Chapter 102 (1/2)

Alana raised her hand, looking at the sky. They were making better time than they had anticipated, mostly due to their clearing the roads on the way down to Franksburg. If they went through and did a little more thorough job, they would basically have a personal highway that went straight between their two cities.

Opening her menu, Alana looked at the map of the area given to her by the Ghosthound. The area that constituted their “Zone” was a rectangle, slightly taller than it was wide. It ended up being 189 miles wide, 223 mile tall. If you were to plot their locations on an X and Y axis, Donnyton would be about 150, 83, being in the Southeastern quarter.

Franksburg was Southeast of Donnyton, quite near the absolute Southeastern corner of the Zone. Although it wasn’t an issue now, Franksburg would be an incredible asset as an ally. They were sequestered in the corner, and had a lot of space, and a burgeoning population. Once they found their feet, able to survive through the monster hordes, they could begin to establish themselves, and prepare for the Tribulation to come for them.

Still, Alana had a feeling they would be fine. They had struggled for a month without classes, and their initial growth, especially that Lucifer’s would likely be explosive, quickly reaching the point that he could single handedly contend with a tribulation.

‘Well,’ Alana amended her thought, ‘Perhaps not single handedly. But with the support of the Freedom Fighters behind him, he would be able to slay it, hopefully with only a small loss of life.’

Lucifer was not, after all, the Ghosthound.

Alana checked their spot on the map once more. It seemed as though they could make it by nightfall…

After several seconds of internal debate, she moved through the trotting crowd, eventually tracking down a brooding woman wearing two pistols, and another woman, hooded and masked, even though the day was hot.

“Hello, Raina.”

The masked woman inclined her head. “...I suppose if you’ve come, you want…. The speed of the convoy to increase?”

“Yes,” Alana said simply. She did not mind using Raina like this, and ever since the acid had melted the skin on her face and incited a fanatical mob to sacrifice their lives to kill monsters, Raina had been very sparing in the use of her powers. Now, she spent most of her time simply drawing, creating pretty accurate renditions of the world under the influence of the system.

Setting her drawing pad aside, Raina stood. But then she began to hum. It was a small tune, relatively short and simple, but Alana instantly felt rejuvenated after hearing it. Then, when the tune began to repeat for a third time, Alana hummed along with Raina.

When they started for a 4th time, some nearby people began humming along with the tune as well, almost instinctively. By the 6th, the tune spread further, and almost everyone was humming along, picking up their pace.

By the 10th, Raina stopped humming, and nodded respectfully to Alana and then picked up her pad once more, simply continuing to draw as the convoy hummed around her, rushing forward.

*****

“The 4th squad of Donnyton has fallen. Who dare step forward to fill the gap?”

It was a heavy sentence, full pregnant meaning. It would be, everyone knew, the last challenge made before the Ghosthound fought against the full war party. It was also a battle that seemed hopeless to win.

“The 3rd Squad dares.” The 9 men and 2 women that made up the 3rd squad walked forward, heads held high.

The previous challenges had gone rather predictably. This especially became obvious as the Ghosthound began to not alternate between his 4 modes, but do 2 of them at once. Then 3. For the 4th squad, he used all 4, blasting with magic, moving like a ghost, crushing their defenses, and ignoring all damage that came his way.

It was monstrous.

Donny and Dozer arrived, already dressed fully in their armor, their weapons gripped tightly at their sides. Paolo was stretching lightly to the side, while Daniel and Kayle were engaged in a heated discussion, their eyes on the the Ghosthound.

Decklan just stood still, a nervous Tera beside him, his eyes burning. Yes, this was how it had to be. The Ghosthound must be at least this strong. Otherwise, how else could this all be possible? How else could this town be held together by the force of will of only one individual.

Slaying the Ghosthound needed to be difficult, or what was the point?

“Alec,” Donny said, speaking to the leader of the 3rd squad. Alec turned, and tilted his head to the side.

“Make him take the numerals seriously.”

Alec grinned, and then turned to the Ghosthound. The Ghosthound stood, pole spinning slowly in his hands, his eyes a mild green, like mint.

“Are you ready?” His voice was still calm, as it had been the entire trials thus far, as he had completely brutalized all of Donnyton’s squads. But there was more of an edge now, an eagerness.

An eagerness to finally experience the tension of a tough battle.