Our battle on the rooftop had started in a rather anticlimactic way, after preparing our defences, I had stood at the edge of the roof and started launching hailstones at the undead shambling around down in the streets. I even managed to get one Shattered with a nicely placed Icicle, putting just a little extra oomph into a hailstone and sharpening it with Ice Magic, so that it had the strength to rip off the Shattered’s arm, leaving a gaping hole in its torso.

That opening salvo was enough to draw the attention of everything moving down there, both Shattered and Undead alike. It was interesting to watch, the Shattered let out keening cries that seemed to carry on forever but the Undead didn’t appear to communicate at all. They simply turned, the movement carrying on in an almost ripple-like wave, and started towards the building. Their movement wasn’t smooth, agile or anything the like, but from above, I got the impression that they were like waves on the shore. One would break, two would break but ultimately, the waves would wash over the shore. Unless the tide ended and the flow ebbed off. But as long as the tide was coming, the shore was destined to lose. Inevitable, that was the best word to describe their advance.

But what advantage they had in strength, resilience and mindless courage, they lacked in agility, dexterity and intelligence. A few tried to climb the side of the building, but none of the Undead managed to get higher than the first floor before falling back down, landing on their brethren and causing them to collapse in graceless heaps. A few times, I took that as an invitation to lob a specially prepared Icicle at such a heap, the projectile spearing through multiple bodies before coming to a halt. Those shots managed to cause quite a bit of damage and havoc, as the undead weren’t smart enough to remove the Icicle one by one, they more or less tore each other apart to get rid of the restraint. It was in those moments, that I wished I had learned the Rune for Shatter already, as causing my Icicles to burst apart in a rain of deadly, razor-sharp fragments would make my attacks even better. Or if I somehow managed to get those coveted fireballs, I could easily see those zombies turn into wonderful human torches, their clothes and hair were covered in a mix of oily grease and dried blood.

But that idea, the idea of using massive area attacks against them, gave me a different way to approach things. Moving over to the stairwell, where Lia and Silva had taken position to prevent the undead from reaching the roof, I started to set my idea into motion.

Sadly, that meant I got up close and personal with my first undead. It turned out to be an even greater challenge than I had expected, though maybe I should have. The problem wasn’t their prowess in physical combat, of which they had little, but their powerful innate olfactory defence. If the smell around town had been bad, getting close enough to them to strike took that up to eleven, with the potential to reach a fifteen if the undead was struck the wrong way.

Alas, if I wanted to do more than decimate them, if I wanted to annihilate them, I had to get close. Though, when I Observe’d the first of the undead I came across, learning that it was only level eight, I began to reconsider. Did I really want to kill them all, or would it be better to kill a few of them, try to go for the Shattered mixed into their number, before retreating?

Something to consider for later, for now, killing those that attacked us would give us the best and most comfortable way off the roof and it would give us a good idea how much EXP killing a horde would give us.

“Push them back,” I ordered Lia and Sivla, pausing when I realised that Silva was barely effective against them. She just wasn’t willing to bite into the rotting bodies, and even Lia had taken up the cleaver from the Dark Slaughterhouse, preferring to hack into the bodies and kick them back, instead of tearing into them with her claws. Given the state of decay these bodies were in, I couldn’t really fault them, especially when the gunk started to splatter.

Staying close behind my two companions, I started to draw runes into the air, nothing really special, simply my usual mist, only that instead of confusion, I added a cold rune. I didn’t want the undead confused so that they might wander off, I wanted them to be completely and utterly focused on us so that they would take the direct path up the stairs and into our waiting attacks.

Dense, freezing cold, mist started to pour out of the runic formation and I had another interesting idea. I had never really tried to increase the distance between a runic formation that I poured power into and myself, to move away from the spot I had cast it from. So, in the spirit of experiment and finding out something new, I slowly and carefully started to move back, keeping a close watch on the stream of power between myself and the rune. I wanted to keep it going, I wanted to keep track of the efficiency so that I wasn’t just pouring power into the air between myself and the rune, and I wanted to give Lia and Silva some space, so that they could remain behind the rune, forcing the Undead to wander a little further within the freezing mist.

Curiously, I could faintly see the connection between myself and the rune as a stream of silvery power, intermixed with streaks of red and black, likely for the Devour and Blood Runes within the formation. The efficiency went down a little as I increased the distance but for now, that didn’t mean much thanks to my Titanic Ambition. By experimenting, even in the middle of battle, I triggered the trait, doubling my attributes and giving me a whole lot more power to work with.

“You can step back, behind the runes,” I told the others, my voice tight as I tried to split my focus three ways. I wasn’t quite there yet, but I soon would be. For now, I could channel power into the rune while also keep watch around the roof.

“Silva, you can help make sure nothing comes up here. If anything manages to climb, push them off,” Lia told our canine companion when she realised that the Undead were greatly affected by the freezing cold, making them even slower than normal, to the point that a casual swing with the cleaver finished them off with ease. Some of the Undead likely never made it up the stairs in the first place, the cold, vitality-draining, mist too much for them to bear.

However, where the Undead were complete and utter trash, harmless if not for their noxious smell, the Shattered had become a lot more dangerous. Even with the barrier of Ice I had set up around the roof, the first of them managed to climb up a few minutes after I filled the building below with freezing mist. Silva was already on the job, while I launched my Frozen Shuttle to distract and injure the Shattered, likely a necessity given that Silva was somewhat hampered in her usual tactics.

Normally, she would run into the Shattered, using momentum to bowl it over before using her jaw to tear off an arm, or the head if possible. On the roof, trying to bowl an enemy over could easily lead to her going off the edge of the roof, so she had to carefully control her momentum, as much as she might want to try push our enemies off the roof.

Still, even with controlled momentum, she managed to push the second Shattered off the roof, after the first one fell to our combined assault. She simply dodged the first attack of her opponent, before jumping up on her hindlegs, looking very much like a dog that just wanted to play, only that instead of wagging her tail or trying to lick her target’s face, she pushed off with her front legs, almost moving into a backflip, while the Shattered took three steps back from the push. Only, the roof ended about one and a half steps behind the Shattered, causing it to go careening off the edge, arms windmilling in a rather hilarious fashion. In that brief moment, the creature looked almost human, making me wonder just how much of the person the body used to be was still in there.

Given Lia’s existence, it wasn’t a question I was willing to dwell on, I had a feeling going that way would lead many people into a place of self-destructive madness. So, better not dwell on it, better not think about it and, most certainly, never talk about the possibility. Leave Shattered as monsters in the night, and try to keep as many people alive as possible.