Discordant Note | TBATE

Chapter 75: City of Fear

That was when I noticed the make of the armor. Many of the corpses had armor with a slit down the spine, exposing tattered flesh.

But some still had glowing runes along their spines.

These were people, I thought with horror, realization dawning. These aren't just creations of the Relictombs. They've raised corpses, somehow.

I was unprepared for the second wave of hands thrusting through the stone. One of them erupted right below my feet, the skeletal hands immediately latching onto my ankles. I brought Oath down along the wrists, severing them with ease.

But the bodies kept rising. Where before there had only been a couple of dozen, now I couldn't count the pairs of hands fast enough.

I'm going to be overwhelmed if I stay here, I thought, turning away from the slowly approaching horde and looking toward one of the tall buildings. They'll just keep coming.

I threw out half a dozen telekinetic pushes as projectiles swarmed toward me, flares of white meeting smashing through rock, wind, and flame. I tilted my head, letting an arrow of metal shear past my cheek. I heard it strike the concrete behind me.

"Toren!" a familiar voice called out with a hint of desperation. "Over here! Come on, quick!"

Any other mage would have had difficulty hearing it, but my sense of hearing was beyond comparable mages. I turned slightly toward the voice as more corpses piled closer, wondering if this was another trick of the zone.

A burst of wind impacted the skull of one of the emerging zombies, obliterating it out of nowhere. Yet I recognized the spell that had just been used.

Promise soared out of my hand, drawing a jagged line across an approaching zombie's neck. Oath, shivering with searing fire mana, decapitated another zombie. A burst of fire met another, though this one had a barrier of earth conjured to protect it.

I turned about, trying to spot the source of the familiar voice. "Toren!" it called. Another punch of wind erupted near me, blowing off a zombie's arm. It didn't even seem to notice, lethargically pulling itself toward me.

I had to dodge to the side to avoid an erupting plume of fire, then I threw a sound grenade at an oncoming bolt of lightning.

The sound grenade detonated like a gong, the ripples of mana disrupting the electric spell and making it fall short of my position.

That was the biggest mistake I made. When that deep, sonorous rumble sounded, even more hands broke through the concrete, the corpses around me screeching in renewed fervor.

"They hunt by sound!" the voice said. I finally managed to pinpoint it, calling from above. I turned my head as I sidestepped a shard of metal, allowing a fireball to splash against my telekinetic shroud. A zombie leapt at me, hefting a giant mace. I used a push of telekinesis to send it to the side, but I could swear they were getting faster.

Darrin Ordin watched from the window of a nearby skyscraper, a panicked look on his usually jaunty face. He watched as a dozen more zombies pulled themselves from the street. "Get over here!" he yelled.

I noticed some of the zombies turning slightly toward him, but each of my attacks made far more sound than he did. Every now and then, Darrin thrust a fist forward, a punch of wind blowing apart the zombies that got too close. But I was quickly losing ground, free patches of concrete being washed away.

I slammed a ton of telekinetic force underneath me, adding an explosive piston stamp at the same time. I rocketed through the air, soaring toward the building Darrin was perched on top of.