“You know, you are wrong about Reese not being under your control.”

“Eh? But he is acting out against me! And I thought since I gained awareness against Wallace, he did too.”

“That was because you were both the same Level. But now you are two Levels higher than both Reese and Rebecca. They were told to say whatever whenever, right?”

“Shit.”

Navi was flying around my shoulder laughing in my ears as I was walking around and raising the dead. I had already summoned 20 something before the battle so around the thirtieth corpse after the battle, I received a notification.

“Necromancy has Leveled Up.”

Hm? That’s it?

I tried my magic again but instead of the normal Skelton, a zombie arose! Or rather, I guess you could call it a Zombie. It wasn’t categorized as a Level 0 monster, which surprised me. I bet I could now Summon any Level 1 Undead I have ever owned or the basic types. Can I Summon a basic Level 0 Zombie?

.

.

.

No. The basic Level 0 is a Skeleton. Trying to imagine the contagious basic zombie just activates the noncontagious Level 1 Zombie. But now I can summon Skeleton Mages, Skeleton Soldiers, Skeleton Archers, Skeleton Warriors, Ghouls, Revenants, and Haunters.

Fallen, Phantoms, Specters, Ogres, Shadows, and such were either Dark monsters or Spirit monsters. Not my area of expertise. Looks like I can only hope the Level 1 Zombies can evolve into them. Maybe it has something to do with their previous life’s actions?

I counted a good 278 more troops. Wow! That was…weird. We only lost 5 Skeletons. Not one person died.

No.

Those Skeletons could have eventually become people, too. I killed them. I killed the chance of them returning to life. I am a hypocrite. I mean, I already knew that, but it hit kind of hard when Reese almost died and I flipped out but when mere Skeletons were in danger I did nothing. I probably wouldn’t feel anything if normal Humans died.

And then where would I be? I would be a monster. Hell, I wouldn’t be able to look Spot in the eyes if I had caused David or Chance’s death, but if, say, that guy helping Spot on the roof had died, I wouldn’t even bat an eye. I know that I was kind of cut off to begin with, what with killing…wait. What?

“Hey, if I got out of Wallace’s power, doesn’t that mean I had control over…uh…Jesus? Almost forgot his name…”

“Yeah, I completely forgot him already. But yeah. You had control over him. Remember, you would have become a BOSS the next night.”

“But he disobeyed me.”

“No, you asked him, didn’t you?”

“Yes? But…wait…he never actually disobeyed me, huh?”

“Correct. He had more power over his own actions and they were extremely close to his original personality, but he wouldn’t attack you and he just diverted the order so he wouldn’t have to follow you.”

“Dang. What was I talking about?”

“You were crying about how weak you are.”

“Huh?”

“That’s right. You do know you could have spent the time getting ready to issue Quests and establish a communications with others using the monitor? You could have also assigned people specific enemies instead of just letting people know where they were generally. Keep that in mind for the future.”

“Oh. Okay…”

Wow, I suck.

“Yep~!”

I finish up the reviving and notice certain special things happening. Four of the Haunters I created went off and joined the other Builders so I now had 7. Also, the people that had Abilities retained them, but I wasn’t going to pay attention to them. Most of the others joined the wall guards and patrol. I then set up 150 Units specifically for war.

3 groups consisting of different types of Undead. I left the strong guys to directly protect the ‘castle walls’ and left Brandon and David to control the front line, or the infantry. This was filled with Revenants, Skeletons, and Haunters or Zombies. I was told there was a fast version of Zombies called Wicked that I hadn’t seen yet. Hopefully soon.

The long range fighters would be Skeleton Archers, Mages, and any Gunners we have. After handing a gun to a Skeleton, they turned into a Level 1 Skeleton Gunner. They don’t fire off regular rounds either. At the cost of their own HP, they shoot Bone Rounds. They explode slightly on impact. This group will be led by both the Specter, whose name is Damian, and the Phantom, A.K.A. Renzo.

Damian is a beefy Russian guy but made completely out of ice and he wears a strange simple outfit. Kind of boring, like a t shirt and a pair of pants and that’s it. But it’s all transparent, even his clothes. Renzo was different. Technically, he was a figure made up of pure electrical energy. But, he is able to manifest a humanoid shape. In this form, he looks like a yakuza. He wears a robe, maybe a kimono or something but only a loincloth underneath. Thankfully he doesn’t walk around opened up. Again, everything just looks sort of transparent. It’s like looking at a yellow ghost.

I wanted to get used to their names so they could ‘wake up’ like Reese and Brandon. By the way, Brandon talks like a Scottish guy. Because he is a Scottish guy…but after becoming aware, he decided to wear a blue two piece suit that actually worked well with his extremely pale skin and fiery red hair that fell over his two horns that protruded from his forehead. He also ended up joining the Clan, but he didn’t receive any awards since he wasn’t part of the Clan and he technically didn’t participate in the battle. Thankfully, I gave him the GP he earned for me.

Anyways, the last group, the ones who flank or attack from the other side, the fast and quiet scouts led by the Fallen, a young man from a prestigious drug cartel family, Chris, was wearing a conspicuous disguise. Well, it would be if it was such a neon yellow bandana like that. Chance will also help them.

Scratch and Ribcage, or Fluffy the wolf, if you’re Sarah, will be kind of like the protectors of the civilians. Since Ribcage had his Buffer Skill and Scratch had her new Wind Essence along with her Booster Skill. Wind Essence was the Ability User’s Skill which added wind to his attacks. Why he used his fists was beyond me.

Ribcage had the ability to boost others while Scratch had the power to buff herself. Now that she looked really human like, it was awkward for her to still be labeled as my Pet. She may look that way, but she is still an animal on the inside. But, she won’t play with Lucy and Sarah anymore, which bewilders me. Maybe because she is now big?

Well, besides Scratch and Ribcage, Kuvali, the Shadow, an African man whose family came from a long line of poachers, protects the Gates. Kuvali was…black. He was a silhouette that had no other defining features. My guess would be that that would change once he Levels up.

And then there was Sammy. He patrolled the area.

But Sammy was different from normal Skeletons, he became a Skeleton Leader! A basic Level 2 Skeleton without tools. He’s not strong, but having someone who can lead others is a good pawn. What? No one likes him. He is like a Reese knock off. And not a good one.

After every one of the enemies were killed, we all got a notification.

“The Undead Clan has fended off an attack! Anyone who participated on their side has gained 500 GP! Members of the Clan who proved themselves will be listed in the Top Ten tonight!”

Well, more like tomorrow night. That fight didn’t even take 3 hours. In fact, the only reason why it’s past midnight was because we were chasing all the runaways. They didn’t want to surrender so we just killed them. Sad to say.

It is starting to get bright now, since I spent so much time raising the dead. Everyone spent their points on materials like Potions or attack items like Magic Stones or Bombs. I spent all the extra GP I gained from my Minions on Resources to upgrade the walls. I wanted actual ramparts and such. With this, I can install cannons or turrets. Plus, the populace will be better protected.

The Builders set to work, with their new Pink Amiga, Yellow Amiga, Black Amiga, and White Amiga. All girls? That’s weird. Oh well.

With this, I could have them do lots of things. Red Amigo could easily Destroy a building with his new Ability, and after becoming a Mid BOSS he earned Construct as well. He could easily complete a project by himself in a matter of hours.

The other two Amigos, which were Armored Haunters, could perform at the same level when working together. Likewise, this was the same as four regular Haunters. I had three groups that could do things at about the same speed. I sent Red Amigo to destroy buildings and gather more Resources while Blue and Green Amigo rebuilt the wall. I had the Amigas build houses and dorms. Afterwards, they would help each other construct a better house for Headquarters.

After the successful night, my Area expanded to cover nearly half of the entire Region, which surprised me. I could now easily see many different people around us. I sent each of the three groups out to bring in the people. Some of the survivors were actually part of our Clan. Had to help them out there.

I checked to see the Level of the members and saw that no change in the Top Five had occurred. According to the list, there was me, then the three Level Fours, and then Spot. I guess since I gave him that position, he would be towards the top.

Unfortunately, these Level Fours were spread around the country. No, I don’t mean Country, but the United States. I had sent a request to a person in California, someone in Massachusetts, and one other one in Louisiana. It doesn’t look like they will be coming here anytime soon.

I guess I could use that as my excuse.

“Hey, Navi.”

“Yep?”

“…Watch over them, will you?”

“Hmmm, alight. But only Sarah and Lucy. The bitch doesn’t deserve my attention.”

“Navi.”

“…Fine.”

She hmphed and flew off back to the base. I was about to step out of the boundaries of my ‘castle’. Why, you ask? Because I am the cause of this trouble. Because I was an idiot and went to go get Reese a god damn hat, I led all those people to us. I caused them to die. First off, I was going to check out whatever it was that Lucy hit, but it turned out to be a government helicopter. Her damn arrow somehow hit a guy who ended up dropping a grenade and exploding the entire thing. Crazy. My guess is Spot was regarded as a lost cause.

Such a coincidence if I ever saw one. If I stayed behind, I would just be a target for the government and the other power hungry morons. I messaged Spot, but his comms cut off half way through. I hope that doesn’t mean what I think it means. Before I was convinced to stay back, I needed to leave.

One, I could use this chance to quietly learn more about the monitor on my own.

Two, I could gather the members of the Clan and bring them back safely back to base.

Three, by leaving the ‘castle’ to Spot, the government hopefully won’t attack anymore.

There might be other reasons, but they aren’t that important.

“…”

Hm?

“sssSSSSTOOOOOOOP!”

Huh? OOF!

“Rebecca, what the hell?! Where did you come from?!”

“Ribcage helped me! Where the hell do you think you’re going?! You have to stay back and protect us!”

“But if I stay, then I’ll only place you in more danger!”

“Bullshit! You are just upset that people died because of you! You want to shirk your god damn responsibilities again! Don’t fuck with me!”

Eep. So this is Rebecca when she’s mad…Great. There’s Spot riding on top of Ribcage. That smug little bonehead. The both of them.

I gave them my reasons, but…

“Who cares?! You are going to stay here with me and Sarah! Lucy needs you as well! You are not leaving alone out there! What if something happens to you?! You will be a neon sign to anyone out there!”

“Hehehe, there’s a thought. Why don’t you join him?”

“”Huh?””

We both looked at Spot as he jumped down from Ribcage. He understood the necessity of me leaving and so wasn’t going to argue with me. He knew how strong the government was. Especially now that they have ways of going places. This means that trade and growth will return shortly to the country.

But both of us together? I must admit that the idea has its merits, but what if something happens to her? How am I going to explain it to Sarah?

“Yeah, think of it like a honeymoon!”

“Oh…well then…I guess that works…”

Eh? Rebecca, you are already swayed? And don’t play coy while on top of me! It’s really distracting!

“But what if something happens to you?”

“Then don’t let anything happen to me.”

“Oh.”

That’s it. The answer I was running away from. I never participated because of my fears of losing, yet even in such a daring situation as last night’s with the Rapist, I had won easily. A simple punch. Imagine if I was ready and had good control over my powers?

I would have decimated the guy.

“But that doesn’t change anything. What if I meet someone stronger than me? How would I go about winning?”

“You have me, now.”

Uhh…

“You can’t argue that logic, Andrew. Get going. I will tell the girls your farewells. Make sure to come back often.”

“Alright~! We will~!”

“Ugh…what have I gotten myself into?”

Alright! Time to build on the other characters! Don’t worry, we will continue to involve Andrew, but now we can start to see how the other main characters act without their leader. Up next is the military man Rick “Spotter” Manton! The man who can see for miles!