Slade stared at the ensuing onslaught occurring below and quickly ran to reinforce the soldiers who were fighting atop the battlements.
Weaving through the whistling arrows falling from the sky, Slade readied his shield and swung his flail as the spiked ball crushed the zombie which was leaping towards a nearby soldier.
Splashing the red clothes man wielding the spear, the man trembled before him much like the soldiers who were experiencing first hand the terrors of war.
Slapping his shoulder to snap the man out of it Slade briefly comfortedd him. "Snap out of this soldier, don't let your hesitation be the doom of you."
Rushing past him, the chained ball flew from the tip of the shaft and mashed the skull of a zombie into something akin to mashed meat.
Incredibly spoilt mashed meat if that was really the case.
Ignoring that slightly disturbing thought of his, Slade kicked forwards and snapped the fragile leg of the Zombie and sent a shield flying into its face.
Flicking his wrist, the chained ball was sent flying in an arc straight towards the head of another zombie, the final one being stabbed straight through the gut by the captain.
Staring at the helmeted man who was harshly breathing through the gaps of his iron helm, Slade greeted him.
"Hello there, are you the captain around these parts?"
Staring at the sword wielding man who he already knew was the captain due to past memories, the man nodded and lifted the covering around his eyes.
"Correct -huff- but who might you be? The skill you have just shown is not from someone around these parts."
Eyeing Slade with poorly concealed anxiety and guard, he could only sigh internally before answering in proper Crusader fashion.
"I am a crusader of the Zakarum faith, and I was attracted by the star which had fallen upon this town."
Hearing Slade's words, the eyes of the captain noticeably became less guarded albeit they still had a tinge of paranoia hidden within.
"Hmm... the star you are looking for fell on the old cathedral, there was only one survivor--- Leah, you should speak with her if you want to know more."
He rolled his shoulders and prepared to speak more before being interrupted by one of the men.
"Captain Rumford! More dead are coming!"
Hearing those words the he moved the helm to cover his face and spoke towards Slade.
"We can't open the gates until we drive them back, so I will enlist your help Crusader, when the undead have been pushed back I will allow your access into the village."
Turning their attention to the forest, Slade heard him mutter.
"Lord knows we need all the help we can get in these trying times."
Hearing those words, Slade shrugged his shoulders and held up his large tower shield.
Eyeing the forests which rustled underneath the calm winds, the winds seemed to change and he instinctively felt that 'things' were moving through the forest.
And as if to announce their presence, the bushes rustled with obvious signs of movement and the undead emerged from within the thickets.
Zombies with pale skin crawled out of the undergrowth and ere immediately met with the clashing of blades.
Smashing the shield onto a nearby pale head, the skull got crushed underneath.
Following that an arrow whizzed through the air and barely scraped the edge of his face and sunk into the shoulder of a zombie.
Noting the inexperience the soldiers of New Tristam, Slade planned around that.
Slamming a flailing spiked ball into the head of a zombie.
Slade moved out of the way of another zombie by a wide margin and watched as an arrow narrowly whizzed by his previous position and thunked into the chest of a zombie.
Watching it keel over into death, more undead crawled out of the undergrowth missing their legs and dragging their guts across the ground.
Giving the same treatment as before, Slade spun his torso to meet the teeth of another zombie and swung his shield.
Sending the zombie before it flying, Slade followed it up by beheading the zombie that had been sent flying and crushing the few others catching said flying zombie.
Hearing a rustle in the thicket behind him, Slade glanced backwards before giving a kick which landed straight on the forehead of a zombie and snapped its neck under the force.
Following that with a stomp, Slade swung his flail and crushed a majority of the bones in a zombie before blocking the rest with his shield.
Turning around, several red eyes glared from the darkness, as the zombies which owned them maneuvered themselves out of the greenery and into the small clearing in front of the wooden battlements.
Seeing such a scenario happen in front of him, although the specific events were different the circumstances were completely the same and reminded Slade of something he had heard from a superior in the past.
---
They were in the Rainforest taking care of a group of drug dealers who had built their base inside the thick underbrush of the forest and took advantage of the natural river in it to transport the manufactured goods past the borders of several cities.
Having been in the middle of busting them, they were caught midway and were taking heavy fire from the guards stationed in the rainforest.
"Lieutenant! We are taking Heavy fire and are surrounded on all sides."
Hearing those words, the bald headed man who was the Lieutenant at the time chuckled while calmly checking and reloading his weapon.
"Good."
He glanced behind him at the forest which seemed to light up underneath the muzzle flash of several guns.
"That just means we don't have to aim."
Afterwards, although what the Lieutenant said was true and they ended the battle with few casualties and took over the drug base.
The lieutenant unfortunately was one of those casualties.
And despite passing away due to a bullet straight through the military grade helmet and into the skull, a small smile hidden on his lips.
The words the man had uttered that day still stuck to Slade all the way to this day.
---
Fondly recalling that moment, the spiked flail flew from its chain and struck the head of another zombie thus ending the long drawn out battle.
"I've never seen anyone fight like that before." Commentating about the fight that had just happened, Captain Rumford opened the helm of his helmet and looked at Slade.
Glancing at his blood covered appearance alongside of his own, Captain Rumford turned to the battlements and gestured to the soldiers who were standing atop them.
"Guards! Open the Gates!"
Gesturing for them to open the gates, the captain turned to Slade who saw an overlap appear in the form of his deceased lieutenant.
"You'll find Leah at the Slaughtered Calf inn."
He pointed at the slowly opening wooden gates.
"Just follow the path, you should find the Slaughtered Calf inn that way, I don't exactly recall what she looks like but she should still be in her teenage years."
"Thanks, let's have a drink when we have the time."
"Understood, I pray you shall find success in your endeavors."
Nodding towards Captain Rumford, Slade passed straight through the battlements above the small wooden bridge above the spiked pitfall.
Noting that the inside was slightly different in the fact that there was no form of death whatsoever besides the pile of zombie corpses resting atop a wheelbarrow.
A small pit fire burnt behind it as a couple guards tossed the naked bodies into the flame.
Turning his attention away from those flaming bodies, Slade walked forwards on what felt like to him the first trace of human civilization since arriving in this world.
A proper trace unlike the dirt path he was initially just on.
Shaking his head, Slade moved onwards and admired the town.
He had thought of it before and he would think it again.
'There really is a difference between seeing something from the screen and seeing it personally'
The first thing that was to be compared was the level of detail, but that made sense since something digital of the time couldn't faithfully reproduce the full extent of the graphics reality had.
If it was to be forcefully compared, it was like comparing 2D art to 3D art, a whole dimension of difference.
Quite literally.
Having those idle thoughts, Slade passed by a mourning women in yellow sitting on the stone steps of a house and looked at the door of an open building.
Watching the light of a fire stream out from within and glancing at the wooden plaque which hung on some chains, the words read.
[Slaughtered Calf Inn]
'The naming conventions for this inn are still crazy.'
Shaking his head, Slade slowly made his way to the steps of the building and pushed open the doors.
+++
Tree
Hey there, slightly distracted by extremely important exams which will determine my future, but I will try to keep the same quality of writing when making chapters.
To compensate in future chapters I will extend the amount of words.
Tree