Chapter 91

Carefully, he went up to the stairs and paused at the entrance to level thirty-eight.

Priscilla slipped through the crack and had a look.

Of course, there was a zombie in vision. They were guarding the door. He waved down below him and the group came up and placed the traps right next to the landing. Janice also scampered up and joined him.

“Are you sure?” he whispered.

She nodded in determination, holding the spear tight. With its power, she might be able to bait them and run and survive even if things went wrong.

“Priscilla will unlock it when it’s time.” Even as Daniel said the words, the mouse returned, slipping back under the door, and ran up Janice’s leg.

She giggled.

“Shh.” His finger went over her lips. They were basically ready, but he would like to spring this trap on his terms rather than having them pre-empt him and break down the door. Daniel looked and grimaced. It would only take one errant sound to prompt a single zombie to hit the door and the glass would break, the shielding vines would tear, and the game would be up.

It was too late now.

They were committed. As Daniel walked down the steps, he took the time to touch the traps he passed, not to enable them but to shift them into the right orientation for the stairwell, making the traps skinnier so they sat flush on a single step as opposed to hanging over, lifting a heavy wood trap to affix it to the roof above. Then he kept walking.

When he looked up, it took him a moment to see Janice. She was crouched down, hiding in a spot that would be invisible from the door.

Smart girl.

Once he reached level thirty-seven, with a single tug, the door came off and then, under his control, expanded into a nest of thorns that would stop the zombies from descending further down the stairwell.

They were fighting here, and he was confident that their numbers would overwhelm the ferals even if they had fourteen elites.

That done, he exited and nodded at the setup they had already put in place and moved to the right spot. It was not as easy as it looked. The entire corridor was filled with the standard pressure plates and barely visible restraint wires. He navigated the restraints, ducking under and stepping over when required. Once positioned in front of the others, he waited for his mana to tick up. The agreement was that they would start the fight only once he was topped up. Five minutes. He had told the girl five minutes, and he did not think she would get impatient.

He kept looking at the internal lake, which he used to measure his magic. Finally, it filled completely, and a drop of energy ran down the overflow.

Now! He projected the thought to Priscilla.

There was a momentary pause, and then he heard a hair-raising shriek from above followed by the sounds of running.

Janice burst out of the tunnel, but instead of sprinting towards them she leant against the wall with the spear held tight to her chest.

She seemed to fade from his sight. He activated his magic to close the gaps she had just walked through.

There were roars from above them. Then the noise of traps going off. Daniel wondered just how much damage was being done as the cracks got closer and closer. Fourteen elites and no normals. Daniel hoped that their normal tactics worked, because that was the largest force they had faced, apart from the termites.

The first zombie appeared. It was covered in earth armour.

Daniel felt a flutter of conflicting emotions. He wanted the cores, but that bloody thing had probably triggered traps that should have killed half a dozen elites. With a hand on the conduit, his consciousness shot out towards where it had emerged. The coil of green it stepped on became alive, twining around the armoured leg and then tugging it back.

It fell with a crash.

He had learnt his lessons. Earth zombies just need to be immobilised till their magic ran out, then they became easy picking.

Another earth feral appeared.

Fark.

They had been coordinated. They were not stupid like he had expected. He only had four of the special vine extensions prepared. A second vine shot forward like a snake and tangled around the new monster’s ankle. With a careful tug, it fell on top of the first.

If they were lucky, that would be last.

A hulk smashed through the open door, its broad shoulders brushing the woodwork. The ultra elite and the floor boss, so to speak. Besides its hulk abilities, the same earth armour encased it. It was a forgone conclusion they had to fight it, but he had been expecting it to behave like the Professor and hide at the back and send the lesser ones before it.

Both reserve vines struck out, snaking along the ground to entangle it.

The monster stumbled but did not fall.

Thunk!

His ranged fighters had demonstrated remarkable restraint in holding their attacks, but in the face of the larger, more deadly threat of the “ultra,” an arrow shot out and slammed into a shoulder, staggering the ultra slightly.

The hulk roared and brushed at one of the vines at its legs. They parted like spiderwebs with the claws shredding them. Daniel focused exclusively on the single vine that had survived on the ultra, ignoring the other two earth zombies. If they got free, then so be it. He needed to stop the primary threat. If it charged them, it would reduce their traps to nothing without a single zombie dying.

“More arrows,” Daniel ordered.

The tendrils looped forward, and he forced growth and strength through them. The earth armour was not something they could be sustained for ridiculous lengths of time, but if the ultra was allowed to rampage, protected as it was, then all of their traps would be scattered. Daniel only needed to buy a few seconds.

He mentally yanked to the right with the vine he had looped around the ankle as the behemoth tried to step forward while arrows slammed into it. The monster fell.

Crack, crack, crack, crack.

Such was its size that four pressure traps did not hinder it.

What a waste.

The next wave of zombies emerged, and they blurred forward.

Daniel activated speed.

One, two, and then three crashed into the restraints. All three were briefly held up before the mountings were torn off the door because of the creatures’ speed and mass. The restraints still worked as designed, tangling them up so much that they tripped forward to land unprotected on the waiting pressure traps. The fourth and fifth stepped on their falling comrades’ bodies and accelerated towards them without a single restraint, impeding them.

The one on the left with snowy white fur jerked backwards with three arrows slamming into its chest. The fifth contemptuously sidestepped to avoid a fireball. Its foot landed on the carpet and avoided a trap that Daniel had set. It was not right; the speedsters were not supposed to be that smart, especially since they had not learnt how to break down the stairwell door.

Then the fireball exploded in midair. The shockwave knocked it slightly off balance, and it was forced to take that half a step forward in order to balance itself. A single high-pressure spike shot straight up and slammed into the monster’s chin and disappeared into the skull.

It died.

The final six elites rushed out. Lightning arced from Tamara’s hands and landed amongst them.

He wanted to scream at her to be careful because of Janice but then realised that they could not hold back. If she got zapped and sent downstairs or to stand next to her dad, then so be it.

The group comprised two ice, two strength, a poison, and a sonic monster, and collectively had no defence against lightning. They spasmed and fell over. A tumble that was exasperated by the earth zombies already at their feet.

Crack. Crack.

Daniel was pretty sure that was one ice zombie that would not be getting up again. Apart from that, the delay was temporary. One glance in front of him told him that most of the traps were spent. In preparation, he started spinning his club while letting energy flow into it. Lightning lit up between the teeth poking out of the wood. There was a sizzle of static, and the web of sparks on the edge of the club grew.

The fire mage switched from the fireballs to a more traditional bolt configuration that lacked the concussive force of the fireball but was faster and must have been easier to use. These slammed into the packed monsters and appeared to be doing damage. Daniel saw residual flames on some of the hairy ferals. The archers kept firing, their arrows slamming into necks, shoulders, and arms. While the zombies could shrug off a fire bolt, the heavy arrow striking into weak points had a greater impact, especially if fire had already burned off the defensive fur or underlying skin.

Two of the remaining eight were taken out with arrows. Then the ultra stumbled to its feet and charged, one giant arm protecting its eyes and the other its neck. Its earth armour still clung to it, but not as thickly as previously. A trap went off on its leg, and the teeth of the device dug in and drew blood, but the wood splintered and broke when the creature took the next steps.

An explosive arrow hit its belly; fire and ice burnt bolts hit the other side. It kept moving, and before one of the other tanks or fighters could be stupid enough to target it, Daniel stormed forward.

Speed.

This was not something anyone else could fight. A human that had mutated sufficiently to get numerous magic characteristics, it had the active earth armour, plus size, strength, and unfortunately a bit of passive speed. Together, it made it a fearsome tank.

At least its earth armour was almost exhausted.

Daniel studied it as he closed. This particular feral was hairless, and the face did not even look like it had come from human stock. It was bestial, with a bear-like linage, and its head was three times larger than a human’s. A mammoth skull on an already-giant body. Two meters tall, but its obvious weight set it apart. It must have weighed almost ten times more than what Daniel did. All of rippling muscle and long claws, intimidatingly thick. It was completely nude, with rippling muscles and genitals that were probably the single most human part of it left.

They were a target because they looked more vulnerable than everywhere else.

It swung faster than a human could move, but slow relative to his boosted stats. Which was good because if one paw hit him, he doubted he would survive it. Daniel ducked under the blow and with the creature’s earth armour still mostly intact, he swung hard at a patch of visible skin below its hip. The club sent instructions, and rather than striking, he instead let the weapon caress the exposed skin. Jagged teeth cut the skin like it was tissue paper, but that was not the point. Daniels’s hair stood up as electricity transferred from the club into the monster.

The leg spasmed, and the zombie tried to use it to follow him, but without control of the muscles on one side, the limb failed. For the second time in the fight, the ultra crashed to the floor. As the beast fell, he saw that the armour had receded from the middle of the monster’s arm.

Daniel struck the exposed elbow with all of his strength. Spikes broke the skin, and electricity drained into the monster, and his club dimmed noticeably. The entire arm was clearly out of use and the club sang to him.

Strength. Hit here. Give everything! Blood Drinker screamed at him, and he did as instructed. Immense power flooded into him. The club distorted. He boosted his speed to its limits and brought Blood Drinker down along the exact angle it demanded, right down onto the awkwardly positioned elbow. Daniel saw a spear of teeth coming out of Blood Drinker, and then it slammed home. The joint shattered.

Hold. The weapon almost sang the words to him.

He dropped speed and held the position. The club was drinking, and he got the feeling that it was weakening the beast as it did so.

The head seemed to roll forward.

Now! The club’s orders ran through. It wanted him to strike where the back of the head met the neck.

Thud!

The monster shifted, its lethargy passing, and the electricity faded.

Faster!

Click!

Daniel felt the bone shatter under the strike.

One more! Instructions blazed through to him, covering the exact angle, the length of the backswing, and the need to put all of his force into the blow. Daniel did as instructed, slamming the spike of the club into the weakened spot.

Thud!

The club rebounded, but it wanted more.

Again!

Thud.

The spot had felt a little spongier with each strike.

More!

He swung with everything he had, and the point split the weakened bone, making it part on either side. Magic was sucked out of him as the club shivered in his hands. He could feel it feeding once more, but he couldn’t focus on that. Everything was too hard. Daniel couldn’t breathe, stand, do anything. He pitched forward onto the ultra, hoping Blood Drinker had finished it off.

Eyes open, Daniel sucked in breaths desperately. A struggle to get in enough air to satisfy his body requirements. Every breath hurt. A pair of armoured legs stood above him. They were probably Luk’s. Ready to defend him. There were the sounds of other people moving. Healing hit him, but he did not need it. Just time to recover.

“Daniel, are you okay?” Tamara’s voice said. He did not have the strength to answer.

“He has just pushed too hard again,” Ivey replied.

Sucking in air desperately with his friends standing guard over him, Daniel’s club basked in a euphoric glow.

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