Trakada brought up his battle screen and watched his zombies dropped like flies. Or maybe like trees since each one was taken down by swift ax blades. Next time he would spring for the fast zombies instead of the slower, plodding zombies.

The guardians game came down to tower defense, and the ruby towers were the main objective. He had to get in close to the ruby tower to disable it. The easiest way to do that would be to kill the guardian. Once they were dead there was a period of time between respawning that he could destroy the tower. Once the tower was destroyed the guardian would have to respawn in a new world, and this world would be lost.

He had numbers on his side. From the little he had seen of the area, there were fewer players involved, and all of them were woodcutters. That meant they had arrived early enough to make a clean sweep of the tower.

Then why were his zombies dying? Of the thirty-five of them, five had already fallen. Only four corpses were left on the battlefield, one having been damaged to the point of complete destruction, but none of them were nearby to use as fodder, or raise up again.

Five of the active zombies were archers, the rest meat for the grindstone. He could always summon a few more, but he preferred to use the cannon fodder he already had and leave his mana for spells.

Still, there were no defenses in place, and the guardian's low-level woodcutters might be handy with an ax, but they wouldn’t be able to take out the entire horde alone.

With a toothy grin, he pressed forward, ready to join the fray.

* * *

Two more arrows landed in the grass near Alyss. Thankfully the archers were terrible shots or they wouldn't have lasted so long. The rest of the hoard were your standard zombies, unable to think or react quickly, and easy to chop down even if they did have a higher hitpoint count.

She also learned quickly that her knitting needles were the perfect weapon against slow zombies. One needle to the brainstem was enough critical damage to destroy the reanimated creature. It also meant she had to get close, and while she was now covered in disgusting smelly zombie juice, at least she was still alive.

Simply being alive didn’t mean she would stay alive. There were a lot of creatures who had powerful attacks if the cracks in the woodcutters hut were any indication. The group barely made it into the hut and slammed the door shut before the horde descended on them.

“Okay, what do we have to use against the zombies?” Alyss asked.

All three woodcutters held up their axes. Well, she had asked.

“And you have knitting needles?” Bob gestured towards her weapons.

“Yes, and I’m a master.”

“A master...knitter,” Kaliope said with a little frustration.

Forgad barked out a laugh but quickly stifled it when Alyss gave him a nasty look.

Alyss threw her arms up. “You guys slice, I stab, what’s the difference?”

“With knitting needles,” reiterated Bob.

Alyss sighed. She was never going to live this down. At least not until she could find a way to make it work for her.

What good was knitting? Could she make the zombies a pair of socks? The robe had been coarse black fabric and she used that to make a long snake that fought for her, but there were more zombies then one snake of yarn could handle. What else could she knit? Then again, with a level of 999, what couldn’t she knit?

Glancing around the room she looked for something else she could use. A small table with a washbin, a mirror, a bed stuffed with straw and covered in a thin red blanket.

Wait, the bed!

* * *

Alyss crashed through the door with a horde of creatures at her feet. Tiny men made out of straw with red strands of yarn woven through them. Each stood two feet tall and looked like little straw dolls.

Straw Golem

HP 10/10

Attack 3

Special attack: Splinter

Special attack: Strangle

For a single golem It wasn’t a lot of damage, but there were thirty of them running through the grass. Five latched onto the first zombie they saw. They dug their spiky hay bodies into the putrid flesh, gobbets of red flesh sloughing off and adding to the golems stuffing. The red yarn wrapped around legs and arms effectively throwing the zombies off balance. The end result was an incapacitated zombie unable to fight back.

Straw Golem splinters Zombie for 3 hp

Straw Golem strangles zombie.

Straw Golem splinters Zombie for 2 hp

Straw Golem strangles zombie.

Straw Golem splinters Zombie for 4 hp

Straw Golem strangles zombie.

Zombie immobilized.

Another group of golems swarmed a second zombie and the undead quickly fell to the same attack. Overcome by the tiny assailants and inflected by multiple paper cuts, the zombies flailed ineffectually against their bonds.

The woodsmen moved in as a team to deliver final blows and made quick work of the fallen zombies.

Bob strikes zombie for 9 damage.

Critical hit x2

Zombie dies.

Party gains 4 XP.

Immobilized, the blow was an automatic crit. Thanks to Alyss' golems, Bob racked up an instant kill with surprising ease.

As soon as the zombie died the golems reeled their cords back in and headed off to overwhelm the next enemy. In this way they moved through the horde slowly whittling down the forces. With fewer zombies, the golems were more concentrated until the last few zombies had ten golems swarming over them like angry bees.

The killing and grappling had another effect on the golems; the little dolls lost the color from the blanket and took on a green and red hue from the putrid discharge of the zombies. Streaks of zombie decay sprayed out in every direction as golems deposited the slime throughout the area.

Alyss choked back a moan.“This is getting disgusting.”

“Killing is a messy business,” Forgad agreed, “but someone needs to do it.”

Bob grunted in agreement in tandem with his swinging ax.

Kaliope picked up one of the golems by carefully choosing a cleanish corner and threw it at a zombie. The golem instantly latched on, it’s long yarn strands wrapping around the zombie's arm.

She wiped the slime off her hand and turned back to us. “Don’t forget, there’s a lich out here too.”

“Life’s a lich and then you don’t die,” Forgad deadpanned.

Kaliope rolled her eyes. “Ohh-riginal.”

Bob snickered, the head of another zombie going splat with a practiced swing of his ax.

“Knock it off, both of you,” Alyss said. “There are more coming from the forest.”

Their banter quieted, they kept pace beside Alyss with renewed focus meeting the next group of advancing zombies.

The golems kept attacking the zombie swarm, allowing the woodcutters to take them out one by one. Alyss even used her knitting needles on a few.

Creating the golems had been incredibly easy. Once she pulled apart the blanket with a hatchet and started to knit, she simply envisioned what she wanted to make and the needles went to work. At level 999 in knitting, a simple golem was crafted in a flash. She did not expect the needles to incorporate the straw into the golems form, but it was like the old fairy tale of the woman spinning straw into gold. Like Rumplestiltskin, the needles clacked together, and the straw became strands of coarse fiber, which strengthened and became perfect for the attack golems she envisioned.

It made her wonder what else she could create or knit. She didn’t have time to dig into all the information, and that feathered lizard was not around at the moment to answer her questions. So far she had used straw and cloth, but what if she tried plants?

A question for another time. Right now they had zombies to slay.

They moved deeper into the forest, the zombies dropping around them.

Forgad strikes zombie for 7 damage.

Critical hit x2

Zombie dies.

Party gains 5 XP.

Bob strikes zombie for 8 damage.

Critical hit x2

Zombie dies.

Party gains 4 XP.

Kaliope strikes zombie for 6 damage.

Critical hit x2

Zombie dies.

Party gains 6 XP.

The zombies weren’t as thick as they were before, but the golems were starting to slow down. Some of them were looking ragged, their little arms ripped by zombie's teeth. A few had lost a limb or two. One little guy was dragging itself along without any legs, struggling to fulfill it's purpose.

They left the struggling golem behind as they pushed deeper into the forest. The path darkened as RESTART's sun set in the distance. A thick white fog was rolling in. Oddly enough, it was rolling in from the area they were running towards.

“Why is that fog so weird?” Forgad asked.

“Weird?” Alyss asked. “How is it weird? It’s just getting cold, so it’s coming in.”

“It’s not cold,” Kaliope said.

Alyss paid more attention to her surroundings and realized it was true. The sun was sinking but the temperature was pretty warm still, feeling like a summer day in the south. Too warm for fog.

“More zombies,” Kaliope predicted.

And wouldn't you know, another wave moved up from the south side spitting straight from the thickest part of the fog. With enemies in sight, the golems attacked straightaway, wrapping long strands of red wool around the creatures.

Straw Golem splinters Zombie for 3 hp

Straw Golem strangles zombie.

Zombie regens for 2 damage.

Straw Golem splinters Zombie for 2 hp

Straw Golem strangles zombie.

Zombie regens for 2 damage.

Straw Golem splinters Zombie for 4 hp

Straw Golem strangles zombie.

Zombie regens for 2 damage.

Zombie immobilized.

“What? Regen? Since when do they regen?” Alyss asked, alarm threading her voice.

“I bet it’s that fog,” Kaliope said. “Damn lich is doing his lich magic and changing things.”

“Then we need to work faster,” Alyss urged everyone. “The golems aren’t going to be able to knock the hit points down fast enough for a one-shot kill if that’s the case. Do a double tap."

Bob moved forward to hack at the creature.

Bob strikes zombie for 6 damage.

Critical hit x2

Zombie regens 3 damage.

Bob strikes zombie for 8 damage.

Critical hit x2

Zombie dies.

Party gains 6 XP.

They scrambled to take out the rest of the encroaching horde. Because of the fog, they couldn’t see that many of them, but they could hear the eery moans that signaled they were about to clash head-on.

The golems swarmed over three more zombies, and the woodcutting team double tapped all of them, and their bodies fell defeated to the earth.

The second wave of three zombies approached, and they managed to take them all in just a few seconds as well.

Two more zombies approached, and the swarm of golems grabbed ahold of them.

Straw Golem splinters Zombie for 2 hp

Straw Golem strangles zombie.

Straw Golem splinters Zombie for 3 hp

Straw Golem strangles zombie.

Straw Golem splinters Zombie for 4 hp

Straw Golem strangles zombie.

Zombie immobilized.

“The regen is gone,” Forgad called.

“Take advantage of it!” Alyss shouted. “Kill the zombies!”

With renewed vigor, they doubled their efforts and jumped the latest zombies to tumble out of the fog. They pressed the front, pushing deeper into the fog and closer to the cause.

Forgad strikes zombie for 6 damage.

Critical hit x2

Zombie dies.

Party gains 6 XP.

Kaliope strikes zombie for 7 damage.

Critical hit x2

Zombie dies.

Party gains 9 XP.

Suddenly a jet black bolt of ... something zoomed out of the fog, striking Alyss in her shoulder. She screamed in pain, dropping to one knee. It burned as she struggled to yank the arrow out. It took her only a moment to see why.

Necrotic Arrow Strikes Alyss for 4 hp.

Alyss is poisoned.

A green glow shrouded her vision, pulsing with a sickly life of its own. An indicator showed the effect to be a lesser poison that inflicted two damage every five seconds.

A second black streak whooshed through the night, lodging itself in a tree nearby.

“He’s shooting poison arrows, take cover,” Alyss called through gritted teeth.

* * *

Trakada was annoyed. A new guardian wasn’t supposed to be this strong already. They may have activated the first tower, but they had no armor, no weapons, no skills.

They did have golems.

What kind of golems were they? Straw, with some sort of yarn extruding from them? Perplexing.

And yet he had to admit they were effective. In fact, this had been more fun then he’d had in a long time. The fact that the guardian was putting up a good fight meant it might be possible to get a little entertainment out of them before he decided to destroy the ruby tower.

Kratawar wouldn’t be happy if he let the new guardian survive. Which meant he would have to give a good fight before he could regroup and come back stronger for the kill.

After casting his spells he only had sixty mana left, and it wasn’t regenerating fast enough for him to cast any of the larger spells. The Haze III only had two minutes left, so whatever he did he had to make it count. However, he did have one more trick up his sleeve, and it would take every last bit of mana he had.

He still had the five archer zombies that he had kept in reserve, and there were six shamblers remaining. Twenty-nine of his zombies had already died to a group of straw golems and woodcutters.

It was time to throw out his last ace. He only had fifteen seconds for the spell to last, then he was out of mana and would have to retreat to get more reinforcements. But fifteen seconds might be all he needed if he cast it at the right moment.

Pulling out the reserves, Trakada sent the archers in.

* * *

More arrows thunked into the tree trunks. The new arrows weren’t pitch black like the one that had hit Alyss, but they were just as painful.

“We need to get out from under this barrage,” Kaliope said. “You’re the leader with the skill, do something!”

“Now you want me to do something,” Alyss said under her breath. But Kaliope was right, like usual, and just as annoying about it. She, Alyss, was the guardian of the ruby tower, and she needed to earn the right to be the guardian. No one was going to let her keep the title unless she proved herself strong.

Every single one of her woodcutters were failed guardians. They hadn't been able to defeat this lich and so they had to regroup under a new guardian. It was someone else's turn to be the leader.

Well, Alyss didn’t like being a follower. She could have done that a long time ago and stuck her head in the VR world along with everyone else and wait until her life rotted away. No, she was here to earn her way, and by all the books in all the bookstores of the world both real and virtual, she was going to achieve what she came here to do.

Her health had slowly drained to half from the poison. None of the woodcutters had been hit, but they had been trapped behind cover. That left the golems. Without direction, they had all dropped to the ground and were hidden in the grass. She had about fifteen of them left that were still in one piece and ten more in various stages of decomposition.

“We need to draw them closer,” Alyss muttered.

“What? Are you insane?” Kaliope asked. “We need them to go away.”

“No, we need to draw them into the field out in the open so the golems can strike. Right now they are hidden in the field, dormant. If we can get the archers into the field the golems can grab them and stop them from shooting.”

Kaliope fell silent, chewing over the plan.

“I think it will work,” Forgad said. “Those golems are better at fighting than I ever imagined they would be. You convinced me that knitting is useful.”

Bob grunted from the other side of her. That was two in her favor.

Kaliope hedged, looking from one to the other while she thought it over. “Oh fine,” she finally said. “As long as you keep winning I’m okay with this, but the second you lose I’m out of here.”

Alyss nodded, knowing it was an empty statement. If she lost they were all out of there and starting over again.

“How do we draw them in?” Forgad asked.

Alyss smiled. “We make some noise.”

* * *

The noise came in the form of three people running in various directions away from the fog. They shouted, screamed, and banged their axes while weaving between the trees.

The goal for the lich was to tear down the ruby tower, so they were giving the lich a reason to go toward the tower. If it looked like they were retreating the zombies would move into the field with the golems.

The three ran as fast as possible while still dodging the arrows. This part of the forest had enough cover that archers had trouble shooting straight, which worked to their advantage.

Alyss remained hidden, her HP slowly bleeding out from the poison. She had some time, but she needed to heal soon.

They didn’t have to wait long for the zombies to take the bait. Though they were slow the walking dead picked up their pace as the three woodsmen lured the enemy through the field. The zombies didn’t want to let their meal get away and gave chase.

Alyss held still as the first wave of zombies rushed past, allowing them to go unharmed. There were only a few of the shamblers left. She needed the archers. She didn’t have to wait long.

The archers appeared just at the edge of the fog, their jerky movements pushing them forward. They would stop every few feet, struggle with another arrow, and shoot. That kept them from connecting with very many of the shots, though they were still too close for comfort.

The zombie archers moved into the field. Alyss counted five in total. There did not appear to be any arrow shots coming from deeper in the fog, so she sprung her trap.

“Now!” she cried, jumping to her feet.

As she rose so did the sea of golems sprawled out and hidden in the grass. They wrapped their strings around the five archers, pinning the bows down, or forcing them to drop them.

Straw Golem splinters Zombie archer for 3 hp

Straw Golem strangles zombie.

Straw Golem splinters Zombie archer for 2 hp

Straw Golem strangles zombie.

Straw Golem splinters Zombie archer for 4 hp

Straw Golem strangles zombie.

Zombie immobilized.

The five archers fell to the ground.

From the bushes to either side of the field the woodcutters emerged brandishing their axes. As planned, the three had circled back to the field to cut down the archers once immobilized.

Forgad strikes zombie archer for 6 damage.

Critical hit x2

Zombie archer dies.

Party gains 6 XP

Bob strikes zombie archer for 8 damage.

Critical hit x2

Zombie archer dies.

Party gains 6 XP

Kaliope strikes zombie archer for 5 damage.

Critical hit x2

Zombie archer dies.

Party gains 6 XP

Each of the zombies fell to the ground, their bodies going immobile ... until then they began to glow.

“What now!” Kaliope shouted.

“Move back,” Alyss said. “Whatever it is, it doesn’t look good.”

The three woodcutters backed up from the twice dead zombies, leaving the last two archers writhing around on the ground trying to break free of their golem prison. The glow brightened around the corpses, then their flesh began to slide away from their bones leaving a clean skeleton behind.

Then the skeletons rose.

Bone Zone Activated

“What is a bone zone?” Alyss cried. Things were getting complicated.

“Stop asking stupid questions and just kill them!” Kaliope shouted back.

As blunt and aggravating as Kaliope might be, she was right. No time to deal with the why. They needed to finish the job.

“Right, grab the skeletons, and hack those sons of liches apart.”

The golems had already ganged up on the skeletons, wrapping them in yarn, but they were doing zero damage this time.

Straw Golem splinters skeleton.

Skeleton immune.

Straw Golem splinters skeleton.

Skeleton immune.

Straw Golem splinters skeleton.

Skeleton immune.

Skeleton immobilized.

At least they could still immobilize the skeletons. The woodcutters moved in for the kill and they got their second surprise. One chop wasn’t enough. Each attack took down three to six damage, but the skeletons were made of sterner stuff than their zombie friends. They were not dying.

To make matters worse the horde of zombies had circled back around, tracking their prey, and were about to cross into the field. All of the straw golems were busy holding down the two zombie archers and the three skeletons. There were no more to help with the incoming horde.

“Forget the skeletons,” Alyss called. “We can’t kill them that easily, but they aren’t able to damage you. Attack the incoming zombies.”

Forgad was the first to jump in and swiped at the nearest shambling zombie.

Forgad attacks zombie for 5 HP damage.

Zombie attacks Forgad for 3 HP damage.

There were no bonuses for immobilization, and the zombies were fighting back.

Kaliope ran forward to help Forgad, and together they managed to trip the zombie and attack while he was prone. The zombie shuddered, dying on the ground.

Then the light surrounded the zombie and his flesh began to slough off.

Bone Zone Activated

“Not again,” Forgad said. “This isn’t going to work, boss. Whatever that bone zone is, we can’t kill them as long as they are able to rise again.”

“Just hold them off, I’ll think of something,” Alyss said.

She mentally commanded several of the golems to detach from the zombie they were attacking and grab one of the incoming zombies, but that only held two more. She had to think of something before they were overwhelmed.

She could knit raw materials, like straw. What else could she knit? What would make a better golem?

They were in the middle of a forest with leaves, trees, and brush that surrounded them. None of it looked much like yarn. With the blanket she had torn off a strand to start knitting, but what could you knit from a tree?

She cursed herself for thinking more like real life than a video game. By a stroke of luck, she had the highest level of knitting possible, so if a thing could be knitted inside the video game then she could craft it. She just had to try an idea, any idea to find out what would happen.

She touched her needles to a low hanging branch and willed them to be knitted. Nothing happened. She tried again with a leaf. It tried to be knitted, but it was too small an amount to make anything. She ended up with a short piece of green rope. She needed something larger, with more substance.

She could try the grass, but it was stubbly, covered in leaves, and would only produce more straw golems. They weren’t particularly strong, and without the yarn to help them immobilize the zombies she wasn’t sure how good they would be.

She scanned the area. Trees, leaves, grass, and bushes. What about the bushes?

Knitting needles in hand, she grabbed the end a bush and started knitting. It worked! The branches spun into a yarn that fed into the needles, quickly shaping into something new. She thought about a golem, bigger than the straw golems, and it began to form as the needles clacked together.

Stick Golem

HP 20/20

Attack 6

Special attack: Splinter

Special attack: Stab

The stick golem detached from the needles and stood, awaiting orders. It was a head taller than the straw golem, coming up to her thigh. It was constructed with woven sticks and leaves, spikes bristling in multiple areas. The eyes glowed a bright green, while the rest of it's face was featureless.

“Get the skeletons!” Alyss commanded.

The stick golem immediately went to work as she started knitting another golem, a fierce hope springing in her chest.

Stick Golem splinters Skeleton for 3 HP.

Stick Golem stabs Skeleton for 4 HP.

Stick Golem splinters Skeleton for 5 HP.

Stick Golem stabs Skeleton for 4 HP.

It was working. The golems could directly attack the skeleton, and they were slowly taking down its health.

She kept knitting and a second golem joined the first.

Stick Golem splinters Skeleton for 6 HP.

Stick Golem stabs Skeleton for 4 HP.

Stick Golem splinters Skeleton for 3 HP.

Stick Golem stabs Skeleton for 5 HP.

Skeleton dies.

Group XP 10.

The skeleton fell, crumbling to dust. This time there was no light and there was no resurrection.

“It can’t rise again!” Alyss called out to the others. “Kill the skeletons, then use the straw golems to hold the zombies while you kill them one at a time.”

They got to work. Alyss kept making stick golems until she had a small army of eight. Three of them would attack a single zombie or skeleton together. The zombies would fall, resurrect as a skeleton, then fall again and turn to dust.

The straw golems held onto the other zombies, attacking the new ones coming into the field, and holding them off while they defeated them a few at a time.

It didn’t take long before all of the zombies were triple dead, their skeletons powder in the wind. By the time the last zombie and skeleton fell the fog had cleared, and the forest looked normal.

“What about the lich?” Forgad asked.

Just then a wind blew up drawing cold shivers down their spine.

“I....will...return....”

The whisper was barely audible, drifting on the cold wind. Did she detect a note of satisfaction in it's tone?

Quest Complete. Congratulations

You have fended off the first wave. The Lich Trakada has no mana or troops to continue and has returned to his tower. But beware, this is only the first wave.

Group XP 200