Inside Milton’s police station, Kaius was sitting in a meeting room, sharing all the information he knew about the zombie attacks on Guelph, Kitchener-Waterloo, and Cambridge.

Captain Diaz and his two lieutenants were also in the room.

Kaius had already scanned the two lieutenants with his Eye of Mana.

Name

Peter Bartello

Class

Guardian

Level

20

Health

Normal

Mana

100/100

Strength

38

Vitality

50

Dexterity

37

Intelligence

12

Skills (active)

General

Intermediate Vitality Enhance (25MP): temporarily increases Vitality by 9. Duration: 30 minutes.

Intermediate Dexterity Enhance (25MP): temporarily increases Dexterity by 9. Duration: 30 minutes.

Guardian

Shield Wall (15MP): create a translucent wall-shaped barrier in front of the caster. Barrier is two meters tall, three meters wide, and five centimeters thick. Barrier thickness increases if caster is wielding a shield before casting. Duration: 10 minutes.

Inner Vitality (20MP): increase caster’s vitality by 6, plus an additional amount depending on the damage suffered in the next 15 minutes. Vitality increase duration: 30 minutes.

Name

Michael Bennet

Class

Guardian

Level

20

Health

Normal

Mana

100/100

Strength

40

Vitality

50

Dexterity

34

Intelligence

13

Skills (active)

General

Intermediate Vitality Enhance (25MP): temporarily increases Vitality by 9. Duration: 30 minutes.

Intermediate Dexterity Enhance (25MP): temporarily increases Dexterity by 9. Duration: 30 minutes.

Guardian

Shield Wall (15MP): create a translucent wall-shaped barrier in front of the caster. Barrier is two meters tall, three meters wide, and five centimeters thick. Barrier thickness increases if caster is wielding a shield before casting. Duration: 10 minutes.

Final Stand (25MP): increase caster’s strength by 3, vitality by 30, dexterity by 3, intelligence by 3. Vitality stat decreases by 5 every minute. When the skill ends, if caster’s vitality is below 10, suffer severe injuries and permanently decrease all stats by 90%. If vitality is at or above 10, decrease all stats by 90% for 240 hours. Able to pre-emptively cancel skill before duration ends. Duration: 25 minutes.

“You can easily verify the information I’ve just told you by sending a scouting party to these three cities,” Kaius finished everything he had to say.

“Bartello, go organize three squads and head to these three cities. Do a quick scout then come back,” Captain Diaz commanded. “Bennet, start evacuating the civilians to the surrounding cities.”

“Yes sir!” Lieutenant Bartello and Lieutenant Bennet complied in unison and headed out the room to execute their orders.

Now there was only Kaius and Captain Diaz left in the room.

“So, I see you’re quite strong,” said Captain Diaz with a piercing gaze. “My Advanced Scan can’t even give me accurate information on you.”

“I’m just lucky that’s all,” Kaius gave a vague reply. “Besides, isn’t it good to have another strong fighter to help defend against the zombies?”

After reaching level 20 and changing his class, Kaius no longer needed to pretend to be weak in front of the soldiers. On the one hand, he did not need to be as cautious of them since he can easily defeat them; on the other hand, he wanted to be able to openly help the soldiers fight against the zombies.

“We have an entire company of soldiers defending the city. It won’t be your turn to fight any time soon,” Captain Diaz shook his head. “But it’s a different story if you’re willing to join the army.”

“Thanks, but I don’t like to take orders from people,” Kaius casually rejected the offer.

Just like Lieutenant Saunders, Captain Diaz is an upright man, always putting the safety of the civilians as his first priority. He has short black hair and brown eyes. He stood tall at six feet and gave off an intense pressure due to the mana aura leaking out of his body. He became quite famous in the army after completing his class change to that of a Mage. He was able to acquire powerful fire spells that can easily incinerate zombies. As a result, he was given the nickname Fire King Diaz.

Kaius’ original host had personally seen Captain Diaz use his fire spells to eliminate stray zombies. Hence, Kaius was able to get complete information on the captain when he used Eye of Mana.

Name

Andres Diaz

Class

Mage

Level

24

Health

Normal

Mana

240/240

Strength

28

Vitality

25

Dexterity

26

Intelligence

70

Skills (active)

General

Intermediate Dexterity Enhance (25MP): temporarily increases Dexterity by 9. Duration: 30 minutes.

Intermediate Intelligence Enhance (25MP): temporarily increases Intelligence by 9. Duration: 30 minutes.

Mage

Fire Bolt (10MP): shoots a bolt of fire at a target location.

Fire Rain (25MP): conjure up (20 + Intelligence/10) fire balls and hurl them over an area.

Pyro Spear (50MP): channels for 60 seconds to create a spear of immense heat, capable of melting through virtually everything. If channel is successful, able to launch the spear at target location. If channel is interrupted, caster will suffer backlash and receive injuries. Channel time decreases by 1 second for every 2 intelligence points. Minimum channel time is 30 seconds.

Skills (passive)

Mana Circuit: mana pool increases by an additional 5 points per level.

“As expected of the Fire King,” Kaius thought to himself.

“You should evacuate with the rest of the civilians,” said Captain Diaz. “I’ve heard of how strong you are from the doctors you saved, as well as what kind of person you are. While we’re defending the city, please go with the civilians and help us protect them along the way.”

“Is that an order?” asked Kaius.

“No,” Captain Diaz shook his head. “It’s a request on behalf of the Canadian Army. We will be sure to reward you appropriately once we eliminate the zombie horde.”

“Ok, consider it done,” Kaius agreed and left the room.

Kaius found out from the soldiers that most of the civilians were evacuating west to the city of Mississauga. The remaining civilians were split between going to the city of Burlington or Oakville, located south and southeast of Milton, respectively.

A few hours passed by quickly.

Kaius gathered with the majority of the civilians and began the journey west to Mississauga.

As Kaius passed by the north city entrance, he overheard a small portion of the conversation between the soldiers guarding the entrance.

“I just heard that we haven’t been able to get in contact with the company stationed in downtown Toronto since last night,” said one of the soldiers.

“Maybe their radios got destroyed by the beasts?” The other soldier offered up his own guess. “I’m sure they’re fine. They have Captain McCane stationed there. He can cut down hundreds of beasts just by himself. His nickname of Flash Sword isn’t just for show you know.”

“I hope you’re right.”

Kaius frowned deeply as he got onto Highway 401. Thinking of the soldiers’ conversation, he began to make plans for the worst-case scenario.

As most people did not have any form of transportation vehicles, the majority of civilians walked on the highway.

After trekking for about three hours, everyone finally managed to reach the west entrance to Mississauga.

A horrible sight greeted them upon arrival.

Earlier, five people squeezed into a car and drove ahead to Mississauga. However, the very same car was flipped upside down near the city entrance. The car looked like a total wreck. Gas leaked on the ground, forming a small puddle. The car windows had been smashed open; glass shards littered the nearby ground. Multiple trails of blood could be seen leading away from the car and into the city.

*Gasp!*

Several people at the front let out frightened gasps.

“What happened here…?”

“Where is everybody? Where are the soldiers guarding the entrance?”

Everyone suddenly realized that not a single Mississauga resident could be seen in the surrounding area. Usually, there would be at two soldiers guarding each city entrance. But now, not even the soldiers could be seen.

“Look, what’s that?”

Multiple strands of thin, white strings could be seen hanging off the sides of the metal fences. Just like Milton, Mississauga also had a layer of metal fences built to surround the city.

Kaius went up to the metal fence and touched the white strings with a small tree branch that he picked up off the ground.

Upon contact, the tree branch became glued to the white strings. Pulling back hard, Kaius did not manage to separate the tree branch from the white strings. Instead, the tree branch broke in two, with one section still stuck on the white strings.

“This is… spider silk?” Kaius thought to himself and furrowed his brows.

“Kaius!” Someone called out from within the group of people.

Turning around, Kaius saw Chris and Kayla walking towards him.

“It’s you guys,” Kaius said with a slightly surprised expression. “Where’s Adam and Scott?”

“Adam went to Oakville, and Scott went to Burlington,” Kayla answered. “We decided to split up so that we can provide treatment to more people during the evacuation.”

“What’s that white stuff on the fence?” Chris questioned.

“It seems to be spider silk?” replied Kaius. “It’s very sticky and durable.”

“Something looks seriously wrong here,” Kayla commented in a worried tone as she glanced at the blood trails. “Only the three of us here can fight, so we won’t be able to protect all these people. Should we turn back to Milton?”

“Too late,” Kaius shook his head. “We’ve got some cursed beasts approaching us.”

A large plaza sat beyond the west entrance to the city. Dozens of spider-like creatures crawled out from within the various buildings in the plaza. A while ago, Kaius had learned that the hideous creatures that poured out of the beast portals were officially known as cursed beasts.

Eye of Mana!

Name

Ash Spider

Class

None

Level

5

Health

Normal

Mana

5/5

Strength

14

Vitality

7

Dexterity

20

Intelligence

3

These Ash Spiders have a thin layer of grey colored carapace covering its meter-long body. Thick, pointy hairs protruded out of their eight long legs. Two sharp pincers extended out from their mouths. Two rows of pitch-black eyes lined the upper half of their heads, with four eyes in each row.

Within seconds, these Ash Spiders had already reached within a few dozen meters from Kaius.

“Prepare yourselves,” Kaius materialized the Basic Sword in his right hand. “I’ll be the vanguard. You two support me from the side and protect the civilians. Be careful, they’re fast.”

Chris and Kayla’s expressions tensed up. Both took out a Basic Short Sword from their inventory and gripped it tightly.

Outside the city entrance, many people saw the appearance of the Ash Spiders and instantly became terrified.

“Cursed beasts!”

“Run!”

Panic ensured as everyone tried to escape in various directions. The vast majority of the people turned around on the highway, while some people got off the highway and ran out onto the surrounding fields.

Pop!

Pop!

Pop!

Several large patches of grass beds on the field popped open as brown, furry creatures jumped out from underneath them. These brown, furry creatures accurately pounced at the people that escaped out onto the fields and bit into their necks.

Ahhhh!

Agonizing screams rang out on the fields.

The sight of people getting attacked by these creatures only caused the remaining people to become even more horrified. They began to push and shove others out of their way, only caring about how fast they can flee for their lives.

“Shit!” Kaius turned around and saw the attacks out on the fields.

Eye of Mana!

Name

Dust Spider

Class

None

Level

5

Health

Normal

Mana

5/5

Strength

18

Vitality

14

Dexterity

10

Intelligence

3

These Dust Spiders have a thick layer of brown fur covering their meter-long body. Eight strong, powerful legs allow them to jump far distances. Two sharp pincers extend out from their mouths. Six dark brown eyes formed a semicircle along the upper half of their heads.

Puchi!

Kaius stabbed his sword through the head of an Ash Spider that pounced on him.

“Chris, Kayla, go help evacuate the people still on the highway. I’ll handle things on this side.”

“Ok!”

“Got it!”

Chris and Kayla ran back to help defend the remaining people.

Kaius turned his attention back to the Ash Spiders.

“Want to swarm me with numbers? You picked the wrong target.”

“Come forth!”

With everyone too worried about their own lives, nobody paid any attention to Kaius’ side. Hence, Kaius no longer held back and showcased the full might of a Nether Lord.

Over two hundred undead creatures stepped out from the Netherworld and stood behind Kaius. Cenos was still hibernating inside the cocoon, so he did not appear.

Kaius gave a Basic Short Sword to each of the Skeleton Soldiers.

“Kill.”

The entire undead army charged forward fearlessly.

A zombie tried to clumsily grab onto an Ash Spider. However, the spider easily sidestepped the slow zombie and jumped onto its chest. The spider bit down hard and ripped open a hole in the zombie’s chest.

In retaliation, the zombie managed to grab hold of the spider’s body and bit at its face. The spider squealed in pain as the zombie ripped off a large chunk of its head. It fell over on its back and curled in its eight legs as green bodily fluids flowed out from the opening in its head.

When the zombie tried to go after the next spider, several spiders sprayed out their spider webs from afar, entangling the poor zombie. They tried to drag the zombie back to their nest, but the surrounding skeleton warriors came to the zombie’s rescue. They stabbed their bony fingers into the spiders’ abdomen and ripped apart their lower body. Green bodily fluids splattered all over the skeleton warriors.

Although the undead army is currently winning, more and more Ash Spiders poured out from within the city, causing the undead army to slowly dwindle.

Facing this unfavorable situation, not only was Kaius not worried, he even showed a hint of anticipation.

Kaius ordered a few zombies to form a wall and hold back the spiders while the rest of his undead army retreated. As a large group of spiders swarmed on top of the zombies that were left behind, Kaius cast his newly learned spell.

Corpse Explosion!

Boom!

The zombies and the nearby spider corpses all combusted in a fiery explosion.

All the spiders in a twenty-meter radius got blown into smithereens. The spiders further away also got burned to death by the explosion.

Fearing the fire caused by the explosion, the remaining Ash Spiders scuttled back into their hiding places in the city.

Kaius did not chase after the fleeing spiders. Instead, he went back onto the highway to check on the evacuation progress. He saw Chris and Kayla standing at the back of the group, helping to fend off the Dust Spiders while the others tried to run away.

Both of them did not hold back and activated their body enhancement spells.

Lesser Vitality Enhance!

Rush!

Chris attracted the attention of the spiders by throwing any object he could find on the ground at them. While the spiders became distracted, Kayla dashed around like a phantom, harvesting the life of a spider with every sword strike.

Although they tried their best, there were simply too many spiders. Dozens of people got pounced on by the Dust Spiders and dragged back to the spiders’ hiding spots underground.

Pitiful screams rang out all over the place.

Sensing Kayla to be the most dangerous threat, four Dust Spiders pounced on Kayla at the same time.

Kayla tried to cast Rush to dodge out of the way, but suddenly realized she ran out of mana.

“Kayla!” Chris hastily ran towards Kayla and body slammed a spider away.

Kayla dodge to the side and managed to evade another spider. But this left her wide open to the remaining two spiders.

Not having enough time to react, Kayla shielded herself with her arms held out in front and closed her eyes, bracing herself for the spiders’ impact. However, the anticipated attacks never came.

Two dark bolts soared through the air and found their marks.

Pop! Pop!

The heads of the remaining two spiders were blasted into pieces.

Kayla opened her eyes and looked towards the city entrance.

“Kaius!”

“This way!” Kaius shouted.

As much as Kaius wanted to head back to Milton, he did a quick scan of the fields surrounding the highway and saw hundreds of Dust Spiders coming out from underground.

Although he could defend himself from these spiders, the same couldn’t be said for Chris and Kayla. So he urged them to head into the city. Although there were cursed beasts hiding inside the city as well, at least they can take cover in the buildings instead of getting swarmed from all sides out on the highway.

Trusting Kaius, Chris and Kayla ran towards him into the city.

On their way, several Dust Spiders pounced on them from the fields, but they managed to dodge all of them with the help of Kaius’ Shadow Bolts. Once they reached the city, the Dust Spiders no longer chased after them and went back into their hiding spots underground, as though they were afraid of trespassing into the city.

Seeing this, Chris and Kayla finally let out a sigh of relief.

As Chris and Kayla got near Kaius, they noticed the large undead army surrounding him.

“This…” Chris was at a loss for words.

“Are you… controlling them?” Kayla asked with incredulity.

“Yes. I got lucky and obtained this kind of skill,” replied Kaius. “Don’t be afraid. They would never attack you guys.”

“You already saved my life twice, so I trust you,” said Kayla.

“Aiiiii…” Chris sighed helplessly. “Seems like I’m screwed either way I go, so I might as well take a chance on you. Our lives are in your care now.”

Kaius patted the shoulder of a skeleton warrior and confidently said, “don’t worry, these guys will be your personal bodyguards.”

“…”

“Ahem,” clearing his throat, Kaius quickly changed topics. “I see a hotel nearby. Let’s head there and stock up on supplies. If there are any survivors in there, we can ask them what happened to the city.”

“Ok, let’s go,” Kayla nodded. A skeleton warrior dutifully followed closely behind her.

“…” Chris also headed towards the hotel with a skeleton warrior following behind.

A few minutes later, the trio went through the front door of the hotel.

The main lobby is surprisingly clean and organized, but devoid of any signs of life. Looking at the floor plan displayed on one of the walls, the hotel is divided into three sections. The central section consists of the main lobby, with the kitchen area behind it. The left and right sections contain the guest rooms.

The trio decided to first go into the kitchen area to stock up on supplies.

A single hallway led from the main lobby into the kitchen area. Kaius sent a few undead creatures to scout inside the kitchen first. Not hearing any commotions even after waiting for a while, the trio cautiously made their way in.

There was nobody in the kitchen as well. Large containers full of raw ingredients could be seen on the shelves by the walls. Walking a bit further in, the trio discovered the fridge was also full of food.

“Jackpot!” Chris happily helped himself to some cooked food in the fridge.

“Where is everybody?” Kayla asked in a low voice.

Seeing all the available food, Kaius activated Fay’s Ring and unceremoniously stored all the food inside.

“You have something like that too?” Chris’ eyes went wide with surprise.

“Just how many more tricks do you have up your sleeve?” Kayla asked with a curious look.

“I got lucky and found this thing,” Kaius smiled and quickly changed the topic. “Should we split up and take a side each to search the rooms? It’ll be quicker that way.”

“Are you kidding me?” Chris replied in a low voice. “Haven’t you watched any horror movies? People always die when they split up in these situations. Knowing my luck, I’ll be that side character that dies first, so no thank you! I’m sticking with you all the way.”

Kaius looked over at Chris, then at Kayla, dumbfounded.

“He has a point,” Kayla shrugged. “Let’s go check out the right side together.”

“Ok…”

The trio went back to the lobby and headed over to the right side. Standing in front of the first guest room, Kaius slowly and quietly opened the door slightly, then commanded a few undead creatures to go inside first.

Hearing nothing happen for a few seconds, the trio finally went inside.

Looking inside the room, Kayla let out a shocked gasp and quickly covered her mouth.

“What in the…” Chris was similarly shocked at what he saw.

In the middle of the room, a huge cocoon made of spider silk was hanging down from the ceiling.

“Stay back,” Kaius cautioned Chris and Kayla. He gave a command, and a skeleton warrior went up to the cocoon and ripped it open.

Plop!

A man fell out from the cocoon.

Kaius went up to the man and felt his pulse. “He’s dead.”

Chris and Kayla came forward and examined the body.

“Seems like he suffocated to death,” Kayla concluded.

“Wait… spiders often like to store food in their nest to eat for later. This means… we’re in a spider’s nest!” Chris came to a realization.

“Don’t panic,” Kaius calmly analyzed the situation. “Since we’re in a confined space, it’ll be easier for my undead army to protect everyone. If we leave the hotel, we could get swarmed from every direction. Let’s sweep the hotel and eliminate all the spiders in here first. Also…”

Summon Skeleton!

A skeleton warrior was created using the corpse of the dead man.

Chris and Kayla had conflicted expressions as they watched the skeleton warrior rise up. If this was a few days ago, they might have protested against Kaius for defiling the body of the deceased. But now that their lives were in imminent danger, they no longer had the luxury of entertaining such thoughts.

“Let’s check out the next room,” Kayla hardened her resolve and headed out the room.

“Ye… yeah,” Chris followed closely behind.

Kaius nodded in satisfaction at their reaction to him summoning the skeleton warrior. The world was becoming a lot more dangerous with each passing day. Although some lines should still not be crossed, they could no longer behave the same as before. Every resource should be utilized to increase their chances of survival.

An hour later, the trio managed to search through the entire right side of the hotel. Almost every room had at least one cocoon with a deceased body in it. No survivors were found.

Of course, Kaius did not hesitate to turn all the bodies into skeleton warriors to replenish his undead army.

After searching through the final room on the far-right side of the hotel, the trio was about to head to the left side when Chris jumped up in fright.

“Spiders! Lots of them!” Chris shouted in a low voice as he looked out the window.

Kaius and Kayla quickly walked to the nearest window and looked out. A few hundred meters away from the hotel, a swarm of Ash Spiders were approaching the hotel. A rough estimate put the number at just over four hundred.

Skreee!!!!

A high-pitched yell sounded out from behind the swarm of spiders. The source of the yell soon revealed itself.

A gigantic spider that was 2 meters tall was slowly making its way over. Four pairs of eerie green eyes could be seen on its head. Its eight long, powerful legs allowed it to cross over large distances with every step. Rows of sharp spikes lined across its abdomen and two pairs of sharp pincers protruded out from its mouth.

“We are so screwed!” said Chris in a panicked voice.

“Kaius, what should we do?” Kayla turned to Kaius. Traces of fear could be seen on her face.

Kaius used Eye of Mana on the gigantic spider and frowned slightly.

“This is going to be troublesome...”

Name

Ash Spider Lord

Class

Rank 1 Evolved Cursed Beast

Level

20

Health

Normal

Mana

20/20

Strength

70

Vitality

60

Dexterity

55

Intelligence

15