Abs needed help, and as her friend and her king, I had a duty to protect her.

'Ghost, pick me up. Pecs, break down the walls.’ I messaged him.

Fortunately, our [Scout] was synchronising her discoveries with the kingdom map, which required an inperson report to me. My orders cut her description of the forest short, which was a relief as her description of the twists and turns through the forest was boring me to undeath.

The sound of Pecs assaulting our walls echoed down the cave, and I was a little surprised that it took him more than one attack per layer. The primitive barricades had less health than a [Smash] dished out. Still, when Ghost joined the assault the walls didn’t last long between the pair. Before I jumped perspectives, I saw the mildly horrified look on Bob’s face.

I flipped back to Mouse’s perspective and saw him still staring impassively at the streams of [Carrion Crows] flying towards Abs. ‘Mouse move! Help Abs!’ He flinched a little as I shouted.

‘Danger.’ He replied, nervously looking back and forth.

‘I know, Abs in danger.’ I said.

Mouse shook himself, and I could almost feel his instincts warring inside of him. The drive to survive fought with the will of the horde. I honestly wasn’t sure which side of him was going to win until I realised that he was already moving forwards, towards the swarm.

I flipped perspectives back to Abs and my spirits rose as I watched her valiantly facing off against the swarm. Two of her warriors were dead, and the survivors were clustered around her with their spears raised. Perhaps a few dozen spears might have proved effective, but the three sticks pointing in the air did little to protect them from the diving birds. What was keeping the crows at bay was Abs herself.

I switched perspectives to one of the spear-wielding [Warriors] just in time to see Abs [Smash] the swarm. Clustered as they were, the explosive force of the skill killed many of them. I was glad that she had been practising her more fearsome abilities, and wasn’t solely relying on the underwhelming [Heavy Blow] and [Bite].

With [Flesh Hunger] her effective strength was off the charts, and the next in moment she threw a tree trunk straight into the heart of the swarm. The attack would do less damage than a normal attack, as improvised, non-system attacks always did, but it still splattered a handful of crows.

Abs used a [Slam] attack to wipe out another cluster, but the ranged leap carried her far away from her [Warriors]. They were left to the mercy of the murder crows. Two of them were torn apart before Abs even landed, and the final warrior only survived because she fell on her face, out of reach of grasping claws.

My enraged warchief let out a [Roar] of fury, and the crows near her flew away in fear. The effect of [Roar] bought her a brief reprieve, but the swarm was unrelenting, and scarcely seemed to have shrunk at all. She couldn’t win this fight by herself.

‘Abs open minimap for a second.’ I urged. A moment was all I needed to see what I was looking for. Mouse had moved closer, but the map still showed him as two kilometres away from where Abs fought. ‘Close map, run left, see mossy rock? Run that way.’ I directed her.

my priority was my friend, so I had completely forgotten about the surviving warrior, but Abs hadn’t. Before she started shuffle-running away she threw the survivor over her shoulder. She moved at a painfully slow pace. Despite her overwhelming strength she only had a dexterity of five. She wasn’t going anywhere fast.

My mind raced as I tried to think of anything else I could do. Hans and the [Silica Deposit] were relatively close to the encounter, but still over a kilometre away. Hans was almost as smart as I was, but he wasn’t much help in a fight.

Thinking about Hans and his lack of combat utility I had a brief panic that he too might be in danger. If Abs was struggling against these crows then Hans wouldn’t stand a chance.

I flipped briefly over to Hans’ point of view and was happy to see that he was still scribbling on the wall of his cave. He was directing his two assistants, and I saw that they had made a short tunnel into the rock and had lined the tunnel with chopped up trees. Maybe those trees were the key to stopping the cave from collapsing as they dug. He didn’t seem to be in any danger so I let myself disconnect from his view.

My vision went dark and for a moment I was confused until I realised that Ghost was holding my face in her hand, with her fingers gripping my crown, and her palm covering my eyes. I fought down a flash of irritation and switched perspectives to my silent [Scout]. I saw that she wasn’t alone and that the second feral was running alongside her.

The ferals ran down the mountainside and into the edge of the forest, but when I checked my minimap I saw that we were still three kilometres away. Gompta, Ghost was our fastest zombie and we were still going to arrive too late.

I found myself thinking back to the [Frenzy Horde] ability. The extra speed was exactly what we needed. Of course, the system reset meant that I could pick up the boring buff ability in the place of [Bloodcaster], but if I did that I wouldn’t be able to get my [Blood Whip], or my blood draining fangs back until my next ability slot unlocked at level twelve. Almost absent mindedly I wondered how far off level seven I was.

I opened and glanced at my character sheet. It said that I was level seven. Of course, it did.

Oh Tiyanon, why? Was this a sign? Was I destined to never drink blood again? [Frenzy Horde] was such a boring ability. I took a sad look at [Bloodcaster] and didn’t even read the cool sounding [Netherstorm]. Neither ability would save Abs. Reluctantly, I selected [Frenzy Horde] and died a little inside as the ability slotted into my character sheet.

There was no time to commiserate, and I immediately activated the ability. I felt Ghost lurch forwards. The trees blurred past as she sprinted, and the few tufts of hair I had waved in the wind. The aura both pushed her over the heroic threshold for dexterity and then doubled her new movement speed. She went so fast that she left the other feral behind. After a moment of consideration, I elected to leave the second feral behind. It could catch up.

I once again felt the tug of Abs's bleeding health, each little tug individually insignificant, but they were gradually pushing her into dangerous territory. I switched to her perspective and saw that the [Roar] had worn off, and she was alternating between fight and flight. By some miracle, she had managed to keep her one surviving [Warrior] alive, and he was safely tucked under her armpit. When the swarm gave her space she shuffle-ran in the direction I told her to, and when they began to harass her again she swung all about, delivering death with her fists.

Abs cleared out another dozen crows with a [Slam], wiped the splattered birds off her bulging washboard abdominal muscles when she looked up. Through her eyes, I saw my own arrival. Ghost had her [Bone Spurs] out already, and even with me gripped in one hand she tore through the crows. She skewered a couple of the animals with [Rapid Strikes], then [Shadow Stepped] into Abs’ shadow.

It wasn’t a moment too soon. My soul bottomed out and [Frenzy Horde] deactivated. I felt emotionally drained, but the residual fear and anger were strong enough for my soul to regenerate quickly. I pulled on my bond with Abs and guessed that she had maybe a tenth of her health remaining. How dare these poor excuses for pigeons to attack my horde!

Ghost threw me over to Abs and went on the offensive. My wounded [Warchief] had a massive gash to the side of her abdomen, so she reached inside, pulled out a metre of intestines, and stored me inside.

Through Abs’s eyes, I saw Ghost go on a rampage. Our deadly [Scout] [Dash Attacked] to one crow midair, killed another with a [Rapid Strike], before dashing even higher into the air with a [Savage Charge]. Her attacks didn’t kill as many crows as a solid [Smash] or [Slam] would, but the lightning-fast attacks were just as terrifying.

This was Ghost in her element, free to move in and around the familiar terrain of the woods. She spun like a dancer, her [Hyperflexible] skill allowing her to move in unpredictable ways. I saw her slash one crow apart with [Infected Claws], and as a second crow attempted to attack her from behind she twisted her head all the way round to [Bite] it’s head off. It was beautiful.

The murder of crows seemed to back off in the face of her assault, but a few clusters continued to pester Abs with their dive-by attacks. That was enough! I unleashed [Enrage Zombie]. Abs [Roared] with new vigour. The extra five vitality, dexterity and strength all enhanced her in different ways.

Through our party bond, I felt Abs’s health surge upwards. Whereas before it had felt like there was a bare sliver, now it had some heft to it; it was perhaps a quarter full. From inside Abs’s abdomen cavity, I felt her accelerate into a proper run, having crossed over the mortal threshold of dexterity. Then, through her eyes, I saw her put her new speed to devastating effect, augmented by her new strength. I saw her pulverise three [Carrion Crows] with one heavy blow. She was unstoppable.

My [Enrage Zombie] lasted just short of a minute, which was long enough for Ghost and Abs to cover the forest floor with the grey metal tipped feathers of [Carrion Crows]. I couldn’t read birds as well as I could zombies, but I could tell that the swarm was wavering. Their attacks were less frequent, and I saw a few break off their attacks at the last moment.

Abs let out a [Roar], and it boomed out twice as loud as before. Seconds later a [Piercing Scream] added to the din, wounding a large clump of [Carrion Crows]. Mouse had joined the fight. For a second I wasn’t sure how the crows were going to react, but then the grey cloud exploded outwards, as whatever force held the crows together broke. Mouse shuffled forwards nervously, darting glances all around. He was a hero.

It was just in time, because my [Enrage Zombie] ran out, dropping Abs back to the sliver of health she had been on previously. I looked around the surrounding woods, alternating quickly between Mouse, Abs, Ghost, and the second feral, who had joined in on the carnage at some point. l didn’t see any further threats lurking in the woods, and I didn’t pick up anything on the [Sonar] either. With Mouse’s [Heartsense II] I could see hundreds of little red dots spreading out from our position. It looked like it was over.

‘Abs can take me out stomach? Please and thank you.’ I messaged over the party chat. A squelching noise filled my ears as my [Warchief] stuck her hand back inside her abdomen to fetch me out. The wound was a handy storage place, especially with her rock hard abdominal muscles protecting me from the front, but it wasn’t how I wanted to travel. Maybe I could look into scooping out Pecs’s heart, so I had two places to hide when a fight broke out. I only needed a place to hide while I was still levelling up. Once I had my levels and [Blood Whip] back I could take to the battlefield in person again.

Speaking of levels, I was happy to see that I had levelled up again, and was now level eight. My enthusiasm was only somewhat dampened when I realised that level eight was another attunement level. That meant that I was now only one attunement over my intended maximum, once I hit level fourteen I could switch out magical items again, without losing the glitched out extra slot I seemed to have. It wasn’t like the system could tell me off again, as it was the level reset that was to blame for me being over the limit in the first place.

All in all, my swift arrival had narrowly averted a disaster. We lost four nameless [Warriors], but Abs could always train more. Ghost and her friendly feral could fetch us a couple of zombies every day or two from the forestry, and when that ran dry, they could search out the old quarry and the mine. At some point we needed to figure out a sustainable solution to our population problem, but that was a problem for the Zed of tomorrow. For now, I needed to get back to the safety of the cave.

Zed's End of Chapter Sheet

King Zed ‘The Red’

19:02, 38th of Iosi, 1465 3A

Total Level: 7 (Copper)

Levels: Overseer 7

Experience: 3451 / 5500

Type: Overseer Zombie (C)

Attributes:

Resources:

Dexterity: 6

Stamina: N/A

Strength: 13

Power: N/A

Vitality: 15

Health: 210/210

Wisdom: 8

Willpower: 112/112

Intelligence: 5

Mana: 70/70

Charisma: 10

Soul: 6/140

Decay: 24% (Stage 0)

Affinities: Nether (100%), Poison (50%), Fire (-25%), Holy (-100%)

Titles:

King of the Braindead: Access to Kingdom subsystem.

Red-Handed: +1 Intelligence, sets alignment as evil, hands are permanently dyed red.

Traits:

Made to Serve: +1 Intelligence, +1 Charisma, -1 Wisdom. Gives understanding of system common, and the primary language of its creator (Orcish). Is able to follow simple commands based on the creator's intelligence divided by ten (3 words long). Gives access to a portion of the knowledge contained within the host brain, better preserved brains retain more information.

Flesh Construct: Sustained by nether magic, does not need to eat, drink, sleep or breath. Does not regenerate Health. Does not use Stamina or Might, but instead uses Decay.

Overseer: +2 Charisma.

Not Braindead: +1 Wisdom, +1 Intelligence and +2 Charisma.

Skills:

Hordesight: +1 Wisdom and you can share vision with any visible non-hostile zombie.

Abilities:

Unarmed Strike - Copper - Level 1 (Unavailable):

0% Decay

1 Second Cooldown

Strikes at the target with an unarmed limb for 10 bludgeoning damage.

Dash Attack - Bronze- Level 1 (Restricted):

0% Decay

5 Second Cooldown

Dashes to a target within 3 metres for 18 bludgeoning damage with a chance to push back or knock over the target.

Poisoned Bite - Bronze - Level 2 (Restricted):

0% Decay

5 Second Cooldown

+1 Vitality and Bites the target for 18 piercing damage and a further 16 poison damage over the next 30 seconds.

Enrage Zombie - Bronze - Level 4 (Restricted):

500 Soul

No Cooldown

The user lets out a rage-filled shout at a target zombie to increase its Strength, Dexterity, and Vitality by +50 for 11 seconds.

Overseer’s Aura - Bronze - Level 3 (Restricted):

10 Soul / Second

No Cooldown

+1 Strength to all zombies within 10 metres.

Corpse Explosion - Steel - Level 2 (Restricted):

200 Mana

20 Second Cooldown

Explodes the targeted corpse to deal damage equal to the health it had when alive in a 2m radius. Any corpses in the range of the explosion have a 25% chance to explode as if targeted by this ability.

Frenzy Horde - Bronze - Level 1 (Restricted)::

5 Soul / Second

No Cooldown

Increases nearby zombies’ Dexterity by +2 and increases their movement speed by x2. Range of 12 meters.

Attunements (3/1):

Ring of the Jester (Cursed): +2 Charisma but curses the wearer with [Jester’s Curse].

Princess Tiara: +3 Charisma and makes the wearer more attractive to Princes.

Intellect Ring: +1 Intelligence.

Status Effects:

Jester’s Curse: The target is cursed by the jester. The curse can only be lifted by a Sphinx’s laugh.

Team-Killer (343 days remaining): -2 Charisma

Blessing of Roguish Charm (2 hours remaining): +1 Charisma, the higher your infamy the more attractive you are.