Unconquered Tower

THIRTY-FIVE

The zombie staggered forward, lifting an arm that had more of the rotten roots winding around its arms. Roan could see how they dug and traveled through the preserved skin until it reached the wrist before emerging out in a wave of tiny tendrils that sprouted out like lace cuffs.

“Leave this place. That is all that is needed. I can do the rest.” It rasped out as it staggered closer. Roan felt cold sweat thread down his back as he looked over the place. His mind stirred as he tried to piece everything together.

“They’re called anomalies. It's the corruption of a lifeforce. I’m certain that the reanimation was supposed to happen, but this sickness thing doesn’t look right. They wanted the cleansing amulets which are stuffed full of cleansed life energy. When she ate it she seemed to wake up and grow more alert. Now she seems more puppet-like. So what’s not part of the encounter?” Roan stepped back a bit, giving himself more space as he looked over the lines of corrupted anomalies.

“No, the corruption is part of the storyline, or the interaction or whatever this is supposed to be. But, is this thing part of it? Taking over them? That doesn’t seem right. Then is this something else, not the corruption?”

“I don’t think we can clear this level without doing this,” Darren said, sounding suspicious. Roan nodded in approval, it was much better to be suspicious than not to be.

“I will open the doors. You will walk free. All will walk free.” The thing staggered even closer, but Roan looked beyond it. That patch of blackness was growing across the stalk, widening with every moment. Roan slowly started edging toward that block of darkness.

HIDDEN QUEST GENERATED

STOP THE ESCAPE ATTEMPT

REWARD: 2,500 CREDITS

Everyone stopped what they were doing as the quest generated for everyone at the same time. Roan burst into motion, not hesitating as he shot toward the mushroom. He reared back the hammer so that the spike would lead as he aimed at the spreading tide of darkness in the glowing mushroom.

Undead jerked to life, their waving hands grasping for him as Roan was forced to a halt. He swung not for the stalk, but for the closest of the grasping zombies. Its head exploded in a wave of black gore as it staggered to the side. Fetid air rushed over him, the smell of rot and disease, instantly turning his stomach.

Roan gagged, heaved twice as he backed up. His eyes stayed locked on the undead as its legs folded and it slumped to the ground. Root tendrils speared out of its ruined skull, weaving together fragmented pieces of bone and gathering slimy matter together.

“Noooo!” the voice howled as the rest of the party launched forward by greed. Blades sliced apart necrotic flesh and tossed aside the shambling undead with ease. None of them stayed down though. Roan could see where this was heading as the undead were slowly encircling them as the small group charged inward.

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

“Taoya! We’re being encircled!" Roan warned as he smashed the same undead again. More bone and gore showered him, but the undead didn’t die.

“It’s always the brain. Where else would it be weak?” Roan kicked himself as he looked down to the creature’s chest. If it wasn’t the brain, then the heart was the next most valuable organ.

He spun the hammer in his hand so the wicked spike was facing forward again and swung. It punched through the creature’s sternum like it was made of cottage cheese. Chunks of…something, came pouring around the hammer, increasing in flow as Roan yanked the weapon free.

POOR REANIMATED CORPSE (CORRUPTED)

300 CREDITS

ANOMALIES DESTROYED: 4248/4347:

“THE HEART!” Roan shouted as over a dozen sets of eyes turned to him. The closest of the undead’s mouth opened and the wiggling roots speared out to waggle in the air.

“Climber. Cease you interference. You only prolong the inevitable. I shall be free.” Its voice was clearer this time, not the long rasp of earlier as it tried to speak through destroyed tissue.

“No way in hell am I letting your creepy ass out.” Roan’s master had beat into him the habit of not letting himself get caught into a conversation. It was best to strike and strike hard enough so one didn’t have to strike a second time.

The spike drove through the speaker’s chest with ease and it collapsed, but over a dozen now pressed toward him. A third began to speak, but Roan caved in that one’s chest with just as much ease. The rest of the group were working together in their fight to reach the stalk. Taoya was a machine, each punch pulverizing the torso of one of the undead and throwing it across the room. He must have already killed a dozen of them with ease.

Another of their number was not so lucky. He was slow in avoiding the grasping hands and once those undead fingers latched onto his arm, the sect member struggled to get free. Roan couldn’t watch long as the man’s panicked yelling transitioned to screams followed by wet tearing sounds. Taoya and Darren were there a minute later but it was too late.

“Retreat.” The voice whispered from the mouth of the zombies. All of them at once, they chanted the word as they tightened their circle around the strike team. Again and again they chanted the word as they slowly shuffled forward, their outstretched hands searching for anyone to slow to escape their grasp.

“T! Break through toward the mushroom!” Darren yelled, the faintest hint of panic in his voice. Blue light blasted upward and filled the cavern like a lighting strike. Roan ducked and rolled between a pair of the undead, breaking free of the smaller group who were trying to get to him. Fingers brushed against his back but he lunged forward and away before they could dig in.

Chaos ruled all around him as Roan looked about for a route to get to the mushroom. It looked like Taoya had blown apart a hole in their formation but there were a few stragglers who were slowing them down. All of them were looking toward the knot of fighters and not Roan. Only the small delegation were trying to stop him and he’d just split their encirclement with Taoya’s distraction.

There was not a single zombie facing him as he sprinted toward the mushroom. It was less than a hundred yards and Roan ran the fastest he’d ever ran, legs pumping as he carried his hammer like a rifle. The creatures were turning, spinning around as they tried to grab him, but they were discordant, jerky, too slow.

Eighty yards. Sixty yards. A zombie spun suddenly, twice as fast as the others as the roots in its body suddenly burst free of the skin. Roan ducked and slammed the flat of the hammer into its gut and tossed it backward without missing a step.

Forty yards away. A trio of zombies started toward the giant mushroom, but they wouldn’t be there in time. Twenty yards. Ten. Five. Roan reared back his hammer as he got closer.

Two yards. He jumped, swinging with all his strength. The amulet was fire burning through his clothes and boiling his skin. Silver flashed as the hammer whipped around and the world grew slow as Roan watched the bloody spike enter the inky heart of corruption.