Chapter 38

“Bring them to me!” rasped the bone creature.

The undead broke into motion. They were fast! The front rushed forward in a wave of rotten flesh, rusted weapons held overhead, mouths opening in a collective desiccated howl.

In one smooth motion Rain stepped forward and his foot freighted up under the crouching Kobold’s rump. The Kobold only had a moment to scream in surprise before he was launched forward like a stone from a catapult. He went flying through the air tumbling out of control and crashed into a particularly rotten looking undead, snapping its spine, he hit the one behind it breaking it too, then he smashed into a third undead in a tangle of limbs.

Rain charged in behind as Opal, still atop Rain, smoothly drew her cutlass and rapier, one in each hand.

Rain’s paw swept forward, swiping at the head of an undead Human. The force of the blow caved its head in and it collided with a trio of undead behind it bringing them down too. The undead were not slow to react to Rain’s sudden aggression and they swarmed him. Dozens of smaller undead latched onto his legs, their claws and teeth and knives piercing his tough flesh with varying levels of success, the taller undead howled and chopped down with their rusted blades at his arms and torso, and the weaponless lunged at him trying to climb toward his throat.

He could only struggle, his paws lashing out and crushing ribcages, snapping necks, and fracturing skulls, but there was always more and more and those who weren’t completely broken always came back.

Opal’s blades swished through the air, each slash ending with a meaty ‘shunk!’ as she chopped down those trying to climb her wolf steed. It was not enough to stop the swarming numbers and soon Rain was at the center of a hurricane of undead spiralling in on him, crawling over each other to claw and rend and tear his flesh.

Despite the weight of countless bodies however, he managed to, slowly, heave one foot forward, then he heaved the other foot forward, taking another laboured step, each heavy motion physically dragging the entire chaotic swarm along with him. He strode slowly, heavily, toward the many skulled bone creature, his eyes locked on, blood washing down his body, the weight of over a hundred undead furiously trying to hold him back and failing against his power.

“My you are a determined one,” the many skulled bone creature sneered.

It raised up its staff overhead and the undead hurricane with rain as the eye of the storm seemed to double down on their fury. As the seething mass neared the bone creature the undead seemed to avoid touching it, shifting away from it even as Rain took another leaden step forward.

Rain simply snarled back at its words and brute forced his way forward through sheer strength, dragging the entire spiralling heaving crowd of undead with him. He was getting near.

“You aren’t a leveler, you have no skills or magic, you are simply another monster. Give your body to me and gain a little worth as one of mine.”

The bone creature swung the staff down at him. Rain didn’t hesitate, he ripped his arm free from the undead trying to hold him down and grabbed the staff mid-swing. The teeth cut at his paws causing agony to shoot up his limb but he held on, he held onto the staff! With a snarl he heaved it toward himself dragging the boney creature into his clutches, or at least that is what he expected to happen, instead the staff parted halfway down its length leaving the boney creature where it was and Rain holding half the staff.

“You would not believe the number of levelers who have fallen for that old trick,” said the creature, its hood tilting to the side and the skulls rattling and grinning with cruel joy.

Rain could only look on in dismay as the half staff he held in his hands unravelled into dozens of spines covered in razor sharp teeth and began winding themselves up his arm, the teeth cutting long bloody furrows through his fur.

“Rain! Panthara!”

Rain turned his head in time to see the undead Panthara reaching for him. It was taller than him and its talons reached over the undead on long arms to latch onto his shoulder.

Its half missing muzzle and one remaining eye seemed to snarl in evil cruel glee as the talons sunk deep and hit bone, the species as foul hearted and malicious in undeath as in life. Rain shuddered and gasped in pain, for once he was covered in blood not of those he ate but his own. He could feel his body failing, pieces of him being sliced away by innumerable wounds and stabs and rending claws and teeth, grinding him down with sheer numbers.

“Fuck you! You can’t have him!“ screamed Opal and he thought he felt her lunge over his head toward the boney creature. He opened his mouth to yell for her to stop but instead of appearing in front of him she lunged from his side, the long sword unsheathed from her back and swinging through the air. It came down on the Panthara’s rotten shoulder like a guillotine and struck deep.

“Use it!” he heard her scream before she vanished over the Panthara’s shoulder and into the crowd of undead.

His paw shot out and gripped the Panthara by the upper arm. With a savage roar he twisted his whole body and wrenched on the arm so hard that it was ripped from the creature’s rotten shoulder in an explosion of gore. With mad eyes Rain turned back on the boney creature and with a snarl drove forward in desperation, muscles straining, using every ounce of strength he had, each step dragging tons and tons of writhing undead flesh with him.

“My Panthara! How dare you! Do you have any idea how much of a pain it is to get one of those nasty horrible creatures! You! Yo-”