The convoy continued toward the city of Watago. By now they could see the city in all it’s former glory. For the most part, the city looked mostly normal, just very dark. No lights lit the distant skyscraper building windows. The sounds of traffic were but an echo of the past. There was also a clarity to the air. Months without vehicles running allowed the smog to fade away.

The highway they followed that entered into the city was sparse with vehicles. Mathew recalled it was late at night when he was taken, so there wouldn’t have been any normal traffic since most people were already home.

Everyone was tense, as the undead could be lurking around any corner. Mathew was curious as to how far the Undead could go. Could they leave the city proper? The Infernals went miles from their Dungeon portal.

“How much further do we need to go?” One of the guards asked.

“In a car? In traffic? Probably thirty minutes. On foot with no traffic? Probably just as much. Depends if we have trouble or not.” Leo said. “My truck was not made for city life.”

Mathew nodded, “Told you to get an eco car for work. You never did listen to me.”

“Yeah, but who had the last laugh? That truck did us right that night.” Leo said with a chuckle. “I wonder if it’s still at that gas station.”

“That or parts. Gas is probably bad by now. We are going to not be able to use any of our own in another month.” Lucas said.

Agnox was flying through the open air to scout out as far as he dared go. Mathew didn’t dare look into his familiars eyes. Danger could be anywhere. He was told to shoot his only ranged spell into the sky if he needed help and couldn’t get away.

Once they were into the proper grid city streets, travel was tedious. Some vehicles blocked intersections, forcing them to double back and find another way around. Signs of conflict were easy to see. Dried blood mixed with dead bodies and chunks of buildings and roads were missing.

It didn’t take long before the convoy had their first encounter with the undead. A small group of nine shuffling corpses were in the middle of the street. Everyone hesitated except for Leo and Lucas. Mathew frowned as the two hopped out of the truck and drew their weapons.

“I got this Lucas, you stay back there.”

“Nah, I’ll help. Don’t worry about it.”

Leo killed five, each taking only a single swing of his axe or a single shot from the gun part. Lucas on the other hand took two for most of them, and one for the final undead he killed. Lightning surrounded his blade. Mathew didnt’ say anything as the bodies were moved out of the way and they continued forward.

“If they are this weak to kill, then the Dungeon should be simple no? Then why can’t either zone take them out? Is it the sheer numbers? Even then, if a large enough group forms it won’t take long to defeat the Dungeon.”

More dead people were found shortly after the fight, some half eaten. The dead bodies made everyone heavily unsettled. The group spent time moving them to the sidewalks and giving them some sense of proper burial.

“We are coming back for every one of these bodies.” Leo said. “We can burn them to make the process easier. However, unless we get rid of that Dungeon, their deaths won’t be worth anything.”

Mathew held his tounge saying some of them could be dead from that first night, or straight up person on person murder, not just the undead killing them. The rest of the way was somber until they came up to a two story building.

“This is it? A small building with an even smaller parking lot?” Lucas complained.

“Funny. You see, this building is mine.” Mathew stated. “What better place to hole up than my own land. Purchased with my first, and only, bank loan.”

Samuel simply rolled her eyes and went inside. The guards were happy to no longer be walking, as were the adventurers. Mathew shook his head and looked up at the sign.

“Mathew. Divorce Attorney.” One of the Adventurers said aloud. “What kind of business name is that? It has no catchphrase, or a name that makes fun of what it represents.”

“Simple. To the point. Has my name, what my occupation is, and is easy to understand.” Mathew said. “Plus I like the color scheme. Blue and black with a gold outline.”

Everyone else headed inside and started to unpack supplies. Mathew snuck back into his office. Everything was exactly how he left it. No vandalism nor even thievery. He was honestly surprised. He opened the bottom drawer of his desk and found a few bottles of very expensive bourbon and other hard alcohol. He quickly stuffed them into his personal storage before anyone came around. He would start a pot of tea, if there was any power. It will be a rough time until they leave.

Lindsey walked in and looked at everyone unpacking, “Anyone else creeped out by the lack of undead?”

Leo nodded. “I want to scout out with the others tomorrow once day breaks. What about guard shifts?”

Mathew glanced at Samuel. “What do you think? How is it normally done for the military?”

“Two on each shift, two hour shifts. During the day at least five need to stay here. They can rotate however they want from there.”

“Okay, that works for me.” Mathew said. “Tomorrow I want to scout around as well. We will make two teams. Lindsey, do you want to join or stay here with Samuel?”

“I’ll stay today. Next time I’ll go out.”

“What about me?” Lucas asked.

“Go with Leo tomorrow.” Mathew said. “Visiting New Watago shouldn’t be that dangerous. If anyone triest to kill me, we can call for the rest of the army and create a New New Watago.”

“Sheesh, already thinking of world domination?” Lucas joked.

Mathew shrugged, “Not really. However, World Leader Mathew McGonald has a nice ring to it.”

Lucas playfully punched Mathew in the shoulder, “Sure thing man. You got my vote at least.”

Shortly after, everyone went to sleep. A guard rotation was established to keep watch. One perk of Mathew’s building was that it was made of solid large bricks and had few windows. Easy to defend, but if they were cornered, it would be their grave as well.

Everyone woke up and the two groups went different directions. Mathew’s group had five guards with him. Leo had both Lucas and the adventurers. Leo gave Mathew a slap on the back, “Go get some info. Once we get a lay of this land, I’m going in there, not even you can stop me.”

“I know Leo. Just do me a favor and wait till it’s the right time. I know you want vengeance, just try and not die doing so.”

Turning and walking away, Leo started to swing his arms and stretch them out. Mathew sighed watching his old friend walk away. “He is going to get himself killed isn’t he…” The summoner silently expected his friend to run off on his own. Yet, Leo wasn’t suicidal, not until he achieved his personal goal.

“Alrighty, we are ready to go Mr. McGonald.” One of the guards reported.

“Just Mathew please.” Mathew said.

Agnox already was off into the skies to scout on his own. Mathew had kept Jeffery summoned all night, so his trusted wolf was ready to roll. Mathew went ahead and summoned his two wisps as well. Hopefully he could regenerate all the mana before arriving at the zone. That way he was all the way topped up.

The road to New Watago would be long. They would need to backtrack to one of the bridges near the south side of the city, and hope it was usable to cross. Mathew was hesitant on showing up and saying hello just yet. He wanted a full understanding of the strength of the undead. Hence why his familiar was already performing his duty. To ensure they could find some undead along the way possibly.

The Imp only had one Ability slot open. Mathew expected some sort of scouting themed one to fill it eventually. Then again, Agnox wasn’t going for a scout build. Mathew silently prayed he would get new summons soon. He needed something that could scout in place of Agnox. Better yet, something more expendable like his wisps.

Agnox took his time on finding a group of undead. Mathew had him avoid the Dungeon in case of any ranged attacks. He didn’t want his familiar to die afterall. Be a waste of all the investments he put into him so far.

There was a group of three zombies. Each of them wore tattered clothes. Their skin was pale and they seemed to walk almost normally. If it wasn’t for their slightly stiff movements, Mathew would think they were normal people. One of them was missing an eyeball as well. With careful aim from himself, Agnox, Whis, and Wispy, all three were taken out with four ranged attacks from everyone combined. He took note they only gave less than a hundred UC each.

That helps solidify that they were weak. Probably less than Level 5. Mathew assumed they would be easy enough to take out in a melee if push came to shove. The guards also wanted to kill a few to get an idea of their strength. He was curious if all Undead was always low level.

What if a higher leveled person, say Level 10, became undead. Would they still be Level 10? Level 5? Level 1? He had no clue what Isabell’s level was, but it was probably 1. His mind went back to that night.

How he struggled against a level 1 zombie. Now he just took three out without even a sweat. It was almost laughable. “Only three months to reach this point. If I keep this up, nobody will think I’m weak. Nobody does now, but I imagine Bob and Tyrone won’t tolerate me coming in and taking what is theirs.”

It took only twenty minutes to find another group of undead, this time with four in it. The two ranged fighters he brought with him took them down after six total shots.

Mathew seemed satisfied with how weak the undead were. So much so he was half tempted to just clear out the dungeon with everyone he brought, and use that as a bargaining chip to join his growing empire.

Then again, it was a numbers game. The undead were weak, but counted in the hundreds if not thousands if he had a proper guess.

After another quick scuffle they were crossing a bridge toward the safe zone. Mathew noted that all the cars were pushed to the sides of the road once they crossed the bridge. Buildings had spray paint on them with various numbers and symbols. A few symbols were obvious, others less so.

One building had a circle with a number three inside of it. Then that was crossed out with another color of paint. Another building had a square with two that remained unchanged. Mathew then realized it was probably for bodies, rooms, looting, or other various need to know things.

Most doors on buildings were open or had the glass broken though. Stores were empty. A few restaurants that had food were emptied. The area was thoroughly looted. Mathew was surprised his building stood along with others in the area. Then he realized the river that snaked through the city must be some sort of border.

The Dungeon was on the side his work building was on, closer to the poor area of the city where the older buildings stood. The city hall side was up to date. Homeless people used to be arrested or escorted away to not dampen on that side of the city.

Mathew had Agnox stay out of sight once they crossed the bridge. They were expecting a forward scouting group or a group of undead killers to bump into them. Having Agnox would only cause problems. Not having him summoned just in case would also cause problems.

They walked into an intersection of roads when a voice called out.

“Hold it. Just stay there and answer some questions, strangers.” The voice came from above. Mathew looked up to see three people, each with a variant of a weapon. One held a staff, the second a rifle, the third a crossbow.

Mathew held up a hand, “Hey there. Names Mathew, we come from the Airbase south from here, also known as Blue Oaks.”

“And your reason for coming here?” The one with the crossbow asked. Mathew saw the top half of a man's head, but couldn't see much more.

“Diplomatic reasons. Also to lend a hand in removing the undead problem. I heard your leader was Tyrone. I was wondering if I could talk to him.”

Whispers from above were inaudible to Mathew. After a moment the man's voice sounded again. “Alright, give us a moment, we will come down there.”

Five people came out the bottom set of doors. The man with a crossbow walked up to mathew with his hand held out. “Names Q. Like the letter. Tyrone is our current leader, but it’s not an official position. He just holds the Hearth Crystal.” His southern accent was thick, but easy to understand.

Mathew shook his hand firmly. “I’m Mathew. These fine gentlemen are from the base as well to escort me. Will we be allowed to talk to Tyrone, or whoever is in charge to set up some sort of relations with each other?”

“Sure, if he is interested. You will have to get rid of your two floating friends though. What’s with the big red wolf? Did ya name him Clifford?”

The aforementioned summon was behaving and sitting next to Mathew. Although the wolf was ready to strike at a moment's notice.

Mathew slowly breathed out his nose at the supposed name. “My animal companion, Jeffrey. He is useful for protecting me. Will he be a problem?”

Q nodded. “No summons, no weapons unless you are on guard duty. Hope you understand.”

Mathew sighed but nodded. “I suppose that makes sense. However, I can’t unsummon him. The wisps I can, however. What’s the rules for animal companions?” Mathew was going to lie and bend the rules for his safety. A red blur from above almost made him look in that direction, but didn’t. It was one summon he trusted to take a hint and stay out of sight.

He waved a hand and unsummoned his two wisps. Mathew’s guards had their weapons at their sides and would have to relinquish them upon entering the safe zone. Mathew made a note to keep his backup staff out and to turn it in. His Rod was safely inside his personal storage. He sent a silent thank you to The System for such an upgrade.

He wouldn’t mind losing the staff. He wouldn’t be able to summon it to his hand if it was too far away, so he didn’t bother marking it. Only his knives in combat would be worth doing so on.

Q nodded and started to walk. “Animal companions are fine, but we never had one this large or scary looking. For now I’m going to say keep him quiet. We will put him down if he causes problems. Tyrone might pick something else to do with him.

This was an expected and acceptable response. “That’s fine. Jeffrey can behave. Can’t you?” Mathew asked the wolf.

Jeffrey just started to wag his tail. Either because he agreed, or he had alternative ideas to ruin Mathew’s plan. “Fucker I trained you for the past two months. Least you can do is properly obey me. Don’t make me keep my promise to let you never be summoned. Better yet, I’ll eat an entire steak just to spite you.”

Q looked over at Mathew, “So, what’s your reason for diplomatic talks? Trade routes, information, allies?”

“Little of all three. I also have a friend who wants to remove the undead. His sister was turned into one of them. I assume plenty of others have had great loss from those things. What better way to start a good relationship than to help remove a common enemy?”

Q nodded solemnly. “Lot of people want to get rid of it. Tough as nuts to do so. Last group that went in with all Beginner ranks. Only a couple made it out. We all but gave up on getting rid of the Dungeon. Now we focus on just keeping our side of the city undead free.”

“What about the other zone?” Mathew asked curiously. “We plan to visit them as well. Any tips on talking to them?”

“Ha! Good luck. You a wizard. They don’t like your kind, most of them anyway. Their leader is weird, but he helps kill undead just as much as we do. We do some trade since our two stores have different gear. Ours is mostly magic focused. Small green skinned alien runs it. Theirs is more technological. Jimmie's gun here came from their shop. He came from their zone before Bob took over when it was still part of the Hearth Crystal and not a physical shop.”

Mathew looked at Jimmie. “Why did you leave?”

Jimmie paused to think for a moment, “Bob is a hardass. When a young girl could use magic that could instantly kill undead, he freaked out. After that he banned magic in his zone. We all thought she would be praised for the ability from her profession that specilized in killing undead. Bob said magic was magic and not allowed. He has the backing of most of the older people. A bunch of us left after that a month ago.”

Q turned to walk backwards so he could face Mathew. “Outside that, we keep to ourselves trying to live in this new hell. What about Blue Oaks?”

“We are stable. The military life helps keep things orderly. The shop isn’t too focused on any special thing. He dabbles in everything, more like a general goods store. His prices are up there though.”

Q let out a chuckle, “Ain’t that the truth. We get jack shit for Credits from the Undead. Just last week we had an Area Quest not long after that world one popped up. Wasn’t the first. Had us race against the other zone for rewards. We won it this time. There was a task to clear out the Dungeon, hence the group that didn’t succeed. We had the most kills, and still won.”

Mathew took everything in, piece by piece. “How often do the Area Quests pop up?”

“Every couple weeks. I expect another one in a couple days. Every time the rewards go up, but the message gets more pushy. Last time it practically demanded we cleared out the Dungeon.”

The other two nodded along agreeing.

The group rounded a corner and Mathew saw a set of cars that formed an improvised wall. Standing guard was ten people with a varying selection of weapons. The group was quickly waved through once they saw Q.

A shop was repurposed as a weapon storage area near the guarded area. Mathew’s guards gave up their weapons, but he knew at least two had a knife on them somewhere. Henderson wasn’t stupid and had this prepared plenty of time ahead for them to have some hidden weapons on their body.

Nobody was patted down or checked, which was a lack of security in Mathew’s eyes. If they wanted to control who had weapons, they would be a bit more thorough. Granted, he wouldn’t have thought of a magical personal storage space. Their bags were not checked either. From the outside they seemed normal sized. All the extra gear inside was safe and unseen. Another oversight.

Jeffrey was given several odd looks. Mathew assured them he was a normal animal companion with an upgrade, hence his size and color. Again, he was lying, but nobody could counter his claims. A few people tried to pet Jeffrey, and received growls once they got too close.

Q pointed out several areas as they walked toward the city hall. “That’s the medical ward. If you want to visit our shop we set it up down the street there, but you need permission to enter it plus a fee. If you decide to sleep tonight just find an empty place. Not many places are officially claimed yet.”

Mathew nodded, “And where can I talk to Tyrone?”

Q pointed toward city hall. “Big man lives in the big house. I’ll take you there, maybe I can butter him up for you. I wouldn’t mind trying to find some friends who attempted to make it to the base. Having a friendly open channel would make it easier for me.”

Mathew never considered using that as an angle. Everyone in the world was scattered when people woke up at their beds. Being able to find friends, family, or loved ones would be heavily valuable.

“I appreciate the help. Hopefully this will be a simple and easy talk.” Mathew said with a friendly smile.

“Eh, Tyrone isn’t too keen with certain people, if you catch my drift. But you seem like a good enough person.”

Mathew narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “Racist or just hate government people?”

“I wouldn’t say racist, but yea. Same with government people. You're not a cop are you?”

“Lawyer.”

“Oof, just as bad in his eyes. Don’t mention that if I was you.”

Mathew didn’t respond to that, already getting more useful info about Tyrone. Sounds like Tyrone had bad times with legal professionals. However, he wouldn’t tolerate bigotry, even if Tyrone joined them, Mathew would dethrone him quickly.

“What’s his opinion on The System?”

“He enjoys the new powers. He goes out and kills undead all the time. Almost Level 20, one of the highest in our zone. He and his friends run things. Mostly protection duty. Tyrone can summon a spear to his hand. He throws it and can summon it again. He mostly uses that spear to fight.”

Mathew was at first slightly worried he was a summoner, but it sounded more like a warrior type person. He can just return his throwing weapon to his hand at will. Being able to summon a weapon wouldn’t be exclusive to his class. Just like how [Mana Bolt] isn’t.

It also sounded like Tyrone should be there helping close the Dungoen, but was staying in his safe home with plenty of guards to protect him. “Weak.” Was the only thought Mathew had on that.