Chapter 38.3: Sweet Dreams

Time had passed and the dark hour had come when all good little dragons were tucked safely into their beds. Dragons of a darker, emotionally conflicted, nature were busy instead. Up on a roof top, the Archer's store, a Mahorela Abaivonin utilized his magical lore.

A wave of nausea and exhaustion passed through Scott as he looked down at the milling mass of zombies before him. They were tightly packed now, like a great sea of festering sausage that had learned to move on its own. The mass of monstrous supposedly former humanity writhed and seethed. It was a sight so disgusting in nature that the dragon atop the roof could do nothing but smile joyfully. "Man, I love a target rich environment."

Over the radio next to him a voice called out, it was Ashton. "Golden Fox to Dark Dragon, over."

"Dark Dragon, go ahead Golden Fox. Over." said Scott after pressing the button on the mobile device.

"Dark Dragon, emergency elimination squad one is in position. Over."

"Understood, Golden Fox. Out" said Scott. He had seen a lot of war movies in his day, and played more than a few army commando style games. He was uncertain that the method they used was the way the military would do it, but it worked well enough.

"Iron Maiden, this is Dark Dragon. Report. Over." said Scott.

"Dark Dragon..." said Sonja, a slight hesitance in her voice as she used the radio for the first time outside of their brief practice session earlier. "Iron Maiden, here. Emergency elimination squad two is in position."

After a brief pause her voice returned. "Over..."

Scott could not help but smile at her antics. Technology was new and exciting to her, but it was also strange. "Understood, Iron Maiden. Out."

"Ok." said Sonja. A brief pause later she said, "Over."

He laughed a little then rolled his eyes. She would get it soon enough. "Crimson Sharde, this is Dark Dragon. Report. Over."

"Crimson Sharde to Dark Dragon, emergency elimination squad three is here for the party. Over."

Scott chuckled. "Understood, Crimson Sharde. It's party time. Out."

"Excellent. Over." came Shara's voice over the radio.

He put down the radio then snorted. "A Wayne's World reference. Nice."

Those girls had a strangely calming effect on him. He had to admit it. Life had been one happy little roller coaster of crap for him since his father had died. For the longest time he had spent his days lost in a sea of depression and bitterness. He had only laughed or smiled to show the world a face that it could accept. In recent days, though, he had begun to be a strange sort of warmth inside. Whenever he thought of them, he felt light. It was like he had once been empty inside, but now he was full of something, and not the something his cynical mind would have claimed earlier in life.

Scott looked down at the zombies milling about in the parking lot. It was still a few minutes until the party started. He took the time to reflect, to think about what had happened of late. Since the death of his father and sister, and his subsequent imprisonment, he had not had a single person in his life who seemed to give a damn about him. Even the sheriff, his father's oldest friend, had stopped trying to reach out to him. Yet, now he had three women in his life who all cared for him legitimately.

"This feeling..." said Scott, as he considered the strange warmth inside. It was like a tangible representation of his returning sense of hope, at least that was what he had decided. Before the girls came into his life, he had occasionally contemplated the best way to end it all. Nowadays, he had begun to actually look forward to the future.

The little dragon smiled as only a dragon could smile then closed his eyes for a moment. He reveled in the strange sensation of warmth, of joy and growing hope inside. He had been a boat adrift in a vile sea of pain and misery. He had been foundering, taking on water. Now it was like the girls had filled the hole inside of him that allowed that miserable water inside. Without them, he suspected that he would have sank to the bottom long ago.

As he waited for the moment that the battle would begin, Scott could not help but think of the one missing component to his zombie hunting endeavor. He had not been able to summon his wisp in a little over a week. Since the night in the forgotten woodland graveyard, she would not return. He had tried the summoning frequently at first. It almost seemed like she did not want to speak to him, or perhaps could not.

"I'll just have to try again, soon." he said before rising up to his full majestic house cat sized height. "Right now, there's things to do."

It was time. Scott called out over the radio quietly and everyone signaled that they were ready. He would try to kill all of the zombies personally, but if they broke out of the parking lot, the three emergency squads would go into action. He had brought thirty people who seemed capable, alongside the girls who acted as squad leaders. He picked a target, a fat and disturbing zombie close to him and near the center.

~ Death’s Embrace need not falter. Abominations of the wasteland return to thy eternal reward. ~

“Dark Judgment!” cried Scott. Beneath the surprised zombie roaring flames arose. Those flames spread out and engulfed over twenty of the surrounding zombies then whirled around and formed into a massive burning circle. Barbed chains made of shadow and pain ripped upward from the portal to the abyss and tore into the rotting flesh of the wicked dead. Diseased souls were torn from rotting bodies and dragged down into the hellish torment below.

The circle collapsed in upon itself then immediately erupted outward in a wave of force that caused the zombies to feel fear for the first time in their undead lives. A cacophony of terrible cries and screeches rose up as the dead tore each other apart in their desperate bid to escape their fate. It would all be for naughty. Dragon Scott called forth his power to judge the darkness in the heart of the wicked, twice more. Each time he did so, it was aimed at the thickest concentration of zombies on either side of the building. This forced them back toward the center.

It was then that he began to focus on the dark fire that burned within. He drew in mana from the surrounding area and concentrated it for an attack. A roaring ball of black flame and dark lightning erupted from his mouth and shot out toward the writhing mass of terrified monsters at the center of the parking lot.

The attack erupted like a hand grenade and sent burning zombies flying in all directions. The center fell apart and the zombies began to flee in various directions once more. Those that were too far away from the front of the store had not been infected with the terror of his power. They hindered the terrible flight of their unholy brethren.

Utilizing magic of the level that he had been doing was stressful. He used mana drawn from the world instead of his personal vital essence for the most part, but the stress still built up on his body and mind. Still, things were going well.

Scott picked up the radio and communicated his movement to his team. "I'm going in for round one. Watch for escapees."

The girls sent back their acceptance of his message and offered words of encouragement. It was not the safest method of cleaning the area, but that was not the point. It was about empowering Scott and helping him to reach the minimum stats necessary to grow to his next stage. The soul energy acquired would help greatly as well.

The dragon set the radio aside and then shifted into human form. The black armored dark knight reached for the radio and shoved it into a bag at his side then pulled out one of his swords. He had prepared many pre-enchanted blades for the coming battle. He did have one permanently enchanted sword that had the shadow flare enchantment upon it, but he did not want to risk its durability early on in what promised to be a battle that lasted for a large portion of the night.

He would work through his disposable weapons first, delivering a stronger attack with the shorter lived enchantments. Scott would only switch to his weaker but permanently enchanted weapon if he had exhausted all other avenues.

Scott leapt down from atop the building and landed with a heavy grunt. It was a thirty-foot drop straight down, and one that would have probably killed or crippled a normal human being from before the dream. He was far more durable than that now, however.

He heft his sword and then raised the small buckler he had attached to his left arm for the purposes of this battle. A larger shield would only get in the way with this many grasping zombies. Things might have been different if he had developed his shield wielding abilities, but at the moment that was nothing but a future possibility.

Sword in hand, he raced toward the closest zombie and went for an immediate kill strike to its head. He would not waste any attacks or drag out a fight. This was not a training exercise like the other battles with zombies. It was a hit and run battle. His power level was high enough that he could handle even a large group of such monsters with ease, but the sheer number of monsters in the area were a whole new level of difficulty. It meant that he would die if he overreached.

His blade tore the flesh atop the skull of a frightened zombie, but it was the sudden explosive flare of fire and lightning that erupted from its head that did the damage. Physical attacks were not that useful against the undead, but magic worked wonders.

Scott whipped his body to the right and then performed a hard lunge that skewered the side of a zombie's head with the tip of his blade, and then ripped it free in time to make a half-turn to the right and cut a quick lunging diagonal strike on another zombie directly in front of him.

The zombies erupted in black lightning and eldritch flames, and fell to the side. Scott ignored them and continued on with his zombie extermination. He did not have time to stand around and ponder the end of their existence.

Twice more his blade rang out to end the unlife of the former living, before obvious cracks began to form along the blade. The enchantment was powerful, and would last for several more strikes. However, the blade was not as capable. It would last for but one more strike at most. Scott dropped it and pulled another from his bag.

He continued his battle in this manner until the fleeing zombies began to regain their senses. Dozens of the beasts fell before his fiery blade, but it was little more than a dent in their ranks. Even with his magical attacks, he had destroyed little more than ten percent of their number.

A quick retreating battle occurred at that point, until Scott was able to get free of the pressing horde. He ran back toward the building then and prepared his spell once more. Dark Judgment flared up from beneath the front-center of the horde and another score of zombies were dragged into the abyss. The terror welled up within the beasts once more and those close enough to feel the fear of what awaited them began to flee.

Scott returned to the battle as soon as he could. The fleeing zombies knocked over those that had not been close enough to become afflicted with the holy terror of his draconic might.

Zombies were a class of monster that he had much experience with up until this point. There was no mystery in their movements of power for Scott. The only difficulty for him in this battle was in their number, and the possibility that he would cast his spell too close to the chain link fences or gates instead of the thicker walls. The only reason the zombies had not broken out before was an apparent lack of will. They had more than enough members to break through a chain link fence if they were hard pressed.

The battle continued for the better part of an hour before Scott was forced to flee back to the building for a time. He dropped his most recently acquired blade after cracks formed, and then ran for the concrete awning at the front entrance. He easily made the eleven foot leap necessary to get to the top and then sat down to rest. He could potentially make it back onto the roof, but it was not necessary. The zombies could not reach him where he was.

"Dark Dragon here. I'm taking a break." said Scott after reaching into his bag and pulling out his radio. The girls each responded back, and Sonja complained about being bored. Scott was having all the fun.

He laughed at her mild misery then moved back to the outer wall of the store before he took off his gauntlets. He used a set of disinfecting hand wipes that he had brought to clean his hands then took out his lunchbox. He smiled at it then opened it up. The girls had made him a few such lunches as he would need them. They would restore his strength and help keep the hunger back for a time.

Zombies screamed and cried for his sweet meats down below, even as he nibbled on a sandwich and enjoyed a nice juice box that had been liberated from the food stores of Archer's only a day prior.

A happy little sigh escaped his lips, and he looked up at the night sky. His feet rotated from side to side a little, almost like a restless child. The cacophonous groans of the undead crying for his flesh echoed through the night air, but Scott's only remark was, "Wow, I never look at the stars that much anymore."

He traced the outline of a few constellations while he rested. Life would be deadly and cruel once more, soon, but for that moment it was relatively peaceful.

Once the battle restarted, he used his dark judgment spell to send the zombies away. Their terrified screeches were a sort of music for the man. It meant that things were going well.

Zombie after zombie fell. When it doubt, he used dark judgment and sent more of them to the abyss. The battle continued until Scott was forced to rest again. His head pounded from the severe headache that had formed after continually using his powerful spells.

The next rest required him to wait a full hour before the headache subsided enough to get back to work. He was only halfway done at that point, but several hours had passed. At the rate things were going, they might not finish before dawn. He was also low on swords.

Back on the canopy, Scott radioed his team. "This is Dark Dragon. I'm running low on weapons. Is the supply van still secure? Over."

Sonja responded. "Iron Maiden here. Yes, the supplies are ready and waiting. Over."

"Understood. I'm heading over there to restock. Dark Dragon. Out." Scott ate another quick meal then shifted into his shadow form so that he could enter the building. A quick run through Archer's led him to the back room and then out the gate. One of the delivery vans they used was ready and waiting for him. Scott exchanged bags quickly and relocated a few items to his new bags. While he did so, he made small talk with Sonja's team as they were also the supply team.

"Yeah. I'm about half done." said Scott.

"Man, I wish I could be out there." said Mark. He and Erin were part of team Iron Maiden.

Scott nodded to him. Only a few of the people gathered could even gain experience when we're awake. Dream bodies don't come out here unless they are originally dream worlders. Of the four who could other than Scott, only Ashton would get anything out of it. She was better suited to mercantile matters, however. It worked out in Scott's favor, however. He had already gained three levels. The zombies were stronger than the ones he was used to, but just as susceptible to his magic.

Shara had explained how leveling worked in as much detail as she could recently. It was time to cash in on some of that skill grinding and socializing that he had been doing. His level promised to rise at least once or twice more than night! He was such an experience hog, but he desperately needed it.

Sonja gave Scott a kiss for luck and he smiled at her amid the catcalls of the emergency team. Such was the fate of a man.

Back out front, he went back to work. His headache had subsided enough to allow him to send the monsters screaming for the horrible lives using dark judgment.

The night wore on, and Scott wore down. By the time the sky began to lighten he had killed most of the zombies in the area, but there were over a hundred of the rotting bastards left. He was running on fumes, and magic was out of the question.

The emergency teams had not been forced to deal with any escapees, but they had dealt with the occasional scarvulf and other random monsters that popped up due to the noise.

Naked zombies dropped no equipment, but there were dozens of little sparkling gems of various colors all over the parking lot. Essence stones, no doubt.

The problem now was that he was out of his disposable swords and had to rely solely on his permanently enchanted blade.

Scott panted slightly as he hacked into the jaw of one zombie then took a hard step forward and slammed the blade through the side of the thing's face so that he could stab another zombie in the eye. Both went up in potent, but less spectacular flames.

The durability of his blade had weakened considerably during the fight. Soon he would be forced to withdraw and rest again.

Another dozen zombies fell to his sword before the blade broke into several fragments. "Shit!" snarled Scott, before kicking out at one of the beasts. It was sent sprawling but it had taken little damage.

He made a break for it. Whenever a zombie came too close he used simple redirecting maneuvers or swift kicks to move it out of the way. He reached the safety of his canopy then sighed. "So close."

There was no helping it. He reached into his bag and took out the radio. "Hey team. This is Dark Dragon. I'm out. We need to start stage three."

The team leaders called back their acknowledgements and then people began to move. Three people from each team, all wielding various firearms made their way to the building from the outside and then took the ladder up to the roof.

"Hey, you alright man?" called out Eric. He carried a rifle and a concerned look on his face.

"Yeah, not a scratch on me, but I'm done for now. You guys know what to do, right?" called back Scott.

"Right!" said the excitable younger man. The new arrivals looked over the edge of the room then picked targets. They fired on them with extreme prejudice. Each shot was an attempted head shot.

Scott ate a sandwich while hot lead streamed down toward the crowd of zombies below. Firearms did little damage to the undead, but a headshot would still hurt the beasts badly. At the very least it might keep them from being able to get up and roam around.

Hundreds of precious rounds of ammunition were expended. Each member of the finishing squad carried at least one hundred rounds of ammo, and they used it all. They had to, otherwise the zombies would have barely noticed. Unlike a movie, these creatures had stats and levels. Regular physical damage did take its toll over time or if it was potent enough, but the physical damage resistance of even lower-level zombies was obscene.

Enchanting the firearms had proved to be too difficult for Scott's current level of skill. Enchanting the ammunition had proved destructive to the firearms. None of the other scant few individuals with enchanting ability was any better at it either. So, the firearms were left at their base nature.

It was enough. Bodies shredded and torn by over a thousand rounds of ammunition, the remaining monsters fell to the earth in large numbers. Less than a dozen remained standing afterward. Once Scott had rested up enough, he went down to finish the job. He ran through the parking lot snatching up dropped weapons that were on the verge of breaking. Few remained, as he had mostly already recycled them.

The last dozen zombies soon became four zombies after he used the remainder of his enchanted weapons. The end of the battle came in the form of a fist-fight to the finish.

Scott knocked the arms of a reaching zombie sideways using his forearm then followed his movements with a hard palm strike to the solar plexus that sent the monster staggering back. Staggered, it was unable to do anything when Scott moved in and kicked the back of its knees.

It took a while, but he managed to bring the remaining zombies down with brute force. The clean sweep team moved in afterward and finished off any stragglers with unenchanted personal weapons, mostly baseball bats or knives.

It took the better part of an hour to finish off the remaining zombies that had managed to avoid death. The essence stones were gathered and loaded in the supply van, and not long after a city dump truck arrived so that the corpses could be gathered. There would be many trips to take to finish that job.

After the clean-up was largely finished, and Scott had bathed several times, he went to bed on Earth and awoke in the dream as Blackthorne. He sat down to check the results from his night's work.

Status

Name: Scott Blackthorne

Race: Mahorela Abaivonin

Title: Baron of the Night

Level: 12 [Hatchling] Skill Points: 62

Vitality: 312[312]

Weapon Attack: 165[165]

Durability: 269[269]

Speed: 92[92]

Spirit: 523[523]

[--]

He released a low, slow, whistle. It was a considerable upgrade! A few of his stats had nearly doubled. The best part was that his status had increased to the point that he could finally go to sleep and undergo proper growth. "Once I'm done, I should probably use some of those skill points to develop myself a bit."

Blackthorne spent the next few dream world days working hard on enchanting items, and splurged heavily on the purchase of fresh meat. The girls knew his intent if he actually reached the point that he could grow, and helped him prepare as best they could.

The basement of his castle was chosen as his temporary lair. It was remote enough and well-guarded, the safest place for his slumber that they had access to at the moment.

A house cat sized dragon looked around at the various expertly cut carcasses of large animals. He had a small bed of various swords, armor, enchanted rings and the like to sleep upon. It was surrounded by a vast mountain of meat and even a few vegetables. The basement room could comfortable hours over a hundred people, but it was impossible to move around in it and the meat nearly reached the ceiling.

"Do I really need this much?" asked Blackthorne curiously. Shara had seemed to think so, but it was quite a disturbing thing to witness. How big was he going to become as an infant?

After having said goodbye to the girls and giving them each a kiss since they insisted, the little black dragon crawled atop his many implements of death and destruction then closed his eyes for a much deserved rest.