Rune Seeker

A few of the undead must’ve made it through the pedway before Hiral blew it, because fireballs exploded, gushing flames out of the wide windows into the rainy night. Water evaporated in the blink of an eye, and a cloud of steam spread along the outside wall.

Hiral, meanwhile, aimed his RHCs and peppered the horde along the ground with searing bolts. Every shot maimed, killed, or at least knocked down an undead, but it was like trying to scoop up an ocean with a spoon. There were just too many, and no matter how many he killed, it seemed like there were hundreds more. Fighting the undead army wasn’t the way. They needed to get away, regroup—maybe back in the tunnel—and find a way to sneak more effectively through the city.

He opened his mouth to suggest just that, but another voice came over the party chat first.

“We’ve got more coming up the stairs back here,” Wule said.

“How many?” Seena asked.

“More than a few, less than a horde?” Wule said.

“Seeyela, see if you can block them off so we can keep falling back,” Seena said.

“I’m coming back to help out,” Hiral said.

“No!” Seena said immediately. “We’re practically blind in here from anything outside. Make sure there isn’t another horde sneaking up on us.”

“You know what I mean,” Seena said flatly.

“I’ll let you know if I see anything,” Hiral said. “We should head back for the tunnel.”

“Agreed,” Seena said.

“Gravity Well should slow down the ones behind us,” Seeyela said. “They were bottlenecking up the stairs, but it won’t hold long. A minute at most. Get moving. That means you, too, Nivian.”

Another fireball explosion threw flames out the window, and Hiral finally pulled his eyes away from where the party was fighting. He had his own job to do. There wasn’t anything he could do to stop the undead horde already on the ground, but at least he knew where they were, so he dashed down across the roofs to get behind the party and check for threats there.

Rejection-powered footsteps rocketed him through the rain, the cold noticeable but not concerning on his D-Rank skin, and he charged down one block, two, then skidded to a stop. Lightning flashed in the distance as he climbed onto a corner of the building and peered in all directions along the intersection. More undead shuffled straight ahead, but they were almost ten blocks away—nothing to worry about there. To his right, the street was suspiciously empty. A quick check of his bearings and… yes… those were the roots leading to the dungeon.

This was the street the A-Rank giant would patrol. So, it was only empty for the moment, and likely the most dangerous route of all of them. But that meant the tunnel would just be to his left, and Hiral turned in that direction.

Then his jaw dropped.

What had been an empty street when they’d left was now packed with shoulder-to-shoulder undead. Mostly zombies, from the looks of it, but the whole street was crawling with them.

He spotted the tunnel entrance at the back of the horde, central to some kind of park-like square, and there were hundreds more undead surrounding it. His eyes narrowed as he picked out some of the shapes moving differently than the others. Most of the undead were wandering aimlessly around the square, but there was one… two… five moving too quickly. Too directly.

(Undead) Wight Blight-Ranger – Mid-D-Rank

The name appeared above each of the five heads as he stared. Wights were obviously more capable in a fight than the skeletons and zombies, and… did this mean they were also more intelligent? Did they know we’d want to go back there, and brought a horde to block us?

“Tunnel isn’t an option anymore,” Hiral said into party chat. “Undead all over the place in front of it. Wights there too. I don’t think we’d have an easy time cutting through to get inside.”

“What does a color have to do with anything?” Yanily asked.

“Yan, stop talking and get back to stabbing,” Nivian said.

“You mentioned a… whatever that was before,” Seena said. “Are they bad?”

“Nothing we can’t handle,” Hiral said. “Except there are five of them and hundreds of skeletons and zombies. I don’t think it’s worth the risk.”

“Can Seeyela take us over to the roof with you?” Wule asked.

“That might be the best…” Hiral started.

“HIRAL, LOOK OUT!” Seena screamed into the party chat, so loud Hiral jumped back out of reflex.

And that saved his life. A massive fist pounded onto—and through—the roof right where he’d been standing.

Stone crumbled down to the road below while a cloud of dust shot into the air, and the shuddering roof threw Hiral from his feet. He rolled as soon as he hit the stone, reflexively moving away from the corner of the building. As soon as the structure stopped shaking, he popped to his feet and drew his RHCs, then looked up into a pair of blue eyes as big as his head emerging from the dust cloud.

(Elite Undead) Shambling Graveyard – High-A-Rank

You didn’t mention it was Elite, Left… Hiral practically cursed in his head as he watched the giant stand up to its full height and stare down at him. Even though Hiral was standing on the top of a three-story building, the monster still stood twenty feet taller, and now that Hiral was closer, he could make out more details of its body.

It wasn’t some kind of natural giant reborn as an undead, but instead a massive pile of corpses. Individual Lizardman bodies had been squeezed grotesquely together to shape its monstrous body, with its wide shoulders and mountain-like head. As it raised its open hand slowly above it, Lizardman bones cracked and crunched, and Hiral stared at fingers made from twisted Lizardman legs.

Baleful blue eyes glared at him, flickering like torches within cavern-like eye sockets, and arm-thick rivers of phosphorescent blue teardrops ran down its cheeks, so Hiral pulled his triggers. One shot into each eye. If destroying the blue flame within the head worked like it did with the skeletons and zombies, maybe the Shambling Graveyard wouldn’t be so dangerous.

The monster didn’t even blink, and the fingers closed into a fist.

“Oh shi…” Hiral cursed, turning on his heel and blasting off with a Rejection-enhanced leap.

WHUMP. A shockwave caught him midair, flipping him head over heels as he soared across the roof. His RHCs went back to his thighs in a practiced motion, and he threw out a cushion of Rejection to soften his landing. It still felt like he’d just been thrown thirty feet by a monstrous giant to a stone roof, but at least he didn’t go crashing down into one of the alleys between the buildings.

Back on his feet a second later, he spun to see the giant take one step in his direction, and just like that, it’d caught up to him. The massive arm swung along the top of the roofs, tearing stone and building a wave in front of it in an attempt to simultaneously swat and crush him. There was no way he was going to be able to repel that kind of power, so he tore off in the opposite direction, more Rejection fueling his sprint.

He lunged across the first alley between buildings, a quick glance down showing dozens of blue orbs staring up at him, and then he was on the next roof, the terrible rumbling not slowing at all. A profound crash signaled the giant had just dumped several tons of rubble on the undead in the alley—I wonder if I get experience for them?—but then the building under Hiral’s feet shook. The massive undead wasn’t slowing.

Thump. The giant must’ve taken another step, and even through the cold rain, Hiral could feel a chill like the grave crawling along the road behind him.

“Hiral, you still alive out there?” Seena said over the party chat.

“For the moment,” Hiral said, leaping another alley and then cutting right across the roof. It didn’t seem he could outrun the giant in a straight race, even with his absurd Dex, but maybe he could outmaneuver it. If he didn’t follow the roads…

The whole roof tilted backwards, and Hiral scrambled down to his hands and knees so he didn’t completely slide down. A quick application of his Rune of Attraction kept him in place, and he glanced back to see what in the Fallen’s names had just happened.

The Shambling Graveyard was walking through the building like a person would wade into the water. Stone crumpled and split as it pushed forward, though something unseen must’ve held, because its next step hitched. A growling moan crawled up the giant’s throat, vibrating the rain when it exited between teeth made of Lizardman skulls. Then it reached down with one hand, grabbed the edge of the roof impeding it, and hauled up and to the side in one violent jerk.

Hiral’s eyes widened as the entire section of roof, easily twenty feet wide and thousands of pounds, went sailing off into the night. Glowing roots attached to the flipping debris let Hiral follow the flight path, unable to tear his eyes away, and it flew two, three, four… five… six blocks before it finally hurtled down into another building with a crash that reached even his ears.

“What is going on out there?” Seena asked.

“Can’t talk now,” Hiral said as the giant turned its blue eyes back on him.

With his Rune of Attraction letting him scamper up the forty-five-degree roof like a spider, Hiral crested the lip of the next flat section, then burst off again with a switch of his runes. After using Foundational Split, along withall the fighting and running, he still had over fifty percent of his solar energy, having given twenty percent to each of his doubles. Killing Spree, however, had kept him topped off. Without that now, he’d drain quickly. Even so, he didn’t hold anything back, pouring as much energy as he could into his Rejection-fueled sprint.

The building shuddered like an earthquake with every step of the giant behind him, and his head swiveled left and right. A straight-up race wasn’t working, and it could go through buildings like he walked through tall grass. Options? Climb one of the tall buildings where it can’t reach? Yeah, right, then have it pull the whole damn thing down if it wants to.

No, if it knew where he was, it seemed like nothing would stop it. He had to hide, but he needed to do it in a way the giant wouldn’t realize.

“Sorry, but I’m going to need Right for an assist,” Hiral said into the party chat. “Can you spare him?”

“It’s a little dicey here right now,” Seena replied. “Any chance you can hold out… uh… another thirty seconds?”

A glance over Hiral’s shoulder, and he gulped. “Fifteen?” he said as a counteroffer.

“We’ll make it work,” Seena said. “Good luck.”

“You too,” Hiral said, spotting another wide street ahead. Like he’d done when this whole reckless plan had started, he sprinted right for it, then launched off with multiple streams of Rejection. The sudden increase in speed plastered the rain against his face, pulled his lips back from his teeth, and flapped his raincoat in the wind, but it also got him all the way across to the next building.

Rejection in the opposite direction slowed his fall, though he still fell into a tumbling roll to absorb the rest of his momentum, then sprang back to his feet and dashed off to the right. Letting the giant move along the road was actually less difficult than dealing with the bucking building.

Another crash like a stone waterfall told Hiral the giant had left the last set of buildings, and the almost rhythmic thumps of its footsteps got closer with each beat. Fifteen seconds? He wouldn’t last ten if he didn’t do something drastic.

Or reckless.

But what could he do?

Another leap across a narrow alley, undead rushing through below, and he hit the next roof in a sprint, eyes peeled for any options. Maybe he could go through one of the tall buildings? It wouldn’t stop the giant, but it might slow it down enough for…

An arrow cut through the rain straight ahead of him, and Hiral dove to the side, pain slashing across the top of his shoulder, as he wasn’t quite fast enough to completely evade it. He pushed himself back up with one hand on the roof, only losing half a step. A titanic crash right behind screamed that was almost half a step too much, but that wasn’t even his most immediate problem—another arrow was already slicing through the rain.

Already off balance from the first shot, he wouldn’t be able to dodge it without risking the giant catching him—and it was coming right for his head. Just need to change the trajectory a little…

Following his split-second instincts, Hiral pushed an ounce of power and his Rune of Gravity into the Ring of Amin Thett. The arrow, already aimed high to strike him in the head, jerked slightly—just enough to flash over him—yet he took another nasty gash across his scalp.

Blood immediately joined the water running down his face and into his right eye, but Hiral had seen where that arrow had come from. A slight change of direction burst him straight for the wight, and its blue, undead eyes widened when it saw the giant following Hiral’s sprint.

With its hand pausing midway in drawing its next arrow, Hiral shot past it—though he tossed a wave of Rejection to knock it from its feet—then continued his mad dash.

A thud behind him, then a change to the cadence of the giant’s footsteps, had Hiral glancing back, and he spotted the wight in the giant’s hand. Are they going to team up now? No, instead of a giant-riding wight shooting arrows at him, he saw the giant toss the Lizardman into its mouth. One crunch of the horrific teeth ended the meal, and the Shambling Graveyard resumed the chase.

The small snack, though, had bought Hiral almost a building’s length of a lead along with three seconds—and even better, it’d given him an idea. Moving from the middle of the roof, Hiral sprinted to the edge overlooking the wide street, his eyes peeled as he ran above the road. Where are you…? He powered his vault over another wide intersection ahead, finally spotting what he was looking for far to the right down the connecting street.

As soon as his feet hit the next roof, he took a risk and skidded on the wet stone, dropping fingers and gripping with Attraction, then lunged to the side at a ninety-degree angle. The giant hit his current building at the same time Hiral left it, using discs of Rejection in the air to cross the street and land on the next roof. He stumbled as he arrived—one, two, three steps—but didn’t go down, and the giant hadn’t made the turn as nimbly as he had.

Hiral was already on the next roof by the time the Shambling Graveyard changed its direction and lumbered after him.

Huh, it can’t make sudden direction changes quickly. Should’ve thought of that…

But it didn’t matter at that point; his plan was already too far in motion to change now. Ahead of him in the street, thousands of blue orbs looked up as he ran along the edge of the roof. Even at a quick glance, Hiral spotted more than a dozen wights pointing toward Hiral, the zombies and skeletons starting to move.

Thud. The giant’s footstep echoed behind Hiral, and suddenly those thousands of undead eyes turned from him to the charging giant.

If it was possible for undead to feel fear, the wight’s widening eyes were the closest thing Hiral had seen yet. He sprinted past the lead edge of the horde as individuals within the massive crowd all tried to go different directions at once. The wights, hidden within the mass of undead, had nowhere to go as the giant reached the horde.

One massive hand swept down, scooping up undead in a mess of flailing limbs and blue eyes, then simply shoved the whole thing in its mouth. Its next step crushed dozens more of the monsters while its other hand went down, thick fingers shattering bones and bursting zombies like overfilled balloons as it grabbed a second handful. A second mouthful.

Between the devasting steps and grasping hands, the giant destroyed or consumed undead by the dozens, maybe even the hundreds. And, while its blue eyes stayed locked on Hiral the entire time and it continued in his direction, it’d slowed to enjoy the buffet—at least in passing.

By that point, Hiral was already past the rear end of the horde, and he’d built up a solid lead. As soon as the giant’s steps carried it past the horde, though, the chase would be back on. Now was his chance to make a break for it.

Without a lot of options to make the next part of his plan work, the two side-by-side buildings ahead of him would have to do. A tall one on the left, at least ten floors with windows at his level, and the other on the right the same height as the building he ran on.

“I hope that’s been fifteen seconds,” Hiral said into the party chat, hesitating an extra second before cancelling his summons.

“We’re good here, for the moment,” Seena said. “Take him.”

In a way, it was odd to hear her voice so clearly despite the distance—especially while they had to befighting for their lives at the same time. Not now. Hiral pushed the thought from his mind, leaping across the next alley and running over to where the two buildings nestled up against each other.

There, he cancelled his summon of Right, the tattoos growing on his skin like bruises emerging. He immediately lost access to his Rune of Rejection, losing some of his speed, but he quickly activated Foundational Split.

Knowing exactly what Hiral needed thanks to being in his head again—even if only for a heartbeat—Right dashed to the side as soon as he peeled off. Purple flames flared, drawing any eye watching, and he ran for the edge of the building.

Hiral, for his part, dove through one of the open windows of the taller building. Off to his left, he spotted exactly what he needed—a hallway leading deeper inside—and quickly ran down it.

Hopefully there wouldn’t be another horde waiting for him.