The madness of the melee down below was nearly overwhelming to the senses. The screams of the dying, dead, and undead whom did not know they were currently in the throes of dying once more, flowed together like a hellish symphony of screeches and bitter cries of agony.

"Well, whatever they are, those things are giving us a chance to make a break for it," said Scott. He quickly worked with the others to determine an evacuation route through the mass of murderous monsters below. As usual in this world, the team chose the high road.

Scott and the crew opted to hop from roof to roof while circling the street below. Unfortunately, they could not escape the melee entirely as a sizeable number of zombies were in the path to the bridge that they needed to cross. While they could have tried to swim across, it was a somewhat lengthy distance and there was no way to truly no what horrors lurked beneath the surface. Even Chaine's handy little device did not perform well when searching for beasts hidden beneath the ground or underwater.

The buildings became smaller as they moved closer to their destination. Soon, they were forced to fight once more. The blood ghouls were largely wiped out by this point, but there were still several berserkers and even the occasional big boy in the crowd.

Samantha and Scott laid down cover fire while the others kept moving. The rest of the team would clear out the bridge area while the ranged fighters dealt with the horde.

Fiery explosions and plasma shots took their toll on the masses, but their sheer numbers were problematic. There were only so many of them that could be set on fire or shot at any one time.

"Dammit!" snapped Scott. Between this point and the bridge there were only smaller buildings that reached three floors at most. Even if they made it to their next destination, the horde would follow. Most of the blood ghouls were dead, but there were obviously enough of them left to make even the normal zombies capable of performing a light jog.

Ruined corpses were piled high in the streets, but Scott and Samantha were forced to continually give ground as the tidal swell of the undead continued pressing forward. At moments like this, even nigh-unlimited ammunition was not enough. They would need an entire army to fight back this wave of desperate undead hunger!

As fate would have it, Scott's thoughts on the need for an army were not idle speculation. The tidal surge of zombies soon grew into a monumental tidal wave of undeath as more of the walking dead throughout the city joined the battle. In a city of over twenty-thousand zombies collected into one location, two people were simply not enough. Even carpet bombing the place might not be enough.

However, as they were soon to recall, the team no longer fought alone. Scott snapped his head to the right when he heard someone shouting nearby. For a brief moment, he'd thought that he'd been hearing things.

"Yeah! There he is!" called the voice again.

"Who's that?" asked Samantha without turning her head. She continued to fire at the horde while slowly backing away.

Scott fired off several more fireballs before he called back, "No idea. If they're survivors I'd love to help, but we can't even help ourselves at the moment."

Just then a sleek white figure appeared on a nearby roof top. Naked as the day he was born, a man had appeared.

"Who...?" asked Scott just before the man leapt down upon a trotting zombie and kicked it in the head with enough force to cause the skull to explode into meaty little chunks.

However, the zombies did not attack the new arrival at first. The killer among their ranks went largely unnoticed, and by the time they started to pay attention, several more of them had been destroyed.

"We're here to help bro!" called another naked figure from the same roof top. Soon another, and then another joined.

"It's those white people..." said Samantha, surprised.

"No one hurts our bro!" called a busty female newcomer before she leapt down atop a big boy and started wrestling with him. It was not long before she found a decent grip and snapped her body backwards in a textbook perfect suplex that cleared the area of zombies by smashing their big brother down atop a few of them.

More of the strange white people appeared. Soon, a small army of them were fighting viciously with the zombies. Each one of them easily held a dozen or more at bay during any given moment, and they all steadily whittled down the zombie ranks.

"Uh, thanks!" called Scott to one of the newcomers.

"No problem, brother!" called the oversized pro-wrestler looking newcomer. He held an appearance strangely similar to an albino Hulk Hogan.

"Yeah... Say, we need to keep moving. Got a friend to save..." said Scott while hurling a fire ball at a few more zombies.

"We've got your back. Any friend of yours is a friend of ours, brother!" called out Zombie Hogan before he ran forward and took two zombies out with a double clothesline.

The newly arrived albino resistance proved remarkably effective at keeping the zombies busy. Some tried to follow Scott and Samantha, but the majority of the horde was now solely focused on the killers in their midst.

Several minutes passed as they made their way to the bridge, but thankfully their strange new allies were able to elude the primary force of the undead in their trip. They joined up with Chaine and the others, who'd just finished a small battle with a few dozen zombies.

"Did you kill them all, or something?" asked Kitty.

"No, those albino people came along and decided to hold the line for us," said Scott. He looked over at Saelil. "Don't you think it's time that you told us what they are?"

The dark elf smiled prettily and started to say something, but Scott interrupted at the last second. "Don't tell us about them being proof of our love, either."

Saelil offered him an adorable pout but then sighed and said, "As you say, beloved..."

She took a deep breath then said, "They are revenants, awakened ghouls. They have the mental faculties of the original creature that they were based on, humans in this instance, but their physical prowess and damage resistance is extraordinary. They are a bit above something like a blood ghoul."

"So, my friendship bomb somehow purified them before they hatched and now they're super zombies?" asked Scott.

"Not zombies, ghouls. They're an entirely different order of undead being," said Saelil. "Ghouls can heal from damage by eating, and even the weakest of their unawakened kind will have at least some intelligence. They can also learn magic, and build societies."

She put her finger to her chin, "Though, the weakest among them are really only slightly better than a zombie mentally. They make up for it by having fangs, claws, and sharp senses like a predatory animal."

"Wonder how long they'll stay friendly," said Scott.

"Who knows, but they have the same level of reasoning that a human does. I'd guess that as long as you do not do something to aggravate or insult them, you should be able to remain on good terms."

The truth was that they would probably never see those ghouls again, but Scott liked the idea that there were undead in the world who could be seen as actually friendly. Mystery of the albino ghouls solved, they moved as a team and reached the last overpass before the bridge.

"Ready?" asked Scott. Everyone looked to each other and then back to Scott. Almost in unison they nodded. It was time to end this mission. They leapt down onto the asphalt road below and made a mad dash for the bridge.

However, moments before they reached their destination Scott called out for them to stop. All eyes were soon on him as they awaited an answer.

He pointed to the area just ahead, a location completely devoid of visible enemies. In fact, the place was strangely clean in general. "There's something waiting up ahead."

"What do you mean? I don't see anything..." said Kitty.

"No, there's definitely about to be a major fight. Make sure we're ready. If we're lucky we can just keep running through it," he replied.

"How do you kno—" began Kitty, but Chaine cut her off. His eyes narrowed and his posture turning aggressive, he said, "No, I think I see what he means."

Samantha hissed out a soft breath in her mechanically monotone sounding manner. "Yeah, now that you mention it this place does give off that sort of feeling. The bridge up ahead does, too."

Scott peered at the dark bridge up ahead then frowned. It too seemed strangely clean, and even more disquieting it was completely clear of zombies for as far as his eyes could see. The sky overhead was quite overcast at this point, and it was difficult to see without light.

His inhuman eyes were not quite the equivalent of a supernatural cat girl, an elf, an elf by a different name, or high-technology but he could still see fairly well in the dark. A normal human would be stumbling around almost blind in this mess.

"Do we go around?" asked Saelil.

"No, it'd take far too long and the only other bridge in the area might be set up like this, too," said Scott. He looked to each of his companions then continued, "We keep going. Time is almost up."

"Right," said Chaine before adjusting his shield and hefting his sword.

Scott turned to Saelil. "Can you fly up and see if you spot anything?"

"Of course, beloved," said Saelil with a beautiful smile. The overly cheerful elf girl flew into the air and began to survey the area.

Not long after she flew up, she came back down again to give her report. "I didn't see anything worth mentioning."

"Thanks. That just means that the threat is hidden... Alright, be careful everyone," said Scott. He'd played far too many survival horror games not to recognize what this place probably was in relation to the mission.

Mentally prepared for the inevitable, the team rushed forward. They kept their eyes peeled, but saw nothing.

"There we go! Almost there!" called out Kitty.

Scott did not trust it for a moment. His head snapped from side-to-side while surveying the area mid-dash. It was coming. Something was coming!

Surprisingly, they made it to the big bridge that connected one side of town to the other. Kitty eyed Scott with amusement as they continued across.

Despite the seeming tranquility of the area, Scott could not let it go. With each passing moment his sense of dread built ever higher. Whatever it was, it was coming.

Not long after they began to run across the bridge, the melee battle from before began to crest and surge in their direction. Battling beasts tore into each other as the fight began to make its way toward the parking area that set off Scott's bullshit detector.

Roughly a quarter of the way across the bridge, the water nearby began to slosh and churn on both sides of the bridge in the distance up ahead. Scott shouted, "Dammit, it's happening! Run!"

A loud warning buzz erupted from Chaine's Lorekeeper. "Something big is on the way!" he called out without bothering to look at his device. That warning alarm needed no explanation for him.

Scott knew that they were in serious trouble the moment music began to play in the background. The sounds of this world were mostly atmospheric and dark. When the sounds of beating drums began to echo through the air he knew that things were going from bad to worse. Slow and ominous at first, the drums picked up speed as they ran further along the bridge.

Suddenly, maniacal laughter split the air just before lightning flashed down from the sky and struck the water below. In that moment, the drums were silenced by the deafening sound of thunder. However, they return a split-second later when two massive lumps of flesh were spat up into the air by the dark waters.

Those lumps of flesh slammed down onto the bridge with enough force to make it trembled upon impact. In that moment they were revealed to be an extraordinarily massive zombie and an egg-shaped sack with a metal pole sticking out of it!

Too fast to dodge or even comprehend, a wave of power washed over the group. They found themselves frozen in their tracks both unable to move and unable to speak.

A hideous booming laugh erupted from the zombie as he rose to his full height, easily fourteen feet tall. A body of impossible large and bulky muscles gave off the impression of a zombified incredible hulk.

"Careful beloved! That's a giant ghoul! He'll be stronger than any of the ones we've fought to date" called out Saelil.

"That fool summoned me and made me wait at the bottom of a river just to deal with these weaklings?" asked the giant, before grabbing the thick metal pole.

"Whatever! More meat and souls!" roared the massive beast before snatching the hidden object from the sack of flesh. It was a massive sledge hammer made of solid metal from shaft to head.

A riotous and rollicking power metal background sound track was now in full-effect. The strange paralysis that overtook the group disappeared in that instant, and they were once again able to move.

The big boy on steroids leapt toward the group fiercely, battle hammer raised high overhead. Samantha immediately fired on the threat, but to everyone's horror the plasma shots dissipated against his chiseled undead pectorals.

"That tickles!" roared the ghoul as he brought his hammer down. The group did its best to scatter, but the speed and ferocity of the beast was so obscenely high that the moment the hammer struck the bridge a wave of force flew out that sent everyone flying.

"Shit!" snarled Scott was he was flung back against the rail of the bridge. He could feel the power of the blow in agonizing detail, a sign that even the recovered hit points from the previous battle were already giving out.

"Puny turds! All of you!" snarled the beast before leaping forward again to try and stomp on someone. Kitty rolled away quickly, narrowly managing to avoid being crushed underfoot as the beast's booted heel slammed down with enough force to crack the surface of the bridge and send chunks of asphalt flying.

Chaine rolled to his feet then rushed in, sword in hand. He slashed at the beast's side only to produce a visible spark when his blade met the beast's flesh. His eyes narrowed slightly, but he was not able to strike again. Instead, he was forced to throw up his shield to black a whipping back fist from the monstrosity.

The beast's fist slammed into Chaine's shield with the force of canon strike a wall, but it was now the giant's turn to be surprised. Chaine was merely pushed back half a step. "Please, I've known pig faced sorcerers who punch harder than that."

"Meat!" snarled the beast hatefully before whipping his hammer around to confront the slender creature who dared speak ill of his strength.

Chaine dodged the hammer swing and then blocked the return swing that came in from overhead. A thunderous clang rang out as the hammer head slammed down into the invulnerable shield.

The monstrosity snarled at him but snuck a glance at his hammer and then back down at the insect that dared to defy it. The confusion in his eyes made his thoughts quite apparent.

The hero of Ha'Ruul pushed back and laughed snarkily, "Hey, big guy!"

The giant snarled at Chaine, but before he could say anything or attack again, the swordsman called out, "Can you tell the bridge boss that he should pay more attention to his little sister?"

"What?" asked the ghoul, even more confused than before.

"Yeah, she keeps hitting on me!" snarked Chaine.

"You're fucking dead!" roared the beast. He launched into a series of rapid hammer strikes that came at Chaine from all sides. Despite his massive bulk, the creature was impossibly swift with his attacks. It was all that Chaine could do to keep up with him. Even a single blow from that hammer could spell his doom.

As thunder rattled and clanged through the air with each hammer strike, Scott and the others regrouped and quickly hashed out a plan. Chaine was obviously keeping the big guy focused on him, so that they could do something about the creature.

Samantha charged up for an overload ice beam shot, while Scott and Kitty prepared to rush forward. Saelil went up to the top of a nearby support structure and began to perform a ritual. Her prepared spells were mostly spent, but with time and the right reagents she could still prepare new ones. She knew the perfect spell to use on a beast such as this one.

Scott and Kitty nodded to each other then moved in to help Chaine. The cat woman rolled into the battle and gripped the big beast's ankles. Using her brute strength, she forced his legs together and got to work.

Caught in her claws, the giant stopped swinging his hammer in shock, but his surprise grew as the deranged cat girl suddenly started to rotate around his at great speed like he was the world's bulkiest stripper pole.

"Wheee!" shouted Kitty as she looped round and round his body in fair imitation of the Hell Cat move that her fictional counterpart, Felicia, used in the Dark Stalkers franchise. Despite the massive ghoul's best efforts he found it impossible to dislodge her from his body for a brief moment. During that time sparks flew heavily as her claws delivered innate holy damage and tore away at his hit points.

"You're dead Bi—" cried the beast, the moment she hopped away, only to receive a hard stab in the gut that interrupted his train of thought.

Chaine's attack still did no serious damage, but the spark was larger than before and it got the monster's attention. "Hey!" snapped the beast.

"Hi!" called out Scott cheerfully just before he slammed down atop the ghoul's head with a hard gravity assisted stomp. The beast was driven down to one knee from the force of the blow.

Samantha took advantage of the moment and fired off her overcharged ice beam shot. A large ball of shimmering blue energy flew out of her arm canon and streaked out toward its target.

The beast cried out in surprise when he found himself unable to stand. The ice beam did not do much damage to the beast, but his legs were now frozen over and he was pinned to the bridge. It was obvious that the last of his hit points must be failing at around that moment.

"You think this is going to stop me?" asked the giant with a sneer. He started to punch at his frozen leg in order to break the ice.

"Yes," said Samantha candidly.

"Brace yourselves for power!" cried Saelil from high above. Her ritual finished, it was time to end this battle.

"Oh shit!" cried Scott before he and the others ran off. Chaine noted Scott grabbing onto the rail and clutching it tight, so he did the same. The others followed suit, and managed to get situated just before Saelil thrust her staff forward and lifted one hand up in the air imperiously.

The bridge boss struggled to break free of the icing effect and managed to crack himself loose just enough that he came free of the bridge. His thigh was still frozen to his calf, wrapped in ice, however.

Her face became flush and she moaned loudly as a ball of bright hot flame appeared above her hand. The monster looked up as he noticed the world brightening significantly. His eyes widened then redoubled his efforts to break free; he even began to crawl forward while doing his best to break free.

Supernatural undead best that he was, there were still rules governing certain aspects of his reality. Fire, ice, and lightning were things that were known to cause problems for the undead. It was common knowledge that zombies froze in the winter, or could be slain by fire and high voltage electricity.

His muscles in the afflicted leg did not respond, the freezing effect was more than skin deep. His hit points were vast, but the opponents that he faced were far stronger than he'd realized. If his hit points were an engine, he'd already be running on fumes.

A moment later he was up on one foot. Desperately, he tried to hop away on one leg while using his hammer as a helpmate. His goal became obvious as he headed straight for the closest bridge railing.

Saelil cried out in a strangely lustful manner and the sphere of burning energy expanded mightily, "This is how hotly I burn for you, beloved!" She practically squealed the last word in her excitement, but the effect was electrifying nonetheless.

Saelil hurled the ball of energy down atop the furiously hopping beast. Half way to the target, lightning erupted outward from the ball and shot down in several arcs of energy that formed into a cage of force. The powerful beast slammed into a crackling wall of energy and fell backward just in time to look up and see the remainder of the fireball race down into the electric prison.

A loud explosion rocked the bridge. Fire whirled upward like a tornado. The sound of thunder and roaring wind nearly drowned out the agonized screams of the bridge boss as he was subjected to the unholy inferno.

Scott watched the burning monstrosity intensely, and just as the spell began to wear off a bright green number floated up from the creature's charred remains. "One hundred twenty EXP? Not bad, I suppose..."

The extreme metal music petered out quickly, almost as though the invisible band was disappointed in the outcome. What a pathetic way for such a monster to end.

The non-existent band wasn't the only one who'd expected more. Though, the giant ghoul wasn't much of a boss his overall power and ability were far higher than even the blood ghouls. He was simply outnumbered, and facing a team that held many advantages against his kind. Scott thought that he would be worth considerably more in the way of experience points.

He let go of the railing and stretched a little. The battle could have gone much worse, but somehow everyone worked together and made it much simpler. Compared to having to deal with the rooftop apocalypse, this battle was surprisingly easy.

Saelil floated down to where Scott now stood. Panting softly, she looked deeply into his eyes. "Beloved..." she whispered.

Scott began to say something, but to his surprise Saelil fell sideways a little and clutched at the rail. "Saelil, what's wrong!" he cried out while rushing forward.

She smiled at him then shook her head. "Preparing spells is draining and can injure the body. I need to take a restorative," she said.

Scott pulled out one of his restorative drinks and offer it to her. She took it gladly then smiled gently at him. "Most people in my trade try to only prepare spells near an obelisk for this sort of reason."

"You hurt yourself for us, huh?" he asked her. The others gathered round while they spoke. The immediate threat passed, it was time to move on.

"I will be fine, I merely need to regain my strength," she said.

"Can you walk?" asked Scott.

"No?" she asked breathlessly before closing her eyes and falling into his arms like a shocked movie heroine from yesteryear.

"You're actually fine, aren't you?" asked Kitty with a dangerous growl.

Saelil cracked open one eye and peered at Kitty, "Don't ruin this for me..." she muttered.

Scott groaned. There was no time for this! He gently shoved Saelil away, and started forward again. At least, he considered it a gentle shove.

She reacted like he'd beaten her severely. "Such violence!"

He ignored her and picked up speed. There was something that he wanted to check, before they moved on.

"Beloved!" she wailed, but a split-second later she laughed sweetly and trotted after him. "Don't leave me behind, now!"

Scott found the hammer that the beast had been wielding. It was a massive item indeed. "Feels a little light to me..."

Whether it was true or not was impossible to tell at the moment, but he held a sneaking suspicion that it would prove to be a treasure item. They were overpowered compared to this mini-boss, but if he truly was a boss then shouldn't his weapon count as proper loot? It was worth a try. Besides, if it turned out to suck as a treasure item, he could just give it as a gift to one of his allies at his hub town at some point. Even a low-end garbage treasure item would be a major boost for normal people.

"What now?" asked Samantha.

Scott looked to her then grinned. "It's time to bring the hammer down, and end this."

Everyone groaned loudly at the man and his terrible one-liner. Though, ending the mission did sound wonderful. Nothing separated them from their goal now, but the rest of the bridge and short hike.