Chaos, that was the only way to describe the scene. Long lost was the holiness they carried, all that was left was exhausted people, armors caked in blood, and bodies, dead bodies...
But only if they remained as such. The dead rose to fight off what was once their allies, brothers killing each other. If that wasn't chaos then what was?
They entered the floor in high hopes, the elites of all races gathered to clear what they initially thought as the last floor. Everyone anticipated a hard fight, but none were ready for what was to come.
The 100th floor was a huge rocky land a giant volcano that seemed to tear the sky itself stood in the distance constantly spewing lava. The army treaded with caution, Allen leading the tanks who surrounded the rangers in a square shape who in their turn surrounded the Mages.
A simple but effective formation as no one knew where the danger might come from. Laura and Allen were in the front lines leading everyone while Lana and Collin were in charge of their respective squads.
Approaching the volcano, they made their first contact with the monsters. None had seen such things, humanoid skeletons attacked them first.
No one had encountered such monsters, there had been no mentioning of undead in the outside world.
Sure one could come across the occasional myth about the dead coming back to life to haunt the living, but the lack of any evidence or sighting of said monsters had made them nothing but stories meant to scare children.
But here there are in front of them, nothing but bones only Ysion knows how they could even move as they launched themselves at them with no regards to their safety. Many people were unnerved by the bizarre scene nonetheless all were veterans of hundreds of battles so they managed to dispatch of the skeletons with no real efforts, as they were quite literally an unarmed pile of bones, it was easy to find out that their weakness laid in their heads. One had to crush that for them to truly die.
That however was only the start, as the army dwelled closer towards the volcanic mountain more and more skeletons appeared, these ones were armed, some had simple swords while others had spears.
Nothing too hard for the army, the mages had no need to intervene, while arrows were quite useless against them unless they were magical.
By the time they managed to dispose of the fifth batch, tiredness was slowly creeping on them, especially the tanks as they were the ones making the most effort. The skeletons were no longer as easier to crush with simple movements, no their movements became more refined and more lifelike with each wave, and by the fifth the army suffered their first serious injury.
By the 7th wave no longer was it only simple skeletons, behind them green rotting bodies came running, no limping would be more appropriate description, with snake-like emerald green eyes that darted around with emotionless gaze, as they looked for their next prey, with flesh hanging like tattered rags, teeth filed to points and long fingernails like claws.
It was no surprise that most of the men were shocked silly by their appearance, their distraction more then enough time for several casualties as the beasts bit and gnawed at them.
"KEEP FORMATION!" Shouting while crashing the head of one that jumped towards him, Allen turned to check on Laura who swiftly dispatched of those swarming her.
The battle was bloody the monsters were fast and had no sense of self preservation as they threw themselves over the shields of the tanks, trading a limb for a chance to bite them. Nothing seemed to faze them as they continued their assault.
The rangers this time however proved useful, as one good arrow to the head seemed to do the job, the mages rained giant fire balls at the swarm of monsters rushing towards them trying to diminish their numbers. No end of the swarm was in sight...
"AIM FOR THEIR HEADS!"
"THEIR HEADS!"
Such shouts rang through the battlefield as the army slowly managed to push them away, gaining their footing. Getting past their initial fear of the unknown, once it was clear that they had a clear weakness, it was no longer as terrifying as before.
The battle was long and tiring, by the end of it exhausted troops gathered their dead and moved them away from the battlefield while healers tended to the wounded.
Their losses were heavy this time, the original army of 200 was now down to 150, the initial clash resulted in many surprised members loosing their lives to the onslaught of the monsters.
The tanks were the ones that suffered the most loosing 40 out of their members, 10 were lost from the rangers as the undead broke through. None of the mages however were lost.
***************
The sky was of a dull grey as the small army laid camp a distance away from the battlefield, a small tent was raised as one healer tended to the wounded, the rest rested around a huge camp fire.
The mood was somber, it was their first time meeting such nightmarish beasts, and it was an experience none would ever forget nor would they want to go through again.
The leaders, were seated in the middle closest to the fire as they discussed about the battle.
Looking at Allen Lana asked in concern
"You were not hurt Allen?"
"No, the armor was helpful..." he replied, his eyes speaking volumes of how tired he was. Laura next to him had her armor caked in blood, long gone was the shining white only to he replaced with a crimson red.
She was no better, they may have fought monsters, dragons, devils, all sorts of monstrosities along the way but none such as these... none as relentless as these...you can kill one two more will come, kill those three more will come! It never seemed to end...
Sighting Collin held the bridge of his nose in deep thought "The dead rising...how ridiculous would such thought be on the outside world but here..."
Before anyone could reply however, an ear piercing scream echoed through the now silent camp, quickly jumping to their feet Lana asked "Where did that come from?!"
Allen with cold eyes replied slowly
"The injury tent."