Lunch was almost here, and in order not to remain hungry, I decided to go hunting. Yes, I understand perfectly well that there are crackers, but who wants to eat them? So go ahead! Into the forest! And don't look at me like that, I'm on the hunt, the environment will not suffer. There was a pleasant coolness in the forest, the birds were singing, somewhere not far away I heard the roar of deer. The deer attracted me, calling the camel away, I went into the shade and began to creep up to the place where I heard the roar. I had to walk long enough, almost an hour, and when I did find them, I fell asleep, stepping on a branch, so I had to catch up. Perhaps it was worth spitting on this matter, but I had already bitten the bit and did not want to leave without game, although I spent several hours on it. It seems to have overtaken, deer stood in a tight circle in a clearing and ate grass. I’m not going to make such an oversight anymore, so I tried to foresee everything: branches, wind, puddles. Having again slipped into the inviz, he began to sneak up on the deer, I liked the young male, and it was on him that I decided to open the hunt. What happened next was a matter of technique, quietly approaching, simply cut off his head. The difference in levels was enormous, so it was not difficult. The rest of the herd fled in fear, without attempting to harm me in any way. Having cut out the most juicy pieces from the deer, he began to cook them. There was a decent amount of meat, so I decided to cook for the future, fortunately, it does not spoil in the bag. There was a stream nearby, I found clay in it, therefore I had the opportunity to bake meat in my own juice, allocating almost half of the meat for it, simply rubbed it with spices and, smearing it with clay, put it in coals. I left a quarter raw, and cooked the rest like a barbecue. It was on him that I decided to open the hunt. What happened next was a matter of technique, quietly approaching, simply cut off his head. The difference in levels was enormous, so it was not difficult. The rest of the herd fled in fear, without attempting to harm me in any way. Having cut out the most juicy pieces from the deer, he began to cook them. There was a decent amount of meat, so I decided to cook for the future, fortunately, it does not spoil in the bag. There was a stream nearby, I found clay in it, therefore I had the opportunity to bake meat in my own juice, allocating almost half of the meat for it, simply rubbed it with spices and, smearing it with clay, put it in coals. I left a quarter raw, and cooked the rest like a barbecue. It was on him that I decided to open the hunt. What happened next was a matter of technique, quietly approaching, simply cut off his head. The difference in levels was enormous, so it was not difficult. The rest of the herd fled in fear, without attempting to harm me in any way. Having cut out the most juicy pieces from the deer, he began to cook them. There was a decent amount of meat, so I decided to cook for the future, fortunately, it does not spoil in the bag. There was a stream nearby, I found clay in it, therefore I had the opportunity to bake meat in my own juice, allocating almost half of the meat for it, simply rubbed it with spices and, smearing it with clay, put it in coals. I left a quarter raw, and cooked the rest like a barbecue. The rest of the herd fled in fear, without attempting to harm me in any way. Having cut out the most juicy pieces from the deer, he began to cook them. There was a decent amount of meat, so I decided to cook for the future, fortunately, it does not spoil in the bag. There was a stream nearby, I found clay in it, therefore I had the opportunity to bake meat in my own juice, allocating almost half of the meat for it, simply rubbed it with spices and, smearing it with clay, put it in coals. I left a quarter raw, and cooked the rest like a barbecue. The rest of the herd fled in fear, without attempting to harm me in any way. Having cut out the most juicy pieces from the deer, he began to cook them. There was a decent amount of meat, so I decided to cook for the future, fortunately, it does not spoil in the bag. There was a stream nearby, I found clay in it, therefore I had the opportunity to bake meat in my own juice, allocating almost half of the meat for it, simply rubbed it with spices and, smearing it with clay, put it in coals. I left a quarter raw, and cooked the rest like a barbecue. smeared with clay, put in coals. I left a quarter raw, and cooked the rest like a barbecue. smeared with clay, put in coals. I left a quarter raw, and cooked the rest like a barbecue.
I ate something to eat, but I ran far away from the road, I didn’t even imagine that I could get so carried away. To reduce the path, I decided to go straight towards the end point, through the forest, for sure I will go out onto some kind of road. I didn’t call the camel, I couldn’t ride it among these branches. I had to walk for about five hours, already at dusk I went out onto a country road, I got tired during the journey, so I decided to call the little animal and continue to ride it, and it’s faster. With the direction of questions did not arise, the closer to the goal, the better. I rode for a long time, trying to make up for lost time, the moon rose to the sky, the stars formed into unknown constellations, it was at that moment that I saw something in the distance that looked like a village. It was lucky that the moon was full, otherwise, I would not have seen it. Having discarded the torment on the topic of spending the night here or moving on, he headed to the village, looking forward to a warm bed and dinner, even though I'm late, but gold works wonders, so I was completely sure that they would not drive me away with a pitchfork. It was quiet in the village, which, in fact, did not surprise me, it was night outside, I chose a bigger house, there is a lot of space, there is a room.
As soon as he approached the house, he saw that light was breaking through the shutters. I was glad that I would not have to wake up the owners, as it finally dawned on me what exactly confused me in this situation. Dogs. Let the night and people sleep, but the dogs must hear the clatter of hooves and bark, after all, the village is rather big, there are fifty houses. While I was thinking about what was happening, a sob was heard from the house opposite which I was standing, which became like a signal, zombies immediately began to crawl out of the houses. This evil could not be anything else, slowly walking, waving from side to side human figures, and the smell of decay, which arrived with a gust of wind, does not give any doubt. A night of miracles began, he swore loudly and immediately heard something fall in the house, and a few seconds later a shadow fell on the gap in the shutters, and a frightened old voice rang out:
- Who's there?
The question is really very interesting, but I was not going to be impolite and not answer, so I introduced myself.
It's me, Mirage.
- So I'm talking to my glitch?
- If you're talking about me, then no. This is my name, and if not about me, then I can’t say here, the probability is fifty percent.
- My dear man, you tell me something, are the ghouls far away?
“Three are twenty meters away, the rest are more than a hundred meters away.
- Can you lay down the nearest ones? I’ll open the door, I have children here, it’s not worth risking them, and you probably won’t be able to cope with everyone.
- With three, I'll figure it out, as soon as I finish, I'll shout.
He recalled his camel, pulled out a katana, now hold on, terrible creatures born from the darkness of the souls of great sinners, ha ha. Stop, something didn't carry me there. We recall everything that we read about these creatures: tenacious - it is not enough to cut off their heads, after that they can still be in an active state for several hours, and only then the magic circuit will fall apart. Therefore, hunters usually quarter undead in the form of zombies and wights, then it does not present danger. The dead, if anyone did not know, are the same zombies, only of the highest class, they move faster, are physically stronger, they have stronger and larger claws and fangs, on which the poison is more concentrated, and at higher ranks the poison turns into acid. According to the classification of necromancers, zombies are divided into seven ranks, and the most terrible of them is Monday. I got carried away again, so zombies are divided into seven ranks, at the very first they are slow creatures with pieces of the body falling off, a wild smell and one instinct - to eat. At the seventh rank, they are stronger, faster, their speed is equal to the speed of a fast-moving person, but still with the same instinct to eat. The eighth rank would go further, but the class of dead begins with it, their main difference from zombies is that they have a mental circuit, they obey all the same instincts, but they are able to cut the path, unite and surround the victim, use some skills that remain from a former life. but still with the same instinct to eat. The eighth rank would go further, but the class of dead begins with it, their main difference from zombies is that they have a mental circuit, they obey all the same instincts, but they are able to cut the path, unite and surround the victim, use some skills that remain from a former life. but still with the same instinct to eat. The eighth rank would go further, but the class of dead begins with it, their main difference from zombies is that they have a mental circuit, they obey all the same instincts, but they are able to cut the path, unite and surround the victim, use some skills that remain from a former life.
But this category of undead, dead and zombies has a weak point - the disk between the seventh and eighth vertebrae. At this point, there was a control element of the magic circuit, in case of violation of which the ghoul died irrevocably. All lower beings have similar weaknesses. True, an attempt to remember exactly where these vertebrae are located was unsuccessful, well, the undead did not interest me then, I just ran my eyes, just in case. So I started the old fashioned way, jumped to the left zombie and cut off the head, the blade passed surprisingly easily, separating the head from the torso, sliding movement to the next, and truncation of the head, without stopping the movement of the arm, slashed the third, going from the shoulder to the stomach. A few quick strokes and the legs of the arm are separated. The whole battle took a few seconds, from unpleasant moments: stench, dirt on weapons and clothes, swaying mass underfoot; one of the pleasant ones: with such creatures I can fight quite effectively, in extreme cases I can save myself by using inviz.
There was a noise behind me, I turned around and saw an old man standing on the porch and looking at me appraisingly, this, apparently, is the one with whom I was talking. He glanced at our picturesque picture, admired the still life named after Zombikeevich, estimated the distance to the other zombies and invited us inside with a nod. As soon as I entered the house, I found myself at the sight of several dozen eyes, on the floor, on benches, on beds, on the stove, everywhere someone was sitting or lying, an old man, the only man I saw, locked the door with a hefty bolt. He asked us to make room and offered to sit down.
- Mirage, I am the headman of this village, Stepan. Sorry, there is nothing to treat you with, we ate all the food yesterday, only there are no problems with water, I have a well in the cellar, so there is something to drink and wash.
- How long have you been sitting here?
- Yes, it's been a week. As soon as these cursed zombies appeared, we gathered those who remained alive, children and women, and the men, all in their power, covered us, and died there. Of the whole village of men, only I, Vasily the hunter - he was nailed down, lying in a fever, and a merchant - he left a month ago on his merchant business, and still no.
- Luckily for you, I have something to eat.
With these words, he gave them almost all the meat, but he sprinkled crackers. How many squeaks and squeals from the children could not be conveyed, they immediately grabbed everything, huddled in the corners and eat, the adults followed them, however, much more quietly, and Stepan and I were able to continue the conversation, however, already under the sound of teeth and crumbling crackers.
- Thank you, Mirage, I don’t even know how to thank you, a couple more days, and everyone would have died.
- Not at all, somehow there is no desire to know that through your fault little zombies are walking somewhere.
- Children don't make zombies, I don't know why. But the spawn of darkness hunt for them more stubbornly, children have a lot of vitality.
No, I don't like it either. Tell me better, about how many evil spirits are around, how many people are left? And anyway, what happened?
- We have a lot of evil spirits, two hundred - two and a half. But there were few people, fifteen women and thirty children. And this is what happened: about ten days ago, the warriors caught a necromancer not far from here, but not a simple one who simply studies all evil spirits, but from rebellious ones who hate life. To our misfortune, they led him through our village, and with some of his instincts he sensed Ivan that he helped the guards to reach him. Yes, he shouted something in an unfamiliar dialect and seems to be pointing a finger at Ivan, the Guard rushed to him, they frighten him with a spear, and he take it and throw himself on a spear. He died and crumbled into black dust, marking, therefore, our village with a posthumous curse. And three days later the first ghouls came and, honestly, they massacred the whole village.
- You've been beaten up a lot, let's do this: now we'll have a rest, and tomorrow you will go with me, I'll attach it somewhere. Here you will simply die.
That's how I got my camp. At night he rested, fortunately, the bolt and the door are strong, and in the morning, leaving the villagers to collect everything they find in the house, he went to explore. There were no dead people on the street, but not because they die in the sunlight, no, they just get very weak, slow down. Understanding that as soon as the children go out into the street, the zombies will kick out and simply kill us all, it’s better to take care of the cleanup. He started this occupation from the very last house. Close up, but in the light of day, the village did not seem so calm. Broken doors dangle from the doorposts, the smell of rot wafts from the houses, the foul-smelling remains of a dog lay on the once-tidy lawn. I must admit, it’s scary to go into the house, but as they say: call yourself a terminator - shove into a metallurgical furnace.
Therefore, having unsheathed his weapon, he began to advance along the wall inward, the first room was dirty, the second room was also dirty, apparently, the new owners rarely wash the floors, it smells bad, there is blood on the walls, bones and offal on the floor. But it makes me nervous, it breaks into jokes. I found the first zombie in the third room, as soon as he saw me, he immediately rushed to hug, but, to his regret, I am an evil, cruel cracker, so I simply hacked him to death. Immediately, the next zombie came out to the noise, which suffered the same fate. The second house turned out to be more shabby, there weren’t even windows, but it was brighter inside. There were five people waiting for me, but they were just eerily slow, so I spent even less effort on them. It became interesting why this was so, as a result of some thought, I came to the conclusion that it was a matter of sunlight. Wishing to test his theory, he approached the third house, but, before going inside, cut down all the shutters. The conclusions turned out to be completely correct, with the windows open, the zombies really became slower. He put this case on the conveyor and somehow even gave up, for which he paid the price. Entering the seventeenth house in a row, I went into an empty room, but did not take into account that the layout was radically different, and this room was more like an entrance hall, since five doors led into it, but I imprudently went deeper, giving the opportunity for zombies to go behind me. Guest workers from other rooms immediately appeared, there was almost no light here, a whole crowd of zombies, we had to improvise. Since the escape route to the door was closed, I ran forward and, using skill² from gloves, began to climb the wall, climbed to the ceiling, and so, depicting a spider-man, moved to the next room, and from there to the window. Catching his breath in a calm atmosphere, he waited, until my dead friends come out, and slowly slaughtered them, only now I decided to catch up and cast a freeze on cd³ to pump the skill. By lunchtime, I cleared the entire village, the strategy worked out, during the battle I became more attentive, so there were no problems. In my book of the evil spirits hunter, there were numbers: "183 zombies - rank 1, 12 - rank 2 and 1 as much as 3."
Obtained the achievement: “Undead Killer Level 1. You have destroyed 100 representatives of the undead. Reward: +5% damage to undead."
Also upgraded Bindings to rank eight:
“Change of Frost spell has been upgraded to rank 8. Cast time 1.3 seconds, stun duration 10 seconds. Cost 100 mana, cooldown: 60 seconds.
After I told the villagers about the cleansing of the village, they had a quick bite to eat and set off. They put Ivan on a camel, since he was still unconscious, and set off for the nearest town in the direction of my journey. It was not far to go, and there were no problems along the way, even the children, despite their age, behaved calmly and steadfastly endured the hardships of the path. In the city he brought them to the teleport, handed over gold to the teleport, a letter to the manager with a request to provide assistance and a map with the necessary teleports. I myself went to the market to buy crackers, collect more seasonings with salt and rest, the last days were very busy, so I want to lie in the bath, wipe off all the stench, send the maid to clean my clothes and fall asleep for about twelve hours. That is exactly what, in fact, he did when he found the first decent hotel,
← Chapter 9
I woke up to the accompaniment of a downpour, the rain charged like a bucket, and, judging by the sky, this is for the whole day. The mood has dropped sharply, like it or not, but you have to shuffle under the downpour, the time spent in this location is limited. I reluctantly had breakfast and took food for the road, and why didn’t I do this before? Fucking romantic. Hunt him, you see, serve, uuu, how angry I am. Okay, depressed, and that's enough, it's time to go. He called his hunchbacked horse, jumped up and rushed towards adventure, that is, he trudged along where the map ordered. In the whole situation, one thing was pleasing - the road remained strong, the camel's hooves did not fall into the mud, so we were going fast enough. The whole day passed in silence, I was already used to the rain knocking on the hood, and the next day was just as wet and cloudy. So a week passed, during all this time only once a horseman came across, and even that one, judging by the form, the messeng
The day was beautiful, today I had to drive through a pine forest. The sun broke through the tent of branches, playing like bunnies in the morning dew. The camel, to which I never bothered to give a name, easily walked along the coniferous carpet, breathing easily and naturally. Today I was going to make a decent push and leave most of the trip behind me. The road ran easily, from the soul poured out of nowhere a pop-up song: “You are a sailor, I am a sailor. You are a fisherman, I am a fisherman. You are on land, I am on the sea. We will never meet." Further, for the life of me, I don’t remember, but I sang these four lines for probably an hour, until a branch from a fallen tree flew over me. It was so unexpected that I choked on a sailor, and then, by inertia, it turned out that I was a crack. I didn't think about it, didn't think about it. I am sitting, thinking about the intricacies of fate and the love of a sailor and a quack, and what should she do, poor fellow,
It seems that the job is done, but it's too early to relax. The first desire was to wake up all the slaves, but after a little thought, I decided that it was better to leave this matter until the morning. Firstly, it is difficult to predict the reaction of people to a man in black who appeared out of nowhere and soaked fifty people. And if this appearance is also at night, but by the light of fires, uuuu. So we clear the leader's tent from the corpse and climb there on the bainki. The morning is wiser than the evening, although it is not clear why, the evening is older, which means that he has more experience. As soon as he fell into bed, he immediately jumped from a sharp cry right above his ear. This is the same girl who was with the leader, I was in the middle of a fight and forgot about the poor fellow, and she sits there, shaking, apparently, she hid here all day, and I accidentally lay down on her. And once such an incident happened, you need to calm down. To begin with, I took
Finally a city. The transition turned out to be tiring, so I decided to rest in the city for a day. The town is small, but located on an important trade road, so many caravans stop here all the time. The walls are not high, but thick enough, they are more from robbers than enemies from abroad. I decided to stay at the Prancing Pony Hotel, which is run by a young couple with a young son. I liked the hotel with a simple but interesting style. When I went inside, I was amazed: a simple house on the outside, unremarkable from the rest, inside looked like a marvelous garden. All the walls were covered with vines and, remarkably, with bunches of grapes. At the entrance, a security guard stopped me and warned that it was possible to pick grapes, but only visitors to the establishment, and as much as they need for food now, cannot take grapes with them to their room and take them out of the hotel. A reasonable rule of thumb is to ensure that there is eno
We were very lucky - by the time the undead broke into the city, we had blocked all the passages and windows, remade the chimney, closed the fresh masonry with oak shields, and collected firewood and supplies. And, most importantly, while working, people gained the determination to fight, now there was no crying, but only quiet and calm conversations. The people who showed their leadership qualities during the work organized the sorting of supplies without mention. The breakthrough occurred in the evening, at which time the parapet¹ of the bodies reached the top of the wall, and an avalanche of undead flowed into the city. We could not watch everything, I wanted to go out in invisibility for reconnaissance, but there are so many undead that they will trample the invisible. Therefore, one had to sit and listen to the growling, the beat of thousands of feet shaking the ground, and the screams of people. I really wanted to help them, but there was no such opportunity, our she
The further path was marked by the passage of a dozen more traps. And finally, in front of me is the wall of the secret passage. The hope of getting out outside the city was not destined to come true, gently opening the sash, I slipped out in invisibility right behind the zombies. Moreover, the zombies stood in a tight wall, shoulder to shoulder, and so far as the gaze spread. In order to inspect everything, I carefully climbed the wall to the roof, fortunately, my stealth skills have already taken a big step forward, and I'm not talking about the level of invisibility, but about understanding how to put a foot, how to move silently, which side to enter , so as not to impersonate any third-party factor.The view from the roof amazed me. All the streets were densely packed with standing zombies, they stood everywhere, on every free heel of space, all the floors of each of the buildings were occupied, where there was an exit to the roof, they stood on the roof, and all this without a si
Four hours, this, of course, is not a complete rest, but at least it turned out to freshen up a little, otherwise, in fact, a day on your feet fogs up your mind. He called Dmitry, found out which of those present was more respected, and on his advice he called three more. I need people who can be senior in my absence, and for this I need to explain what I want from them and what the plan is all the same. I had a conversation with Dmitry, because I know him better.- So what did you think, Mirage?- A little about the situation: the streets are clogged with undead, I did not find the living from the word at all. Apparently we are the only ones in this city. Now about the main thing: while reading a book about the undead, I found an interesting fact - after death, the bodies of the undead are burned, as they burn well, like an oiled rag. There are thousands of bodies here, outside the walls of the city they lie in a dense ring to the very walls, and in the city itself, although not so m
Chapter 1Dedicated to my comrade, Andrei KrasnikovSasha, drop your book already! Mom looked into my room and looked disapprovingly at the unmade bed. Are you reading this stupid fantasy again? Go to the gym, you need help!- Now…- Not now, but now!With a sigh, I put down the reading room and reluctantly trudged into the hall. The only half-day off in the week, when I could get enough sleep and set aside a miserable couple of hours for reading, was covered with a copper basin. Mom, when she wanted to, was very persuasive.- A little something - you grab a smartphone. Better take care of business.I remained silent, not intending to enter into another senseless argument. For my mother, all my hobbies, including past victories in world esports tournaments, cost absolutely nothing.As for “getting busy,” she has no idea that I plow like an ox, earning, in general, decent money.With such thoughts, I entered the hall and only now noticed that we had guests. Mom poured tea for two stron