City of Desire [Kingdom Building]

Chapter 104: Friendly

They are coming at me, and I couldn’t help but feel fear. Still, I did not retreat and instead moved toward them.
 
Running away will not help, nor will be staying in one place and waiting for them. I will need to act proactively.
 
I moved toward the zombies; my main target is half-orc and human zombies wearing armor, but if I get a chance. I will finish the other three too.
 
Gaaaaa Gaaaa…
 
They made a strange noise as I reached them and attacked me. The attack of human and half-orc soldier zombies was the most skilled and powerful, while the other three were weak.
 
I used the Quick Steps and dodge their attack by moving left, before attacking the old human zombie.
 
Pachac!
 
I cut its neck in a single strike and would have attacked the young zombie behind me. If I had the rapier, its reach is longer than this short sword. 
 
Pachac!
 
So, I dodged another attack from behind before appearing to the left of a young human zombie and decapitating it.
 
I did not use my offensive skills, just the power of an enchanted sword and my physical attributes. These zombies are strong, but not strong enough to force me to use my skills. 
 
A lot of change had occurred since I faced the undead on the island. My physical stats have increased and so is my skills and levels. Not to mention training; I am more skilled now than I had been on the island.
 
Once again, I dodged the attack of the two soldier zombies before moving right and appearing in front of a middle-aged zombie and attacking it.
 
Pachac!
 
Its head flew up as I decapitated it, leaving only two soldier zombies.
 
Killing the three was not much of a challenge; I could have easily killed them on an island.
 
These two will give some challenges. They might be dumb, but they are powerful and have instincts of their former lives.
 
They came at me; the zombie half-orc attacked me with its long sword, while the human zombie with a saber. 
 
Clang!
 
I dodged the long sword and clashed against the saber. I felt the shock with my small sword, but I bore it and moved left, before taking steps forward and attacking the soldier zombies with Weighted Strike.
 
Pachack!
 
I decapitated it and immediately bend down to dodge the attack from the half-orc zombie. 
 
I wanted to attack immediately, but seeing the attack coming. I moved my sword in defense; I could have dodged the attack, but I want to see its power. 
 
As it will not be the half-orc zombie I will face. It is better that I know their capabilities.
 
Clang!
 
The attack clashed, and I felt shocked. It was heavy and painful, but as not as much as I had expected. The physical shocks I received during practice with Instructor David are far worse than this.
 
As it finished with the attack; it attacked again, but this time, I dodged and took a step forward, before attacking.
 
Pachac!
 
I decapitated it, before taking a step back with Quick Steps to avoid the foul blood falling on me.
 
These two soldiers were powerful and if they hadn’t been dumb zombies, I wouldn’t have been able to kill them so quickly.
 
They were zombie warrior material. Thankfully, it is the death energy that turned them, not the death spells, or they would have been the zombie warriors with the necromancer’s spells.
 
I took a deep breath before moving toward the zombies. The young zombie specifically, and used my sword to pry off the iles bag from him. I wanted it the moment I saw it and now I have it.
 
A bag worth of hundred million crowns.
 
I tear open his clothes and found nothing there. I was even able to inspect his clothes more closely, which are worn out, but in good condition.
 
He is a middle-class person; there is no way he could afford this bag. The other two beside him are the same, with the old man being relatively well off.
 
I took everything I could from them before turning to the two soldiers. I tear open their clothes and took their weapons and armor. The light armor on the half-orc zombie's body could not fit me, but the human zombies looked about my size.
 
I cleaned it with the clothes and water I have and even used perfume on it before I wore it.
 
Like their weapons, the armor is also a common one, with no enchantment. Common soldiers could not afford enchanted gear, even if they work their whole life.
 
The armor might be common, but it is still better than nothing. 
 
I wore the light armor on my body with some difficulty and was thankful that it fit about perfectly. After I was done with armor, I changed my shoes with the soldier.
 
Mine are dress shoes. They are not suitable for battle, while the shoes from the zombie are not the best for comfort. They will help me in battle.
 
With that done, I looked around, before I started to bring out things from the iles bag I had found on the young man. The first few things I took out were books, to be specifically recorded. They belong to a business in Jalrux City.
 
Then it was a set of clothes, snacks, and a few miscellaneous things. The only valuable thing I found is a purse, which had four hundred imperials in Navr’s currency.
 
I pocketed the money before taking a closer look at the books.
 
“An accountant,” I said as I closed down the last book. It belongs to the accountant of the big merchant house in Jalrux, the city. Their business is big and looking at those numbers, my eyes couldn’t shine.
 
With the huge money, it is not a big thing for them to provide iles bags to the important staff. Every business house does it, including the House of Silver.
 
It is why I did not throw away the books. They would be quite valuable to me survived, seeing it is the kind of business I had planned to visit after coming here.
 
Aside from books, food, and a few clothes, that I might use them as a bandage. I threw away everything and added things like half-orcs armor, its shoes, and the saber of a soldier zombie.
 
I would have loved to take the half-orc zombie's sword. If it had been enchanted, I would have chosen it over the dress sword I am. It is a short sword, and I prefer a long sword, or at least a sword, which is as long as my rapier. 
 
The weapons with longer blades are better at dealing with zombies. 
 
After checking everything, I resumed my journey and now I am a lot more careful. I have seen those people; know how they have turned.
 
A few minutes later, I stopped by a small tree with berries on it. The tree is a magical tree. The death energy around it is twice as dense as in other places. 
 
I looked at it for a few seconds, before starting to pluck the red berries with my glow. I don’t know what kind of berries they are, but I know something that uses death energy to grow is precious.
 
The entire tree is filled with it, and I plucked it all, without leaving a single one, and stored it in the bag.
 
After plucking the berries, I resumed the journey. 
 
For the next half an hour, I did not find anything. No exit, no zombies, no magical trees, or any human or person of other race. 
 
It started to frustrate me; finding the exit on my own will be difficult with the time I have. I am already feeling tired, and in a few hours, I would be forced to rest.
 
This place is difficult. Every second, I am bearing the aura and death energy. The aura is strong enough to make those weak will fall to their knees and even unconscious and after that; it is a slippery slope to death.
 
I stopped for a second and drank another measured sip of water before resuming my journey to find the exit.
 
Hun!
 
Another twenty minutes passed when I suddenly stopped. As I saw a group of four zombies, and they also seemed to have noticed me as they turned to me.
 
I was watching the group of four when my eyes widened when I saw a few more zombies coming from the group of trees, taking their numbers to eleven.
 
I wanted to run away, but it was useless; in a place like these zombies have known better than a hound. They can sense life's energies and once they do that, they will chase you till you are dead, or you killed them.
 
I moved slowly toward them and soon; they have come closer enough that I could see more than their silhouettes in this twilight.
 
Of the eleven, seven had the weapons. Two had sticks, while four were guards and have the swords in their hands. The last one was an orc zombie holding an ax. 
 
The rest are unarmed.
 
Soon, there were only five meters of distance between us. With two zombies holding sticks, at the front while nine few meters behind them.
 
I am a little relieved seeing that. If they had come at me together, I would have run away and separated them, before attacking.
 
I am not an idiot to go against eleven zombies at once.
 
Those two only had about six meters of distance from the rest of the group. Which is not much, but it was enough for me.
 
A few seconds passed, and I let them come closer, and there were only three meters of distance between us. I moved toward them, pushing Quick Steps.
 
Speed will be key here; I need to be fast as possible.
 
Thankfully, I have worked hard on my Quick Steps for such scenarios, and with Sure Foot, I will always be in balance.
 
Gaa
 
I moved fast and less than a second later, appeared in front of the two zombies. They reacted immediately, swinging their sticks. 
 
They are fast, but I am faster. I moved left to dodge the sticks and attacked with Consecutive Strikes.
 
Pachack 
 
The tall zombie decapitated before it knew what happened. I did not stop and instead used the momentum of the attacked and turned, before launching another attack at the short zombie.
 
Pachack!
 
I decapitated it before moving right to avoid the stick from the headless zombie. I had just dodged that, when I found myself in front of the nine zombies.
 
I prepared to retreat when I saw the opportunity and moved forward in a zigzag way. I am moving so fast that I begin to test limits of my skills.
 
Even during the training, I had not pushed myself through this hard as I am doing right now.
 
Feeling the lack of flexibility and fluidity in movements on the island, I have trained hard with instructor David. 
 
Now, I am reaping the reward of that training.
 
Gasss Gaaa Gaaaa…
 
The zombies screamed in their strange noises as I moved around them, dodging their attacks, before finally swinging my sword.
 
Pachac!
 
Ting Rip!
 
I decapitated the zombie with the sword but did not come out unarmed. One of their attacks hit on my pauldron, while the other slashed my back.
 
While I was able to avoid most of it, it still gave me a bloody wound.
 
I bore the pain and used the opportunity it had provided me by swinging my sword hard at the zombies. 
 
Pachac Pachac!
 
I decapitated the zombie before dodging the attack of the Orc zombie. Immediately after, I attacked again and decapitated another zombie.
 
In just two seconds, I had killed five zombies, but the battle was far from over. There, six more zombies have remained to kill, three armed and three unarmed.
 
Gaaa Gaaa Gaaa
 
The zombies came at me, and I moved around, dodging their attacks. Looking for the chance, which came in a few seconds.
 
I moved forward when the orc appeared in front of me. It is strong, I will give you that, but it is still something I could manage.
 
Slice!
 
It attacked me, and I dodged as crouched down, before attacking its leg, slicing the whole thing off. 
 
As I did, I moved left before standing up, avoiding most of the foul blood, before dodging the attack by the two zombies.
 
Pachac!
 
I decapitated the unarmed zombie and dodged the attack of two armed zombies by taking rapid steps back.
 
With one more dead, five zombies have remained for me to deal with, four to exact. Seeing, I had sliced the leg off Orc and how it is falling; it won't be much of a danger for me, as long I stay away.
 
I will deal with it after I finished with these four.
 
For a few seconds, I only dodged the attack, taking zombies away from the Orc, who is crawling toward me.
 
It surprised me, but I pushed it aside and moved forward.
 
Pachac! Clang!
 
I dodged the attack of the armed zombie and decapitated the unarmed one. The other arm zombie was able to hit me directly on the chest, knocking the air out of me, but doing nothing else, due to my armor.
 
Pachac!
 
I had expected it and thus let it attack and it give me another chance to decapitate another unarmed zombie. as I clear my breath.
 
“Now, only you two have remained,” I said to them and dodged their attack before taking a step forward and launching mine.
 
Pachac!
 
I decapitated it and dodged another attack from the last armed zombie and was about to kill it when I suddenly stopped in surprise and retreated.
 
Pach!
 
A moment later, a small energy arc decapitated it, and I watched with eyes wide before turning toward the direction of the energy arc and saw the silhouette of the four people a few hundred meters away from me.
 
Pachac!
 
I only looked at them for a second, before moving with Quick Step and appeared beside the crawling orc and decapitating it.
 
Only then, I heaved a sigh of relief and looked at the group cautiously. They could be friendly, but they could also not be; I need to be ready for both scenarios.
 
I held my sword tighter with one hand, while the other went to my pocket for the charm. 
 
A few seconds passed, and the silhouettes had finally cleared, and I was able to see their faces. 
 
Immediately, a smile appeared on my face. There are four people, of which three are familiar to me, with one being my guard.

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