Chương 71: Chapter 68: Old Blood

I jumped on the radio immediately.

"Joe, main office. ASAP."

"Copy that," Joe replied. Within seconds, he came sprinting in through the back doors, his rifle held at the ready.

"What's going on?"

"It's that shitbag, TJ," I said, pointing a rigid finger at Jace's monitor.

"He's on the roof of that single-story house, right on the northwest corner of the intersection past the parking lot. There's no way in hell this is a coincidence. He has to be controlling the horde, or at least controlling the things that are controlling the horde. But here's the kicker—he's going to have a radio, which means he can hear our traffic." Joe's eyes narrowed as he stared at the screen.

"What do you suggest then?"

"First off, we go strictly radio silence from here on out. Second, we need the guys on the roof to start sniping those horde controllers. Finally, I want you to take your. 308 and snipe that mother fucker right off his roof."

"You got it," Joe grunted. He turned and bolted back out the rear doors. Through the window, I watched him make a mad dash for the fire escape ladder leading up to the big gym roof. I turned back to the boys.

"Jace, keep your eyes pinned on TJ. Travis, I want you to track the horde and locate the rest of those controllers as best you can. Just make sure you keep the drone well out of range of whatever the hell that beam was." Both boys nodded quickly, entirely focused on their screens. Glancing toward the front window, I noticed the heavy bramble wall Alex had grown at the start of the chaos was finally beginning to wither and break down.

I ran back out to the quad area just as Alex was actively dismantling the remaining decayed vines. Where my Spike Growth had been anchored, a massive, tangled hill of corpses clogged the choke point. They weren't all truly dead, either. A disturbing jumble of animated and inanimate bodies twisted together, arms still clawing blindly at the air. I looked over at Alex.

"Get that bramble wall back up right in front of the main office. Now." He immediately went to work, channeling his mana to sprout a fresh layer of thick thorns. I turned my attention to the concrete overhang of the main office. The roof edge sat about ten feet above the ground, and I figured with my heightened, post-dungeon stats, I could scale it with no issues. Bracing myself, I gave a slight crouch and exploded upward. I actually shocked myself. My upper body shot halfway past the roof's edge on the upward arc.

It was pure child's play to wrap my fingers around the lip, pull, and vault myself cleanly over the parapet onto the flat roof. Three of our guards were already stationed up here, weapons trained on the street. I ignored their startled looks, stepped up to the edge, and looked down at the massive sea of rotting flesh to actively test out my updated inspect skill. A flood of basic data rolled back.

The vast majority of the horde were simple undead minions, their ranks ranging from as low as level 2 up to about level 12. But then my eyes caught one of the motionless figures standing in the thick of the crowd. Undead: Level 15 Necromancer. A cold knot formed in my stomach. I didn't know how the rules of undead classes or levels worked in this new world, but the terrifying reality that the dead could now raise and command more of the dead did not bode well for humanity's survival.

The exact moment my Inspect registered the creature's data, its head snapped straight up—locking onto my position exactly the way the other one had done with the drone. It unleashed a piercing, blood-curdling shriek that echoed off the brick walls. A second later, the other six horde leaders mimicked the cry in a deafening chorus. The thousands of ordinary zombies moaned in response, the entire mass suddenly shifting like a wave, turning directly toward the main office and my exact location. That confirmed it.

TJ was pulling the strings, and he was here to exact what he felt was a personal revenge. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. I looked past the swarm, searching the far roof line of the house Jace had spotted. Sure enough, there was TJ, crouched low on the reverse slope with just his head and shoulders visible over the peak.

"Fucking pretentious coward," I growled under my breath. I unslung my bow and knocked an arrow, drawing the string tight. Using the tactical overlays in my shooting glasses to zoom across the distance, I took careful aim. I could clearly see the smug, arrogant grin plastered across his face. He was completely convinced I couldn't touch him from all the way over here. I utilized the aiming feature of the glasses, leveraging the magnified view to fire off another Inspect directly at him.

Human: Level 25 Necromantic Lord. Seeing that he was a higher level than me wasn't a total surprise, especially considering the sheer size of the army he'd managed to drag to our gates. But just for the hell of it, I let the arrow fly anyway. With my upgraded attributes, the bow easily conquered the distance. The projectile hissed across the street, and I took immense satisfaction in watching that smug grin instantly vanish as he was forced to duck violently behind the roof peak to avoid getting pinned.

When his head reemerged a second later, I locked eyes with him across the lot, gave him a slow, deeply respectful middle finger, and turned on my heel. I sprinted toward the edge of the building, preparing to jump back down into the quad, when the very structure beneath my feet began to vibrate. Heavy, earth-shaking footsteps were approaching from behind the house TJ was using for cover. The slow, rhythmic thuds rattled the gravel on the roof.

I spun around and caught sight of something I never thought I would see—and something I prayed to God I would never see again, in this life or the next. A massive, hulking monstrosity of stitched flesh and bone, easily twenty-five feet tall, rounded the corner of the house, stepping directly into the street and heading straight for the school. Radio silence be damned. I slammed my thumb onto the mic button.

"Dungeon team, and all kill team leaders, meet by the front office ASAP." Without waiting for a reply, I vaulted over the edge of the roof and dropped back into the courtyard. By the time my boots hit the ground, Joe, Pete, Mike, Alex, and the designated team leaders were already sprinting into the space behind the main office. I didn't waste a single second.

"Let's make this quick," I barked, my voice cutting through the panic.

"We have a legitimate threat heading our way, if you can't already hear those damn footsteps. TJ is directing the show, he wants my head, and he just sent his trump card to come get it. We've identified his horde leaders scattered throughout the parking lot. I want two kill teams to skirt the edges of the lot and take them out. Use whatever you have to. Do not get bogged down in melee or let yourselves get overrun by the ordinary minions.

That means firearms are authorized—especially against those level fifteen undead necromancers. If you get pushed, you fall back. Clear?" They nodded, their expressions grim. I turned straight to my son.

"Mike, I want you to skirt out around the kill teams and provide support wherever you can. Slip into sneak, use your Ambush skill, and pick those controllers off one by one. There are at least seven out there, so watch your back. We know at least one of them can fire some kind of necrotic death beam, so be extremely careful if you have to get up close. They're around level fifteen, but your speed and Dexterity should let you outpace them easily." I turned back to the remaining men.

"Dungeon team, we're going to tank that twenty-five-foot monstrosity right here in the quad." Pete's eyes nearly popped out of his skull.

"We're going to WHAT?" I held up a sharp hand, cutting him off before he could spiral.

"Alex, you're in charge of the volunteers at the double gate. Get your vine whips firing, clear out the immediate area in front of the entrance, and keep it clear. Once that giant reaches the perimeter, I want you to open those gates wide and let it walk right on in. The second it passes the threshold, get those whips moving again and slam the gates shut behind it." I turned to Joe and Pete.

"Look, that giant thing is obviously gunning for me, so I'm going to kite it around the courtyard." Joe blinked, his brow furrowing.

"What the hell does that mean?" Beside him, Mike and Alex just shook their heads, well-versed in my gaming terminology.

"It means I'm going to make it chase me," I explained simply.

"I'll pull it around the open space like a kite on a string, keeping it distracted. Joe and Pete both let out an, "Ooooooohh," while nodding their heads.

"You two are going to use hit-and-run tactics wherever you see an opening. We'll whittle the bastard down piece by piece until it drops. Any questions?" Silence.

"Good. Let's go. Alex, get over to the wall and lift me up on a platform of brambles. I want this beast to see exactly who it's looking for over the top of the fence."