Chapter 87: Assisted Living
Bee cocked her head. The unfamiliar noise sounded like it was coming from outside. It sounded suspiciously like someone yelling. And it was getting louder. Glancing at Tony as he struggled to his feet, she grabbed her broom and ran out of the library toward the castle entrance. It only took her a second to run down the hall and squint in the direction of the entrance. The main doors and entryway were still not fully repaired, so she had no trouble seeing the source of the sound.
In the distance, Bee saw a small boy running at top speed toward the main doors of the castle. The whole way, he was screaming at the top of his lungs. "HELP! HELP!"
Bee ran toward the entryway. She couldn't yet see what the kid was running from, but he was already stumbling, and she wanted to reach him before he fell. Once she reached the top of the steps that led down to the entryway, she saw what was going on.
Behind the boy, there were three shambling figures in pursuit. Even from this distance, Bee could tell that they were covered in wounds and peeling flesh. They had to be undead. It wasn't the undead that she was familiar with, but any kind of undead was bad news. Bounding down the stairs, Bee readied her broom as she charged out the doorway.
A broom was an unconventional weapon. One that she had picked up due to convenience rather than due to consideration. When she first learned how to use it, the broom had been a perfect counter to her opponents. They were skeletons, light and easy to break apart. However, zombies were normally considered not much more threatening than skeletons by adventurers, but of course, those assumptions were based on combatants having a sword or spear. Not a broom.
So when her tried and true tactic of driving the bristled end of her weapon into the ribs of her opponent did nothing but bend the bristles, Bee realized this might not be as easy as she would have liked.
Settling back, she moved between the boy and his attackers. With a shooing motion, she urged him to run inside. Taking advantage of the space, she used Scan on the lead zombie.
Name: Sanjay, Level: 20, Type: Zombie, Sub-type: Shambler, Age: 2 weeks, Strongest Stat: Strength
It was nice to see her Scan giving more information. Age wasn't really useful, but primary stat might help.
The other two were slightly weaker and slower. Still, three level 20 zombies were nothing to sneeze at, even if she did drastically out-level them. This time she wielded her broom more like a quarterstaff and stuck the lead zombie in the head. This was much more effective. It was sent stumbling back, trying to maintain its balance.
"Move!" She yelled over her shoulder. Finally, the boy was woken up and scrambled on all fours into the castle and up the stairs. This allowed Bee to concentrate fully on the fight. She really shouldn't be having this much trouble on only three level 20 zombies, not with how strong she was. Changing up her tactics, she poked the right zombie in the face with the handle of the broom. She aimed for its eye socket but missed slightly. The end just skittered off the side of its face, having next to no effect.
Looking around, Bee was about to drop the broom and pick up a rock when a beam of light that burned her vision shot out of the castle doors. It sailed past her and seared a hole in the head of the lead zombie, causing it to topple to the floor. Looking up, she saw that her master had come to her aid. The warning it had given was apparently not enough. She was slightly embarrassed at needing help in such an easy encounter, so she threw herself at the remaining two opponents with gusto.
This time her lunge landed, and, with a disgusting squelch, the broom handle sunk in. Her angle wasn't perfect, so she had to lunge forward again to destroy the brain. As she finished, Bee stepped back quickly to avoid the grasping hands of the final zombie.
With only one opponent left, Bee had a chance to slow down and focus on her strategy. Her control over the broom was nearly perfect. The issue was the weapon itself. If she was honest, it was a bit of a stretch to even call the broom a weapon. Something like this wasn't meant for combat, and even with her skill, it held her back quite a bit more than a sword or hammer would. It was, after all, a cleaning implement. She would need to talk to Void for advice.
Her master had recommended this to her for a reason, so she couldn't just throw it away thoughtlessly.
Bee turned from her downed opponents and headed back inside. At the top of the stairs, she found Tony comforting the sobbing kid. Now that he was safe, the kid had broken down in tears. Void was sitting next to them and watching her carefully. Thankful that she didn't feel much judgment from her master, Bee bowed to it. "Thank you for the warning, master, and the assist."
It gave her a small beep that sounded a lot like "you're welcome."
Seeing that Tony and the kid didn't seem ready to move anywhere soon, she sat next to Void. "I didn't expect to see zombies. Where do you think they came from?"
It was worrying that Void didn't have an answer for her. Could it be that her master didn't know? Maybe. It did know a lot, but nothing was omniscient except the system. "I can only think of a few things that might have caused a zombie outbreak. Either a high concentration of death is nearby, causing the dead to rise again, or some necromancer is on the warpath again. I didn't think necromancers were real, though. I only heard about them in old stories from the wagon handlers my father employed."
Void beeped. Bee nodded. "Yeah, I agree it's unlikely that it's a concentration of death. This area is demonically heavy. And we just cleared out the only source of death in the catacombs below here. I doubt there are any others nearby."
Bee thought for a minute. "Now that the Lieutenant is gone, I imagine the demonic aura is fading, but that should take a decade at least."
Void beeped again. Bee wasn't quite sure what it meant this time but thought she had a decent guess. "I hope we don't find out too late, though. We don't really have enough food if we get more refugees."
Pushing herself to her feet, Bee held out her hands to help the boy and Tony to their feet. The four of them made their way to the kitchens. Nothing helped a little kid feel better than hot food, Bee thought. Or sweets. She generally preferred sweets.