies, I meant that literally. The three thousand level thirty something zombies rushing into the courtyard looked more like a river of muddy water than individual attackers.

  Everywhere I looked, Chaos Storm guild members were being tackled to the ground and torn apart in ghastly glory as the melee classes tried to rush to their aid. For the moment, it was utter pandemonium throughout the courtyard. This was the distraction I’d been waiting for. Catching the Prince and Princess by the eyes, I ordered my pets to scoop them up into a two-person carry and race for the outside of the city. Ignoring their complaints about being carried, I gave them both a farewell salute as the zombies raced off.

  Turning towards the chaotic battlefield, I got to work casting a line of
Magnify Damage. Five quick casts were enough to reach the outer gates, which I immediately followed up with a series of Corpse Explosion casts. Within moments, a series of explosions erupted from the ground blasting zombies and players alike off their feet as I cleared a path through the packed Chaos Storm players blocking the exit. Although the spell didn’t kill anyone directly, a whole swath of Chaos Storm newfar were climbing to their feet with nearly half their health missing and covered in gore. As the Prince and Princess made it through to the gatehouse, Julie’s hate-filled eyes zeroed in on me in outrage.

  “Don’t worry about them.” I said, seeing the look on Julie’s face. “I just needed to make sure the royal family was safely away for when I take the city back.” I casually called out, before cheerfully finishing up with a smartass remark. “Oh, and please make sure to smile for the video of your whole guild being de-leveled!”

  I know I was being a full-on dick. In truth though, dialoguing really wasn’t my thing. I honestly hated it as much as the next person, but I was purposely doing my best to push her over the edge. If I let her stop for a second to strategize, she’d realize her people could overwhelm any single one of the forces at any graveyard and regain control. Hell, with a guild as large as she had, she could probably take them all back with a minimum loss of levels. But, if she thought I was seriously making a play to take over the city, I knew she’d do whatever she could to block me from my goal.

  The kicker was Councilor Fulrin. He and his Battle Priests had kept up the pressure on the balcony up above me this entire time. Now, without Julie focused on keeping her people alive, his people were starting to make some headway against the enemy as the first Warrior, Noah Stanislas, was finally cut down. A second later, Sodonon Yoshiyuki, a black-haired, female assassin was hacked to death as the Battle Priests caught her popping out of stealth. It was in that moment where everything was falling apart that I saw that old look of defiance flare to life on my ex-girlfriend’s eyes.