On their way back,Jack kept inspecting his new longbow.

(Advanced Longbow-> Attack +3 Accuracy +1)

"That's a really good bow, it has three times the attack of the beginner bow and also boosts accuracy!" Jack was satisfied with his new weapon. " It's a shame four arrows broke in the last battles. The other five won't last much longer as well."

Sam slapped Jack's shoulder saying " I am sure we can get some in Woodchester or the defense camp in front."

It was already dark outside by the time Sam and Jack returned. It was quiet, about twenty zombies lay around the wooden walls.

'It seems like the NPC's could deal with the rest.' Sam thought as they neared the camp.

He started waving his hand and shouted "Heeey, we are humans! We were sent by Rudolph to help you!"

Sam and Jack reached the gate. They could hear silent discussing behind the gate, but after a few minutes it still opened.

Five people stood in front of them. The only woman in the group stepped forward and asked "You are the ones who lured half of them away? Where did you bring them?"

"What do you mean, where did we bring them? Me and my comrade killed them.." Sam answered, looking puzzled at the group in front of him.

No one of them looked like a soldier. They wore normal clothes or a simple hunter like leather garment and wielded spears or bows.

" You killed all of them with just the the two of you? Sirs , you must be experienced fighters to kill so many of those damned undead in such a short time. We only killed so many of them because we could stab through some gaps in this defense wall. We went outside earlier to kill the remaining five zombies but two of us still got bitten.

Killing two people you knew your whole live is a horrible thing." the woman said. Everyone had a look of grief and pain on his face.

While Jack had inspected his new bow on the way, Sam had thought about something a lot more serious and so he started asking questions after the woman stopped talking.

" I am sorry for your loss, but right now we have a few urgent matters on hand. How many people are stationed here excluding you five? What sort and how many of each weapons do you have? Is it possible to get more reinforcements from Woodchester? And please answer quickly, we don't have much time!"

"Sam what is going on? I thought we could sleep here, so we wouldn't need to travel at night. What 'urgent matters' do you mean?" Jack leaned over and asked so that the other people couldn't hear it.

"I thought about it on the way, at midnight the cities will change. What will happen to the zombies? Will they be killed or upgraded to stronger ones? I don't think so. In my opinion, god will spawn new monsters and ban the low leveled ones from the city. That would mean they will spread out towards the outskirts, eventually appearing here. There will be just a small percentage of the whole population coming this way, but it should still be about 200 to 300 zombies!

Do you think we can hold this defense post with seven people? That's why I need as much information as i can get! Our lives are the most important, i will abandon these NPC's if the situation gets too dangerous without a second thought, BUT..if we can save them from a hopeless situation like this, we might end up with a lot more benefits than just a simple shack!" Sam whispered in Jack's ear. His eyes were cold.

'Only my live and the lives of my comrades matter. I will end up dead, if i try to help everyone in the future!

"One of us got hit by an arrow from the skeleton archer, his shoulder got shot, so he is unable to fight right now. The rest is dead by now. More reinforcements are unlikely because a few men have to defend the village.

We have around ten spears, two bows and 30 arrows remaining.

By the way, I am Nissa, the village hunter. Your names are?" the woman, Nissa asked.

" I am Sam, this is Jack. We are trying to prove our sincerity by helping out, but I have to say, this situation doesn't look too good for us. I got information, that a horde of zombies is most likely headed in our direction. We have three options right now. We can flee and fall back to Woodchester, abandoning this defense post. Defending it till death is the second option, but the third one is my favorite and also the one we benefit from the most.

We should retreat while fighting, decimating the horde bit by bit. If you guys tell me your levels and classes, I can work out a plan."

" I am level 3 and an archer, Norman is an archer too. He is at Level 2. The other three are knights, but as you can see, they don't even have shields. They were taken because we needed a few more people. They are all Level 1 and not even 18 years old." Nissa answered truthfully.

'The situation looks bad, the NPC's fighting strength is disappointing. These knights have no combat experience, they will flee for their life if the fight gets too chaotic. I will take the rear, as the first line against the zombies. The two NPC archers and Jack will deploy hit and run tactic, while the three apprentice knights protect them and the hurt person. Only sure kill shots should be fired because of the limited arrows. I may be able to fetch some, but definitely not all of them. If they run out of ammo, they should return to Woodchester replenish their arrows and return. While they are gone the knights can help me out.' Sam planned in his head.

He told his plan to the others, who agreed to it. Two people stood guard on the tower, while the rest of them ate and took a rest waiting for the arrival of the horde.

Sam woke up from loud shouting at about 1 am.

The guards had spotted a group of about 200 zombies coming towards them. Everyone woke up and packed their stuff.

Sam, who had changed his weapon to a spear, was sharpening the metal tip, when everyone gathered around him.

He looked around and said " Ok, the time has come. We will leave this death trap and wait outside. You guys should take position around 20 meters behind me and only shoot the zombies left and right of me. I don't want to be hit by one of your arrows , so aim carefully!"

They went outside the defensive post and took position. Sam stood there alone, waiting for a crowd, that could swallow and devour him in a second. He looked calm on the outside, but his brain was working without pause. ' If i stop moving, I'm dead. If they surround me, I'm dead as well. I am not allowed to make any mistakes or I end up dead! It doesn't matter, because I need more experience and power. Let's see if I can reach Level 5 till dawn.'

Ten minutes after their group left the walls, they saw the zombies coming through the small passage. The first group consisted of ten zombies, so Sam ordered the archers to shoot. He would have enough time to collect the arrows before the main force comes through. One arrow broke, but the rest could be reused after Sam collected them. The young Level 2 archer leveled up in the process too.

Their group retreated a few steps and waited. They could hear multiple moaning sounds becoming louder and louder.

The horde appeared! The NPC's turned pale and started trembling. Sam and Jack were trembling as well. But Sam didn't tremble because of fear. His blood was boiling at this moment, because of excitement. He had spotted a massive zombie holding a round copper shield, with spikes attached on the edge around it.

The shield looked sturdy and reliable, while the spikes were razor sharp but all of this didn't excite Sam as much as this:

(Male Zombie General Level 5 Boss)

' It's a boss monster. I am pretty sure I need to kill it in order to reach Level 5.' Sam thought in excitement while he waited for it to attack.

He was dumbfounded after it's next action.

The zombie general roared and the zombies stopped moving right behind it. The general looked at the ten new zombie corpses on the ground in front of Sam. Afterwards it roared again and waved it's shield. Ten zombies stepped forward and attacked.

Because of the 100 meter distance between his group and the horde, Sam decided to use the same tactic as before.

They easily disposed of the ten zombies. Sam retrieved his arrows and returned to his position. He looked at the zombie general, who stood there, as if thinking about something.

It waved it's shield and roared again, but this time 30 zombies stepped forward!

Sam turned around and shouted " It is somewhat intelligent. We need to retreat and lure the 30 zombies away. Let's retreat in the direction of the village. In an emergency we have a place to run to."

The others nodded and walked away luring the group of zombies with them.

'We can't take on 30 zombies by ourselves, I have to think of a plan! If we can't kill them, I have to prepare an escape plan for Jack and myself'