Scorched earth cracked beneath my boots. Molten rock and glassed bones glittered in the shallow hollows; the breeze tasted of char and burnt flesh. A thin, acidic smoke hung low, stinging my eyes.
More than two hundred meters away, a massive figure stood. It was roughly the height of a two-storey house, body hunched slightly forward like a tired titan. Its skin was burned. The head was bald; its eyes were stitched shut with coarse thread, the seams puckered and dead. The mouth yawned open, a slab of hungry shadow. Two enormous, muscled arms hung in front; beneath them, a second pair of arms were nothing but bone, pale and limp—until they merged and shivered into motion.
The skeletal arms slid up and fused across the fleshy ones, layering bone over muscle like a cruel suit of armor. When I slashed, those bone plates took the blow—no scratches, no dents.
The thing roared, and the sound pulled the rest of the dead to it. A blue screen blinked in front of me.
[ All stat points from your recent level-up have been allocated. ]
My jacket snapped in the wind. I gripped the sword in my right hand and smiled.
'It's time to change fighting style.'
'But first Let's check Some things. Status' I thought, bringing the creature into view.
[ Corpse Commander ]
[ Active Skills ]
[ Undead Parade: Do a screeching roar and command all undead of lower rank within range. All controlled undead receive species-specific buffs. ]
[ Bone Armour: Merge the bony arms with the flesh arms to greatly increase physical defence and magic resistance. ]
( Magic Resistance: Weakens incoming magical attacks. )
[ Declaration of Death: Emit a deafening roar, increasing personal attack power by 100%. Enemies hearing the roar has a chance to be stunned (chance increases the closer the targets are). ]
[ Passive Skills ]
[ Regeneration (High) ]
[ Physical Defence (Mid) ]
'That's what it was using. If I can kill him and get rid of that regen from the low rank undead I can jut cut them to species and be done with it.' I thought, eyes narrowing as I read the status.
'That's quite the set of skills it has.' I finished, feeling my stomach tighten.
'Let's go with the sword.' I looked at the weapon in my hand.
'But first. It said hearing the Roar will stun me. I'll cut off the sound around me and increase the area I can sense to compensate of that. I should also put strong wind pressure collected around my foot. I can see the world in slow motion but my body can't keep totally with it yet. In desperation I'll let the wind pressure in one direction to redirect myself to the opposite to evade a attack. It's better to be safe than none. I need to watch out for magic attacks after all.' I concentrated, forcing high pressure to coil under my soles.
Wind slid across the plain; I widened my sense until a fine hum marked every shifting corpse. I breathed deep.
'It's time to start.' I planted my right foot and poured force beneath it.
With a strong lunge I ran toward the Corpse Commander, body low, blade angled toward the ground behind me. My left hand rose to my chest and swept outward.
'wind blades' I thought as multiple quick slashes of compressed air raced forward.
The wind slashes missed the commander but they did their work: legs of the undead behind were sliced clean, halting their advance. I didn't need distractions.
'I don't need distractions.' I thought, and slid my left hand to join my right, gripping the sword with both hands.
I closed the distance, planted, and in a blink threw a horizontal slash from right to left. The blade met bone and something deep in my wrist trembled from the impact. The Corpse Commander absorbed the strike across its layered arms.
'It looks big but it's movement is fast. It reacted so quickly.' I thought as it countered, slamming both massive hands down toward me.
I backflipped and the ground blew outward in a radial shock. The shockwave rattled my teeth and kicked grit into the air.
'That power is crazy.' I thought, and charged again, aiming for its chest with a left-to-right strike. It blocked with a forearm; the deflection twisted the sword in my grip and my left hand slipped free. I held on with my right.
I recovered my balance and slashed diagonally from right top to left down. The commander's right arm lunged from my left to punch; I vaulted back, narrowly avoiding the fist, then seized the moment to slash at the elbow of its attacking limb. Bone cracked with a sound like a distant tree snapping; the creature staggered, but did not fall.
I followed with rapid cuts—wind blades puncturing tendon and flesh—then crouched as it tried to throw me off with a backward swing. When it moved to recover, I flicked my left hand up and lashed out with wind blades at its legs.
The commander brought its left hand down to block; my blades nicked the bony plates but did not pierce them. It countered with a brutal punch. I dug wind under my feet and shoved myself aside, the force snapping my body away from the blow.
The battlefield tasted of metal and ash. Each strike I threw echoed—bone ringing against steel, breath tearing hot and cold through my lungs. The corpse commander moved with ugly grace, as if its fused limbs were trained to protect its core.
The Corpse Commander looked upward and screamed again. This time I knew why. Behind it, the fallen zombies pushed themselves up; more bodies rallied and began to march toward us.
I closed the distance and resumed slashes and evasions.
As I drew near, I gripped the sword with both hands, swept a left-to-right horizontal slash, and vaulted to the commander's left—this time evading its counter. It turned with me, tracking my motion like a coiled predator.
'Tch. It's reacting quick with least movement and not giving me chance to go behind itself.' I thought, and a zombie lunged from my right, hands trying to grapple me.
I held the sword in my right hand and cupped wind in my left. A focused blast punched the creature in the chest; it didn't pierce, but the force sent the zombie spinning into the bodies behind it, toppling several and creating messy collateral carnage.
As I pushed the zombie away I felt the commander close the gap. Its fist was almost on me—less than a metre.
I sprang up. Wind pressure spun my body; the attack hand swept under me while I spun into an upside-down arc, extending my left arm to catch the creature's wrist and use its momentum to hurl myself clear.
'Not hearing is problematic. That was close I couldn't put much pressure to jump high at first. But that helped me find something I was worried to try.' I thought, landing on my feet.
I pointed the swords outward with my left hand while the right kept the blade ready.
'Even though the status didn't show ant magic attack. I was worried to try touching it. If it's attack had magic imbued to it that would have passed through my barrier.' I thought, and slid two fingers along the joint where blade met hilt.
'But now I know there's no magic in it's attack. Now more possible ways of attack has opened.' I thought, and wrapped both fingers with wind, letting it coat the edge.
'Let's continue.' I thought, and surged forward again.
The horde funneled around me—plenty of space between staggered ranks, unlike before when I'd needed to mow them down. I weaved through the bodies, the commander mirroring my steps and never letting me turn its back.
I kept my senses on the hunt. There—an opening: a straight lane cleaving through the dead. I planted the sword on my left, gripped it with both hands, and launched myself down the lane at full speed. The wind pressure at my feet shredded corpses and spat gore and bone aside; the ground buckled where the blade slashed.
I slammed into the commander. Its arms rose—bone plates clamped over muscle—and metal met bone with a thunderous crash. The clash did not bounce. My wind blade bit like a saw, grinding through sinew and grinding sparks of ash and smoke from the bone armor.
The commander pressed back. Its bulk pushed; I drove the blade forward, teeth of wind whining like a chainsaw. The creature answered with a brutal shove and forced me back a step—then two. I felt hot smoke gust from where blade met bone. The bone plates remained intact, but a ragged slash had scored across them.
'Finally some results.' I thought, tasting the small victory. The commander's roar split the air as it looked up and screamed again.
'Calling more help?' I thought, bracing and raising my guard.
After two breaths, I couldn't see any new undead coming, and the Corpse Commander had started running at me. As it closed the distance, it reared both of its arms and swung; I jumped back to evade as the ground shattered where its fist struck.
As I landed, the undead around me lay frozen.
'So that was it's stun scream.' I thought, grinning as I touched down and put distance between us.
'I guess the attack it doesn't discriminate between enemy or ally and stun them all.' I thought, raising my left palm toward the Corpse Commander.
Wind coiled like iron chains and wrapped around its legs and arms, but the commander forced both arms down and tore free, splintering currents into shreds.
'Tch. Looks like both of our crowd control skills are not useful.' I thought as it screamed again and the stunned undead began crawling to their feet.
I slammed my right foot onto the ground; a blast of wind burst outward, flinging all the undead bodies like rag dolls. The commander staggered back a few meters.
I leapt forward, closing the gap. I slashed right to left with both hands aimed at its left foot; it stopped the blade with its left arm and countered with a bone-shattering right-handed punch.
The Corpse Commander's punch closed the distance like a hammer crashing down. I released my right hand from the sword, gripping it with only my left, and drove my fist forward. My strike collided with its knuckles, redirecting the monstrous blow just enough to throw its aim aside.
Seizing the moment, I summoned water and earth into the ground beneath its left foot, turning solid soil into sucking mud. The commander staggered, its balance breaking. I lunged, blade thrust straight toward its skull.
Before the strike could land true, its massive left hand shot up to block. This time, however, my edge carved straight through. Flesh split, bone cracked, and blood sprayed as my sword pierced into its palm, forcing the hand wide open.
The blade pierced bone. Hot ichor spilled from both sides of its hand, and a shaft of my sword pushed through the flesh; there was still a breath of distance to its skull.
'THIS PRESISTANCE B**CH. Not this time.' I thought, and gathered wind into the blade, densifying the edge and extending its reach. The wind-forged blade punched through its right eye, carving deep into the skull. Bone split with a sickening crack as the blade tore through, piercing straight through its head.
Huff. Huff.
'Now fall.' I thought as I withdrew the blade.
Blood gushed in a black torrent; brain matter slumped down the commander's cheek. I felt something tug at my left side and spun back, sword hilt gripped, ready.
The commander's right hand had not stopped. It lunged.
'How is it still alive?' I thought as the thing screamed and charged. I bounded back; the creature slammed to the ground with a bone-ringing crash, and the earth cracked under its weight. I kicked off the floor and vaulted skyward, aiming to clear its follow-up.
'what the f**k is that?' I thought, eyes wide.
On the commander's back, something small but human-sized had grown — a slim upper body fused to the corpse. Burned flesh, sharklike jaw, red eyes. Its long blade fingers burrowed into the larger form, pulling life from it as if the two shared one heart.
It fixed me with that eyeless stare and screamed. The sound ripped the air; I landed far from the wrecked commander.
'I was wondering how was he looking around. Without eyes. Man, I should have pierced it's chest instead.' I thought, annoyed by the missed chance.
The ground vibrated harder. More undead surged from the dust; then another Corpse Commander emerged, then another—five more, each heralded by swarms of lesser dead.
The wounded commander drove both hands into the earth and tore a chunk free. With a guttural roar, it tore free a massive slab of earth—an uneven boulder nearly ten meters across.
'I'm done checking stuff.' I thought, fingers tightening on my sword as the giant rock arced toward me.
'The crowd is here. It's time.' I planted my feet and, with a single, fluid motion, drew the blade from my lower left to a right-upward diagonal, sending a massive wind slash slicing through the incoming boulder.
The wind-cut split the rock cleanly into two slabs that fanned out to my left and right, then surged forward like a great scythe. It slammed into the commander, who tried to stop it with both arms. The blade pressed on, sawing through bone armor and cleaving undead ranks in its path, leaving a trail of ragged corpses and shredded gear.
When the dust cleared, only feet and a half-diagonal torso of the commander remained standing.
The remaining undead and the battered corpse commander froze for a heartbeat, stunned by what they had witnessed. Then, as if roused from that moment of dread, they began their advance once more—shambling, crawling, and charging with renewed fury.
A smile crept across my face.
'It's time for beast mode.'
to be continued…
[Corpse Commander ]
[ Rare Evolution ]
Blight Maws (Zombie Evolution) are massive undead that lumber forward without awareness, devouring anything in their path. Too mindless to care, they even trample over lesser undead as they move. Driven by hunger, they consume anything before them, including ghouls.
Feral Fiends (Ghoul Evolution), however, do not take kindly to this. When the ghouls under their control are devoured, they lash out, resulting in brutal clashes with Blight Maws. These battles are always to the death, with no certain victor.
Yet, on rare occasions, when a Blight Maw attempts to devour a Feral Fiend, the Fiend's instincts and parasitic control overpower the Maw's body. The two merge into a new form: the Corpse Commander. This evolution sacrifices the Maw's endless devouring ability in exchange for a powerful, durable body and the ability to command other undead.