Funmi went into the horde stealthily, This was a different horde than the one that was used for the Rank 2 raid, this horde hadn’t been raided as much. Her goal was to kill minds until some of the better undead came around she would try to at least kill one Rank 4 before retreating.

Funmi climbed to the top of a tall building the roof wasn’t occupied by any undead yet so she hadn’t alerted the horde.

The first mind came within her sights, it was on the 3rd floor. She got closer and realized that there were 2 Rank 4 Hive Brutes in the same room as the undead, it was a Rank 4 Hive Baron Mind.

She made an effort not to get too close to the Mind since minds had wider energy zones and could detect people that entered it.

Funmi jumped through the window of the room the undead was, breaking the glass. The Hive mind hit her with a psychic attack but she just channeled her energy into her head to combat it.

The Brutes had already moved to intercept her. One was directly in front of the Mind while the other was running to her right, it was trying to block her from getting out through the window.

Such behavior was only possible because of the Mind that was coordinating them. Funmi unsheathed her sword and headed for the Brute that was moving to her right.

The two of them clashed, Funmi’s sword parried by the Brutes armored arm. Her short sword cut into the exoskeleton but didn’t get deep enough into it’s flesh. The Brute pushed her toward the other Brute that was ready to deliver a punch.

As Funmi flew toward the incoming punch of the other Brute she told her IP ‘Put 10,000 en-code into energy’ The IP responded ‘Done’. Funmi thought ‘If I can’t get Agility to the High rank I can at least increase energy since it’s so cheap on en-code’.

Funmi turned in the air as she flew toward the Brute. She smiled warmly as she realized that she never held fear for the undead, they had already done their worst when they killed her parents. What more could they do? Kill her? She would appreciate them freeing her from her suffering.

As she approached the punch that she was sure would crack her ribs and bruise her internal organs she did something that no body with a sense of self preservation would do. She let it hit her.

Her body bent forward in the air as her ribs broke and puncture her insides. It hurt but she smiled.

The punch sent her flying back toward the other Brute but she heard her IP say ‘You have kill a Rank 4 Hive Baron Mind’. Funmi had thrown her short sword into the head of the Mind while the Brute punched her.

She as she flew toward the other Brute that was preparing to tackle her, probably the last order of the Mind. She focused on the force that propelled her, she was in her own world. She thought ‘*sigh* I’ll never be able to forgive these things. For every hit they give me I’ll hit back. As long as they don’t kill me, I’ll always return, no matter how long it takes I’ll always come back’

She smiled and said “Karma’s a Bitch”.

Right when she was about to enter the out stretched arms of the Brute something in her clicked. She didn’t know where or what it was but she suddenly stopped in the air as if the punch from the other Brute never happened.

She watched the Brute close as it caught air in place of her. She suddenly felt in complete control of herself and she spun and stretched out her arm that was holding the long sword. The ribs under the arm was broken but she felt an unknown strength push her body regardless of it’s limitations according to her will.

The long sword sunk into the Brutes armored neck and came out the other side as she did a full spin. Her IP said ‘You have killed a Rank 4 Hive Brute’ ‘Your Energy has reached the Intermediate (low) rank’.

Funmi landed and watched in surprise as the Brute’s head fell to the floor. She thought ‘That shouldn’t have been able to behead it. How did that happen?’

The remaining Brute lounged at her with a fist aiming for her head. She focused again, she held the long sword with her other arm and blocked the hit. She flew back but the experience she felt was completely different from the previous time she was hit; she felt the force of the punch flow through her, she felt her grip on the kinetic energy that had been transferred to her.

She stopped flying instantly as she redirected the energy to her hand that held the sword. The Brute rushed at her as she heard the sound of the low Rank undead closing on her location.

The Brute punched again and she blocked, she slid back as she redirected all the kinetic energy to her legs and jumped out of the window she came in through. She shot out of it like a cannon, too fast for the Brute to follow and with more force than her Intermediate (intermediate) strength could afford.

Funmi escaped from the undead territory with hope of a new way to improve. She smiled as she thought ‘I’ll be back’.