All the Dust that Falls

Chapter 105: Dead Tired

Bee adjusted her stance to face the two zombies in front of her. They were at a higher level than any she had faced before, along with the weak one getting to its feet. She needed to take care of them first, as the two ghouls were starting to catch up.

As much as she liked her class, she knew that she wasn't really a combat class. At most, she was a support class, but it was more likely that she wasn't made for combat at all. Void had shown her ways to get around that, but she hadn't really picked up a new combat skill since level 15’s Broom Proficiency. And that wasn't really a combat skill. Really, she had never gotten one.

Still, she couldn't give up. Silas and Lily were relying on her. Plus, she couldn’t fail her master here. She stepped forward with a series of light jabs with the broom’s spear end. The higher level ones covered their faces, taking the cuts on their arms. The lower level one didn't, and she managed to bring it low with three rapid jabs to the head. It took her long enough that she had to bring the bristle end up to block the level 32 zombie on her right.

Stepping back, she saw the ghouls had almost reached the fight. If she stayed still, there was no way that she could face all four enemies at once. Looking back over her shoulder, she saw that her wards had retreated around 40 feet back and were watching the fight carefully.

Good, that gave her a bit of space to work with. She retreated several steps back, buying her several seconds of extra time; she reached into a pouch on the side of her pack and pulled out a smaller flask. Popping the stopper, she downed the combat potion. It was something she was working on that would function as both a speed and strength enhancement.

Viggor coursed through her limbs, and she felt like she could throw a mountain. This time, when the zombie she attacked blocked its face with its arms, her slash cut right through its right forearm and bit deeply into the left.

Taking advantage of the opening, she attacked the level 31 enemy on the other side. It hesitated to block, which proved to be a fatal mistake. Her bladed broom end slammed through its head, showering her with disgusting giblets of flesh. If her master could see her now, she surely would be disowned.

Switching targets again, Bee slammed the bristle end into the knees of the other zombie and finished it off with a quick few jabs on the ground.

Already she felt the potion wearing off, and there were still two tough ghouls to face. The downside of such a potion was that it didn't last very long. Much less than either a strength or a speed potion alone. It also left her feeling drained. Still, she could produce these much more easily than strength potions alone. Her divine alchemy only gave her the slightest boost when she considered it as a speed-cleaning assist, which was still better than no boost at all. These were things she was trying to fix.

Not wanting to wait for the ghouls to get to her, she flashed forward with only seconds left of enhancements. The ghouls were slow and didn't have a hold on her, and the first wasn't able to block her flurry of thrusts entirely.

As her strength waned, she turned to her last enemy. The spinning slash she put her momentum into bounced off its side. Somehow the broom had twisted in her hand, and the flat of the blade bounced ineffectually against its temple. Stumbling from the shock, she backed up.

The last ghoul followed mindlessly. It was slow, but exhaustion grated at her limbs and she had trouble keeping her arms steady. Bee wanted to retreat and recover, but she would only get worse for several minutes at least. She also couldn't take another potion for several hours. To combine the two effects, she had to up the toxicity, and that left her with just healing potions until it dissipated.

There was definitely still work to do on that before she used it again. Losing her nimbleness, she simply charged the last ghoul, the point of her weapon just held in its general direction, not trusting herself to hit its head. As an undead, she knew that the tactic wasn't likely to be very effective, but hoped it would hinder the ghoul long enough for her to think of something. The end of the broom took the ghoul a little off-center up the right.

Her momentum carried them both to the ground, and the point stabbed into the soft dirt. The ghoul was effectively pinned. Bee rolled away, looking for a new weapon. She needed to start carrying a backup on her belt like she used to. The cleaver or mallet would both have been quite useful here.

Finding a rock a few feet off the side of the road, she picked it up and, with great difficulty, heaved it above her head. Staggering, she carried it over to the trapped undead. With her whole body, she brought it down as hard as her level-supplemented muscles allowed. The rock crushed the arms and chest to a pulp. With her last bit of energy, she brought it a few feet up and smashed it down on the ghoul's head.

Leaving the rock in place, she slumped to the ground next to it and rolled over onto her back. Some part of her tried to stay away from the rotting bodies, but she was unable to move very far through her exhaustion.

Bee focused on just breathing.

LEVEL UP! LEVEL 34 REACHED

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Tony had charged for the entire night, but I let him keep charging even after the sun came up. It was a hard day for him yesterday, and I wanted to make sure he was in top form today. There might be one more homestead to check, but I didn't have much hope for that. But we would definitely reach the town today.

Eventually, Tony stirred from his place on the ground, nestled under a few blankets. I waited for him as he ate some food and did all the status checks that humans did after charging. After that, he quickly packed up and scooped me up in his arms, walking back to the road.

We reached the end of the road and forest, only finding one more side path to explore. The forest suddenly gave way to rolling hills of grass. Little purple and white flowers speckled the field in irregular patches (at an average rate of 3 per square foot, if you wanted to be precise). We could make out the top of a large wall a little way in the distance.

"That's Greg," Tony explained while pointing at the walls. After seeing our destination, a weight seemed to lift from Tony's back, and we started walking towards the walls with a steady pace and straight back.

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It took Bee several minutes before she could push herself to a sitting position. The level was nice, but at this point, she didn't feel the difference between a single level too much. Looking at the experience she had gained throughout the fight, she saw that she was really close to her next skill. She hoped that it would make more of a difference.

Despite being so close to the next level, she still couldn't wish for another encounter yet. She was so tired from this close call that she didn't think that she would be able to do it again. Scooting over to her pack, she dug through it. Finding what she was looking for, she moved a minor strength potion to the now empty side pocket. That would hopefully be enough next time she needed a boost. It wouldn't have such dramatic effects, of course. Also, she would need to wait for a while before she took it. At least a couple more hours.

Shoving herself to her feet, she picked up the pack and slipped into its straps. Looking around, she found Silas staring at her and the squishy mess of undead with his wife hiding behind him. She walked over to them. "I'm not infected or anything. I came out clean. I have healing potions anyways."

Despite her reassurance, Silas didn't relax until he had studied her face and eyes for several seconds. "Good to hear that.”

Bee’s fingers combed through her frazzled hair. The undead plague was another problem she might have to worry about. Once infected, a person would become undead once they perished, even without a death aura around. It was kind of like being an undead sleeper agent. It was also why undead plagues were so difficult to root out. Maybe the library had some info on other cures.

As Bee thought, Silas’s eyes wandered to her weapon. “I had been wondering why you carried a broom with you. An… interesting choice of weapon."

Bee nodded, and they started off back to the castle. "I told you I have a priest class, right?"

Silas nodded. And Bee continued her explanation. "Well, I don't know how much you understand about the prerequisite Devotee class, but one of the ideals of my deity is cleanliness. Through a set of special circumstances, I picked up Broom Proficiency.” She brandished the spear-broom hybrid. “This seems to count."

"I guess that’s as good a reason as any," Silas chuckled, quickening his pace. They were all clearly eager to get to safety. "You said you were a Priestess of Spot, right? I can't say I have ever heard of Spot."

"You've met it, actually. Spot is just what the system calls my master. It goes by Void. At least, that’s what I call it." Bee explained.

"I did?" Silas said, not commenting on the whole Void-Spot fiasco, to Bee's relief.

"Yep, it was the black disc."

"Oh, that makes sense. It sounds like there is quite a story there." Silas said. "What exactly is it? I haven't seen or heard of anything like it. Is it a new god?"

Bee thought carefully before answering. "I'm not really sure what it is. A new god might be the best theory we have. It is unbelievably powerful. I’ve seen it do things that don't even happen in legends or myths."

Silas nodded but didn't say anything further. The rest of their trip went by in relative peace. Bee didn't mind the slower pace as she slowly felt her normal strength restoring itself to her limbs. Every couple of minutes, she queried her pathing skill to see the general path to the nearest undead. It just gave her general directions that she took to mean they were far enough away for her liking. At least, far enough that the skill couldn't give her its usual precise steps.

As they started getting closer to the castle, it gave more and more clear directions. She had a good idea of what was waiting for them, but still feared that they had somehow found a way inside the castle. Before they crested the slight rise, she had the elderly couple sit behind a fallen tree and wait for her. Carefully, she looked over the hill.

The top of the wall came into view first. When she saw the black bars of the portcullis still closed, she felt instant relief in her heart. She had feared that someone opened it to go out, or that something had broken inside. However, she quickly tensed once again. Improved Pathing was telling her that to find the nearest undead, she only needed to go over the hill. Prepared for another ambush, Bee creeped forward and kept low.

A veritable sea of rotting zombies, dotted with ivory white skeletons, were waiting for her in neat ranks in front of the castle.

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