Dan couldn't believe his eyes as the sight of that jet black sword was too familiar to him. He had sparred with Ray, the Guild Master, many times in the past, so he knew that sword was something Ray treasured more than his life.
"It can't be… Ray, how could this happen to you…"
Astonished, Dan could only watch the scene unfold as his thoughts became chaotic. Even though he knew anybody could get infected, he couldn't believe how this happened to somebody as strong as Ray.
What was even worse was that Ray didn't look like a normal zombie. He transformed into a grotesque looking creature, with a fused armblade for one of his limbs. If Kio was here, he would notice that there were a few similarities between Ray and the deceased Eldun, as if both of them had undergone some kind of mutation.
*Clang*
The tank's shield started to crack as it couldn't withstand the consecutive blows from the mutated Ray.
"Argh.."
"[Fire Lance]!"
"[Icicle Storm]!"
The two female magicians finished casting their spells and launched it towards Ray. However, he easily avoided the spells by repeatedly sidestepping the flurry of spells that were aimed at his general location.
After he dodged the last spell, he then did a 360 degree spin as his armblade launched towards the shield, destroying it in the process. The force of the armblade didn't stop there, as it continued onward and sliced at the tank's stomach. Luckily for him, his defensive buff and plate armor had stopped the blow, saving his life in the process.
The impact from the blow had launched the two magicians and the tank backwards as they collided against the wall, nearly causing them to pass out.
While Dan was lost in thought earlier, the mutated Ray had already knocked both the swordsman and the brawler outside the building, which was why Ray could focus his attacks on the tank.
The tank staggered as he tried to stand up again. He took out another shield from his Item Box as he braced himself to protect his party members. The swordsman and brawler had just made it back to the fight, and they immediately surrounded Ray as they gave each other a signal through their eyes.
"HAAAAA! [Guardian's Will]! [Taunt]!"
The tank buffed his defensive capabilities as he forced Ray to target him again. While the magicians were chanting their next spell, the swordsman and brawler dashed towards Ray from the left and right flank.
"[Cross Slash]!"
"[Focus Punch]!"
As they both activated their own combat skills, the swordsman managed to cut off parts of its flesh, and the brawler caused many fist marks to appear on its body.
*ROAR*
It seemed like Ray became enraged as he let out a loud growl and made a wide swing with both of his weapons stretched out to his sides. Although the swordsman and brawler managed to defend the attack, they were knocked back a couple of meters and blood leaked out of their mouths.
The tank's spare shield wasn't as good as the previous one, as cracks appeared after that last attack. Ray continued his onslaught by slashing horizontally at the tank with his armblade, while his jet black sword was swung from the blind spot of the tank
Since the tank was too focused on the armblade due to its size and strength, he momentarily forgot about the other weapon. This proved to be fatal as the sword sliced off both of his arms, causing the tank to lose any means of defending himself. The next attack by Ray sliced the tank in half, causing a bloody line to appear from his left shoulder to his right thigh.
The tank's body dropped onto the ground as blood and organs leaked out from the wound
"NOOOO!"
The swordsman recklessly charged towards Ray as the pain of losing another party member overwhelmed him. Due to his young age, the swordsman couldn't control his emotions as he madly swung his sword at Ray.
The swordsman left many openings in the midst of his wide swings, and Ray's counterattack eventually found its way through one of them. As the armblade was heading towards the swordsman's head, he knew that if it connected, he would instantly die.
Seeing the armblade getting closer and closer to his head, the swordsman tried to defend himself by lifting his sword in front of his head. However, he knew it wouldn't work since he wasn't even in a proper stance.
A second before the armblade reached his head, the brawler pushed him away as he narrowly saved the swordsman's life. However, the armblade continued through its trajectory as it cleanly bisected the brawler.
A look of despair appeared on the swordsman's face as he knew he was the reason for the brawler's death just now. If he didn't become so hotheaded, perhaps they could've worked out a strategy to defeat the mutated Ray.
He held out his sword in front of him as he tried his best to get back into a proper stance, but anyone could tell that his fighting spirit had already crumbled. His whole body was trembling, causing the sword in his grasp to shake nonstop.
"Don't give up! [Frozen Domain]!"
One of the magicians shouted as she finished chanting her best spell. She knew it had taken far too long to complete, but she didn't have any other alternatives as her other spells were either too weak or too slow.
Her [Frozen Domain] skill caused a majority of the lobby to freeze as the temperature drastically fell. The limbs of the mutated Ray also began to stiffen as his movements slowed down. Ice started to form on his flesh with every passing moment.
Even the spectators on the second floor felt a chill as their surroundings became colder.
*ROAR*
With a loud cry, Ray momentarily regained control of his limbs as he made a wild dash towards the magician that casted [Frozen Domain].
When the swordsman saw this scene, he wanted to rush to her rescue. However, he wasn't able to muster any strength in his legs as the fear had already taken root in his mind.
"Nooo!!! [Ice Shield]"
The girl quickly casted a defensive skill as a wall of ice, approximately 30-centimeters thick, rose from the ground in front of her. Her previous skill had already caused the temperature in the lobby to drop, so it didn't take long for the wall to form, reaching 3 meters high and 5 meters wide.
The girl quickly turned around to escape as soon as the shield came up between them.
*Crack*
A loud noise erupted from the floor as Ray leaped to the side to avoid the shield of ice. He then landed on one of the supporting pillars and put strength into his legs again, launching himself in the direction of the girl who tried to escape. Before the girl could even take a step, her body was sliced in half from her waist, causing her to collapse onto the floor.
"[Inferno]!!!"
This time, it was the other magician that finished her chant. Multiple pillars of fire rose up from the floor all around Ray as it destroyed the wooden beams, walls, and ceiling around them. The fire magician had tears trailing down her cheeks as she looked at the dead bodies of her friends. She already knew it was over since her last party member was currently on his knees, with a look of despair all over his face.
"Holy shit!! Girls, we're leaving!"
Dan urged the girls to escape with him as the building started collapsing. He carried Mary on his back, and held Kaori and Luna under his arms. Dan then jumped out of the nearest window on the second floor, while Fae leaped after him.
Most of the other guys around Dan did the same as they also jumped out of the window. However, there were also a few people that chose to use the stairs instead, as they ran for the main entrance on the first floor. It was hard to tell if they made it out safely since the building quickly crumbled due to the destruction.
After the building collapsed, a cloud of dust rose into the air, causing everyone to lose their vision. Their hearing was also affected since it happened right next to them.
*ROAR*
"GRRRR..."
Aside from the loud growl signaling Ray was still alive, many groans could be heard all around them as the zombies began to surge into the area due to all the noise.
Since their hearing was momentarily impaired, nobody was able to hear the zombies approaching. Seconds later, the first casualty arose as one of the guild advisors felt pain on her arm.
"AHHH! It hurts!!"
Her shriek attracted more zombies to her location, as many of them began to feast on her body.
Due to her screams, everybody else knew that they had to immediately get out of the area. Since they could barely see anything, they weren't able to defend themselves from any possible attacks.
They all began to scramble in different directions, as Dan also fled the area with the girls that he was still carrying.
After he made it out of the dust cloud, the first thing he noticed was a horde of zombies all around him.
"Fuck! Why are there so many zombies now?!?!"
Dan took out his weapons from his Item Box as he tried to open up a path with his [Weapon Control]. With Mary on his back, and two girls under his arms, he was severely handicapped fighting these zombies.
He also had to make sure that none of them would get injured, otherwise there would be no way to save them.
After fighting for tens of minutes, right as his skill was about to end, he finally made it out of the horde. He was extremely exhausted as he forced himself to keep his skill activated for as long as possible.
He dodged the rest of the zombies in front of him as he eventually made it past the city gates. The gates were already opened, as if whoever escaped last didn't have time to close it.
After he ran far enough so that the city was almost out of their sights, Mary was the first one to realize something odd.
"Dad, how come I don't see Fae behind us?"