The Zombie Brute stands before us staring at us all. Grey drool drips down from its mouth. Dark hollow eyes glow with a slight red light as it examines all of us in this room.

The tingle in my mind screams at me as the Brute’s eyes fall on me. I get the feeling that I need to run and run fast. My heart races as my mana burn white-hot in me.

HHHHHHHHHHUUUUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGG!!!

The Brute roars as it races forwards. Skinny yet muscular legs propel it forwards at incredible speeds.

I leap to my side just barely avoiding the hulking brute.

The beast races past me slamming into the wall behind me. The drywall cracks and caves and the rooms shake. Clouds of dust fall from cracks spreading across the ceiling.

We all watch in horror as the brute recovers from its charge. It shakes itself and I realize that all the growths on its upper half make it less flexible.

I focus on my mana and rake it over the brute. Tough growths cover the majority of its torso and skull. The only places without the grey ugly looking skin are the thing’s thick arms and powerful legs.

I conjure a Mana Bullet and toss it into the thing's face. The ball of energy pops in front of the Brute eliciting another roar from it. I feel the Brute stumble backwards as it closes its eyes.

A ball of spiraling energy races out, crashing into the Brute’s head. It explodes with another pop. A faint trail of smoke rises from the spot that the energy hit but aside from that the Brute took no damage.

“It’s skin is too tough for normal attacks to get through!” I yell to the others. “It’s legs and arms aren’t protected though!”

I wrap my mana around my tire iron. The energy spins to life as I form tiny teeth along it. The Brute finally recovers from the attack on it. It’s red glowing eyes scan us all again and lock on me once done.

Is it after me because of my level?

The beast roars and charges for me. The monster is fast but it still takes time for it to build up that speed.

Moments from it crashing into me I sidestep. I thrust my tire iron out, striking the monster in it’s chest. The energy-clad weapon bounces off and I’m sent spinning from the momentum of the beast.

My shoulder groans in pain as I turn on the spot trying to bleed off the momentum. My eyes race up to the monster’s name tag and I feel my heart drop.

Zombie Brute

Level: 20

HP: 99/100

My two attacks only did a single point of damage? Just how strong is it’s armor?

My mind races as I watch the creature. A plan starts to take shape as I think over everything I know about the Brute. It’s attacks are simple, relying mostly on it’s powerful legs and armor. It always takes a second to recover and find it’s target.

I pull energy from my core forming two balls. I stand still as I focus on the energy, spinning it faster and faster. In a second two High Velocity Rounds scream in my ears.

The Brute focuses back on me after recovering from it’s impact. I focus on the two glowing orbs in its eyes. With a mental push, I force as much speed into the needles of energy.

The beast roars and I command the energy to attack. They blitz through the air leaving blue trails. They streak into the Brute’s eyes where they grind for a second against them. Then they explode with a pop rocketing the monster backwards.

Smoke wafts from the Brute’s face. It roars in either pain or anger. The smoke around its face dissipates and I feel relief to see no red glow.

My mana races into the sockets and confirms that the Brute no longer has any eyes. I glance up at it’s tag and feel anger build in me.

Zombie Brute

Level: 20

HP: 91/100

HHHHHHHHHHUUUUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNGGGGGGGG!!!

The monster roars as it spins in place. It’s ears visibly twitch as it tosses about.

“What is it doing?” Andy asks.

The monster stops and turns facing Andy. Then it’s charging. Andy barely has enough time to position the bat between him and the Brute.

The Brute slams into Andy, sending him flying backwards. Andy slams into a wall creating a small crater. Then he falls down to the ground like a sack of potatoes. On the wall and the edges of Andy’s hairline, I notice the red stain of blood.

The Brute, either hearing the thud Andy made or smelling the blood on him, focuses on him. It roars as it starts charging for him again.

Abby’s father slams into the side of the Brute, sending it careening into the wall just next to Andy. The breast crashes through the wall and tumbles into the room beyond. Dust falls from the ceiling as more cracks from along it.

“Keep it busy!” I cry out.

I focus on the mana inside of me, tuning out the battle before me. The Brute’s strongest weapon is it’s legs. With that in mind I call mana out of me.

I can’t just blast this thing away like I did the Zombie Butcher, nor can I overpower it like the banshee. I need to handicap it first.

My mana spills out of me as I fashion it into a disk. The energy floats between my hands as I pour all my concentration into the construct. The energy resists my command to be as flat as possible but I ignore it’s complaints.

It’s my energy. My power. It will obey me.

The energy starts rotating as I imagine it spinning. I picture the edge of the circular disk being sharp as a sword. Then I picture tiny teeth along the edge.

I don’t know how much time has passed but I have a disk the size of a hoola hoop floating above my hand. It spins so fast that the edges appear white instead of blue.

I take my focus off of the energy at my command and back to the battle. In front of me Abby’s father picks up the Brute and tosses it like some wrestler. Kyle nimbly dances out of the way and skillfully jabs out with his spear.

Abby stands off to the side with an expression of worry plastered on her face. I can tell that she wants to help but simply doesn’t know how.

The Brute crashes through a wall and into the kitchen beyond. It slides across the floor and slams into the far wall of the kitchen. Abby’s father starts to stalk after the beast, his muscles bulging underneath his shirt.

“Stop! I need a clear shot!” I yell at him.

He snaps his attention to me and then the circular blade of energy before me. Understanding seems to cross his face as he quickly back peddles out of the way.

The Brute stands up and starts turning in place again as it’s ears twitch.

“Hey ugly!” I call out to it.

The Brute snaps towards me. It roars again and starts it’s charge. It blows through the hole in the wall and continues for me.

I pull back my arm and then throw it forwards. The blade of energy races out on course with the Brute. The energy loses altitude crashing into the Brute’s thighs. The energy sends grey blood spurting through the air as it cuts into the things thighs.

I mentally urge the energy on and I feel more mana being pulled from my core. The blue disk turns white as I imagine it spinning even faster.

It slices clean through the Brute leaving a trail of white light behind it. The disk continues on leaving my range of control. It cuts through the floor then through a wall and into the street outside. From there it crashes into the ground cutting a thin line deep into the concrete.

The Brute flies through the air as its momentum carries it’s legless torso on. It crashes and slides along the floor only stopping when it slams into the wall.

The stress in the room drops a few degrees as we all feel like the danger has been mitigated. Staring down at the Brute I watch it as it tries to stand to its feet. Grey muck oozes from the stumps of it’s legs. Looking up I see that removing it’s leg still did barely any damage to it’s health.

Zombie Brute

Level: 20

HP: 76/100

“It’s still not dead.” I say to the others.

I walk up to the Brute and place a foot on it’s back. I coat my tire iron in mana again and push it against the thing’s head.

It tries to grab me but it’s arms can barely move let alone reach around to me. It’s health drops slowly as my mana chips away at the growth. A point of health for every five seconds.

“This is going to take forever. Can you help me?” I ask Kyle.

Kyle nods and walks up to me and the Brute. I take hold of his spear and let my mana coat it. Kyle then kicks the Brute over onto it’s back. He places the energy-laden spear against it’s burnt-out eye socket.

The blue energy around the tip of the spear glows white as I force more and more speed into it.

The energy chews away at the flesh of the Brute like a drill. Between Kyle's considerable strength and my control over my mana we manage to chip away a few points of health every second or so.

Abby’s father walks up to us and grabs the end of the spear. He thrusts down and the spear pushes past whatever hard bits protect the thing’s brain. It’s health drops by thirty points in an instant and continues to fade.

Within seconds the Brute stops moving. The red above it’s head flashes black and I feel relief wash through me.

PING!

Level Up

I recall my mana and let go of the spear. We all breathe a sigh of relief as a sense of safety falls over all of us.

It really is easy to handle these guys when you have other people. If it was just me against the Brute I don’t know if I would have had the time to make that disk.

“I leveled up. Is that a bad thing?” Abby’s father asks.

“No dad. It’s a good thing. We’ll talk about it later. Shouldn’t we get back to the office before anything else attacks?” Abby asks.

“That’s a good point.” Kyle says.

He yanks the spear out of the beast and examines the point at the end. Satisfied with it he turns his attention to Kyle.

“Who should carry him?” Kyle asks.

“I’ll carry him.” Abby’s father offers.

He picks up the unconscious Andy in a bridal carry. He looks around the apartment then turns to the door.

“Is there anything you want to take with you?” Kyle asks.

Abby’s father shakes his head. Abby on the other hand looks as if she was struck by lightning. She races out of the living room. A few seconds later she returns with a book.

“I’m ready to go.” She says.

With that we leave the ruined apartment.