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Alex ran.
He wasn’t ashamed. He wasn’t prideful about it. He just ran.
He did make sure that his companions were ahead of him, but that was the only delay or hesitation he allowed. After all, someone tripping and being left behind was just too cliche to be borne.
Behind them, around them, and ahead, the undead that had been disconnected from the Plague Lord were starting to wake up. Small jerky movements announced by sickening, unnatural cracking and squelching sounds made that undeniable.
Alex had barely taken the time to rip all his extended HP and Life back out of the cable. He’d tried to pull the length into his Inventory to study, but it had resisted. He’d cut his end below his hand as he drew back his Life and HP, but it still wouldn’t come straight in.
As such, he was just finishing wrapping the roughly thirty feet of mana cable around his hand. So wrapped, it finally allowed him to put it into his Inventory.
Another thing to investigate… later.
Paresh was in the lead, followed closely by Maria, then Natasha who kept glancing back at Alex in irritation.
He’d insisted on her going first, and she’d been wise enough not to fight him in the moment.
He was sure that he would get an earful later.
The two stealth based initiates began hamstringing the increasingly animate undead as they passed, quickly weaving through the staggered corpses. They did it in such a way as to keep up their own speed and to cause the bodies to fall outward. In that way, the collapsing undead would not add impediment. Alex was honestly a bit in awe of their efficiency.
Unfortunately, it didn’t seem like the four of them would be fast enough to escape before they were surrounded—which was likely what inspired the two to start wounding those they passed. They’d come near to three hundred yards to the steel gate, and they had only covered at most half of that on the return trip, and the bodies were beginning to turn, eyes locking onto the passing meals.
Oh… I rather hate this! He pulled out his shield and dadao, even if they did make the corridors a bit more cramped to get through, but situations like this were precisely why he’d selected the weapon and wanted the shield.
The shield was a bit bigger than ideal, the tight quarters meaning that a buckler would likely be slightly easier to use—Well chosen, Maria—but he would take what he could get.
He glanced down, seeing his bare legs sticking out from the bottom of his greatcoat… Right… I never replaced my shredded clothing…
He could blame just how comfortable the coat was, but he honestly didn’t have the time.
He almost tried to pull pants from his Inventory straight onto his legs, but the chances of a mishap were just too high.
He spun at a prompting from his Danger Sense, the short, heavy blade of the dadao easily tucking in close, letting him bring it around with him. He used his left hand to grab the base of the hilt for added power, relying on the nature of the shield to not get in the way.
The strike was nearly perfectly timed, the wide blade slamming into the bone-lurker’s forehead, even as its hands reached out toward him.
The creature was split down to mid-sternum, and Alex had to use a Multi-Strike enabled kick to free his blade and allow him to duck under a glacial swipe from the fodder variant that had been beside him.
He let the thing’s hand brush through the very tips of his hair, using that physical connection to pulse HP into it, ashing the thing on the instant.
Paresh, Maria, and Natasha hadn’t been idle as Alex acted, and the undead that had been near them were all falling. Paresh’s voice snapped out, giving them direction. “Go!”
Natasha glanced back to see that Alex was following even as they all fell into a dead sprint. Less than twenty feet later, Paresh and Maria ducked into a side tunnel, him shouting yet again. “Alex! Break a path.”
Natasha understood and stepped to the other side, pausing momentarily and allowing Alex to blow past.
He barreled forward, the others falling in behind.
His shield was held forward with his elbow tucked down to give him stability and strength as he knocked undead out of the way even as they turned to face his oncoming group.
It honestly reminded him of the beginning of the tutorial, when he’d been trying to clear the high school.
Still, he’d changed a lot since then, and not just in his stats. Though, to be fair, those helped a lot, his increased Physical Strength allowing him to batter his enemies to the side.
It also helped that none of these enemies were very high leveled, not yet. If he had to guess, they’d been held here for enhancement since the tutorial started, but the process hadn’t actually started until quite recently. He based this on the amount of undeath that had been flowing outward, and the rates of absorption they’d seen with their own eyes.
But he was getting distracted, and he turned his mind toward spinning up useful Shaped Force Bursts, aiming to clear a path rather than kill or permanently put down those in his way.
It was a frantic couple of minutes, punctuated by frenetic, confined, and close quarters combat, but there was never really any danger to him.
He did have to purge turning plagues from his three companions on multiple occasions, but given the circumstances he did so with fractional transfusions of blood, carrying the needed HP or Life to get the job done without requiring direct physical contact.
It was inefficient in resources, but in time and speed? It was by far the best choice. After all, he only needed to glance toward one of his companions when they indicated an infection, and he could activate the spell, their acceptance keeping the costs manageable, if still high.
All told, they got to the staircase that they’d descended in less than five minutes—it was likely closer to three, but Alex wasn’t really paying exact attention to the passage of time—and he ushered the others up as he used his shield and dadao to hold the passage from both sides, allowing his companions a path to freedom.
A moment later, he was sprinting up the stairs after the three, more and more undead on his heels, though falling back due to the Initiates incredible speed.
Could he have stayed and fought? Absolutely, but it would have been an exercise in futility. These weren’t high enough level or rarity to be useful to him, and if any rare or powerful creatures did come, he would likely find himself quickly overwhelmed in the tight confines.
He shuddered to think about fighting a Flesh Golem of the Plague Guard in such limited spaces, and that didn’t even consider how much the aura of horror from what was likely twelve of the monstrosities would affect him.
We need a distraction. We need to pull most of the creatures away… Even as he reached the top of the stairs, a plan began to form in his mind.
They couldn’t allow the undead in the uncounted other passages throughout the college underground to be power-leveled and advanced. The Initiates wouldn’t be able to survive such a wave.
Maybe he was overestimating the effectiveness of the tactic, and it was possible that he was overreacting, but he’d be a fool to ignore the possibility.
He now knew for a fact that this tutorial was harder than it ‘should’ be by all rights, and so the ‘worst case’ was all too likely.
They needed to relink up with the others and contact Kaylee.
No more half-measures.
They needed an all-out assault with every Initiate they had and as many non-Initiates as they could get to help.
Alex hated the idea of using them as cannon fodder or distractions—and not only because it would lower his rewards on his quests—but some of them dying to secure success was better than all of them dying when the Initiates failed.
He nodded, weaving through the office basement toward the broken window they’d used to get inside.
They had to kill the Plague Lord, and they needed to do it before the next wave.
Alex was a bit suspicious of a trap when they didn’t meet any resistance moving through the basement, but a pulse of Detect Unlife showed that the only undead were those pouring out of the stairs behind them… well, and those seemingly fighting something up on the ground level.
Detect Life showed that the other Initiates had, indeed, returned, and they were in a bad way.
“Faster!” Alex’s words conveyed all the other three needed, and they were out the window and up through the window well with rapidity.
Alex was right behind them, and they came up into the open behind enemy lines, even if barely.
Paresh, Maria, and Natasha made quick work of the unaware undead, cutting through them even as a few were barely starting to turn their way. The three broke to the sides, opening a hole for Alex to dart in, finding nearly half the Initiates infected. They’d likely all have turned, but Brianne was there, pale as she continually dumped power into those men and women.
Alex saw a few fresh puddles of bile nearby, showing just how hard Brianne had pushed herself.
He didn’t say anything, simply acting to purify the plagued from worst infected to least in danger.
Brianne met his gaze, smiled, and fell unconscious, collapsing into the closest puddle.
The two nearest, formerly-infected Initiates returned to themselves enough to notice the issue and lift the woman even as Alex called out. “Retreat!”
As Paresh, Maria, and Natasha fell into line, and Alex’s return gave the others renewed hope for success, the Initiates were coordinated in their fighting retreat.
They had to be.
The undead were not holding back this time, allowing them an easy means of retreating. Though, to be fair, the horrific sound was absent as well, so it was a mixed bag.
John glanced Alex’s way between shots. “Took your sweet time, Alex.”
Alex grimaced even as he dove to slap a hand on a newly infected fighter. “It was worth it.”
John raised an eyebrow even as he increased the pace of his shots. “I’ll look forward to the tale.”
Alex grunted even as another person called out, “Scratch!”
He was needed, so he settled back into the rhythm. He kept that rhythm, and the Initiates continued their methodical retreat even as a fresh wave of undead did their best to pour up out of the window well.
Thankfully, the opening and access were limiting enough that it didn’t really add much difficulty to the overall retreat.
Still, as they were having to be careful in their withdrawal, it took them nearly ten minutes before they were all back through the gates.
Ten minutes after that, they had found a different nearby building to hold up inside of, and Alex finally was able to take the time and attention to look at the Initiates.
They were in rough shape.
His absence had made the whole assault more difficult, with every infection effectively taking a fighter from the lines and tying down their healer.
As such, they’d had to fight more defensively, which in turn changed the tenor of the clash overall, right from the beginning.
Still, they’d managed to kill a lot of undead once again. As such, there were tired smiles from quite a few of the Initiates who were able to level-up, either finally or once again.
As the Initiates ate, drank, and flopped onto furniture or even the floor, Alex took out his phone and called Kaylee.
They needed to coordinate and bring all their forces to bear. If Alex was right, they had a final chance to bring this scenario to a positive conclusion, and he would be made a manager before he’d let these people die.
They were counting on him, and he would honor that trust.
Fifteen minutes later, he was explaining the plan to the other Initiates. Nearly ten minutes after that, the fastest of their group were heading down the street to cut a swath of death back to the high school in order to sell the lie that they’d retreated for the time being.
But they wouldn’t retreat.
Instead, they would be executing an all-out assault at dawn the next morning.
The sun would only set once more before this was decided, one way or another.