It sounded so easy when said in the light of the sun or while far away from the horrors of the night. Just sneak in, throw a few rocks at different zombie groups and run, not too fast, not too slow, just keeping them interested and throwing more rocks, if necessary. As they chase you, stay clear of any building that might disgorge more of them and run to the prepared ambush spot, where the rest of the group is waiting, ready to rain down hell on the shamblers. Easy, without danger and an excellent way to gain EXP for everyone involved. Far better than trying to go in during the day and fighting the shamblers in the close quarters of the buildings they retreat into during the day, where death could lurk behind every corner or door.

It sounded so incredibly easy, but now, just after Sian had thrown the first rock, hit the first shambler that immediately stopped whatever it was that the shambling Undead did while not trying to murder the few surviving humans, and went back to that. Trying to reach and kill her. Alongside its closest five or ten friends, she wasn’t sure in the darkness of the night. And didn’t really care, as long as she could stay ahead of them during her flight through the dark and devastated city.

As she ran, she heard something strange behind her, crashes and moans that felt far too close for comfort, prompting her to run as fast as she could. If the shamblers were close enough for her to easily hear the noises they made, they were too close for comfort. Faster, while making sure she didn’t slip or stumble as she ran, she continued, throwing one last rock at a distant target as she moved. Maybe that was overkill, but she wanted to do the group proud and clear up her home.

Soon, breathing laboured but still controlled, Sian reached the home stretch, the wide open road leading out of the city and into the area where her companions were waiting. Waiting, armed and ready to rein down hell on her pursuers.

Her companions were only visible as vague shapes in the darkness, barely lit up by the faint light of the moon and stars, just bright enough for them to navigate and see the shambling shapes. Until, after a pair of soft. whispered prayers broke the silence of the night, bright lights rose above two of her companions, bathing the entire area in golden light. And not just any golden light, the bright, golden light came from the blessing of Hestia and, according to the companions who summoned it, it was anathema to the Undead. Not strong enough to destroy them by itself, Sarah and Kyle lacked the sheer power for that, but strong enough to weaken the shamblers, making it far easier for her companions to strike them down.

The moment the lights went up, the whistling sound of arrows, interspersed with the twirling of slings and the meaty chunks of stones hitting flesh filled the air, as each and every one of her companions attacked the shamblers at the same time. The shamblers would fall, but they would try to take them down, even if it cost all shamblers their life to kill a single survivor. Unless one managed to completely break contact with the shamblers, they were implacable, untiring and utterly deadly, despite their lack of foot speed.

Turning, she grabbed a rock from the ground, prepared so she had something to strike the shamblers with, and threw it with what strength she had remaining. Only, there were far fewer shamblers than she had anticipated, far fewer than she had attacked. Sian was confident she hadn’t been too fast, not over that little distance, so there should be more. But there weren’t, making her frown in confusion, even as she picked up another rock.

“What’s going on?” Riko, one of the most experienced fighters in their little group asked, looking at Sian with a mix of disappointment and confusion. Their ambush had worked, but it had netted them far fewer enemies than they had planned.

“No idea,” Sian admitted, when Josh, one of the archers, spoke up.

“Look, what’s that back there?” he asked, pointing into the city from where Sian had emerged just a minute earlier. There, far back in the inky darkness, barely visible thanks to the Lights of Hestia, were a few figures. Nothing more than faint outlines, but something was there. And nobody had an idea what it was.

Tension ratcheted back up, and weapons were readied again when suddenly the night was banished as if dawn had come early. Where the lights of Hestia were bright, the light soft and comfortable, the light that shattered the night before them was anything but. It was a burning fire, orange and red flames forming into a massive ball of pure, burning fury, hovering above the group they had faintly seen and bathing those formerly faint outlines in sharp light, making them easily visible. And all around them, some between them and the group, some behind them, they could see the shapes of destroyed shamblers, some nothing but smears on the road or a wall, crushed by insane force, others simply destroyed by some unseen power.

“What in the…?” Kevin whispered, staring at the group that was slowly marching towards them, completely unhurried and imperious, as if they owned the night. And maybe they did.

All three were female, that much was readily obvious despite the distance, as was their massive canine companion. Two of the shapes were of average size, though what they might lack in physical size, they made up with the light show. One seemed to control the massive fireball floating overhead, her hand held open as if cupping something unseen, while the other showed no movement, though the flurry of swirling blades that accompanied them like their own personal blizzard made up for that lack of posture. Last, but certainly not least, the third one was just weird. She was barely the size of a child, looking oddly immature, but the four strange, tentacle-like limbs stretching out from behind her back made it obvious that this was no child, even if her face and physique suggested just that.

Their entire group coalesced around the central few, milling around a little confused and unsure of what to do. These people walking slowly towards them were dangerous, they all could feel that despite the distance between them, but it was also obvious that they weren’t looking for a fight. Otherwise, they wouldn’t move this slowly, nor would they act out in the open.

And yet, with each step they took, a small seed of unease grew within Sian’s body, a worry that asked, what were those people? Why were they here, she had never seen them before and she was confident if she had seen them, even from a distance, she would remember. That confidence only grew as they got close enough to fully evaluate their looks, confirming that the smallest of them had an extreme babyface, though her eyes, strangely black with white, almost glowing irises in the middle took away a lot of the cuteness factor from her face. Sure, she felt the least dangerous but the taller two easily made up for that, giving Sian the impression she was looking at two utter monsters.

They were more dangerous than anything she had ever encountered, be that before or after the world had gone to shit. These two were monsters, nothing else to say about it, and they looked the part. One had pale, almost blue skin, making Sian wonder whether this person had any blood in her body at all, the other was almost the complete opposite, the skin looked leathery and tough, while her eyes were orbs of purest crimson, gem-like and glittering in the light of the burning fire overhead.

Lastly, the dog. From afar, it had looked like an ordinary dog but now, up close and personal? It was so much more, it felt like so much more. The beast wasn’t just massive, easily large enough to look a normal human in the eye without rearing up, it also was armoured and radiated both danger and power. It felt just as dangerous as the two women, maybe even more so thanks to the sheer bulk of its body.

“Greetings,” the woman in the middle spoke up, her voice cold and chilling as ice, in complete opposite to the ball of fire floating overhead. The strange, glittering blades around her swirled in synch with her voice, sending a chill across the open space between them, only adding to the intimidation she radiated without even trying. Moments later, as if to prove them all wrong, the intimidation increased by an order of magnitude, as she woman stared past Sian, at one of the people behind her, the woman’s eyes turning hard and cold.

“Don’t you know it is impolite to try peeping at a Lady’s intimate details?” the woman asked, the voice now cold enough to send shivers down Sian’s spine and cause every hair on her arm to rise. But, as cold and intimidating the voice was, as confusing were the words, breaking the spell Sian had been under, and finally, allowing her to speak. Though, not in an intelligent manner.

“Er, what?”