Through the large fog curtain came the roars and yells of challenge against that chilling screech. It even affected the magic soldiers guarding the pass, making them fumble around in confusion. Rex steadied his rifle, waiting for something to happen.

“What was that?!” Rubee was hit the worst out of all of us. She was being helped up by a shaking yet sturdy Jo-Leanna.

“Nothing good.” Jo-Leanna muttered while making glowing signs and patterns before a bubble of light washed over the whole area. “This should help us for a while.” She sighed as the group looked much better than before.

“Many thanks, Lady Jo.” Smith bowed his head in appreciation to her. “Captain, I’m afraid we might be facing the Undead in this Event Field.” Smith moved to stand behind Rex while he surveyed the area. “We are drastically disadvantaged here.” He sighed as he watched lights and shadows flash beyond the fog. “It seems like we aren’t the only ones here either.”

“Rubee!” Rex barked while keeping his vision trained on the pass. “Go see if there is any more ammo or any other weapons or tools ready for use. Jo, go and check on Kid and the others. Bring anyone that's not in an essential job here.” Rex rubbed his grumbling stomach before adding. “Grab a snack for me from the kitchen too, I haven’t had real food in ages.” He shook his head to refocus on the fog wall.

“Yes sir!” Rubee gladly ran down the steps to get away from the view of the pass.

“Yes, Captain.” Jo-Leanna quietly followed after her, leaving Smith and Rex alone on the tower top.

“What do you mean we aren’t alone Smith?” Rex was watching more shapes and shadowy figures move through the fog, softly backlit by magical flashes of lights.

“The Event Fields are connected via Void Cracks if someone is unable to conquer it, it will open up for others to challenge it.” Smith glanced up, looking for something. “If my guess is correct, then this is an active Raid Event. If you look up sir, you’ll see the gods watching.” Smith pointed up to the space above the fog, the space was filled with stars and planets of many colors and shapes.

“What do you mean gods?” Rex was curious why he didn’t see those till now.

“Beings with god-like powers, that hold the Title of a God according to the System.” Smith was silently counting the many celestial bodies hanging in the starry sky. “I have never seen so many, I have only heard of something like this.” He shut his eyes trying to think of something. “They usually only watch something entertaining, and the only Event that should have this many viewers is… oh no. OH NO!” Smith started to freak out even more.

“Smith! What is it?!” Rex stood up to face the frantic man mumbling words. “What are you saying, man!?” Rex smacked him across the face to shock him back to his senses. “Breathe!”

“Thank you, sir.” Smith finally calmed himself, Rex just shook his head while going back to watching the fog wall. “I have some bad news Captain.” Smith began to shake and shiver. Rex just silently waited for him to continue. “We may have ended up in the latest Undead Raid Event Field.” Smith was a bit taken back when Rex made no reaction. “Captain?”

“So we are facing some Undead? Like skeletons or zombies?” Rex asked as the fog slowly started to fall. He readied his rifle, trying to calm down his increasing heart rate. His adrenaline was pumping already. “Any weak points I should know about?” The fog faded away, as dim dark twilight met his view. It was sort of surreal seeing daylight just end in darkness.

“You aren’t worried, sir?” Smith was a bit impressed by this man. “Usually people who have never faced the undead would boast first than die while frozen in fear at the mere sight of their masses.” He nodded his head as remembered some of his past.

“Weak points Smith, no need to monolog.” Rex was watching figures flashing around, going this way and that. It seems his view is cut off until he goes past the connection path.

“Head, or the shiny magic core if it’s visible, sir!” Smith snapped to attention. “Permission to gear up for battle, sir!” He saluted Rex, waiting for his order.

“That should have been the first thing you did! Hurry up recruit! Can’t have you dying on me this soon!” Rex turned around to bark out orders, getting the older-looking man moving on the double. “Tell everyone they better be suited up when they get here, or there will be consequences.” Rex took in a deep breath as Smith rushed off.

“Captain!” Benni popped up with a screen in hand. “We are connected to the Eternal Twilight Field! It’s a Tier 5 Field!” She held up a glowing red screen with a death symbol on it. “We are so fucked!” She started to sob loudly as the red screen cracked and vanished with a burst of silent sinister laughter.

“Aren’t you overreacting Benni?” Rex smiled as he finally caught some solid movement in his scopes. “Is a tier 5 that bad?” He watched as a mass of shambling figures with glowing red fire eyes, rushing towards something loud out of his view.

“We had to use such crazy rare magical items to not only save you but to power you up enough so you barely entered into the first tier!” Benni shouted in frustration. “Those beings out there, can just walk over here and kill us all in under a minute.” She imposed herself in front of his eyes to make her point. “Just because your bullets are Tier 3, don’t go thinking you can just shoot your way out of this!”

“You know what my rifle does?” Rex blinked at her in surprise.

“Not exactly, I have no experience witnessing it in action, just the knowledge granted to me by Sir Spirit and the System.” Benni sighed as she stopped above the bracelet. “Oh yeah, Captain, due to the Event Field being a higher tier than us, you are granted more bonuses.” Rex held up his hand.

“Just accept it all, and tell me the short version.” He sighed as a wave of bright blue fire covered the dark side of the pathway. A wave of cold blew over the area, buffeting Rex a bit. “I think I understand the danger now.” He ducked to sit against the wall while catching his breath.

“To sum it up sir, we need to survive the Event Field if we want any rewards. The timer for the doubling is stuck at an hour now, I’m guessing it won’t budge till after the Event sir.” Benni plopped against the wall next to him. “If we can last for one week, we can detach from the Field.” She held her knees to her chest. “Can a Tier 1 Starship even last a day here?”

“Camp out for a week, hoping the big badies don’t come to kill us all? Sounds like a picnic.” Rex lifted his head to peek over the wall. The magic soldiers were just managing to regain their postures, their lights were much dimmer than before. “If we stay quiet, do you think they might ignore us?” Rex looked down at the miserable little fairy with a small smirk on his face.

“If only it was that easy. Is that a dragon?” Benni perked up at a mighty roar beyond the pass as another gush of blue flames coated the black figures, shattering them into oblivion. “We might survive after all!” She started to jump for joy.

“Why is a dragon a good thing?” Rex was excited to see a real live dragon, but also a bit worried about being on the receiving end of that attack.

“I keep forgetting you know absolutely nothing.” Benni just sighed as she shook her head. Turning around to face him at eye level, she pointed behind her. “Short answer, Undead bad, Dragons fight them, we might live long enough to escape.” She turned back around to watch a glossy blue dragon rampage about sending ice about clearing out the masses of black fire-eyed beings.

“Is that a Brionac? I don’t think it’s a clan member, ah, there!” Smith marched back to the tower’s edge with a full suit of armor minus a helmet, on his waist were twin war hatches. “It seems to be an Adventure’s Raiding Party, things don’t look good for them.” Rex leaned into the butt of his rifle, as the scope enhanced his vision.

“You’re right, those things, will tear them apart before the dragon can do anything.” Rex took in a deep breath. “I have a horribly stupid idea, so everyone, brace yourselves.” He exhaled as he brought the rifle up to aim, he thought of a basic bullet, he felt it load. He fingered the trigger, waiting. “Dragons are civil right?” He took another breath, squeezing the trigger a moment after the exhale.

“Bloody balls!” Smith yelled out as he covered his ears, he was a bit too close for comfort. The rifle echoed out a sound similar to a large caliber rifle firing, yet the recoil was magically displaced into a puff of air blasting from the tip of the barrel. “What was that?!” He was fingering his ears while speaking loudly.

“Hit.” Rex set the rifle down on the ground behind the wall. “Let us hope this works.” He started waving his hands above his head while staring at a very angry-looking glowing dragon. “OVER HERE!!” He started to jump up and down. “USE THE PATHWAY!!” Noticing the attention he got from the dragon, he started yelling and pointing wildly.

“Um… Captain? You know they can hear and see you just fine right?” Betty was next to Smith who looked embarrassed watching him. “Why did you attack them?!” She flew up to his face after he stopped jumping with an oh. “You could have just yelled for them, don’t piss off the more powerful beings, please.” She stressed the last word.

“I only shot to get their attention, I was hoping they could use the Pathway to bottleneck those things. They might last longer that way.” Rex held up his hands while letting the little fairy push him back a bit, he couldn’t help but chuckle at her small outbursts. “What are those things anyway?”

“Zombies, and not just any ones by the looks of it.” Smith pulled out a scope-like device from his belt. “At least your plan worked Captain, the dragon’s group is pushing back to the pathway.” A large thud made them all turn to the stairs.

“Why is this so heavy?!” Rubee was panting while collapsed on a large cubic crate. “This was all that was left, sir.” She was breathing hard, seems like there was a lot in there. “I’ll suit up in a moment, the rest are on the way.”

“Good job, get ready quickly, we’re about to have company.” Rex picked up his rifle while heading over to the crate. “Benni, what do we have here and how do I equip it?” Opening up the crate showed a plethora of items, from wearable gear, different-looking bullet types, and some sphere and canister-shaped devices. “I don’t need all the details, due to time restraints.” A loud roar followed by a blast of chilling winds over the tower top signaled Benni to hurry up.

“Just like loading your rifle, use magic and think ‘Equip’ and it should magically do its thing.” Rex glowed briefly as the armor pieces floated up and snapped into place on his body. While admiring his new suit, a vest clipped on while the devices attached themselves to it. The spheres were in place along his belt. “Those devices are all magical explosives. Add a bit of magic and boom!” Benni floated up with her dramatic flair.

“The bullets? I only see one new design.” He held up one of five new-looking bullets. “These are just stunning to look at, so much tiny detail.” While he was admiring it, Benni hovered around it while reading from a screen.

“This is a Disruption Bullet, it says something about using against full shielding on vehicles. This isn’t meant for a person?!” Benni turned in freight at the bullet that was as tall as she was. “Why do you need something this extreme?!” She yelled at Rex as he loaded up all the extra ammo.

“Benni, this is barely the minimum we could come up with in the limited time we had. I rather have it and not use it, but life always has a more twisted idea.” Rex walked back to the wall while inspecting the throwables hanging onto him, but was magically never in his way until he wanted them to be. “What sort of boom can these things do?”

“The left ones are Fire Bombs, right are Smoke bombs, and the spheres are Ice bombs. I’m betting you can guess what they each do.” Benni hmped down on his shoulder as he aimed the pathway. “So what’s your big plan Captain?”

“You said we are in a dangerous place right? So why not help out the more powerful possible allies survive as well?” Rex gave her a knowing smile. “Even if we can’t do a thing to the enemies out there, and they will eventually find us, what can we do? The simple answer is to plug the hole with powerful allies.” Rex pointed to where the dragon was holding off the Undead since the pathway was narrow enough for it to barely fit. “This way they have a more advantage battleground since they only have to worry about one side.”

“I don’t think they can hold out much longer though.” Smith was controlling the magic soldiers to give the new allies room. “I’m pulling them back to the crossing, she would let the others in sir?” The dragon wasn’t the only one around, there were a few more in a group, two beasts and three people like being running for cover. “They look wounded, orders sir?” Smith was looking at Rex with bated breath, afraid of what he might do.

“No soldier left behind.” Rex’s attitude changed in a moment, his emotions seemed almost muted. “Smith, get those people to cover behind the soldiers. Don’t let them in the castle unless they are dying.”

“Yes sir!” Smith started to glow as he made motions, the magic soldiers below began their task of escorting their new allies to safety across the pathway. The dragon was slowly losing ground with every blast they gave. “They are clear sir, two are injured but nothing lethal. One is about to begin attacking.” Smith reported as a hail of glowing magical arrows sprouted from below.

“Looks cool, but it isn’t very effective.” Rex was watching the barrage of arrows pelt into the masses of zombies rushing at fast speeds towards the dragon blocking the pathway. After inhaling deeply, the dragon raised its head before bringing it down. A large beam blinded everyone for a few moments as it cleaved out a path in the mass of Undead. “That was stunning.” Rex stared at the trail of frozen destruction with awe.

“How many are there?!” Rubee was now joining the group along the tower’s wall, she held onto a long spear while watching the horde fill in the gap. “At least the ice is slowing them down some.” She wore dark crimson armor that matched her hair. The dragon looked out of breath from that attack. “What now?” She clutched her spear as the dragon readied itself.

“We wait.” Rex was scanning the new arrival of the horde, the ice gave his visibility a bit of an increase into the darker side. He thought he saw something glowing in the distance. “Remind me again, what’s the Undead’s weak spot?” He asked out loud while focusing on slowly his heart rate.

“Their core if it’s visible, otherwise the head, sir.” Smith was managing the soldiers to aid the allies below. The archers donated their arrows, while the mages gave aid to the group’s healer.

“When is it visible?” Rex saw something dark moving along the ice, shattering it while screeching.

“Only high tier Undead have them showing, the lower tier have it centered in the head, usually.” Benni added from the side, hovering with some more screens taking up her space.

“Captain! Why is there a Brionac here?” Jo-Leanna just made it on the tower to witness the dragon spit a cold fireball at the encroaching horde. She was equipped with light leather-looking armor colored in light blues with glowing deep blue patterns, small one-handed knives were strapped all around her. Kid ran past her to rush to the wall for a better view.

“It’s Derrick’s group! That’s Aunty Jo-Lene!” Kid was leaning far over the edge pointing. “We have to help them! Derrick!” She started waving, while almost falling over.

“What the hell are you doing?” Rex grabbed her by the back of the collar, lifting her back over the ledge and turning her around to face his mad glare. “One, that’s dangerous. Two, I don’t care if you know them, I don’t. Three, I’m the Captain here, so sit.” He let go of her, getting a yelp as she landed. A concerned-looking Benni flew over to hug the face of Kid.

“Betty! I’m so glad you’re safe!” Rex was unsettled by the fairy hugging the face of its larger look alike.

“Benni! I’m so glad you’re still here!” Kid, or Betty now, grabbed Benni as they had some weird reunion. Rex turned to see Jo-Leanna looking worried at the dragon fighting off the hordes of zombies.

“We’ll talk later, hold onto something.” Rex spotted something gleaming in the distance, a bad feeling was welling within him. He braced himself against the wall, while everyone obeyed and hit the deck. A soul-piercing wail descended upon all. Rex could feel his body move like it was submerged in tar. His vision shaky at best, he managed to kneel and set his rifle on the wall for support.

“Ah!” Jo-Leanna’s yell echoed out as color returned to his sight, and the pressure lifted just a bit. Haunting laughter rumbled throughout the space as the zombies stopped in place. “Captain!” She yelled as she flung a ball of icy blue light to envelope Rex.

“Perfect.” Rex smiled as his symptoms settled down. He closed his eyes while calming his heartbeat down. A gravelly voice echoed out as he opened his eyes.

“How the mighty have fallen. Heh heh heh heh. Trumble before me dragon!” Out of the dark twilight, a skeleton with rotting flesh patchily attached crossed over the pathway.

“Who are you?” A musically feminine voice asked from the mighty blue dragon.

“I am Mortimer Von Slowish! I’m the greatest Necromancer of all!” He lifted his arms and head as he laughed aloud. Rex spotted a glint from his chest area, below the rotting skin.

“So you’re a minion of Tim?” The dragon snorted as if she was uninterested. This pissed off the rotting skeleton something fierce.

“AAAARH!!” Mortimer yelled as his eyes burned glowing red, similar to the zombies surrounding him. Their red fire eyes started to get absorbed into a growing dark red ball between his hands. “I will use your undead corpse to overthrow that fool!” The zombies crumbled into dust as he channeled their magic into his attack.

“Like I would let you!” The dragon had several magic circles with complex patterns appear along her neck. “Die!” She screamed as a brighter beam than before was launched. Rex just closed his eyes, keeping his breathing and heartbeat steadying. “No…” A thud echoed as the dragon dropped to her knees, she was too tired to stand.

“HAHAHAHAHA!! Your despair is so sweet!” The ugly skin-covered skeleton laughed with his head raised in triumph, the orb swelling to capacity. A glowing screen was visible with cracks running through it. “Your attacks can’t even penetrate my shields, weaklings!” His shielding shattered as the glowing parts merged into the ball. “Now ta-!” A sudden glass shattering sound followed by a bright white fiery eruption cut him off.

“Hit.” Rex had another bullet loaded and fired again. Another explosion of white-hot flames covered a screaming burning figure. “Hit.” Rex fired again, this time after the explosion, the screaming stopped. “Did I get him?” Rex slowly looked up from his rifle, a burning lump was in the middle of a burnt patch of ground. A black gust of wind burst from the figure, extinguishing the flames.

“WHO DARES?!” Mortimer’s naked skeleton with a large ugly yellow gem in its chest stood up.

“Me.” Rex fired a basic bullet only for it to dent a glowing shield. He loaded up an MP Bullet to clear out the shield.

“Who is this little pest?” Mortimer said in disgust before shock took its place as his shield was absorbed than a hole broken into it. “What sort of-” Another IR Bullet erupted into blazing white flames. “Bastard!” After the flames died out in a cloud of black fog, a shimmering deep red shield appeared. “I will deal with you after the lizard boy!” He pointed at Rex, before turning to use more zombies to attack the dragon.

“Now I’m mad.” Rex started to laugh as he smiled sinisterly. “Let’s try out some new equipment, shall we?” He loaded up one of the Disruptor Bullets, took aim at the enemy’s head, and fired. “Eat that.”