Civilization

The putrid smell of rotting flesh wafts up from the cave, invading my nose and causing my dinner to come up from my stomach. Standing firm, I force it back down, as everyone else did. We all know it wasn't pleasant but the moment one of us let it overtake us, everyone will follow. The zombies move slowly up the cave making the time waiting for them to come close feel like an eternity, however, it allowed me to give some instructions to the front line.

"Gobi, make sure no one gets bitten by the zombie, if they do they are done for." - Ian

"What do you mean, done for?" - Gobi

"Once bitten, the victim will become a zombie soon after." - Ian

"WHAT! Is this confirmed? Is this real?" - Gobi

"Very real." - Gobi

"And you are only telling me this now as the zombies are getting closer?" - Gobi

"Unfortunately, I was also dumbfounded by the appearance of the zombies so my reaction and thinking process kind of slowed. However, what I'm saying is something real. Do not get bitten." - Ian

"YOU HEARD THAT EVERYONE! NO MATTER WHAT! DO NOT GET BITTEN!" - Gobi

"YES BOSS GOBI!"- Hobgoblins

"Anything else you want to share with us, my lord?" - Gobi

"Aim for the head. Just like the skeletons they should die after a blow to the head however, it will take more than a normal blow. Decapitation would be preferred." - Ian

"Alright." - Gobi

"Don't worry, I'm going to join in the fight as well." - Ian

Placing a hand on one of the hobgoblin's shaking shoulders, I tell him to move back allowing myself to stand next to Gobi behind the wall. Gripping my trident with one hand, I wait patiently for the zombies to get in range. As they drew closer, they sped up, moving faster as the smell of flesh entices them.

"Gobi, now." - Ian

"Got it, Aura of Battle!" - Gobi

With the increased stats from Gobi's skill, I initiate the first attack against the new wave of monsters. Thrusting my trident forward, I stab into the rotting flesh of a zombie wolf demi-human, exploding its head and splattering dried blood across other zombies. The loud explosion echoes against the cave walls and like a tsunami, the once meandering zombies snap their heads towards the entrance.

I can see their dead eyes focusing on us as they screech, dashing towards the cave exit. Tumbling on one another as they climb close to the wall. Fear strikes Gobi and the other hobgoblins as they see corpses screaming and clawing at each other moving closer and closer to them.
"FIGHT THEM! DON'T BE AFRAID!" - Ian

Yelling at Gobi and the other hobgoblins, I quickly attack with my trident creating a small chain of explosions on the zombies that entered my range. Seeing me fight, Gobi commits to the act as well. Using a golem spear he attacks an approaching zombie. The squishing sound creeps into my ears as the spearhead penetrates the skull and punctures a hole through the brain.

Brain juices and thick blood runs down the spear as Gobi hurriedly pulls it back, before attacking another zombie. Due to the other hobgoblins' late reaction, the zombies had already approached the wall forcing them to take a step back. However, Robin and her team of archers weren't afraid. They pull their bowstrings back, releasing arrows at the zombies.

One of which narrowly scrapes the side of my cheek and pierces through the eye of a giant rat. Taking the opportunity to help out everyone else, I activate Cleave, slashing at the zombies that were about to climb over the right side of the wall while simultaneously activating Earth Spike to help block off the left side. Gobi noticing my efforts grits his teeth and starts to actively attack as well helping out the left side.

We momentarily stabilize as the hobgoblins finally started to retaliate against the zombies, but the frantic crazed state of the zombies increased each time I kill one with an explosion. I knew it was because of the sound generated by my trident, but each attack was able to kill them as well as damage the surrounding zombies.

Glancing around, I notice that even Gobi, unless he pierces directly through the skull has to attack a zombie two or three times before killing it. It was the same for the other hobgoblins as they were unable to kill a zombie straight away. Arrows fly over our heads penetrating into the gray skin of zombies with only a select few miraculously killing a zombie.

Unlike the skeletons from last night, the zombies were like hungry monsters desperately coming closer, but they were also inflicting damage on one another as if they didn't know they were on the same side. This made dealing with them easier than the skeletons as they would bite, scratch, claw, and push each other before they reached the wall and our spears.

The battle this time was a lot easier compared to yesterday and after a couple of hours, we did the first rotation, substituting Gobi, the hobgoblins, and myself with a team of demi-humans.

"How are you feeling, Gobi?" - Ian

"Feeling good." - Gobi

"Are you sure? You look a bit pale..." - Ian

"No, no I'm fine. The smell is just too strong, so I'm feeling a bit queasy." - Gobi

"It's alright. There is no shame at all." - Ian

"Gobi, we need to think of a plan. " - Howard

"This is not going as well as you might think. There is no way we can keep pushing against them like this, and now that there are more and more zombies the smell is going to concentrate here more and more." - Howard

"Eventually we might just suffocate in the stench..." - Melody

"Melody! What are you doing here?" - Ian

I turn around to see Melody walking toward us.

"I came to deliver potions according to Lucina's instructions. However, I'm dying from the smell. It is absolutely horrendous. Dead bodies piling up against each other is just not what I expected from the cave." - Melody

"Owen and Rex might never want to go back down to mine copper after this as well..." - Howard

"Maybe you can breathe in all the bad air and breathe it out near the forest we can go inside the cave without smelling anything" - Gobi

"HEY!" - Howard

"Gobi, take a potion first, you didn't get injured however, your condition isn't the best either.  I saw you pushing yourself for the other two on the left a lot. They also need a potion as well. Melody can you give them a potion each?" - Ian

"Of course, here Gobi take a potion and I'll give the other two hobgoblins potions right now as well." - Melody

"Ian, are we sure about this approach? Why not go on the offensive and attack directly into the cave?" - Howard

"We can attack the cave but that would mean we are risking a lot for the attack. There is no way we can guarantee the attack will work and if we were to be surrounded we would have died. Think about it like this, we didn't even know zombies were coming out of the pillar of light. Imagine we were down there.

Caught by surprise and surrounded in no time, the zombies would run over us like a stampede and we would have died. Even if we were able to escape one, two, no maybe even more people would have died to allow the rest of us to escape.  Is it worth it in the end?" - Ian

"I can see your point now..." - Howard

"However, we could have fought valiantly and won right?" - Gobi

" I don't want to fight valiantly, I want to win and make sure no one needs to die for my sake. Everyone here will survive and I will make sure of that one way or another. It was already a tragedy when Oscar died but it wasn't only him that died.

Gobi I saw you make small tombs for the goblins that passed away as well. Each time one of them passes away, you wander into the forest and pick a flower, placing it next to a small pile of rocks. A small tomb for them, I want that to never happen again. Don't you?" - Ian

"You saw that... I thought I was hidden from everyone every time I went out..." - Gobi

"It's not just Ian that knows this. Stellar, Gewari, Noah, Kingston, Lucina, myself and even Melody knows about this." - Howard

"What!" - Gobi

"You are also not the only one that has built a grave. Owen and Robin had created one for Oscar as well. Further, into the forest, they built a small grave with the only thing they had left of Oscar before he passed away." - Ian

"I didn't know... I thought it was only me. I know you have a lot of things on your mind my lord, so, I always thought that there was a part of you that didn't care as much as others when some passes away. " - Gobi

"Gobi... I would be saddened if anyone I knew died. " - Ian

"I understand now." - Gobi



"Good, now, let's rest up while keeping an eye on the battle in front of us.  Howard you will be rotating next okay?" - Ian

"Understood. Will you also be part of the rotation?" - Howard

"I will be, but I want to fight them inside the cave, so, you will have to keep an eye on my back." - Ian

"Yes my lord! I will make sure nothing happens." - Howard